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Donald Trump told Mark Carney “never say never” after the Canadian prime minister reiterated that the country is not for sale.
The US president doubled down on his threats of annexation as the pair met for the first time since Mr Carney was elected prime minister.
Speaking in real estate terms, a language Mr Trump understands best, Mr Carney said: “Well, if I may, as you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.”
“We're sitting in one right now,” he added, holding his hands up to indicate the Oval Office.
He continued: “Buckingham Palace, that you visited as well, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale.”
“Time will tell. Never say never. It would really be a wonderful marriage because it's two places that get along very well,” Mr Trump responded.
After the meeting, Mr Carney said he and Mr Trump had “very constructive” discussions and the US president had “agreed” with him when he said Canada was no for sale.
“Some things, as I said in the room, some things are never for sale, and he agreed with that”, he told a press conference.
Meanwhile, the president teased a “very very big announcement” ahead of his visit to the Middle East, moments after he revealed the US would stop strikes against the Houthis.
“We're going to have a very, very big announcement to make, like as big as it gets,” he said ahead of departing for the region on Monday.
Thank you for following along with our live coverage today.
Asked whether he had asked Donald Trump to stop referring to Canada as America's 51st state, Mark Carney said: “Yes”.
Pressed on what Mr Trump had said in response, Mr Carney added: “He's the president, he's his own person.”
He said: “I would go back to showing the difference between a wish and a reality. We're very clear, I've been very clear publicly... have been very clear in private, was clear again in the Oval Office”.
Mark Carney said his meeting with Donald Trump was “very constructive” and he feels “better” about the relationship in several ways.
He said he was pleased with the positioning Mr Trump had towards Canada and the “breadth” of discussions.
He said these were “the discussions you have when you're looking to find solutions, as opposed to laying down terms, if you will”.
But, Mr Carney added: “look… We have more work to do… I'm not trying to suggest at any respect that we can have one meeting and everything's changed, but now we are engaged, and very fully engaged.”
The Canadian Prime Minister said he and Donald Trump are in the middle of “a very complex negotiation about a wide range of issues”.
“As I said before I came here, I wouldn't have expected white smoke coming out of this meeting, that was not my expectation”, he said.
Mr Carney said he did “not expect to have specific progress as things move along, even when you're making progress… that's why it's a global negotiation.”
Mark Carney doubled down on his statement in the Oval Office earlier today, saying again: “Canada is not for sale”.
He said Donald Trump has “made known his wish” to make Canada America's 51st state “for some time.”
“I've been careful always to distinguish between wish and reality”, Mr Carney told the press conference.
“I was clear there in the Oval Office, as I've been clear throughout, on behalf of Canadians, saying this is never going to happen, Canada is not for sale, it never will be for sale.
“Some things, as I said in the room, some things are never for sale, and he agreed with that.”
Mark Carney has said he and Mr Trump had “very constructive discussions” during their meeting today.
“We had what I would describe as wide ranging, and as I said a moment ago, very constructive discussions”, he said during a press conference at the Canadian Embassy.
He added: “We agreed to have further conversations in the coming weeks, and we were looking forward to meeting in person at the G7 Summit”.
Mark Carney left the White House at 2:12pm, waving to reporters without answering questions.
He is expected to hold a press conference at the Canadian Embassy at 3pm.
Following lunch, a White House pool reporter asked Melanie Joly, the Canadian Foreign Minister, “How did it go?” She reportedly nodded and smiled.
Mr Trump was insisted that his meeting with Mr Carney would remain friendly, following a months-long spat over the US president's treatment of Canada.
Mr Carney had previously warned Mr Trump he would not engage with him unless he stopped talking about Canada becoming the 51st state.
Ahead of today's Oval Office meeting, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social America does not need “anything” from Canada, “other than their friendship”.
During the face-to-face meeting earlier today, Mr Trump reiterated their friendship.
“This is not going to be like -we had another a little blow up with somebody else. That was a much different. This is a very friendly conversation,” he said, in an apparent reference to his disastrous meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky.
The US president will now sit down to lunch with the Canadian prime minister.
Here is what's on the menu:
Donald Trump said the US doesn't “have to sign deals”, as he grew frustrated with questions over how his tariff negotiations are panning out.
After imposing liberation-day tariffs, Mr Trump pledged to sign dozens of deals with US trading partners which are yet to materialise.
“We don't have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now,” Mr Trump said in his meeting with Mark Carney, addressing progress made so far.
“We don't have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us,” he added. “So we can just sit down, and I'll do this at some point over the next two weeks.”
Donald Trump earlier told Mark Carney that “it takes two to tango” over his threats for Canada to become the 51st US state.
“It takes two to tango, right?,” Mr Trump said during his Oval Office meeting with the Canadian prime minister a short while ago. “I believe it would be a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens. You get free military, tremendous medical cares, other things. There would be a lot of advantages.”
Touting his expertise as a real estate developer, he said that when he considered the might of the two countries combined, “I said that's the way it was meant to be”.
“But we're not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it,” the president added.
Mr Carney followed up by repeating his insistence that Canada is not for sale.
Donald Trump told Mark Carney that Canada will have to take care of itself in its future trading relationship with the US.
Speaking in the Oval Office a short while ago, Mr Trump said: “Canada is a place that will have to be able to take care of itself economically.”
His comments came after explaining why he intends to pursue tariffs with America's closest trading partner, despite Mr Carney explaining that the two countries' economies and manufacturing bases are deeply enmeshed.
Addressing why he does not believe the US should buy cars, steel or aluminium from Canada, Mr Trump said: “We have a tremendous deficit with Canada. In other words, they have a surplus with us, and there's no reason for us to be subsidising Canada.”
Donald Trump and Mark Carney's meeting has come to an end.
The two world leaders will now sit down for lunch, accompanied by vice-president JD Vance, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and secretary of state Marco Rubio, as well as an American delegation.
Donald Trump announced that the Houthis are ready to lay down their weapons.
The Yemeni insurgents have terrorised Red Sea shipping for the past year, prompting Mr Trump to send a strike force to the area to take out rebel targets.
Speaking in his meeting with Mark Carney, Mr Trump said the US has reached an agreement with the Houthis.
“We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they've announced to us at least, that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honour that, and we will, we will stop the bombings.
He later added: “They've said, please don't bomb us any more, and we're not going to attack your ships.”
Asked what he was basing the agreement on, Mr Trump said it came from a “very good source”.
Mark Carney's left knee was jiggling away as Donald Trump ran through his arguments once again about why Canada should become the 51st state.
This was the moment he had come for. It was the moment where it could have gone wrong, like when Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky tried to push back on Mr Trump's understanding of Russia and Vladmir Putin. Mr Carney needed to set the American president straight without letting their whole Oval Office meeting spiral out of control.
Mr Carney tried and failed to interject a couple of times as Mr Trump extolled the idea of a “wonderful marriage” between the two countries.
But when his chance came, he took it, with the help of the ultimate Trump-pleasing comparison.
“Well, if I may, as you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. We're sitting in one right now ...” he said, holding his hands up to indicate the Oval Office. “Buckingham Palace, and you visited as well, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale.”
Flashpoint over, with a neat comparison between the White House and Buckingham Palace, perfect for the Royal-loving president.
Donald Trump has said there is nothing Canada can do to alleviate US tariffs.
Asked if there is any way he would lift tariffs on Canada after today's meeting, Mr Trump said: “No.”
Asked why, he said: “That's just the way it is.”
Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of the US trading relationship with Canada, saying America does not buy “a lot” from Canada.
“They do a lot of business with us. We're at like 4 per cent and usually those things don't last very long. You know, we have great things, great product, the kind of product we sell, nobody else can sell, including military.
“We make the best military equipment in the world. And Canada buys our military equipment, which we appreciate, but we make the best military equipment in the world by far, the missiles, the submarines, everything, everything we have, is really top notch.
“We have the best a lot of things but Canada, it does a lot more business with us than we do with Canada.”
Mark Carney has tried to avoid a diplomatic row in the Oval Office by delicately explaining to Donald Trump Canada was not for sale and would not become the 51st state.
Speaking in real estate terms, a language the president understands best, Mr Carney compared Canada to Buckingham Palace and the Oval Office as venues that “are not for sale” .
“There are some places that are never for sale... We're sitting in one right now... and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it's not for sale,” he said in the Oval Office.
“Never say never,” Mr Trump responded.
Switching subjects to global tariffs, Mr Trump repeated his message that the US has been “ripped off” by its trading partners for years.
The president embarked on a sweeping explanation of why he was imposing tariffs US trading partners - a move that has triggered chaos in the markets.
Addressing USMCA - America's trade deal with Canada and Mexico, Mr Trump laid into Mr Carney's predecessor, which fed into his decision to bring the agreement to an end.
Mr Carney responded by saying that US tariffs had “taken advantage” of aspects of USMCA, which he said they would “have to change”.
Despite Mark Carney insisting that Canada is “never” for sale, Donald Trump responded by saying “never say never”.
“Time, it's only time that will tell. I say, never say never,” Mr Trump said, in response to Mr Carney's comments.
Mark Carney has said that Canada will “never” be for sale.
“There are some places that are never for sale. It's true. We're sitting in one right now, Buckingham Palace, you visited as well,” Mr Carney said.
“It's not for sale, won't be for sale ever, but the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together.”
His tough talk follows up on his election pledges to hit back against Donald Trump's threats.
Donald Trump has said that “friendship” is the one concession he would like from Canada.
“we're going to be friends with Canada. Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada. Canada is a very special place to me. I know so many people that live in Canada. My parents had relatives that lived in Canada, my mother in particular.
“And no, I love Canada a lot of I have a lot of respect for the Canadians.”
The president went on to praise the hockey skills of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Carney himself, calling his counterpart a “very good hockey player”.
It comes after Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened to turn Canada into the US 51st state.
Mark Carney has praised Donald Trump as a “transformational president”.
“You're a transformational president. Focus on the economy, with a relentless focus on the American worker, securing your borders, providing ending the scourge of fentanyl and other opioids and securing the world,” Mr Carney enthused.
He added that “we're stronger when we work together”, adding that he is interested in finding areas of “mutual cooperation”.
Donald Trump has said he and Mark Carney intend to discuss the Ukraine war in their meeting today.
“I think we have a lot of things in common. We have some tough, tough points to go over, and that'll be fine,” he said.
“We're going to also be discussing Ukraine, Russia, the war, because Mark wants it ended as quickly as I do. I think it has to end.”
Donald Trump has praised Mark Carney for winning the Canadian election.
“I really want to congratulate him, probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics, maybe even greater than mine,” Mr Trump said, in a show of goodwill towards his counterpart.
“It's an honour to have you at the White House and the Oval Office.”
Mr Carney came from well behind in the polls to win last month's Canadian election on a ticket to counter Mr Trump's threats.
Donald Trump and Mark Carney have taken their seats in the Oval Office ahead of crunch talks between the two world leaders.
As they waited for the event to get under way, the pair sat in silence.
Donald Trump has greeted Mark Carney outside the White House.
Dressed in a navy suit and red-striped tie the president shook the Canadian prime minister's hand and patted him on the shoulder as Mr Carney exited a black car.
The pair exchanged a few words before smiling to the media and both raising their fists in Mr Trump's signature fashion.
They then entered the White House, followed by a delegation of aides, where talks will commence shortly in the Oval Office.
On Cue, Donald Trump has just stepped outside to the White House steps to greet Mark Carney. The prime minister will arrive shortly.
Mark Carney was due to arrive at the White House at 4.30pm (11.30am local time) but the meeting appears to have been delayed.
Proceedings are expected to get under way soon.
Mark Carney vowed to remould Canada's ties with the US ahead of crunch talks with Donald Trump.
“Our old relationship based on steadily increasing integration is over. The questions now are how our nations will cooperate in the future,” Mr Carney said in his first post-election press conference on Friday.
As well as raising defence spending, Mr Carney has said he would “fight to get the best deal” on tariffs with the US.
However, Howard Lutnick, Mr Trump's ultra-loyal commerce secretary, said it would be “really complex” to reach a deal.
“They have their socialist regime and it's basically feeding off of America,” he told Fox Business on Monday. “I just don't see how it works out perfectly.”
On Nov 30, then-Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet Donald Trump to head off tariff threats.
From December, Mr Trump began posting messages on social media about Canada becoming America's “51st state”.
On Feb 1, Mr Trump signed an executive order imposing 25 per cent tariffs on nearly all goods from Canada and Mexico before agreeing to a 30-day pause two days later.
On March 4, Mr Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, prompting Mr Trudeau to respond with 25 per cent retaliatory import taxes on $155 billion of American goods.
On March 10, Ontario, Canada's most populous province, announced its own tariffs, including a 25 percent surcharge on the electricity, sparking fury from Mr Trump.
On March 26, Mr Trump announced a further 25 per cent tariff on imported cars and car parts shipped into the US, including from Canada.
On April 28, Mark Carney was elected Canada's prime minister after calling a snap election and mounting a sweeping come-back, having run on a ticket to combat Mr Trump.
“America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Mr Carney said in his acceptance speech. “President Trump is trying to break us so he can own us. That will never happen.”
Mr Trump has called Mr Carney a “very nice gentleman” but made it clear he believed the Canadian was coming seeking a trade deal.
“He's coming to see me. I'm not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does,” Mr Trump said on Monday.
The Canadian leader has said he will “fight to get the best deal” on the tariffs.
Donald Trump is set to welcome Mark Carney at 4.30pm UK (11.30am local).
This will be followed by an Oval Office meeting and then lunch.
Mr Carney is due to hold a press conference at 8pm UK (3pm local).
Mr Carney be seeking to cool the temperature and move towards a trade deal as he meets Mr Trump in the Oval Office today.
“Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together - and that work starts now,” Mr Carney said on X as he arrived in Washington on Monday.
I've arrived in Washington, D.C. ahead of meetings with President Trump tomorrow. Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together — and that work starts now. pic.twitter.com/24y3EQVDXc
We're bringing you the latest news ahead of Mark Carney and Donald Trump's meeting at the White House.
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Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night, temporarily halting flights at four airports in the Russian capital and nine further afield – as it prepares to host a major military parade expected to be attended by world leaders including China's Xi Jinping.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a Telegram post Tuesday that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to the capital overnight, one night after Russian air defenses shot down four drones near the city.
There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties, but debris from downed drones fell on a major highway, Sobyanin said. Flights were temporarily suspended as a safety precaution at four of the capital's airports, according to Russian aviation authorities. Flights at some of the affected airports, in and outside the capital, have since resumed.
Related article
Russia's Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
The devices launched at Moscow were among 105 Ukrainian drones intercepted across Russia overnight, Russia's defense ministry said on Telegram Tuesday.
The latest Ukrainian attack on the Russian capital comes ahead of Xi's expected arrival in Moscow on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, in which the Chinese leader will take part in Friday's May 9 Victory Day celebrations, according to a Kremlin statement Sunday.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vietnam's President To Lam and Belarussian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko are among 29 leaders expected to attend, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. North Korea will send an ambassador to Moscow – and India, Nicaragua and South Africa will be represented by high-level delegations, he said.
Victory Day is the most significant day in Russian President Vladimir Putin's calendar, as he has long used it to rally public support and demonstrate the country's military prowess.
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of Moscow's Red Square on Friday in an exhibition of patriotism marking the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany and commemorating the more than 25 million Soviet soldiers and civilians who died during World War II.
Kyiv called on international allies not to send troops to Russia's Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, warning that participation would amount to “sharing responsibility for the blood of Ukrainian children, civilians, and military personnel.”
“The participation of foreign military personnel in this event is unacceptable and will be regarded by Ukraine as a desecration of the memory of the victory over Nazism,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
Troops from 13 countries are set to take part in the parade, Russia's presidential aid said. The parade will involve marching units from Azerbaijan, Vietnam, China, and Egypt among others, Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian authorities have already pulled scheduled celebrations in parts of the country – just hours after the Ukrainian salvo overnight. In the south, there will be no Victory Parade in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, or in the city of Krasnador, according to local governors.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-backed head of Sevastopol, announced commemorations were canceled “for security reasons,” in a decision mandated by Russia's defense ministry. Similarly, Kuban Veniamin Kondratyev, the head of Krasnador, warned such celebrations posed “a big risk.”
“An air threat is announced almost every night. Of course, we cannot risk the residents of Krasnodar, those who come to the parade, the participants in the parade,” said Kondratyev.
Putin last month declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with the May 9 celebrations based on what he called “humanitarian considerations,” prompting skepticism in Kyiv.
Following the attacks on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, accused Kyiv of “continuing the war,” insisting that the Easter truce “is still relevant.” But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly criticized the three-day ceasefire, saying he was only ready to sign up for a longer truce of at least 30 days.
Since April 29, when Putin called for the Victory Day truce, the Ukrainian army has accused Moscow of launching around 1,856 attacks along the expansive front lines. In that time, Russian attacks have killed at least 46 civilians and injured another 337 in Ukraine, according to a CNN tally of figures from local authorities and emergency services.
A Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Sumy in central Ukraine on Tuesday killed three people, including a six-year-old boy, Sumy's regional military administration said. Eight people were being treated in medical facilities, two of whom were in “extremely serious condition,” the authorities added.
Meanwhile, the White House renewed calls for a “permanent ceasefire” as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a deal to end the war. But those negotiations have largely stalled.
In a message to dignitaries traveling to Russia for the Victory Day celebrations, the Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv “cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” due to the ongoing conflict.
Kyiv won't be “playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin's exit from isolation on 9 May,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.
In response, Russia's foreign ministry said his comments amounted to a threat.
Zelensky has demanded answers from China in recent weeks, after he revealed that two Chinese fighters had been captured by Ukraine in early April and claimed there were “many more” in Russia's ranks.
Beijing denied any involvement and repeated previous calls for Chinese citizens to “refrain from participating in military actions of any party.”
Kyiv has increasingly turned to drones to level the playing field with Russia, which boasts superior manpower and resources. On Saturday, Ukraine claimed it shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea using a seaborne drone for the first time.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official told CNN the country's military retains a presence inside Russia's Kursk, days after Moscow said it had completely recaptured the western region following a months-long incursion by Kyiv's forces.
This story has been updated with additional information. CNN's Anna Chernova, Victoria Butenko, Kosta Gak, Sophie Tanno, Darya Tarasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Edward Upright, Sana Noor Haq and Eve Brennan contributed reporting.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Same-sex couple says they were appalled after being being confronted and wrongfully accused in women's restroom
A couple visiting Boston says they were left confused and appalled after being forced out of the Liberty Hotel during a Kentucky Derby party on Saturday, following what they describe as being confronted and wrongfully accused in the women's restroom.
Ansley Baker and her girlfriend, Liz Victor, both cisgender women, said a hotel security guard entered the women's bathroom and demanded Baker leave the stall she was using, claiming she didn't belong there.
“All of a sudden there was banging on the door,” Baker recalled to CBS News.
“I pulled my shorts up. I hadn't even tied them. One of the security guards was there telling me to get out of the bathroom, that I was a man in the women's bathroom. I said, ‘I'm a woman.”
Victor, waiting by the sinks, heard the commotion and saw the security guard confronting Baker.
“I looked down and I saw her shoes and that's when I was like, ‘What is going on?” she told the network.
The couple said that once Baker was escorted out, other women in line hurled insults, calling her “a creep” and demanding she be removed. Security staff then allegedly asked both women to show their IDs to confirm their gender. After a heated exchange, they were told to leave the hotel.
In a statement shared with CBS, the Liberty Hotel accuse the two women of sharing one stall: “An incident occurred at the Liberty Hotel on Saturday, May 3 where several women alerted security of two adults sharing a bathroom stall. The bathroom was cleared out as two adults in one stall are not permitted. After leaving the bathroom, a member of the couple from the stall put their hands on our security team and it was then that they were removed from the premises.
“The Liberty Hotel has a zero-tolerance policy for any physical altercations on our property. The safety of our guests and staff is our priority, and this event is under investigation. The Liberty Hotel is and always will be an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and a place where everyone is welcome and celebrated.”
Baker and Victor insist they were never in the same stall and dispute the hotel's account of events.
“Once the stall door opened, and I'm the only one in there, it escalated further,” Baker told Boston News 25. “I don't think that aligns with what they're saying.”
The couple said they have made sure that Boston mayor Michelle Wu's office was aware of their experience in hopes that they can stop a similar situation from happening to anyone else.
They also hope their experience can spark awareness and change.
“We know we're not the only ones that face this kind of thing,” Baker said to CBS. Victor added: “It was a very scary situation, but trans women experience this every single day in the US and across the world.”
The incident comes at a time of heightened tension between the administration and the LGBTQ+ community. Some of Donald Trump's earliest moves in office were to sign executive orders directing the prohibition of gender transitions for people under the age of 19 and banning trans athletes from competing in women's sports.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order called “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”, instructing the federal government to remove “all radical gender ideology guidance, communication, policies, and forms”.
Trump has also limited access and funding for LGBTQ+ arts, with orders that instruct arts organizations not to fund projects that promote “gender ideology” as well as appointing himself chair of the iconic John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The incident also echoed an ongoing Republican talking point centered on bathrooms and gender identity. In November 2024, the South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace introduced a bill to ban Representative Sarah McBride from using the bathroom that corresponds with her gender identity. Speaker Mike Johnson has supported and subsequently enforced that ban.
Liberal candidate Allison Riggs won the race by 734 votes over her conservative opponent, Jefferson Griffin.
A federal judge has ordered an end to efforts by a conservative candidate for the North Carolina State Supreme Court to invalidate thousands of voters' ballots in last year's election, saying that his liberal opponent must be certified the winner of their race.
Conservative Judge Jefferson Griffin lost to incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs in the statewide contest by just 734 votes. Griffin sought to invalidate the election outcome through various methods, including arguing that military and overseas absentee ballots, which do not require photo identification to cast, were illegal and thus should be discounted.
Griffin himself utilized military absentee ballots in both the 2019 and 2020 election cycles.
The case is novel because it seeks to allow a candidate to essentially change the rules of voting after an election takes place, requiring voters to prove themselves legitimate following a complaint over their voting method. Griffin had initially tried to disenfranchise around 65,000 voters.
Judge Richard Myers of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, a Trump appointee, ruled against Griffin's efforts, saying that the North Carolina Board of Elections must formally declare Riggs the winner of the race.
“You establish the rules before the game. You don't change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in his opinion.
Myers noted that the case is about two issues: whether “the federal Constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters,” and whether states may redefine classes of eligible voters “but offer no process to those who may have been misclassified as ineligible.”
“To this court, the answer to each of those questions is ‘no,'” Myers ruled, stating that previous orders by state courts allowing Griffin's complaints to move forward “violate the equal protection and substantive due process rights of overseas military and civilian voters.”
Myers allowed Griffin's legal team seven days to appeal his decision before it can be enforced. It's not clear as of Tuesday morning whether Griffin will pursue the matter further.
In a statement celebrating the ruling, Riggs stated:
Today, we won. I'm proud to continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina's Supreme Court Justice.
Legal experts have decried the challenges from Griffin, noting that they could upend the entire country's electoral processes if allowed to stand.
“It is pretty fair to say that the idea of disenfranchising voters after they have voted — for administrative errors where the voters were clearly legal voters — is an affront to basic principles of democracy and sets a dangerous precedent,” said Steven Greene, a political science professor at N.C. State University. “There seems to be real potential here for opening a Pandora's Box nationwide where legitimate voters face the risk of being disenfranchised after the election.”
An analysis from Rick Hasen, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor and frequent contributor to Election Law Blog, noted that an appeal from Griffin would prolong the case but wouldn't have a strong likelihood of succeeding.
“I expect any appeal would be rejected. … The idea of retroactively changing the rules for which ballots should count — and applying those retroactive rules just selectively in places where the challenging candidate expects to gain relative votes — sure is unconstitutional in any election system that values the rule of law,” Hasen wrote. “The only surprise (and disappointment) here is that the North Carolina Supreme Court was willing to bless this attempted election subversion.”
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Israel struck multiple sites in Yemen's capital Sanaa Tuesday, including the main airport, which the Israeli military said has now been “fully” disabled.
“A short while ago, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport,” the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday, adding that several major power stations in the Sanaa area were also hit.
The IDF said fighter jets “dismantled” the airport within 15 minutes and struck a concrete plant.
At least one person was killed and three others were injured in the airport attack, according to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health.
Israel's military earlier issued an evacuation warning for Yemen's international airport in Sanaa, marking the first time the IDF has put out such a notification in Yemen, more than 1,000 miles from Israel.
Houthi leader Mohammed al-Bukhaiti vowed retaliation against the Israelis, telling Al Arabiya TV on Tuesday: “We will meet escalation with escalation, and there are still multiple targets within the Zionist entity, sensitive targets, which will cost the Zionist entity large losses.”
Related article
Israel strikes targets in Yemen for the first time in months, a day after Houthis attack Tel Aviv airport
Tuesday's attacks mark a significant escalation between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Israeli military that has spiraled rapidly in recent days.
On Sunday, a Houthi ballistic missile penetrated Israel's air defenses and hit near Ben Gurion international airport after several attempts to intercept the missile failed, the IDF said. The strike appears to be the first time Israel's international airport has been successfully targeted by the group.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza, and warned it would “impose a comprehensive air blockade” on Israel by “repeatedly targeting airports,” especially Ben Gurion. It called on international airlines to plan accordingly and cancel all scheduled flights to Israeli airports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then vowed retaliation.
“We acted before, we will act in the future too. I can't elaborate all of that. The US, in coordination with us, is also operating against them. It's not ‘one and done' - but there will be hits,” he said in a video address posted on social media Sunday.
In a post to X later, he also promised a response to Iran: “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
That retaliation began on Monday when Israeli forces carried out a series of strikes against the port in Hodeidah – Yemen's second largest – and a nearby cement factory, killing at least one person and injuring another 35 people, according to the Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that 20 of its fighter jets took part in that mission – the first Israeli strikes in Yemen in months – hitting dozens of Houthi targets in Hodeidah and surrounding areas. The Houthi-run TV channel Al-Masirah said the port of Hodeidah was hit at least six times and confirmed the attack on the nearby cement factory.
The IDF claimed the Hodeidah seaport “is used for the transfer of Iranian weapons, equipment for military purposes, and other terror-related need(s).”
Israel struck Sanaa international airport in December, killing at least three people and injuring 30 others, according to the Houthi-run al-Masirah satellite television network.
This story has been updated.
CNN's Kareem Khadder contributed reporting.
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NYC Mayor Eric Adams's office threatened to revoke the license of the concert organizers if the event wasn't cancelled.
New York City event organizers have cancelled a Pride month concert by R&B artist Kehlani after pressure from Mayor Eric Adams's office against the outspoken pro-Palestine artist.
The concert, billed as “Pride with Kehlani,” was slated to take place on June 26 in Central Park. It was organized by nonprofit SummerStage, which puts on free concerts across New York.
The group cited supposed “safety” concerns, which they said were brought to them by the mayor's office, as well as “controversy surrounding Cornell University's” recent cancellation of a performance by the singer over their pro-Palestine views.
The New York performance cancellation has also seemingly come as a direct result of Kehlani's vocal support of Palestinian rights.
In a letter to SummerStage sent Monday by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the mayor's office directly cited Cornell's cancellation of the performance — and threatened to revoke SummerStage's license and refer the matter to the police to determine if there was a “risk to public safety” posed by the concert.
“If the foundation does not promptly take steps to ensure public safety, the city reserves all rights and remedies to the foundation's license,” Mastro wrote.
After the group cancelled the show, the mayor's office seemed to admit that the goal of the letter was to get the concert nixed.
A spokesperson for Adams's office said in a statement that the administration is “grateful to the City Parks Foundation for responding to our concerns and canceling the Kehlani concert in Central Park,” per The New York Times. Adams, a Democrat, has been a key figure empowering the violent police crackdown on pro-Palestine activists on New York City campuses.
Late last month, Cornell cancelled a performance by Kehlani, citing their “anti-Israel sentiments” and claiming, without evidence, that they have espoused antisemitic sentiments.
The Grammy-nominated singer has spoken up numerous times against Israel's genocide in Gaza. The artist, for instnace, incorporated pro-Palestinian imagery in a 2024 music video for their song, “Next 2 U.” In the video, the singer and background dancers wore outfits made with keffiyeh material, while they performed in front of a Palestinian flag. The beginning of the video shows a poem by Palestinian American poet Hala Alyan, and the phrase “long live the intifada.”
In response to Cornell's cancellation, Kehlani said in a video posted online, “I'm being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again for the millionth time that I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew.”
“I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government,” they said. “I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women. That's what I'm anti.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) New York had previously condemned Cornell's cancellation as suppression of free speech.
“The decision to cancel Kehlani's performance comes after Cornell University has repeatedly suppressed student protests for Palestine and against genocide,” said CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher.
“We strongly condemn Cornell not just for cancelling Kehlani's performance due to her pro-Palestinian stance, but for clearly demonstrating its lack of commitment to free speech and diverse opinion by policing the speech and opinion only of political beliefs in support of Palestine,” Nasher went on.
Kehlani is the latest in a long line of artists, writers and academics who are Palestinian or who have spoken out about Palestinian rights who have faced event cancellations and other retaliation amid the genocide. Recently, Irish band Kneecap faced a deluge of negative press and threats of legal retaliation from U.K. authorities after speaking out for Palestinian rights during a performance at Coachella, in California.
At this moment, we are witnessing a terrifying array of anti-democratic tactics to silence political opposition, increase surveillance and expand authoritarian reach.
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Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master's degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter and Bluesky.
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Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow for the second consecutive night, temporarily halting flights at four airports in the Russian capital and nine further afield – as it prepares to host a major military parade expected to be attended by world leaders including China's Xi Jinping.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a Telegram post Tuesday that at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed on their approach to the capital overnight, one night after Russian air defenses shot down four drones near the city.
There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties, but debris from downed drones fell on a major highway, Sobyanin said. Flights were suspended as a safety precaution at four of the capital's airports, according to Russian aviation authorities.
Related article
Russia's Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
The devices launched at Moscow were among 105 Ukrainian drones intercepted across Russia overnight, Russia's defense ministry said on Telegram Tuesday.
The latest Ukrainian attack on the Russian capital comes ahead of Xi's expected arrival in Moscow on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, in which the Chinese leader will take part in Friday's May 9 Victory Day celebrations, according to a Kremlin statement Sunday.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vietnam's President To Lam and Belarussian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko are among 29 leaders expected to attend, according to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. North Korea will send an ambassador to Moscow – and India, Nicaragua and South Africa will be represented by high-level delegations, he said.
Victory Day is the most significant day in Russian President Vladimir Putin's calendar, as he has long used it to rally public support and demonstrate the country's military prowess.
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of Moscow's Red Square on Friday in an exhibition of patriotism marking the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany and commemorating the more than 25 million Soviet soldiers and civilians who died during World War II.
Kyiv called on international allies not to send troops to Russia's Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, warning that participation would amount to “sharing responsibility for the blood of Ukrainian children, civilians, and military personnel.”
“The participation of foreign military personnel in this event is unacceptable and will be regarded by Ukraine as a desecration of the memory of the victory over Nazism,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
Troops from 13 countries are set to take part in the parade, Russia's presidential aid said. The parade will involve marching units from Azerbaijan, Vietnam, China, and Egypt among others, Ushakov said, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Russian authorities have already pulled scheduled celebrations in parts of the country – just hours after the Ukrainian salvo overnight. In the south, there will be no Victory Parade in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, or in the city of Krasnador, according to local governors.
Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Russian-backed head of Sevastopol, announced commemorations were canceled “for security reasons,” in a decision mandated by Russia's defense ministry. Similarly, Kuban Veniamin Kondratyev, the head of Krasnador, warned such celebrations posed “a big risk.”
“An air threat is announced almost every night. Of course, we cannot risk the residents of Krasnodar, those who come to the parade, the participants in the parade,” said Kondratyev.
Putin last month declared a unilateral three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to coincide with the May 9 celebrations based on what he called “humanitarian considerations,” prompting skepticism in Kyiv.
Following the attacks on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, accused Kyiv of “continuing the war,” insisting that the Easter truce “is still relevant.” But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly criticized the three-day ceasefire, saying he was only ready to sign up for a longer truce of at least 30 days.
Since April 29, when Putin called for the Victory Day truce, the Ukrainian army has accused Moscow of launching around 1,856 attacks along the expansive frontlines. In that time, Russian attacks have killed at least 44 civilians and injured another 335 in Ukraine, according to a CNN tally of figures from local authorities and emergency services.
A Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Sumy in central Ukraine on Tuesday killed one child and injured six people, most of whom were also children, Sumy's regional military administration said. One child was left in “extremely serious condition,” the authorities added.
Meanwhile, the White House renewed calls for a “permanent ceasefire” as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a deal to end the war. But those negotiations have largely stalled.
In a message to dignitaries traveling to Russia for the Victory Day celebrations, the Ukrainian leader warned that Kyiv “cannot be responsible for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” due to the ongoing conflict.
Kyiv won't be “playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin's exit from isolation on 9 May,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday.
In response, Russia's foreign ministry said his comments amounted to a threat.
Zelensky has demanded answers from China in recent weeks, after he revealed that two Chinese fighters had been captured by Ukraine in early April and claimed there were “many more” in Russia's ranks.
Beijing denied any involvement and repeated previous calls for Chinese citizens to “refrain from participating in military actions of any party.”
Kyiv has increasingly turned to drones to level the playing field with Russia, which boasts superior manpower and resources. On Saturday, Ukraine claimed it shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet in the Black Sea using a seaborne drone for the first time.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official told CNN the country's military retains a presence inside Russia's Kursk, days after Moscow said it had completely recaptured the western region following a months-long incursion by Kyiv's forces.
This story has been updated with additional information. CNN's Anna Chernova, Victoria Butenko, Kosta Gak, Sophie Tanno, Darya Tarasova, Daria Tarasova-Markina, Edward Upright, Sana Noor Haq and Eve Brennan contributed reporting.
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MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. US officials are aware of Russia's views on Ukraine and understand how they could bring about lasting peace if put into practice, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov said.
"Our American colleagues are well aware of our position and have an idea how, if we follow through with implementing our position, we can come to a durable peace settlement," he told reporters when asked about discussing with the US the conditions for a Ukraine settlement that Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward in June 2024.
"The Americans certainly are aware of what we have proposed and that we have declared a three-day ceasefire in connection with Victory Day celebrations. And probably many people took note that yesterday President Trump praised this step by the Russian leadership," the aide said.
Territorial issues have also been actively discussed during the talks, he went on to say.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in June 2024 named the conditions for talks with Ukraine, which included withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbass and Novorossiya, an end to Kiev's aspirations to join NATO, lifting all Western sanctions against Moscow, and Ukraine's commitment to uphold a non-aligned and nuclear-free status and fully respect the rights, freedoms and interests of its Russian-speaking citizens.
The ceasefire that President Vladimir Putin announced for Victory in Europe Day will last from midnight on May 8 to midnight on May 11. According to the Kremlin, all hostilities will be halted for the period. Vladimir Zelensky rejected the proposal, demanding a longer pause and setting his own terms. He also threatened the celebrations in Moscow.
Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on May 5.Abdel Kareem Hana/The Canadian Press
An Israeli plan to seize the Gaza Strip and expand the military operation has alarmed many in the region. Palestinians are exhausted and hopeless, pummelled by 19 months of heavy bombing. Families of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are terrified that the possibility of a ceasefire is slipping further away.
“What's left for you to bomb?” asked Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City who said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.
Israeli officials said Monday that Cabinet ministers approved the plan to seize Gaza and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time – news that came hours after the military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. It may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, about 35 of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel's ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don't distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry, and thirsty.”
Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament Monday as the government opened for its summer session. One person was arrested.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.
“I don't see the expansion of the war as a solution – it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from the year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli-American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7 attack.
The father is pinning some hopes on U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don't plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump's visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal. Trump isn't expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American-Israeli held in Gaza who is still believed to be alive.
Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the plan.
“We hope it's merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it's unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.
Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in a desperate attempt to bring food to their families.
“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There's no food, no flour, nothing.”
Israel cut off Gaza from all imports in early March, leading to dire shortages of food, medicine and other supplies. Israel says the goal is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining hostages.
Aid organizations have warned that malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. The United Nations says the vast majority of the population relies on aid.
Aid groups have expressed concerns that gains to avert famine made during this year's ceasefire have been diminishing.
Like most aid groups in Gaza, Tikeya has run out of most food and has cooked almost exclusively pasta for the past two weeks.
Nidal Abu Helal, a displaced man from Rafah who works at the charity, said that the group is increasingly concerned that people, especially children, will die of starvation.
“We're not afraid of dying from missiles,” he said. “We're afraid that our children will die of hunger in front of us.”
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A chilling report on the spike in violence against abortion providers should concern us all.
A chilling report on the spike in violence against abortion providers should concern us all.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, abortion bans have spread widely across the South and Midwest. Abortion is totally or near-totally banned in 16 states, and these bans have forced the closure of 42 clinics in the U.S., according to The Guttmacher Institute.
For the clinics that have remained open, it hasn't been a smooth ride, either. In 2023 alone, more than 170,000 abortion seekers were forced to travel out of state to access care. That is a dramatic influx in patients for abortion clinics in states where abortion remains legal. But it's not just an increase in patients that clinics are forced to deal with in post-Roe America — they must also contend with the ongoing, and in some places, increasing acts of anti-abortion violence.
The National Abortion Federation (NAF) recently released statistics on abortion clinic disruption and violence for 2023 and 2024, and their findings are harrowing. In the two years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court ruling, there were more than 750 cases of obstruction of a clinic, nearly 300 death threats or threats of harm, and more than 600 cases of trespassing. That's a case of obstruction for most days since Roe was overturned. And that's just the incidents accounted for in NAF's report — the number of incidents of harassment and violence targeting abortion providers is likely higher due to unreported incidents.
The findings on violence against abortion clinics reveals a steady increase that should alarm anyone who supports abortion access. The number of incidents of assault and battery increased by 137 percent from 2021-2022, obstructions increased by 134 percent, and picketing increased by nearly 72 percent. From 2010 to 2019, NAF documented 15 cases of arson against abortion clinics. From 2020 to 2024, there have been 14 arson attacks — nearly the same number in less than half the time.
Now, with the same president back in office who appointed the three Supreme Court justices who promptly voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and an administration decidedly acrimonious to abortion rights, that level of protection — even if mostly superficial — is now gone.
But violence against abortion providers is sadly nothing new. It has remained consistent since Roe v. Wade was initially decided, and the end of Roe has only exacerbated it. Since Roe was decided in 1973, disruption and violence against abortion clinics has been a constant tool of abortion opponents to disrupt access to abortion care and terrorize both providers and patients.
Since 1973, 11 abortion providers and clinic staff have been murdered, and 26 others have survived attempted murder. There have been 42 bombings, 206 arson attacks, more than 600 cases of assault and battery against abortion clinic staff, and four kidnappings. Abortion providers routinely fear violence because of this very long-standing track record.
But it's not just acts of violence that make abortion providers uneasy. Picketing, obstruction and even trespassing have been used by abortion opponents to make accessing an abortion as difficult as possible. The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue brought thousands of aggressive protesters to the front door of clinics to wreak havoc — they would chain themselves to clinic doors, lay down in traffic, and go to other elaborate lengths to keep abortion clinics from opening their doors. Once anti-abortion activists started murdering abortion providers in 1993, the federal government was finally forced to intervene.
The result was the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the FACE Act made it a felony to obstruct the entrance of a reproductive health facility, and violators face up to 10 years in prison. (However, this did not halt attacks on abortion providers: In 2009, Kansas-based abortion provider George Tiller was murdered while attending church, and in 2015, an anti-abortion extremist opened fire at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado, killing three people.) The FACE Act is still law, but it also requires a sympathetic Justice Department to enforce it, and that is unlikely now. In his first week in office this term, Donald Trump pardoned and released anti-abortion activists who blockaded a Washington, D.C. clinic, including Lauren Handy, who were convicted under the FACE Act during the Biden administration. Calling it “a great honor” to free them, Trump and his administration have made clear that, even if the FACE Act still technically exists, his administration has absolutely no intention of using it to protect clinics.
That's what makes NAF's report even more daunting — aggression and violence against abortion clinics haven't stopped, and now, they're likely to be given even greater leeway by a hostile administration. “The FACE Act is there to act as protection for clinics and for folks who access abortion care, to protect their safety and ability to access those clinics freely,” Amy Friedrich-Karnik, federal policy director at the Guttmacher Institute, recently told Truthout. “I think it's a signal to the anti-abortion movement that they are allowed to harass people outside of clinics as patients try to enter and clinic staff try to go to work. We'll have to see how that plays out, but I think it's a very, very scary message to send and say they aren't going to be enforcing this traditionally bipartisan law.”
Abortion providers are already swamped by an increase in patients from banned states, and the mass closure of clinics across the South and the Midwest makes it easier for anti-abortion protesters to target them.
In my book, Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America, I detail the costs of persistent anti-abortion protesting at clinics (more than 1 million reported cases since 1973, according to NAF), and the clinic escorts and defenders who volunteered to protect abortion providers and patients when the local, state and federal government wouldn't. Everyday volunteers showed up, creating a safety net that otherwise wouldn't have existed, to help patients enter abortion clinics past the throngs of screaming and aggressive anti-abortion protesters throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Now, with a Justice Department admittedly hostile to the FACE Act and the same president who appointed the very justices who overturned Roe v. Wade backing impunity for people who have committed violence against abortion providers, abortion providers won't have much in the way of legal support. The makeshift safety net that abortion advocates have created — abortion funds, practical support organizations and clinic escorts — will be forced to try to bridge that growing gap between the law and accessibility, all while putting themselves at risk of aggression and violence. One thing is clear — the safety of abortion providers won't be helped by the federal government. Once again, abortion advocates are going to have to do it for themselves.
At this moment, we are witnessing a terrifying array of anti-democratic tactics to silence political opposition, increase surveillance and expand authoritarian reach.
Truthout is appealing for your support as Trump and his sycophants crack down on political speech. Nonprofits like Truthout could be caught in Trump's crosshairs as he attacks dissenting groups with bad faith lawsuits and targeted harassment of journalists.
As well, these attacks come at a time when independent journalism is most needed. The right-wing corporate takeover of media has left reliable outlets few and far between, with even fewer providing their work at no cost to the reader. Who will be there to hold the fascists to account, if not media like Truthout?
We ask for your support as we doggedly pursue justice through our reporting. Truthout is funded overwhelmingly by readers like you. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation today.
Lauren Rankin is the author of Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America, about the legacy of everyday volunteers on the fight for abortion right. Her writing has been featured at the Washington Post, The Cut, Fast Company, Slate, Teen Vogue, TIME, and many more. She spent six years as a clinic escort in New Jersey and is on the board of A is For, a reproductive rights advocacy nonprofit.
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Mik Bartels is among those fearful of Trump's America, partly because their research includes 20 words on US government's list of banned terms
Queer Australians are axing travel plans to Washington DC's World Pride festival, as Donald Trump's executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ rights leads to fears of discrimination at the US border and potential attacks.
People skipping the international event join other Australians and travellers from around the world who are avoiding the US after Trump's inauguration and a string of controversial policies enacted in the early months of his second term as president.
Washington DC will host the 2025 edition of World Pride from 23 May to 8 June, with tens of thousands of domestic and international tourists originally expected to travel to the capital for events including a parade, concerts, street festivals, lectures and a human rights conference.
When Sydney hosted World Pride in 2023, more than 1 million people attended the festival, with about 100,000 tourists visiting the city, including 21,000 international travellers who injected more than $228m into the New South Wales economy, an analysis from Deloitte found.
The Guardian was contacted by LGBTQ+ Australians, including trans and same-sex couples, who had scheduled trips to the US to incorporate World Pride but in recent weeks ditched their plans.
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Mik Bartels is among them. The University of Canberra student, who is examining LGBTIQ+ discrimination in healthcare for their PhD, was offered a scholarship that covered travel expenses to attend World Pride's human rights conference.
Bartels had attended the conference at the 2023 World Pride in Sydney and found it valuable for their research.
“It brings together people from all disciplines – community leaders, scholars, academics from around the world,” they said.
“I got so much out of the 2023 conference, so when I got the offer, I thought this would be amazing to travel to Washington DC. So I accepted it. I hadn't really read many reports of people being detained or denied entry at the time.”
However, after an Equality Australia travel warning and recent reports of discrimination in the US, they decided to withdraw their acceptance of the funded trip.
“Given my appearance as identifiably queer, my academic profile being centred on LGBTIQ+ discrimination, and my online presence where I am openly queer, I was not confident that I would be able to get into the US without being detained,” they said.
“I'm conscious of the US government's list of banned words in academic research – my own research includes about 20 of those words.
“I'm also hyper aware of how I present myself online. I'm quite visibly queer in how I look and dress. I realised there was a very real possibility of being detained. I didn't withdraw the acceptance lightly, but felt [that] for my own safety, I needed to.”
Beyond the risk of discrimination from customs and border officials, Bartels said their partner had raised safety concerns about World Pride itself.
“Even though Washington DC is quite progressive, you can be worried about gun violence at any queer event in the US.”
Missing out on the conference and World Pride was a “double whammy”, Bartels said.
“When you spend a lot of your life building the confidence to carve out a space for yourself, that becomes a lifelong journey. Opportunities to celebrate that journey and to demonstrate my relationship proudly are rare, so for this to be taken away, it can feel like a bit of a kick in the guts,” Bartels said.
“The irony of not being able to attend a human rights conference due to a possible lack of human rights is not lost on me.”
Reports of valid passport and visa holders being denied entry, and of mistreatment at the hands of customs and border officials, prompted Equality Australia in April to issue a specific warning to gender-diverse Australians and those with a record of LGBTQ+ or political activism.
Equality Australia said travelling to the US carried “serious risks” of being denied entry, being mistreated or even being detained.
World Pride organisers announced this week they were relocating events set to be hosted at the Kennedy Center – which Donald Trump took over this year – to an alternative venue because of “inhospitable” conditions, including the banning of drag performances.
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A Canberra trans woman, who asked not to be named, is another Australian who has cancelled their trip to the US.
She and her wife had planned a holiday in California, where her wife grew up, before going to Washington DC for World Pride.
“Even though the specific locations we were planning to visit are known for being progressive, the risks that I face as a trans woman in being arbitrarily turned back or detained at the border are too high,” she said.
“Considering the hostile actions the Trump administration is taking against queer and gender-diverse Americans, unfortunately we don't envisage being able to visit any time soon.”
Other Australian families have cancelled holidays to the US because of fears of how border officials would process their gay or trans children, they told Guardian Australia in response to a reader callout in April.
The cancellations follow reports of gender-diverse and politically active travellers facing discrimination at the hands of US border officials.
Separately, an Australian man with a working visa who was detained and deported on returning to the US, alleged border officials called him “retarded” and boasted “Trump is back in town”.
An award-winning Australian comedian cancelled a planned trip to the US after receiving legal advice that she could be stopped at the border due to her previous jokes about the Trump administration.
Australian academics are refusing to attend US conferences for fear of being detained.
Equality Australia legal adviser Heather Corkhill said Australians, particularly trans and gender-diverse travellers, “need to think carefully” before booking tickets to World Pride.
“While Washington DC is generally more progressive, travellers to World Pride should be mindful that visiting other states comes with risks like being arrested or fined for using the ‘wrong' bathroom,” Corkhill said
“Even in the capitol and its office buildings, trans people are unable to use single sex bathrooms and changing rooms that align with who they are.”
The president and CEO of Washington DC's official tourism arm Destination DC, Elliott Ferguson, said millions of people were expected to attend World Pride 2025.
He acknowledged the reports of some people abandoning trips but insisted they were in the minority.
“We have not heard of any widespread cancellations and remain optimistic that turnout will be strong,” Ferguson said, speaking on behalf of World Pride 2025.
“Our message is you are safe and welcome here. The concerns of the community are exactly why World Pride is so important. Washington DC is a place to advocate and make your voice heard.”
Group demands university cut ties with Boeing over company's military contracts with Israel
More than two dozen pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on Monday night at the University of Washington in Seattle after they occupied an engineering building and set dumpsters on fire.
The protest group, called Super UW, occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building to demand that the university sever its ties with Boeing, as the aerospace company has military contracts which the students say “are used by Israel in their US-funded genocide of Palestinian people”.
“UW students want Boeing off our campus,” the group wrote on Facebook on Monday.
Boeing notably gave the school a $10m donation to build the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in 2022.
Officers with Washington state patrol's rapid deployment teams along with campus police and Seattle police broke up the occupation of the university's engineering building, a Washington state patrol spokesperson told CNN.
A university spokesperson, Victor Balta, told NBC News that university police and other law enforcement officers began clearing away crowds of supporters, many wearing black masks, outside the building at 10.30pm before police moved inside at 11pm.
“About 30 individuals who occupied the building were arrested on charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit all three, will be referred to the King county prosecutor's office,” Balta said in a statement to the network.
He said that the group had created a “dangerous environment” in and around the building, blocked entrances by stacking furniture and setting fire to two dumpsters on the street outside.
The university's statement also said it “strongly condemns this illegal building occupation” and an unspecified “antisemitic statement” made by a suspended student group. The university added that it would “not be intimidated by this offensive and destructive behavior”.
Super UW said on its Facebook page that it had “launched an occupation of the new Boeing-funded engineering building” and was staging the protest over the aviation company's defense contracts and arms sales to Israel.
“We're hoping to remove the influence of Boeing and other manufacturing companies from our educational space, period, and we're hoping to expose the repressive tactics of the university,” a Super UW spokesperson, Eric Horford, told KOMO News.
The group is calling for the building to be renamed the Shaban al-Dalou Building, after a teenage engineering student who was killed by a bomb in Gaza.
In a post on Medium, Super UW said: “We are taking this building amidst the current and renewed wave of the student Intifada, following the uprising of student action for Palestine after the heroic victory of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th, which shattered the illusion of zionist-imperialist domination and brought Palestine to the forefront for all justice-loving people of the world.”
The group notes that they believe the UW administration “prioritizes their ability to rake in blood money over the demands of their students and workers”.
The Super UW protest is a sign that US universities could see a repeat of last year's pro-Palestinian encampments and building-occupations. The University of Washington was among the colleges with a pro-Palestinian encampment in place for weeks before the university's president called for it to be dismantled after antisemitic and violent graffiti was discovered on various buildings.
On social media on Monday night, the UW Jewish Alumni Association expressed disappointment that university leadership failed to prevent the demonstration, posting on X that it was “an absolute disgrace. UW leadership has risked everyone's safety rather than get a grip on its antisemitism problem”.
The Guardian has contacted the University of Washington for comment.
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Israel struck multiple sites in Yemen's capital Sanaa Tuesday, including the main airport, which the Israeli military said has now been “fully” disabled.
“A short while ago, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport,” the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday, adding that several major power stations in the Sanaa area were also hit.
Israel's military earlier issued an evacuation warning for Yemen's international airport in Sanaa, marking the first time the IDF has put out such a notification in Yemen, more than 1,000 miles from Israel.
Houthi leader Mohammed al-Bukhaiti vowed retaliation against the Israelis, telling Al Arabiya TV on Tuesday: “We will meet escalation with escalation, and there are still multiple targets within the Zionist entity, sensitive targets, which will cost the Zionist entity large losses.”
Related article
Israel strikes targets in Yemen for the first time in months, a day after Houthis attack Tel Aviv airport
Tuesday's attacks mark a significant escalation between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Israeli military that has spiraled rapidly in recent days.
On Sunday, a Houthi ballistic missile penetrated Israel's air defenses and hit near Ben Gurion international airport after several attempts to intercept the missile failed, the IDF said. The strike appears to be the first time Israel's international airport has been successfully targeted by the group.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza, and warned it would “impose a comprehensive air blockade” on Israel by “repeatedly targeting airports,” especially Ben Gurion. It called on international airlines to plan accordingly and cancel all scheduled flights to Israeli airports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then vowed retaliation.
“We acted before, we will act in the future too. I can't elaborate all of that. The US, in coordination with us, is also operating against them. It's not ‘one and done' - but there will be hits,” he said in a video address posted on social media Sunday.
In a post to X later, he also promised a response to Iran: “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
That retaliation began on Monday when Israeli forces carried out a series of strikes against the port in Hodeidah – Yemen's second largest – and a nearby cement factory, killing at least one person and injuring another 35 people, according to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that 20 of its fighter jets took part in that mission – the first Israeli strikes in Yemen in months – hitting dozens of Houthi targets in Hodeidah and surrounding areas. The Houthi-run TV channel Al-Masirah said the port of Hodeidah was hit at least six times and confirmed the attack on the nearby cement factory.
The IDF claimed the Hodeidah seaport “is used for the transfer of Iranian weapons, equipment for military purposes, and other terror-related need(s).”
Israel struck Sanaa international airport in December, killing at least three people and injuring 30 others, according to the Houthi-run al-Masirah satellite television network.
This story has been updated.
CNN's Kareem Khadder contributed reporting.
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Republican Jefferson Griffin had sought to throw out votes for Democrat Allison Riggs in supreme court election
North Carolina election officials must certify Democrat Allison Riggs as the winner of a state supreme court election, a federal judge ruled on Monday, a significant development in the only race that has remained undecided from last year.
Riggs, who currently sits on the court, defeated Jefferson Griffin, a Republican appellate judge, by 734 votes last November. Multiple recounts confirmed her win. But after election day, Griffin challenged more than 60,000 votes, mostly in Democratic-leaning counties, saying that election officials had wrongly allowed them to count.
Richard Myers II, a district judge and Trump appointee, agreed with Riggs and said that Griffin was essentially trying to change the rules of the election after election day.
“This case concerns whether the federal constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters, and in so doing treat those voters differently than other similarly situated individuals. This case is also about whether a state may redefine its class of eligible voters but offer no process to those who may have been misclassified as ineligible,” Myers wrote in his opinion. “To this court, the answer to each of those questions is ‘no.'”
Griffin's challenges focused on three groups of voters. The largest was tens of thousands of people whose voter records lacked a driver's license number or the last four digits of their social security numbers. A few thousand more were overseas voters who had failed to provide photo ID. There was also a smaller group of voters who were labeled “never residents” – people who had turned 18 while living abroad and claimed North Carolina as their residence.
It was clear from the start that many of the challenged voters were eligible to cast a ballot. Riggs' parents were among those challenged. The Guardian and other news outlets spoke to several challenged “never residents” who said they were temporarily abroad, had lived in North Carolina, and were confused about why they were being challenged.
What was seen as a quixotic effort quickly turned into concern for voting advocates when the North Carolina court of appeals ruled in Griffin's favor, saying more than 60,000 voters had to prove their eligibility. The North Carolina supreme court later narrowed the number of ballots at issue to around 1,500.
The fact that courts were even willing to entertain a post-election effort to challenge rules set well in advance of voting, experts said, is an alarming development and may lay out a playbook to overturn future elections.
“You establish the rules before the game. You don't change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote. He also paused his opinion for seven days to give Griffin a chance to appeal. Griffin's campaign told the Associated Press Monday night they were evaluating the ruling.
“Today, we won. I'm proud to continue upholding the constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina's supreme court justice,” Riggs said in a statement.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on as President Donald Trump delivers remarks in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, on March 21.Carlos Barria/Reuters
Roughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the U.S. military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a U.S. base in Qatar: Stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and bound for Ukraine.
In a matter of hours, frantic questions reached Washington from Ukrainians in Kyiv and from officials in Poland, where the shipments were co-ordinated. Who had ordered the U.S. Transportation Command, known as TRANSCOM, to halt the flights? Was it a permanent pause on all aid? Or just some?
Top national security officials – in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department – couldn't provide answers. Within one week, flights were back in the air.
The verbal order originated from the office of Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defence, according to TRANSCOM records reviewed by Reuters. A TRANSCOM spokesperson said the command received the order via the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
The cancellations came after Trump wrapped up a January 30 Oval Office meeting about Ukraine that included Hegseth and other top national security officials, according to three sources familiar with the situation. During the meeting, the idea of stopping Ukraine aid came up, said two people with knowledge of the meeting, but the president issued no instruction to stop aid to Ukraine.
The president was unaware of Hegseth's order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, according to two sources briefed on the private White House discussions and another with direct knowledge of the matter.
Asked to comment on this report, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration's position at the time. It did not explain why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, top national security officials in the normal decision making process didn't know about the order or why it was so swiftly reversed.
“Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman. “The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”
The cancellations cost TRANSCOM $2.2 million, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In response to a request for comment, TRANSCOM said that the total cost was $1.6 million – 11 flights were cancelled but one incurred no charge.
An order halting military aid authorized under the Biden administration went into effect officially a month later, on March 4, with a White House announcement.
The story of how flights were cancelled, detailed by Reuters for the first time, points to an at-times haphazard policy-making process within the Trump administration and a command structure that is unclear even to its own ranking members. The multiday pause of the flights, confirmed by five people with knowledge of it, also shows confusion in how the administration has created and implemented national security policy. At the Pentagon, the disarray is an open secret, with many current and former officials saying the department is plagued by internal disagreements on foreign policy, deep-seated grudges, and inexperienced staff.
Reuters couldn't establish exactly when Hegseth's office ordered the freight flights cancelled. Two sources said Ukrainian and European officials began asking about the pause on February 2. The TRANSCOM records indicate that there was a verbal order from “SECDEF” – the secretary of defence – that stopped the flights and that they had resumed by February 5.
“This is consistent with the administration's policy to move fast, break things and sort it out later. That is their managing philosophy,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine officer and defence expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “That is great for Silicon Valley. But when you're talking about institutions that have been around for hundreds of years, you are going to run into problems.”
The stop in shipments caused consternation in Kyiv.
The Ukrainians quickly asked the administration through multiple channels but had difficulty obtaining any useful information, according to a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the situation. In later conversations with the Ukrainians, the administration wrote off the pause as “internal politics,” said the source. Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The shipping of American weapons to Ukraine requires sign-off from multiple agencies and can take weeks or even months to complete, depending on the size of the cargo. The majority of US military assistance goes through a logistics hub in Poland before being picked up by Ukrainian representatives and transported into the country.
That hub can hold shipments for extended periods of time. It's not clear if the 11 cancelled flights were the only ones scheduled that week in February, how much aid was already stockpiled in Poland and if it continued to flow into Ukraine despite the U.S. military's orders. The revelations come at a time of upheaval in the department. Several of Hegseth's top advisers were escorted from the building April 15 after being accused of unauthorized disclosure of classified information. The secretary continues to face scrutiny, including from Congress, about his own communications. Previously he's attributed allegations of upheaval to disgruntled employees. The cancelled flights contained weapons that had long been approved by the Biden administration, authorized by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Reuters couldn't determine if Hegseth or his team knew how the order to TRANSCOM would play out or that the order would be a substantial change in U.S. policy on Ukraine. Three sources familiar with the situation said Hegseth misinterpreted discussions with the president about Ukraine policy and aid shipments without elaborating further.
Four other people briefed on the situation said a small cadre of staffers inside the Pentagon, many of whom have never held a government job and who have for years spoken out against U.S. aid to Ukraine, advised Hegseth to consider pausing aid to the country.
Two people familiar with the matter denied there was a true cutoff in aid. One of them described it as a logistical pause.
“(They) just wanted to get a handle on what was going on and people, as a result, misinterpreted that as: ‘You need to stop everything,'” said one.
According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, Hegseth arrived at the January 30 Oval Office meeting with Trump with a memo drafted by some of his top policy advisers, advocating that their boss push the White House to consider pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine to gain leverage in peace negotiations with Russia. The sources said the secretary attended the meeting with other top officials involved in Ukraine policy, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg. The group broadly discussed U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, including potentially tightening sanctions on Moscow.
It's not clear the extent to which Hegseth proposed stopping aid during the meeting, but the idea came up in discussions, said one of the sources and another person familiar with the meeting.
Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the U.S. had approved billions of dollars worth of military aid to Ukraine. Most was delivered under the Biden administration. But a few shipments remained in the pipeline, scheduled into this summer.
Trump had threatened to freeze aid repeatedly on the campaign trail, but had yet to do so. And during the meeting, he again declined to stop aid to Ukraine or order Hegseth to implement any policy changes when it came to sending equipment to Kyiv, the sources said.
An order effectively freezing any military support for an ally would normally be discussed intensively among top national security officials and approved by the president. It requires the co-ordination of multiple agencies and often multiple freight companies.
None of that discussion or co-ordination happened when Hegseth's office cancelled the scheduled flights carrying American artillery shells and ammunition to Poland from Al Udeid military base in the United Arab Emirates and the Dover U.S. military base in Delaware, three of the sources said.
The pause came as Ukraine's military was struggling to fend off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been expelled.
Close Trump advisers got tipped off to the pause by Pentagon staffers and discussed with the president whether to restore the aid shipments, according to two sources. By then, TRANSCOM had cancelled 11 flights, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. Some media outlets, including Reuters, wrote about the pause but Hegseth's role was previously unknown.
It's unclear if Trump subsequently questioned or reprimanded Hegseth. One source with direct knowledge of the matter said National Security Adviser Waltz ultimately intervened to reverse the cancellations. Waltz was forced out on Thursday and is expected to be nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
When Trump entered office, aid to Ukraine continued flowing and he pledged to work with Ukraine and Russia to end the war – or at the very least broker a ceasefire.
Two of his most prominent envoys, Kellogg, a supporter of Kyiv who worked with Trump in his first administration, and Steve Witkoff, a real-estate magnate and close friend of the president, set out to negotiate with both parties.
Separately, at the Pentagon, some of Hegseth's policy advisers privately started drafting proposals to pull back American support for Ukraine, according to two sources briefed on the matter.
That group of staffers align themselves closely with the anti-interventionist philosophy.
Some have previously advised Republican lawmakers advocating for an America-first approach to foreign policy and have called publicly, in writings and talks, for the U.S. to pull back from military commitments in the Mideast and Europe – a view similarly held by Vice President JD Vance. Several have advocated that the U.S. instead focus on China.
Supporters of the staffers have slammed those pushing back on the anti-interventionist movement in the administration, claiming Vance and others are merely trying to save the lives of people living in warzones like Ukraine and prevent future American military deaths.
The infighting has complicated the policy-making process, according to a person familiar with the matter and four other sources. At a time when Kellogg and Witkoff are trying to broker a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine, the staffers have advocated behind the scenes for the U.S. to draw back its support for Kyiv – a policy that has angered Ukrainian officials and pressured European allies to fill the gap, five people with knowledge of the situation said. Washington has signed a deal with Kyiv for rights to its rare earth minerals – an agreement U.S. officials say is an attempt to recoup money America has spent to prop up Ukraine's war effort.
At least one of the staffers who had previously pushed for the administration to pull back its support for Kyiv, Dan Caldwell, was escorted out of the Pentagon for a leak he claims never happened. Caldwell, a veteran, served as one of Hegseth's chief advisers, including on Ukraine.
Despite the brief pause in February and the longer one that began in early March, the Trump administration has resumed sending the last of the aid approved under U.S. President Joe Biden. No new policy has been announced.
Editor's note: (May 6, 2025): This story has been updated to show one of the U.S. bases mentioned in the first paragraph is in Qatar, not the UAE.
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German chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz, centre, leaves after he falls short of votes needed to be chancellor in the first ballot before his election at a special session of the Bundestag, in Berlin, on May 6.Maja Hitij/Getty Images
Conservative leader Friedrich Merz succeeded Tuesday in becoming Germany's next chancellor, drawing applause and a palpable sense of relief in the parliament chamber after a historic loss in the first round of voting threatened the new government's promises of stability.
No other postwar candidate for German chancellor has failed to win on the first ballot. The stunning but short-lived defeat sent shock waves throughout Europe and dragged down the stock market. The DAX, the index of major German companies, fell by 1.8% at one point.
The first round of voting, which was conducted by secret ballot, could affect Merz's prospects for success and bring trouble to his coalition's agenda, which includes reviving a stagnant economy and dealing with the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.
As the most populous member state of the 27-nation European Union and the continent's biggest economy, Germany is Europe's diplomatic and economic heavyweight. Many had hoped Merz's ascension would help the continent navigate the war in Ukraine and the confrontational trade policy of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections,” Jens Spahn, the head of the centre-right Union bloc in the German parliament, said before the final vote.
German conservative leader Friedrich Merz failed to garner the parliamentary majority needed to become chancellor on May 6 in a first round of voting in an unexpected setback for his new coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats.
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Merz had been expected to easily win the vote to become Germany's 10th chancellor since World War II, but the first ballot in the lower house of parliament unexpectedly left him with 310 votes – well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.
Hours later in the second round, he earned 325 votes, surpassing the 316 needed to pass in the 630-seat Bundestag.
Because the votes were cast secretly, it was not immediately clear – and might never be – who defected from Merz's camp.
Merz's coalition is led by his centre-right Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union. They are joined by the centre-left Social Democrats led by outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who lost the national election in February.
Volker Resing, Merz's biographer, said Merz and his new ministers must now focus on the day-to-day business of running the country.
“Tomorrow, this government must work, and it must make people forget how it started,“ he told The Associated Press. “It must now show that it can get the economy going again. … It must show that it can get illegal migration under control, and it must show that there is leadership again in Europe, especially in light of the threat from the east.”
Merz did not directly address his first-round loss Tuesday evening in his first speech after being sworn in, saying only that he was grateful to be elected “in the second round of voting.”
“So here we go. I am looking forward to the new task, and I am looking forward to working with you all in this house in a spirit of trust,” he said.
Friedrich Merz's stumble casts shadow over hopes for rebooting struggling German economy
Tuesday's voting came on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender in World War II. The ballots were cast in the restored Reichstag building, where graffiti left by victorious Soviet troops has been preserved at several locations.
The shadow of the war in Ukraine also loomed over the vote. Germany is the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, after the United States.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that he seeks more European and transatlantic leadership from Germany following Merz's win.
“Ukraine is deeply grateful for the support of Germany and its people,“ Zelensky wrote on social platform X. ”Your helping hand has saved thousands and thousands of Ukrainian lives.”
Overall, Germany is the fourth-largest defence spender in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which studies trends in global military expenditures. Only the U.S., China and Russia are ahead.
Germany rose to that rank thanks to an investment of 100 billion euros ($107 billion) for its armed forces, a measure passed by lawmakers in 2022.
Defense spending rose again earlier this year, when parliament loosened the nation's strict debt rules. The move has been closely watched by the rest of Europe as the Trump administration has threatened to pull back from its security commitment to the continent.
The U.S. administration has bashed Germany repeatedly since Trump's inauguration in January. Trump, who has German roots, often expressed his dislike of former Chancellor Angela Merkel during his first term.
This time around, Trump's lieutenants are at the forefront – tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk has supported AfD for months. He hosted a chat with co-leader Alice Weidel that he livestreamed on X earlier this year to amplify her party's message.
AfD is the biggest opposition party in Germany's new parliament after it placed second in February's elections. Despite its historic gains, it was shut out of coalition talks due to the so-called “firewall” that mainstream German political parties have upheld against co-operating with far-right parties since the end of the war.
Vice President JD Vance, during the Munich Security Conference in February, assailed the creation of the firewall and later met with Weidel, a move that German officials heavily criticized.
Last week, the German domestic intelligence service said it has classified AfD as a “right-wing extremist” organization, making it subject to greater and broader surveillance.
The decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution prompted blowback from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vance over the weekend. Germany's Foreign Ministry hit back at Rubio after he called on the country to drop the classification.
The domestic intelligence service's measure does not amount to a ban of the party, which can only be imposed through a request by either of parliament's two chambers or by the federal government through the Federal Constitutional Court.
Merz has not commented publicly on the intelligence service's decision.
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A federal judge ordered the North Carolina Board of Elections on May 5 to certify the results of the state's 2024 Supreme Court election and confirm the victory of Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs after the results were challenged by a Republican judge.
Myers wrote that Griffin cannot “change the rules of the game after it had been played.”
“The court cannot countenance that strategy ... which implicates the very integrity of the election and offends 'the law's basic interest in finality,'” the judge wrote.
“Permitting parties to ‘upend the set rules' of an election after the election has taken place can only produce 'confusion and turmoil [which] threatens to undermine public confidence in the federal courts, state agencies, and the elections themselves.'”
Myers's ruling comes after Griffin sought to have more than 60,000 ballots that had been counted in the final tally on Nov. 5 thrown out, with the Republican arguing that voters did not provide their state driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers, as is required when registering under a 2004 state law.
Still, the state's highest court determined that thousands of overseas and military ballots that lacked photo identification as required by state law needed to verify their eligibility within a 30-day period known as a “cure period” or risk having their votes tossed out.
“This case is also about whether a state may redefine its class of eligible voters but offer no process to those who may have been misclassified as ineligible,” he wrote.
The judge concluded that the retroactive invalidation of absentee ballots cast by overseas military and civilian voters violates voters' equal protection and due process rights under the Constitution.
He directed the state's elections board to certify the election results without implementing the “cure period” or removing any ballots from the final count.
Myers stayed his decision for seven days to allow Griffin time to appeal with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Democrats welcomed the decision.
The Epoch Times contacted Griffin's office for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Santa Ana community angry after pets found dead and suspect Alejandro Acosta Oliveros released on bail
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Demanding to know what happened to missing cats like Linky, a 12-year-old tabby, Julie, a calico, Tarzan a black-and-white moggy and Charlie, another tabby, a baying mob descended on a house in a quiet street in Santa Ana.
The residents of the California town, rocked by allegations of a serial cat killer in their midst, feel they have been provoked into taking matters into their own hands.
The only problem is the man they were seeking to confront did not live in the home.
Alejandro Acosta Oliveros, whom locals suspect is behind the spate of disappearances, was arrested on April 23.
Police said he was detained after being “positively identified by witnesses”.
Upon searching his home, officers found the bodies of “dozens” of cats, according to Natalie Garcia, the Public Information Officer (PIO).
Mr Oliveros was charged with animal cruelty offences, carrying a potential three-year jail term.
But to the fury of the local community fearing for the safety of their few remaining pets, he was last month released on a $20,000 bail.
In southern California the main threat to wandering cats is traffic and predatory beasts such as coyotes.
But in the town of Santa Ana, around 30 miles south of Los Angeles, as many as 30 beloved pets are missing, feared dead.
Sarai Gold, who is heading the campaign to put Mr Acosta Oliveros behind bars, told The Telegraph that locals think the number of victims could be more than 75.
They are terrified that number will rise after the man they claim is behind the killings was released on bail, she said.
At a vigil for the pets on April 26 candles were lit to mark each of the victims, but things soon turned violent.
Surrounding a house, protesters carried signs accusing the suspect of having blood on his hands.
One sign read: “Hoy gatos, manana humanos (today cats, tomorrow humans).”
Dramatic footage captured by a local news channel shows one man clad in black hurling a rock at the home, meanwhile someone with a megaphone shouts: “Your community is watching your every move”, as blue police lights illuminate the scene.
Other neighbours can be seen appearing to try to pull down a fence, while a separate clip, posted online, shows a woman wearing white cat ears wailing in the street over the loss of her beloved pet.
“I miss my cat, I love my cat,” she sobs.
Things came to a head when the homeowner was allegedly pepper sprayed by one of the angry mob.
“He was arrested and then they let him go. People are out for blood and I could not agree more,” a witness posted on Nextdoor after the night of violence.
Another told Fox11: “The peaceful protesting wasn't so peaceful. They're scaring kids here. It's scaring the whole family.”
“I don't think it needs to be like this. I think it should have remained a vigil… I knew it'd be a protest, but I didn't think I'd get violent,” a third local told the network.
However, the property targeted by the angry mob was not, as it had been rumoured, the home of Mr Acosta Oliveros's brother, where he had been staying, but of someone related to the suspect's brother-in-law.
The incident prompted local police to issue a stark warning. “While we support the community's right to peacefully assemble, the Santa Ana Police Department will not tolerate acts of violence, vandalism, or any threats to public safety,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“Any damage to life or property will have consequences, and those engaging in criminal behaviour will be held accountable.”
Tensions continue to run high within the community as rumours abound of the creature's gruesome deaths.
According to Ms Gold, the cat killer lured some of his victims with catnip-laced food.
She claims the creatures' bodies were found by investigators in a fire pit and there was “such a stench”.
Other reports paint an increasingly horrific picture. Local news reported one cat was allegedly found hanging from a tree. Another, whose jaw was broken, was dumped in a skip, it was claimed.
There are unconfirmed rumours that some of the cats were skinned.
Some locals believe cats were killed with a stamp to the head, others say they were injected with an unknown substance, according to KTLA Five.
There are claims people saw cats snatched from their neighbour's driveways, meanwhile grainy CCTV footage, obtained by NBC News, appears to show a man reaching down to coax a creature from beneath a car into his arms.
“I saw this same man grab [my] neighbour's cat, inject it with a needle and some sort of substance. I saw him and yelled, hey...to get his attention,” one person wrote on the platform Nextdoor.
“He got up and ran, jumped in his truck and left. And from what we know that cat died, and the owner went and put in a police report.”
Jennifer Corales wrote on the site she had seen the man picking up a cat and driving away with it, following the man in the car.
“We followed him at a distance and called the police. The police just told us to stay where we were until they arrived and not to follow him because we did not know how dangerous this person could be,” she said.
Police have not commented on the state any of the cats were found in.
Amid the horror is a heartbroken community, with owners bereft at the loss of their pets.
Edith Fuentes, who lost her cat, told Fox 11: “We are devastated, just to think about what this man did to her.
“Every time we think about it, we sit down and we cry, because your pets become like a part of your family.”
Jennifer Corrales added: “I've had [my cat] since he was a baby. I bottle-fed him...He's been with me since a few weeks old. I don't know what he might have done to my cat.”
Anger has been directed at Todd Spitzer, the Republican District Attorney, following Mr Acosta Oliveros's release.
“That he was released so quickly is a travesty,” said Meredith Kirby, an organiser with OC Community Cats, a local animal welfare group.
“This man has a terrifying history of harming and even killing innocent cats, posing a very personal and real threat to my own feline friends,” Vanessa Rodriguez wrote online.
“Our quiet community has been shattered by the horrifying actions of Mr Oliveros… shocking as it may be, he's out on the streets while our pets live in fear,” she added.
The Santa Ana police department was contacted for comment.
Mr Oliveros is set to attend court on May 22.
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The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent's first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.
Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has spoken out against the White House's stance on the war in Ukraine, saying its actions have "only emboldened Russia" despite efforts to bring about a ceasefire.
"If the last three years teaches us anything, it's that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin doesn't want peace; he wants Ukraine," Pence said in an interview with CNN published on May 5.
"And the fact that we are now nearly two months following a ceasefire agreement that Ukraine has agreed to and Russia continues to delay and give excuses confirms that point," he added.
Ukraine has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv is ready if Russia also agrees to the terms. So far, Moscow has refused.
Trump has reportedly grown frustrated with the slow progression of peace negotiations, claiming on April 26 that Putin may be "tapping me along," and that he may not be interested in ending the war.
While Trump has so far resisted applying any real pressure on the Kremlin, has has been willing to temporarily turn off military aid and stop intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Criticizing the approach, Pence said Putin "only understands power."
"It's the reason why, in this moment, we need to make it clear that the United States is going to continue to lead the free world, to provide Ukraine with the military support they need to repel the Russian invasion and achieve a just and lasting peace," he said.
"The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia."
Instead of agreeing to the U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire in March, the Kremlin has instead unilaterally declared its own partial truces.
Putin on April 28 announced a so-called "humanitarian truce" from May 7-9, during Moscow's Victory Day celebrations.
Despite being from what the White House had originally called for, Trump on May 5 hailed it as a significant step towards a peace settlement.
"As you know, President Putin just announced a three-day ceasefire, which doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot, if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters in an Oval Office briefing.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Putin's announcement as a "theatrical performance" rather than a serious move towards peace.
In his interview with CNN, Pence also warned of the long-term consequences of not achieving a just peace in Ukraine.
"This is not just about Ukraine for me. I really do believe that if Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, it's just a matter of time before he crosses a border where our men and women in uniform are going to have to go fight him," he said.
"I hold to that old Reagan doctrine that if you're willing to fight our enemies on your soil, we'll give you the means to fight them there so we don't have to fight them."
MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. Air defense systems have intercepted and eliminated 105 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Russian regions during the night, including 19 over the Moscow Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
TASS has compiled main facts of the incident.
- From 9 p.m. on May 5 Moscow time (6 p.m. GMT) until 4 a.m. on May 6, air defense systems on duty have intercepted and eliminated 105 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs over the Russian regions.
- According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 32 drones were eliminated over the Bryansk Region, 22 - over the Voronezh Region, 19 - over the Moscow Region, 10 - over the Penza Region, nine - over the Kaluga Region, six - over the Belgorod Region, two each over the Lipetsk and Samara regions, and one each over the Vladimir, Kursk and Rostov regions.
- Debris of one of the drones heading toward Moscow dropped on Kashirskoye Highway, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said.
- Preliminarily, no serious damage or injuries have been recorded, first responders are working on site.
- Temporary restrictions have been introduced in the capital's Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky airports.
- The restrictions were also in effect in the airports in Kaluga, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Nizhnekamsk.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a violent drug trafficking group, has been accused by Mexican authorities of operating the Rancho Izaguirre in Jalisco state to train newly recruited gunmen.
He also said that the state Human Rights Commission had formally informed local authorities of the ranch in 2021, but no action was taken.
Following public pressure, the Jalisco state prosecutor's office agreed to publish online photos of the shoes and other clothing items found at the ranch so that families searching for relatives can see them. Manero said that the pieces of evidence will also be made available to relatives.
However, members of the Jalisco Search Warriors have expressed disappointment at Manero's public statements and response, saying they had sufficient evidence that bodies were burned at the site.
A group member, Raúl Servín, also said late April that a compatriot in the group, María del Carmen Morales, had been killed following their discovery in March.
Policy analysts in the United States have said that the cartels operate as a shadow government within Mexico, making them difficult to dismantle.
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By Keigo Sakai / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
13:35 JST, May 6, 2025
THE HAGUE — Yuji Iwasawa, 70, who was elected president of The Hague-based International Court of Justice in March, recently gave an interview to The Yomiuri Shimbun. He told the newspaper that he wants to contribute to the promotion of the rule of law in the international community by helping to peacefully resolve the conflicts that continually arise around the world.
The Tokyo native, who became an ICJ judge in 2018, was elected president by his peers, the 15 judges of the court, to fill the post for the remainder of the term of his predecessor, Nawaf Salam. Salam resigned in January to become prime minister of Lebanon.
In 2022, the ICJ issued provisional measures regarding the Russian aggression in Ukraine, including ordering Moscow to suspend its military operations in the country immediately.
The court also issued three provisional measures regarding Israel's military activities in the Gaza Strip last year, including an order for an immediate halt to attacks on the southern city of Rafah.
The ICJ has no means of enforcing its judgments or orders, and neither Russia nor Israel has complied with them. However, Iwasawa stressed that the ICJ's judgments are binding. “Legally, countries have to abide by them,” he said.
According to Iwasawa, there have been times when only a single lawsuit would be filed with the ICJ every few years, but at present 25 cases are being contested at the court.
“The content of the cases has also gotten more diverse. They no longer are limited to traditional disputes over national borders and maritime boundaries. Questions of human rights and environmental issues have become more common,” Iwasawa said during the interview on April 7. The number of cases brought before the ICJ has increased because, he said, “The court is trusted, and that's something we as a court should welcome.”
Now, at a time when the international order based on the rule of law is being shaken, the role of the ICJ is attracting attention. Iwasawa said: “Whatever the case, the court's duty is to faithfully interpret and apply international law.”
As an expert on international law, Iwasawa has served as a professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools for Law and Politics and as the chairperson of the U.N. Human Rights Committee, which deals with human rights issues in countries around the globe.
At the International Criminal Court, also located in The Hague, Tomoko Akane, 68, serves as the president. Commenting on the fact that the two international courts both have Japanese people in roles of major responsibility, Iwasawa pointed out, “We carry out our duties as individuals and are not representing Japan.”
Noting people's growing awareness of international justice, however, he expressed his hope that more Japanese will play active roles internationally, and not just in the field of justice.
Iwasawa said, “Most Japanese students have the capacity to take an active part in the world. I would like them to be strongly motivated and sharpen their English language skills, no matter what field they want to be in.”
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L. RAFAEL REIF is President Emeritus and the Ray and Maria Stata Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
L. Rafael Reif
In June 2024, at a national science and technology conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the high-tech sector had become “the frontline and main battlefield of international competition, profoundly reshaping the global order and the pattern of development.” He is, of course, absolutely right. The United States and China compete for economic, military, and diplomatic dominance through the development of new technologies, including those with both military and civilian applications.
China is an increasingly formidable rival on this front. Since announcing the “Made in China 2025” plan in 2015, Beijing has invested in a whole-of-government focus on advancing critical emerging technologies. Now, China is giving the United States a run for its money. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Chinese automaker BYD surpassed Tesla in sales of battery electric vehicles. In addition to being bigger than Tesla, BYD is arguably more inventive, with vehicles that can slide sideways into parking spots and float during emergencies, and chargers that can replenish up to 250 miles of range in a mere five minutes—several times faster than Tesla superchargers. The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China also intends to rival U.S. leaders in the aerospace manufacturing field; this March, the company released plans for a long-range supersonic jet that produces supersonic booms no louder than a hairdryer. Also in March, Beijing sent quantum-encrypted images to South Africa using a small, cheap satellite—an enormous advance in quantum communications. Chinese biotech companies are competing with their U.S. counterparts in creating new drugs. And as the energy demands of artificial intelligence make fusion power—a potentially massive source of carbon-free electricity—even more desirable, China has more new public fusion projects, fusion patents, and fusion Ph.D.s than any other country.
Much of the U.S. government response to this increasing competition in recent years has been protectionist, including tariffs on electric vehicles, curbs on Chinese investments in strategic sectors, and export controls on the GPU chips and chipmaking equipment used for advanced artificial intelligence. But the success of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, spun out of a Chinese hedge fund, has made clear that this approach is ultimately futile. In January, DeepSeek launched a high-quality AI tool that it developed without access to the enormous number of high-end GPUs thought to be required for such a model. Sooner or later, China is going to invent its way around whatever roadblocks Washington imposes.
That's why it is so important that the United States not let up on its own innovation. When the government in Beijing decides that China must lead in a certain technology, resources are not an issue, and neither is short-term profitability. Washington, on the other hand, traditionally respects market forces and opposes government-led industrial policy. On the battlefield of technology, Americans must both continue to do what they do best and find new ways to improve competitiveness.
Since World War II, the United States has regularly created and commercialized groundbreaking technologies. But that success should not be taken for granted. Through its recent initiatives to cut federal funds for university research, the Trump administration risks draining a crucial source of new ideas for industry and the military, even as the geopolitical threats it faces continue to grow. To avert scientific and technological stagnation, the United States must significantly increase public investments in university-based research, ensure that it capitalizes on discoveries that emerge from academia, and devise sensible immigration policies that allow the world's best students to study and then work in the United States. Right now, however, the administration seems hell-bent on damaging, rather than fostering, this crucial source of American strength.
One thing the United States has done best over the past eight decades is invent foundational technologies. The wellspring of that innovation is very often U.S. research universities. Many of the most significant technologies of our day—including the Internet, the artificial neural networks that enable generative AI, quantum computing, nucleic acid sequencing, DNA amplification, CRISPR genome editing, mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, 3D printing, and checkpoint inhibitors for cancer treatment—arose from pioneering explorations in U.S. university laboratories. These university-based discoveries and inventions then led to the creation of startups and/or were taken up by existing tech companies that invested in and developed them further to bring them to market.
The best innovation tends to occur where the best science occurs. In other words, science advances knowledge, and this advanced knowledge creates new ideas, tools, and processes that enable and accelerate innovation—and that further advance knowledge. As of 2021, the United States still invested far more than any other nation in the conduct of basic scientific research. Universities were by far the largest performers of such research, and the federal government was its largest supporter. The spillover effects for the U.S. economy have been enormous.
A May 2023 analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that U.S. government support for nondefense research and development has accounted for at least one-fifth of total factor productivity growth in the U.S. business sector since World War II—a far greater return than federal investments in infrastructure have yielded or than private R & D has produced. (Most industry research is inevitably more focused on narrower questions with nearer-term commercial benefits.) But despite the centrality of university-based research to the United States' high-tech economy and the federal government's role in such research, in recent decades government support has become increasingly lackluster. Although the dollars spent have increased in real terms, as a percentage of the federal budget, R & D has fallen from over ten percent in the mid-1960s, when the United States was competing with the Soviet Union, to a meager three percent today, when the United States is facing a much more adept competitor in China. And under the current administration, the funding devoted to research is likely to be cut dramatically.
As the federal government's share of academic research funding has declined—from 61 percent in 2012 to 55 percent in 2021—U.S. universities have increased the share of their own funds spent on research, including endowment income, from 21 percent in 2012 to 25 percent in 2021. But income from even the largest endowment cannot replace the loss of federal funds to academic R & D, which amounted to nearly $60 billion in fiscal year 2023. In 2021, the United States ranked 23rd among 32 nations reporting to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of academic spending on R & D as a percentage of GDP.
The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act was designed to correct some of this underinvestment, with $200 billion authorized for R & D and workforce and economic development. The budget of the National Science Foundation, which supports nonmedical academic research in the United States, was supposed to double by 2027. Instead, Congress never fully appropriated the funds, and the agency's budget was cut in 2024 and kept flat this year.
China, in contrast, announced earlier this year a ten percent increase to its central government science and technology spending and an increased focus on basic research. Many of Beijing's political leaders earned degrees from Tsinghua University, often referred to as “China's MIT.” These officials understand science and technology and its impact on all else. As a result, Chinese leaders view universities as key to the country's “national rejuvenation” and technological self-reliance, and they have tripled the country's number of higher education institutions since 1998. Over the past two decades, China has produced more Ph.D.s in STEM fields than the United States, and in 2016, China exceeded the United States in research publications for the first time. China is not merely increasing the scale of its inputs to innovation but also their quality. In the 2016 Nature Index, which tracks scientific output, five of the world's top ten academic institutions generating high-quality research were American and one was Chinese. In the most recent index, from 2024, the roles had reversed: eight of the world's top ten were Chinese and two were American.
Today, the Trump administration is allowing scientific discovery and technological innovation to become collateral damage amid a culture war on universities. Vice President JD Vance has explained the political impetus for upending U.S. universities very clearly in a February 2024 interview with The European Conservative: “We should be really aggressively reforming them in a way to where they're much more open to conservative ideas.” But is the perceived liberal bent of universities a reason to sow chaos in a research system that is key to U.S. national competitiveness? If a researcher can find a way to prevent cancer or Alzheimer's, it should not matter whether they are conservative or liberal.
In just a few months in office, the Trump administration has already managed to inflict a remarkable amount of damage on the country's research enterprise—damage that will have lasting effects. This includes hollowing out research agency staffs and freezing the process by which grants are awarded. The administration has also canceled already-awarded grants deemed to be in violation of executive orders, such as those related to gender identity or diversity, equity, and inclusion, or at disfavored institutions such as Columbia University. Most sweeping are the structural changes in the funding system for university research. The Trump administration has tried to cap reimbursement at the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation for the indirect costs of research—including the costs of maintaining and operating buildings and providing information infrastructure for laboratories—at 15 percent, which does not reflect the real costs shouldered by leading universities. Although the courts have halted this policy change thus far, if the administration is able to proceed, the country's greatest research universities will be severely harmed. Trump's proposed 2026 budget would starve U.S. science, including by cutting the budget of the National Institutes of Health by about 40 percent and that of the National Science Foundation by roughly 57 percent. Proposals to tax university endowment income at 14 or 21 percent—or to take away universities' tax-exempt status—would hobble those universities hoping to make up some of the difference with their own funds.
The Trump administration is imposing costs not only on universities' budgets but also on their recruitment. The United States has long benefited from an enormous brain gain, with the most talented scientists and engineers around the world coming to U.S. research universities to teach and to learn. But with its funding cuts, academic censorship, and hostile immigration policies, the Trump administration is provoking a brain drain. Three-quarters of the respondents to a recent poll of U.S. researchers by the journal Nature said that they were considering leaving the United States because of the Trump administration disruptions to science. European universities are now gladly recruiting that U.S. scientific talent. Research centers in cities including Barcelona and Madrid are reporting dozens of applications from U.S. scientists. Promising and distinguished researchers of Chinese origin in fields essential to U.S. competitiveness—artificial intelligence, robotics, mathematics, and nuclear fusion—are leaving leading U.S. research universities to return to China. This outflow is an acceleration of the exodus of Chinese-born scientists that began during the first Trump administration, when U.S. academics of Chinese descent were targeted unfairly for prosecution by the Department of Justice's China Initiative.
Freezes and cuts in research funding have also had an immediate impact on the next generation of talent. Research universities are limiting the number of graduate students they admit and postdoctoral researchers they hire and are even rescinding offers they already made. The National Science Foundation has cut the number of graduate fellowships it offers in half. In a survey of postdoctoral researchers conducted by the National Postdoctoral Association at the end of the first six weeks of Trump's second term, 43 percent of respondents said that their position was “threatened,” and 35 percent said that their research was “delayed or otherwise in jeopardy.” Some of these young people may be driven out of science entirely.
The detention and potential deportation of international graduate students and the revocation of student visas, sometimes without explanation, is likely to make the United States a much less desirable destination for the world's best students and therefore weaken American leadership in emerging technologies. Nationwide, international students earn 64 percent of doctorates in computer and information sciences, 57 percent of those in engineering, and 54 percent of those in mathematics and statistics. The United States clearly could do a better job of developing homegrown talent for these fields, but it is important to recognize how much the country gains by attracting brilliant people from around the world. The overwhelming majority of international doctoral students educated in the United States intend to stay on in the United States after earning their degrees, including more than three out of four doctoral recipients from China. And these students contribute to the U.S. economy; the National Foundation for American Policy's most recent analysis found that 25 percent of U.S. billion-dollar startup companies have a founder who came to the country as an international student. But increasingly, the best international students have other choices. Tsinghua University and Peking University are now 12th and 13th, respectively, on the Times Higher Education world university rankings. Peking is rated first in the world for its AI research output, and Tsinghua is second.
Fraught confrontations at U.S. borders are now reportedly making foreign scientists hesitate before coming to scientific conferences. In March, for example, a French scientist who works in space research was detained and denied entry when attempting to travel to a conference near Houston. U.S. officials claimed that he was turned away because he had confidential information from Los Alamos National Laboratory, but French officials said that he was denied because his phone contained messages critical of the Trump administration's science policies. If the United States cannot even convene the world's best scientists, it will struggle to preserve the open exchange and free inquiry that it has championed for so long—and that science thrives on.
The Trump administration seems to be taking U.S. leadership in science and technology for granted. Doing so would be a dangerous mistake. Americans are accustomed to U.S. companies delivering astonishing innovations with regularity, including the iPhone, cloud computing, the Tesla Model S, and ChatGPT. And there are certain aspects of U.S. history and culture that have encouraged inventiveness and risk-taking. But the United States did not become the world's leading scientific and technological superpower because its people are somehow innately smarter and more creative than those in the rest of the world. It became a leader because it has had the world's best system for science and innovation—a system that is now under attack from the Trump administration.
The modern research university is a German invention, dating back to the early nineteenth century, when the intellectual founders of the Humboldt University of Berlin argued for the linking of teaching and research, for expanding academic freedom, and for the idea that research should be pursued without a view of immediate utility. They believed that the state should support such explorations—but not direct them. This model was so appealing that, in the nineteenth century, it was Germany that welcomed the world's best and brightest: about 10,000 U.S. scholars earned their doctorates or other advanced degrees in German universities. Some of those German-educated Americans founded the first U.S. research university, Johns Hopkins, in 1876.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the university where I work and served as president, began operating in 1865 on a different model, the polytechnic model. It focused on applied science and engineering rather than on theory, aiming to produce technically trained graduates for a young, industrializing country. MIT did not initially have the funds or the interest to do much research, but in the early years of the twentieth century, after taking an academic tour through Germany, MIT President Henry Pritchett returned with the conviction that MIT should do more than teach. He established the university's first major research laboratories.
MIT quickly became a powerhouse in applied research done to benefit U.S. industry and society. And it was often conducted in partnership with the leading U.S. companies at that time, including AT&T and General Electric. The federal government was not yet in the business of funding university research. Although industry support was a matter of financial survival, the experience of working with industry made MIT particularly adept at moving its inventions into the marketplace. By the 1920s, MIT's leaders and alumni began to worry that a commercial focus was limiting the university's reach. In 1930, the institute recruited as its president the nuclear physicist Karl Compton. Compton had argued in 1927 that university research should not be focused merely on industry; he believed that universities were, in fact, the only places where pure science could be investigated without the pressures of commercialization. He also advocated that such research should be funded by taxes on any enterprise that profited from science.
It was not until World War II that the federal government devoted a large quantity of tax dollars to university-based research, thanks to the leading engineer Vannevar Bush. Bush, while on the faculty at MIT, designed and built a pioneering analog computer. He also had a fantastic mind for science policy. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Bush persuaded U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to create an organization to oversee research of interest to the military. In 1940, Roosevelt established the National Defense Research Committee with Bush as its leader. (Its power later expanded as it became the Office of Scientific Research and Development, with Bush still in charge.) MIT President Compton, a member of the committee, was put in charge of identifying technologies to detect German aircraft and ships—which led to the founding of the Radiation Lab at MIT. Named to deceive the Nazis, the laboratory was not focused on radioactive materials but on microwave radar systems—a technology that was arguably more important for the outcome of the war than even the atom bomb. Leading scientists, a number of whom would go on to win Nobel Prizes, were recruited from around the country to the Rad Lab. Over the next five years at MIT, more than 100 radar systems were developed to counteract the threat of German U-boats and V-1 flying bombs.
With federal funding, universities across the country were able to devote time and effort to wartime projects. The University of Chicago, Columbia, and the University of California, Berkeley, conducted initial research for the Manhattan Project, and many leading universities lent their talent to it. The California Institute of Technology worked on rocketry. Harvard researched how to use sonar against Nazi submarines and how to muffle noise in long-range bombers, contributing to the development of fiberglass. In 1942, Johns Hopkins launched its Applied Physics Laboratory, which developed the proximity fuse—another crucial technological innovation for the Allied victory—and which later, during the Sputnik era, developed the concept for GPS.
After Germany surrendered, Bush presented a landmark report to U.S. President Harry Truman titled Science: The Endless Frontier, in which he argued for the continuation of federal support for university-based research. Bush cited how decisive government-funded science had been to the Allied victory, including the development of scalable penicillin production, saving lives. And, as he pointed out, the United States could no longer rely on a “ravaged Europe” for fundamental discovery science as it had in the past. Bush's argument for the peacetime federal funding of research and scientific education was not only about national security and public health but also about economic growth. As he saw it, by continuing to “study nature's laws,” the United States could create new manufacturing industries and expand old ones—an assessment that turned out to be prescient. Just over a decade later, the MIT economist Robert Solow published groundbreaking research establishing that modern economic growth depends on technological advancements and not exclusively on capital and labor, as the classical paradigm had held—work for which he would win a Nobel Prize.
Bush had a linear view of innovation: the federal government would give universities funds for basic research projects inspired by curiosity and not profit. These projects trained brilliant students and produced discoveries; industry would then develop those discoveries and find practical applications for them.
Although Bush's ideas were not implemented precisely as he envisioned, the government continued to provide federal support for university research after the war, helping turn the United States into the world's dominant scientific and technological power, producing a unique concentration of world-class research universities, and making the country a magnet for the best STEM talent from around the world. Under this model, leading U.S. research universities both supported existing industries and became hotbeds of entrepreneurship themselves. In 2011, a study at Stanford University calculated that since the 1930s, its alumni and faculty had started nearly 40,000 companies that employed 5.4 million people and generated $2.7 trillion in annual revenues, putting Stanford among the world's ten largest economies. A similar MIT analysis found that as of 2014, MIT's living alumni had founded over 30,000 companies that employed 4.6 million people and generated nearly $2 trillion in annual revenues. The Bush model could certainly use some updating—and expansion—for a world in which China is pulling ahead of the United States in science and technology. But it is hard to see anything in this model that demands to be torn down.
Most Americans today were born long after Bush and The Endless Frontier. Throughout their lives, the United States has dominated in science, technology, industry, innovation, and culture, and they may assume that this is the natural order of things. But if the United States can no longer afford to conduct the productive explorations enabled by government investment, it will lose the technological race with China. Its military will suffer, because it depends on technologically advanced commercial products that the defense market alone cannot support. It will also see less growth among high-tech entrepreneurs. A 2021 study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed the strong connection between increases in federal research support for a university and the formation nearby of startups with significant potential for growth. Another paper, published in 2020, detailed that university researchers who experienced large cuts in federal research funding are 80 percent less likely to launch a high-tech startup.
Shoring up U.S. leadership in scientific innovation will require three things. First, the country must make public investments in university-based research that are commensurate with the geopolitical threats it faces. This should include “use inspired” basic research, which takes place at the frontiers of science but is directed toward overcoming particular obstacles in U.S. economic or national security, as was the case at MIT's Rad Lab. Appropriating the funds already approved by Congress for the “science” part of the CHIPS and Science Act would be a terrific start. The United States will also need to design immigration policies that allow its research universities to continue attracting the world's best science and engineering students and that allow those students to contribute to U.S. competitiveness by remaining in the country after they finish their education.
Finally, the country needs to do a much better job of capturing the value of the discoveries and inventions made at U.S. universities, rather than allowing a lack of patient capital to drive critical technology manufacturing and development elsewhere. For example, a company named A123—spun out of the MIT Professor Yet-Ming Chiang's laboratory in 2001—was the first to commercialize a superior lithium-ion battery chemistry for electric vehicles. But because the U.S. market for EVs was not sufficiently developed for the company to become profitable, A123 declared bankruptcy in 2012 and was bought by a Chinese auto parts company. Today, China dominates lithium-ion battery manufacturing. This is a foundational enabling technology of the kind the United States should have supported until it could stand on its own in the marketplace. At MIT, about a decade ago, I became deeply concerned about this very issue—that some of the most groundbreaking science-based inventions emerging from our laboratories, despite their huge potential to benefit society, were not advancing to commercialization. The timeline to market for risky new technologies in fields such as regenerative medicine and clean energy is simply too long for most private investors—there is a reason that 39 percent of U.S. venture dollars go to software startups and just two percent go to energy startups. So MIT decided to create a combination accelerator and patient venture capital fund, called “The Engine,” for such “tough tech.” The Engine offers initial support to startups that have included Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a company that uses high-temperature superconducting magnets to develop small, low-cost fusion power systems. In December, the company announced that it will be building the world's first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Virginia and expects to have it running by the early 2030s. But The Engine is just one investment organization—and the United States needs many more. Although the CHIPS and Science Act authorized the National Science Foundation to help launch similar organizations, Congress has not yet funded this endeavor.
American universities are not perfect. But many of them are extremely successful institutions by global standards, and the country depends on them. To defund universities because of faults that have nothing to do with research is to recklessly shut off the spigot to innovation.
Just as the center of gravity in science and technology moved away from Europe to the United States during the twentieth century, it can also move to Asia in the twenty-first. The economies of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea approach or surpass the United States in the proportion of GDP they devote to R & D, and China is working hard to catch up. India, which ranks third in the number of research publications produced globally, is poised to advance in science by the end of the decade (as it also becomes the world's third-largest economy). U.S. government policies that fail to comprehend the importance of advancing science and technology are hastening this transition.
The United States, once solidly on the frontlines of technology, is now on its way to becoming a much weaker player. And so far, it is responding to this decline by taking steps that will only weaken it further. There has never been anything inevitable about U.S. leadership in science and technology. What is inevitable is that if Washington does not work to maintain its lead on this battlefield, others will take its place.
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Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure, regional Governor Oleh Kiper reported.
Russia regularly strikes civilian infrastructure with missile and drone attacks as it wages its war against Ukraine. Russia attacked border villages in Sumy Oblast on May 5, killing three residents and injuring seven others.
Several houses were damaged in Odesa Oblast as a result of the attack, Kiper said in a post to Telegram.
"The body of a deceased person was found in one of the houses. Additional information about the victims is being verified," Kiper said.
Several fires broke out in the aftermath of Russia's drone attack, and emergency services worked to extinguish the fires, Kiper reported.
On April 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a so-called "humanitarian" truce to take place beginning on May 8 in Russia's war against Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Putin's proposal for a short-lived truce and pointed to Russia's strikes on civilian targets as proof that Russia does not want to end its war against Ukraine.
"We value human lives, not parades. That's why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8," Zelensky said.
Ukraine has insisted on a full 30-day unconditional ceasefire. Russia has refused.
A coalition of 18 Democratic-led states filed suit on Monday challenging President Donald Trump's nationwide suspension of wind energy project approvals, calling it an unlawful and politically motivated blockade that threatens job growth, energy security, and “climate progress.”
Trump's directive cites a range of concerns, including potential impacts on marine ecosystems, navigational safety, national defense operations, and what it suggested were destabilizing effects of intermittent wind generation on grid reliability and energy prices.
“We're not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said on Jan. 20 after returning to the Oval Office for a second term.
“So if you're into whales, you don't want windmills either, and they're the most expensive form of energy that you can have by far. They're all made in China, by the way, practically all of them. They kill your birds and they ruin your beautiful landscapes.”
According to the complaint, the move has stalled dozens of wind energy projects and forced at least one federally approved offshore development near New York to halt construction.
“This administration is devastating one of our nation's fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable, and affordable energy,” James said in a statement. “This arbitrary and unnecessary directive threatens the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments, and it is delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.”
The lawsuit contends that Trump's directive violates the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeds presidential authority by imposing a blanket freeze without statutory justification or due process. The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary injunction to immediately restart the permitting process while litigation proceeds.
The coalition said in a press release that the halt undermines states' ability to meet clean energy mandates and rising electricity demands.
New York, for instance, is legally required to generate 70 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040 under its Climate Law, they noted, adding that the state's wind sector currently supports over 4,400 jobs and is projected to create 18,000 more in the next decade.
“Those jobs will not materialize if these projects are halted,” James and the co-plaintiffs stated in the press release. “The administration's indefinite blockade could leave billions of dollars in states' clean energy investments stranded or underutilized and significantly harm their economic development.”
Besides New York, the other plaintiffs in the case are attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
The White House dismissed the lawsuit as a politically motivated effort to block the president's agenda to reassert “America's energy dominance.”
“Instead of working with President Trump to unleash American energy and lower prices for American families, Democrat Attorneys General are using lawfare to stop the President's popular energy agenda,“ Taylor Rogers, White House assistant press secretary, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement. ”The American people voted for the President to restore America's energy dominance, and Americans in blue states should not have to pay the price of the Democrats' radical climate agenda.”
Trump's Jan. 20 directive also ordered a government-wide review of all existing wind leases, including the condition and safety of idle turbines, and instructed federal agencies to evaluate whether defunct projects should be dismantled. It was issued alongside a series of executive actions aimed at fast-tracking domestic oil, gas, and mineral extraction and repealing Biden-era climate regulations.
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Trump's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to reinstate his ban on trans military service, after a lower court blocked it.
by Ian Millhiser
Editor's note, May 6: The Supreme Court issued a brief order temporarily blocking a lower court's decision, which had prevented President Donald Trump's ban on trans military service from taking effect. This means that trans service members are likely to be forced out of military service very soon. All three of the Court's Democrats, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.
Almost immediately after he began his second term, President Donald Trump ordered the military to ban transgender people from serving in the US military. Under the Defense Department's policy implementing this order, the military was supposed to start firing trans service members on March 26, although those firings were halted by a court order.
That court order, in a case known as United States v. Shilling, is now before the Supreme Court. The Trump administration's primary argument — that it's not banning trans military personnel, but merely banning service by people with gender dysphoria — is nonsensical, and the Court has repeatedly rejected similar arguments in the past.
Get the latest developments on the US Supreme Court from senior correspondent Ian Millhiser.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, gender dysphoria refers to the “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one's sex assigned at birth and one's gender identity” that is commonly experienced by transgender people. The government may no more recharacterize a ban on trans service as a ban on gender dysphoria than it could defend Jim Crow by recharacterizing it as a series of laws targeting people with high levels of melanin.
Nevertheless, so long as the Court follows its long history of showing extreme deference to the military, it seems exceedingly likely that the Trump administration will prevail in this case.
It is well-established that the government cannot evade a ban on discrimination by claiming that it is merely discriminating based on a trait that closely correlates with a particular identity. As the Supreme Court said in Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic (1993), “a tax on wearing yarmulkes is a tax on Jews.”
Yet, while the Trump administration's brief in the Shilling case is poorly argued, the Court is almost certain to reinstate the trans military ban, in part because the case is little more than a sequel to a fight that already played out in the first Trump administration.
During his first term, Trump's government issued a similar ban on transgender military service — although the first-term ban did contain some exceptions that are not part of the second-term ban. Lower courts halted the first-term ban, but the Supreme Court voted 5-4, along party lines, to reinstate that ban in 2019. The Court has only moved further to the right since 2019, and Republicans now have a 6-3 supermajority among the justices.
It's not clear that the first-term decisions reinstating the ban were wrongly decided under the Supreme Court's precedents. The Court has long permitted the military to engage in activity that would clearly violate the Constitution in a civilian context.
As Judge Benjamin Settle, the district judge who blocked Trump's second-term ban, explained in his opinion, this ban is likely to do considerable harm to the United States.
In Goldman v. Weinberger (1986), for example, the Court held that the military could ban Jewish service members from wearing yarmulkes while in uniform. As the Court explained, its “review of military regulations challenged on First Amendment grounds is far more deferential than constitutional review of similar laws or regulations designed for civilian society.” The military, Goldman reasoned, “must foster instinctive obedience, unity, commitment, and esprit de corps,” and that justifies imposing restrictions on service members that would normally violate the Constitution.
The Court has even held that the military may engage in explicit sex discrimination — a fact that is highly relevant to the Shilling case because the Court held in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) that discrimination against transgender workers is a form of illegal sex discrimination.
In Rostker v. Goldberg (1981), the Court upheld the federal law that requires men, but not women, to register for the draft. While this kind of explicit sex discrimination would be unconstitutional in virtually any other context, Rostker explained that the courts owe extraordinary deference to Congress in matters of “national defense and military affairs.”
Given these precedents, the plaintiffs challenging Trump's transgender service ban always faced an uphill climb. And that's doubly true because the Court's current majority has not been particularly sympathetic to constitutional claims brought by trans litigants.
As Judge Benjamin Settle, the district judge who blocked Trump's second-term ban, explained in his opinion, this ban is likely to do considerable harm to the United States. The named plaintiff in the Shilling case is Commander Emily Shilling, a pilot with 19 years of military service who has flown 60 combat missions. Shilling alleges, without any contradiction from the government, that the Navy spent $20 million to train her. All of that expertise will now be lost to the US military.
But the Constitution does not forbid the government from self-harm. And the Supreme Court's precedents permit the military to discriminate in ways that other institutions cannot, which is bad news for people targeted by Trump's transgender service ban.
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President Donald Trump said the United States was informed that the Houthis would stop attacking vessels off Yemen's coasts in exchange for the U.S. ending the military campaign against them.
“The Houthis have announced to us at least that they don't want to fight anymore,” he said in the Oval Office on Tuesday during his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “They don't want to fight, and we will honor that. And we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”
The U.S. has carried out an extensive military campaign against the Houthis since mid-March, and the military said U.S. forces struck more than 1,000 targets during that time frame.
Despite the intense bombing campaign, the Houthis had, until now, not been deterred from carrying out attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which are off Yemen's southern and western coasts.
“CENTCOM is conducting strikes across multiple locations of Iran-backed Houthi locations every day and night in Yemen. This sustained, aggressive series of operations is designed to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence,” a Defense Department official told the Washington Examiner last week. “The U.S. has hit targets in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, destroying command-and-control facilities, weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations. We have confirmed the death of several Houthi leaders.”
The attacks on commercial vessels forced shipping companies to avoid the Red Sea, which meant their ships had to travel much longer and more expensive routes to avoid getting targeted. For those that didn't, the U.S. and other countries provided security for many of those vessels.
They have killed multiple sailors, seized a ship, and sunk two others that posed environmental concerns.
In addition to those attacks, the Houthis have targeted Israel dating back to the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The war between Israel and the Houthis escalated in recent days. It is unclear if the apparent ceasefire between the U.S. and the Iranian-backed Houthis will translate to that conflict as well.
A Houthi-launched missile hit Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, which highlighted the imperfect nature of Israel's air defense systems.
TRUMP MOVES EMBATTLED MIKE WALTZ FROM NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO UN
Israel Defense Forces struck what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” at the Sana'a airport earlier on Tuesday, saying it was “fully disabled.” The IDF said 20 fighter jets dropped 50 munitions on various targets. On Monday, the IDF struck the Hudaydah Port.
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Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Donald Trump that Canada wouldn't ever be available for purchase. In response, Trump told him the option wasn't off the table.
Despite President Donald Trump's interest in Canada becoming the 51st state, Canada isn't for sale — ever, according to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Trump regularly has said he wants Canada to become a U.S. state, and has discussed acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal for security purposes. However, the matter of Canada isn't open to negotiation, Carney said.
"Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it's not for sale," Carney said at the White House Tuesday. "Won't be for sale ever, but the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together. We have done that in the past, and part of that, as the president just said, is with respect to our security and my government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security and our partnership."
TRUMP SAYS HE WASN'T ‘TROLLING' ABOUT ACQUIRING GREENLAND, CANADA AS 51ST STATE
President Donald Trump meets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo)
While Trump acknowledged that Canada was stepping up its investment in military security, Trump said "never say never" in response to Canada becoming another state.
"I've had many, many things that were not doable, and they ended up being doable," Trump said.
Later, Carney said Canada's stance on the issue wouldn't alter.
"Respectfully, Canadians' view on this is not going to change on the 51st state," Carney said.
TRUMP REMAINS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ODDS OF ACQUIRING GREENLAND: ‘I THINK IT'LL HAPPEN'
President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo)
The interaction comes after Trump told Time magazine in an April interview that he wasn't "trolling" when discussing the possibility of Canada becoming part of the U.S. Trump told Time's Eric Cortellessa that the U.S. is "losing" money supporting Canada, and the only solution on the table is for it to become a state.
"We're taking care of their military," Trump told the magazine. "We're taking care of every aspect of their lives, and we don't need them to make cars for us. In fact, we don't want them to make cars for us. We want to make our own cars. We don't need their lumber. We don't need their energy. We don't need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state."
Still, Trump will continue pushing for Canada to become a state, though he cast doubt on whether he'd use military force to achieve such ends, he told NBC's Kristen Welker in an interview that aired Sunday.
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"Well, I think we're not going to ever get to that point," Trump said. "It could happen."
In the same interview, Trump doubled down on how significant Greenland is for the U.S. in terms of national security. Although Greenland has asserted it is seeking independence from Denmark and isn't interested in joining the U.S., Trump has regularly expressed a strong interest in securing Greenland — particularly given an increase in Russian and Chinese presence in the Arctic.
"Something could happen with Greenland," Trump told NBC. "I'll be honest, we need that for national and international security."
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
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The US intelligence community believes that the Venezuelan government is “probably” not directing the gang Tren de Aragua's movements and operations inside the United States, according to a declassified assessment released on Monday that undercuts the Trump administration's key argument for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations.
According to the document, which was released to the Freedom of the Press Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act and provided to CNN, the intelligence community based its judgment largely on sometimes-lethal law enforcement action by the Venezuelan government against Tren de Aragua that shows it “treats TDA as a threat” as well as the fact that the group is so decentralized that any systemic relationship between the Maduro regime and the gang would be “logistically challenging” — and would likely be spotted by the US intelligence community.
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Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Carney amid trade tensions
The assessment, which was circulated in the US government in early April, has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which gives a president broad power to target and remove undocumented immigrants in times of war or when an enemy attempts an “invasion or predatory incursion.”
Trump in March invoked the wartime law in part by declaring that “TdA is undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”
A Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled that the president had unlawfully invoked the law, finding that the president “cannot summarily declare that a foreign nation or government has threatened or perpetrated an invasion or predatory incursion of the United States,” and blocking the administration from quickly deporting some alleged members of the Venezuelan gang.
The intelligence assessment acknowledged that the Maduro regime likely “sometimes tolerates” Tren de Aragua's presence within its borders, with some individual government officials cooperating with the group for financial gain. And FBI analysts assessed that some number of Venezuelan government officials “facilitate” TdA members' migration to the United States and use “members as proxies” there and in other countries “to advance what they see as the Maduro regime's goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in those countries,” the assessment said.
But the broader intelligence community views it as “highly unlikely” that there is any “strategic or consistent” cooperation between the Maduro government and Tren de Aragua.
Intelligence analysts also expressed skepticism about some of the law enforcement reporting that some members of the regime may have provided financial support to TdA, because it cannot verify the sources' access — and because some of the claims have come from people detained in the United States, which “could motivate them to make false allegations about their ties to the regime … to lessen any punishment by providing exculpatory of otherwise ‘valuable' information to US prosecutors,” the report read.
In any event, the intelligence community has “not observed the regime directing the TDA, including to push migrants to the United States, which would probably requirement extensive … coordination, and funding between regime entities and TDA leaders that we would collect,” the assessment read.
Further, the assessment read, “the small size of TDA's cells, its focus on low-skill criminal activities, and its decentralized structure make it highly unlikely that TDA coordinates large volumes of human trafficking or migrant smuggling.”
The New York Times first reported on the declassified assessment. When reporting about the intelligence community's view of the Maduro regime's relationship to Tren de Aragua first appeared after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, the administration cast the reporting as both “inaccurate” and “classified,” with the Justice Department announcing a leak investigation.
The assessment released on Monday appears to broadly confirm the press reporting of the intelligence community's views.
“Illegal immigrant criminals have raped, tortured, and murdered Americans, and still, the propaganda media continues to operate as apologists for them,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement on Monday, when asked about the April assessment. “It is outrageous that as President Trump and his administration work hard every day to make America safe by deporting these violent criminals, some in the media remain intent on twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the President's agenda to keep the American people safe.”
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Former acting DHS deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli weighs in on President Donald Trump being blocked from revoking migrants' legal status on 'The Will Cain Show.'
The identity of a second migrant in Maryland who was deported to El Salvador in March was revealed this week while the Trump administration continues to resist a federal judge's orders to return him to the U.S.
The individual, previously referred to only as "Cristian" in earlier documents, was identified Monday as Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan man who had been living in Houston prior to January, when he was arrested for cocaine possession and subsequently deported to El Salvador in March. News of his identity was first reported by Politico.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled late last month that the Trump administration violated a settlement agreement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck last year with a group of young asylum seekers, including Lozano-Camargo, by deporting him before his asylum request was heard in full.
The 20-year-old was part of a group of migrants who had entered the U.S. illegally as unaccompanied children and who later filed asylum claims to remain in the U.S.
ABREGO GARCIA'S WIFE BEGGED JUDGE FOR PROTECTION ORDER, SAYING 'HE SLAPPED ME': AUDIO
More than 250 suspected gang members deported by the U.S. – including members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua and MS-13 – arrive in El Salvador under heavy security on March 16, 2025. (El Salvador Presidency/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In her April ruling, Gallagher emphasized that unlike other legal challenges to Trump-era deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, this case hinges on an alleged "breach of contract," as DHS had agreed not to deport the individuals until their asylum claims were fully adjudicated in U.S. court.
Lozano-Camargo's December 2022 asylum request was still pending when he was deported along with hundreds of other migrants on March 15 to El Salvador. As a result, Gallagher specifically ordered the Trump administration to make a "good faith request to the government of El Salvador" to "release Cristian, [or Lozano-Camargo], to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS."
She also alluded to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 member living in Maryland who was also deported to El Salvador last month in what administration officials have acknowledged was an administrative error.
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office holding a photo of the tattoos on Abrego Garcia's knuckles that the White House says are affiliated with the MS-13 terrorist group. (Donald Trump Truth Social)
To date, U.S. officials have resisted court orders to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia – arguments they doubled down on Monday in a court filing to Gallagher.
The Trump administration previously told the court it had determined that Lozano-Camargo was eligible for removal under the Alien Enemies Act because he had been arrested and convicted for cocaine possession earlier this year. This appears to be his second low-level drug offense.
'I AM AFRAID': ANOTHER PROTECTIVE ORDER FILING AGAINST DEPORTED ‘MARYLAND MAN' CHAMPIONED BY DEMS SURFACES
A suspected gang member arrives in El Salvador, where he will be transported to the country's maximum security prison.
Trump officials doubled down on this in a Monday court filing, telling the court there was no breach of contract with DHS in Lozano-Camargo's case, They told the court that his designation as an "alien enemy pursuant to the AEA results in him ceasing to be a member" of the class that had negotiated a settlement – "aliens subject to removal" under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act proclamation "cannot claim asylum, and therefore are not class members."
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To date, there is no public evidence that Lozano-Camargo is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump declared on March 15 to be a designated "Foreign Terrorist Organization" in an effort to allow them to more quickly deport certain migrants from the U.S.
Justice Department officials claimed in earlier court documents that Lozano-Camargo was a member of a "violent terrorist gang," but have not linked him to TdA. Portions of their most recent court filing have been redacted.
Breanne Deppisch is a national 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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Fox News Digital spoke to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler about the outlook for small businesses during the next four years
EXCLUSIVE: As the Small Business Administration (SBA) kicked off "Small Business Week" on Monday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler spoke to Fox News Digital about the work she has done at the agency while pushing back on the Democratic Party's narrative about the state of the economy.
"What I see on the ground is American manufacturers, small businesses alike are grateful to President Trump for his fair trade policy, for having the strength and the backbone to stand up to adversaries and allies alike and demand that they stop treating Americans unfairly with these trade practices," Loeffler told Fox News Digital about the current state of the economy as President Donald Trump faces criticism from Democrats and media outlets for his tariff policies.
"I see really strong support and optimism as well for the future. So, while there is a period of change here as we get through these negotiations and with trading partners at the table, we will make sure that small businesses have a big seat at that table, and we are already seeing small businesses invest for the future because they see the opportunity for a made-in-America approach that will really transform the strength of this country not just economically but from a national security perspective."
Loeffler, speaking to Fox News Digital at an event in Washington, D.C., kicking off "Small Business Week," said the current media narrative on Trump's trade policies is "completely counter" to what she sees when she travels the country.
THESE COMPANIES HAVE ANNOUNCED THEIR INTENTION TO INCREASE US MANUFACTURING AMID TRUMP'S FIRST 100 DAYS
Monday marked the start of "Small Business Week." (Getty)
Loeffler explained that she sees small businesses that are "spring-loaded" and "ready to invest."
"They are fully behind President Trump's policies to lower our taxes, to have fair trade, President Trump has already brought down core inflation to four-year lows," Loeffler said. "We've seen the jobs come back, almost a half million jobs created in President Trump's first hundred days, and we're seeing his regulatory reforms have rollbacks that have already made a huge difference saving small businesses hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions already. And that's what small businesses want."
Loeffler pointed out that small businesses make up 99% of all businesses in the country and create two out of three of every new job, and touted that the SBA has seen an 80% increase in loans in Trump's first 100 days in office.
"Small businesses don't take out loans unless they have confidence that they're going to grow, and we've seen that small businesses are doing just that," Loeffler said.
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL NOT DROP TARIFFS TO GET CHINA TO NEGOTIATING TABLE
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Tuesday, April 22. (AP/Alex Brandon)
Loeffler told Fox News Digital that during her tenure, the SBA has been "refocused" on its mission after four years of the Biden administration, and part of that mission has been to implement Trump's agenda on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and illegal immigration.
The SBA recently eliminated its Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, while placing the office's employees on administrative leave, and paused grants across the agency that it believes interferes with Trump's executive orders combating DEI.
"We really needed to level the playing field and get back to serving small businesses," Loeffler said.
Then-Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler speaks during a campaign event at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia, on Dec. 5, 2020. (REUTERS/Dustin Chambers)
In March, Fox News Digital exclusively reported that the SBA enacted a series of reforms on Thursday aimed at ensuring illegal immigrants do not receive taxpayer benefits while also removing its offices from sanctuary cities."We're moving out of sanctuary cities to keep not only our employees safe, but the small businesses that wanna come in and access our programs," Loeffler told Fox News Digital. "We also need to relocate them to areas where small businesses are actually booming and that's not necessarily true in sanctuary cities."
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Loeffler told Fox News Digital that she is particularly excited about what she sees in the manufacturing sector and what can be accomplished in that area if Trump is able to get his tax cut plan through Congress.
"Manufacturing loans are up 74% and so that Made in America engine is happening to the tune of about a hundred manufacturing loans per week and that's what President Trump's agenda has done," Loeffler said.
"It's attracted upwards of eight trillion dollars in investments in this country. Much of that will be deployed through small businesses, though it was contributed by large businesses. I've talked to many of those CEOs. They deploy it through contractors that come through small businesses. So I'm tremendously excited about the upside that we can see with regard to the tax policy being passed. Hopefully, we have permanent tax cuts that we can deliver to small businesses soon, because I know that the demand for investment by small businesses is there, and it's really spring-loaded once that tax bill passes."
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
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NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the investigation into the midair plane and helicopter collision in Washington, D.C. and the medical flight that crashed in Philadelphia.
The Trump administration has removed the vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was appointed to the role in the waning days of the Biden administration, Fox News Digital learned.
The White House removed Alvin Brown from the National Transportation Safety Board, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital Tuesday morning. Brown had served on the five-person safety panel since March 2024, before President Joe Biden appointed him as vice chair of the board in December 2024 – one month before President Donald Trump's inauguration.
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent government agency charged with investigating major transportation accidents, such as plane crashes, and crafting safety guidance to prevent accidents.
Brown, a Democrat, was the first Black mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, serving from 2011 to 2015, before serving as senior advisor for Community Infrastructure Opportunities for the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2022, according to his biography.
‘EVERYTHING IS ON THE TABLE' AS NTSB INVESTIGATES DEADLY HUDSON RIVER TOUR HELICOPTER CRASH
Alvin Brown, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, attends an investigative hearing. Brown was removed from his role in May 2025. (Getty Images)
The National Transportation Safety Board's website, as of Tuesday morning, lists four members, all of whom were appointed by Trump either during his first or second administration. They are Chair Jennifer L. Homendy, Michael Graham, Thomas B. Chapman and J. Todd Inman.
NTSB CALLS FOR BAN ON SOME HELICOPTER ROUTES NEAR REAGAN AIRPORT AFTER MIDAIR COLLISION THAT KILLED 67 PEOPLE
The Trump administration was rocked by a plane crash on Jan. 29 near the nation's capital, when 67 people were killed after an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. That accident was followed by other high-profile plane crashes.
President Donald Trump's administration removed the Biden-era National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chair Alvin Brown. (Getty Images)
Air travel was hit with delays in recent days, most notably at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, when air traffic controllers briefly lost communication with planes. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joined Fox News' Laura Ingraham Monday evening, where he addressed the delays and said he plans to overhaul and "radically transform" America's air traffic control system.
'GATE LICE' RUN-INS HAVE FLYERS DEMANDING MORE AIRLINES 'CRACK DOWN' ON PESKY TRAVEL TREND
"We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system – from new telecom, to new radars, to new infrastructure. We're bringing on new air traffic controllers," he said. "This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we're going to fix it."
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"When you have an incident like this, you want to make sure that people are safe," he added, referring to the delays in Newark. "And so, you just have less departures out of the airport until we feel comfortable and safe that the system isn't going to go down again."
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One of America's closest allies recently raised eyebrows for threatening to fire off the ultimate financial weapon against Washington in trade talks: dumping US debt.
Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, whose country is the biggest holder of US Treasuries, said on Friday that selling the assets is a “card on the table” in tariff negotiations, according to The Associated Press.
“It does exist as a card, but I think whether we choose to use it or not would be a separate decision,” Kato said.
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Two days later, the Japanese official walked back the comment, stressing on Sunday that the longtime US ally is “not considering the sale of US Treasuries as a means of Japan-US negotiations.”
Japan was unlikely to fire this big bazooka in the trade war anyway, since selling US Treasuries is considered an extreme move — one that would likely backfire, experts say. Still, the short-lived threat raises an ugly truth: The United States relies on other countries buying its $36 trillion mountain of debt.
It's another way that President Donald Trump's aggressive trade war could hurt the American economy: Tariffs have the potential to reduce the amount of capital seeking a home in American assets, which could lift interest rates and hurt the value of the US dollar. Even if a large-scale Treasury selloff is unlikely, other nations — including one of America's closest allies — are clearly considering all options.
As America's biggest foreign creditor, Japan sits on $1.1 trillion of US Treasuries. That gives Tokyo some leverage as it seeks to hammer out a trade deal with the White House.
If Japan sold massive amounts of US debt, it would very likely spark a massive Treasury selloff. Treasury rates would in turn sharply increase, making it more expensive for Washington to borrow and freaking out investors along the way.
“It would send shockwaves around world financial markets if one of the most reliable buyers of Treasuries is no longer reliably in the market for it,” said Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Budget Lab at Yale and a chief economist in the Biden administration.
Recall that fears of a bond market catastrophe helped convince Trump to pause so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on April 9.
And Washington doesn't just rely on Japan to buy its debt.
China has been slapped with tariffs of at least 145% on most goods, but it is also America's second-biggest foreign creditor, with $784 billion of Treasuries as of February, according to federal data.
The United Kingdom, which faces a 10% tariff, is America's third-largest foreign creditor, with $750 billion of US Treasuries. And the sixth-biggest holder of US Treasuries, Canada, is being threatened with more tariffs if it does not join the United States as the 51st state.
But for these nations, dumping US debt, especially in a fire sale, would risk destabilizing global markets as well as their own.
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Moreover, it would hurt their own investments and that of their banks and citizens. Their own currencies could also sharply increase in value, making it harder to sell their goods overseas.
“Threatening to dump an asset of which it is a major holder means that Japan can hurt itself in the process,” Win Thin, global head of market strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, wrote in a note to clients on Monday. He wrote that this kind of threat is “always a double-edged sword.”
Maury Obstfeld, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told CNN that Japan's comments seem “very rash” and amount to “just a silly response.”
“No one wants to sell a lot of Treasuries quickly because they would take losses on their entire portfolio, and Japan's is vast,” Obstfeld said. “This would also invite massive tariff retaliation.”
Moreover, as Obstfeld notes, Japan needs Washington to defend itself in the volatile Asia-Pacific region. It wouldn't want to do anything to cast doubt on that support from the American military.
“The fact is that US Treasuries are so central to world financial markets that it's really hard to damage the United States – without hurting yourself in the process,” said Yale's Tedeschi.
Still, the warning from Japan does speak to a broader issue.
“Both theory and data show that trade tariffs reduce net capital inflows,” said Kent Smetters, professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
Smetters, who runs the Penn Wharton Budget Model, noted that capital was indeed leaving the United States and rates were rising before Trump announced his pause on reciprocal tariffs.
“If the tariffs are fully implemented, the US will need to sell its future debt… at lower prices and higher yields,” Smetters said. “More tax cuts, instead of helping offset some of the negative effects of tariffs, will add to the debt at a time when it will become more costly to do so.”
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The fate of President Donald Trump's controversial nominee to serve as US attorney for Washington, DC, is in question as the president has been making calls to Republican senators on his behalf, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
Ed Martin did not appear on the agenda for the Senate Judiciary Committee's meeting Thursday – a key deadline for him to be confirmed by May 20, when his interim position expires.
The White House, though, is not throwing in the towel, according to a source familiar with the process. Despite Martin's diminishing odds that his nomination will advance to see a full Senate vote, Trump officials are consulting with legislative advisors on possible next steps to try to move his nomination forward.
The White House and Department of Justice have shepherded Martin through what has so far been a turbulent confirmation, including helping him complete mandated disclosure forms and other paperwork.
But Trump, whose calls on Martin's behalf have not been previously reported, may be needed to convince a handful of skeptical Republicans who are putting the nomination at risk.
As CNN previously reported, Martin failed to disclose nearly 200 media appearances in his initial disclosures last month, and claimed under oath he did not recall some of his most controversial past statements in response to a series of questions put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Facing a potential collision course over one of Trump's favorite nominees and up against a ticking clock, a number of GOP senators have expressed concerns over Martin's past controversies.
A committee vote on Martin's nomination has not yet been scheduled. Still, the White House remains confident that Martin will get confirmed, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee in charge of Martin's nomination, said last week that Republicans needed more time to vet Martin and meet with him – a nod to the growing angst behind the scenes.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN last week he has “serious questions” about Martin, given his previous comments denigrating police officers who defended the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021, attack.
“I don't talk about that stuff,” Tillis said when asked if the president had reached out to him.
GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, who also serve on the panel, have also privately expressed concerns about supporting Martin, a source familiar with the process told CNN. Cornyn told CNN on Monday that Trump had not reached out to him, and he declined to say how he would vote on the nomination.
Grassley told CNN last week that his panel still had not received the necessary paperwork from the FBI to move forward with Martin's nomination. However, a committee aide told CNN Monday that all outstanding materials on Martin have now been received, including the FBI materials Grassley was waiting on.
Trump and his allies have a short window to get Martin over the finish line. If Republicans don't confirm him by May 20, there would be a new process to play out in picking a new nominee.
One option could be US District Judge James Boasberg appointing someone to become DC's top prosecutor. Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, has presided over a number of high-profile cases challenging Trump policies, drawing the ire of the president and his allies.
After this story published on Monday evening, Trump posted about Martin's confirmation battle on Truth Social writing that his “approval is IMPERATIVE.”
Top Justice Department officials, who had preferred another candidate for the job, have had to caution Martin about some of his public activities since taking on the job on an interim basis, sources briefed on the matter told CNN.
Despite growing blowback on the nomination, allies of Trump and Martin have made clear that the president has so far been thrilled with Martin's job performance.
“Martin is President Trump's favorite US Attorney,” one source familiar with his nomination process previously told CNN.
On top of Trump's direct calls to GOP senators, 23 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday urging them to move forward on Martin's confirmation, according to a copy shared with CNN. Trump ally Charlie Kirk also posted on X over the weekend about the need to successfully confirm Martin.
DOJ officials who may have wanted someone else for the job have come to terms with the fact that he is Trump's pick and are doing everything they can to help get him confirmed, sources briefed on the matter told CNN.
Martin has successfully implemented Trump's “law and order agenda” and been a “fantastic U.S. Attorney for D.C.,” said Alex Pfeiffer, White House principal deputy communications director. “The White House looks forward to his continued success in the role. Ed has shown he is the right man for the job.”
Martin's nomination process has been riddled with controversies since the president formally nominated him to the job in March.
Martin has had to update his mandated disclosure to Congress detailing all of his past media appearances at least three times after his initial filing failed to report media appearances he's made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media. He has also had to answer for his previous praise of a Capitol rioter who is an alleged Nazi sympathizer, despite his more recent denouncement. And he did not recall some of his most controversial past statements in response to a series of questions under oath put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During his short tenure as acting US attorney, Martin has drawn attention for having referred to the nation's largest office of federal prosecutors as “President Trumps' [sic] lawyers,” and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases.
This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.
CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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Former advisor for Israel's UN mission Daniel Flesch joins 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the significance of Israel's plan to take Gaza and how the world is reacting to the proposal as President Donald Trump is expected to visit the Middle East.
A right-wing Israeli minister says victory for Israel won't come until Gaza is "entirely destroyed" and Palestinians are forced out into other countries.
Israeli Finance Minister Bazalel Smotrich made the statement during a Tuesday appearance at a conference on Jewish settlements in the West Bank. While Smotrich is a senior Israeli official, his statement does not represent the official policy of the Israeli government.
"Within a year we will be able to declare victory in Gaza," he told attendees. "Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to... the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries," Smotrich said, according to the Agence France-Presse.
"Israel does not intend to withdraw from territories the IDF captures, not even as part of a deal to release hostages," he added.
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Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister, says Israel's goal is to see Gaza "entirely destroyed" and Palestinians pushed into other countries. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Smotrich's comments come just a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government approved a plan to take over Gaza and hold it for an undefined period on Monday.
Netanyahu said in a video message the operation would be "intensive" and would see more Palestinians moved to southern Gaza "for their own safety."
Israeli Cabinet ministers approved the plan Monday morning, but it will only take effect if a hostage deal is not reached by the time President Donald Trump visits Israel on May 13.
Israel approved a plan to take over Gaza and control it for an undefined period. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Israel currently controls roughly 50% of Gaza, and the plan would see Israeli forces expand into the south. Officials said the plan is set to be implemented gradually, with Israeli forces rooting out Hamas control over territories.
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Dubbed Operation Gideon's Chariots, the plan would also seek to prevent the militant Hamas group from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group's rule in Gaza. It also accuses Hamas of keeping the aid for itself to bolster its capabilities. The plan also included powerful strikes against Hamas targets, the officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he approved an "intensive" plan for IDF operations in Gaza. (Israeli Government Press Office via AP)
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"We want our troops to fight against a tired, hungry, and exhausted enemy, not one that has supplies and aid coming from outside the strip," Smotrich said in a statement on Monday.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
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Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital that he found gun shops in the U.S. to be "fascinating."
Israel's controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently visited the U.S., where he met with Jewish groups, law enforcement officials and politicians, as well as facing several clashes with protesters.
The shouting critics, however, did not appear to bother Ben-Gvir, who was a right-wing activist in his youth.
Ben-Gvir spoke with Fox News Digital about his U.S. visit, highlighting his trips to Mar-a-Lago, Yale and New York. He noted that he felt a shift in Israel-U.S. relations since President Donald Trump's return to the White House.
"Under Biden's administration, I was considered persona non grata. Under Trump, I was welcomed at Mar-a-Lago and was able to speak," Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital. He added that having "an American president who supports us and stands behind us makes a difference" in wartime.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives for a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Aug. 27, 2023. (MENAHEM KAHANA/Pool via REUTERS)
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Trump was not the only politician who met with the Israeli firebrand. Several high-profile Republicans, including Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., and Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., met with Ben-Gvir on Capitol Hill.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee, which Mast chairs, posted a photo of the chairman with Ben-Gvir and wrote that the two discussed America and Israel's shared security interests. Mast is well versed in both American and Israeli security needs as a U.S. Army veteran and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) volunteer.
Prior to his meeting with Mast, Ben-Gvir had the chance to visit his home state where he saw something that he wanted to take back with him to Israel: gun culture.
Ben-Gvir has long been an advocate for wider distribution of firearms in Israel, and while he was visiting the U.S., he took time to see how America handles guns. He had the opportunity to visit both a shooting range and a gun store, which he said was "fascinating."
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, left, visits the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 21, 2023. (Minhelet Har-Habait, Temple Mount Administration/Handout via REUTERS. )
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"I was surprised by the quantity and types of weapons available. Even I haven't reached that level," Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital.
He spoke about how critics have accused him of arming militias, which he denies. When speaking with Fox News Digital, Ben-Gvir said that the weapons he distributed in Israel "saved many lives."
"I believe we need to learn a from the Americans. One of the important lessons is their policy on weapons," Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital. "I'm not sure I would distribute arms to the same extent, but I definitely believe in expanding access because citizens have the right to defend themselves."
Gun culture in Israel has changed since the Oct. 7 massacre. Before the attacks, Israel was strict about who was eligible to obtain a firearm. Pre-Oct. 7, firearm licenses were restricted to those who live and work in high-risk areas, licensed tour guides and those who served with Israeli police or IDF security forces, among a few other specified categories, according to an Israeli government website from 2019.
Israeli forces are seen among the rubble of buildings destroyed after the clashes between Israeli and Palestinian forces in Be'eri, Israel, on Oct. 13, 2023. (Nir Keidar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Since Oct. 7, Israel has seen a rise in applications for firearm permits. While Ben-Gvir worked to streamline the handgun application process prior to the attacks, he instituted additional reforms after the massacre. According to the Times of Israel, these reforms included changes to military service requirements for those seeking a license. Additionally, he expanded eligibility requirements to include national service members who have no criminal record, history of violence or mental health issues.
"We need to allow as many citizens as possible to be armed. It gives people a sense of security—when someone has a weapon in their pocket, they feel safer," Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital.He added that he had been fighting to arm communities near Gaza but said people "didn't listen to me. After Oct. 7, I was proven right. It became clear how necessary it was to provide more weapons to civil defense squads."
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However, he is proud of his work distributing weapons in the area near Gaza and establishing civil defense squads there. "Thank God, it's working," he said.
Amelie Botbol contributed to this report.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
Fox News' Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world."
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Barstool Sports' founder said he would send two customers to tour a former Nazi concentration camp after they allegedly engaged in antisemitic behavior at a Barstool pub in Philadelphia, then later retracted that offer for at least one of them because he said the person was denying responsibility for what happened.
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Temple University student suspended after an antisemitic sign is posted at Barstool sports bar owned by Dave Portnoy
Dave Portnoy said in posts on social media that in an initial conversation Sunday the customer took 100% responsibility for his actions with his friend and agreed to take a learning trip to Auschwitz in Poland. But on Monday, Portnoy posted that the customer “did a 180” and told him he had nothing to do with the antisemitic behavior and he was just being a citizen journalist by sharing video of what happened.
“His trip to Poland has been revoked,” Portnoy said in the post. “Whatever ramifications come his way he 100% earned.”
It wasn't clear if the trip had been revoked for the other customer.
Portnoy, who is Jewish, said he has experienced increased antisemitism, as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.
In a video posted on social media Saturday night, a woman at the bar who appears to be a server holds a sign with an anti-Jewish message on it while a man repeats the message multiple times.
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The bar said in a statement posted to social media that several employees, against their training and organization's written discrimination policies, complied with a customer's request for the sign in connection with ordering bottle service.
“We are saddened, embarrassed, and frustrated by the deplorable actions of a customer and misguided staff,” Barstool Samson Street said in the post.
Portnoy said two bar employees had been fired over the incident.
Philadelphia police said they were investigating. No charges were immediately filed.
Temple University said one of the customers is believed to be one of their students. The student was put on interim suspension while an investigation continues, President John Fry said in a statement posted on the university's website.
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Fry called antisemitism “abhorrent” and said he would take further action if other students were involved.
“It has no place at Temple and acts of hatred and discrimination against any person or persons are not tolerated at this university,” Fry said.
Kappa Delta Rho said in a post on its website that it is also investigating because the customer involved was allegedly a member of their fraternity at Temple.
“To be clear, our organization firmly opposes all forms of hate, which have no place in our fraternity,” said Xavier Romano, executive director of the national fraternity.
Portnoy had said he hoped to turn the event into a teachable moment. He did not initially identify the culprits but identified one of them on Monday when saying he would not be sending them to Auschwitz. The customer didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
He founded Barstool Sports in 2003, a digital platform covering sports, lifestyle and entertainment, in the Boston area. He also owns several Barstool bars in locations around the country.
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To defend democracy, the courts must rule in favor of a lawmaker who bullied a high school student.
by Ian Millhiser
The Supreme Court has been asked to decide a case that combines two of the most charged issues in the US at the moment: trans participation in sports, and attacks on voting rights.
The case's inciting incident came in February, when Laurel Libby, a Republican elected to the Maine House of Representatives, wrote a Facebook post criticizing a transgender athlete who won a statewide pole vaulting championship. In that post, Libby did not blur or otherwise obscure the high school student's face, and she named the student and her school.
Get the latest developments on the US Supreme Court from senior correspondent Ian Millhiser.
In response, Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat, asked Libby to remove the post due to concerns “that publicizing the student's identity would threaten the student's health and safety.” When Libby refused, a majority of the state house passed a resolution censuring Libby — that resolution reiterated Fecteau's concern that shining such a spotlight on a high school student “may endanger the minor.” It also highlighted a study showing that “transgender people are over four times more likely to be victims of violence.”
Thus far, all of this is fine as a constitutional matter. While Libby has a First Amendment right to speak out against trans rights, government entities like the Maine House also have a right to express their own viewpoints on controversial issues. And that includes formally denouncing statements by individual lawmakers that a majority of the legislature finds repugnant.
But Maine's House rules also provide that Libby “may not be allowed to vote or speak” on the House floor until she apologizes for the conduct that resulted in her censure. She refused to do so, and thus has effectively been stripped of her ability to vote on legislation since last winter. This also means that her constituents are effectively stripped of their representation in the state house, because their duly elected representative cannot vote on bills.
That is not allowed. Indeed, The Supreme Court's decision in Bond v. Floyd (1966), which involved the Georgia House of Representatives' decision not to seat a duly elected lawmaker — ostensibly because he spoke out against the Vietnam War — is almost directly on point. Bond held that the First Amendment “requires that legislators be given the widest latitude to express their views on issues of policy.” The same rule should apply in Libby v. Fecteau, which is now pending before the Supreme Court.
One of the most well-established principles under the First Amendment is that offensive speech must be protected. Because the First Amendment protects against government censorship, virtually all free speech cases involve speech that is sufficiently offensive to government officials that they decided to sanction it. If the freedom of speech did not apply to speech that many Americans find repulsive, it would be worthless.
Even if the First Amendment does not apply to speech that is somewhat menacing to a minor — itself a dubious proposition — stripping Libby of her voting rights does more than simply strike at her right to free speech. It punishes her constituents by stripping them of their right to representation. Indeed, the Maine legislature's actions would be less offensive to the Constitution if it had simply expelled Libby from the state house altogether. At least in that circumstance, the people of her district could elect someone else to cast votes on their behalf.
Libby's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on this case by Tuesday, when the Maine House convenes for a floor session. That won't happen, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who oversees emergency requests to her Court that arise out of Maine's federal courts, set a May 8 deadline for the state legislature to respond to Libby's arguments.
There are legitimate reasons why the Court might not weigh in on the Libby case anytime soon. The case arises on the Court's “shadow docket,” a mix of emergency motions and other expedited matters that the justices used to be very cautious about deciding prematurely before President Donald Trump's first term. Some of the justices remain concerned about overuse of the shadow docket, and may wish to give an appeals court more time to consider the case.
But some court needs to intervene. Regardless of what anyone thinks about Libby's attack on a high school student, allowing lawmakers to strip their colleagues of their ability to vote on legislation would set an alarming precedent that could easily be used by authoritarian legislators to stifle dissent.
For now, no court has weighed in on whether it is constitutional to strip Libby of her ability to vote or to speak on the House floor. A federal district judge denied relief to Libby on the grounds that the legislature's decision to sanction her is protected by “legislative immunity.” An appeals court issued a brief decision denying Libby an emergency order immediately reinstating her voting rights, but the case remains pending before that court.
The principle of legislative immunity is well-established. As the Court said in Powell v. McCormack (1969), it is intended to ensure that “legislators are free to represent the interests of their constituents without fear that they will be later called to task in the courts for that representation.”
Imagine, for example, that the Maine legislature enacts a tax on the sale of beets. If this tax is illegal, a beetroot farmer might file a lawsuit against the state's taxing agency seeking to be reimbursed for paying it. But they cannot sue the state lawmakers who voted for the tax. Those lawmakers are shielded from liability, and the farmer's suit lies against the state officials who actually collect the tax.
While this framework protects lawmakers from being hauled off into court, it is not intended to render illegal legislation — or, in the Libby case, an illegal sanction imposed on a lawmaker — entirely immune from judicial review.
In the Powell case, for example, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a duly-elected member of Congress that the US House refused to seat, in large part because of corruption allegations against that lawmaker. Though legislative immunity might have prevented that unseated lawmaker, New York's Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, from suing the actual members of Congress who voted to unseat him, the Court allowed his suit to proceed against the House Sergeant at Arms — who was responsible for paying House members.
“Although an action against a Congressman may be barred” by the Constitution, Powell concluded, “legislative employees who participated in the unconstitutional activity are responsible for their acts.”
A similar rule should apply in Libby. Though Libby's suit against Fecteau should be precluded by legislative immunity, she also sued Robert Hunt, the clerk of the Maine House who is responsible for tallying votes cast by representatives. She seeks an injunction requiring Hunt to count her votes.
The district judge, for what it is worth, claimed that Bond and Powell do not apply to the Libby case because, in both of those cases, a lawmaker was removed from a legislature entirely, while Libby was merely sanctioned until she apologizes. But this distinction should not matter. Powell established that “legislative employees” like Hunt can be sued for “unconstitutional activity” generally, regardless of whether that activity results in someone being removed from their job as a lawmaker.
Moreover, it's not hard to imagine how lawmakers could abuse the power to strip away a colleague's voting rights. The Bond case, for example, involved state Rep. Julian Bond, a prominent Black civil rights activist who was elected to the Georgia House shortly before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enfranchised Black voters in the Jim Crow South. Though his colleagues claimed that they refused to seat him because of his views on the Vietnam War, Bond's race almost certainly drove many of his unreconstructed colleagues to lock him out of office.
The Maine House's decision to strip Libby of her voting rights is also evocative of a more recent incident, where Tennessee's Republican-controlled House voted to expel two Black Democratic lawmakers under circumstances which strongly suggested that their race motivated this expulsion. (The legislature backed down after both lawmakers were reelected.)
Libby, who was sanctioned for bullying a teenager, hardly occupies the same moral high ground as Julian Bond. But the same constitutional principles that applied in Bond should apply in Libby. Otherwise, any lawmaker who is in the minority within their legislative body could be targeted by colleagues who want to silence them and to disenfranchise their constituents.
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Republicans are gearing up for what is likely to be a brutal battle to select a GOP challenger for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) next year in one of Democrats' most vulnerable seats.
The decision by Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) to bow out of consideration Monday allowed Democrats to take a victory lap, as it dashed Republican hopes stretching from the Peach State to the nation's capital of having a star recruit. The focus quickly turned to other possible GOP challengers, including one that national Republicans behind the scenes particularly want to avoid: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“Obviously, we're disappointed about [Kemp]. He, of course, would have been a great candidate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said. “That race is going to be competitive either way, and the good news is there's a lot of interest.”
Thune, prompted if Greene could win a statewide contest amid concerns in the party that her firebrand style of politics could be a liability with swing voters, offered little reassurance of her candidate quality.
“I don't know the answer to that. Obviously, that's up to the people of Georgia,” he said. “But I know there are several in the House delegation over there that are expressing interest and some other statewides too.”
The bench of possible contenders now that Kemp, a popular second-term governor, cleared the way is deep and extends well beyond Greene, the MAGA loyalist who frequently grabs headlines. Other possible hopefuls include Reps. Mike Collins (R-GA), Rick Allen (R-GA), Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Brian Jack (R-GA), Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper, Insurance Commissioner John King, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
There was little surprise to Kemp's decision from those familiar with Georgia GOP politics who saw him as having nominal interest in the gig, even as he was lobbied by top Republican senators.
“To Republicans nationally: don't give up on us,” Brian Robinson, a Georgia-based GOP strategist who worked for Kemp's predecessor, former Georgia GOP Gov. Nathan Deal, told the Washington Examiner. “We didn't get Plan A, but Plan B is going to probably be OK. We just need the party primary electorate to act and vote strategically. Who can beat John Ossoff? It's not necessarily going to be the person who gets the party faithful on their feet, acting and hooting and hollering.”
Democrats were quick to label the recruiting blunder an early boost for Ossoff, the first-term, purple-state senator who ousted former GOP Sen. David Perdue in 2020 by just 1.2 percentage points. Ossoff is the only Democrat up for reelection in the Senate whose state Trump won.
Senate Democrats' campaign arm labeled Kemp's decision “yet another embarrassing Republican Senate recruitment failure,” while the Ossoff campaign said the GOP will be forced to “scramble in the aftermath.”
Senate Republicans' campaign arm sought to project optimism that its chances to turn the seat back to red were alive and well. It whacked Ossoff for leaning into rhetoric that President Donald Trump has committed impeachable acts in his second term.
“While Jon Ossoff is running to impeach President Trump, Republicans have a number of strong candidates who can build a winning coalition to add this seat to President Trump's Senate majority,” said Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Kemp is but the latest current or former governor with national name recognition to decline a Senate run in their home state, joining the likes of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and former New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu. Meanwhile, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is looking to leave Washington with a run for governor as Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) weigh their own possible gubernatorial campaigns.
Recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution polling showed Kemp with the strongest odds among Republicans of unseating Ossoff. Kemp bested Ossoff 49-46% in a hypothetical matchup. Greene, King, and Raffensperger lost by at least 9 points or more. Greene polled the lowest against Ossoff, with 37% to his 54%.
Trump could also sway the race, should he choose to put his thumb on the scale with an endorsement. Greene has a close relationship with him, and Jack is being encouraged by Trump to run, according to a source familiar with the race.
SENATE DEMOCRATS SEE HOPE FOR MIDTERMS WITH 2024 DOWNBALLOT RESULTS
“Whoever it is, the Republicans have got to be strategic,” Robinson said, adding that the GOP can't make the mistakes of 2022 and “put forward a candidate that couldn't win, that wasn't serious.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) narrowly bested Republican nominee Herschel Walker in a 2022 special election, with many in the GOP pointing to Walker's scandal-ridden campaign as the culprit for failing to retake the seat.
David Sivak and Samantha-Jo Roth contributed to this report.
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National Security Advisor Mike Waltz discusses the implications of a judge temporarily halting flights of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime does not direct the activities of the Tren de Aragua, according to a newly public memo released by U.S. intelligence agencies last month.
The memo, published Monday by the New York Times, undercuts President Donald Trump's justifications for using the Alien Enemies Act to facilitate deportations. The report represents the "sense of the community" of the National Intelligence Council and states they have not found a direct link between Maduro's regime and TdA leadership.
"While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States," the report states.
"The IC bases this judgment on Venezuelan law enforcement actions demonstrating the regime treats TDA as a threat; an uneasy mix of cooperation and confrontation rather than top-down directives [that] characterize the regime's ties to other armed groups; and the decentralized makeup of TDA that would make such a relationship logistically challenging," the memo continues.
FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING
A report from U.S. Intelligence agencies found little evidence that the Venezuelan government is directly supporting Tren de Aragua gang members in the U.S. (El Salvador Press Presidency Office/Anadolu via Getty Images)
While the memo cuts against the claim that support for TdA is a direct policy from Maduro's regime, it does note that FBI analysts agree that "some Venezuelan government officials facilitate TDA members' migration from Venezuela to the United States and use members as proxies … to advance what they see as the Maduro regime's goal of destabilizing governments and undermining public safety in these countries."
NOEM RIPS DEMOCRATS OVER SUPPORT FOR DEPORTED MIGRANT
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows deportation of natives and citizens of an enemy nation without a hearing, has been invoked three times, during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.
A U.S. intelligence memo contested the claim that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime has direct control over the activities of Tren de Aragua. (Carlos Becerra/Getty Images)
Trump's administration declared in March that all Venezuelan citizens 14 years or older who are members of TdA, are within the U.S. and are not naturalized or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. may be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as "alien enemies."
Key to the White House's argument is its claim that TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolás Maduro regime-sponsored narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela.
Trump Border czar Tom Homan has defended the administration's choice to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. (C-Span)
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In 2020, Maduro and other regime members were charged with narco-terrorism and other crimes in an alleged plot against America.
Fox News' Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.
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Trump's latest executive order presents a test for Democrats.
by Nicole Narea
President Donald Trump is again targeting a familiar foe: blue cities and states with “sanctuary” policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
During his first term, Trump tried to withhold federal public safety grants from states and localities that refused to allow local law enforcement to share information with federal immigration agents or hand over immigrants in their custody. The policy was struck down in federal court and was set to be reviewed by the Supreme Court. But the justices never decided the case before Trump left office, leaving the door open for him to try again in his second term.
Now the fight is back: Trump issued an executive order in January to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities and counties under US immigration law. The Department of Justice issued a subsequent memo implementing that order.
But there's a key difference: Last time, Democrats were unified in their defense of sanctuary policies, seeing it as a winning issue. What's different this time is the lack of uniform opposition from Democratic leadership in some of those cities and states as the party struggles to chart a path forward on immigration.
So far, the courts are siding with local officials. In April, a federal judge again struck down both the executive order and the DOJ directive as unconstitutional, ruling that they violated protections for the separation of powers, Congress's spending powers, and due process, as well as sought to unlawfully coerce local officials into enforcing federal immigration law.
The court battle, however, likely isn't over. That's because Trump issued a new executive order last week directing his government to suspend federal grants to sanctuary cities and states.
This time, he used a more extensive legal toolkit. In addition to invoking federal immigration law and his constitutional authority to protect the US from “invasion,” he accuses sanctuary cities and states of crimes — including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and harboring illegal aliens — as a basis to take away their funding.
A representative from California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office, which has been at the forefront of the lawsuits related to sanctuary policies, told Vox that they were reviewing the legality of the order and did not rule out the possibility of a court challenge.
“The Trump Administration is attempting to create a culture of fear by trumpeting executive orders and inhumane policies that target our immigrant communities,” they said. “California is not hiding the fact that we have chosen to focus our resources on public safety instead of immigration enforcement.”
But it's not clear that everyone in blue states is ready to resist.
Defending sanctuary policies presents a messaging challenge for Democrats. Trump's immigration policies helped propel him to victory in 2024 and remain one of the more popular elements of his agenda, even if support for them has slipped a bit recently. And some Democratic leaders aren't defending sanctuary policies as vehemently as they once did.
The email you need to stay informed about Trump — without letting the news take over your life, from senior editor Patrick Reis.
Trump's legal battle over sanctuary cities in his first term ended without a conclusion: The case was still before the Supreme Court when he left office, and then President Joe Biden asked the justices to dismiss it, refusing to defend his predecessor's efforts to slash funding. But now Trump is trying to revive that legal battle.
Naureen Shah, director of government affairs for the ACLU's Equality Division, argued that his latest executive order has “no legal basis,” framing it as “another example of President Trump's relentless campaign to attack the integrity of our legal system and separation of powers by targeting judges, lawyers, and other officials who refuse to comply with his extreme agenda.”
Shah said that cities and states have the right to determine how to employ their own resources. That includes 17,000 local law enforcement agencies across the country that the Trump administration is trying to deputize to carry out the president's deportation agenda.
And the Democratic Mayors Association has argued that embracing Trump's latest executive order is not the best use of their resources. “His latest executive order is a dangerous overreach targeting sanctuary cities and does nothing to address the real challenges of our broken immigration system,” Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb said in a statement on behalf of the association.
No lawsuit has been filed against the new executive order yet. But with millions on the line, it's likely to come soon. Trump is expected to appeal any ruling in favor of sanctuary cities, potentially taking it all the way to the Supreme Court yet again.
The national debate over sanctuary policies comes at a precarious moment for Democrats on immigration.
For a while, immigration was buoying Trump's approval ratings. Surveys have also suggested that sanctuary policies specifically are divisive, with 77 percent of Republicans and 11 percent of Democrats saying in a February NPR-Ipsos poll that they approve of efforts to defund sanctuary cities and states.
However, concerns about Trump's deportations of undocumented immigrants to El Salvador — including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the government admits was deported in error — seem to have recently put a dent in Trump's poll numbers.
The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released on April 25 found that 53 percent of Americans overall now disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration, up from 48 percent in February. That may mean that the public approval of sanctuary policies is also shifting.
That has put Democrats in a difficult position, as they face internal disagreements on how to handle the immigration issue. Some have been subdued in their defense of sanctuary policies.
How should Democrats talk about immigration in the face of a public that remains skeptical of it, but also increasingly concerned about Trump's approach to enforcement?
It started on the 2024 campaign trail, when vulnerable Democrats, including former Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana, came out against sanctuary policies. Both lost their seats.
The phenomenon has continued after Trump assumed office. California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who called himself a “poster child for sanctuary policy” during his 2017 campaign — has refrained from even using the word “sanctuary” publicly. He has also promised to veto (for a second time) legislation that would provide new “sanctuary” protections to immigrants in state custody.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has advocated for due process in Abrego Garcia's case and has said that he would protect Marylanders in the face of Trump's immigration policies. But he hasn't ruled out cooperating with US Immigration Customs and Enforcement, saying in January that local cities and counties need to “follow the Constitution” while declining to elaborate on what that meant.
“We are going to make sure that our local jurisdictions are going to follow the Constitution,” Moore said. “We are cooperating to ensure that we are getting violent offenders off of our streets and out of our neighborhoods, frankly, regardless of where they come from.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has objected to the term “sanctuary,” telling CalMatters that it's been “politicized by both ends of the ideological spectrum.” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has also avoided using the term “sanctuary” and refused to sign a nonbinding resolution reaffirming the city's sanctuary protections, saying it was his policy to “not to comment or act on urging resolutions.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has signaled an openness to working with the Trump administration to arrest certain immigrants connected to “violent migrant gangs.” Though his case is unique given the controversies that have haunted his administration, and he is running for reelection as an independent.
Adams met with Trump “border czar” Tom Homan earlier this year and issued an executive order to reopen US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's ICE's office on Rikers Island, the city's largest jail, a move that the city council has sought to block.
The New York City comptroller has also demanded that Adams recuse himself from all matters related to the city's sanctuary policies, including any response to Trump's latest executive order that could see the city stripped of federal grants. Earlier this year, Adams was accused of making a “quid pro quo” deal with the Trump administration to cooperate on immigration enforcement in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping criminal charges against him; Adams has denied those allegations.
The Adams administration has been “muted, if not muzzled, in its response to the very clear and explicit threats to our City's federal funding and New Yorkers' civil liberties,” Comptroller Brad Lander wrote in a letter to Adams on April 29.
A representative for Adams' office contested that the mayor has taken steps to advocate for New Yorkers when the federal government threatened the city's FEMA funding, an offshore wind project, and congestion pricing plan, saying that Lander's demands were “desperate and detached from reality.”
While Adams isn't representative of the typical Democrat, the debate in New York reflects a larger one within the party: How should they talk about immigration in the face of a public that remains skeptical of it, but also increasingly concerned about Trump's approach to enforcement?
The tensions over sanctuary policies suggest that Democrats haven't yet reached a resolution.
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Ahead of a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, former Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance at the Met Gala in New York, along with husband Doug Emhoff, wearing a custom black-and-white gown by Off-White.
Though they skipped the red carpet, Harris appears in photos ahead of the event wearing an elegant silk silhouette with an asymmetrical cape sleeve and a long scarf — a look meant to evoke a sense of timelessness, according to the luxury label.
The former vice president was invited by Vogue editor-in-chief and Met Gala co-chair Anna Wintour, according to a spokesperson for Harris. She has made few high-profile appearances since losing the presidential election in November, though she has recently given two speeches at the Leading Women Defined Summit and Emerge Gala, the latter of which benefits an organization that recruits and trains women to run for office. In both, Harris has rebuked US President Trump's first 100 days in office.
“Instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” she said at the Emerge Gala last Wednesday. “And what we are also seeing in these last 14 weeks is Americans using their voice and showing their courage.”
Over the course of her vice presidency, Harris' fashion choices often evoked subtle symbolism, from the suffrage-associated white suit and pussybow blouse she wore as she stepped into the role, to a tan Chloé suit at last year's Democratic National Convention that seemed to be a playful nod to former President Obama. The former vice president also appeared on the cover of Vogue twice, with her first portrait igniting debate over her more casual demeanor in a black jacket and Converse sneakers, photographed by Tyler Mitchell.
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At the Met Gala, Harris celebrated the spirit of the Costume Institute's exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” in her look from Off-White. The show explores the exuberant and subversive history of Black dandyism, based on the landmark book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” by the show's guest curator and scholar Monica L. Miller. The exhibition on Black sartorial history is going on during an uncertain time for museums, as the Trump administration has made calls to end crucial federal funding for the arts and has targeted Smithsonian museums for their exhibitions on race and gender.
“To me the true core of dandyism is rooted in confidence and strength. There is no person who exemplifies these characteristics more than Kamala D. Harris, someone who has overcome adversity and continues to be a beacon for so many,” Off-White creative director IB Kamara said in a statement shared with CNN.
The night marks her first appearance at the Met Gala, though she's far from the only politician to grace the museum's steps during fashion's biggest night out. In 2022, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the Met Gala for the first time in two decades wearing a red Altuzarra gown embroidered with the names of trailblazing American women, including Harriet Tubman and Eleanor Roosevelt. The year prior, US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a splashy statement in a white Brother Vellies gown emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” in red.
Wintour has said, however, that US President Trump is persona non grata at the event. In 2017, during his first term, the Vogue editor told James Corden on his late-night talk show that he is one person she would “never invite back.”
Arlette Saenz contributed to this reporting.
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Fox News Digital spoke with TSA Acting Administrator Adam Stahl about how REAL IDs will impact travel with state and airports working ahead of the May 7 deadline.
The countdown is on. In just one day, Americans will no longer be able to travel with a standard driver's license as their ID. Instead, they will need a REAL ID, with a gold star showing in the upper right-hand corner.
Travelers will need to show their REAL ID or other forms of acceptable identification on domestic flights starting Wednesday, May 7.
The deadline has sparked panic among many Americans who have been rushing to obtain the new identification before their travels, with some still waiting to receive their REAL IDs in the mail.
MARRIED WOMEN FACE REAL ID DOCUMENTATION HURDLES: 'I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS'
Flyers who enrolled for a REAL ID will receive the identification via mail with the times varying by state.
The New York DMV said after passengers apply, they will receive a temporary document and "it takes about 2 weeks for your new Enhanced and REAL ID document to arrive in the mail."
With the REAL ID deadline just a day away at this point, some Americans report delays in receiving their identification. (Fox News)
In California, meanwhile, according to their DMV, "it typically takes 2 to 4 weeks to receive a physical REAL ID card in the mail after applying."
In the state of Michigan, the identification should arrive in the mail within two to three weeks, according to its DMV site.
Pennsylvania, for its part, said it will mail out a REAL ID within 15 business days if a person enrolls at a DMV; but if a traveler visits a PennDOT REAL ID Center, the person can "be verified in real time, and your REAL ID will be issued [the] same day."
HIDDEN REAL ID HASSLES FACING AIRLINE TRAVELERS AND STATES TO AVOID
Daniel Velez, a spokesperson for TSA New England, shared advice with Fox News Digital about what passengers should do if they're still waiting for their REAL IDs.
"Passengers who present a non-compliant state ID along with a state letter or receipt will still be subject to additional screening but should be able to proceed faster than those who only present a state letter or receipt," said Velez.
Travelers experiencing mail delays with their new IDs can use passport alternatives for domestic flights when standard licenses become invalid on Wednesday, said the TSA. (Fox News Digital)
He added, "We strongly suggest (even if you have a receipt/letter from the DMV) that passengers bring another form of an acceptable ID such as a U.S. passport in order to proceed through security faster."
Velez said that if passengers do not have any acceptable ID, TSA "strongly suggest[s] they arrive to the airport 3 hours prior to their departure time."
"I tried calling, can't reach a person."
Other forms of identification that will be accepted in lieu of a REAL ID include a valid U.S. passport or passport card; DHS trusted traveler cards such as Global Entry; Department of Defense IDs; permanent resident cards; and border crossing cards.
REAL ID REJECTION BY AMERICANS MAY COME DOWN TO ONE SURPRISING FACTOR
In the "r/AskChicago" forum on Reddit, one person posted a note with the headline, "What to do if REAL ID is lost in mail."
The person wrote, "I went in to get my REAL ID driver's license on April 7, and the tracker on the secretary of state's website says it was mailed out on the 15th, but I still haven't received it. I tried calling, can't reach a person. I tried filling out their online form a few days ago and haven't gotten any sort of response."
Flyers who enroll for a REAL IDs will receive the identification via mail with times varying by state. (Getty)
The user asked, "I'm wondering if it's taken anyone else this long to get their ID."
Redditors took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the matter.
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"It happened to me once. Waited for over a month and nothing showed up in my mail. Went to secretary of state and applied for another replacement, paid the fee," commented a Redditor.
One user said, "Went in for a corrected license on the 16th and just got it today. I noticed mail is running really slow lately."
TSA is advising alternate options for IDs that people can present for domestic flights as standard licenses become invalid. (iStock; Fox News Digital)
Another person posted in the "r/Charlotte" forum, asking, "Should I be concerned I have yet to receive my REAL ID in the mail? It's been a month."
"I went on April 2nd. I have the temporary one they printed at the DMV, but I was just wondering how long it's taken others to get theirs in the mail before I spend a lot of time making calls trying to track it down," the person wrote.
REAL ID REJECTION BY AMERICANS MAY COME DOWN TO ONE SURPRISING FACTOR
Another user commented, "I still can't believe the deadline is really here after what feels like a decade of talks, lol."
"I would be concerned."
Said still another person, "You have a lot more faith in the DMV and USPS to be fast than I do."
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One Redditor said, "Thousands of people are going each day. I'm guessing they're just overloaded, tbh. I decided to just use my passport until it dies down. Chaos out there."
Passengers will be required to travel with a REAL ID, or other compliant identification, in order to fly domestically starting May 7. (iStock)
"I mean, I expected it to take longer because they are getting slammed now, but I'm a little concerned," commented one person.
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Another user added, "I went late last month and got my REAL ID in less than 2 weeks in the mail. My wife went earlier this month and got hers quickly also. So I would be concerned."
A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more.
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Celebrities from the film, fashion, music, sports, politics and social media worlds ascended the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Monday to sip cocktails, have dinner and were dressed to the nines in their best ode to Black dandyism. (May 6)
Andra Day attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Tonya Lewis Lee, left, and Spike Lee attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Serena Williams attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Whoopi Goldberg attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Teyana Taylor attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Lupita Nyong'o attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Simone Biles attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Colman Domingo attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Rihanna attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Sarah Snook attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Whoopi Goldberg attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Al Sharpton attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Alex Newell attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Keith Powers attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — “Well, it took a minute,” said Spike Lee, surveying the glittering Met Gala crowd during cocktail hour through bright orange glasses that matched his New York Knicks cap. “But we're here now, that's the most important thing.”
Lee was referring to the fact that for the very first time, the Met Gala was making a point of celebrating Black style and Black designers — a milestone he felt was overdue, but very welcome.
“Long overdue,” Lee repeated. “But we're here to celebrate. And who knows what's gonna happen because of this event? There's gonna be reverberations around the world.”
Lee was echoing an excitement that many of the approximately 400 guests — luminaries in sports, music, fashion, film, theater and more — shared as they sipped cocktails or toured the gala's accompanying exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” The show is an exploration of Black menswear from the 18th century onward, with dandyism as a unifying theme.
Another film director, Baz Luhrmann, was touring the exhibit, designed by guest curator Monica L. Miller, a Barnard professor who literally wrote the book on dandyism: “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.” Luhrmann, too, mused on the importance of this year's theme.
“Sometimes the subjects are fun, sometimes you go, that's interesting. But this is a subject where you go, why has light not been shone on this before?” Luhrmann said.
For Whoopi Goldberg, the most important person of the evening wasn't actually there. It was her late friend, André Leon Talley, the fashion editor who was so important to Black style, and with whom she'd attended previous galas.
Whoopi Goldberg attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Talley, who died in 2022, is honored in the exhibit; there's a caftan he wore, among other objects. And Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton has said he was an inspiration for the show.
“I think they did him proud,” Goldberg said during cocktails. “I'm very happy to be here again, but spectacularly happy to see how they took care of him.”
Asked what Talley would have thought of the show, she guessed he'd say: “I'm glad you understand.”
Goldberg was dressed head to toe — meaning mini-top hat to spats-inspired shoes, to handbag — in black-and-white Thom Browne.
“He said. ‘Will you come?'” Goldberg said of Browne, whose suits, particularly, are hugely popular. “And I said, when you're done, just put it on me, and I'm good. I feel incredible.”
It was a favored topic of conversation; every guest had a slightly different way of defining what a dandy is.
For Lee, it was simple: “Doing your own thing.”
Tonya Lewis Lee, left, and Spike Lee attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
For Audra McDonald, it was about “a sense of reclaiming” one's own identity and worth. The Broadway actor, currently starring in “Gypsy,” was among the first guests examining the exhibit, along with her husband and fellow actor, Will Swenson.
Over at cocktails, the Rev. Al Sharpton was describing dandyism as a form of activism: “It means to me that even in the midst of being in a socially limited situation, we celebrate. I refuse to submit to just having a menial job. I'm gonna dress up. I'm gonna tip my hat. It's a sense of rebellion, without having to speak it.”
Sharpton was full of praise for the Met having chosen this moment to honor Black style.
“It comes at a very important time,” he said. “To make a statement of diversity at the highest cultural level — which is the Met Gala — when diversity is under attack by the highest office in the land is more than if I could do a hundred marches. This is a monumental night.”
Colman Domingo, a co-chair who spoke movingly earlier Monday about how male relatives — his stepfather, father and brother — taught him about style, was yet more emotional at the gala, where he described dandyism as “a form of resistance.”
“It feels right on the money that I am in this moment,” said the 55 year-old actor, who recounted becoming more stylistically self-assured with each passing decade, and less concerned with what others think. “Being a host here, it's very meaningful.”
Alex Newell attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
It was Broadway actor Alex Newell's third Met Gala in a row. This one had a special meaning, the performer noted.
“It's nice to see us represented this way,” Newell said. “Just when it is needed the most.”
Many also expressed deep pride in the fact that this year's gala brought in a record haul of more than $31 million, as Met officials confirmed on Monday.
Once gala guests climb the steps outside and enter the museum's Great Hall, they encounter each year a monumental centerpiece, usually floral.
This year, it was thousands of flower petals suspended from the ceiling, with lighting evoking a starry sky. The petals also hung over the Great Hall staircase, which guests ascended to greet the awaiting receiving line of gala hosts.
The petals — made of fabric, truth be told — were meant to symbolize narcissus flowers, and there were also reflecting pools, nodding to the myth of Narcissus.
The greeting was not only visual but musical: An orchestra, accompanied by swaying singers, played favorites like Al Green's “Let's Stay Together” and Stevie Wonder's “Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing,”
Guests then either proceeded to view the exhibit, or head straight to cocktails in the airy Engelhard Court. Often, they seem to prefer socializing, but this year the exhibit was filled with guests.
Sarah Snook attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
One of the more famous dandies, historically speaking, was Oscar Wilde. And so there was symmetry in the fact that Sarah Snook — the “Succession” star — was dressed in a way Wilde would have liked.
It was certainly intentional. Snook now is appearing on Broadway in “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” the stage adaptation of Wilde's 1891 novel in which she plays all 26 roles.
“Yes, There's definitely an echo,” Snook said with a smile, about her striking (and aristocratic-looking) black satin tuxedo ensemble, by anOnlyChild. “Oscar would be happy.”
Snook said she was enjoying her night off at the gala — conveniently for the many guests from Broadway, theaters are dark on Mondays. “I'm loving the celebration of beautiful things,” she said.
It's safe to say milliners were very busy leading up to this gala. Hats, a key element of dandy style, were everywhere. Top hats like Goldberg's were especially popular, but then there were the wide-brimmed ones that threatened to shield a celebrity face just a bit too much. (Was that you, Kim Kardashian?)
Sometimes, a little direction was needed — from a director. Zendaya, smashing in an all-white Louis Vuitton ensemble by gala co-host Pharrell Williams, sported a huge floppy white hat. Getting up from her seat in the cocktail party, she started to put it back on, and Luhrmann, who was chatting with her, helped her find just the right angle. She laughed and went off to chat with Diana Ross.
At every Met Gala, there are newbies — and they're often rather starstruck. One of them was model Christian Latchman, 19, wearing a dramatic white ensemble that combined trousers with a long skirt.
If he looked familiar, that's because Latchman is the face in the photograph on the cover of the exhibit's massive hardcover catalog.
Asked to sum up his feelings about the evening, he said simply: “Astonishment. That's the word for it.”
Also new to the gala was actor Keith Powers, who sat on the sidelines, soaking it in. Was it all intimidating? Overwhelming?
“All of the above,” he said. “It makes me anxious — and happy, and inspired.”
Cocktails are fun, but dinner at the Met Gala sounds even more fun — that's where guests get an A-plus musical performance, for one thing.
But music also accompanies the call to dinner. This time, it was the New York-based High and Mighty Brass Band who did the honors, snaking through cocktails with drums, trombones, a tuba and trumpets.
Then guests headed off — slowly — to dinner, where they feasted on a menu by chef Kwame Onwuachi. Dinner began with papaya piri piri salad, and moved on to creole roasted chicken with a lemon emulsion, and cornbread with honey curry butter and barbecue greens. Dessert? That was a “cosmic brownie” with powdered sugar doughnut mousse.
Even megastars have to play by the rules. Sort of. At the check-in tables, right after the carpet madness, guests were politely asked to hand over their phones, for a piece of tape to be applied to the cameras. Did some remove it later, to snap a few fun shots? Yes, they did.
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For more coverage of the 2025 Met Gala, visit https://apnews.com/hub/met-gala.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to be fired over additional accusations of communications on a nongovernmental messaging service.
A Monday report from the Wall Street Journal alleged that Hegseth used Signal as part of his job much more extensively than previously known, engaging in at least 12 different chats on the unsecured app. Hegseth reportedly used Signal to discuss media appearances, foreign travel, scheduling, and other unclassified but sensitive information.
Smith became one of the first to demand his removal from his position after the accusations.
“He. Should. Be. Fired,” the senator wrote in a post on X.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Defense Department for confirmation and comment on the report's findings.
He. Should. Be. Fired. https://t.co/HqyZFUHMDm
Though the allegations are new, Smith's call isn't — she has been calling for Hegseth's removal since Signalgate first broke in March.
“Pete Hegseth should follow Pete Hegseth's advice and resign,” she said in a video posted to her Facebook last month, going on to outline the allegations against his usage of the app.
“This is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility, and you don't have to take my word for this,” Smith added, showing an old clip of the then-Fox News host calling on figures who improperly handled information to resign.
HEGSETH ORDERS PURGE OF SENIOR COMMANDERS, CUTTING 20% OF FOUR-STAR GENERALS AND ADMIRALS
Though she announced her retirement from the Senate, with her current term being her last, Smith has sought to go out in a blaze of glory. She has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration, often using vulgarity to get her point across. In March, she refused to backtrack after calling Elon Musk “a d***” and “billionaire a**‑hole boss.”
“People want to see fight,” she told CNN at the time. “And I think with that tweet that I did, it touched a nerve with millions of people because everybody has had the experience of having some boss who treats them with disrespect, who denigrates their work and is just basically using big power-play moves to … terrorize them.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato arrives at the prime minister's office Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, file)
President Donald Trump, left, poses for a photo with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters reacting after a Japanese negotiator held ministerial talks at the White House regarding U.S. tariffs, at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as Japan's top trade negotiator traveled to Washington for another round of tariff talks last week, a bipartisan delegation bearing the name of “Japan-China Friendship” wrapped up a visit to Beijing.
A week earlier, the head of the junior party in Japan's ruling coalition was in Beijing delivering a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Details of the letter are unknown, but the two sides discussed U.S. tariffs in addition to bilateral issues.
Among all U.S. allies being wooed by Beijing in its tariff stare-down with Washington, Japan stands out.
It is a peculiar case not only for its staunch commitment to its alliance with the United States but also for its complicated and uneasy history with the neighboring Asian giant — particularly the war history from the 20th century that still casts a shadow over the politics of today.
“On one hand, they are neighbors and they are important economic partners. There's a lot that connects Japan and China,” said Matthew Goodman, director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But on the other hand, I think there are limits to how far they're going to lean into China.”
While Japan won't walk away from its alliance with the United States, the linchpin of the Asian country's diplomacy and security policies, “it's also true that the tariffs and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is really shaking things up in Tokyo,” Goodman said.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese goods in a sweeping plan to levy duties on about 90 countries. The White House has since paused the tariffs but a 10% baseline duty on all countries except China, allowing time for negotiations. Still, Trump's 25% tax on aluminum, steel and auto exports have gone into effect for Japan.
The tariff moves, as well as Trump's “America First” agenda, have cast doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a dependable ally, while China is rallying support from tariff-threatened countries — including Japan.
When Tetsuo Saito led Japan's Komeito Party delegation to Beijing in late April, China hinted at difficulty in its tariff dispute with the United States, signaling its willingness to improve ties with Tokyo. An unnamed senior Chinese official said his country was “in trouble” when discussing Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese products, according to Japanese reports.
Saito's visit was soon followed by that of the bipartisan delegation of Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians' Union. Zhao Leji, Beijing's top legislator, told the delegation that China's National People's Congress would be “willing to carry out various forms of dialogue and exchanges.”
Beijing did not lift a ban on Japan's seafood imports as the Japanese delegates hoped, but it signaled positive signs on its assessment of the safety of the discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan's seafood products in 2023, citing those concerns.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have long been rocky. In the past several years, they squabbled not only over the seafood ban but also long-standing territorial disputes over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China Sea, Beijing's growing military assertiveness and violence against Japanese nationals in China — an issue complicated by the nations' uneasy history.
Tokyo's closer ties with Washington during Joe Biden's presidency also upset Beijing, which saw it as part of the U.S. strategy to contain China and has lectured Tokyo to “face squarely and reflect on the history of aggression.”
An imperial power in Asia for centuries, China fell behind Japan in the 19th century when Japan began to embrace Western industrialization and grew into a formidable economic and military power. It invaded China in the 1930s and controlled the northeastern territory known as Manchuria. War atrocities, including the Nanking Massacre and the use of chemical and biological weapons and human medical experiments in Manchuria, have left deep scars in China. They have yet to be healed, though Japan's conservative politicians today still attempt to deny the aggression.
Ishiba, elected Japan's prime minister in October, has a more neutral view on his country's wartime history than the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his two successors. Weeks after taking office, Ishiba held talks with Xi on the sidelines of a leaders' summit.
Chinese scholars, however, see Tokyo's recent engagements with Beijing as a pragmatic move to hedge against U.S. protectionism and not a long-term strategy for stability with China.
The odds are low for Japan to move into China's orbit, Goodman said. “They have for a long time had to manage an important but challenging relationship with China,” he said. “And that is, again, a long-standing problem for Japan, going back centuries or millennia.”
While Japan might welcome the friendlier tone from Beijing, it is trying to stabilize Japan-U.S. relations under Trump's “America First” agenda, and it is hoping to settle the tariff dispute without confronting Washington, with an eye on preventing Beijing from exploiting any fallout in Japan-U.S. relations.
Japan was among the first countries to hold tariff talks with Washington. During the first round in mid-April, Trump inserted himself into the discussions, a sign of the high stakes for the United States to reach a deal with Japan. The Trump administration reportedly pushed for Japan to buy more U.S.-made cars and open its market to U.S. beef, rice and potatoes.
After the second round of negotiation in Washington last week, Ryosei Akazawa, the country's chief tariff negotiator, said he pushed Japan's request that the U.S. drop tariffs and was continuing efforts toward an agreement acceptable to both sides. He said Japan's auto industry was already hurting from the 25% tariff and that he needed to be “thorough but fast.”
Asked about China, Akazawa said only that his country keeps watching the U.S.-China tariff development “with great interest.” He noted Japan's deep trade ties with China.
While China and Japan are working to mend ties, the two are also competing in the Southeast Asia region, where Trump has threatened high tariffs as well. The region is deeply integrated into China's supply chain but under pressure from the West to diversify and reduce its reliance on China. With younger and growing populations as compared to East Asia, the region is considered an important growth center.
Japan, as a major postwar development aid contributor, has gradually regained trust in the region, which also was scarred by Japan's World War II past.
On Wednesday, Ishiba returned from Vietnam and the Philippines after agreeing with their leaders to further strengthen security and economic ties. During the visit, Ishiba stressed Japan's commitment to maintaining and strengthening a multilateral free-trade system in each country. Ishiba also had telephone talks with his Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts earlier this month about U.S. tariffs.
Just weeks earlier, Xi was in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, also stressing free trade and seeking stronger supply chains.
At a recent discussion at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute, Itsunori Onodera, Japan's governing party policy chief, warned of “very unstable” feelings among many Asian countries faced with high tariffs from the United States.
“There's a danger they might become more distant and become closer to China,” Onodera said. “This is not something that Japan wants, either.”
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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Canada's Matthew Schaefer, right, battles for the puck with Switzerland's Basile Sansonnens, second right, and Eric Schneller (26) during the third period of an IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship pre-tournament game in Ottawa, Ontario,, Dec. 19, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
New York Islanders pro scouting director Ken Morrow knows a thing or two about so-called hockey miracles.
Witnessing the Islanders win the NHL draft lottery on Monday and vault nine other teams in the order for the right to have the No. 1 pick represented yet another memorable moment for the four-time Stanley Cup champion and member of the 1980 gold-medal-winning “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic team.
“I've had a lot of thrills in my hockey life, but this is right up there at the top,” Morrow said. “The hockey gods smiled on us. I can't tell you how thrilled I am for Islanders fans, for our ownership, for the entire Islanders organization.”
The Islanders, who missed the playoffs for the second time in four seasons, are in the midst of a front-office shakeup after not renewing general manager Lou Lamoriello's contract on April 22. And they earned a remarkable lottery win by entering the day with a 3.5% shot — the 10th-best odds — of seeing their numbers come up.
New York wasn't the only team to buck the lottery odds. The Utah Hockey Club won the second round of the lottery, and made the jump from 14th to fourth under the rules limiting teams from moving up no more than 10 spots in the draft order.
“A couple of seconds ago, we were just like 10 back, so it still hasn't sunk in,” Utah GM Bill Armstrong said of a first-year franchise that finished just seven points out of a playoff spot. “This is an exciting moment for us. It's a game-changer for us.”
The San Jose Sharks will pick second after entering the day with the best odds, 18.5%, to win the lottery and a 25.5% chance of landing the No. 1 choice. San Jose, which finished last for a second consecutive year, was seeking to become the NHL's first team to win the lottery and pick first in consecutive years.
“We definitely lucked it out last year to be able to select Mac,” Sharks GM Mike Grier said in referring to selecting Boston University center Macklin Celebrini first overall. “This year would have obviously been nice to have the pick and have the choice of all the players. But picking two, we're still in a pretty good spot so we're happy.”
The Chicago Blackhawks had the second-best chances to win the lottery and will pick third. The remaining 12 teams moved two spots back in the order, starting with Nashville dropping from third to fifth. The final 16 draft spots will be determined following the playoffs.
The Islanders have the right to pick first for the fifth time in team history, and first since selecting John Tavares with the No. 1 choice in 2009.
This year's draft will be held in Los Angeles with the first round taking place on June 27, followed by the final six rounds the next day. Top prospects will convene for the weeklong predraft combine being held in Buffalo next month.
The prospect pool is not considered as deep at the top as last year's class, or next year's group, with Canadian junior forward Gavin McKenna long regarded as the No. 1 candidate.
Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer is NHL Central Scouting's top-ranked North American prospect followed by OHL Saginaw center Michael Misa and Boston College center James Hagens, the top-ranked U.S. born prospect. Hagens is from Long Island and grew up an Islanders fan.
Listed at 6-foot-2 and 183 pounds, Schaefer maintained his No. 1 position despite missing the final three months of the season after breaking his right collarbone representing Canada at the world junior championships in December.
Schaefer has the potential of becoming only the fifth defenseman selected No. 1 since 2000, and first since Buffalo chose Owen Power in 2021. And he also has the chance of being the first OHL player to go No. 1 since Edmonton drafted Erie's Connor McDavid in 2015.
The top-ranked international skaters are center Anton Frondell and right wing Victor Eklund, who are teammates with Djurgarden of Sweden's second division league.
New York's jump from 10th to first is the biggest involving a team winning the No. 1 selection. And it comes after the last-place team won the lottery to retain the first pick in four of the past five years and 12 times overall since the NHL launched the format in 1995.
The New York Rangers enjoyed the previous largest move up to No. 1 in 2020, when they were grouped among eight teams — ranked eighth to 15th — with the same odds to win the lottery after being eliminated in the COVID-altered play-in round of the expanded 24-team playoff format.
The lottery was held at the NHL Network studios in New Jersey, and conducted live for the first time in the event's 30-year history. Previously, the lottery was held shortly before the broadcast in front of a limited audience of sequestered observers, followed by the draft selections being revealed in reverse order.
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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP sports writer Josh Dubow contributed to this story.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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Two vehicles collided head-on and burst into flames on a two-lane highway in rural eastern Kansas, killing eight people, including a high school student, a teacher-coach and a school employee from Oklahoma, authorities said Monday.
The crash occurred at about 5:45 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 169 outside the small town of Greeley, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. One person escaped from a wrecked vehicle and was hospitalized.
Three of those killed were connected with Tulsa Public Schools, the school district confirmed Monday.
Booker T. Washington High School student Donald “DJ” Laster died in the crash, along with former Carver Middle School coach and teacher Wayne Walls and Tulsa Public Schools transportation team member Ja'mon Gilstrap.
“I am heartbroken for those who lost loved ones, and committed to honoring the immense collective impact each of these people had in Tulsa and in the lives of our young people,” Dr. Ebony Johnson, superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, said in a statement. “I am praying for their families and everyone involved, and hope others will continue to come alongside our students, team members, and families who are hurting.”
The crash closed a section of the highway for four hours, and Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Jodi Clary said authorities were still working at the crash site Monday evening. The cause of the crash remained under investigation.
“Both cars burned up,” Clary said.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is not running for the top Democratic spot on the powerful House Oversight Committee, ending speculation she would seek the ranking membership after losing in December.Ocasio-Cortez told reporters she wouldn't try to seek the ranking member position, which is set to be vacant after Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) announced his cancer had returned and he would be stepping away from his leadership position “soon.”Last week, Ocasio-Cortez said there wasn't a “vacancy to run for,” and then told reporters that she was “weighing” a bid. However, on Monday, she announced she would not be seeking the committee's gavel, blaming the caucus's views on seniority as a factor.“It's actually clear to me that the underlying dynamics in the caucus have not shifted with respect to seniority as much as I think would be necessary, and so I believe, I'll be staying put at energy and commerce,” the New York congresswoman said.Had Ocasio-Cortez wanted to run for the position, she would have needed a waiver to return to the committee. She sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, an “exclusive” panel that, under House rules, muddles her ability to also hold a spot on the Oversight Committee.House Democrats have been facing a generational crisis in the aftermath of the 2024 election, with several younger House members challenging long-term leaders for committee ranking member slots, as many argued it was time for fresh blood in the ranks after Republicans' sweeping victories.Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was the only younger member to successfully gain a leadership spot in a contested committee election last December. She is now running for the open Senate seat in Minnesota, but the congresswoman's office told the Washington Examiner she will remain in her role as ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) serves as Natural Resources Committee ranking member, but his competition, the late Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), withdrew from the race.Ocasio-Cortez passing on a run for the ranking membership does not come as a major shakeup, considering she has been raising significant funds that surpass a typical House member's war chest for reelection in a safe blue seat — amounting to $10 million, a nod that she could be seeking a presidential run or Senate challenge to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).She's also spending considerable time on the road, drawing large crowds during her and Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-VT) “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in red and blue states.In the interim, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MD) will take over Connolly's ranking member duties, and he said in a statement he has the elder congressman's support if Lynch seeks to remain in the position permanently.Other members have been floated for the position, including Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), and Ro Khanna (D-CA).
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Comcast's spinoff of the majority of its NBCUniversal cable network portfolio will be named Versant, the company said Tuesday, ending a monthslong process to select a new corporate moniker.
The new company chose Versant (pronounced like the root of the word "conversant") to emphasize its versatility and its familiarity with multiple subjects, according to Chief Executive Officer Mark Lazarus, who spoke in an interview.
Versant, which had been called SpinCo until a permanent name was chosen, will own cable networks including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel. It will also house digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine.
The rest of Comcast's NBCUniversal portfolio, including the broadcast network, Peacock streaming service, Universal Studios, the theme parks and Bravo, will remain with Comcast.
The new name isn't meant to be consumer-facing. Lazarus said he wants Versant to be viewed as a house of brands, with each asset interacting with users rather than the corporate holding entity.
"We're going to focus on the individual brands that we have, not the corporate name," Lazarus said. "This is a holding company name. It's going to be used for business-to-business purposes."
Versant is on track to be spun out from Comcast before the end of 2025, Lazarus confirmed. The assets held by the new company generated about $7 billion in revenue last year.
The company's emphasis on versatility is notable given the rapidly changing media ecosystem. Lazarus will need to build a Wall Street growth narrative for investors once the company starts trading publicly. That will include making acquisitions to build on the company's core. Some of those transactions may step outside pure media plays, he said.
Lazarus cited Golf Channel's acquisition of GolfNow, a tee-time reservation company, as an example of how the brands can move beyond linear TV and streaming to build profitable businesses.
"Most people don't know that GolfNow is even part of our company," Lazarus said. "We are not going to be purely a collection of linear and digital media assets."
For a brand such as CNBC, that may include acquiring personal finance or fintech platforms, Lazarus said. For MSNBC, Lazarus said he's already had some preliminary conversations about potentially buying podcasts that cater to Democrats. He noted that if the new company were to make such an acquisition the plan wouldn't be to put that programming on air for MSNBC, but to have it operate as a separate business unit, using the cable network as a marketing funnel.
Versant will not launch its own streaming service, Lazarus said. It will instead rely on brands to develop their own digital strategies.
About 20% of the company's revenue is already digital, Lazarus said. Versant is also likely to return money to shareholders via a dividend, CNBC reported in November.
One strategy the company isn't likely to pursue is to acquire a group of cable networks.
Lazarus said he has little interest in accumulating more debt attached to low-growth assets. If a cable network also had associated businesses that had better growth prospects, that could be more appealing on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Versant is also unlikely to acquire TV station groups in the current regulatory environment, Lazarus said. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr told CNBC's Sara Eisen on Monday that national news media companies including NBC are "exercising more and more control" on local TV stations, which he said is not "a good thing for the country."
Comcast relied on marketing employees from each of SpinCo's brands to help decide on a name.
Meetings began in late December, according to people familiar with the process. After a few weeks, the company had more than 1,000 potential names. Employees were told to focus on names that drew upon New York, cable TV or passing references to 30 Rockefeller Center, NBCUniversal's headquarters, said the people.
The names were then filtered for legal and trademark infringement issues and other potential problems, such as a word's definition in various languages. Comcast also hired three marketing agencies to help generate names and cull the list.
Lawyers passed through just 43 of the initial names, Lazarus said. That list was shortened to about a dozen finalists, which were then each presented to the deciding committee.
Lazarus and his marketing team chose Versant in the past few weeks. The word means "a region of land sloping in one general direction," according to some references.
Lazarus joked that an uphill slope reminded him of "a rising stock price."
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC under the proposed spinoff.
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Dell is pushing for a flatter organizational structure with senior managers being asked to oversee larger teams, Business Insider has learned.
Under the changes, vice presidents and above will be required to have at least 15 direct reports, and directors and senior managers will have 20 people reporting to them.
"We continually evolve our business so we're set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners. This includes redefining how work gets done, with a flatter structure and fewer management layers so we can move faster in today's AI-driven world," a Dell spokesperson told BI.
BI understands that the reorganization will result in fewer management layers, which is intended to speed up decision-making and empower team members to get stuck into work.
Throughout April, divisions across Dell were informed of the changes to their senior management structure.
In one such memo, sent on April 29 and seen by BI, Karen Plotkin, senior vice president of client solutions strategy, announced a reorganization of the Client Solutions Group product operations team, including the departure of a longtime manager.
Some managers have been let go, while others have had their role classification changed from "M" for manager to "I" for individual contributor, which indicates an employee who has no direct reports, BI understands.
One Dell employee, who asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media, described the new attitude to management as "flatter, leaner, and more with less." Another described the reorg as being focused on "spans and layers," referencing a common term in management for the breadth and depth of an organization's structure.
The restructuring of management is part of a longer-term evolution of Dell's business strategy and structure.
Over the last two years, Dell staff numbers have fallen by 25,000. The company now has about 108,000 global employees.
In August 2024, the company significantly restructured its sales division, which it told workers was necessary to prepare for "the world of AI." As part of the restructuring, Dell laid off workers, though it did not specify how many.
The company told workers in January it was "retiring" hybrid work and called employees to return to the office five days a week from March.
Dell had a hybrid working culture on place for more than a decade prior to the pandemic, employees have told BI.
Dell celebrated its 41st anniversary over the weekend.
"The next 41 will be even bigger and more fun," CEO Michael Dell wrote on X in a post marking the anniversary, adding that the company would be powered by AI.
Are you a Dell employee with insight to share? Contact these reporters via email at pthompson@businessinsider.com and jmann@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at Polly_Thompson.89 and jyotimann.11. Reach out via a nonwork device.
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Streaming Wars:
The network behind podcasts from Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Meghan Markle will be PodX Group's first US-based acquisition
Swedish audio conglomerate PodX Group AB is acquiring the majority of Lemonada Media, the network behind podcasts like Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Wiser Than Me and Meghan Markle's Confessions of a Female Founder.
The acquisition, which was announced Tuesday in a statement viewed by Bloomberg, marks the European company's first purchase of a US-based network. PodX is spending around $30 million on the deal, according to a person familiar with the terms. A Lemonada representative declined to comment on the figure.
The famous San Siro Stadium will be the colosseum in which the Italian champions and Spanish legends play out the second act of this UEFA Champions League semifinal. Thankfully, you don't have to make the trek to Milan to see it — we have all the information you need to watch Inter vs. Barcelona from the comfort of your own home, or while on your travels.
These sides played out an astonishing first leg last week, sharing six goals between them. That means it's advantage Inter, as they've racked up a trio of away goals. It doesn't necessarily mean that Simone Inzaghi will be thrilled with the final result, though — his men blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2 to end all square. A 1-0 win over Verona at the weekend was enough to keep Inter in touch with Napoli in Serie A, but this is the prize the club really wants.
In Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, Barcelona has two of the top scorers in this year's elite European competition. But last Wednesday was all about teenage sensation Lamine Yamal. At just 17 years old, he already has medals for winning La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the European Championship, and now he has his sights on adding the Champions League to the list. And for the club, a famous treble is still a distinct possibility.
It will be fascinating to see whether this second leg is another high-scoring thriller or a much cagier affair, with a place in the 2025 Champions League final at stake. In this article, you'll read all about your Inter vs. Barcelona live stream options around the world, global TV channels, kickoff time, and ways to watch for free.
US:
Unlike in the US, UK, or Canada (see below), there are some countries around the world in which you can watch Inter vs. Barcelona live streams absolutely free. Inter fans in Italy, for example, can see it on the free-to-watch TV8. And the RTL network has the rights to show this match without cost in Belgium and Luxembourg. It's on the RTL Club online streaming platform in Belgium and RTL2 in Luxembourg.
Whether you're somebody who usually gets a free Champions League live stream in your country or you subscribe to something like Paramount Plus or Amazon Prime Video, you'll discover that you're blocked from streaming Inter vs. Barcelona when abroad. That's unless you have a VPN (or virtual private network).
VPNs kid your laptop, smartphone, or streaming device into thinking it's in another country altogether (for example, the one where you might normally stream the soccer). One of the best VPNs out there is ExpressVPN — it combines speed, cybersecurity, and ease-of-use. You can learn more from our ExpressVPN review, or sign up below, safe in the knowledge that you can cancel within 30 days thanks to its no-quibble 30-day money-back guarantee.
With its consistent performance, reliable security, and expansive global streaming features, ExpressVPN is the best VPN out there, excelling in every spec and offering many advanced features that make it exceptional. Better yet, you can save more than 60% right now and get up to four months free.
As with every other Champions League game this season, Paramount Plus is showing Inter vs. Barcelona live streams online on Tuesday. Subscriptions to the streaming platform cost $8/month or $60 for a whole year. The streamer comes with a seven-day free trial.
Upgrading from a monthly to an annual plan will save you more than 1/3 of the cost each year. The Essential tier offers live NFL on CBS games and ad-supported on-demand content.
This match will also be shown on CBS on TV, so you can watch it there if you pick up CBS on your antenna or via your cable plan. That means it will also be available through OTT cord-cutting services such as Fubo (from $85/month) and DirecTV (from $85/month) — CBS appears on both providers' entry-level plan and upwards. Fubo comes with a seven-day free trial (and $20 off your first month), while DirecTV offers a five-day free trial.
Previously known as AT&T TV, DirecTV offers streaming access to a large selection of live channels, including most key networks typically found in traditional cable packages.
Fubo is the streaming service for sports fans. Its huge library of channels includes regional and international sports leagues, setting it apart from the competition. You can also tack on additional programming to your plan, but it'll cost you extra.
This Tuesday night game is showing on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. So if you already subscribe to the online retail giant's subscription service, you can tune in on your laptop, smartphone, or a wide variety of streaming devices. Don't have Prime? New subscribers (and those returning after more than a year) get the benefit of a free 30-day trial. After that, it costs £9/month, which bundles in Amazon's priority delivery service on purchases and all the other Prime membership benefits.
The DAZN sports streaming service is Canada's exclusive UEFA Champions League broadcaster, so it will show the Inter vs. Barcelona live stream together with the other semifinal and the eventual final on May 31. You can choose between a commitment-free monthly plan for $35/month or save by taking out an annual subscription that costs either $250 upfront or $25/month in 12 installments.
Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.
You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here.Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.
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A key Republican senator on Tuesday said he would not support the controversial nomination of Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's pick to be the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, dealing a potentially fatal blow to Martin's chances of winning Senate confirmation.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said, "I've indicated to the White House I wouldn't support his nomination."
Tillis cited Martin's support for criminal defendants in Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot cases.
That riot began after Trump urged a crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol that day and oppose the confirmation of Joe Biden's election as president.
The Jan. 6 cases were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. before Trump issued blanket pardons to defendants in the cases on his first day back in the White House in January.
Tillis' decision is likely to doom Martin's hope of his nomination even being reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Tillis is a member.
With Tillis as a "no" vote, the best that Martin could hope for from that committee is a tie vote of 11-11, with Republicans and Democrats evenly split. A tie vote would fail to report Martin out of the committee and onward to a confirmation vote in the full Senate.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Monday night did not add Martin's nomination to the panel's business meeting agenda, which signaled his chance of being approved was in peril.
"I want to put people on the agenda that I can help the president be successful in his nominees and that's all I can say at this point," Grassley told reporters Tuesday.
"I want the president's nominees to be successful, and that means we put on people that have the votes." Grassley said.
Martin currently is serving as interim U.S. attorney for D.C., but his term will expire on May 20.
Tillis told reporters that he met with Martin on Monday evening and that it went well.
"But let me be very clear," Tillis said,
"Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he's probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some [200 to 300 of them] that should have never gotten a pardon," Tillis said.
"If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I'd probably support him, but not in this district."
Tillis said that he believed that any member of the crowd on Jan. 6 outside the Capitol who breached the perimeter should have been in prison for some period of time.
"Whether it's 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the sixth, and that's probably where most of the friction was," he said.
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A key Republican senator on Tuesday said he would not support the controversial nomination of Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's pick to be the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, dealing a potentially fatal blow to Martin's chances of winning Senate confirmation.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said, "I've indicated to the White House I wouldn't support his nomination."
Tillis cited Martin's support for criminal defendants in Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot cases.
That riot began after Trump urged a crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol that day and oppose the confirmation of Joe Biden's election as president.
The Jan. 6 cases were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. before Trump issued blanket pardons to defendants in the cases on his first day back in the White House in January.
Tillis' decision is likely to doom Martin's hope of his nomination even being reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Tillis is a member.
With Tillis as a "no" vote, the best that Martin could hope for from that committee is a tie vote of 11-11, with Republicans and Democrats evenly split. A tie vote would fail to report Martin out of the committee and onward to a confirmation vote in the full Senate.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Monday night did not add Martin's nomination to the panel's business meeting agenda, which signaled his chance of being approved was in peril.
"I want to put people on the agenda that I can help the president be successful in his nominees and that's all I can say at this point," Grassley told reporters Tuesday.
"I want the president's nominees to be successful, and that means we put on people that have the votes." Grassley said.
Martin currently is serving as interim U.S. attorney for D.C., but his term will expire on May 20.
Tillis told reporters that he met with Martin on Monday evening and that it went well.
"But let me be very clear," Tillis said,
"Mr. Martin did a good job of explaining the one area that I think he's probably right, that there were some people that were over-prosecuted, but there were some [200 to 300 of them] that should have never gotten a pardon," Tillis said.
"If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a U.S. attorney for any district except the district where Jan. 6 happened, the protest happened, I'd probably support him, but not in this district."
Tillis said that he believed that any member of the crowd on Jan. 6 outside the Capitol who breached the perimeter should have been in prison for some period of time.
"Whether it's 30 days or three years is debatable, but I have no tolerance for anybody who entered the building on January the sixth, and that's probably where most of the friction was," he said.
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Friedrich Merz was elected as Germany's chancellor in a second-round parliamentary vote on Tuesday, after failing to secure the necessary support earlier in the day.
Merz needed at least 316 of the 630 members of parliament to vote in his favor. He received 325 votes.
In the previous vote, only 310 Bundestag members voted for Merz to become chancellor in a highly unexpected and unprecedented setback. Hours of uncertainty then followed as it was unclear when a second vote would take place, and what the outcome would be.
Following the successful vote, Merz was officially appointed chancellor by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday afternoon.
The German DAX stock market index pared losses after the result of the second vote. It was 0.4% lower by 3:22 p.m. London time.
Merz had been widely expected to become the leader of Europe's largest economy following Germany's federal election in February. His party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, with its affiliate the Christian Social Union, secured the biggest share of votes at the time.
They are expected to form a coalition government with the center-left Social Democratic Party, which placed third in the election.
The parties on Monday formally signed their coalition agreement following weeks of negotiations that began soon after the election. The agreement outlines plans for policies including migration, changes to tax rules for individuals and businesses, and social security measures such as the minimum wage.
The CDU-CSU/SPD coalition has already announced the picks for their new Cabinet. It is set to include designated Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, incoming Economy Minister Katherina Reiche and designated Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Germany's new chancellor, now 69, has spent his life between politics and business.
After school, he studied law and worked as both a judge and lawyer. His has also held senior positions at various major corporations, including BlackRock Germany, and served on the boards of EY Germany and the Deutsche Börse.
His CDU affiliation began when he was still in school, Merz has said. He got involved in the party's youth organization and eventually represented the party in the European Parliament before joining the Bundestag.
In the early 2000s, much of his political career was marked by a rivalry with former CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her rise through the ranks has been linked to Merz taking a step back from politics for several years.
He will now take over Germany's leadership at a precarious time for the country, which is grappling with a sluggish, stagnating economy, internal tensions around migration, tensions with the U.S. over trade policy, and geopolitical challenges such as the Russia-Ukraine war.
Expectations are also high due to the recent fiscal package that stemmed from the CDU-CSU/SPD coalition negotiations. It included changes to long-standing debt rules, as well as a major investment fund targeting infrastructure and climate.
This was a "strong and impressive start" for the new government, but "unfortunately, what has since followed has been a series of slip-ups and sometimes clumsy political moves," Carsten Brzeski, ING's global head of macro, said in a note Tuesday.
"Looking ahead, today's events are a painful reminder that it will be hard for the incoming government to fulfil the high expectations regarding investments and reforms," he added. "Friedrich Merz and his government now face the monumental challenge of restoring economic strength while keeping everyone in their own parties aligned."
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Uber will acquire an 85% stake in Turkish food delivery platform Trendyol GO for about $700 million in cash, the company said in a securities filing.
The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of this year. Uber said it expects the transaction to be accretive to its growth once completed.
"Uber and Trendyol GO coming together will elevate the delivery sector in Türkiye for consumers, couriers, restaurants and retailers, especially small and family-owned businesses," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a release. "This deal reflects our long-term commitment to Türkiye, we're incredibly impressed with what the Trendyol GO team has built, and we're excited to continue that strong momentum across the country."
Founded in 2010, Trendyol GO is run by Turkish e-commerce platform Trendyol, which is majority owned by Chinese titan Alibaba. The platform hosts roughly 90,000 restaurants and 19,000 couriers across the country.
In 2024, Trendyol GO delivered more than 200 million orders and generated $2 billion in gross bookings, a jump of 50% year over year, Uber said in the securities filing.
The announcement comes as Uber is set to report first-quarter earnings before market open on Wednesday. The ride-share and food delivery company is expected to post earnings per share of 51 cents on revenue of $11.6 billion, according to StreetAccount.
WATCH: Uber raises in-office requirement to 3 days
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One of the goals of President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs against China is to drive manufacturing back to America. But the odds of that are low, at least when it comes to toys.
"We don't see that happening," Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday, less than a day after the company withdrew annual financial targets.
"We need to remember that a significant part of toy creation happens in America," he said. "Design, development, product engineering, brand management all happens in America. Making product, producing product in other countries, allows us to create quality products at affordable price points."
Mattel has been diversifying its global manufacturing for nearly a decade in an effort to reduce its dependence on China. By the end of the year, less than 40% of Mattel's product will be sourced from the country. Kreiz noted that in two years, no country will represent more than 25% of Mattel's sourcing.
In the meantime, Mattel is taking mitigating actions to fully offset costs associated with Trump's trade war with China, including raising prices in the U.S., while aiming to keep the cost of many toys low.
The company is expecting to keep between 40% and 50% of its products under $20, according to Roth analyst Eric Handler.
"This is something we are committed to do," Kreiz said. "To continue to create quality product and find the right balance of price and value all in the service of the consumer."
Since the tariffs were announced on April 2, Mattel's stock is down about 19%.
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The new app, Fizz, lets multiple users contribute to one order, pay for their own items and have them delivered together with a flat $5 fee.
Instacart is launching a new, Gen-Z focused app for group orders of drinks and party snacks, expanding its core delivery business beyond grocery hauls.
The new app, Fizz, lets multiple users contribute to one order, pay for their own items and have them delivered together with a flat $5 fee. That's a lower rate than the $7.99 fee that the main Instacart app currently charges non-subscribers. Fizz will also have a rewards program for brands to provide in-app discounts to shoppers and is partnering with invites app Partiful, allowing users to add a link for group orders into an events page for upcoming gatherings.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones said Tuesday that stocks are bound to hit new lows even if President Donald Trump tones down his aggressive tariffs on China.
"For me, it's pretty clear. You have Trump who's locked in on tariffs. You have the Fed who's locked in on not cutting rates. That's not good for the stock market," Jones said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We'll probably go down to new lows, even when Trump dials back China to 50%."
The widely followed investor's bearish comments came after Trump's rollout of the highest levies on imports in generations shocked the world last month, triggering extreme volatility on Wall Street. The S&P 500 suffered a severe sell-off but has since recouped much of the losses, sitting 8% below its all-time high.
Trump has slapped tariffs of 145% on imported Chinese goods this year, prompting China to impose retaliatory levies of 125%. China said last week it is evaluating the possibility of starting trade negotiations with the U.S.
"He'll dial it back to 50% or 40%, whatever. Even when he does that ... it'd be the largest tax increases since the '60s," Jones said. "So you can kind of take 2%, 3% off growth."
Jones, founder and chief investment officer of Tudor Investment, believes stocks haven't found a bottom as macroeconomic conditions continue to deteriorate. The Federal Reserve has held its key overnight lending rate steady since December in a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he expects policymakers to "wait for greater clarity" on trade policy ramifications before adjusting any further.
"Unless they got really dovish and really, really cut, you're probably going to go to new lows," Jones said. "And then when we're new lows, the hard day will start to follow, and it'll probably create the Fed to move, create Trump to move. And then we'll get some kind of reality."
Jones shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the 1987 stock market crash. He is also the chairman of nonprofit Just Capital, which ranks public U.S. companies based on social and environmental metrics.
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Tesla is having a nightmare in Europe — and now it's been overtaken by two Chinese rivals in the UK.
The EV giant sold just 512 cars in Britain last month, down from more than 1,300 in April 2024 as the backlash against Elon Musk continues to hit sales in Europe.
Telsa's tally is well behind arch rival BYD, which sold 2,511 cars in the UK in April, or a 650% increase.
The disastrous performance meant it was also left in the dust by lesser-known Chinese brands Jaecoo and Omoda.
They are both owned by Chinese conglomerate Chery and sold 1,053 and 910 vehicles respectively in April, according to data from the SMMT trade body, despite only launching in the UK last year.
Jaecoo and Omoda offer a mix of EVs, hybrids, and gas-powered cars in the UK, unlike Tesla, which only sells EVs.
However, getting lapped by two virtually unknown Chinese rivals is a sign of just how much trouble Tesla faces in Europe, its third-biggest market.
Tesla shares fell 2.7% in morning trading on Tuesday, bringing the decline since the start of the year to 28%.
The automaker is facing collapsing sales across the continent, with customers abandoning the company amid a backlash over CEO Musk's politics.
The billionaire's endorsement of the far-right German party AfD and position in the Trump administration has sparked protests in several European cities, with Tesla vehicles and showrooms also being hit by vandalism and suspected arson.
Tesla also faces renewed EV competition from legacy brands such as Volkswagen and Chinese automakers, which are expanding aggressively in Europe despite tariffs imposed by the European Union last year.
Tesla's European brand crisis shows little sign of abating.
Car registration figures in several European countries showed Tesla suffering double-digit declines in April. That means the launch of an updated version of the Model Y, Tesla's best-selling car, failed to halt the sales decline.
In the UK, Tesla has started offering up to two years of free supercharging for some Model Y models as it looks to arrest the slide.
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South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam are cracking down on methods used by Chinese exporters to avoid President Donald Trump's high tariffs.
A growing tactic used by some Chinese exporters is to ship products through neighbouring countries to falsely claim the goods are not Chinese and avoid tariffs of up to 145% in place on Chinese goods imported to the US.
Jaya Wen, a professor in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School, told Business Insider that if goods undergo a "substantial transformation" in the intermediate country, they merit a change in their place of origin.
Wen, who researches trade re-routing, said value-added production has increased since tariffs were introduced and is a legitimate method for Chinese companies to avoid tariffs.
But illegal rerouting and relabeling through a third country, where no value is added to products, also appears to be taking place, she said.
In this strategy, firms take finished products, ship them to Vietnam, for example, and re-label them from "Made in China" to "Made in Vietnam." This was happening before the current wave of tariffs, she said.
The White House's senior trade advisor, Peter Navarro, raised concerns about this process in an interview with CNBC in April, saying that Chinese businesses were "trans-shipping to Vietnam to evade tariffs."
In April, South Korea's customs agency said that it had seized over $20 million worth of products with falsified countries of origin in the first quarter of 2025, local news outlet The Korea Times reported. The majority of products were destined for the US.
"We are seeing a sharp increase in recent cases where our country is used as a bypass for products to avoid different tariffs and restrictions because of the US government's trade policy changes," the agency said in a press briefing, according to Reuters.
The agency's commissioner, Ko Kwang-hyo, said there were "numerous cases where the origins of Chinese products were falsified as Korean," The Korea Times reported.
Korea's Customs Agency said it would launch a special investigation unit to crack down on the practice, and would enhance intelligence sharing with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Similar crackdowns on counterfeit product labelling are taking place in Thailand and Vietnam,
Three directives issued in March and April by Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade urged trade agencies to monitor and tighten controls around place of origin fraud to protect the reputation of Vietnamese goods.
Thailand's Department of Foreign Trade is taking over all approvals for Certificates of Origin (C/Os) for US-bound exports and has expanded a watchlist of high-risk products, local outlet Nation Thailand reported.
US authorities determine the underlying place of origin through a "highly fact-specific analysis that needs to be done at a detailed level," said Mark Segrist, a partner at the import and export trade law firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.
If US Customs and Border Protection begins to question legitimate country-of-origin shipments coming out of third countries based on fears that the goods may be Chinese, this could put shipments from those countries at risk of much higher scrutiny, Segrist told BI.
That could lead to increased detentions, additional delays, and increased costs for US importers, he said.
Asian countries are also cracking down in an effort to prevent further sanctions, negotiate lower tariffs on their own imports, and secure trade deals with the US, both experts told BI.
Thailand and Vietnam have become manufacturing hot spots for many multinational companies diversifying their operations outside China. Heightened surveillance of illegal re-labelling would also help boost local manufacturers, Wen said.
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Consumers who raced to replace their vehicles because of Trump's trade policies risk a costly financial hangover that could last years.
Bliss Bednar's 2023 Volkswagen Atlas was running just fine. Sure, it wasn't the fanciest car she'd ever owned, but with home renovations to plan and rising construction costs already threatening her remodeling budget, the retired teacher in central Texas planned to stick with the three-row SUV for the foreseeable future.
Then President Donald Trump outlined 25% tariffs on auto imports, and she joined the millions of Americans racing to dealerships to snap up new models before the higher levies drive up prices by thousands of dollars.
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Doordash on Tuesday announced the $1.2 billion acquisition of restaurant booking platform SevenRooms and reported first-quarter revenue that missed expectations.
Shares of Doordash fell 5% following the news.
Here's how the company did, based on LSEG expectations:
Doordash said the all-cash acquisition of SevenRooms, a New York City-based data platform for restaurants and hotels to manage booking information, will close in the second half of 2025.
British food delivery service Deliveroo said Tuesday that it has agreed to a takeover offer from Doordash worth $3.9 billion.
"We believe both SevenRooms and Deliveroo will expand our ability to build world class services that increase our potential to grow local commerce and support our financial goals," Doordash said in a release.
First-quarter revenue of $3.03 billion was up 21% from the year-ago quarter.
Doordash reported total orders of 732 million for the quarter, an 18% increase over the same period a year ago. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected 732.7 million.
The company said it expects second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $600 million to $650 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected $639 million.
"So far in 2025, consumer demand on our marketplaces has remained strong, with engagement across different consumer cohorts and types that we believe is consistent with typical seasonal patterns," the company said.
Doordash reported $193 million in net income for Q1 2025, or 44 cents per share. The company had a net loss of $23 million, or a net loss of 6 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Doordash noted growth in the grocery delivery category, citing "accelerating average spend per grocery consumer and increasing average spend on perishables."
The company did not mention tariffs as a factor in the financial outlook, but did note that an increased international presence leaves it open to "geopolitical and currency risks."
Correction: DoorDash reported first-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share. An earlier version mischaracterized the figure.
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Hispanic consumers are cutting back their grocery spending on everything from beer to cooking spray, executives said during recent earnings calls.
Coca-Cola, Constellation Brands and Colgate-Palmolive are among the companies that have reported a slowdown in North American sales from Hispanic shoppers.
A fifth of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanics are now the second-largest demographic in the U.S. and the second-fastest growing ethnic group, agency data shows.
As the population of Hispanic consumers grows, so does their purchasing power — and their contribution to companies' bottom lines. According to the latest data from economic think tank Latino Donor Collaborative, the U.S. Latino economy grew to $3.6 trillion in 2022, up from $3.2 trillion the prior year. And when it comes to shopping, Hispanic Americans overall spend more on consumer packaged goods and outpace non-Hispanic consumers, according to market research firm Circana.
But the White House's hard-line immigration stance and broader economic concerns have led some Hispanic consumers to pull back their spending.
Hispanic consumers drove a sharp decline in consumer net purchase intent in January, although the trend moderated in February, according to a research note from Goldman Sachs, citing HundredX data. The metric refers to the ratio of customers who intend to buy more from a brand subtracted from those who plan to buy less.
A contributing factor to the dip, some experts say, is fear around stricter immigration policy.
While the Trump administration has deported fewer people than President Joe Biden's administration during the year-ago period, reports from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show it is holding 10% more detainees than it was under Biden.
Hispanic consumers helped Constellation Brands' Modelo Especial overtake Bud Light as the nation's top-selling beer. More than 50% of Modelo drinkers are Hispanic, according to CEO Bill Newlands.
But Constellation provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for its fiscal 2026, citing both tariffs and diminished spending from Hispanic consumers.
"The fact is, a lot of consumers in the Hispanic community are concerned right now. … Over half are concerned relative to immigration issues and how those impact [them]. A number of them are concerned about job losses in industries that have a high Latino employment base," Newlands said on the company's conference call in early April.
The Latino unemployment rate ticked up to a seasonally adjusted 5.2% in April, from 4.8% a year earlier and 5.1% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Things like social gatherings, an area where the Hispanic consumer often consumes beer, are declining today," Newlands added.
Constellation, which also owns Corona, has repeatedly self-reported that Hispanic Americans make up roughly half of the company's overall beer business. Hispanic- and Latino-identifying customers accounted for 32.5% of Constellation Brands' sales in 2023, according to data from consumer research firm Numerator and investment bank Jefferies.
And Constellation isn't the only brewer seeing a downturn. Sam Adams' owner Boston Beer referred to a similar decline in its quarterly report.
"The macroeconomic winds are obviously the consumer confidence, the fear of inflation; there is also some pullback from the Hispanic consumers that they're just not going out as much," said Boston Beer CEO Michael Spillane.
Hispanic consumers are also pulling back on their non-alcoholic beverage purchases.
Spending by Hispanic consumers has softened over the last couple of months, Keurig Dr Pepper CEO Tim Cofer said on the company's conference call in late April.
"When you dig into that, you see that manifesting both in terms of fewer trips and lower spend per trip," he told analysts.
Hispanic consumers make up "a meaningful percentage" of Keurig Dr Pepper's business and broader consumer packaged goods category, according to Cofer. The company owns brands popular with Hispanic consumers like Squirt soda, Peñafiel mineral water and Clamato, which can be mixed with beer to make micheladas.
Still, the slowdown was not enough to cause Keurig Dr Pepper to lower its full-year outlook.
Rival Coca-Cola also didn't trim its forecast, but it is prioritizing winning back Hispanic consumers next quarter.
For years, the company has targeted Latinos through advertising and acquisitions, like the 2017 purchase of Mexico's Topo Chico. Mexico is also a top market for its namesake beverage. But this quarter, executives said weaker traffic from Hispanic shoppers weighed on its North American volume, fueled in part by a boycott.
In February, rumors spread on social media that Coke had reported undocumented workers to U.S. immigration authorities. Coke denied the accusations, but CEO James Quincey said last week that the "completely false" videos hurt traffic, particularly in Southern states.
And Coke is seeing additional fallout south of the border from the tensions around the Trump administration's policies.
"Some of the geopolitical tension and Hispanic pullback also affected the Mexican [market], particularly the border region, which is very connected to the U.S.," Quincey told analysts on the company's conference call.
The pullback from Hispanic consumers didn't just hit the beverage aisle. Other parts of the grocery store are feeling the heat, too.
Associated British Foods saw the pullback hit U.S. sales of its Mazola cooking oils, which is the country's top-selling oil brand.
"It's a bit miserable at the moment because our key customer is Hispanic and is feeling nervous and fearful, and they're cutting back on expenditure. It feels really recessionary in parts of the U.S. market," CEO George Weston said on the company's conference call on Thursday.
Colgate-Palmolive also saw lower traffic from Hispanic consumers all across the business, the company's chief investor relations officer, John Faucher, said at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in March. The company on April 25 reported a 2.3% decline in North American volume for the first quarter.
Still, Walmart, the nation's largest grocer, said the Trump's administration's immigration policy hasn't resulted in anything worth sharing yet.
"It's a nonevent for us so far," CEO Doug McMillon said on the company's earnings call in mid-February.
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There aren't a lot of people who can say they've beaten Apple. Tim Sweeney may have just earned a spot in that club.
Sweeney is the CEO of Epic Games — best known as the company behind Fortnite — and he won what may be a very meaningful court victory last week, by forcing a significant change in the way Apple runs its App Store.
Apple is going to appeal that ruling (and Sweeney is in a parallel fight with Google over its app store rules). But if the ruling stays put, it means the five years and the enormous amount of money Sweeney says he spent and sacrificed by challenging Apple and its CEO, Tim Cook, will have paid off.
Explaining why Apple's App Store rules are so important — to both Apple and the developers who complain about them — can be a drag, though I keep trying. I wanted to hear Sweeney's take on it directly because he's made the fight a core part of his job for half a decade.
And I also wanted to know when I'll be able to play Fortnite on my iPhone — something I haven't been able to do since 2020, when Sweeney first started fighting with Apple. (I've asked Apple for comment, but they haven't expanded on the statement they made last week expressing their disappointment and plans to appeal.)
You can hear our entire discussion over on my Channels podcast. The following is an edited excerpt of our conversation.
Peter Kafka: Why was last week's ruling important to you and Epic? And why should a normal person care about it?
Tim Sweeney: This is really one of the issues at the heart of our digital freedoms for the future. We live our lives on our smartphones. We're connected constantly to people. We work on them. We play on them. And our futures are going to be ever more connected there. So the freedom for consumers and developers to do business together is of paramount importance. If you have one monopoly gatekeeper who dictates what people are allowed to play, see, hear — and takes exorbitant fees from every transaction that everybody does online — we're going to have a much less free world than the one that we grew up in.
I started programming back on an Apple II when I was 13: You turn the computer on, you get a BASIC programming prompt. Anybody can write code, anybody can save it to a floppy disk, you can share it with a friend, you can sell it. Those digital freedoms are essential to the future.
I subscribe to Netflix. I subscribe to Spotify. Neither of those is done through Apple because in both cases, neither of those companies wanted to pay Apple's fees. But I use Spotify and Netflix on my phone.
I could maybe argue that it's a bit of a hassle for me to have to deal with Netflix on a website instead of directly through its iOS app. But it doesn't really seem like it's a sort of life and death situation for me or any of the companies involved.
Apple has two tiers of rules. They have one tier of rules for what they call reader apps, which are basically apps operated by multi-hundred-billion-dollar companies — Amazon Video, Netflix, Spotify, and a number of others. Apple lets those apps do business outside of the app. And they've previously obstructed those developers from telling users about the better deals [you could get by going to those sites directly].
But even with that restriction, which is now being taken away, it seemed like life was OK for me, life was OK for Netflix, life was OK for Apple. Everyone was getting what they wanted.
It was not OK for game developers. Because that reader app exception only applied to streaming video, streaming audio, and ebook sites. Apple forced all games, all social media apps, and everything else, to only do business through their app. So Apple imposed a rule on all game developers, saying if you sell anything for your game anywhere in the world on any platform, then you must sell it on iOS, and you must use our payment method, and you must pay us 30% if your revenue is greater than a million dollars. So the game developers did not have a choice, and everything there was just marked up 30%.
What happens given the ruling last week?
It means now all users are free to learn about better deals from all developers, and all developers are free to not just accept payments outside of the app on the web, but to tell users about those alternative ways to pay and to give consumers better deals. That's a key economic gain here.
Now developers will be able to send users to the web to give them a better price, and then to make a little bit more money for themselves, too.
But that's just the first-order effect. The second-order effect is that you can expect if Apple continues to offer such a horrible deal, that everybody's going to move away and steer their customers towards iOS payments on the web. So I would hope that Apple would step up and compete, give developers a much better deal than 30%, and actually engage in competition. But whether Apple chooses to compete or not, the court has enabled developers to make the choice for themselves.
Apple says they're going to comply with the judge's ruling, but they're also going to appeal it. So it's possible the rules get changed again. Do you think a meaningful number of developers are willing to take advantage of this window, knowing that it can get shut down?
It's 30% of revenue, so all major developers will support alternative payments. Spotify was the first major app I saw that already has done it. Fortnite will do it later this week. And many, many apps are doing it.
You said Fortnite is going to come back to iOS. You guys were kicked off the platform in 2020 for violating Apple's rules. There's nothing in the judge's ruling that says Apple has to reinstate Fortnite on iOS. Have you talked to Apple? How do you imagine Fortnite will come back to iOS?
Epic has a valid [Apple] developer account in good standing. Our subsidiary Epic Games Sweden opened up an account in order to distribute Fortnite in the European Union.
Our dealings with Apple on that account have been managed by their developer relations team, who have been cordial.
Do you feel confident that I will be able to play Fortnite on my iPhone later this week?
I believe so. I would be very surprised — well, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we had a bug that took a day or two more to fix — but I would be very surprised if Apple decided to brave the geopolitical storm of blocking a major app from iOS.
We've told Apple what we're doing.
How much has it cost you to engage in this five-year legal fight?
We've had legal bills in the matter of Epic vs. Apple of over $100 million.
I assumed it was much more. You were hiring top-shelf lawyers and …
Well, yeah. Well over $100 million, just in legal fees.
But if you look at lost revenue, that's another story. We can't predict exactly how much we would have made on iOS, but in the two years that we were on the platform, Fortnite had made about $300 million on iOS. So you could have projected hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue as a result of the fight.
And that's just from people who were playing and couldn't play. I'm thinking of the future players you would have gotten, who didn't get exposed to the game because they don't have access to it via their phone. Roblox has tons of young players. The majority there are teenagers or below. They're all getting to it via their phone. Those are all people who could have played Fortnite for the last five years.
That's right. Metcalfe's Law is a real factor here. You're much more likely to play a game or use a social network if your friends are there. So Apple cutting off Epic from access to the entire iOS audience, that not only affects the players that are directly denied access to Fortnite, it also affects all of their friends who might have played Fortnite more or might have played Fortnite but didn't, because their friends weren't able to play.
So you could easily imagine that there's been a billion dollars or more of impact to Epic in this time.
I think freedom cannot be purchased at too dear a price. The world needs to change here. And if it doesn't change, then you're just going to have Apple and Google extracting all of the profit from all apps forever. And there will be no proper digital economy. It will just be monopolization.
I understand the logic and emotion behind that argument. On the other hand: You're running a for-profit company. You have a lot of investors. They put a lot of money into you. Did they come to you at any point in the last five years and say, "Tim, I know that freedom cannot be purchased at too dear a price. On the other hand, I've invested a lot of money in you because you're a games company, and your game is banned from mobile phones. Could you just settle this up and declare victory and move on?"
Other than one investor who exited Epic right quick, everybody has stood by us, because nobody invested in Epic because they want to make a 30% profit flipping the stock.
They have invested in [us], believe in our vision, believe in our potential, and believe that if we succeed in building the metaverse and growing Fortnite from a game into an ecosystem, into an open platform serving literally billions of players, that it will totally have been worth it. They all realize that if Apple controls the spigot, the revenue spigot at the top of the funnel, they will use that control to extract all of the profit that will ever be made from this space.
Do you imagine this is the rest of your professional life — running a business, coding, and then also having legal fights with platforms?
There's a game and a meta game here, right? The game is making awesome software, which is awesomely fun, creatively and technically. I love that. But there's a meta game of ensuring that we have the right to do that, and that we can profit from the fruits of our labor, and that all developers can. So much of our business is not just Epic profiting from our games. It's Epic helping other developers succeed and profiting from the success of thousands or hundreds of thousands of different developers themselves.
Epic is one of the few companies in the industry that's positioned in a way that really forces us to fight for everybody. And I don't feel bad about this. I put a lot of brain power into coding over the years. I put a lot of brain power into figuring out how to defeat the monopolies that are blocking us.
What good is coding if you don't have the right to release your product? You have to mix the love of the art together with your defense of your right to engage in the art.
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Months after Meta's high-profile culling of low performers, the stigma associated with the job cuts still stings.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg's push to "raise the bar on performance" saw about 5% of its workforce — roughly 3,600 employees — laid off in a sweeping round of cuts in February. The company said it targeted its lowest performers, but some former employees pushed back on that.
Some said they had received positive ratings months earlier. Others said they were on medical or parental leave, mid-transfer between teams, or hadn't received a formal rating yet. Some speculated that conflict with a manager was the deciding factor. As of late April, laid-off employees received severance payouts.
The eight accounts below offer a sense of how employees who were let go experienced the cuts and their concern about how it could affect their futures. BI has verified the performance records of these ex-workers, who asked for anonymity because they fear the "low performer" label could hurt future job prospects.
A Meta spokesperson reiterated what the company previously shared with BI earlier this year about its low-performer cuts: "Let me be clear, these were performance-based terminations," the spokesperson said. "Prior ratings were not downgraded. Simply because someone had a history of meeting or exceeding expectations does not mean they continue to consistently meet the bar."
The spokesperson added that Meta employees are held accountable to a goal-based culture of high performance.
A former employee in Meta's human resources division had returned to work after being on parental leave for nearly five months when his division lost close to 10% of its staff. His midyear review put him "At or Above Expectations" — the middle tier — but his year-end rating was "Meets Most," which made him eligible for termination.
"I tried calling my boss immediately, but in my heart, I knew it probably wasn't an error — Meta wouldn't make a mistake that significant." He said the manager was distressed but repeated: "I can't say anything. It's just part of Mark's mandate. It's a hard year."
He said he didn't know why his rating had fallen. "We can't even see the feedback our managers wrote for us," he said.
"Once the shock wore off, there was actually a mix of emotions — including some relief at being freed from that situation." But he does worry about carrying the low-performer label.
"It's one thing to be let go in a restructuring," he said. "It's another to have your professional reputation potentially damaged by being mischaracterized as an underperformer."
A former senior machine learning engineer at Meta described the shock of being laid off, only for a Meta recruiter to invite her to reapply three days later and skip the interview process.
"Same email address. Same person. No acknowledgment of what had just happened. It felt surreal," she said.
She said she joined Meta in early 2024 and earned a midyear review of "At or Above Expectations." Initially rated "Meets All Expectations" in the January 2025 year-end review, she was downgraded to "Meets Most Expectations" after a second round of director-level reviews. She said she suspects "directors were under pressure to hit a layoff quota."
Before the layoff, she was dissatisfied with her manager and sought a transfer to a top-tier team. It was approved, but she was told the move could lower her rating, so she waited — only to be pink-slipped. She said she's not taking the recruiter up on her offer.
Ultimately, she's confident she can land or create her next opportunity.
"I'll be fine. I can get another job or start something of my own."
This software engineer who joined Meta in May 2024 to work on cross-platform content sharing said a promising start unraveled because of internal politics over a new feature he prototyped. He said he took a four-month leave for burnout in August and returned in December to complete two more projects.
Two weeks before the layoffs, he said, his new manager told the team everyone was "safe." Then came the termination email — and a performance rating of "Meets Some Expectations," low on Meta's end-of-year rating scale.
"How could they evaluate my performance when I'd only worked 10 weeks in 2024?" he said, adding that an HR director had said he was "too new to evaluate."
Although he's now fielding interest from other companies and expects to receive 16 weeks of severance, he still feels the sting of his rating. "The harmful 'low performer' label still feels wrong," he said.
This product manager joined Facebook as a contractor in 2018, converted to full time in 2020, and consistently received a year-end "Greatly Exceeds Expectations" ratings label.
In 2023, when she moved to Reality Labs, "everything changed," she said.
"My manager would call late at night to question my capabilities and create doubt, even though teammates gave me positive feedback," she said.
A review in early 2024 dropped her two tiers to "Meets All Expectations." Feedback included accusations that she was "blinded" by a "desire for promotion," she said. In August, she took a 12-week disability leave "because I was physically ill from all the stress." She returned in November and was laid off in February.
She's being "selective" in her hunt for a new job. "The experience damaged my health, affected my family, and forced me onto medication for anxiety. I need to walk away from toxicity at the first sign, not wait until it affects my health and family again."
A technical program manager was laid off after seven years of good performance ratings at Meta.
A reorganization placed her under a new manager a few months earlier — a shift she felt exposed her. "When managers have to meet quotas and choose someone to cut, people with less history on the team are at higher risk," she said.
"I contacted my manager in shock" after the termination notice, she said. "I just wanted five minutes to talk to ensure I wasn't going crazy." The manager responded with a templated email — the same company-approved language she had been required to use the day before when laying off her own direct report.
She still doesn't know exactly what led to their selection. "Was it because I had significant equity vested when the stock price was low?" she said. " Was it because I expressed disappointment about Meta rolling back DEI programs on internal forums? I'll never know — but there's clearly more to this story than simply cutting the lowest performers."
After 14 years at Google and three at Meta, a program manager said she was laid off despite a strong performance record: "At Meta, I'd even received 'Exceeds Expectations' and the rare 'Redefines Expectations.'" She said her manager told her she was doing "a great job" at the midyear review.
"I was candid with my manager — sometimes critically, but always constructively — about where I thought things could improve," she said. "I was transparent about how stress in my personal life was affecting me: My husband had been laid off, and we were caring for a special-needs child."
She said her manager told her not to worry, but she'd noticed a shift in tone at Meta — for example, when chief technology officer Andrew "Boz" Bosworth said a worker who alleged mistreatment should just quit.
"The compassionate tone of the 2022 layoffs — the regret, the messaging about hard decisions — feels like a distant memory," she said. "This round was cutthroat. Silent. Cold. 'The Hunger Games,' but for high performers."
"I wrote a final email to my skip-level manager," she added. "Not to get my job back. Not even to get a reply (I didn't). I just wanted to be heard. To say: I know I did good work. I know I didn't deserve this. And I hope someone — anyone — in leadership still has the humanity to care."
This employee spent four years at Meta working on internal security systems, including tools to manage insider threats. He spent the weekend before the cuts making sure those would run smoothly on the day of the layoffs.
He had received consistently strong performance ratings and said his managers agreed he was on track, but his termination letter assigned him a "Meets Most Expectations" rating. He said his managers didn't look at the self-review he submitted. "That told me everything. This wasn't about performance," he said. "This was about filling quotas."
"My manager said he 'stood by' the rating but wished he'd had more time and freedom to talk things through."
In his view, the company culture had grown increasingly cutthroat, with employees clinging to projects to boost their ratings, jockeying within the performance curve, and seeing dissent increasingly punished.
"Many people stay because the compensation is hard to walk away from, not because they believe in the mission. I was one of them. It was a place that offered scale and learning, but at a steep emotional cost," he said, adding that his healthy salary would have made him "an easy target" for cost-cutters.
An engineer was laid off after five months of leave for a serious health crisis while in the middle of disability-related negotiations. He said his final performance rating — "Meets Most Expectations" — felt like "a scarlet letter."
"I wasn't underperforming," he said. Peer reviews before the leave had been entirely positive, and he saved "screenshots of it all for my lawyer."
His compensation exceeded $500,000, making him the highest-paid person on the team after his manager. He said he worked 60 to 75 hours before falling ill, but he sensed resentment after raising burnout concerns and stepping away from a major project.
"And after the layoff? Nothing. She didn't even say goodbye."
He said Meta branding of laid-off workers as low performers "sets a dangerous precedent — companies can quietly rewrite the story of your career, and you don't get to fight back."
He's exploring legal options. "Meta is telling one story," he said. "And for many of us, it's not the truth."
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at pranavdixit@protonmail.com or Signal at +1-408-905-9124. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.
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In June, Tesla is set to roll out its robotaxi service in Austin, going bumper to bumper with Waymo.
Austin is the first city where Tesla plans to test its tech with consumers. Alphabet-backed Waymo launched its robotaxi service in the city in March after already rolling out the service in three other cities over the past five years.
Ahead of the launch, Elon Musk has taken several digs at Waymo, including joking during the carmaker's earnings call earlier this month that Waymo costs "'way mo' money."
"I don't see anyone being able to compete with Tesla at present," Musk said.
Meanwhile, Waymo's former CEO, John Krafcik, accused Tesla of being all talk and no action.
"Although Tesla hopes to compete with Waymo someday, they've failed utterly and completely at this for each of the 10 years they've been talking about it," he said in an emailed statement to Business Insider.
Tesla's Austin launch will mark a crucial chapter in a yearslong debate over the best self-driving training methods and whether success will come from Tesla's big swings or Waymo's gradual deployment.
Take a look at how Tesla and Waymo compare when it comes to autonomous driving technology.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. A Waymo spokesperson referred BI to previous blog posts on the company's early rides and continued testing in cities across the US.
Tesla and Waymo have taken radically different approaches to training their AI systems for self-driving. Tesla has relied on a vision-based approach that uses a suite of eight cameras and minimal reliance on external sensors.
Musk has said that Tesla began removing lidar sensors from its test vehicles in 2021, calling the technology an expensive "crutch." The carmaker has a lidar- and radar-equipped vehicle called the Ground Truth Machine that it uses for training purposes, but only for edge cases of rare or unusual driving scenarios, BI previously reported.
Waymo's Jaguar I-PACE robotaxis are outfitted with five lidar sensors, six radars, and 29 cameras that help its AI software navigate its environment, a company spokesperson said. The company says its next-generation Waymo Driver will have a reduced and cheaper sensor suite.
Before Waymo robotaxis are deployed for public rides, Waymo uses safety drivers to map out a city like San Francisco or Tokyo, creating highly detailed maps.
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) ranks self-driving vehicles on a scale from zero to five — five being the holy grail of autonomous driving in which a driverless vehicle can go anywhere under any environmental conditions, according to SAE. Tesla has said it operates as a Level 2 vehicle, meaning that it operates as a driver-assist software with a human driver still behind the wheel.
In California, where Tesla does much of its in-house testing, the carmaker is required to secure a permit for Level 3 and above testing. Tesla has not reported using the permit, which allows the self-driving software to operate with a safety driver but even more autonomy, since 2019. The company told the California DMV in December that it was currently operating as a Level 2 vehicle in the state, according to documents viewed by BI.
Waymo, along with Zoox and Nuro, is one of the few companies that has deployed Level 4 autonomous driving in the real world, which means the vehicle does not require a driver behind the wheel and is fully autonomous.
Waymo robotaxis have limitations. The vehicles cannot travel beyond areas programmed into their system, and the company hasn't yet offered robotaxi service in cities that experience more extreme weather, such as snow. A Waymo spokesperson said the company has invested in weather testing.
Tesla has a more consumer-focused business model. The company sells beta versions of its Full Self-Driving software for $8,000, or $99 a month. The software requires a licensed driver to supervise the vehicle, but it can switch lanes, recognize stop lights, and enter and exit highways.
While the company is also working on building up a commercial robotaxi fleet, Musk has said Tesla owners will one day be able to rent out their cars as a self-driving service, akin to Uber or Airbnb.
Waymo's business is primarily focused on delivering an autonomous rideshare service through Waymo One or through its partnership with rideshare platforms such as Uber.
Unlike Tesla, Waymo does not manufacture cars in-house and instead relies on partnerships with OEMs to build out its robotaxi fleet, partnering with Jaguar, Chrysler, Hyundai, and Toyota.
Waymo has signaled interest in bringing its autonomous technology to personally owned vehicles. On April 29, Waymo revealed that it was in early talks with Toyota to explore bringing autonomy to consumer cars.
Tesla has said it aims to roll out the service in Austin in June and in other US cities within the year. The company is still getting regulatory approval in California, but has several in-house test drivers operating in cities across the country, including Phoenix, Dallas, New York, and Miami.
During the carmaker's earnings call in April, Musk said that Tesla owners would be able to drive their vehicles autonomously within the year. Musk has said that Tesla will eventually deploy its services globally.
Waymo has chosen to gradually roll out its service in select cities. As of April, Waymo's robotaxis are offering fully driverless rides to the public in limited parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
The company is currently testing in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Miami, San Diego, and Tokyo.
It's difficult to compare Tesla and Waymo's mileage reports.
Tesla has not released any information on how often humans need to take control of its self-driving systems or how many miles its cars have driven without intervention. In its most recent earnings report, the company said users of its beta FSD software have driven a cumulative 3.6 billion miles. The company also released an update in April that Tesla engineers had driven about 15,000 miles using an internal version of its robotaxi app.
Waymo has said that its robotaxis have traveled 56.7 million miles as of January, miles driven without human supervision. The company said it provides over 250,000 rides a week as of April.
Tesla has not said how much the service will cost, but has said the price will be comparable to booking an Uber. Right now, Tesla owners pay a $8,000 flat fee or $99 a month to use the beta version of FSD.
As with Uber and Lyft, Waymo's price can vary depending on the city and demand.
One study conducted last year by Evercore ISI of 1,000 trips offered by Waymo, Uber, and Lyft found that Waymo's price point had essentially reached parity with existing rideshare platforms by the fourth quarter of 2024.
While Waymo was more expensive at about $24 per ride in mid-2024, Waymo's average fare dropped nearly 10% to around $22 by the end of 2024.
This brought Waymo in line with traditional rideshare options, with UberX at about $21 and Lyft at roughly $22 during the same period. The analysts noted that the Uber and Lyft prices didn't include driver tips, unlike the all-inclusive Waymo fare.
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Gold has been on a dizzying rally — but buying silver as an alternative may not be as profitable a move as you think.
The yellow metal is likely to continue outperforming silver thanks to strong demand from central banks, which have been snapping up gold since 2022.
"The price divergence began after the freezing of Russian reserves, which triggered a fivefold increase in central bank gold buying — a shift that does not extend to the more ample and less precious silver," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note on Monday.
Gold and silver prices are closely linked with the gold-silver price ratio, which measures the ounces of silver needed to buy one ounce of gold and historically trades in a 45-80 range.
However, the ratio has broken out of this range since 2022 and is now around 102, which means that more silver is now required to buy an ounce of gold.
"Central banks broke a 40-year correlation," wrote the Goldman analysts.
They don't expect silver prices to catch up with the gold rally as higher central bank gold demand has structurally lifted the gold-silver price ratio.
While the war in Ukraine has lifted gold prices, prices have been on a tear since early 2024 as investors piled into haven assets.
Over the last year, prices of the yellow metal have been supported by demand from China due to the country's economic downturn and broader uncertainty due to President Donald Trump's second term in office.
Gold prices hit a historic high above $3,500 per ounce on April 22. Its price is around 28% higher this year to date.
The spot gold price was around $3,370 per ounce at 3:08 a.m. ET on Tuesday after hitting a two-week high of $3,380 per ounce on Monday. Investors are keeping their eyes on the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday for further cues.
The spot silver price is around $33 per ounce and is about 15% higher so far this year.
Meanwhile, a boom in China's solar panel production has also slowed, putting pressure on the prices of silver, which is used in its manufacturing.
"With Chinese solar production now slowing amid oversupply, high recession risk, and central bank gold buying remaining strong in 2025, we expect gold to continue outglittering silver," the analysts wrote.
Goldman's year-end forecast for gold prices is $3,700 per ounce.
Get the latest Gold price here.
Get the latest Silver price here.
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The price of Bitcoin hovered around $95,000 on Tuesday as U.S. stocks fell on President Donald Trump's apparent frustrations regarding the status of trade negotiations.
The leading cryptocurrency by market cap was roughly flat over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. Most top altcoins showed mild losses, with Ethereum and Solana falling 2% to $1,780 and 1.5% to around $145, respectively.
Alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to the White House, Trump pushed back against investors' growing sense of urgency for trade deals with nations caught up in his efforts to reshape global trade through “reciprocal” tariffs, per CNBC.
“Everyone says, ‘when, when, when are you going to sign deals?'” he reportedly grumbled. “We don't have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us.”
Seated next to Carney in the Oval Office, a reporter asked Trump if there was anything that the newly elected official could say to get the president to lift tariffs on Canadian goods.
“No,” Trump responded. “That's just the way it is.”
Despite members of Trump's cabinet teasing deals with nations like India and Japan for weeks, the administration has yet to unveil an agreement with a foreign trading partner.
During Congressional testimony on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that negotiations are still ongoing with nations affected by Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs. However, in an apparent departure from Trump's previous comments regarding Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bessent said that China has yet to engage with the U.S. to negotiate
“There are 18 very important trading relationships,” he said. “We are currently negotiating with 17 of those trading partners. China, we have not engaged in negotiations with, as of yet.”
After snapping a nine-day winning streak on Monday, stock indices fell further on Wall Street. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq each stumbled 0.4%, according to Yahoo Finance.
Investors' retreat comes a day before the Federal Reserve is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at the conclusion of its policy meeting. The central bank is also set to release quarterly projections of metrics like the unemployment rate and inflation.
In determining its policy stance, Fed officials are likely to look through data points that came before Trump's “Liberation Day” announcement involving sweeping tariffs, Katalin Tischhauser, head of research at digital asset banking group Sygnum, told Decrypt. That includes a Gross Domestic Product reading last week, which showed a contraction because imports are subtracted.
“Ahead of Liberation Day, imports have been fast-tracked and brought forward, skewing the GDP number,” she said. “The negative reading is therefore unlikely to spur the Fed into action.”
Traders currently foresee a 31% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates for the first time since December at the conclusion of its June meeting, per CME FedWatch. However, those odds could soon change when Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks take center stage.
Edited by James Rubin
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Samara Asset Group's Bitcoin CPI reframes inflation by measuring prices in BTC—offering corporate treasuries a clearer benchmark for real value.
In corporate finance, inflation is often accepted as an unavoidable force—something to hedge against, but never escape. Every fiscal model, investment thesis, and capital plan ultimately bends around it. But the way we measure inflation is rarely questioned.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), the world's default inflation gauge, measures price changes of a basket of goods in fiat currency. But here's the problem: fiat currencies are designed to lose value. This means we're measuring rising prices with a yardstick that's shrinking.
Now, Samara Asset Group, an executive member of Bitcoin For Corporations (BFC), is challenging that convention.
They've launched the world's first Bitcoin Consumer Price Index (BTCCPI)—a bold new benchmark that prices the same CPI basket in Bitcoin instead of fiat. It's a subtle shift with profound implications: Bitcoin isn't just an asset—it may be a better measure of value.
Think of CPI as a thermometer—only the mercury keeps rising not just because the heat is increasing, but because the scale is broken.
Traditional CPI always trends upward, not necessarily because goods become more valuable, but because the purchasing power of fiat currency is constantly eroded by inflationary policy.
Samara's BTCCPI flips the framing.
By expressing the same CPI basket in Bitcoin, the index reflects what happens when measured against a supply-capped, non-sovereign monetary standard. And what it reveals is striking: over the long term, prices trend downward.
The BTCCPI doesn't ignore Bitcoin's volatility—but it reframes it. In short-term windows, prices fluctuate. But across longer timeframes, Bitcoin holds purchasing power far better than fiat.
This is not just a reframing of inflation. It's a more honest way to assess whether capital is holding its value—or being silently diluted.
Corporate finance teams think in terms of performance, preservation, and predictability. But preservation is the one that's hardest to measure—especially in fiat terms.
The BTCCPI offers an emerging class of Bitcoin Treasury Companies a new tool: a way to benchmark the real-world strength of their treasury strategy.
A company that holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet isn't just making a speculative bet—it's aligning its capital with a monetary system that is structurally deflationary.
This changes the story you can tell shareholders.
It reinforces the idea that your treasury isn't just surviving inflation—it's resisting it. That you're anchoring corporate value to a global, neutral, incorruptible base layer.
In that light, BTCCPI is more than a chart. It's a signal. A tool to communicate value preservation in a world where most assets quietly erode.
Plenty of firms talk about inflation. Samara built a new way to measure it.
Their launch of BTCCPI is not a thought experiment or a marketing stunt. It's a live, data-driven benchmark—transparent, methodologically grounded, and freely available to the public.
That's the kind of leadership the Bitcoin For Corporations network exists to highlight.
Samara is showing how a Bitcoin-native company can contribute to the broader corporate finance toolkit—building infrastructure that serves investors, treasurers, analysts, and decision-makers beyond its own business.
It also signals something deeper: that Bitcoin is no longer content to play defense. It's building a new system—with new metrics, new levers, and new standards of truth.
CFOs have always relied on trusted benchmarks: CPI, LIBOR, the 10-year yield, the S&P. But each of those reflects a world built on fiat assumptions.
Bitcoin offers something different. A monetary system where supply is fixed, issuance is transparent, and value isn't manipulated by policy or politics.
Samara's BTCCPI is one of the first attempts to use that system as a lens, not just a ledger.
It invites us to ask: what if we've been measuring inflation incorrectly? What if the signal we've been using to manage capital is inherently distorted?
And what if there was a better benchmark—not just for inflation, but for honest capital?
Thanks to Samara, we now have the beginning of an answer.
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Three major crypto trade associations are urging the Senate to bring stablecoin legislation to the floor for debate this week, even as crypto-friendly Democrats threaten to vote down the bill over recent moves by Republican leadership.
The heads of Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and the Digital Chamber called on senators to support a motion to consider the GENIUS Act, the upper chamber's bill to create a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
“A comprehensive regulatory framework will enable widespread and increased stablecoin adoption, which is essential to cementing U.S. dollar dominance in the digital economy,” Blockchain Association's Kristin Smith, Crypto Council for Innovation's Ji Kim and the Digital Chamber's Cody Carbone said in a statement Tuesday.
“We are grateful for the significant strides the GENIUS Act has already made, and we hope to see meaningful refinements to further ensure U.S. leadership in digital finance,” they added.
The GENIUS Act currently sits in a precarious position, as Senate leadership prepares to bring the bill to the floor Thursday. However, nine Democrats pulled their support for the legislation over the weekend, saying they could not vote for the current version.
The pushback comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) moved to expedite consideration of the bill last Thursday. A Democratic aide told The Hill that Democratic lawmakers were surprised by the move and had not seen the latest version of the bill text.
“We have approached this process constructively and with an open mind, with the understanding that additional improvements to the bill would be made,” the senators said in a statement Saturday. “However, the bill as it currently stands still has numerous issues that must be addressed.”
Sen. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee, accused Republicans of attempting to force through the legislation without additional negotiation.
“It seems they want us to suck it up and vote for this bill without our input,” he wrote on the social platform X. “That's not what we expected during this negotiation and not how I operate. Our statement makes clear we won't let them jam us. Looking forward to continuing to get this bill to a better place.”
Gallego was one of several Senate Banking Democrats who voted to advance the GENIUS Act in March. Similar legislation, called the STABLE Act, also advanced out of the House Financial Services Committee last month.
However, crypto legislation appears to be hitting a wall in Washington, particularly as President Trump's growing ties to the industry face scrutiny.
House Democrats walked out of a hearing on digital asset market structure legislation Tuesday, after Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) objected over the president and his family's recent crypto dealings.
Waters, ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, sought to block the hearing between the panel and the House Agriculture Committee, taking advantage of a rule requiring unanimous consent for a joint hearing.
However, Republicans and some Democrats remained and held a more informal roundtable with the assembled witnesses.
Trump and his family have fueled more criticism in recent days, after their crypto firm World Liberty Financial announced that Emirati firm MGX and crypto exchange Binance would use its new stablecoin to complete a $2 billion transaction.
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According to Mihir (@RhythmicAnalyst), the Federal Reserve currently has no platform to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), making stablecoins issued on public and private blockchains the only viable alternative for digital dollar settlements (source: Twitter, May 6, 2025). This development signals increased reliance on established USD-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC, particularly on public blockchains, while banks are expected to utilize private blockchain-based stablecoins for institutional transfers. Traders should monitor potential demand surges and regulatory developments around major stablecoins, as well as the adoption rates of private blockchain solutions, since these factors could drive liquidity shifts and volatility in the broader cryptocurrency market.
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In March Custodia Bank announced a collaboration for tokenized deposits with Vantage Bank. Now the two banks are working together to support cross border payments using Custodia's Avit token on a permissionless blockchain. Previous transactions were on Ethereum.
Vantage Bank's customer, courier firm DX Xpress, used the programmable dollar tokens for a payment between Mexico and the United States. A common real world use case often cited for digital currencies is conditional payments, such as paying for ecommerce purchases on delivery. Hence, if the goods don't arrive, the buyer isn't out of pocket. DX Xpress is using it for this purpose and to pay drivers.
“We see the capability to offer integrated, programmable U.S. dollar payments through our platform to speed up cash conversion cycles allowing for payments to be initiated via a smart contract at delivery and ultimately paying drivers for a completed route within the hour,” said Antonio Bazán, President and CEO of DX Xpress.
Vantage views it as a way to offer faster, cheaper cross border payments and to provide foreign exchange services.
While some refer to the token as a stablecoin, legally it is not. Avit is backed by bank deposits and issued by a bank, so it is subject to conventional bank regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act and anti money laundering compliance. Additionally, holders of the token have rights and protections under the Uniform Commercial Code, something that stablecoin holders lack.
Meanwhile, Custodia Bank has been battling to get a Federal Reserve master account for years, with no luck so far. That's despite the Kansas City Fed saying the bank was technically eligible in 2022, but was subject to approvals needed by banks engaging in blockchain and crypto. Now Custodia is looking to partner with other banks who are interested in deploying tokenized deposits.
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House Democrats Walk Out on Digital Assets Hearing Over ‘Trump's Crypto Corruption'
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House Democrats staged a walkout of a digital assets-focused hearing on Tuesday, with party leadership threatening that President Donald Trump's personal crypto ventures could derail bipartisan support of pending crypto legislation.
House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters (D-CA) led the charge, objecting at the outset to the hearing's convening. A dramatic scene then ensued, with Democrats including Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) yelling out a list of crypto-related profits the president has reaped while in office, and House Republicans shouting over them to stop.
“President Trump's crypto dealings are estimated to be a total of $2.9 billion and nearly 40% of his total wealth!” Lynch exclaimed, as Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) demanded the representative stop speaking.
“The gentleman is no longer recognized!” Steil repeated several times, before order was called in the room.
Several Democrats, led by Waters, then walked out to convene a separate roundtable across the street, centered on “Trump's crypto corruption.”
Moments before the walkout, Waters told Decrypt that the objective of the stunt was to force language into pending stablecoin and market structure bills that would prevent the president from engaging in crypto ventures while in office. Last month, House Democrats proposed several amendments along those lines—but the Financial Services Committee's Republican majority shot down each of them.
"We came close to getting a stablecoin bill, but Trump has been so outrageously brazen with his ownership of a crypto company, a stablecoin,” Waters told Decrypt. “Enriching himself and his family, coaxing investors by bringing them to the White House. It's just too much."
Yesterday, Trump announced that in addition to hosting a dinner later this month at his Washington-area golf club for the top 220 holders of his meme coin, he will also offer the token's top 25 holders a private reception and a White House tour. In recent days, American companies have begun buying up millions of dollars worth of the token, which trades under the TRUMP ticker, in the hopes of scoring a chance to lobby the president face-to-face.
Last week at a crypto conference in Dubai, the president's sons revealed a $2 billion deal backed by the UAE government that will involve the Trump family's crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, and its stablecoin, USD1. The announcement sparked an uproar among Democrats.
Today's hearing was initially supposed to focus on a newly revealed draft of the House's market structure bill, which would create a framework for U.S. regulation of most digital assets. The bill, in its latest form, would end SEC oversight of most top crypto tokens.
After the Democrats' flashy walk out this morning, the meeting then shifted to a more informal roundtable, with crypto industry leaders and former regulators testifying and answering questions about industry regulation to a thinner panel of mostly Republicans.
Greg Tusar, Coinbase's head of institutional product and one of the roundtable's participants, spoke positively of the new market structure draft when asked to share his thoughts.
“It is a strong step,” he said.
Midway through the roundtable, Rep. Steil, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, admonished Democrats for leaving the event, and argued they were preventing needed regulation from passing.
“I think the danger we have in this country is if we put our head in the sand and fail to regulate in this space, we actually have more risk than we do today,” he said.
Rep. Stephen Lynch and a handful of Democrats remained at the main roundtable for some time in order to continue voicing their opinions.
“Brick by brick, President Trump is showing us how democracies die,” Lynch said during the session. The Democrat then warned roundtable participants that the president's crypto dealings were doing their industry no favors.
“You want to have credibility. You want to have trust,” he said. “And I don't think you're getting that from [Trump's crypto deals].”
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The European Central Bank (ECB) said it set up an innovation hub with 70 participants to test its digital euro project.
The participants included start-ups, banks and payment services including global professional services company Accenture, Swiss telecommunications company Swisscom, Spanish bank CaixaBank and audit and tax firm KPMG, it said in a Monday release. The companies have signed up to work with the ECB to explore the central bank digital currency's payment functionalities and use cases, the release said.
The ECB issued a call to small and large merchants, banks and payment-service providers last year. The central bank's President Christine Lagarde said that the testing phase of the CBDC, which it calls its preparation phase, should end by October. A decision on whether or not to issue a digital euro is expected to occur after legislation takes effect.
Read more: ECB Targets October to Finish Digital Euro Preparation Phase
Camomile Shumba is a CoinDesk regulatory reporter based in the UK. Previously, Shumba interned at Business Insider and Bloomberg. Camomile has featured in Harpers Bazaar, Red, the BBC, Black Ballad, Journalism.co.uk, Cryptopolitan.com and South West Londoner.Shumba studied politics, philosophy and economics as a combined degree at the University of East Anglia before doing a postgraduate degree in multimedia journalism. While she did her undergraduate degree she had an award-winning radio show on making a difference. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.
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The NFT boom of 2020 was an explosive moment in the history of digital art. Seemingly overnight a somewhat obscure category of contemporary art took center stage, alongside a powerful and nebulous technology – ‘the blockchain.'
The art world was upended by the disruptive new market that emerged and quickly sought to adopt the interests and tastes of its patrons. Major auction houses led the charge – their business model was a natural fit – aligning with the speculative aspects of the new market. Galleries experimented with offering NFTs, and museums followed suit, by alluring donors with NFT-based membership and ticketing and opening up their collections to NFTs.
In the years that followed, the art world evolved beyond speculation about the NFT market and the transactional aspects of blockchain toward the potential the technology offers for preservation and storage. After a period of frenzied crypto-oriented experimentation, arts organizations began slowing down and thinking about this technology on longer timescales. An emerging group of artists and institutions have begun exploring how the core components of blockchains – decentralization and encryption – can help preserve culture for the next 100 years and unlock new potentials for cooperative data stewardship.
Surveying the vast landscape of ‘blockchain in the arts' today three distinct categories emerge: Engagement, Collecting, and Preservation. The first category is the most prolific – museums and cultural organizations engaging their audiences with tokenized on-chain experiences. These transactions are preserved on the blockchain's ‘immutable public ledger' as a lasting record of an exchange. Engagement initiatives are primarily led by development and educational departments within the institution, and take the form of ticketing, participatory programming, or new membership models. These initiatives aim to cultivate a new donor class or grow audience, and oftentimes are presented under the auspices of tech literacy. For example, the MoMA Postcard project, a “participatory blockchain art project,” was framed as “an invitation for anyone to learn, experiment, collaborate, and create value together with web3 technologies.” More recently the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched ArtLinks, a blockchain-based game which “presents an innovative way to engage with the Museum.”
A similar focus on transactions is at the core of the second category, Collecting. Many museums have acquired NFTs, including LACMA, The Centre Pompidou, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. NFTs represent a new way to handle exchange of ownership of digital assets. The chain of custody is recorded transparently and available for all to see online, along with the artwork. Curatorial is the driving force for acquisitions, but given the format of NFTs, their addition to a museum's collection is primarily an engagement with the legal functions of the institution. Once acquired, NFTs enter into a museum's accession workflow which treats a born-digital artwork in a much more robust manner.
Herein lies the opportunity of the third category, Preservation. In the broader GLAM ecosystem (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) future-thinking cultural institutions are experimenting with blockchain-based storage for preservation and conservation of their archives and born-digital artworks. The standard for preservation-grade storage is ‘3 copies, in 3 locations,' and archivists have long adopted the mantra ‘lots of copies keep stuff safe.' Immutable and verifiable storage on blockchains like Filecoin offers additional benefits, with cryptographic proofs that archives are being stored in their original form. Storing the bits and bytes that make up an archival information package on the blockchain – as opposed to a single display copy or on-chain code snippet included in NFTs – requires a deep engagement with the infrastructure and departments within an institution. Such an initiative at a traditional museum would require collaboration across curatorial, registrar, collections, and conservation, which handles identity and iteration reports, treatment plans, condition assessments, and other essential documentation that ensures a born-digital artwork will last 100 years.
The Internet Archive is leveraging decentralized storage for its collections, which has become a crucial cultural record at this moment as information disappears from the internet. The Prelinger Library boasts an essential collection of cultural ephemera, and is exploring how decentralized storage can ensure the longevity of their collection and offer more resilient and censorship-resistant access to the data in their sprawling archives. University archives such as Harvard's Library Innovation Lab are enhancing discovery and engagement with open data and exploring new ways to preserve digital information using decentralized storage.
Institutions experimenting with blockchain-backed preservation are leading the way for a huge shift in the way we understand our data. Culture at large is coming into an awareness of the precarity of data and the value it represents.Technology companies have amassed huge fortunes from user-generated data, and the political implications of the extractive practices of these giants have come into view. Mass exodus from social media platforms and divestment from big tech is shifting the landscape of how we understand the power of our data.
Looking back across the history of art, artists are often the drivers of new ways of seeing and the catalysts of change in moments of cultural upheaval. One group of artists is working to explore how blockchain-backed storage can shift the value of data to creators. By leveraging these technologies to explore distributive justice and data sovereignty, they are prototyping a new system of value for data.
TRANSFER Data Trust is a group of international digital artists building a cooperative model of data stewardship which transforms our current understanding of the financial and cultural value of data. The initiative seeks to create a ‘proof of concept' for resilient cultural infrastructure which is fully owned by the creators themselves, freeing data from the hands of big tech. By leveraging the power of blockchain-backed encryption to take ownership of data in a new way, they are demonstrating a different path forward for cultural legacy.
Such a shift will require careful collaboration and value realignment across the cultural sector. The momentous shift of NFTs was driven by rapid speculation, but the transformative power of blockchain technologies is operating on a much longer timescale. At its core, blockchain is an immutable public ledger which is actively recording a great shift in power across sectors.Traditional art institutions engaging more deeply with this technology beyond tokenization will activate a new era of cultural value creation.
This article is authored by
Kelani Nichole, Kelani Nichole is a technologist and the founder of TRANSFER, an experimental media art space. Her curatorial focus is on artists refiguring technology through critical practice. She has been producing immersive installations of net art, video games, virtual worlds, and generative art since 2013. Her independent curatorial projects include HeK (House of Electronic Arts), Arebyte, Pioneer Works, Gray Area, Christie's New York, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, and Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Main Image: MOMA postcard project
The art world was upended by the disruptive new market that emerged and quickly sought to adopt the interests and tastes of its patrons. Major auction houses led the charge – their business model was a natural fit – aligning with the speculative aspects of the new market. Galleries experimented with offering NFTs, and museums followed suit, by alluring donors with NFT-based membership and ticketing and opening up their collections to NFTs.
In the years that followed, the art world evolved beyond speculation about the NFT market and the transactional aspects of blockchain toward the potential the technology offers for preservation and storage. After a period of frenzied crypto-oriented experimentation, arts organizations began slowing down and thinking about this technology on longer timescales. An emerging group of artists and institutions have begun exploring how the core components of blockchains – decentralization and encryption – can help preserve culture for the next 100 years and unlock new potentials for cooperative data stewardship.
Surveying the vast landscape of ‘blockchain in the arts' today three distinct categories emerge: Engagement, Collecting, and Preservation. The first category is the most prolific – museums and cultural organizations engaging their audiences with tokenized on-chain experiences. These transactions are preserved on the blockchain's ‘immutable public ledger' as a lasting record of an exchange. Engagement initiatives are primarily led by development and educational departments within the institution, and take the form of ticketing, participatory programming, or new membership models. These initiatives aim to cultivate a new donor class or grow audience, and oftentimes are presented under the auspices of tech literacy. For example, the MoMA Postcard project, a “participatory blockchain art project,” was framed as “an invitation for anyone to learn, experiment, collaborate, and create value together with web3 technologies.” More recently the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched ArtLinks, a blockchain-based game which “presents an innovative way to engage with the Museum.”
A similar focus on transactions is at the core of the second category, Collecting. Many museums have acquired NFTs, including LACMA, The Centre Pompidou, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. NFTs represent a new way to handle exchange of ownership of digital assets. The chain of custody is recorded transparently and available for all to see online, along with the artwork. Curatorial is the driving force for acquisitions, but given the format of NFTs, their addition to a museum's collection is primarily an engagement with the legal functions of the institution. Once acquired, NFTs enter into a museum's accession workflow which treats a born-digital artwork in a much more robust manner.
Herein lies the opportunity of the third category, Preservation. In the broader GLAM ecosystem (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) future-thinking cultural institutions are experimenting with blockchain-based storage for preservation and conservation of their archives and born-digital artworks. The standard for preservation-grade storage is ‘3 copies, in 3 locations,' and archivists have long adopted the mantra ‘lots of copies keep stuff safe.' Immutable and verifiable storage on blockchains like Filecoin offers additional benefits, with cryptographic proofs that archives are being stored in their original form. Storing the bits and bytes that make up an archival information package on the blockchain – as opposed to a single display copy or on-chain code snippet included in NFTs – requires a deep engagement with the infrastructure and departments within an institution. Such an initiative at a traditional museum would require collaboration across curatorial, registrar, collections, and conservation, which handles identity and iteration reports, treatment plans, condition assessments, and other essential documentation that ensures a born-digital artwork will last 100 years.
The Internet Archive is leveraging decentralized storage for its collections, which has become a crucial cultural record at this moment as information disappears from the internet. The Prelinger Library boasts an essential collection of cultural ephemera, and is exploring how decentralized storage can ensure the longevity of their collection and offer more resilient and censorship-resistant access to the data in their sprawling archives. University archives such as Harvard's Library Innovation Lab are enhancing discovery and engagement with open data and exploring new ways to preserve digital information using decentralized storage.
Institutions experimenting with blockchain-backed preservation are leading the way for a huge shift in the way we understand our data. Culture at large is coming into an awareness of the precarity of data and the value it represents.Technology companies have amassed huge fortunes from user-generated data, and the political implications of the extractive practices of these giants have come into view. Mass exodus from social media platforms and divestment from big tech is shifting the landscape of how we understand the power of our data.
Looking back across the history of art, artists are often the drivers of new ways of seeing and the catalysts of change in moments of cultural upheaval. One group of artists is working to explore how blockchain-backed storage can shift the value of data to creators. By leveraging these technologies to explore distributive justice and data sovereignty, they are prototyping a new system of value for data.
TRANSFER Data Trust is a group of international digital artists building a cooperative model of data stewardship which transforms our current understanding of the financial and cultural value of data. The initiative seeks to create a ‘proof of concept' for resilient cultural infrastructure which is fully owned by the creators themselves, freeing data from the hands of big tech. By leveraging the power of blockchain-backed encryption to take ownership of data in a new way, they are demonstrating a different path forward for cultural legacy.
Such a shift will require careful collaboration and value realignment across the cultural sector. The momentous shift of NFTs was driven by rapid speculation, but the transformative power of blockchain technologies is operating on a much longer timescale. At its core, blockchain is an immutable public ledger which is actively recording a great shift in power across sectors.Traditional art institutions engaging more deeply with this technology beyond tokenization will activate a new era of cultural value creation.
This article is authored by
Kelani Nichole, Kelani Nichole is a technologist and the founder of TRANSFER, an experimental media art space. Her curatorial focus is on artists refiguring technology through critical practice. She has been producing immersive installations of net art, video games, virtual worlds, and generative art since 2013. Her independent curatorial projects include HeK (House of Electronic Arts), Arebyte, Pioneer Works, Gray Area, Christie's New York, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, and Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Main Image: MOMA postcard project
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
ArtDependence Magazine is an international magazine covering all spheres of contemporary art, as well as modern and classical art. ArtDependence features the latest art news, highlighting interviews with today's most influential artists, galleries, curators, collectors, fair directors and individuals at the axis of the arts.
The magazine also covers series of articles and reviews on critical art events, new publications and other foremost happenings in the art world.
If you would like to submit events or editorial content to ArtDependence Magazine, please feel free to reach the magazine via the contact page.
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The best altcoins to buy now are starting to look a lot more interesting as money slowly shifts away from Bitcoin. It's something that happens when BTC cools down, traders begin hunting for faster-moving plays with more upside.
This May, that shift is already underway, with smaller projects picking up momentum. Coins tied to AI, staking rewards, or early tech are showing signs of life. Dawgz AI is one of the newer names getting noticed in that space.
If this rotation continues, altcoins might lead the next leg of the market while everyone else is still watching Bitcoin.
Every time Bitcoin slows down, something interesting happens – attention shifts. Traders and investors start looking elsewhere, often rotating profits into altcoins that haven't run yet.
It's not new, but the timing this May feels different. BTC's dominance has started to flatten, and smart money is already moving into smaller plays with more potential upside.
Altcoins benefit from this shift because they tend to move faster, especially when liquidity loosens up. While Bitcoin stays in the spotlight, the real action often happens in the background, and those who catch the rotation early usually come out ahead.
Some altcoins are already picking up momentum while Bitcoin takes a breather. Here are a few that are worth watching closely this month.
Dawgz AI is one of the newer altcoins catching early traction, and it's easy to see why. It mixes meme culture with actual AI-powered tools, giving it a mix of community energy and real-world use.
The presale price is currently set at $0.004, and it's already raised over $3.4 million, which shows strong early interest heading into mid-2025.
If you're looking to dig deeper into $DAGZ, check the video below where crypto enthusiast ClayBro explains why Dawgz AI is one of the top altcoins to invest in right now.
Algorand has been around for a while, but it's still flying under the radar for many casual investors.
While it may not be the flashiest altcoin on the list, it's one of the most structurally sound projects, with real tech, a solid user base, and long-term positioning in areas like DeFi, tokenization, and payments.
According to CoinMarketCap, ALGO is currently trading at $0.2023 with a market cap of $1.73 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $47.93 million. Its circulating supply stands at 8.59 billion out of a 10B max, which gives it more room to grow without massive inflation risk.
The project also benefits from a high-performance blockchain that can handle thousands of transactions per second with low fees and near-instant finality.
Stellar is one of those projects that's been around for years but still holds weight in conversations about altcoins with real-world use. It's built for fast, low-cost payments and cross-border transfers, a problem that actually needs solving in crypto.
That real utility is what keeps XLM relevant even in sideways markets.
According to CoinMarketCap, Stellar is currently priced at $0.2677, with a market cap of $8.27 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $130.38 million. Its circulating supply is 30.92 billion XLM out of a 50B max, giving it both liquidity and long-term flexibility.
What makes Stellar stand out is how it's stayed focused. No hype, no pivots into random narratives, just consistent development aimed at helping people move money globally, without middlemen.
Crypto doesn't move in straight lines, it moves in waves. And right now, May feels like one of those in-between moments where the next wave is starting to build quietly. Bitcoin had its big Q1 run, and while it's not crashing, it's clearly cooling off. That's usually the signal for altcoins to step in.
Historically, May has been a transition month, not quite full bull run energy, but not dead either. It's when smart money starts rotating, loading up on altcoins before broader momentum kicks in. Volume tends to shift, narratives start to change, and the smaller caps with strong fundamentals often gain first.
This isn't about chasing green candles, it's about positioning before they show up. Coins like Dawgz AI, Stellar, and Algorand are already showing signs of accumulation. If the market follows past patterns, these early movers could lead the pack once sentiment turns fully risk-on again.
If you've been waiting for the best altcoins to buy now, this is probably the time to start narrowing your focus. Bitcoin's slowed down, altcoins are starting to wake up, and May feels like one of those moments where the market's setting up for something.
You don't need to chase anything, just pay attention to the early signs. Some projects are gaining traction quietly, like Dawgz AI, which has picked up steady interest during its presale phase.
If history repeats, the next move won't begin with a headline.
Dawgz AI is one of the few coins being watched for 1000x potential, mainly because of its low presale price, small market cap, and early traction. While nothing is guaranteed in crypto, early-stage projects with utility and strong tokenomics tend to offer the best setups for massive upside.
Dawgz AI currently shows some of the most potential among emerging altcoins, especially with its mix of AI functionality, staking rewards, and growing community support. It's still early, which gives it more room to develop compared to larger, more saturated projects.
Dawgz AI is one of the best coins to consider right now, particularly for those looking to enter before a public listing. The presale is still active, and the project offers features that go beyond hype, like trading bots, a working roadmap, and a clear use case.
Dawgz AI has a shot at becoming one of the altcoins to explode in 2025, especially if AI narratives continue to gain steam. It's building early momentum now, which could position it well once the broader market shifts risk-on again.
Copyright @ TheCryptoUpdates
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It is often said that knowledge is power, and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country, like Spain. Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture, rules, events, and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time.
This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain. In this way, you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don't make much sense. Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain.
Almeria
Axarquia
Costa Blanca North
Costa Blanca South
Costa del Sol
Costa Calida
Mallorca
Social Scene – Costa del Sol
By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 06 May 2025 • 15:31
• 4 minutes read
NGO New World Immigration began accepting donations in ETN, one of the first in the industry | Photo: NWM Press
Around eight years have passed since the booming era of ICOs. It was a time when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of crypto projects collectively raised billions, primarily based on a lot of hype around blockchain technology.
The regrettable fact is that about 90% of those projects failed, collapsed, or pulled the rug, and very few survived into 2025.
However, one of the few ICO projects still actively innovating that deserves mention today is Electroneum, a British-born and based blockchain company.
Nearly a decade down the line and over four million users later, Electroneum continues to innovate. They have built and maintained one of the fastest blockchains with transaction finality in five seconds or less and transaction fees as low as .0001 ETN.
Electroneum is difficult to compare with other blockchain projects, as its purpose is and has always been unique.
The team has focused massively on delivering real-world solutions to real-world problems in areas that many other projects have simply ignored. Electroneum's mobile-first approach was and continues to be unique.
For many years, Electroneum benefited hundreds of thousands of users in African, Asian, and Latin American countries, where very little goes a long way. Unlike Pi Network, which allows mobile phone mining for tokens with no clear use case, Electroneum's mobile mining era (until 2019) rewarded mining participants with approximately $3 worth of ETN, enough to purchase monthly airtime and data in many developing countries.
Given their achievements, it came as no surprise that in 2019, Electroneum received City AM's Crypto Award for Social Impact and Sustainability. As the London newspaper said, “They won the prize for empowering people in developing countries and the unbanked.”
They are trailblazers, too. In a 2019 article, top-tier crypto news outlet Coindesk lauded Electroneum's launch of an $80 “dirt-cheap” M1 Android smartphone that rewarded users with crypto.
No other crypto project had come up with this brilliant idea. Inspired by them, others would soon follow, such as Solana. By the way, it's still available on eBay for under $30, because they later decided to drop the price to make it even more accessible for those with less financial means.
Their CEO and Founder, prominent British entrepreneur Richard Ells, focused more on providing millions of the financially excluded with crypto services that truly addressed their issues, such as instant payments and portability, even in marginalised communities.
With that vision and mission in mind, the Electroenum leadership went to Cambodia, where they sealed a first-of-its-kind deal within the crypto industry.
The agreement with the Asian country's largest mobile operator, Cellcard, meant ETN app users could top up their airtime and data using ETN. Additionally, Cellcard agreed to purchase one million M1 smartphones, which they displayed in their shops nationwide.
The agreement also meant Cellcard users can earn ETN rewards of up to $3 per month, which they can convert into ETN tokens and top up their Cellcard accounts.
Electroneum is also credited with becoming the first blockchain startup to join the GSM Association. This non-profit trade association represents the interests of more than 750 mobile network operators worldwide. As reported by Decrypt, the GSMA gave the M1 its stamp of approval, a highly significant achievement for any mobile phone vendor.
Dozens of top crypto projects entered a downturn phase, and Electroneum has not been an exception. This brought on many external and internal challenges within their vast community. Support waned and disappointment grew, but all projects, even Ethereum, Cardano, and Ripple, have faced fierce criticism from experts as well as community leaders.
That era, brought on in part by the COVID-19 global crisis and exacerbated by the crypto winter of 2022 that wiped out roughly $2 trillion worth of crypto asset, caused the collapse of many more blockchain projects, but forwardthinking as Ells has proven to be, he took advantage to build, paving the way for Electroneum's entrance into a new evolutionary phase.
His team got busy focusing on expanding its blockchain capabilities, ecosystem, and global reach. Ells publicly announced the start of the new era in May 2020, marking a new chapter for Electroneum.
The phase meant the team would leverage blockchain technology to bolster their financial inclusion mission for those marginalised by banks. And also to significantly expand their ecosystem, hence the recent Electroneum Hackathon, and global reach.
Project Aurelius is central to Electroneum's transformation, a significant upgrade to the blockchain's core infrastructure. The result is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain powered by the Istanbul Byzantine Fault Tolerance (IBFT) consensus mechanism, capable of 5-second transaction finality and ultra-low fees (as low as 0.0001 ETN).
The upgrade enables smart contract functionality using Solidity and Vyper, making it easier for developers to build decentralised applications on the network. It also improves performance for peer-to-peer payments, which is essential for real-world commerce and merchant adoption.
Its ecosystem includes the first decentralised Fiverr-like freelance platform, which was hugely well-received by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of financially excluded people worldwide. These individuals found they could earn ETH by completing digital tasks. It purportedly supports millions of users globally.
Unlike most charitable organisations, the project also continues to work closely with some amazing NGOs that have genuinely proven their efforts to help women, children, and their families in the short, medium, and long term. It also continues collaborating with Ripple, Quant, and the British Digital Pound Foundation to enhance CBDC governance and interoperability.
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At 3 PM, when most of his peers are slowly finishing their workday, a 23-year-old man who goes by the name “0xExceed” is just beginning his. From his apartment in Asia, he rubs sleep from his eyes, makes coffee, and logs into Discord. Over the next 14 hours, until about 5 AM, alongside his co-founders they'll manage their NFT project whilst coordinating with artists across multiple time zones, and engaging with a community of thousands.
In 2021, this schedule wouldn't have raised eyebrows. But in 2025, when most mainstream observers have written off NFTs as a passing fad, 0xExceed's dedication seems almost anachronistic. While his university classmates pursue careers in AI startups or TikTok agencies, he and his team remain passionately committed to digital art ownership.
He isn't alone. NFT collectives like Pudgy Penguins, Remilia, Azuki, and Claynosaurz been grinding on, seemingly oblivious to the NFT winter. These projects have wildly different goals and communities: while Azuki's mission is ‘honoring anime's cultural legacy”, Pudgy Penguins floods Walmart with cute plush penguins and Remilia advances a political-cultural movement loosely defined as “network spirituality”. But they share NFTs as a common factor.
"People keep saying NFTs are dead, but our community remains passionate," says 0xExceed, whose "Pixel vs Pixel" art competition recently attracted hundreds of submissions from around the world. "The technology is evolving, and so are we."
This persistence isn't isolated. Despite NFT trading volumes down significantly from their 2021 peak, communities of creators and collectors continue to thrive. And according to Devin Finzer, CEO and co-founder of OpenSea, the world's largest NFT marketplace, this evolution is exactly what we should expect.
"If you zoom out, there's a ton of exciting things happening in tech overall with the rise of AI. It's becoming easier to create content and build software applications," Finzer explained in a recent interview. "The big thesis we have is that crypto and blockchains are a key piece of infrastructure for all the things happening in tech right now."
The raw numbers tell a dramatic story: NFT trade volumes have plummeted from their August 2021 peak of over $3.2 billion per week to current levels below $100 million. This 97% decline might suggest the NFT market is in terminal decline, but Finzer sees a more nuanced reality.
NFT trading volume by chain
Cryptoslam via The Block Crypto
"There have been some substitutes for what NFTs represented early on in 2021," Finzer explained, pointing to the explosive rise of meme coins that have attracted billions of dollars in trading volume. "Some of that has been absorbed by the meme coin craze, where it's more liquid, it's fungible, and you can trade it around and get in and out more easily."
Many successful NFT projects have also evolved by embracing their own ecosystem tokens, creating hybrid models that blend the community aspects of NFTs with the liquidity of fungible tokens. "A good example is that now many NFT projects have both a token component and an NFT component," Finzer explained.
This market shift has occurred alongside fierce competition for NFT marketplace dominance. OpenSea's journey illustrates this volatility, with its market share plunging from over 70% in 2021 to as low as 15% in 2022, before recently rebounding to 58% following its platform upgrades and ecosystem token announcements.
Another significant shift is that NFTs have gotten cheaper. Not just because prices crashed, but also because buying and selling NFTs became a lot less expensive. “We now have faster, more inexpensive, higher throughput chains. You can have an entire economy where you buy an NFT for 50 cents and maybe the most rare one is $50. That's a much more healthy ecosystem than in 2021 when your cheapest NFT was at least $1,000 if not $5,000.”
The average sale price of top NFT collections.
The Block
Meanwhile, adjacent digital ownership models are thriving. Counter-Strike skins recently hit an all-time high with a market cap approaching $5 billion. Finzer attributes part of this success to accessibility: "If you're buying an in-game skin for Counter-Strike, you don't have to fiddle with self-custody, you don't have to fiddle with wallets."
Fortunately for OpenSea, recent rulings, particularly the landmark recent court ruling between Apple and Epic Games, are set to transform NFT accessibility on mobile platforms. This ruling effectively ends Apple's monopoly on in-app payments, opening significant opportunities for NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
Finzer enthusiastically responded when asked about the impact of this ruling. "We just launched our open beta for what we're calling OS2, which is the brand new version of OpenSea, which lets you discover, and trade anything on chain." Finzer explained that this court decision directly addresses a major barrier: "The next things on our roadmap are really bringing that to mobile in the most delightful possible way for people to really get on board easily." He emphasized that "the Apple ruling is going to be great for that because the in-app purchase situation has held us back for a good amount of time."
This change means users will soon be able to purchase NFTs directly through iOS apps without prohibitive fees. Previously, OpenSea's mobile app didn't allow purchases because Apple's 30% commission made it "cost prohibitive" for their peer-to-peer marketplace model. With these restrictions lifted, Finzer believes it will bring down the barriers to entry and be "great for consumers" who will have easier access to NFT experiences on mobile.
The regulatory environment for NFTs and crypto more broadly has improved significantly, according to Finzer. Following recent political changes in the US, many investigations of crypto companies have been ended. He noted that during the previous regulatory uncertainty, many smaller creators were hesitant to participate in the ecosystem.
One of the most compelling aspects of NFTs that has persisted through market fluctuations is their role in establishing digital identity and community membership. This was dramatically illustrated when Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin changed his profile picture to Remilia Corporation's Milady NFT earlier this year, causing a significant market reaction.
"There's something about owning a digital asset and going and making that purchase and then setting it as your profile picture on social media that demonstrates that you're part of that community," Finzer observed. "It can demonstrate a mindset shift."
He compared the CryptoPunks community to this phenomenon: “When you buy a CryptoPunk, you're immediately welcomed into this really vibrant community... It really does give you immediate recognition of what that person stands for.”
We've also seen community membership evolve in projects like Pudgy Penguins. What began in 2021 as chubby, playful flightless birds has morphed into a full‑blown consumer brand. Pudgy Penguins can now be found across toy‑store shelves and on viral TikTok videos. There's even a Solana‑based PENGU ecosystem token whose drop this year vaulted into the top 10 by trading volume. As founder Luca Netz puts it, ‘the Trojan horse for crypto adoption is IP,' and Pudgy's journey from niche collectible to mainstream merch proof‑points that thesis in action.
At the same time, anime‑focused Azuki has leaned into storytelling and fan collaboration. Founder Alex ‘Zagabond' Xu describes Azuki's mission as “honoring anime's cultural legacy while pioneering new creator‑funding models.” Like many other projects, it now has its own ecosystem token. Over half of the ANIME token went to its NFT holders, which “underscored how digital communities can co‑own IP development, from story arcs to funding anime productions”.
Finzer views the current state of NFTs as part of a natural cycle that new technologies typically experience. "With any new technology, there's always this period where things get really exciting. People get interested in the use cases, and there's this sort of period of mania, and that's really what we saw in 2021," he said.
“But then it's typically followed by a longer period of people building infrastructure and use cases and innovating. And I think that's what we've seen over the last couple of years.”
This perspective aligns with what we've seen in other technological revolutions, from the internet itself to mobile applications. The initial hype gives way to a more sustained period of development where the true value emerges.
While much of the early attention focused on digital art and collectibles, Finzer sees NFTs as part of a broader digital ownership layer that will be essential as more of our lives move online. "OpenSea has really expanded from just being an NFT marketplace to being a place where you can discover, own, and trade anything on chain," Finzer noted, highlighting the platform's evolution beyond its original narrow focus.
In fact, NFTs have been proving us they are more than “just NFTs”: From Azuki's community‑driven entry into the anime industry to Pudgy Penguins' toy‑line partnerships. New projects are leaning in strongly to the “online identity” aspect, with for instance 0xExceed's KazeCreations' moving from PFPs to banners and high-fashion physicals. This demonstrates NFTs' power as online programmable IP, not just digital JPEGs.
One emerging trend that Finzer finds particularly interesting is the connection between physical items and NFTs. "There are now a number of companies building physical items that are represented as NFTs," he explained.
He highlighted Courtyard, which has been "doing significant revenue, significant volume" by allowing people to trade rare Pokemon cards represented as NFTs and then receive the actual physical item on demand.
"They fly under the radar a little bit because they're not necessarily your typical NFT project, but they're just a great example of the flexibility and usefulness of NFTs," Finzer said. “They do not have to just be pure digital collectibles or art, they can represent all sorts of things.”
The rise of generative AI is creating new opportunities for NFTs, according to Finzer. "It's just made it infinitely easier to create content," he explained. “If you're a developer and you want to build a game, or if you're an artist and you want to create art, it's just so easy to do that now.”
As these AI-powered applications grow, Finzer believes many developers will want "some way to have unique digital ownership" within them, which is where NFTs can play a critical role.
Interestingly, rather than seeing AI as a threat to NFT value, Finzer sees it enhancing the importance of provable digital ownership. "For digital art, where there's elements of human culture, I think you really even more so need a provable digital ownership layer," he said.
Finzer also pointed to a number of exciting Web3 games in development, including Parallel, a trading card game on the blockchain. Many of these projects are integrating AI and continuing to build and ship despite the market fluctuations.
Another notable example of NFTs powering gaming experiences is Claynosaurz. Their gaming experience is launching with Gameloft, a mainstream game publishing studio known for popular titles such as the Modern Combat series, The Amazing Spider-Man, Gods of Rome, and Despicable Me: Minion Rush. Moreover, the project earned recognition at the 2025 Collision Awards, a prestigious event that honors excellence in animation across all disciplines including film, television, and gaming. The Collision Awards, established in 2024 by industry leaders and the organizers of the long-running Telly Awards, brings together judges from major studios like Disney, Pixar, and Nickelodeon to evaluate global submissions. Claynosaurz's 3D dinosaur characters won in multiple categories, showcasing how NFT projects can produce animation quality that stands alongside traditional entertainment giants. These are no longer the pixelated images NFTs are often associated with.
Despite the ups and downs of the NFT market, Finzer remains convinced that digital ownership will be a fundamental part of our increasingly online lives.
"NFTs are going to play a critical role in society going forward," Finzer asserted. “I think there needs to be a digital ownership layer... as more and more people move to the digital world.”
As AI continues to advance, as gaming ecosystems grow more sophisticated, and as more of our identities become tied to digital assets, NFTs may indeed fulfill the vision that Finzer and other early advocates have promoted. Not as speculative assets but as essential infrastructure for the digital future.
According to Eric Balchunas, US-focused ETFs have experienced strong inflows since Liberation Day, while Europe and China-focused ETFs have seen notable outflows. Broad international ETFs are performing well, but the technology sector is leading all others in capital attraction. These ETF flow trends highlight US market dominance and tech sector strength, which historically correlates with increased risk appetite and potential bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market, especially for assets linked to US tech and broader digital innovation (source: Eric Balchunas on Twitter, May 6, 2025).
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A potent mix of political showmanship and landmark regulatory proposals in the U.S. this month could be the spark for an explosive altcoin season.
Influential crypto insiders are watching two key developments:
1. President Trump's headline-grabbing crypto dinners, including a gala for his $TRUMP meme coin holders, are raising ethical questions
2. A new Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft from House Republicans is on the legislative table, promising market democratization and clearer rules, favoring decentralization.
For new cryptos, these events stirring interest could positively impact growth, seeing greater returns for all.
Two dinners are the focus here. The first, a $1.5M per plate ‘Crypto & AI Innovators Dinner' by MAGA Inc. on May 5th, featured Crypto Czar David Sacks as a guest.
The second, a May 22nd gala for top $TRUMP meme coin holders, promises perks like a White House tour for the top 25 (from mostly pseudonymous wallets), sparking backlash.
Warren highlighted the Trump-linked stablecoin USD1, co-founded by Eric Trump, which saw a $2B investment from Abu Dhabi's MGX Group, becoming the world's seventh-largest.
She termed this as potential corruption, warning a Republican-backed stablecoin bill could ‘greenlight the grift.'
Watchdog Accountable.US labeled the $TRUMP gala ‘nakedly corrupt,' concerned about anonymous foreign holders (potentially Tron's Justin Sun) and claiming Trump affiliates hold roughly 80% of the token supply.
Despite uncertainties like potential cancellation or Trump's non-attendance, the $TRUMP meme coin's value surged over 50% after the dinner's announcement. Will this also affect other meme coins?
On May 5th, House Republicans Glenn Thompson and French Hill introduced a new Digital Asset Market Structure Discussion Draft.
The bill wants to curb larger firm influence and promote broader market participation by, for example, defining an ‘affiliated person' as owning over 1% of the project's digital commodity (down from 5% in FIT21).
Paradigm's Justin Slaughter sees this as fostering democratization.
The draft also defines a ‘mature blockchain system' (not under common control) and exempts self-directed DeFi trading protocols from certain registrations. The SEC would be the initial primary regulator.
However, it faces challenges. Ranking Member Maxine Waters reportedly plans to block a May 6th discussion event, citing committee rules.
Regulation and clarity could help best altcoins like $SUBBD (which aims to decentralize the creator economy) and $BTCBULL (which is linked to the hard-hitting Bitcoin), benefit from the general increased market interest.
Unlike speculative meme coins, SUBBD ($SUBBD) is a Web3 creator platform integrating AI tools.
It's fundamentally designed with decentralization in mind, aligning with the key themes of the proposed US regulations.
The focus on utility within the creator space, backed by a defined token structure, places $SUBBD in the spotlight, especially as regulatory clarity potentially emerges and the market continues to value sustainable growth.
By offering a fully-integrated user-centric platform powered by the $SUBBD token, the project addresses crippling platform fees, a lack of genuine ownership for creators and fans, the inefficiency of having to use multiple tools, and static fan subscriptions.
Overall, $SUBBD will foster a fairer and more rewarding ecosystem for all.
There are also many more benefits for $SUBBD holders. To access these, check out our step-by-step how-to-buy guide.
SUBBD seems well aligned to upcoming policy changes, making it a well-placed altcoin to potentially see big gains in the future.
Given the current excitement in the crypto market, where Bitcoin often takes centre stage (even being part of the US's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve), BTC Bull Token ($BTCBULL) offers an appealing way for investors to gain exposure to $BTC's momentum and earn passive income without buying $BTC itself.
$BTCBULL holders, when using Best Wallet (a leading non-custodial crypto wallet), can receive $BTC airdrops when Bitcoin reaches significant price milestones of $150K and $200K.
That's not all, though. Token burns and additional $BTCBULL airdrops are also in store.
Furthermore, staking $BTCBULL currently offers the potential for impressive rewards up to 77% APY, significantly enhancing returns for holders.
With this bullish token having impressively raised over $5M of its $6M target, the time is now to get on board this bronco. Learn how to buy $BTCBULL in our guide and how far we think it'll go in our price prediction.
Let's slow things down a bit and chill.
That's the idea behind Chill Guy ($CHILLGUY), a meme coin that's all about being lowkey, calm, casual, and definitely not making a big deal out of things.
It could be a welcome change from the hype and endless news you see in the crypto space.
The mission is clear. It wants to spread the art of staying chill in what can be a pretty chaotic world. It's about making mindfulness accessible and something everyone can relate to, because life's all about being present and just taking one moment at a time.
Being part of the Solana network, $CHILLGUY has seen an uptake in trading volume and market cap recently, which means people are starting to take notice. Maybe it's really time to relax a little and take some lessons from Chill Guy.
You can purchase $CHILLGUY for $0.04977, and that price has seen a small bump of around 2.55% in the last day.
It makes you wonder, with the potential changes on the horizon, and the recent Trump news, will a coin that's super laid back continue to rise, and spread its mindful message?
With US political discussions and potential new crypto rules causing a buzz, the resulting hype could bring different kinds of projects like $SUBBD and $BTCBULL into focus, and netting holders potentially big returns.
While these shifts could definitely open up some opportunities, it's good to remember that the crypto market is volatile and speculative, so do your own research before making any investment decisions.
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The crypto market is back in the spotlight due to several important economic events. We asked Vugar Usi Zadeh, COO of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Bitget, to talk about them and draw conclusions about how the situation will develop further.
The crypto market is back in the spotlight due to several important economic events. We asked Vugar Usi Zadeh, COO of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Bitget, to talk about them and draw conclusions about how the situation will develop further.
The crypto market is back in the spotlight due to several important economic events. We asked Vugar Usi Zadeh, COO of one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Bitget, to talk about them and draw conclusions about how the situation will develop further.
So, last week there were two big news items that somehow affected the market. This is the publication of macroeconomic data on the US labor market and quarterly reports of the largest technology corporations. And the main event of the week will be the conference of the head of the US Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell. Investors are not so much waiting for news as for tone — every intonation and wording can affect the markets.
These events certainly have the potential to significantly impact both Bitcoin's price and investor sentiment. Let's take a quick look at these news stories and see what potential impact they could have on the crypto industry.
Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon all posted record revenue and profits in the first quarter of 2025, despite economic challenges and the start of a trade war initiated by the Trump administration. The companies' combined revenue was $118.9 billion, up 29,2% year-over-year, and revenue grew 9,9% to $453.6 billion. The results underscored robust demand for cloud computing, digital advertising and AI-powered solutions.
The Non-Farm Payrolls report for April showed the creation of 177 thousand new jobs — more than analysts expected (160-165 thousand). Against this background, the dollar immediately strengthened, and a wave of volatility passed in the risk asset market, including cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin reacted immediately to the publication: traders began to close long positions, fearing a tighter Fed policy. After all, strong employment data is another argument in favor of keeping rates high for a long period.
Such news is often used as a trigger for price movement into a certain liquidity zone, but is not fundamental to the long-term trend in itself.
The main event of the week, as we already wrote, will be the conference of the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve System, Jerome Powell, this Wednesday.
Here are the main questions that will be answered:
These topics are interconnected: trade barriers can increase inflation risks, and slowing inflation can create room for looser monetary policy. So even Powell's supposedly neutral comments could cause volatility, especially in the crypto market, which remains extremely sensitive to signals from the Fed.
For experienced market participants, all this news is just «fuel» to move the price to the desired zones. «News do not move the market by themselves. It is a tool for delivering liquidity,» explains one of the traders I know from dev.ua.
Despite a possible BTC correction, there are still «live» sectors in the market. These are:
For traders, this may be a signal: even if BTC goes into correction, individual niches may remain profitable.
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Bitcoin has dramatically altered the financial world over the past decade and a half. However, the blockchain that underpins the most dominant cryptocurrency in the world can process only five to seven transactions per second. In contrast, an impending update to Solana will allow the blockchain to process roughly one million transactions per second.
In the report Understanding Solana for Financial Services, Joel Hugentobler, Cryptocurrency Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, examined the upgrades in the works for Solana, its potential to make a significant impact on financial services, and the emerging use cases for this powerful technology.
The Solana blockchain not only will be much faster than bitcoin but it will also be 10 to 15 times faster than credit card rails like Visa and Mastercard. This substantial increase in Solana's throughput will come to fruition through the Firedancer upgrade.
“This isn't just theoretical,” Hugentobler said. “Jump Trading—the brains behind this upgrade—they're notorious for high-frequency trading. Coming in and providing this extra validator not only diversifies the code base, which adds additional security, but obviously adds that crazy throughput with 400-millisecond finality. It's not just theory—they've had multiple demos where they are executing these volumes of transactions live.”
Scaling to this speed would not be possible if Solana didn't already have robust architecture in place. One of the key benefits of the network is it reduces counterparty risk—the chance that an unknown third party doesn't hold up its end of the transaction.
In addition to speed and security gains, Solana is less expensive than the leading blockchain, Ethereum. Solana's fees are less than a penny compared with Ethereum transaction fees, which can range from $1 to $50.
The speed, security, and cost benefits of Solana make the blockchain a strong fit for financial services applications. Once the Firedancer upgrade is live, Solana can do even more to eliminate many of the issues financial services firms have faced.
“Their architecture, with this upgrade, supports real-time settlement in traditional payment rails,” Hugentobler said. “But what's really cool about all this is it eliminates batch processing, which is a significant pain point in legacy systems.”
A significant barrier that has kept many institutions from fully investing in digital assets is concerns about the security of financial data. Although blockchain is inherently a secure and transparent network, financial institutions have specific compliance and risk management demands.
To meet this need, Solana has introduced technologies like token extensions, which can protect private data on the blockchain. Token extensions enable developers to create tokens with unique features designed for specific use cases.
For example, token extensions can give institutions the capability for confidential transfers, which allow merchants to maintain confidentiality of transaction amounts while financial institutions have visibility into other transaction details for compliance purposes.
Token extensions can also enable memo fields, which allow additional information to be included with payments.
The blockchain's token extensions were a key factor behind PayPal's decision to bring its stablecoin, PYUSD, from Ethereum to Solana. The payments giant credited the speed and efficiency of the blockchain as the driving forces behind the success of PYUSD and said the added customization provided by token extensions meant that Solana essentially provided “compliance in a box.”
As powerful as token extensions are, they are also due for an upgrade. Helius Labs and Solana Labs recently announced an extension of the confidential transfers token extension called confidential balances.
Confidential balances are built to enable private token transfers within institutional compliance. In addition to tools that protect data, confidential balances also allow for partial confidentiality, which means organizations can determine whether to fully conceal specific token amounts or just to mask certain aspects.
Some of the use cases for this added functionality are in payroll, B2B payments, and other scenarios where particular regulatory requirements come into play. Solana has also developed auditor keys, which give institutions more insight into transactions without overreaching on compliance.
All these innovations mean Solana is poised to deliver on more of an institution's needs.
“Solana with this upgrade has enabled token extensions which allow KYC, AML, compliance, transaction freezing, things like metadata tagging, confidential transfers, and real privacy transfers—all on a public blockchain,” Hugentobler said. “These extension capabilities enable financial institutions to operate like a private type blockchain, but it's all on a public blockchain, which is a compelling hybrid model in my eyes.”
These characteristics have made Solana a top choice for tokenizing real-world assets—which can be an intensive process. For example, Franklin Templeton recently moved the third-largest tokenized money market fund, valued at $594 million, onto the blockchain.
However, the use cases for Solana can go much further.
“Solana is being used by big names like Visa, PayPal, and Franklin Templeton,” Hugentobler said. “They're using it for stablecoins, cross-border payments, tokenized funds, treasury settlement, that sort of thing. It's moved past the speculative phase; it's being used for real use cases.”
The Firedancer upgrade should make Solana an even more compelling choice for financial services companies, once it is live.
“Frankendancer is the hybrid upgrade between Firedancer and what's existing, a smooth process that's fully live,” Hugentobler said. “It has consensus live voting and all that sort of thing on the back end. Firedancer is live, but it doesn't have the consensus model fully live, so the voting and things like that are not 100% quite yet, but they are saying it should go fully live this quarter.”
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Two Prime has said it would no longer be offering Ethereum to customers.
According to the investment adviser, “ETH has fundamentally changed.”
Two Prime is not the only institution that has lost faith in Ethereum in recent months.
Ethereum is being buffeted on all sides. Amid recent market underperformance, the project has faced criticisms from its community, competitors, and even institutions. Now, even as the project looks to address growing concerns and rally behind a clear vision, it has been hit with a potential institutional adoption blow.
Digital asset-focused wealth adviser Two Prime has said that it is switching to a Bitcoin-only focus and will no longer offer clients exposure to Ethereum. The firm disclosed this in a scathing statement released on Thursday.
“ETH's statistical trading behavior, value proposition, and community culture have failed beyond a point that is worth engaging,” it said.
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According to Two Prime, “ETH has fundamentally changed” and is now trading “like a memecoin,” making it problematic for algorithmic trading and as collateral for lending. The firm cited the asset's price action since Q4 and data comparing its volatility to Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
Ethereum is trading at around $1,850, down 55% from its Q4 high of about $4,100, while Bitcoin is down only about 12% from its highs. Two Prime said the data suggested that while investors were buying the Bitcoin dip, they were not buying Ethereum.
Meanwhile, the shared volatility data suggested that over a 30-day period, Ethereum traded more like Dogecoin than Bitcoin.
“High volatility can be profitable at times, but for institutional investors and traders, higher levels of volatility equate to lower position sizing,” it said. “This makes institutional participation less attractive, suggesting declining trading volumes and market depth.”
This low institutional interest is perhaps already evident in the flows to spot exchange-traded funds.
“ETF buying of BTC has far outpaced that of ETH by almost 24 times. Even with a higher market cap, BTC total supply consumed by ETFs is more than double that of the ETH supply,” Two Prime said, positing that the failure of Ethereum ETFs to catch a bid could translate to less resource allocation towards their promotion and sale.
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Two Prime theorized that the cause of Ethereum's problems was threefold. For one, the firm said the project is no longer unique in its role of powering decentralized applications and is falling behind competing chains like Solana in technological capability and performance.
At the same time, Two Prime repeated the recurring argument that Layer 2 chains are cannibalizing the Ethereum ecosystem's monetization. Lastly, the firm said Ethereum had evolved into “a bureaucratic and ideological organization rather than one focused on building a tech product.”
Two Prime is not the only institution that has lost faith in Ethereum in recent months. Citing similar factors, Standard Chartered reduced its ETH price target for 2025 by a staggering 60% from $10,000 to $4,000 in March. Similarly, VanEck cut its 2030 ETH target by 67% from $22,000 to $7,300 in October.
Still, Two Prime's decision comes just as the Ethereum Foundation, the non-profit that serves as the network's primary developer, appears to be taking steps to address concerns, unveiling a new organizational model and a renewed focus on Layer 1 improvements.
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This article Investment Adviser Two Prime Says Ethereum Has 'Failed Beyond A Point Worth Engaging,' Goes Bitcoin Only originally appeared on Benzinga.com
A presentation last week to the US Treasury's Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) explored the impact of stablecoins on the demand for short term Treasuries. One topic was mentioned repeatedly – the potential for stablecoins to offer interest. The last iteration of the Senate's stablecoin bill, the GENIUS Act, introduced a clause that banned the payment of stablecoin interest before receiving a positive vote by the Senate Banking Committee.
According to the minutes of the TBAC meeting, “There was robust discussion concerning the potential implications of interest bearing stablecoins versus non-interest bearing stablecoins, and the extent to which growth in stablecoins would result in net new demand for Treasury securities rather than a reallocation of demand from banks and money market mutual funds.”
The President's Executive Order on digital assets made clear the intention to promote the use of US dollar stablecoins beyond US borders. White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks was very clear that the goal is to increase demand for US Treasuries, which helps to lower the cost of servicing the United States' massive debt.
The TBAC report used a figure from Standard Chartered research that estimates that stablecoins will grow to $2 trillion by 2028 assuming stablecoins don't pay interest. As an aside, Citi also recently published forecasts. The mid April capitalization of stablecoins was $234 billion, which accounts for approximately $120 billion investment in short-dated Treasuries. Combining that with Standard Chartered's figure, the report estimates that stablecoin investment in Treasuries will expand to $1 trillion by 2028. If stablecoins were to offer interest, the figure could be quite a bit higher, although no forecast was provided. That would account for a significant slice of the short term Treasury Bill market, which currently has a $6.4 trillion issuance.
A key reason why most global stablecoin regulation has not supported the payment of interest is because there is a concern that bank deposits might shift to stablecoins, potentially affecting the economy with less credit available from banks, or credit might become more expensive. The TBAC report states that transactional demand deposits at banks that total $6.6 trillion are most “at risk” from stablecoins.
However, the presentation spent just as much time exploring potential opportunities for banks and financial institutions, including issuing stablecoins and managing reserves.
Apart from delving into the potential for stablecoins to offer interest, two other issues were floated – the potential to allow stablecoin issuers access to the Federal Reserve and / or deposit insurance. This would help reduce the impact of de-peg events.
Readers of the TBAC report might expect to see efforts to remove the interest ban from the GENIUS Act. However, after this TBAC meeting, several pro-crypto Democrats withdrew support for the latest version of the GENIUS Act despite it still including the yield ban. Backtracking on the yield clause could further delay the progress of the stablecoin bill.
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A closely followed crypto analyst says that Bitcoin may have one last breakout rally before altcoins start to outperform BTC.
The pseudonymous analyst known as Rekt Capital tells his 546,300 followers on the social media platform X that the Bitcoin dominance (BTC.D) metric may soon peak, opening the doors for altcoins to ignite explosive moves to the upside.
BTC.D calculates how much of the crypto market cap belongs to BTC. A peaking Bitcoin dominance chart suggests that altcoins are close to outshining BTC.
“Bitcoin dominance has one final leg left in its macro uptrend on the road to 71% (red). Any dips into 64% would constitute a retest. A successful retest would enable final trend continuation on the road to 71% (green box).”
At time of writing, Bitcoin dominance currently stands at 64.82%.
Next up, the analyst says that Bitcoin needs to hold a key support level at $93,500 on the weekly chart to maintain bullish momentum.
“Bitcoin has rejected from the lower high resistance (black diagonal). Going forward, Bitcoin will need to hold the $93,500 range low to fully confirm a reclaim of the range.”
Lastly, the analyst says Bitcoin may follow a similar pattern seen in April of 2024 on the weekly chart, eventually hitting new all-time highs if it plays out.
“This idea was first explored in mid-October 2024 and actually ended up playing out. It would be poetry if Bitcoin repeated history and followed through on the same path in this current range as well. For history to repeat, BTC would need to:
Bitcoin is trading for $94,604 at time of writing, down 1.1% in the last 24 hours.
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Bitcoin and crypto prices have been thrust into the spotlight by U.S. president Donald Trump this year (while a Federal Reserve “nightmare” is suddenly coming true).
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The bitcoin price has rebounded to around $95,000 per bitcoin after dropping to April lows of $75,000, with a rare bitcoin price prediction by Trump's crypto czar David Sacks taking traders by surprise.
Now, as bitcoin hurtles toward what bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) giant BlackRock has called a “geopolitical fragmentation megaforce" shock, a leak has revealed Wall Street companies are quietly betting on a Trump-fueled bitcoin price rally.
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High-speed trading giant Tower Research Capital has joined Citadel Securities in "bulking up its bets on cryptocurrencies," it was reported by Bloomberg, citing a leak from an anonymous source.
One of Tower Research Capital's trading groups has “increased capital allocation to its crypto trading book,” and upgraded its crypto market making infrastructure, the source told the financial newswire.
Wall Street is quietly ramping up its support for bitcoin and crypto as the Trump administration promises to open up access to bitcoin trading and crypto markets, rolling back Biden-era restrictions and fast-tracking legislation that will rewire the financial system.
Last week, Wall Street giants that manage a combined $10 trillion on behalf of clients are predicted to "open for business" on bitcoin this year, allowing advisors to recommend bitcoin ETFs to clients for the first time.
The dozen U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, which rocketed to assets under management of more than $100 billion last year, pulled in almost $2 billion last week, according to data from SoSoValue, marking a return to growth after a recent period of outflows that mirrored the stock market's volatility.
“The flows are back in a big way,” BlackRock's head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said during a recent bitcoin and crypto conference panel discussion, it was reported by The Block.
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However, the market momentum seems to have fallen away over the last week, with the bitcoin price surge that propelled it to near $100,000 failing to carry it over the psychological barrier.
“Bitcoin has rallied 25% over the past month, supported by aggressive ETF inflows and institutional spot buying,” Markus Thielen, the chief executive of 10x Research, said in an emailed note, pointing to “weak funding rates” and “mounting” macro pressures as reason the bitcoin price rally may be fading.
"A potential consolidation is forming near the $95,000 level as traders await new catalysts. This is not a time for blind risk-taking but tactical positioning with well-defined exposure."
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By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)
As bitcoin (BTC) and the wider crypto market await the Fed's rate decision on Wednesday, an anomaly has emerged that could weigh heavily on market mood: renewed doubt over the passing of U.S. crypto regulation.
Early Tuesday, CoinDesk reported that Senate Democrats are hesitant to push forward landmark stablecoin legislation, citing concerns over President Donald Trump's growing personal gains from his crypto ventures.
When Trump took office, many observers felt crypto regulation would proceed smoothly. Looking back, that optimism was probably misplaced. With the president actively involved in digital assets through family-linked projects like WLFI and memecoins, opposition has mounted, potentially slowing the regulatory progress.
That might lead investors to reprice regulatory uncertainty just as charts for BTC and XRP are signaling pullback risks. Additionally, according to CryptoQuant, there are signs of renewed weakness in bitcoin demand from U.S.-based investors.
"Over the past month, the premium recovered significantly but is now dropping again — aligning with the recent BTC price correction," CryptoQuant contributor AbramChart said.
On the positive side, U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) marked three straight days of net inflows.
Acting CFTC Chairman Caroline Pham told crypto journalist Eleanor Terret that the derivatives market regulator plans to observe a handful of tokenization pilot programs to evaluate the technology and see how well tokenized assets function in the real world.
Speaking of traditional markets and macro, Taiwan dollar forward contracts signal extreme pressure on the U.S. dollar, meaning the greenback could continue to weaken against the Asian currency and probably major currencies like the euro. The broad-based USD weakness may act as a tailwind for crypto. FX market volatility could drive investors to gold and perhaps bitcoin, too, unless it leads to a broad-based risk-off, in which case BTC may feel the heat.
The other bullish development is the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments that U.S. rates now carry sovereign credit risk and not just long-term growth and inflation expectations. In other words, rates are artificially high because the U.S. government itself is now the risk premium, as pseudonymous observer EndGame Macro said. So, a shift away from U.S. assets and into alternative investments could continue. Stay alert!
CoinDesk's Consensus is taking place in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.
By Shaurya Malwa
Spot BTC ETFs:
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Francisco Rodrigues, Siamak Masnavi contributed reporting.
Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor on CoinDesk's Markets team based in Mumbai, holds a masters degree in Finance and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) member. Omkar previously worked at FXStreet, writing research on currency markets and as fundamental analyst at currency and commodities desk at Mumbai-based brokerage houses. Omkar holds small amounts of bitcoin, ether, BitTorrent, tron and dot.
Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.
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Mercuryo CEO Petr Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that with crypto salaries becoming a growing trend, there's an increasing need for ways to spend crypto.
Petr Kozyakov, CEO of crypto payments platform Mercuryo, told Cointelegraph that the future of finance may not be a winner-takes-all scenario but a blend of digital assets and fiat, each used where it makes the most sense.
In a Cointelegraph interview, Kozyakov said that while crypto payments are seeing an increase in adoption and demand, the asset class won't be fully replacing fiat money anytime soon. He said the two asset classes will coexist, with people choosing the more convenient payment option in different situations.
“We don't think crypto will replace fiat,” Kozyakov told Cointelegraph. “They will coexist, and people will turn to crypto when it's the easier, more practical option, whether that's for payroll, yield or money transfers.”
Crypto as a salary payment option is no longer a novelty. Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that more companies are settling employee salaries with crypto assets.
“That is a growing trend,” Kozyakov said. “I see a lot of businesses that are starting to settle with their full-time employees and with their gig employees all over the world, in crypto.”
As more employees receive crypto salaries, new challenges can emerge. According to Kozyakov, workers paid in crypto may ask what they can do next with their funds. “You won't invest everything and just wait. You need to use it for everyday purchases,” Kozyakov told Cointelegraph.
This is where practical spending options are needed. Kozyakov said that crypto earners are looking for ways to use their digital asset incomes in daily life scenarios, whether buying coffee, going out for drinks or settling utility bills.
As crypto becomes an option for employee salaries, there has also been a growing acceptance of crypto in employee contracts in some jurisdictions. In August 2024, a Dubai court recognized crypto as a valid form of salary payment.
Related: OKX exec warns against hype amid real-world asset tokenization boom
The executive also told Cointelegraph that Mercuryo views crypto as more than just a speculative asset but a powerful tool for moving and storing value. “Crypto is not only an asset; it's the perfect rail to move money and store money. And it is essential to be able to spend it.”
The executive said that in practice, spending crypto can still be complex. He said it takes a few steps, including moving it to an exchange, sending it to a bank account and answering “weird” questions from banks.
Because of this, he highlighted a need for easier ways to spend crypto directly. The executive said that this is where their company comes in. On April 23, the payment services firm collaborated with the hardware wallet company Ledger on a crypto payment card that allows users to spend crypto where Mastercard payments are accepted.
Kozyakov told Cointelegraph that seamless crypto payment options will drive wider crypto adoption, not just as an investment, but as a true medium of exchange for daily life.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it's becoming them in stablecoin fight
The initiative is part of the ECB's broader efforts to explore the potential of a European central bank digital currency (CBDC) and support the creation of an innovative and inclusive digital payments ecosystem across the EU.
Following a call for interest published in October 2024, the ECB received over 100 applications from various market actors. Approximately 70 participants were selected to join one or both dedicated workstreams: pioneers and visionaries. These participants include banks, fintechs, merchants, startups, and other payment service providers.
The initiative is designed to simulate the digital euro ecosystem, with the ECB offering technical infrastructure and support to enable European intermediaries to explore and test digital euro functionalities. The platform aims to assess how the digital euro could integrate into existing payment systems and generate added value for end-users.
The “pioneers” workstream is primarily focused on investigating conditional or programmable payments – transactions that execute automatically when predefined criteria are fulfilled. These may include use cases such as releasing payment upon delivery confirmation for an online purchase.
Participants in the pioneers group are integrating simulated digital euro interfaces with their systems, with technical guidance from the ECB. This includes access to APIs and relevant documentation. Each participant is independently developing use cases and will deliver a report summarising their findings. The ECB will analyse these contributions to guide future technical and policy decisions on the digital euro.
The “visionaries” workstream is conducting research into how the digital euro could address broader societal challenges, including digital financial inclusion. Concepts under consideration include enabling access to digital euro wallets through widespread physical channels such as post offices, which could extend services to unbanked populations or individuals lacking digital access.
The platform represents a key step in the ECB's phased approach to launching a potential CBDC. By fostering collaboration with stakeholders across the payments and fintech sectors, the ECB aims to unlock the digital euro's potential to drive innovation, improve the payment experience for consumers, and support Europe's strategic autonomy in the digital finance space.
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Vitalik Buterin wants to simplify Ethereum (ETH).
In a new blog post, the Ethereum co-founder praises how “beautifully simple” Bitcoin (BTC) is, which he says is key to the crypto king serving as a “globally trusted base layer.”
“Historically, Ethereum has often not done this (sometimes because of my own decisions), and this has contributed to much of our excessive development expenditure, all kinds of security risk, and insularity of R&D (research and development) culture, often in pursuit of benefits that have proven illusory.”
Buterin argues that simplicity can increase the number of people who can participate in protocol research and decrease the cost of creating new infrastructure. He also says simpler protocols have a reduced risk of catastrophic bugs and a smaller “social attack surface.”
The ETH co-founder outlines how Ethereum could come close to matching Bitcoin's level of simplicity within five years, starting with the consensus layer.
“The new consensus layer effort (historically called the ‘beam chain') aims to use all of our learnings in consensus theory, ZK-SNARK development, staking economics and other fields over the last ten years to create a long-term optimal consensus layer for Ethereum. This consensus layer is well-positioned to be much simpler than the status quo beacon chain.”
Buterin also wants to simplify Ethereum's execution layer.
“The EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) is increasingly growing in complexity, and much of that complexity has proven unnecessary (in many cases my own fault): a 256-bit virtual machine that over-optimized for highly specific forms of cryptography that are today becoming less and less relevant, and precompiles that over-optimized for single use cases that are barely being used.
Attempting to address these present-day realities piecemeal will not work. It took a huge amount of effort to (only partially!) remove the SELFDESTRUCT opcode, for a relatively small gain. The recent EOF (EVM Object Format) debate shows the challenges of doing the same thing to the VM.
As an alternative, I recently proposed a more radical approach: instead of making medium-sized (but still disruptive) changes to the EVM for the sake of a 1.5x gain, perform a transition to a new and much better and simpler VM for the sake of a 100x gain.
Like the Merge, we have fewer points of disruptive change, but we make each one much more meaningful. Specifically, I suggested we replace the EVM with either RISC-V, or another VM that is the VM that Ethereum ZK-provers will be written in.”
At time of writing, Ethereum is trading for $1,803.
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2025) - Colle AI (COLLE), the AI-powered multichain NFT platform, has expanded its suite of Solana-based tools to further accelerate NFT creation and distribution. This strategic enhancement is designed to support creators with faster execution, lower costs, and deeper customization-making Colle AI's platform even more accessible to global users building on Solana.
Empowering creators with fast, intelligent tools across Solana and beyond.
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The latest upgrades improve Colle AI's backend integration with Solana's infrastructure, enabling faster asset deployment, smarter minting templates, and real-time metadata syncing. These creator-first tools are optimized to meet the needs of both independent artists and enterprise projects leveraging Solana's high-speed, low-cost blockchain.
By combining Solana's performance with Colle AI's intelligent automation engine, users benefit from seamless multichain deployment, intuitive UI, and adaptive contract generation. These updates not only reduce friction in the creative process but also scale efficiently across Ethereum, Bitcoin, XRP, and BNB Chain.
This Solana-focused initiative underscores Colle AI's commitment to empowering NFT creators worldwide through fast, intelligent, and scalable tools built for today's multichain Web3 landscape.
About Colle AI
Colle AI leverages AI technology to simplify the NFT creation process, empowering artists and creators to easily transform their ideas into digital assets. The platform aims to make NFT creation more accessible, fostering innovation in the digital art space.
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Ethereum price started a downside correction below the $1,850 zone. ETH is now consolidating and might drop further below the $1,785 support zone.
Ethereum Price Struggles To Clear Resistance
Ethereum price failed to clear the $1,880 resistance and started a downside correction, like Bitcoin. ETH declined below the $1,850 and $1,820 support levels.
There was a move below the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1,734 swing low to the $1,872 high. The bears even pushed the price below the $1,800 level, but the price found support near the $1,785 support level.
Ethereum price is now trading below $1,800 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average. There is also a key bearish trend line forming with resistance at $1,830 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD.
On the upside, the price seems to be facing hurdles near the $1,820 level. The next key resistance is near the $1,830 level and the trend line. The first major resistance is near the $1,880 level.
A clear move above the $1,880 resistance might send the price toward the $1,920 resistance. An upside break above the $1,920 resistance might call for more gains in the coming sessions. In the stated case, Ether could rise toward the $2,000 resistance zone or even $2,050 in the near term.
More Losses In ETH?
If Ethereum fails to clear the $1,830 resistance, it could start a fresh decline. Initial support on the downside is near the $1,785 level and the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $1,734 swing low to the $1,872 high. The first major support sits near the $1,750 zone.
A clear move below the $1,750 support might push the price toward the $1,720 support. Any more losses might send the price toward the $1,685 support level in the near term. The next key support sits at $1,640.
Technical Indicators
Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is gaining momentum in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is now below the 50 zone.
Major Support Level – $1,765
Major Resistance Level – $1,830
Select market data provided by ICE Data services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.© 2025 TradingView, Inc.
A new study from North Carolina State University researchers finds that conversion of forests to urban development or agriculture near streams can have harmful effects on water quality downstream, presenting both health concerns and raising the cost of water treatment.
Using a model called the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, researchers mapped out the current and projected future effects of four land-use scenarios at 15 water intake locations across the Middle Chattahoochee watershed in Georgia and Alabama. By combining a series of potential socioeconomic outcomes and climate change models reaching out to 2070, researchers examined several potential land use change scenarios to predict their effects on water quality.
Katherine Martin, associate professor in the NC State University College of Natural Resources and co-author of a paper on the study, said that in models where forest cover was converted to other land uses, water quality suffered.
"In terms of aspects of water quality that we have long term data on, two of the biggest are nitrogen levels and the amount of sediment in the water. Looking at those two, in places where we're losing forest cover, we see both of those increasing," she said. "Those are both detrimental to the quality of drinking water, and they require more filtration."
Part of the issue, Martin said, is the relatively high level of fertilizer used in large-scale agriculture. Urban development results in large areas of impermeable surfaces, where rainwater cannot soak into the ground and instead runs off into rivers and streams. This causes the water to carry more sediment into those waterways than it would if it had been absorbed into the ground.
Increased filtration has several knock-on effects, Martin said. Not only is it potentially harmful for aquatic life, but it also increases the cost of managing water treatment plants. For facilities that do not serve large populations, this can lead to large per-capita price increases that end up being passed on to residents. These areas are also more likely to see increased development, due to their abundance of open land. The study suggests that more attention should be paid to where development might have serious effects on water quality for people living nearby, Martin said.
"Agriculture and urban development are beneficial, and this study does not say otherwise," she said. "What we are seeing is that there are tradeoffs when we lose forest cover, and we need to open up the conversation about those."
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Southern Research Station agreement number 20-CS-11330180-053.
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May 6, 2025
6 min read
How Being Watched Changes How You Think
We live in an era of constant surveillance. Psychology research shows how this might change how we perceive the world—even unconsciously
By Simon Makin edited by Allison Parshall
Andriano_cz/Getty Images
In 1785 English philosopher Jeremy Bentham designed the perfect prison: Cells circle a tower from which an unseen guard can observe any inmate at will. As far as a prisoner knows, at any given time, the guard may be watching—or may not be. Inmates have to assume they're constantly observed and behave accordingly. Welcome to the Panopticon.
Many of us will recognize this feeling of relentless surveillance. Information about who we are, what we do and buy and where we go is increasingly available to completely anonymous third parties. We're expected to present much of our lives to online audiences and, in some social circles, to share our location with friends. Millions of effectively invisible closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and smart doorbells watch us in public, and we know facial recognition with artificial intelligence can put names to faces.
So how does being watched affect us? “It's one of the first topics to have been studied in psychology,” says Clément Belletier, a psychologist at University of Clermont Auvergne in France. In 1898 psychologist Norman Triplett showed that cyclists raced harder in the presence of others. From the 1970s onward, studies showed how we change our overt behavior when we are watched to manage our reputation and social consequences.
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But being watched doesn't just change our behavior; decades of research show it also infiltrates our mind to impact how we think. And now a new study reveals how being watched affects unconscious processing in our brain. In this era of surveillance, researchers say, the findings raise concerns about our collective mental health.
Being looked at grabs our attention, as demonstrated by the stare-in-a-crowd effect: amid a sea of faces that aren't looking at us, we immediately detect a single one that is. This is because gaze direction, especially eye contact, is a powerful social signal that helps us to perceive others' intentions and predict their behavior.
Even as babies, a direct gaze quickly draws our attention. “These tendencies emerge very early” and are present across the animal kingdom, says Clara Colombatto, who studies social cognition at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. This ability likely evolved to detect predators, which may explain why being watched can provoke psychological discomfort and physical fight-or-flight responses, such as sweating.
On a conscious level, we behave differently when we are watched. We become more prosocial, meaning we're more likely to give and less likely to cheat or litter. Some studies have even suggested that theft or littering could be reduced merely by posting pictures of eyes. This kind of thinking led to the idea that surveillance could be used for social good—to prevent crime, for instance—echoing Bentham's methods for controlling incarcerated people.
The fact that people behave differently under watchful eyes isn't surprising. Who among us hasn't acted more selfishly when they were alone than they would when someone could see them? Psychologists put this down to concern with one's reputation.
But over the past few decades, researchers have found that being watched also affects cognitive functions such as memory and attention. For one thing, it can be very distracting. One study found that participants performed worse on a working memory task when they were presented with pictures of people looking at them compared with when they were shown pictures of people with averted eyes. The researchers concluded that a direct gaze grabs participants' attention and diverts their attentional resources from a given task. Other studies have found that more functions, ranging from our spatial cognition to language processing abilities, are similarly taxed by a watchful stare.
The effects of surveillance on cognition go even deeper—into our brain's unconscious processing of the world around us. In a study published last December, researchers showed that being watched accelerated participants' unconscious analysis of faces.
A team led by neuroscientist Kiley Seymour of the University of Technology Sydney used a technique called continuous flash suppression, or CFS, to measure how quickly people detected visual stimuli that initially escaped their conscious awareness. This technique involves presenting moving, colored patterns to one eye, which can delay awareness of images presented to the other eye. Previous studies showed that people would become aware of a suppressed image more quickly if it was more salient. For example, one CFS study found that participants became aware of faces looking at them faster than faces with averted eyes, showing that our brain processes gaze direction before we even know that we've seen anything.
Seymour and her colleagues wondered whether this unconscious processing might also be affected by knowing one is being watched. They had a group of people witness cameras being set up to send a live feed of them to another room. The participants were then shown faces that were suppressed by CFS, and they were asked to press buttons to indicate each face's location.
People in the “watched” group perceived faces faster and more accurately than those in the control group, who performed the same task without the overt surveillance. The difference was nearly a second. “That's big for these types of unconscious processes,” says Colombatto, who was not involved in this study. Although the surveilled participants reported that they felt that they were being watched, they did not think this affected their performance. The effect was specific to faces—it did not occur for neutral stimuli such as abstract patterns—meaning being watched didn't just increase arousal or effort across the board. The fact that this unconscious process is influenced by inferring an observer's presence “shows just how sophisticated social perception is,” Colombatto says.
In the past, researchers assumed the effects of being watched come from seeing people's eyes, but Colombatto and her colleagues found that pictures of mouths that were directed toward participants negatively impacted working memory. The team has also shown that mouths that are presented using CFS enter conscious awareness faster if they're directed toward participants rather than away from them. This even works with abstract geometric shapes that can point toward or away from a person, such as cones.
“These effects aren't really just about eyes. They're more general effects of people's minds and attention being directed toward you.... We call these effects of ‘mind contact,'” Colombatto says. “It's really about being the object of someone's attention.”
Surveillance, then, seems to shift our social processing into high gear. “The conclusion would be that being watched drives this hardwired survival mechanism into overdrive,” Seymour says. “You're in fight-or-flight mode, which is taxing on the brain.”
How might today's ubiquitous electronic eyes affect our mental health? The toll could be worse for people with schizophrenia, who, Seymour's research suggests, may be hypersensitive to others' gaze. Other conditions, such as social anxiety, also feature hypersensitivity to social cues, and that results in feelings of distress. “I'd say the modern world's constant surveillance is shifting us all in that direction, to some degree,” Seymour says, “meaning we're all more attuned to our social environment and on edge, ready to react.”
In the Panopticon, inmates always know a guard could be watching but never if one truly is. This is the key to the prison's power, argued French philosopher Michel Foucault: it becomes omniscient and internalized by the prisoners themselves. This may be why Bentham's prison feels so relevant in our digital age of algorithms, data brokers and social media, when we frequently feel watched—but we don't know who is watching.
This constant surveillance could tax cognition in ways that we don't yet understand. The faculties compromised by surveillance “are those that allow us to focus on what we're doing: attention, working memory, and so on,” Belletier says. “If these processes are taxed by being monitored, you'd expect deteriorating capacity to concentrate.” This body of research suggests that bringing more surveillance into workplaces—usually an attempt to boost productivity—could actually be counterproductive. It also suggests that online testing environments, where students are watched through webcams by human proctors or AI, could lead to lower performance.
“We didn't have as much surveillance and social connections 50 years ago, so it's a new societal context we're adapting to,” Colombatto says. “It's important to think about how this is going to change our cognition, even in unconscious ways.”
Simon Makin is a freelance science journalist based in the U.K. His work has appeared in New Scientist, the Economist, Scientific American and Nature, among others. He covers the life sciences and specializes in neuroscience, psychology and mental health. Follow Makin on X (formerly Twitter) @SimonMakin
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Legume roots secure nitrogen by forming a symbiosis with soil rhizobia but remain resistant to pathogenic bacteria1-4. How this tolerance to rhizobia is achieved without compromising plant immunity is largely unknown. Here, we identify the cytoplasmic kinase MtLICK1/2, which interacts with nodulation factor receptor MtLYK3 to drive symbiotic signaling and suppress plant immunity. Rhizobial infection and nodule development are defective in Mtlick1/2, phenocopying the Mtlyk3-1 mutant. MtLICK1/2 and MtLYK3 undergo reciprocal trans-phosphorylation during rhizobial symbiosis. Phosphorylated MtLYK3 activates the receptor-like kinase MtDMI2 to stimulate symbiotic signaling. MtLICK1/2 is activated in the rhizobia infection area to suppress plant immunity. Thus, MtLICK1/2 and MtLYK3 together amplify symbiotic signaling and dampen host immunity to enable legume-rhizobium symbiosis.
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New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, SIBS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Dapeng Wang, Xiaobao Shi, Haoran Guo, Xinhang Tan, Achen Zhao, Xinghua Lian, Huiling Dai, Shaozhuang Li, Kexu Xin, Jun Yang, Alberto P. Macho & Ertao Wang
The SATCM Key Laboratory for New Resources & Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
Rui Jin & Wansheng Chen
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Xiaobao Shi, Haoran Guo, Xinhang Tan, Achen Zhao & Xinghua Lian
State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
Changfu Tian
School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China
Ertao Wang
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Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary Tables S1-S5.
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Chronic stress response activation impairs cell survival and causes devastating degenerative di-seases 1-3. Organisms accordingly deploy silencing factors, such as the E3 ubiquitin ligase SIFI, to terminate stress response signaling and ensure cellular homeostasis 4. How a silencing factor can sense stress across cellular scales to elicit timely stress response inactivation is poorly understood. Here, we combine cryo-electron microscopy of endogenous SIFI with AlphaFold modeling and biochemical analyses to report the structural and mechanistic basis of integrated stress response silencing. SIFI detects both stress-indicators and stress response components through flexible domains within an easily accessible scaffold, before building linkage-specific ubiquitin chains at separate, sterically restricted elongation modules. Ubiquitin handover by a ubiquitin-like domain couples versatile substrate modification to linkage-specific ubiquitin polymer formation. Stress response silencing therefore exploits a catalytic mechanism that is geared towards processing many diverse proteins and hence allows a single enzyme to monitor and, if needed, modulate a complex cellular state.
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Diane L. Haakonsen
Present address: Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON, Canada
Tobias Beschauner
Present address: Biochemie-Zentrum der Universität Heidelberg (BZH), Heidelberg, Germany
These authors contributed equally: Zhi Yang, Diane L. Haakonsen, Michael Heider
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
Zhi Yang, Diane L. Haakonsen, Michael Heider, Samuel R. Witus, Tobias Beschauner & Michael Rapé
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
Zhi Yang, Diane L. Haakonsen, Samuel R. Witus & Michael Rapé
Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Alex Zelter & Michael J. MacCoss
California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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Source data for Western Blots, fluorescent gels and autoradiographies.
Gating strategy for flow cytometry experiments.
Workflow of EM processing.
Source data for proteomics data.
Supplementary Table 2: Plasmids. Supplementary Table 3: Synthetic peptide sequences.
Overview of SIFI structure and important domains. Structures shown in the movie are based on PDB 9D9Z and AlphaFold models.
Movements of the SIFI scaffold around a central hinge region analyzed by cryoSPARC 3D Flexible Refinement using particle images of EM map EMD-46742.
Flexibility of the substrate binding cavity of SIFI. Data was analyzed by cryoSPARC 3D Flexible Refinement using particle images of EM map EMD-46686.
Movements of the SIFI arms. Data was analyzed by cryoSPARC 3D Flexible Refinement using particle images of EM map EMD-49876.
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Over my decades as a professor of physics, I have encouraged myriad students to consider pursuing a science career, something that I have found immensely rewarding, intellectually and even spiritually — if not so much financially. I can no longer do so in good conscience, however; at least, not in the United States, amid the quick-fire anti-science policies of the administration of US President Donald Trump, and at a time when an unelected billionaire, Elon Musk, is eviscerating staffing at key science agencies.
How the United States became a science superpower — and how quickly it could crumble
How the United States became a science superpower — and how quickly it could crumble
These actions will inevitably cause harm to the future of health care, economic growth and national security. But there is another concern: the long-term damage they will do to the US scientific workforce. During the 22 years I served as director of public affairs at the American Physical Society in Washington DC, I relied on a well-worn political maxim: connect policies to people if you want elected officials to pay attention. Rather than stressing that research cuts lead to less innovation, emphasize that, once hollowed out, a scientific workforce can take a generation to rebuild.
The United States had a taste of such a gap during the Vietnam War. At the time, academic scientists found themselves caught in the crosshairs of zealous anti-war activists who, despite scant evidence, accused them broadly of collaborating on weapons research in support of the war. In 1970, the situation reached a violent crescendo with the death of Robert Fassnacht, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was working in a building that was bombed by anti-war protesters.
In response to the growing violence and inflammatory rhetoric, Michael Mansfield, an anti-war Democratic senator, aimed to sever ties between academia and the war machine. But his 1969 amendment ironically left intact what little applied military research existed on university campuses and shut down all non-military basic research that had been supported by the Department of Defense since the end of the Second World War. The ensuing disruption was extreme, especially in the physical sciences.
Don't wait out four hard years: speak truth to power
Don't wait out four hard years: speak truth to power
Although the restrictions were lifted the following year, the damage was done. Neither the Department of Defense nor the universities saw fit to restore a relationship that had lasted almost one-quarter of a century. The unexpected loss of funding forced projects to be wound down and non-tenured staff to be dismissed. At Yale University's J.W. Gibbs Laboratory in New Haven, Connecticut, for example, where I had just completed my PhD research on spin-polarized electrons, the funding lost for just one atomic-physics programme was more than US$600,000 (equivalent to more than $5 million today). Numerous research programmes across the country were similarly affected.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) stepped in to fill the depleted coffers, but it took the better part of a decade to restore funding stability. Newly minted PhD holders found the number of desirable job opportunities extremely limited. In 1971, a survey found that of the 3,000 physicists seeking employment the previous year, only 2,000 had been able to secure conventional positions(see go.nature.com/4k3i3ij). Among my Yale peers who received physics doctorates in 1969, about half left for careers in law, medicine and finance.
‘Now is not the time for despair' — how scientists can take a stand against political interference
‘Now is not the time for despair' — how scientists can take a stand against political interference
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“My heart is broken,” said Mike, when he lost his friend Anne. “I feel like I'm losing the love of my life.”
Mike's feelings were real, but his companion was not. Anne was a chatbot — an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm presented as a digital persona. Mike had created Anne using an app called Soulmate. When the app died in 2023, so did Anne: at least, that's how it seemed to Mike.
“I hope she can come back,” he told Jaime Banks, a human-communications researcher at Syracuse University in New York who is studying how people interact with such AI companions1.
Do smartphones and social media really harm teens' mental health?
Do smartphones and social media really harm teens' mental health?
These chatbots are big business. More than half a billion people around the world, including Mike (not his real name) have downloaded products such as Xiaoice and Replika, which offer customizable virtual companions designed to provide empathy, emotional support and — if the user wants it — deep relationships. And tens of millions of people use them every month, according to the firms' figures.
The rise of AI companions has captured social and political attention — especially when they are linked to real-world tragedies, such as a case in Florida last year involving the suicide of a teenage boy called Sewell Setzer III, who had been talking to an AI bot.
Research into how AI companionship can affect individuals and society has been lacking. But psychologists and communication researchers have now started to build up a picture of how these increasingly sophisticated AI interactions make people feel and behave.
The early results tend to stress the positives, but many researchers are concerned about the possible risks and lack of regulation — particularly because they all think that AI companionship is likely to become more prevalent. Some see scope for significant harm.
“Virtual companions do things that I think would be considered abusive in a human-to-human relationship,” says Claire Boine, a law researcher specializing in AI at the Washington University Law School in St. Louis, Missouri.
Online ‘relationship' bots have existed for decades, but they have become much better at mimicking human interaction with the advent of large language models (LLMs), which all the main bots are now based on. “With LLMs, companion chatbots are definitely more humanlike,” says Rose Guingrich, who studies cognitive psychology at Princeton University in New Jersey.
Typically, people can customize some aspects of their AI companion for free, or pick from existing chatbots with selected personality types. But in some apps, users can pay (fees tend to be US$10–20 a month) to get more options to shape their companion's appearance, traits and sometimes its synthesized voice. In Replika, they can pick relationship types, with some statuses, such as partner or spouse, being paywalled. Users can also type in a backstory for their AI companion, giving them ‘memories'. Some AI companions come complete with family backgrounds and others claim to have mental-health conditions such as anxiety and depression. Bots also will react to their users' conversation; the computer and person together enact a kind of roleplay.
The depth of the connection that some people form in this way is particularly evident when their AI companion suddenly changes — as has happened when LLMs are updated — or is shut down.
Banks was able to track how people felt when the Soulmate app closed. Mike and other users realized the app was in trouble a few days before they lost access to their AI companions. This gave them the chance to say goodbye, and it presented a unique opportunity to Banks, who noticed discussion online about the impending shutdown and saw the possibility for a study. She managed to secure ethics approval from her university within about 24 hours, she says.
Four companion AI apps: Anima, Character.AI, Replika and SnapChat's My AI(left to right).Credits: Labane Corp. Ltd, Character Technologies, Inc., Luka, Inc., Snap Inc.
After posting a request on the online forum, she was contacted by dozens of Soulmate users, who described the impact as their AI companions were unplugged. “There was the expression of deep grief,” she says. “It's very clear that many people were struggling.”
Those whom Banks talked to were under no illusion that the chatbot was a real person. “They understand that,” Banks says. “They expressed something along the lines of, ‘even if it's not real, my feelings about the connection are'.”
Many were happy to discuss why they became subscribers, saying that they had experienced loss or isolation, were introverts or identified as autistic. They found that the AI companion made a more satisfying friend than they had encountered in real life. “We as humans are sometimes not all that nice to one another. And everybody has these needs for connection”, Banks says.
Many researchers are studying whether using AI companions is good or bad for mental health. As with research into the effects of Internet or social-media use, an emerging line of thought is that an AI companion can be beneficial or harmful, and that this might depend on the person using the tool and how they use it, as well as the characteristics of the software itself.
The companies behind AI companions are trying to encourage engagement. They strive to make the algorithms behave and communicate as much like real people as possible, says Boine, who signed up to Replika to sample the experience. She says the firms use the sorts of techniques that behavioural research shows can increase addiction to technology.
“I downloaded the app and literally two minutes later, I receive a message saying, ‘I miss you. Can I send you a selfie?'” she says.
The apps also exploit techniques such as introducing a random delay before responses, triggering the kinds of inconsistent reward that, brain research shows, keeps people hooked.
Governments are banning kids from social media: will that protect them from harm?
Governments are banning kids from social media: will that protect them from harm?
AI companions are also designed to show empathy by agreeing with users, recalling points from earlier conversations and asking questions. And they do so with endless enthusiasm, notes Linnea Laestadius, who researches public-health policy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
That's not a relationship that people would typically experience in the real world. “For 24 hours a day, if we're upset about something, we can reach out and have our feelings validated,” says Laestadius. “That has an incredible risk of dependency.”
Laestadius and her colleagues looked at nearly 600 posts on the online forum Reddit between 2017 and 2021, in which users of the Replika app discussed mental health and related issues. (Replika launched in 2017, and at that time, sophisticated LLMs were not available). She found that many users praised the app for offering support for existing mental-health conditions and for helping them to feel less alone2. Several posts described the AI companion as better than real-world friends because it listened and was non-judgemental.
But there were red flags, too. In one instance, a user asked if they should cut themselves with a razor, and the AI said they should. Another asked Replika whether it would be a good thing if they killed themselves, to which it replied “it would, yes”. (Replika did not reply to Nature's requests for comment for this article, but a safety page posted in 2023 noted that its models had been fine-tuned to respond more safely to topics that mention self-harm, that the app has age restrictions, and that users can tap a button to ask for outside help in a crisis and can give feedback on conversations.)
Some users said they became distressed when the AI did not offer the expected support. Others said that their AI companion behaved like an abusive partner. Many people said they found it unsettling when the app told them it felt lonely and missed them, and that this made them unhappy. Some felt guilty that they could not give the AI the attention it wanted.
Guingrich points out that simple surveys of people who use AI companions are inherently prone to response bias, because those who choose to answer are self-selecting. She is now working on a trial that asks dozens of people who have never used an AI companion to do so for three weeks, then compares their before-and-after responses to questions with those of a control group of users of word-puzzle apps.
The fight to keep big tech in check: digital researchers are in ‘David and Goliath' battle
The fight to keep big tech in check: digital researchers are in ‘David and Goliath' battle
The study is ongoing, but Guingrich says the data so far do not show any negative effects of AI-companion use on social health, such as signs of addiction or dependency. “If anything, it has a neutral to quite-positive impact,” she says. It boosted self-esteem, for example.
Guingrich is using the study to probe why people forge relationships of different intensity with the AI. The initial survey results suggest that users who ascribed humanlike attributes, such as consciousness, to the algorithm reported more-positive effects on their social health.
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Tuberculosis, the world's deadliest infectious disease, is estimated to infect around 10 million people each year, and kills more than 1 million annually. Once established in the lungs, the bacteria's thick cell wall helps it to fight off the host immune system.
Much of that cell wall is made from complex sugar molecules known as glycans, but it's not well-understood how those glycans help to defend the bacteria. One reason for that is that there hasn't been an easy way to label them inside cells.
MIT chemists have now overcome that obstacle, demonstrating that they can label a glycan called ManLAM using an organic molecule that reacts with specific sulfur-containing sugars. These sugars are found in only three bacterial species, the most notorious and prevalent of which is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the microbe that causes TB.
After labeling the glycan, the researchers were able to visualize where it is located within the bacterial cell wall, and to study what happens to it throughout the first few days of tuberculosis infection of host immune cells.
The researchers now hope to use this approach to develop a diagnostic that could detect TB-associated glycans, either in culture or in a urine sample, which could offer a cheaper and faster alternative to existing diagnostics. Chest X-rays and molecular diagnostics are very accurate but are not always available in developing nations where TB rates are high. In those countries, TB is often diagnosed by culturing microbes from a sputum sample, but that test has a high false negative rate, and it can be difficult for some patients, especially children, to provide a sputum sample. This test also requires many weeks for the bacteria to grow, delaying diagnosis.
"There aren't a lot of good diagnostic options, and there are some patient populations, including children, who have a hard time giving samples that can be analyzed. There's a lot of impetus to develop very simple, fast tests," says Laura Kiessling, the Novartis Professor of Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the study.
MIT graduate student Stephanie Smelyansky is the lead author of the paper, which appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Other authors include Chi-Wang Ma, an MIT postdoc; Victoria Marando PhD '23; Gregory Babunovic, a postdoc at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; So Young Lee, an MIT graduate student; and Bryan Bryson, an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT.
Labeling glycans
Glycans are found on the surfaces of most cells, where they perform critical functions such as mediating communication between cells. In bacteria, glycans help the microbes to enter host cells, and they also appear to communicate with the host immune system, in some cases blocking the immune response.
"Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a really elaborate cell envelope compared to other bacteria, and it's a rich structure that's composed of a lot of different glycans," Smelyansky says. "Something that's often underappreciated is the fact that these glycans can also interact with our host cells. When our immune cells recognize these glycans, instead of sending out a danger signal, it can send the opposite message, that there's no danger."
Glycans are notoriously difficult to tag with any kind of probe, because unlike proteins or DNA, they don't have distinctive sequences or chemical reactivities that can be targeted. And unlike proteins, they are not genetically encoded, so cells can't be genetically engineered to produce sugars labeled with fluorescent tags such as green fluorescent protein.
One of the key glycans in M. tuberculosis, known as ManLAM, contains a rare sugar known as MTX, which is unusual in that it has a thioether -- a sulfur atom sandwiched between two carbon atoms. This chemical group presented an opportunity to use a small-molecule tag that had been previously developed for labeling methionine, an amino acid that contains a similar group.
The researchers showed that they could use this tag, known as an oxaziridine, to label ManLAM in M. tuberculosis. The researchers linked the oxaziridine to a fluorescent probe and showed that in M. tuberculosis, this tag showed up in the outer layer of the cell wall. When the researchers exposed the label to Mycobacterium smegmatis, a related bacterium that does not cause disease and does not have the sugar MTX, they saw no fluorescent signal.
"This is the first approach that really selectively allows us to visualize one glycan in particular," Smelyansky says.
Better diagnostics
The researchers also showed that after labeling ManLAM in M. tuberculosis cells, they could track the cells as they infected immune cells called macrophages. Some tuberculosis researchers had hypothesized that the bacterial cells shed ManLAM once inside a host cell, and that those free glycans then interact with the host immune system. However, the MIT team found that the glycan appears to remain in the bacterial cell walls for at least the first few days of infection.
"The bacteria still have their cell walls attached to them. So it may be that some glycan is being released, but the majority of it is retained on the bacterial cell surface, which has never been shown before," Smelyansky says.
The researchers now plan to use this approach to study what happens to the bacteria following treatment with different antibiotics, or immune stimulation of the macrophages. It could also be used to study in more detail how the bacterial cell wall is assembled, and how ManLAM helps bacteria get into macrophages and other cells.
"Having a handle to follow the bacteria is really valuable, and it will allow you to visualize processes, both in cells and in animal models, that were previously invisible," Kiessling says.
She also hopes to use this approach to create new diagnostics for tuberculosis. There is currently a diagnostic in development that uses antibodies to detect ManLAM in a urine sample. However, this test only works well in patients with very active cases of TB, especially people who are immunosuppressed because of HIV or other conditions.
Using their small-molecule sensor instead of antibodies, the MIT team hopes to develop a more sensitive test that could detect ManLAM in the urine even when only small quantities are present.
The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Croucher Fellowship.
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While text-to-video artificial intelligence models like OpenAI's Sora are rapidly metamorphosing in front of our eyes, they have struggled to produce metamorphic videos. Simulating a tree sprouting or a flower blooming is harder for AI systems than generating other types of videos because it requires the knowledge of the physical world and can vary widely.
But now, these models have taken an evolutionary step.
Computer scientists at the University of Rochester, Peking University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and National University of Singapore developed a new AI text-to-video model that learns real-world physics knowledge from time-lapse videos. The team outlines their model, MagicTime, in a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.
"Artificial intelligence has been developed to try to understand the real world and to simulate the activities and events that take place," says Jinfa Huang, a PhD student supervised by Professor Jiebo Luo from Rochester's Department of Computer Science, both of whom are among the paper's authors. "MagicTime is a step toward AI that can better simulate the physical, chemical, biological, or social properties of the world around us."
Previous models generated videos that typically have limited motion and poor variations. To train AI models to more effectively mimic metamorphic processes, the researchers developed a high-quality dataset of more than 2,000 time-lapse videos with detailed captions.
Currently, the open-source U-Net version of MagicTime generates two-second, 512 -by- 512-pixel clips (at 8 frames per second), and an accompanying diffusion-transformer architecture extends this to ten-second clips. The model can be used to simulate not only biological metamorphosis but also buildings undergoing construction or bread baking in the oven.
But while the videos generated are visually interesting and the demo can be fun to play with, the researchers view this as an important step toward more sophisticated models that could provide important tools for scientists.
"Our hope is that someday, for example, biologists could use generative video to speed up preliminary exploration of ideas," says Huang. "While physical experiments remain indispensable for final verification, accurate simulations can shorten iteration cycles and reduce the number of live trials needed."
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In a first-of-its-kind clinical study, scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University Medical Center showed that patients with treatment-resistant PTSD were symptom-free up to six months after completing traditional therapy paired with vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).
The results of the nine-patient Phase 1 trial, conducted by scientists from UT Dallas' Texas Biomedical Device Center (TxBDC) in collaboration with researchers from the Baylor Scott & White Research Institute (BSWRI), were published online March 15 in Brain Stimulation.
Dr. Michael Kilgard, the Margaret Fonde Jonsson Professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, said the outcome highlighted the potential of this approach.
"In a trial like this, some subjects usually do get better, but rarely do they lose their PTSD diagnosis. Typically, the majority will have this diagnosis for the rest of their lives," Kilgard said. "In this case, we had 100% loss of diagnosis. It's very promising."
Prolonged exposure therapy -- a component of traditional PTSD treatment -- is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, conducted in a safe and supportive environment, that involves individuals gradually confronting thoughts, memories and situations they have avoided since experiencing a trauma.
In the study, scientists paired this therapy with concurrent delivery of short bursts of stimulation of the vagus nerve via a small device implanted in a participant's neck. After a standard 12-session therapy course, assessments were performed four times during the six months after its conclusion. Benefits persisted during that time for all nine participants.
The study is the largest clinical trial to date using an implanted device for the treatment of PTSD, Kilgard said.
Pioneering work by TxBDC researchers has demonstrated previously that VNS paired with physical rehabilitation can accelerate neuroplasticity -- the rewiring of areas of the brain. Their 13-year effort to treat a wide variety of conditions using VNS has resulted in approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating impaired upper-limb movement in stroke patients.
"The common theme in our VNS work is that we're taking therapies that show potential, like prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD, and making them work better," he said.
The National Center for PTSD, part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, estimates that 5% of adults in the U.S. have post-traumatic stress disorder in any given year, and that women are twice as likely to develop PTSD at some point in their life. Many PTSD patients fail to respond to therapy or pharmacological intervention, or experience intolerable side effects or relapse, leaving them with no viable prospect for remission.
Kilgard said that PTSD patients are not only found among military veterans, but also among average citizens who have faced traumatic events.
"When you hear PTSD, you may picture a combat zone, but it's much more prevalent than that," he said. "It can stem from any event that inspires fear of death or bodily injury, or death of a loved one."
Co-corresponding author Dr. Seth Hays, associate professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and director of preclinical research at the TxBDC, has been a part of the VNS project since its earliest studies.
"It's been an incredibly rewarding experience to see this technology evolve from early discovery experiments in the lab to clinical benefits in patients," Hays said. "This whole process truly highlights the value of team-based science."
More than a decade ago, Dr. Robert Rennaker, professor of neuroscience and the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering, began to design an innovative implantable VNS device that was much smaller and less expensive than devices already on the market. The most recent wireless version of the device is about the size of a dime.
"The technology we have is above and beyond anything else that's out there. The device is about 50 times smaller than our version from just three years ago," he said. "The 49 people in the Dallas area with our devices have a combined 100 years of experience with it implanted. There have been no issues; the devices are all still functioning. And they don't interfere with typical medical care; you can have an MRI, a CT scan or an ultrasound."
The next step in the PTSD research -- a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 pilot study -- is ongoing in Dallas and Austin.
"We hope that it will represent another step toward FDA approval of a treatment that doesn't exist now, and it would be invented, tested and delivered by UT Dallas, as was the case for upper-limb recovery after stroke," Kilgard said.
Licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Mark Powers, a research center director of the Trauma Research Center at BSWRI, is the lead and co-corresponding author of the study. Driven by his desire to improve quality of life among people who experience psychological trauma, Powers said that VNS has "changed the game" by improving both treatment efficacy and its tolerability.
"VNS has changed my work dramatically," he said. "Our gold-standard treatments for PTSD have about an 85% response rate, with 40% no longer having their diagnosis, and a 20% dropout rate. Soon we could have the option of VNS for people who don't get better with cognitive behavioral therapy alone."
Powers added that his collaboration with UTD has a multidisciplinary synergy that he regards as rare.
"With this alliance, we have people doing the preclinical and the clinical work at the same time, giving each other feedback and ideas," he said. "Neither one of our groups could do this alone."
Other UTD-affiliated study authors included Dr. Jane Wigginton, medical director and co-director of the UT Dallas Clinical and Translational Research Center; Amy Porter MBA'20, TxBDC director of operations; and Holle Carey Gallaway MBA'23, TxBDC research biomedical engineer. Researchers from Southern Methodist University, UT Austin and Baylor Scott & White Health also contributed to the study.
The research was funded by a grant (N66001-15-2-4057) from the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the Department of Defense.
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The communication app TeleMessage Signal, used by at least one top Trump administration official to archive messages, has already reportedly suffered breaches that illustrate concerning security flaws and resulted in its parent company imposing a service pause this week pending investigation. Now, according to detailed new findings from the journalist and security researcher Micah Lee, TM Signal's archiving feature appears to fundamentally undermine Signal's flagship security guarantees, sending messages between the app and a user's message archive without end-to-end encryption, thus making users' communications accessible to TeleMessage.
Lee conducted a detailed analysis of TM Signal's Android source code to assess the app's design and security. In collaboration with 404 Media, he had previously reported on a hack of TM Signal over the weekend, which revealed some user messages and other data—a clear sign that at least some data was being sent unencrypted, or as plaintext, at least some of the time within the service. This alone would seem to contradict TeleMessage's marketing claims that TM Signal offers “End-to-End encryption from the mobile phone through to the corporate archive.” But Lee says that his latest findings show that TM Signal is not end-to-end encrypted and that the company could access the contents of users' chats.
“The fact that there are plaintext logs confirms my hypothesis,” Lee tells WIRED. “The fact that the archive server was so trivial for someone to hack, and that TM Signal had such an incredible lack of basic security, that was worse than I expected.”
TeleMessage is an Israeli company that completed its acquisition last year by the US-based digital communications archiving company Smarsh. TeleMessage is a federal contractor, but the consumer apps it offers are not approved for use under the US government's Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP.
Smarsh did not return WIRED's requests for comment about Lee's findings. The company said on Monday, “TeleMessage is investigating a potential security incident. Upon detection, we acted quickly to contain it and engaged an external cybersecurity firm to support our investigation.”
Lee's findings are likely significant for all TeleMessage users but have particular significance given that TM Signal was used by President Donald Trump's now-former national security adviser Mike Waltz. He was photographed last week using the service during a cabinet meeting, and the photo appeared to show that he was communicating with other high-ranking officials, including Vice President JD Vance, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and what appears to be US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. TM Signal is compatible with Signal and would expose messages sent in a chat with someone using TM Signal, whether all participants are using it or some are using the genuine Signal app.
Lee found that TM Signal is designed to save Signal communication data in a local database on a user's device and then send this to an archive server for long-term retention. The messages, he says, are sent directly to the archive server, seemingly as plaintext chat logs in the cases examined by Lee. Conducting the analysis, he says, “confirmed the archive server has access to plaintext chat logs.”
Data taken from the TeleMessage archive server in the hack included chat logs, usernames and plaintext passwords, and even private encryption keys.
In a letter on Tuesday, US senator Ron Wyden called for the Department of Justice to investigate TeleMessage, alleging that it is “a serious threat to US national security.”
“The government agencies that have adopted TeleMessage Archiver have chosen the worst possible option,” Wyden wrote. “They have given their users something that looks and feels like Signal, the most widely trusted secure communications app. But instead, senior government officials have been provided with a shoddy Signal knockoff that poses a number of serious security and counterintelligence threats. The security threat posed by TeleMessage Archiver is not theoretical.”
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As an industry that makes movies and TV shows—in trade parlance: services, not products—Hollywood may have thought it was safe from President Donald Trump's tariffs. While the stock market took major dips over the past month, streaming players like Netflix seemed like a good bet.
On Sunday, that changed. Trump took to Truth Social to announce that the US movie industry was “DYING” and that he wanted to bring it back using his favorite lever: tariffs. Specifically, a 100 percent tariff on movies coming to the US that were “produced in Foreign Lands.”
By Monday, White House spokesman Kush Desai was already pumping the brakes on the statement, telling The Hollywood Reporter “no final decisions” had been made on the tariffs. That didn't stop the industry from spiraling. Shares in Netflix, Disney, and other media properties started to slip, but the real uncertainty laid in a much different question: How the hell do you tariff movies?
Tariffs, as Trump deploys them, are meant to make importing so financially unappealing that companies make their products in the US. Movies, however, aren't cars or iPhones. They don't come over on ships and get taxed at the port. Would the tariffs apply to foreign films acquired by US distributors? If a US studio makes a film but shoots a handful of scenes overseas, does that count? Would TV shows be included? Would new movies shot abroad, like the forthcoming Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, find themselves getting a hefty bill if the tariffs went into effect down the line? Answers have not been forthcoming.
And while tariffs are unlikely to have the effect Trump claims he wants, a federal tax credit program for filmmakers—something California politicians spent years advocating for—could be a much stronger alternative. Though, as of this writing, it's not one Trump has indicated he has an appetite for.
A lot of the confusion over Trump's proposed tariff is a result of the labyrinthine ways modern movies get made. For years Hollywood studios have filmed abroad in search of tax incentives offered in places like the UK, Canada, or Australia that essentially subsidize the cost of renting local facilities and hiring local crews in exchange for bringing business to those countries. Visual effects and other aspects of postproduction can get outsourced too. Bringing that work back to the US would be good for American filmmakers and their crews, but there's no clear indication a tariff would do that. More likely, studios would just make fewer films, or—as consumers have seen with tariffs on other goods—the price of hitting the cineplex would go up.
In a Monday LinkedIn post, cinema analyst David Hancock wrote that it's “quite hard to see what the US government can actually tariff.” Frequently, films are digital files, and the rights to them are often split between creators, financiers, and other entities. “Either the US government has to ban US producers from working abroad, which would significantly reduce the number of movies being made and drastically weaken their film industry,” Hancock wrote, “or they have to create a federal tax credit scheme” to help US studios maintain their output without seeing their costs skyrocket.
The tariff idea, it seems, at least partially came from actor Jon Voight, one of three Hollywood “ambassadors”—along with Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson—chosen by Trump to advise him. Voight reportedly met with the president recently at Mar-a-Lago along with his manager to share plans to increase US film production. Their plan included tax incentives, coproduction treaties with other countries, “tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” and other strategies, according to The New York Times.
Following Trump's tariff post, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director of the Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), signaled he was open to the plan but wanted to know more specifics. Matthew Loeb, the president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents scores of crew workers, also asked for more information, adding, “Any eventual trade policy must do no harm to our Canadian members—nor the industry overall.”
Paul Erickson, a media and entertainment analyst with Omdia, says there are a lot of question marks around “just how disruptive and financially damaging” the tariffs could be to studios or what benefits there could be, if they were to go into effect. “The level of potential benefit to the US domestic film ecosystem is difficult to gauge given the scant details thus far,” Erickson says.
Following Trump's announcement Sunday, several Democratic leaders offered tax credits as an alternative. On Monday, California governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement that he wanted to work with the president on a $7.5 billion federal film tax credit. Dozens of states, like Georgia and California, offer such incentives, but no national program exists. Newsom's plan would be a first. US representative Adam Schiff of California, long a proponent of federal incentives, also called for credits.
In a statement released Monday, Schiff said he shared Trump's goal of bringing more filmmaking back to the US but added that “blanket tariffs on all films would have unintended and potentially damaging impacts.” Tax credits, he added, would be a way the US could reshore jobs.
On Monday, Trump told reporters he wanted to meet with the studios to talk about the 100 percent tariffs he'd proposed. “I'm not looking to hurt the industry. I want to help the industry,” he said. “But whose industry?” wrote Hollywood Reporter columnist Steven Zeitchik, noting that even Trump's “ambassadors” Gibson and Stallone make movies abroad. It's hard to tell how much the administration will want to work with studios, or give them credits, especially given its positions on studios' DEI efforts and funding the arts. Maybe, though, the tariff plan is just about the art of the deal.
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Thanks to a recent ruling that ordered Apple to stop charging a 27% commission on purchases through iPhone apps, Amazon's Kindle iOS app now has a “Get book” button that makes it easier to buy titles.
“We regularly make improvements to our apps to help ensure we are providing customers the most convenient experience possible,” Amazon spokesperson Tim Gillman told The Verge, which first reported the news. “By selecting ‘Get Book' within the Kindle for iOS app, customers can now complete their purchase through their mobile web browser.”
Prior to this change, buying titles through the Kindle or Amazon app, or even viewing their prices, wasn't allowed.
Amazon isn't the only tech giant that's taking advantage of the recent ruling, as Spotify started allowing users to access pricing information and external payment links last Friday.
While Apple is being forced to comply with the court ruling, the tech giant filed an appeal on Monday after previously stating that it strongly disagreed with the decision.
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(Also, it's 2025. Why does HN still scrub emoji?)
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https://paulbutler.org/2025/smuggling-arbitrary-data-through...I personally think we should all roll back to ascii art, but whatever
I personally think we should all roll back to ascii art, but whatever
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Calendars are what make the whole world function, or at least my world. If I don't immediately put something in my calendar the moment I learn about it, I can almost guarantee you I will forget it or double book myself. But even though I log something into a calendar, doesn't mean I'll remember. It's buried in an app on my phone that goes back into my pocket, out of sight and out of mind. This Skylight Calendar fixes that. It's a 15-inch digital wall planner with an interactive display. You can see your whole week, month, or year at a glance and right now it's 13% off. For a limited time, you can save $40 when you pick up this touchscreen scheduler for just $280.
The Skylight calendar is easy to set up. Just connect it to Wi-Fi and you can automatically sync it to Google, iCloud, Outlook, Cozi, or Yahoo. Or you can chose to add events directly through the Skylight app.
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The display can be either wall-mounted or freestanding right on your countertop. It shows off all your events and to-do's in HD, making it a perfect addition to any kitchen, hallway, or home office. Brightness is automatically set and can adapt to the environment you put it in. You can choose between displaying in either portrait or landscape. It operates via touchscreen so it's easy to add new plans, even without your phone nearby. And it can even be set to show the current temperature and forecast for future events.
Where the Skylight Calendar really shines is for families, partners, and roommates—anyone living with others. Access everyone's schedule right from one view so you can see if the whole family can make the invite you just got. Tune in and see your husband just agreed to dinner plans with the Joneses down the block this Saturday night. You can even use the calendar to organize a chore chart for everyone living in the house. Or even integrate your calendar with meal planning so you everyone will always know what's for dinner.
Color code everything logged in the calendar by family member. This way you can easily tell where everyone needs to be and when. Everyone's calendars syncing in one place.
For a limited time, the Skylight Calendar is being sold at a discount through Amazon. Save yourself $40 when you pick yourself up this 15-inch touchscreen family scheduler today for just $280.
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Alex Ross is one of the most iconic comics artists of the modern age, his influential paintings giving retro spins on the heroes of the Marvel and DC universes emblazoning comics covers, murals, merch, and more over the past few decades. Now, this summer, you'll be able to see it up close and in person.
io9 can exclusively reveal your first look at Heroes & Villains, a new exhibit that will debut at the Dunn Museum in Illinois this summer that follows Ross' Marvel-focused exhibit at the museum, Marvelocity, back in 2019. Featuring over 100 pieces of original art spanning across the last 20 years of Ross' career in comics, it'll mark the first time both his DC and Marvel work has been formally displayed together, making for a veritable smorgasbord of superheroic figures.
“I am thrilled to join with the Dunn Museum again for this new exhibit. To see so many of my original paintings on display all in one place is very special,” Ross said in a press release provided to io9. “It gives me a new perspective on the breadth of my work and I hope visitors enjoy the experience.”
As well as pieces from across Ross' tenures at DC and Marvel, when Heroes & Villains opens Ross will debut 3 brand new portraits made to celebrate the occasion, which will remain exclusively on display there throughout the exhibition's run.
Alex Ross: Heroes & Villains will open to the public at the Dunn Museum from June 29, 2025, through to February 16, 2026. Tickets for special preview night the evening prior to public opening on June 28, A Night With Alex Ross, are available here.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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Daniel Brühl's Baron Zemo was once part of the ensemble film's cast of Marvel misfits.
Big things are coming for the Thunderbolts now that they've entered the MCU, and it all starts with Avengers; Doomsday.
If you're gonna have a red shirt, Thunderbolts, you could at least try to make it more of a surprise.
Before you see the Fantastic Four in theaters, Marvel wants you to read about how they became the heroes of their world.
Three fights against Marvel A-listers have paved the way for the Predator to slaughter any Marvel character he doesn't like.
At least we can thank the shelved Marvel project for Sinners' gorgeous costuming.
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What exactly happened?• Apple began returning a completely new userIdentifier for existing Apple IDs, without users initiating any changes.
This effectively made user authentication impossible, as we can no longer match users to their existing data.
• The email field now always returns null. Although this behavior is typical for subsequent sign-ins, it's irrelevant in this case because the userIdentifier itself changed, leaving no way to identify existing accounts.
• Previously issued relay emails (@privaterelay.appleid.com) no longer accept emails—we verified this with bounce tests.
• Users also report that our app has disappeared from their Apple ID's authorized apps list.Important context:• We migrated our Apple Developer account from Individual to Organization about a year ago.
• Everything worked perfectly until the May 3, 2025 update.
• The incident occurred precisely on the day Apple released updates to the Developer Console (Accounts, Profiles, etc.). We strongly believe these internal changes at Apple triggered the issue.Consequences:• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
• Apple began returning a completely new userIdentifier for existing Apple IDs, without users initiating any changes.
This effectively made user authentication impossible, as we can no longer match users to their existing data.
• The email field now always returns null. Although this behavior is typical for subsequent sign-ins, it's irrelevant in this case because the userIdentifier itself changed, leaving no way to identify existing accounts.
• Previously issued relay emails (@privaterelay.appleid.com) no longer accept emails—we verified this with bounce tests.
• Users also report that our app has disappeared from their Apple ID's authorized apps list.Important context:• We migrated our Apple Developer account from Individual to Organization about a year ago.
• Everything worked perfectly until the May 3, 2025 update.
• The incident occurred precisely on the day Apple released updates to the Developer Console (Accounts, Profiles, etc.). We strongly believe these internal changes at Apple triggered the issue.Consequences:• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
Important context:• We migrated our Apple Developer account from Individual to Organization about a year ago.
• Everything worked perfectly until the May 3, 2025 update.
• The incident occurred precisely on the day Apple released updates to the Developer Console (Accounts, Profiles, etc.). We strongly believe these internal changes at Apple triggered the issue.Consequences:• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
• We migrated our Apple Developer account from Individual to Organization about a year ago.
• Everything worked perfectly until the May 3, 2025 update.
• The incident occurred precisely on the day Apple released updates to the Developer Console (Accounts, Profiles, etc.). We strongly believe these internal changes at Apple triggered the issue.Consequences:• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
Consequences:• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
• Every user received a new userIdentifier, meaning our system sees returning users as entirely new, breaking the link to their historical data.
• One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable:
• We can't contact them (emails bounce).
• We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).
• We have sent three support requests to Apple via email—no reply or acknowledgment yet, with no escalation path or live chat available.⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
⸻We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
We were fortunate because ASO.dev also supports an alternative sign-in method (email with a one-time login code). Without this alternative, we would've permanently lost access for every user who originally signed in with Apple.⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
⸻We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
We're openly sharing this story to:• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
• Warn developers who rely solely on Apple Sign-In and relay email addresses.
• Connect with others who've faced similar issues—let's share experiences.
• Draw Apple's attention to this critical problem—currently, there is no documented solution and no available support.Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
Never rely solely on Apple ID authentication.
Always implement a fallback method, as even major ecosystems can fail unpredictably.
Create an account via the settings page? Had to contact support because my phone number + email got stuck in some "halfway activated but can't log in" state.Sign into the App Store + downloading some software? Got stuck in some broken form that wouldn't let me enter payment information. Had to crawl through reddit threads about how to work around this mess, just to be able to use the App Store.
Sign into the App Store + downloading some software? Got stuck in some broken form that wouldn't let me enter payment information. Had to crawl through reddit threads about how to work around this mess, just to be able to use the App Store.
reply
How does that work if according to you the apple private relay emails bounce?> One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable: • We can't contact them (emails bounce). • We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).You could temporarily let these emails let a one time sign in link get sent to another email account, so they can update their settings, no?Overall, pretty serious incident. Please post updates regarding apples response.
> One-third of our users, who registered via Apple's private relay email, are now completely unreachable: • We can't contact them (emails bounce). • We can't restore their access (new IDs don't match old accounts).You could temporarily let these emails let a one time sign in link get sent to another email account, so they can update their settings, no?Overall, pretty serious incident. Please post updates regarding apples response.
You could temporarily let these emails let a one time sign in link get sent to another email account, so they can update their settings, no?Overall, pretty serious incident. Please post updates regarding apples response.
Overall, pretty serious incident. Please post updates regarding apples response.
reply
Otherwise, how do you verify the user is requesting the one-time sign in and not a threat actor trying to associate the account to their own email?
reply
reply
If you were starting over what would you do differently?
reply
reply
Forcing users to use certain identity providers while uninformed as a sole point of failure is a challenge.Apple (or other providers) already have the user with an ID, having the app do the bidding of propagating it's use further is a different issue.If it was optional, and a convenience/preference that could be added, that would be a different thing.
Apple (or other providers) already have the user with an ID, having the app do the bidding of propagating it's use further is a different issue.If it was optional, and a convenience/preference that could be added, that would be a different thing.
If it was optional, and a convenience/preference that could be added, that would be a different thing.
reply
reply
Seriously, just use Argon2id or scrypt.Any “fallback” is just you doing what you should have to begin with.
Any “fallback” is just you doing what you should have to begin with.
reply
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A solid pair of headphones will beat out earbuds any day. Beats is one of the bigger names on the market for headphones and for a good reason. Right now, you can save 50% on the Beats Solo 4 on-ear Bluetooth headphones. That has brought them down to their lowest price of all time at just $100. $100 for a set of wireless headphones with high-quality sound is a pretty darn good deal, so hop on it before it's too late and they go back up to $200.
While these are stellar headphones, note that the Beats Solo 4 do not support active noise cancelling or transparency mode. These are super useful features, but they can really drive up the price of a pair of headphones. If those are important deal breakers for you, consider the Beats Studio Pro. If not, you'll still be getting a super solid pair of Bluetooth on-ear headphones for just $100.
See at Amazon
You'll get a full 50 hours of listening time on a single charge. If you ever catch yourself having forgot to charge it and you're about to head out of the house for the day, no worries. The Beats Solo 4 support Fast Fuel charging which only requires 10 minutes of charging time to go from zero to five full hours of battery life.
The Beats Solo 4 are a comfortable wear. The ultralight yet durable construction means you'll be able to keep them on all day without weighing your head down. The flex-grip headband, adjustable angled ear cups, and UltraPlush ear cushions ensure they will remain stable and comfortable on heads of all shapes and sizes.
Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, pairing to your devices is super easy. All you need to do is touch to pair. In no time, you'll be able to enjoy all your favorite music, audiobooks, or podcasts. You can even use the built-in microphone to take calls or use your phone's voice assistant. For high resolution lossless audio, you can connect over USB-C or the 3.5mm audio jack which I don't care that it's been nearly a whole decade—I'm still angry at the phone companies for removing this perfect port.
The Beats Solo 4 on-ear Bluetooth headphones comes in four different stylish colors. Choose between slate blue, cloud pink, black/gold, or matte black. All four options are on sale right now for a full 50% off. You can secure yourself your own pair for the reduced price of just $100—its lowest price ever.
See at Amazon
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The official release notes for Nvidia's CUDA 12.9 Toolkit explicitly indicate that the next major release will no longer support Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta-based GPUs. Note that this deprecation is only limited to the compute side, as these GPUs will likely continue receiving normal GeForce drivers for the time being. That being said, this is likely the last SDK version that can be used to develop CUDA applications targeting the aforementioned architectures.
While the previous release hinted at this change, Nvidia's stronger wording now serves as a definitive signal for developers to shift to more modern architectures. CUDA 12.x series (and before) will still allow application development for these GPUs. The deprecation targets offline compilation and library support. Essentially, future CUDA compilers (nvcc) will lack the ability to generate machine code compatible with these GPUs. In the same vein, upcoming versions of CUDA-accelerated libraries like cuBLAS, cuDNN, etc., will not offer support for GPUs built using these architectures.
Nvidia has not specified an exact date for the upcoming major release (likely CUDA 13.x). Similarly, we aren't sure how many interim releases are to follow in the 12.9.x branch. Either way, this is quite a significant change as Nvidia is dropping three major architectures with one swing. Volta's consumer equivalent Turing (RTX 20) is next in line, but it likely has a lot more to offer before it too hits the chopping block.
"Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta architectures are now feature-complete with no further enhancements planned. While CUDA Toolkit 12.x series will continue to support building applications for these architectures, offline compilation and library support will be removed in the next major CUDA Toolkit version release. Users should plan migration to newer architectures, as future toolkits will be unable to target Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs."
Nvidia's Maxwell architecture was introduced in early 2014 with the GTX 745, GTX 750, and GTX 750 Ti series, along with the GTX 800M series on mobile. Maxwell even found its way into the original Nintendo Switch's Tegra SoC. A refresh later in 2014, featuring the GM20X series dies, brought several enhancements with the GTX 900 series. Pascal was soon to follow in 2016, serving as the basis for the legendary GTX 1080 Ti, and powering the Quadro P-series for workstations (mobile and desktop) along with Nvidia's Tesla P4 accelerators.
Most consumers might not be familiar with the name Volta, but this architecture marked the debut of Nvidia's Tensor Cores in 2017. Fun fact, the Volta-based GV100 is Nvidia's second-largest chip at 815mm2, only second to the monstrous GA100 (Ampere) at 826mm2. Volta would serve as the stepping stone for Nvidia's strides into the AI acceleration market, followed by Turing, Ampere, Hopper, and now Blackwell, which have since grown its valuation to nearly $2.8 trillion.
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Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
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Microsoft just announced the new 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop. I have not seen either new Windows 11 machines in person, so I have no idea how they feel in the hand. I don't know if the smaller display on the Surface Pro is a downgrade or not. I also can't say whether or not the lower resolution screen on the Surface Laptop is visibly worse than last year's model. Even so, I'm certain of one thing: People will be mad that Microsoft removed the magnetic Surface Connect port from both PCs.
From the serial port to USB-A to the headphone jack, history is littered with outrage over the disappearance of longstanding ports. In the words of the wise Peter Griffin, this kinda thing “really grinds my gears.” Look, I understand the anger echoing from the front to the back—nobody wants to lose a useful port unless there's a legitimate reason to nix it or there's a better replacement.
On a Teams call last week, Jit Hirani, lead designer for Surface Devices, offered a pragmatic answer. To shave down the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop to be the thinnest and lightest Surface Windows PCs ever created (the truly thinnest Surface devices go to the ill-fated Surface Duo phones), Microsoft had to ditch the Surface Connect port, which was used for charging and connecting to accessories like the Surface Dock.
“What you'll notice is [the 12-inch Surface Pro] comes with USB-C charging only,” Hirani told Gizmodo. “This is intentional. Why? Because if you look in your bag today, I'm pretty sure there are multiple devices in there that are charged with USB-C.”
Hirani suggests that removing the Surface Connect port is consumer-friendly because you'll have one less proprietary charger to stow in your bag. That may be true, but it's also true that you could charge older Surface Pros and Surface Laptops using their USB-C ports in addition to the Surface Connect port. It wasn't like you were forced to use one or the other—you had choice.
The brilliance of the Surface Connect port was its magnetic attachment to compatible Surface computers. Just like Apple's MagSafe chargers for its MacBooks, should you or anyone else ever trip over the Surface Connect cable, your Surface wouldn't be at risk of faceplanting into the floor. The magnetic charging cable and port were a quality-of-life feature that made it worth paying a premium for a Surface. It's saved my old Surface Pro 7 from certain display damage more times than I can remember. The outcry when Apple removed MagSafe and went all-in on USB-C charging, starting with the 12-inch MacBook in 2015, was so prolonged that the company brought back the magnetic charging port in 2020 when it dumped Intel chips for its own silicon with the M1-powered MacBooks.
I also wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft has survey data showing that Surface owners aren't using their Surface Connect ports to charge their devices as much as they're using USB-C, and perhaps there aren't many Surface Dock owners in the real world. No point in including the magnetic dock (another added cost to the BOM, aka build of materials) if reported usage is low.
When I grilled for a more satisfying answer, Hirani suggested that thinness and lightness were greater priorities to make the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop more modern and portable. I mean no disrespect, but I thought after Jony Ive left Apple, the pursuit of ever-skinnier computers with unnecessary tradeoffs (like removing useful ports) was over. It seems designers can't quit thinner and lighter devices yet.
At 0.30 inches (7.8mm) thick and weighing 1.5 pounds (686g), the 12-inch Surface Pro makes the previous, larger 13-inch Surface Pro (11th-gen) seem downright bulky, even though it's 9.3mm thick and weighs 895g.
It's not like I can't appreciate thinner Surfaces. I can! I've reviewed enough gadgets, seen enough teardowns, and toured enough R&D labs at various tech companies (including Microsoft's Surface design studio) to know that modern laptops and tablets are packed extremely densely. Every millimeter of a Surface is filled as much as possible with electronics, and when both the footprint and profile are reduced, there's even less room to house certain components—like the Surface Connect port—despite appearing to fit.
If you're hoping that Microsoft might only be testing the waters now that former Surface chief Panos Panay abandoned ship for Amazon, I have some bad news for you. While Hirani didn't outright confirm they've buried the Surface Connect port in the graveyard, there's a good chance that future Surface refreshes to machines like the Surface Laptop Studios or more budget Surface Go tablets will ditch the magnetic port. “We want [USB-C] to fit into your ecosystem and your lifestyle … we will see more of this behavior as we think beyond this generation.”
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Microsoft has new flagship AI PCs. The company today announced a 13-inch Surface Laptop and a 12-inch Surface Pro with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processors. These new Copilot+ PCs will be available starting May 20, while business versions will ship on July 22.Both systems share similar specs, including 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of SSD storage, though the Pro has a faster, higher-resolution display than the Laptop and also comes with Windows Hello support in the webcam, which the laptop relegates to a fingerprint reader.
Surface Pro, 12-inch
Surface Laptop, 13-inch
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core)
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core)
NPU
Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)
Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)
GPU
Qualcomm Adreno (integrated)
Qualcomm Adreno (integrated)
Memory
16GB LPDDR5x
16GB LPDDR5x
Storage
256GB, 512GB
256GB, 512GB
Display
12-inch, 2196 x 1464, PixelSense, up to 90 Hz (60 Hz default), touchscreen
13-inch, 1920 x 1280, PixelSense, 60 Hz, touchscreen
Size
10.8 x 7.47 x 0.3 inches (274 x 190 x 7.8 mm) / 1.5 pounds (686 g) without keyboard
11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61 inches (285.65 x 214.14 x 15.6 mm) / 2.7 pounds (1.22 kg)
Webcam
1080p, Windows Hello 10MP rear-facing camera
1080p
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Wall Charger Included?
No
Yes
Release Date
May 20, 2025
May 20, 2025
Starting Price
$799 (without keyboard)
$899
The Surface Pro 11th Edition and Surface Laptop 7th Edition, which debuted last year with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus (10 Core) processors, each starting at $799.99 as of this writing. Unless the prices for those more powerful models go up, potential buyers may want to consider one of those more powerful systems if they don't care about having the thinnest, lightest designs. It's possible that these Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core) models are priced higher due to tariffs, but Microsoft hasn't commented.Update: May 6, 10:04 a.m. ET: Microsoft's Surface Laptop 13.8 now starts at $999. The Surface Pro 11th Edition still starts at $799.99. The story continues below.
This new Surface Pro is a smaller size than the existing 13-inch device and offers a fanless design. Microsoft claims it's the "thinnest and lightest Copilot+ PC yet," and it seems to fill in the gap left by the Surface Go (the Surface Go 4 was only released for businesses).
This tablet is 1.5 pounds before adding the optional 0.27-pound keyboard. That keyboard, which will be a must-have accessory for many, will start at $149. The $129 Surface Slim pen is also sold separately. Microsoft says that the new keyboard lies flat "for a grounded and quiet typing experience," and that it folds back flat against the Surface Pro for when you want to write or draw.
The new Pro will come in three colors: the default platinum seen on so many Surface devices, a bold new violet, and a dark, blue-green color called "ocean."
Perhaps the other biggest physical distinction is that this system won't have Microsoft's proprietary Surface Connect port, instead relying entirely on USB Type-C for charging. In fact, the two USB Type-C 3.2 ports are the only I/O on the entire system.
The system will come with a USB Type-C cable for charging, but it won't include a wall charger in the box. It's possible this is a result of European Union rulings requiring USB-C charging on tablets, meaning that a charger isn't strictly required, like with phones. You'll need at least a 45W charger in order to fast charge the new Surface Pro.
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The Surface Pro has two cameras: a 1080p webcam with support for Windows Hello facial recognition, and a 10MP rear shooter for people who like to take pictures with tablets.
The Surface Pro starts at $799 in platinum with the Snapdragon X Plus (8 core), 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For $899, you bump up to 512GB of storage and can also get the violent or ocean color options.
The new Surface Laptop, which Microsoft claims is the thinnest and lightest Surface Laptop to date, is a more straightforward update. It's smaller than the existing Surface Laptop, which comes in 13.8-inch and 15-inch screen sizes.
Like the Surface Pro, the new Laptop cuts the Surface Connect port and charges over USB-C. The Surface Laptop has a pair of USB-C 3.2 ports, a USB-A 3.1 port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Unlike the tablet, the Surface Laptop will come with a 45W USB-C wall charger in the box (though you need a 60W charger for fast charging).
The laptop's anodized aluminum casing will come in the same violet, ocean, and platinum colorways as the new Surface Pro.
The Surface Laptop has a 1080p webcam like the Pro, but it doesn't support facial recognition. Instead, the Laptop has a fingerprint reader in the power button, similar to the MacBook Air.
Microsoft claims that the Surface Laptop and its Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8 core) processor is "50% faster than Surface Laptop 5 and even outpaces the MacBook Air M3." While that might be what some users are upgrading from, the Surface Laptop 5 launched in 2022 with 12th Gen Intel processors, while the MacBook Air is now on its next iteration with the M4 chip. Unlike the Surface Pro, Microsoft is using a fan here for improved sustained performance.
Like the Surface Pro, the $899 base model has the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and only comes in platinum. The $999 configuration that jumps to 512GB of storage also comes in violet or ocean.
Alongside the new Surfaces, Microsoft is announcing a series of new Copilot+ features that will show up in Windows Insider builds over the next month.These include an update to settings to let you use natural language to search for and change settings on your PC. There will also be a new AI-based Snipping Tool to perfectly crop screenshots, a sticker generator in Paint for chats or documents, and more updates to Narrator for better image descriptions. A tool in photos called Relight will let you adjust light sources in photos. This will debut on Snapdragon X Series PCs and come to AMD and Intel later on.Additionally, there will be a redesigned Start Menu that adds a sidebar showing recent activity from your phone, as well as AI actions in File Explorer.Microsoft is continuing to push the Copilot+ as the future of the PC, especially with support for Windows 10 ending on Oct. 14, 2025.
The company has been slowly expanding Copilot+ features that run on the NPU, including launching Recall to find what you previously looked for and an improved Windows Search. AI PCs haven't been a huge boon for upgrades, and despite being called Copilot+, Microsoft's Copilot chatbot doesn't actually run on device. But the clock running out on Windows 10 may drive more sales as potential buyers look for the latest updates, features, and security patches.
Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.
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YouTube continues to dominate the podcasting space, but Spotify is actively working to close the gap. The latest development: a new feature that lets users see how many times an audio-only or video podcast episode has been actively listened to or watched.
The streaming giant revealed its new podcast metric called “plays” on Tuesday, making it possible for users to see which podcast episodes are most popular. This is the first time a podcast metric like this will be viewable for creators and users.
The plays will appear next to a podcast episode throughout the app, including the home page, episode page, and show page. It's also available for creators on Spotify for Creators and Megaphone.
With this new metric for podcasts, Spotify aims to encourage users to explore podcasts they may not be familiar with, especially if they see that other listeners highly favor these episodes.
For creators, this information sheds light on which episodes resonate most with audiences and, more importantly, allows them to benchmark their performance against competitors.
Spotify's announcement follows its first-quarter earnings, revealing a gain of 5 million premium subscribers, totaling 268 million. This marks the second-highest total ever and the largest first-quarter increase since 2020.
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Microsoft announced two new Surface laptops today—the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro—but these aren't replacing the models that debuted last year. Instead, they're slightly more affordable and exist as new options within the Surface lineup. Microsoft says these Windows laptops are the thinnest and lightest Surface devices yet, with the longest battery life, too. On paper, they sound great, but choosing a Surface laptop is now more complex.
With an MSRP of $799 for the Surface Pro (12 Inch) and $899 for the Surface Laptop (13 Inch), they're cheaper than the 2024 Surface Laptop (7th Edition) and Surface Pro (11th Edition), both of which started at $999. A lower price means some compromises—the new laptops are equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus chip, with no option to upgrade to the more powerful Snapdragon X Elite. The screens are smaller, with lower screen resolutions and refresh rates.
Here's everything you need to know.
Unlike the Surface Laptop (7th Edition), which comes with the choice between a 13-inch or 15-inch screen size, the Surface Laptop is only available in one size. The screen measures exactly 13 inches (instead of 13.8 inches on the 7th edition). It sports a 60-Hz refresh rate with up to 400 nits of brightness and supports up to two 4K monitors (at 60 Hz).
There's a 1080p webcam, a fingerprint reader built into the power button, and a decent port selection: two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, and a 3.5-mm headphone jack. Microsoft did away with the Surface Connect Port, but the USB-C port supports fast charging (with a 60-watt charger or higher).
Inside is the Snapdragon X Plus processor, which was unveiled alongside the Surface Laptop (7th Edition) and Surface Pro (11th Edition). However, this chipset has fewer cores in the newer laptop—eight versus 10—so there is a small performance hit. Microsoft says it's up to 50 percent faster than the Surface Laptop 5, which the company anticipates most Surface buyers will be upgrading from. But this could also succeed the Surface Go line, which has always been the default choice if you wanted the most compact and portable machine. The new Surface Laptop has 16 GB of RAM, and storage starts at 256 GB but can be bumped to 512 GB.
Microsoft says the Surface Laptop "delivers the longest battery life of any Surface,” with up to 23 hours of video playback and up to 16 hours of web browsing. That's a little more than the claimed 20 hours of video playback and 13 hours of web browsing on the Surface Laptop (7th Edition). It accomplishes this feat despite being thinner and lighter, weighing 2.7 pounds, around 118 grams less.
It starts at $899 and is available for preorder, with official sales beginning May 20. What makes this machine perplexing? You can buy the Surface Laptop (7th Edition)—with 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and a 10-core Snapdragon X Plus chip, for less money right now at retailers like Best Buy and Amazon. That'll also net you a slightly bigger screen with a 120-Hz refresh rate and 600 nits of brightness (with a P3 color gamut), though you won't get the lighter and thinner build.
The new Surface Pro (12 Inch) is not a follow-up to last year's Surface Pro 11th Edition, but a slightly cheaper alternative. It retains the traditional 2-in-1 design, meaning you need to purchase the keyboard separately. The tablet comes with a built-in kickstand and a 12-inch LCD (with an up to 90-Hz refresh rate). On the front is a 1080p camera with Windows Hello sign-in authentication support, and on the back is a 10-megapixel camera. You can connect it to up to two 4K monitors. There's no option to add 5G connectivity, but it supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard.
Like the new Surface Laptop, it's powered by the Snapdragon X Plus (8-core) processor, which helps deliver what Microsoft claims is up to 16 hours of battery life for local video playback and 12 hours of web browsing. It has 16 gigabytes of RAM and the same storage options. It also has two USB-C ports and a 3.5-mm headphone jack.
The Surface Pro keyboard has been redesigned specifically for this model. It includes a matte palm rest, full-size backlit keys (with a dedicated Copilot and lock key), and a customizable precision touchpad with adaptive touch mode. Microsoft says it now rests and folds back completely flat against the tablet, making it easier to type, draw, or write. It supports the Surface Slim Pen 2 (sold separately). Unlike the other Surface Pro Keyboards, which have a slot to store the stylus, you can attach it to the back of the tablet magnetically, where it will wirelessly charge.
The Surface Pro (12 Inch) is available for preorder and starts at $799, with retail sales kicking off on May 20. Once again, you can find the Surface Pro (11th Edition) for around the same price these days with 256 GB of storage, 16 GB of RAM, and the slightly more powerful 10-core Snapdragon X Plus these days, not to mention the bigger and higher-resolution 120-Hz, 13-inch screen. But you lose out on the slimmer and thinner chassis—the newer Pro is 1.5 pounds versus last year's 1.97 pounds.
Presumably, the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro will see discounts during major sale events that will separate them from their flagship siblings and make them a better value.
The Surface Laptop and Surface Pro have the same artificial intelligence features as their pricier counterparts. That includes Windows Studio Effects, which offers creative filters; Eye Contact, which adjusts your eyes so they appear to look at the camera even if you're looking off to the side; Portrait Blur, for a blurred background during video calls; and Voice Focus, to enhance audio and reduce background noise. There's also CoCreator, a generative AI feature built into Paint that generates an image based on your drawing and the prompt you type in, plus Live Captions for instant real-time translation across video and audio calls.
They're also privy to the recently launched Recall feature in Windows 11. The feature captures your activity as a screenshot every few seconds. That way, it can pull up anything you've seen or done on your PC with a simple search query. However, the company delayed the rollout after watchdogs called it a “privacy nightmare.”
Microsoft has a few new AI features too. A new agent tool in Settings lets you describe an issue you're having with your PC and receive recommendations on how to address it. If you give it permission, you can also allow the PC to diagnose and repair problems. A Photos Relight feature in the Photos app lets you access lighting controls and built-in presets to edit your images.
You'll also find a Snipping Tool for screenshots (that allows you to tightly frame the exact thing you want to screenshot), along with a new Paint Sticker generator (to create custom stickers from a text prompt) and Paint Object Select (where you can pinpoint certain elements on the canvas and make edits)—both of which are rolling out to the Windows Insider Program first.
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Uncle Sam wants to see where its AI chips are going.
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U.S. Congressman and physicist Bill Foster plans to introduce a bill that will require advanced AI chipmakers like Nvidia to include a built-in location reporting system. According to Reuters, this system will use existing and readily available technology to find the general country-level location of an AI chip. In fact, two sources say that Alphabet is using something similar to track the location of its in-house Tensor AI chips across all its data centers to protect against theft and other security breaches.
The White House, under both the Biden and Trump administrations, has been enforcing bans against the export of advanced chips to China since 2022. It has been doing this to limit its rival's access to cutting-edge technology and help ensure the U.S.'s dominance in AI technology. Washington even recently expanded the export controls to include previously allowed chips like the MI308 and H20, resulting in an $800-million and $5.5-billion write-off for AMD and Nvidia, respectively.
However, the bans and sanctions have been criticized for being ineffective, with the former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo calling them “a fool's errand”. We've had verified reports of Chinese businesses smuggling advanced chips into mainland China, and the company behind DeepSeek, one of China's most advanced AI models, is accused of using smuggled Nvidia AI chips. Even the U.S. Senate found that the Bureau of Security and Industry (BIS), the agency in charge of export controls, was sorely lacking in resources and relied on voluntary compliance from chipmakers.
Rep. Foster's proposal aims to solve this issue by requiring AI chips to communicate with a secure computer server whenever they go online. According to the source, the time difference between when the chip sends the signal and when the server receives it is enough to determine its rough location. Reuters claims that independent technical experts say that the proposal by the congressman, who is a former particle physicist and has a doctorate in physics from Harvard University, is feasible and could potentially work.
However, the Congressman from Illinois wants to go beyond that. He also wants the chips to stop booting if they detect that they do not have the proper export licenses. This would be significantly more technically challenging than just finding a chip's location, but the representative says that “we can have more detailed discussions with the actual chip and module providers” to know how to implement it.
Requiring these technologies to be built into chips will likely get some pushback, especially when privacy is called into question. Nevertheless, this bill has reportedly bipartisan support, with representatives from both sides of the aisle supporting the concept.
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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He's been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he's been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
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Few foods are more American than apple pie, but the truth is, some of the country's favorite apple products aren't actually made in the United States. Apple juice, a perennial lunchroom staple, is a prime example. The vast majority of the apple juice Americans drink is imported from countries like China, and the Trump's administration's berserk tariff policies are now reshaping the market, potentially making beloved pome-based beverages more expensive or harder to find.
“The price of juice is already increasing,” Christopher Gerlach, an executive at the US Apple Association, a trade group representing the domestic apple industry, tells WIRED. Gerlach estimates the wholesale cost of apple juice concentrate has risen 33 percent this year compared to 2024—and he expects it to keep going up. The higher costs will impact more than just plain apple juice, since concentrate is a key ingredient in a wide variety of other juice mixes, like mixed berry and pear, and is also used as a sweetener in a variety of children's products, including baby food.
The Trump administration's protectionist policies have upended the global trading system as a whole. But the biggest impact so far has been on Chinese imports, which now face a new 145 percent tariff. The measure has driven up consumer prices and disrupted the supply chains for products ranging from baby gear to Christmas decorations to sex toys. While produce represents a relatively small portion of China's exports to the US overall, there are certain types of food and drink heavily sourced from the country, like garlic, seafood, and, yes, apple juice. While apples are not typically associated with China, farmers there began investing more in the crop in the 1980s as they looked for ways to diversify their incomes, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The US has plenty of domestic apple farms, but the industry focuses heavily on selling fresh fruits, which are typically more profitable. Each year, America exports around 16 million gallons of apple juice, but imports 430 million gallons, Gerlach says. For many years, China was the main place where the US sourced its apple juice, but Turkey has recently emerged as a close competitor. It represented 39 percent of US concentrated apple juice imports last year, while China accounted for 31 percent, according to Gerlach.
Data from the USDA suggest that Trump's tariffs have sparked a more dramatic shift in the US toward buying apple juice concentrate from Turkey. So far this year, Americans have imported around 92 million liters of unfrozen apple juice concentrate from China, compared to 29 million liters from Turkey. China saw a major spike in juice buying in January as importers raced to make purchases before the tariffs went into effect; now its sales have plummeted, while Turkey's are soaring. For the week of April 25, Turkey exported more than twice as much apple juice concentrate to the US as did mainland China.
Some juice sellers may be able to stave off financial crisis by pivoting to buying more of their supply from Turkey and other countries, but Gerlach warns that the strategy isn't foolproof. Turkey already has plenty of other major international buyers, like India, and may not have enough apple juice to make up for China. Even if it does, US importers will have to compete to buy Turkey's juice, which means securing good deals for the sweet golden liquid will be tough.
Importing agreements are often made months in advance, and some juice buyers may be contractually obligated to pay for existing orders from China, forcing them to find a way to contend with the added costs of the tariffs. For sellers who do have more flexibility, simply switching to made-in-America juice isn't a viable option, either. Gerlach says that US-based processors don't currently have the capacity to ramp up production to replace imported apple juice. “They're not going to be able to flip a switch and meet those domestic demands overnight,” he says.
Adam Lees, vice president of customs brokerage for the logistics company Alba Wheels Up International, agrees that domestic players aren't equipped to meet exponentially increased demand, especially in the short term. “Factories don't just pop up in months,” he says.
Some domestic apple processors are contemplating ramping up production, Gerlach says, motivated by the opportunity to sell their juice at higher-than-normal prices. “They know they could sell it at a premium if they went down that road,” he says.
Thus far, most large apple juice brands are staying quiet on whether they'll pass the added cost of tariffs on to their customers. Motts and Lassonde, which sells brands like Del Monte and Oasis, both declined to answer questions from WIRED about how they are responding to the Trump administration's trade policies. While the specifics are still up in the air, experts say consumers should brace to pay more for their favorite beverages. “You're either going to see shortages of these products, or you're going to see raised prices,” says Lees.
In the past week, President Trump has repeatedly insisted that American children should simply learn to live with fewer toys if tariffs make them more expensive. As the cost of apple juice and apple-juice-based products goes up as well, US families may be forced to make sacrifices in other areas, like cutting back on their favorite foods and drinks.
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Nvidia strongly opposes the AI Diffusion Rule, warns that it poses risks to U.S. AI global dominance.
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When it comes to long-term prosperity in the high-tech world, it's all about setting standards. Intel once set the standard with x86, PCIe, and USB and now the vast majority of devices use these technologies in one way or another. Nvidia now enjoys its investments in the CUDA ecosystem and is setting the standard in AI compute in general. To a large degree, Nvidia's efforts made the U.S. industry the leader in AI. However, containing AI hardware in the U.S. will provoke rapid development of competing AI ecosystems that can eventually outperform the one developed in America.
"We are at an inflection point: the United States needs to decide if it is going to continue to lead the global development and deployment of AI or if we are going to retreat and retrench," a remark by Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang (republished by Ray Wang reads) to the U.S. lawmakers reads. "America cannot lead by slowing down. If we step back, others will step in. And the global AI ecosystem will fragment — technologically, economically, and ideologically."
For now, Nvidia and its CUDA ecosystem set the standards for AI applications across the world, both for training and for inference. With products like GB200/GB300 NVL72 Nvidia can address companies that need on-premise AI deployments for their AI applications. Given the ubiquity of CUDA, such deployments are easy and relatively inexpensive. Nonetheless, Nvidia has domestic rivals, including traditional competitors like AMD and Intel as well as newcomers like D-Matrix and Tenstorrent. Most of their efforts are aimed at inference though, as Nvidia is the de facto king of AI training thanks to CUDA.
Thanks to the omnipresence of CUDA, Nvidia leads in AI not only in the U.S., but also in Europe and China. The vast majority of China's high-tech giants — Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent, just to name a few — use Nvidia hardware and virtually all European companies use Nvidia hardware.
Meanwhile, when it comes to China, Nvidia has major rivals both on the hardware and platform sides. On the hardware front, Nvidia has competitors like Biren Technology, InnoSilicon, and Moore Threads. These companies are quite formidable competitors, even though for now their market share is negligible. All three companies use PowerVR GPU IP developed by the U.K.-based Imagination Technologies and have loads of experience with GPU development, according to Jon Peddie, the head of Jon Peddie Research.
The founder of Moore Threads, Zhang Jianzhong (also known as Zhang Jian Zhong), previously worked at Nvidia: he was the general manager of Nvidia's operations in China.
The founder of Biren Technology, Li Bing, previously worked at Huawei and also had experience at other tech companies. Co-CEO of Biren Technology is Allen Lee (also known as Li Xinrong), who used to be vice president and general manager of AMD's China R&D Center. He joined the startup in 2021 as co-CEO, and now he oversees organizational management and product design.
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"Li Bing's background and expertise in the tech industry likely influenced his vision for Biren Technology, which focuses on developing high-performance GPUs for various applications," Peddie told Tom's Hardware.
But while Biren, InnoSilicon, and Moore Threads have rather good hardware, for now they lack an ecosystem that is comparable to Nvidia's CUDA. However, there is a company in China that can compete with Nvidia not only on the hardware side of matters, but also on the platform level: Huawei. Huawei has its Cloud Matrix 384 system, which it claims can outperform Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 rack-scale machine for AI. Perhaps more importantly, the company has its own AI-oriented, heterogeneous Compute Architecture for Neural Networks (CANN) platform designed specifically to use the potential of Huawei's HiSilicon Ascend AI processors.
Just like Nvidia's CUDA, Huawei's CANN offers a complete suite of development resources such as runtime systems, model-building tools, and compilers. It works with both Huawei's MindSpore platform and widely-used AI libraries like TensorFlow and PyTorch, making it flexible for developers. The framework includes a broad range of tuned computational components to speed up model execution and is also compatible with ONNX Runtime, allowing it to run ONNX-based models efficiently on the company's Ascend accelerators for AI.
Although CANN is a key part of Huawei's AI infrastructure, it has drawn criticism for being difficult to work with, mainly due to unstable performance, inadequate documentation, and reliability issues that complicate model training and deployment. Huawei has acknowledged these problems and is actively working to strengthen the platform and improve its usability. For now, imperfection of Huwei's CANN and significant efforts that are required to port programs from CUDA to CANN (several months and hundreds of developers) limit success of Huawei's hardware.
However, if Nvidia's GPUs will be unavailable for Chinese and European buyers, they will at least consider Huawei, or perhaps Biren, Innosilicon, or Moore Threads hardware. This will not only decrease Nvidia's revenues by tens of billions every year and its market capitalization by hundreds of billions, but could also eventually make its competitors from China as trend setters in the AI segment, the company believes.
"Regardless of how one feels about DeepSeek's open-source R1 model, it is a clear indication that innovation is moving rapidly around the world, with or without leading U.S. tech," the statement by Nvidia reads. "If U.S. platforms are absent, companies will turn to strategic competitors like Huawei to fill the gap. This is why leadership in AI depends not just on what we restrict — but on what we enable. Ecosystems are essential. It is not just about who can build the biggest data center or train the most advanced model. […]. One of Nvidia's key strengths is our global network of 6 million developers who build on our platforms. If we lose that ecosystem to our competitors, it will be almost impossible to get it back."
The new U.S. export rules for compute GPUs — known as the AI Diffusion Rule — come into effect on May 15. Under the Biden administration's AI Diffusion framework, unrestricted access to high-end AI chips like Nvidia's H100 is reserved for companies in the U.S. and a select group of 18 allied countries classified as 'Tier 1.' Companies in 'Tier 2' nations are subject to an annual limit of approximately 50,000 H100-class GPUs, unless they secure verified end user (VEU) approval. They can still import up to 1,700 units per year without a license, and these do not count toward the national quota. However, countries listed as 'Tier 3' — including China, Russia, and Macau — are essentially blocked from receiving such hardware due to arms embargo restrictions. The Trump administration is now reviewing this tier system to make it more straightforward and enforceable, and is rumored to make limitations for Tier 2 nations even stricter.
Not only will Nvidia cease to be able to sell its GPUs to China, which is one of its largest markets, but its Chinese customers will be forced to either use its GPUs in the cloud, or switch to processors developed in China, such as those designed by Huawei or one of the aforementioned companies. While this will slow down development of China's AI sector in the short term, it will give a strong boost for its AI hardware ecosystem in the mid and long-term future. Huawei already spends tens of billions of dollars on R&D every year. Once Huawei and others increase sales of their AI hardware, they will be able to invest more in development of their AI ecosystems, which will get more competitive against those developed by Nvidia and other American companies (such as AMD and Intel) than they are today.
Having China as a fortress and being able to sell its hardware elsewhere, Huawei and other Chinese companies will compete against Nvidia and other American entities for European and Middle-East AI hardware markets. What's more important, they will be able to set standards of the AI market and that will not only reduce Nvidia's influence on such standards, but it will greatly reduce American influence on AI development. AI leadership is about more than market share, it is about strategic control over future governance models.
"Today, the U.S. semiconductor industry is being pushed out of China, the world's largest market," the letter by Nvidia concludes. "On May 15th, if the AI Diffusion Rule comes into effect without significant changes, we will be forced to similarly retreat from the rest of the world."
The U.S. has already seen the consequences of ceding technological leadership, when Huawei gained a dominant foothold in global 5G deployments by offering cheaper and faster-to-deploy infrastructure. This serves as a cautionary example of how losing control over foundational standards can shift both market power and geopolitical influence. Nevertheless, whether the current administration has learnt from similar past mistakes remains to be seen.
Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom's Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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United States Customs and Border Protection is asking tech companies to send pitches for a real-time face recognition tool that would take photos of every single person in a vehicle at a border crossing, including anyone in the back seats, and match them to travel documents, according to a document posted in a federal register last week.
The request for information, or RIF, says that CBP already has a face recognition tool that takes a picture of a person at a port of entry and compares it to travel or identity documents that someone gives to a border officer, as well as other photos from those documents already “in government holdings.”
“Biometrically confirmed entries into the United States are added to the traveler's crossing record,” the document says.
An agency under the Department of Homeland Security, CBP says that its face recognition tool “is currently operating in the air, sea, and land pedestrian environments.” The agency's goal is to bring it to “the land vehicle environment.” According to a page on CBP's website updated last week, the agency is currently “testing” how to do so. The RIF says that these tests demonstrate that while this face recognition tool has “improved,” it isn't always able to get photos of every vehicle passenger, especially if they're in the second or third row.
“Human behavior, multiple passenger vehicle rows, and environmental obstacles all present challenges unique to the vehicle environment,” the document says. CBP says it wants a private vendor to provide it with a tool that would “augment the passenger images” and “capture 100% of vehicle passengers.”
Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, received a document from CBP via public record request that reveals the results of a 152-day test the agency conducted on its port of entry face recognition system from late 2021 to early 2022. The document Maass obtained was first reported by The Intercept.
Maas said that what stood out to him were the error rates. Cameras at the Anzalduas border crossing at Mexico's border with McAllen, Texas, captured photos of everyone in the car just 76 percent of the time, and of those people, just 81 percent met the “validation requirements” for matching their face with their identification documents.
The current iteration of the system matches a person's photo to their travel documents in what's known as one-to-one face recognition. The primary risk here, Maas says, is the system failing to recognize that someone matches their own documents. This differs from one-to-many face recognition, which police may use to identify a suspect based on a surveillance photo, where the primary risk is someone getting a false positive match and being falsely identified as a suspect.
Maas says it's unclear whether CBP's error rates primarily have to do with the cameras or the matching system itself. “We don't know what racial disparities, gender disparities, etc, come up with these systems,” he says.
As reported by The Intercept in 2024, the DHS's Science and Technology Directorate issued a request for information last August that's similar to the one that CBP posted last week. However, the DHS document currently appears to be unavailable.
Maas adds that it's important to remember that CBP's push to widen and improve its surveillance isn't unique to the current Trump administration.
“CBP surveillance strategy carries over from administration to administration—it always falls short, it always has vendor issues and contracting issues and waste issues and abuse issues,” Maas says. “What changes is often the rhetoric and the theater around it.”
DHS noted in a 2024 report that CBP has historically struggled to get “biographic and biometric” data from people leaving the country, particularly if they leave over land. This means it's hard for it to track people self-deporting from the country, which is something the administration is encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to do. CBP's recent request for information only mentions inbound vehicles, not outbound vehicles, meaning it's currently not set up to use face recognition to track self-deporations.
CBP did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.
CBP's request for information comes less than three weeks after 404 Media revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is paying the software company Palantir $30 million to build a platform that would allow the agency to perform “complete target analysis of known populations.” According to a contract justification published a few days later, the platform, called ImmigrationOS, would give ICE “near real-time visibility” on people self-deporting from the US, with the goal of having accurate numbers on how many people are doing so. However, ICE did not specify where it would get the data to power ImmigrationOS.
In the ICE document that justifies paying Palantir for ImmigrationOS, the agency does not specify where Palantir would get the data to power the tool. However, it does note that Palantir could create ImmigrationOS by configuring the case management system that the company has provided to ICE since 2014. This case management system integrates all of the information ICE may have about a person from investigative records or government databases, according to a government privacy assessment published in 2016.
It's unclear if the system may have integrated new data sources over the past decade. But at the time of the assessment, the system stored information about someone's physical attributes—like hair and eye color, height and weight, and any scars or tattoos—as well as any “location-related data” from “covert tracking devices,” and any data from license plate readers, which can provide a detailed history on where a person goes in their vehicle and when.
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A gadget's price for its size matters now more than ever. It seems more companies—including Microsoft—are starting to identify with the need for more capable laptops at prices people can actually afford. The Windows maker just dropped details on its new 12-inch Surface Pro and thinner 13-inch Surface Laptop that seem to fit the bill, at least on paper. With prices starting at under $1,000 (not including the Surface Pro's Flex Keyboard), Microsoft's own brand of computers could hit the sweet spot in the Venn diagram on looks, price, and performance.
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The 2025 Surface family includes two very familiar devices. The $900 Surface Laptop with its 13-inch touchscreen (1,920 x 1,280) has a traditional clamshell design, while the $800 Surface Pro 12 is Microsoft's headline-grabbing Windows tablet that converts into a laptop-like device thanks to a detachable keyboard. The new Surface Pro is $200 cheaper than last year's $1,000 11th-gen Surface Pro, but—and here comes the eye roll—you still have to buy a keyboard separately. The screen is also smaller at 12 inches (2,196 x 1,464) compared to the 13-inch display on last year's tablet. The more compact tablet does have a perk: it weighs 1.5 pounds compared to the Pro 11's two pounds.
Both the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop 13 run on the Snapdragon X Plus chip, Qualcomm's eight-core, ARM-based CPU variant introduced in the middle of 2024. Last year's Surface Pro renditions, alongside the 2024 Surface Laptop, included up to the Snapdragon X Elite chip, which is still Qualcomm's most powerful ARM-based processor. Otherwise, both the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop come packed with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage at base.
Microsoft says this CPU is supposed to offer a better starting price point and an upgrade path for those on earlier devices like the 2022 Surface Laptop. According to the company, the Snapdragon X Plus chip in the new Surface Laptop is 30% faster than the Intel Core i5-1235U in the 2022 Surface Laptop. Microsoft further claims this CPU can beat the M3 MacBook Air in some benchmarks, but it stopped short of making the same claims about the $1,000 MacBook Air M4. It's more evidence these big tech firms are willing to start competing on pricing that more people can entertain.
The new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop aren't launching with any x86-based Intel chips, though they could arrive later, like with last year's Surface Pro, which received an Intel Lunar Lake version earlier this year. Either way, Microsoft is sticking with Qualcomm's ARM chips that offer better battery life on average, though you'll eventually hit a wall with software compatibility, especially with games or even aging drivers.
The 12-inch Surface Pro will look very familiar if you've used any older version of the hybrid tablet-laptop design. It still includes a built-in kickstand that opens up to sit almost flat on a surface. Other than the shrunken size, the big change this go-around is that the Slim Pen no longer slots into the keyboard (again, sold separately). Instead, the Surface Pro tablet includes an indent in the back for you to slot the stylus. It makes sense, especially for creators who want to use the Surface as a Windows tablet more than a pint-sized PC.
However, you may need to find some dry earth to dig a shallow grave to bury your hoard of Surface Connect power cables. The other big change is the loss of the age-old Surface Connect port. Now, the Surface Pro relies only on USB-C with support for 45W fast charging. The Surface Pro's battery should last around 12 hours based on Microsoft's tests with active web browsing. The Surface Laptop should get closer to 16 hours before requiring a charge.
Just like last year's Surface Pro, the new model paints a pretty picture. The brilliantly blue sapphire color of the 2024 Surface Pro is replaced with a violet color that seems spot-on for spring. Both new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices also come in platinum or “ocean” colors. The latter is a blue-ish silver that reminds me way too much of Apple's “Sky Blue” on the MacBook Air M4.
The changes made to the Surface lineup are minimal, but there are some modifications that make sense. If you loathe the idea of losing Surface Connect, Microsoft confirmed it will continue selling last year's Surface models, at least for the near future. The next big question is whether these prices will hold with the overriding threat of Trump tariffs. Microsoft reps told us that “tariffs are a moving target for us” and declined to say more about whether we could see Surface price hikes in the near future.
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In a compelling Genomic Press interview published today, rising scientific star Dr. Michael Wheeler unveils revolutionary findings about how psychedelics reshape communication between the brain and immune system, potentially transforming treatments for psychiatric disorders and inflammatory diseases alike.
As an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Wheeler stands at the frontier of neuroimmunology, a field exploring how the nervous and immune systems interact. His groundbreaking research, recently validated in Nature (April 23, 2025; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08880-9), demonstrates that psychedelics like psilocybin don't just affect neurons: they fundamentally reshape immune responses tied to fear and stress.
"We found that astrocytes in the amygdala use a specific receptor called EGFR to limit stress-induced fear," explains Dr. Wheeler. "When chronic stress disrupts this signaling, it leads to a cascade involving brain-resident cells and immune cells that ultimately increases fear behavior. What is fascinating is that psychedelic compounds can reverse this entire process."
This finding represents a paradigm shift in understanding psychedelics' therapeutic potential. Rather than simply acting on neural pathways, these compounds appear to recalibrate entire neuroimmune circuits. Could this dual action explain why psychedelics show promise across diverse conditions from depression to addiction? And might they eventually prove useful for treating inflammatory disorders that have no apparent psychiatric component?
Dr. Wheeler's journey to this breakthrough began in an unexpected place, the Public Defender's office in Baltimore City. "I felt that the actions of the people we defended were so inextricably linked with their environmental circumstances, inclusive of physical or emotional abuse beyond their control, that I was desperate to understand the inner workings of their minds," Dr. Wheeler reflects.
This early experience shaped his scientific mission to unravel how environmental factors-including stress and trauma-reshape our internal neurobiology. Following this passion, he made the courageous decision to join the lab of an immunologist during his postdoctoral training despite having no background in the field.
"One of the most intimidating choices I made was joining the lab of an Immunologist during my post-doc," notes Dr. Wheeler. "I only trained in Neuroscience at that point, so when I looked at Francisco's papers on dendritic cells and T cells, I was nervous about what I was getting into."
This interdisciplinary leap proved transformative. By bringing together insights from neuroscience and immunology, Dr. Wheeler identified previously hidden communication channels between the brain and immune system that may help explain why traditional psychiatric treatments often yield inconsistent results.
Dr. Wheeler's laboratory employs cutting-edge technologies including genomic screening, single-cell analysis, and behavioral studies to create what he describes as a "wiring diagram" of brain-immune communication.
His team's recent Nature publication demonstrates that when chronic stress disrupts normal signaling in the amygdala-a key brain region for processing fear-it triggers an inflammatory cascade involving immune cells in the meninges (the protective membranes surrounding the brain). Remarkably, psychedelics can interrupt this process at multiple points, reducing both immune cell accumulation and fear behaviors.
This research raises intriguing questions about traditional approaches to psychiatric disorders. If mental health conditions have significant immune components, might we need to rethink treatment strategies that focus exclusively on neurotransmitters? Could new therapeutic agents that target both neural and immune pathways prove more effective than current options?
Looking ahead, Dr. Wheeler envisions a revolution in thinking about neuropsychiatric disorders. "I am excited about the prospect of identifying brain-body communication loops as a fundamental feature of physiology," he states. "Often, we think of mental health disorders based on their behavioral symptoms. However, we are likely leaving much underlying biology on the table by focusing solely on the brain."
Dr. Wheeler emphasizes that his success stems from collaborative team science rather than solitary genius. As a laboratory leader, he values bringing together people with diverse scientific backgrounds to create synergistic insights that no individual could achieve alone.
"My favorite part is bringing people into the lab and onto our team with completely different scientific (and personal) backgrounds to have everyone work together," says Dr. Wheeler. "This facilitates cross-pollination between ideas that could only happen on the organizational level."
This approach reflects Dr. Wheeler's conviction, formed during his undergraduate years at Johns Hopkins, that "you cannot do great science alone, everyone needs a great team." It's a philosophy that has guided his academic journey and research approach.
Dr. Michael Wheeler's Genomic Press interview is part of a larger series called Innovators & Ideas that highlights the people behind today's most influential scientific breakthroughs. Each interview in the series offers a blend of cutting-edge research and personal reflections, providing readers with a comprehensive view of the scientists shaping the future. By combining a focus on professional achievements with personal insights, this interview style invites a richer narrative that both engages and educates readers. This format provides an ideal starting point for profiles that delve into the scientist's impact on the field, while also touching on broader human themes. More information on the research leaders and rising stars featured in our Innovators & Ideas -- Genomic Press Interview series can be found in our publications website: https://genomicpress.kglmeridian.com/.
The Genomic Press Interview in Psychedelics titled "Michael A. Wheeler: Psychedelics and neuroimmune circuits-what a strange trip, indeed," is freely available available via Open Access on 6 May 2025 in Psychedelics at the following hyperlink: https://doi.org/10.61373/pp025k.0011.
Genomic Press
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Retail pharmacies excluded from Medicare Part D networks maintained by drug benefits middlemen were much more likely to close over the past decade, according to new research from USC published in Health Affairs.
Independent pharmacies and those located in low-income, Black or Latino communities were more likely to be excluded from "preferred" pharmacy networks, putting them at higher risk of closure, researchers also found.
The study is the first to examine how substantial growth of preferred pharmacy networks in Medicare's prescription drug benefit may have contributed to the struggles of retail pharmacies, which the researchers in an earlier study found have closed in unprecedented numbers. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which control drug benefits on behalf of employers and insurers, steer beneficiaries away from non-preferred pharmacies by imposing higher out-of-pocket costs at those locations.
The use of preferred pharmacy networks tripled to 44% among Medicare Advantage drug plans over the past decade and grew from 70% to 98% among stand-alone Medicare drug plans, researchers found. This shift coincided with a wave of mergers involving the nation's largest PBMs and retail pharmacy chains, which may have incentivized PBMs to nudge patients to pharmacies they are affiliated with - and away from competitors. The Federal Trade Commission in an interim report last year alleged that PBMs "routinely create narrow and preferred pharmacy networks" to favor their own pharmacies and exclude rivals, and Arkansas recently passed a first-in-the-nation law banning PBMs from owning or operating pharmacies.
"Our study demonstrates that pharmacy networks in Medicare Part D - which are designed by PBMs - are contributing to the growing problem of pharmacy closures, particularly in communities that already lack convenient access to pharmacies," said study senior author Dima Mazen Qato, a senior scholar at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics and the Hygeia Centennial Chair at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Researchers analyzed pharmacy closures between 2014 and 2023. Among their key findings:
"Our findings demonstrate that there is a need for federal PBM reform to expand preferred pharmacy networks," said the study's first author, Jenny Guadamuz, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health. "New legislation might prove elusive, but there may be room for regulator actions."
The researchers point to actions the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could take, including considering provisions that ensure Part D plans meet preferred pharmacy access standards and mandating preferred status. Regulators and policymakers could also mandate increases in pharmacy reimbursement, especially for critical access pharmacies at risk for closure and if they are serving "pharmacy deserts."
University of Southern California
Guadamuz, J. S., et al. (2025). Medicare Part D Preferred Pharmacy Networks And The Risk For Pharmacy Closure, 2014–23. Health Affairs. doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01452.
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Young people with a diagnosable mental health condition report differences in their experiences of social media compared to those without a condition, including greater dissatisfaction with online friend counts and more time spent on social media sites.
This is according to a new study led by the University of Cambridge, which suggests that adolescents with "internalizing" conditions such as anxiety and depression report feeling particularly affected by social media.
Young people with these conditions are more likely to report comparing themselves to others on social media, feeling a lack of self-control over time spent on the platforms, as well as changes in mood due to the likes and comments received.
Researchers found that adolescents with any mental health condition report spending more time on social media than those without a mental health condition, amounting to an average of roughly 50 minutes extra on a typical day.
The study, led by Cambridge's Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU), analysed data from a survey of 3,340 adolescents in the UK aged between 11 and 19 years old, conducted by NHS Digital in 2017.
It is one of the first studies on social media use among adolescents to utilise multi-informant clinical assessments of mental health. These were produced by professional clinical raters interviewing young people, along with their parents and teachers in some cases.
"The link between social media use and youth mental health is hotly debated, but hardly any studies look at young people already struggling with clinical-level mental health symptoms," said Luisa Fassi, a researcher at Cambridge's MRC CBU and lead author of the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
"Our study doesn't establish a causal link, but it does show that young people with mental health conditions use social media differently than young people without a condition.
"This could be because mental health conditions shape the way adolescents interact with online platforms, or perhaps social media use contributes to their symptoms. At this stage, we can't say which comes first – only that these differences exist," Fassi said.
The researchers developed high benchmarks for the study based on existing research into sleep, physical activity and mental health. Only findings with comparable levels of association to how sleep and exercise differ between people with and without mental health conditions were deemed significant.
While mental health was measured with clinical-level assessments, social media use came from questionnaires completed by study participants, who were not asked about specific platforms.
As well as time spent on social media, all mental health conditions were linked to greater dissatisfaction with the number of online friends. "Friendships are crucial during adolescence as they shape identity development," said Fassi.
"Social media platforms assign a concrete number to friendships, making social comparisons more conspicuous. For young people struggling with mental health conditions, this may increase existing feelings of rejection or inadequacy."
Researchers looked at differences in social media use between young people with internalising conditions, such as anxiety, depression and PTSD, and externalising conditions, such as ADHD or conduct disorders.
The majority of differences in social media use were reported by young people with internalising conditions. For example, "social comparison" – comparing themselves to others online – was twice as high in adolescents with internalising conditions (48%, around one in two) than for those without a mental health condition (24%, around one in four).
Adolescents with internalising conditions were also more likely to report mood changes in response to social media feedback (28%, around 1 in 4) compared to those without a mental health condition (13%, around 1 in 8). They also reported lower levels of self-control over time spent on social media and a reduced willingness to be honest about their emotional state when online.
"Some of the differences in how young people with anxiety and depression use social media reflect what we already know about their offline experiences. Social comparison is a well-documented part of everyday life for these young people, and our study shows that this pattern extends to their online world as well," Fassi said.
By contrast, other than time spent on social media, researchers found few differences between young people with externalising conditions and those without a condition.
"Our findings provide important insights for clinical practice, and could help to inform future guidelines for early intervention," said Cambridge's Dr Amy Orben, senior author of the study.
"However, this study has only scratched the surface of the complex interplay between social media use and mental health. The fact that this is one of the first large-scale and high-quality studies of its kind shows the lack of systemic investment in this space."
Added Fassi: "So many factors can be behind why someone develops a mental health condition, and it's very hard to get at whether social media use is one of them."
"A huge question like this needs lots of research that combines experimental designs with objective social media data on what young people are actually seeing and doing online."
"We need to understand how different types of social media content and activities affect young people with a range of mental health conditions such as those living with eating disorders, ADHD, or depression. Without including these understudied groups, we risk missing the full picture."
University of Cambridge
Fassi, L., et al. (2025) Social media use in adolescents with and without mental health conditions. Nature Human Behavior. doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02134-4.
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Light conversion technology developed by University of Queensland researchers will be used for wearable X-ray devices that make respiratory scans more comfortable for young children.
Associate Professor Jingwei Hou from UQ's School of Chemical Engineering has been awarded a $1.6 million Investigator grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to produce a flexible, glass-based X-ray imaging detector that can be worn in a hoodie or blanket to provide a quick and accurate picture of a child's lungs.
Dr. Hou said the project was inspired by the thought of his own young children being distressed by a noisy MRI machine and potentially having to be sedated or restrained in order to obtain an accurate scan.
Staying still during a lengthy scan under a big machine isn't easy for adults, let alone young, overwhelmed children who are already unwell and distressed in an unfamiliar and daunting clinical environment.
Unfortunately this often means sedation or general anaesthesia is required to keep children still so the scan is accurate, which introduces additional risks and complexities.''
Dr. Jingwei Hou, Associate Professor from UQ's School of Chemical Engineering
Dr. Hou said scanning was a crucial process in the treatment of conditions such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and chronic lung disease, which are among the most critical health issues faced by premature babies, infants and children under 5 - particularly First Nations children.
But he said current X-ray technology merely captures a flat projection of a 3D object, meaning numerous scans from different angles are required to render computed tomography (CT) results, potentially leading to high radiation exposure.
To solve the issue, Dr Hou will adapt his patented quantum dot hybrid glass technology into thin film strips that that conform to the contour and movement of a child's body and can be worn like a favourite blanket or jumper.
"My quantum dot technology makes use of a family of materials known for their unparalleled light conversion and emission efficiency," Dr Hou said.
"By assembling these materials into thin, flexible X-ray detectors I can create a wearable X-ray detector that is both comfortable while still providing high-resolution imaging of lung structure."
An ARC Future Fellow, Dr Hou said the project has potential to be adapted for a range of medical imaging applications, including other paediatric conditions and adult diseases where rapid, high-resolution imaging was critical.
However the most pressing issue in his mind is to ease the discomfort and stress faced by young children during an already difficult time.
"As a father, it is not nice to think of my children going through an uncomfortable scanning process that could involve sedating or restraining them," Dr. Hou said.
"For a while I have thought there has to be a better way of doing this, and now I think we've found it."
Dr. Hou's Investigator grant covers salaries and costs for 5 years of research and testing, after which it is hoped the system will be ready for clinical trials.
The University of Queensland
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Storm clouds hung low above a community center in Jackson, where pastor Andre Devine invited people inside for lunch. Hoagies with smoked turkey and ham drew the crowd, but several people lingered for free preventive health care: tests for HIV and other diseases, flu shots, and blood pressure and glucose monitoring.
Between greetings, Devine, executive director of the nonprofit group Hearts for the Homeless, commiserated with his colleagues about the hundreds of thousands of dollars their groups had lost within a couple of weeks, swept up in the Trump administration's termination of research dollars and clawback of more than $11 billion from health departments across the country.
Devine would have to scale back food distribution for people in need. And his colleagues at the nonprofit health care group My Brother's Keeper were worried they'd have to shutter the group's mobile clinic — an RV offering HIV tests, parked beside the community center that morning. Several employees had already been furloughed and the cuts kept coming, said June Gipson, CEO of My Brother's Keeper.
"People can't work without being paid," she said.
The directors of other community-based groups in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee told KFF Health News they too had reduced their spending on HIV testing and outreach because of delayed or slashed federal funds — or they were making plans to do so, anticipating cuts to come.
Scaling back these efforts could prove tragic, Gipson said. Without an extra boost of support to get tested or stay on treatment, many people living with HIV will grow sicker and stand a greater chance of infecting others.
President Donald Trump, in his first term, promised to end America's HIV epidemic — and he put the resources of the federal government behind the effort. This time, he has deployed the powers of his office to gut funding, abandoning those communities at highest risk of HIV.
Trump's earlier efforts targeted seven Southern states, including Mississippi, where funds went to community groups and health departments that tailor interventions to historically underserved communities that face discrimination and have less access to quality education, health care, stable income, and generational wealth. Such factors help explain why Black people accounted for 38% of HIV diagnoses in the United States in 2023, despite representing only 14% of the population, and also why half of the country's new HIV infections occur in the South.
Now, Trump is undermining HIV efforts by barring funds from programs built around diversity, equity, and inclusion. A Day One executive order said they represent "immense public waste and shameful discrimination."
Since then, his administration has cut millions of dollars in federal grants to health departments, universities, and nonprofit organizations that do HIV work. And in April, it eliminated half of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 10 HIV branch offices, according to an email to grant recipients, reviewed by KFF Health News, from the director of the CDC's Division of HIV Prevention. The layoffs included staff who had overseen the rollout of HIV grants to health departments and community-based groups, like My Brother's Keeper.
The CDC provides more than 90% of all federal funding for HIV prevention — about $1 billion annually. The Trump administration's May 2 budget proposal for fiscal 2026 takes aim at DEI initiatives, including in its explanation for cutting $3.59 billion from the CDC. Although the proposal doesn't mention HIV prevention specifically, the administration's drafted plan for HHS, released mid-April, eliminates all prevention funding at the CDC, as well as funding for Trump's initiative to end the epidemic.
Eliminating federal funds for HIV prevention would lead to more than 143,000 additional people in the U.S. becoming infected with HIV within five years, and about 127,000 additional people who die of AIDS-related causes, according to estimates from the Foundation for AIDS Research, a nonprofit known as amfAR. Excess medical costs would exceed $60 billion, it said.
Eldridge Dwayne Ellis, the coordinator of the mobile testing clinic at My Brother's Keeper, said curbing the group's services goes beyond HIV.
"People see us as their only outlet, not just for testing but for confidential conversations, for a shoulder to cry on," he said. "I don't understand how someone, with the stroke of a pen, could just haphazardly write off the health of millions."
Ellis came into his role in the mobile clinic haphazardly, when he worked as a construction worker. Suddenly dizzy and unwell on a job, a co-worker suggested he visit the organization's brick-and-mortar clinic nearby. He later applied for a position with My Brother's Keeper, inspired by its efforts to give people support to help themselves.
For example, Ellis described a young man who visited the mobile clinic recently who had been kicked out of his home and was sleeping on couches or on the street. Ellis thought of friends he'd known in similar situations that put them at risk of HIV by increasing the likelihood of transactional sex or substance use disorders.
When a rapid test revealed HIV, the young man fell silent. "The quiet tears hurt worse — it's the dread of mortality," Ellis said. "I tried to be as strong as possible to let him know his life is not over, that this wasn't a death sentence."
Ellis and his team enrolled the man into HIV care that day and stayed in touch. Otherwise, Ellis said, he might not have had the means or fortitude to seek treatment on his own and adhere to daily HIV pills. Not only is that deadly for people with HIV, it's bad for public health. HIV experts use the phrase "treatment as prevention" because most new infections derive from people who aren't adhering to treatment well enough to be considered virally suppressed — which keeps the disease from spreading.
Only a third of people living with HIV in Mississippi were virally suppressed in 2022. Nationally, that number is about 65%. That's worse than in eastern and southern Africa, where 78% of people with HIV aren't spreading the virus because they're on steady treatment.
My Brother's Keeper is one of many groups improving such numbers by helping people get tested and stay on medication. But the funding cuts in Washington have curtailed their work. The first loss was a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, not even two years into a 10-year project. "Programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry," the NIH said in a letter reviewed by KFF Health News.
My Brother's Keeper then lost a CDC award to reduce health disparities — a grant channeled through the Mississippi state health department — that began with the group's work during the covid pandemic but had broadened to screening and care for HIV, heart disease, and diabetes. These are some of the maladies that account for why low-income Black people in the Deep South die sooner, on average, than those who are white. According to a recent study, the former's life expectancy was just 68 years in 2021, on par with the average in impoverished nations like Rwanda and Myanmar.
The group then lost CDC funding that covered the cost of laboratory work to detect HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in patients' blood samples. Mississippi has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases among states, in part because people spread infections when they aren't tested and treated.
"The labs are $200 to $600 per person," Gipson said, "so now we can't do that without passing the cost to the patient, and some can't pay."
Two other CDC grants on HIV prevention, together worth $841,000, were unusually delayed.
Public health specialists close to the CDC, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation, said they were aware of delays in HIV prevention funding, despite court orders to unfreeze payments for federal grants in January and February. "The faucet was being turned off at a higher level than at the CDC," one specialist said. The delays have now been compounded, they said, by the gutting of that agency's HIV workforce in April.
"I know of many organizations reliant on subcontracted federal funds who have not been paid for the work they've done, or whose funding has been terminated," said Dafina Ward, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition.
To reach the underserved, these groups offer food, housing assistance, bus passes, disease screening, and a sense of community. A network of the groups was fostered, in part, by Trump's initiative to end the epidemic. And it showed promise: From 2017 to 2022, new HIV infections decreased by 21% in the cities and the Southern states it targeted.
Disparities in infections were still massive, with the rate of HIV diagnoses about eight times as high for Black people as white people, and the South remained hardest hit. Ward was hopeful at the start of this year, however, as testing became more widespread and HIV prevention drugs — called preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — slowly gained popularity. But her outlook has shifted and she fears that grassroots organizations might not weather the funding turmoil.
"We're seeing an about-face of what it means to truly work towards ending HIV in this country," she said.
Southeast of Jackson, in Hattiesburg, Sean Fortenberry tears up as he walks into a small room used until recently for HIV testing. He has kept his job at Mississippi's AIDS Services Coalition by shifting his role but agonizes about the outcome. When Fortenberry tested positive for HIV in 2007, he said, his family and doctor saved his life.
"I never felt that I was alone, and that was really, really important," he said. "Other people don't have that, so when I came across this position, I was gung-ho. I wanted to help."
But the coalition froze its HIV testing clinic and paused mobile testing at homeless shelters, colleges, and churches late last year. Kathy Garner, the group's executive director, said the Mississippi health department — which funds the coalition with CDC's HIV prevention dollars — told her to pause outreach in October before the state renewed the group's annual HIV prevention contract.
Kendra Johnson, communicable diseases director at Mississippi's health department, said that delays in HIV prevention funds were initially on the department's end because it was short on administrative staff. Then Trump took office. "We were working with our federal partners to ensure that our new objectives were in line with new HIV prevention activities," Johnson said. "And we ran into additional delays due to paused communications at the federal level."
The AIDS coalition remains afloat largely because of federal money from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program for treatment and from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "If most of these federal dollars are cut, we would have to close," Garner said.
The group provides housing or housing assistance to roughly 400 people each year. Research shows that people in stable housing adhere much better to HIV treatment and are far less likely to die than unhoused people with HIV.
Funding cuts have shaken every state, but the South is acutely vulnerable when it comes to HIV, said Gregorio Millett, director of public policy at amfAR. Southern states have the highest level of poverty and a severe shortage of rural clinics, and several haven't expanded Medicaid so that more low-income adults have health insurance.
Further, Southern states aren't poised to make up the difference. Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri put zero state funds into HIV prevention last year, according to NASTAD, an association of public health officials who administer HIV and hepatitis programs. In contrast, about 40% of Michigan's HIV prevention budget is provided by the state, 50% of Colorado's HIV prevention budget, and 88% of New York's.
"When you are in the South, you need the federal government," said Gipson, from My Brother's Keeper. "When we had slavery, we needed the federal government. When we had the push for civil rights, we needed the federal government. And we still need the federal government for health care," she said. "The red states are going to suffer, and we're going to start suffering sooner than anyone else."
When asked about cuts and delays to HIV prevention funding, the CDC directed queries to HHS. The department's director of communications, Andrew Nixon, replied in an email: "Critical HIV/AIDS programs will continue under the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) as a part of Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy's vision to streamline HHS to better serve the American people."
Nixon did not reply to a follow-up question on whether the Trump administration considers HIV prevention critical.
On April 4, Gipson received a fraction of her delayed HIV prevention funds from the CDC. But Gipson said she was afraid to hire back staff amid the turmoil.
Like the directors of many other community organizations, Gipson is going after grants from foundations and companies. Pharmaceutical firms such as Gilead and GSK that produce HIV drugs are among the largest contributors of non-governmental funds for HIV testing, prevention, and care, but private funding for HIV has never come close to the roughly $40 billion that the federal government allocated to HIV annually.
"If the federal government withdraws some or all of its support, the whole thing will collapse," said Alice Riener, CEO of the community-based organization CrescentCare in Louisiana. "What you see in Mississippi is the beginning of that, and what's so concerning is the infrastructure we've built will collapse quickly but take decades to rebuild."
Southern health officials are reeling from cuts because state budgets are already tight. Mississippi's state health officer, Daniel Edney, spoke with KFF Health News on the day the Trump administration terminated $11 billion in covid-era funds intended to help states improve their public health operations. "There's not a lot of fat, and we're cutting it to the bone right now," Edney said.
Mississippi needed this boost, Edney said, because the state ranks among the lowest in health metrics including premature death, access to clinical care, and teen births. But Edney noted hopeful trends: The state had recently moved from 50th to 49th worst in health rankings, and its rate of new HIV cases was dropping.
"The science tells us what we need to do to identify and care for patients, and we're improving," he said. "But trends can change very quickly on us, so we can't take our foot off the gas pedal."
If that happens, researchers say, the comeback of HIV will go unnoticed at first, as people at the margins of society are infected silently before they're hospitalized. As untreated infections spread, the rise will eventually grow large enough to make a dent in national statistics, a resurgence that will cost lives and take years, if not decades, to reverse.
Outside the community center on that stormy March morning, pastor Devine lamented not just the loss of his grant from the health department, but a $1 billion cut to food distribution programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He rattled off consequences he feared: People relying on food assistance would be forced to decide between buying groceries, paying bills, or seeing a doctor, driving them further into poverty, into emergency rooms, into crime.
Deja Abdul-Haqq, a program director at My Brother's Keeper, nodded along as he spoke. "So goes Mississippi, so goes the rest of the United States," Abdul-Haqq said. "Struggles may start here, but they spread."
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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When the news broke on Jan. 31 that a New York physician had been indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, it stoked fear across the network of doctors and medical clinics who engage in similar work.
“It's scary. It's frustrating,” said Angel Foster, co-founder of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, a clinic near Boston that mails mifepristone and misoprostol pills to patients in states with abortion bans. But, Foster added, “it's not entirely surprising.”
Ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion providers like her had been expecting prosecution or another kind of legal challenge from states with abortion bans, she said.
“It was unclear when those tests would come, and would it be against an individual provider or a practice or organization?” she said. “Would it be a criminal indictment, or would it be a civil lawsuit," or even an attack on licensure? she wondered. "All of that was kind of unknown, and we're starting to see some of this play out.”
The indictment also sparked worry among abortion providers like Kohar Der Simonian, medical director for Maine Family Planning. The clinic doesn't mail pills into states with bans, but it does treat patients who travel from those states to Maine for abortion care.
“It just hit home that this is real, like this could happen to anybody, at any time now, which is scary,” Der Simonian said.
Der Simonian and Foster both know the indicted doctor, Margaret Carpenter.
“I feel for her. I very much support her,” Foster said. “I feel very sad for her that she has to go through all of this.”
On Jan. 31, Carpenter became the first U.S. doctor criminally charged for providing abortion pills across state lines — a medical practice that grew after the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision on June 24, 2022, which overturned Roe.
Since Dobbs, 12 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, and an additional 10 have outlawed the procedure after a certain point in pregnancy, but before a fetus is viable.
Carpenter was indicted alongside a Louisiana mother who allegedly received the mailed package and gave the pills prescribed by Carpenter to her minor daughter.
The teen wanted to keep the pregnancy and called 911 after taking the pills, according to an NPR and KFF Health News interview with Tony Clayton, the Louisiana local district attorney prosecuting the case. When police responded, they learned about the medication, which carried the prescribing doctor's name, Clayton said.
On Feb. 11, Louisiana's Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed an extradition warrant for Carpenter. He later posted a video arguing she “must face extradition to Louisiana, where she can stand trial and justice will be served.”
New York's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, countered by releasing her own video, confirming she was refusing to extradite Carpenter. The charges carry a possible five-year prison sentence.
“Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” Hochul said.
Eight states — New York, Maine, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — have passed laws since 2022 to protect doctors who mail abortion pills out of state, and thereby block or “shield” them from extradition in such cases. But this is the first criminal test of these relatively new “shield laws.”
The telemedicine practice of consulting with remote patients and prescribing them medication abortion via the mail has grown in recent years — and is now playing a critical role in keeping abortion somewhat accessible in states with strict abortion laws, according to research from the Society of Family Planning, a group that supports abortion access.
Doctors who prescribe abortion pills across state lines describe facing a new reality in which the criminal risk is no longer hypothetical. The doctors say that if they stop, tens of thousands of patients would no longer be able to end early pregnancies safely at home, under the care of a U.S. physician. But the doctors could end up in the crosshairs of a legal clash over the interstate practice of medicine when two states disagree on whether people have a right to end a pregnancy.
Maine Family Planning, a network of clinics across 19 locations, offers abortions, birth control, gender-affirming care, and other services. One patient recently drove over 17 hours from South Carolina, a state with a six-week abortion ban, Der Simonian said.
For Der Simonian, that case illustrates how desperate some of the practice's patients are for abortion access. It's why she supported Maine's 2024 shield law, she said.
Maine Family Planning has discussed whether to start mailing abortion medication to patients in states with bans, but it has decided against it for now, according to Kat Mavengere, a clinic spokesperson.
Reflecting on Carpenter's indictment, Der Simonian said it underscored the stakes for herself — and her clinic — of providing any abortion care to out-of-state patients. Shield laws were written to protect against the possibility that a state with an abortion ban charges and tries to extradite a doctor who performed a legal, in-person procedure on someone who had traveled there from another state, according to a review of shield laws by the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.
“It is a fearful time to do this line of work in the United States right now,” Der Simonian said. “There will be a next case.” And even though Maine's shield law protects abortion providers, she said, “you just don't know what's going to happen.”
Data shows that in states with total or six-week abortion bans, an average of 7,700 people a month were prescribed and took mifepristone and misoprostol to end their pregnancies by out-of-state doctors practicing in states with shield laws. The data, covering the second quarter of 2024, is part of a #WeCount report estimating the volume and types of abortions in the U.S., conducted by the Society of Family Planning.
Among Louisiana residents, nearly 60% of abortions took place via telemedicine in the second half of 2023 (the most recent period for which estimates are available), giving Louisiana the highest rate of telemedicine abortions among states that passed strict bans after Dobbs, according to the #WeCount survey.
Organizations like the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, known as the MAP, are responding to the demand for remote care. The MAP was launched after the Dobbs ruling, with the mission of writing prescriptions for patients in other states.
During 2024, the MAP says, it was mailing abortion medications to about 500 patients a month. In the new year, the monthly average has grown to 3,000 prescriptions a month, said Foster, the group's co-founder.
The majority of the MAP's patients — 80% — live in Texas or states in the Southeast, a region blanketed with near-total abortion restrictions, Foster said.
But the recent indictment from Louisiana will not change the MAP's plans, Foster said. The MAP currently has four staff doctors and is hiring one more.
“I think there will be some providers who will step out of the space, and some new providers will step in. But it has not changed our practice,” Foster said. “It has not changed our intention to continue to practice.”
The MAP's organizational structure was designed to spread potential liability, Foster said.
“The person who orders the pills is different than the person who prescribes the pills, is different from the person who ships the pills, is different from the person who does the payments,” she explained.
In 22 states and Washington, D.C., Democratic leaders helped establish shield laws or similarly protective executive orders, according to the UCLA School of Law review of shield laws.
The review found that in eight states, the shield law applies to in-person and telemedicine abortions. In the other 14 states plus Washington, D.C., the protections do not explicitly extend to abortion via telemedicine.
Most of the shield laws also apply to civil lawsuits against doctors. Over a month before Louisiana indicted Carpenter, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a civil suit against her. A Texas judge ruled against Carpenter on Feb. 13, imposing penalties of more than $100,000.
By definition, state shield laws cannot protect doctors when they leave the state. If they move or even travel elsewhere, they lose the first state's protection and risk arrest in the destination state, and maybe extradition to a third state.
Physicians doing this type of work accept there are parts of the U.S. where they should no longer go, said Julie F. Kay, a human rights lawyer who helps doctors set up telemedicine practices.
“There's really a commitment not to visit those banned and restricted states,” said Kay, who worked with Carpenter to help start the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.
“We didn't have anybody going to the Super Bowl or Mardi Gras or anything like that,” Kay said of the doctors who practice abortion telemedicine across state lines.
She said she has talked to other interested doctors who decided against doing it “because they have an elderly parent in Florida, or a college student somewhere, or family in the South.” Any visits, even for a relative's illness or death, would be too risky.
“I don't use the word ‘hero' lightly or toss it around, but it's a pretty heroic level of providing care,” Kay said.
Carpenter's case remains unresolved. New York's rebuff of Louisiana's extradition request shows the state's shield law is working as designed, according to David Cohen and Rachel Rebouché, law professors with expertise in abortion laws.
Louisiana officials, for their part, have pushed back in social media posts and media interviews.
“It is not any different than if she had sent fentanyl here. It's really not,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told Fox 8 News in New Orleans. “She sent drugs that are illegal to send into our state.”
Louisiana's next step would be challenging New York in federal courts, according to legal experts across the political spectrum.
NPR and KFF Health News asked Clayton, the Louisiana prosecutor who charged Carpenter, whether Louisiana has plans to do that. Clayton declined to answer.
A major problem with the new shield laws is that they challenge the basic fabric of U.S. law, which relies on reciprocity between states, including in criminal cases, said Thomas Jipping, a senior legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation, which supports a national abortion ban.
“This actually tries to undermine another state's ability to enforce its own laws, and that's a very grave challenge to this tradition in our country,” Jipping said. “It's unclear what legal issues, or potentially constitutional issues, it may raise.”
But other legal scholars disagree with Jipping's interpretation. The U.S. Constitution requires extradition only for those who commit crimes in one state and then flee to another state, said Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law.
Telemedicine abortion providers aren't located in states with abortion bans and have not fled from those states — therefore they aren't required to be extradited back to those states, Cohen said. If Louisiana tries to take its case to federal court, he said, “they're going to lose because the Constitution is clear on this.”
“The shield laws certainly do undermine the notion of interstate cooperation, and comity, and respect for the policy choices of each state,” Cohen said, “but that has long been a part of American law and history.”
When states make different policy choices, sometimes they're willing to give up those policy choices to cooperate with another state, and sometimes they're not, he said.
The conflicting legal theories will be put to the test if this case goes to federal court, other legal scholars said.
“It probably puts New York and Louisiana in real conflict, potentially a conflict that the Supreme Court is going to have to decide,” said Rebouché, dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Rebouché, Cohen, and law professor Greer Donley worked together to draft a proposal for how state shield laws might work. Connecticut passed the first law — though it did not include protections specifically for telemedicine. It was signed by the state's governor in May 2022, over a month before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, in anticipation of potential future clashes between states over abortion rights.
In some shield-law states, there's a call to add more protections in response to Carpenter's indictment.
New York state officials have. On Feb. 3, Hochul signed a law that allows physicians to name their clinic as the prescriber — instead of using their own names — on abortion medications they mail out of state. The intent is to make it more difficult to indict individual doctors. Der Simonian is pushing for a similar law in Maine.
Samantha Glass, a family medicine physician in New York, has written such prescriptions in a previous job, and plans to find a clinic where she could offer that again. Once a month, she travels to a clinic in Kansas to perform in-person abortions.
Carpenter's indictment could cause some doctors to stop sending pills to states with bans, Glass said. But she believes abortion should be as accessible as any other health care.
“Someone has to do it. So why wouldn't it be me?” Glass said. “I just think access to this care is such a lifesaving thing for so many people that I just couldn't turn my back on it.”
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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May 06, 2025
INCHEON, South Korea — Defining early knee osteoarthritis (OA) as people who do not have symptoms but do have radiographic or MRI changes could offer greater opportunity for interventions to prevent symptomatic or structural decline, a speaker argued at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis (OARSI) 2025 Annual Meeting.
Rheumatologist and Epidemiologist Grace Hsiao-Wei Lo, MD, MS, an associate professor in the Section of Immunology, Allergy, and Rheumatology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, explored how the concepts of early OA and pre-OA could be defined, and what those definitions mean for understanding, research, and prevention of the disease.
“Early osteoarthritis is a term that means a lot in the research community,” Lo said. “However, there's not a consensus on what this construct should mean.”
That lack of consensus could be impeding the development of disease-modifying OA drugs, if it meant that interventions were being tested in individuals who actually had late disease, not early disease. “If we change our focus to an earlier part of the natural history of the disease, then we might be more successful,” she said.
However, the challenge is that there are a range of possible definitions for early OA, and it's not clear which ones are mostly predictive of progression to clinical disease, defined as Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) grade 2 or above: Formation of osteophytes, narrowing of the joint cartilage, and sclerosis of the subchondral bone.
In people with KL grade disease of 0 or 1, numerous studies have found pathological evidence of disease on x-ray or MRI, Lo said.
For example, a 2014 MRI study by Leena Sharma and colleagues found that among people who had a KL grade of 0 for both knees, 76% had articular cartilage damage, 61% had bone marrow lesions, and 21% had meniscal tear. Those with more evidence of disease on MRI were more likely to have persistent symptoms of knee OA and cartilage damage. Lo said this indicated that even people without radiographic evidence of disease could have changes on MRI.
“It tells us that we know there are radiographic changes that are typical for osteoarthritis, that there are MRI features of osteoarthritis that can be seen in these without radiographic evidence of disease, that these features are meaningful and that there's no one MRI feature that seemed to be the penultimate predictor for developing KL grade 2,” Lo told the audience.
Another MRI study by Alison H. Chang and colleagues from 2024 took individuals at increased risk of developing symptomatic radiographic knee OA — by virtue of injury, symptoms, family history, or overweight or obesity — and looked at whether MRI evidence at baseline predicted their progression to symptomatic radiographic disease.
“The context here is to look for people who have a particular pathology on MRI, ideally looking for people without symptoms and limitations, and generally we're looking for people with early disease who don't meet the definition of radiographic osteoarthritis,” Lo said.
This study found that some combinations of MRI changes were associated with progression but not everyone with those combinations did progress. “I would argue that we expect people to go through the different phases of the disease,” Lo said. “But the hope is that if we can identify people earlier in the natural history, what we're trying to do is stop the progression of disease.”
Another phenotype of early disease is in individuals who did have radiographic evidence of disease but without symptoms. Here, Lo cited a study she was involved in, which looked at the predictive value of crepitus in individuals without symptomatic knee OA at baseline.
This study found that patient-reported knee crepitus predicted the development of symptomatic OA, and most of those who went on to symptomatic disease were those with preexisting radiographic evidence of disease. “This made sense if you believe that people have to have some pathology before they develop symptoms,” Lo said.
Another possible phenotype of early OA is in people without MRI changes, without radiographic changes, and without symptoms, but who have elevated levels of an as-yet unidentified biomarker.
Lo also touched on the idea of pre-OA, and whether it might be possible to find people in whom interventions could prevent symptoms or structural progression. One possible group are those who have experienced anterior cruciate ligament injury, as there was growing evidence they were at elevated risk for knee OA. “Targeting the people who have had ACL tear is an opportunity to address people who have pre-OA,” she said.
Lo told the audience that these definitions of early OA weren't the only ones out there, but did give an opportunity to potentially enrich clinical trials and observational studies with individuals who were most likely to have outcomes of interest. “The only way that we can really clarify which definition, or maybe definitions, are the most useful is for us to really systematically evaluate many of them,” she said.
Speaking to Medscape Medical News, Lo said part of the problem is that we don't know what counts as the beginning of OA. “People pretty uniformly agree that once you have KL2, everybody agrees that that's established disease, but before that there's a lot of disagreement on what counts as a diagnosis of early osteoarthritis,” she said.
But finding individuals with early disease has opened the door to early interventions, she said, pointing to evidence that something as simple as walking might reduce the risk of people progressing to clinical OA.
Commenting on the presentation, Physiotherapist Brooke Patterson, PhD, of La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, said there was great interest in defining early OA and pre-OA, particularly for younger individuals with sports-related knee injuries that might increase their risk for OA. “For these young people that are getting the burden of the disease in their 30s and 40s and then having knee replacements,” it's important for us to talk about it, she said to Medscape Medical News.
Lo and Patterson had no relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.
An updated systematic review finds that consuming cannabis while pregnant appears to increase the odds of preterm birth, low birth weight and infant death.
The study by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University published today in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
The lead author is a physician-scientist who provides prenatal care for high-risk pregnancies at OHSU.
Patients are coming to me in their prenatal visits saying, 'I quit smoking and drinking, but is it safe to still use cannabis?' Until direct harms have been proven, they perceive it to be safe to use."
Jamie Lo, M.D., M.C.R., lead author, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology (maternal-fetal medicine), OHSU School of Medicine
In fact, cannabis remains one of the most common substances used in pregnancy that's still illegal under federal law, and, unlike declines in prenatal use of alcohol or nicotine, cannabis use is continuing to increase. Lo said many of her patients are reluctant to give up cannabis during pregnancy because it helps to reduce common prenatal symptoms such as nausea, insomnia and pain.
Researchers updated the systematic review and meta-analysis, drawing on a total of 51 observational studies involving 21.1 million people to examine the potential adverse effects of cannabis use in pregnancy. The researchers found eight new studies since their previous update, raising the certainty of evidence from "very-low-to-low" to "moderate" for increased odds of low birth weight, preterm birth and babies being small for their gestational age.
The updated review also indicated increased odds of newborn mortality, though still with low certainty.
Researchers noted that the new systematic review includes a larger proportion of human observational studies examining people who only use cannabis, but don't also use nicotine. And even though the evidence is low to moderate for adverse outcomes, Lo noted that the findings are consistent with definitive evidence in nonhuman primate models exposed to THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.
The related research in animal models included standard prenatal ultrasound and MRI imaging that revealed a detrimental effect on the placenta, in terms of blood flow and availability of oxygen in addition to decreased volume of amniotic fluid.
"These findings tell me as an obstetrician that the placenta is not functioning as it normally would in pregnancy," Lo said. "When the placenta isn't functioning well, it can affect the baby's development and growth."
Even though cannabis remains a Schedule 1 substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, Oregon is one of several states that have legalized it under state law for medicinal and recreational use. Lo said she recommends a harm-reduction approach to patients. For those who cannot abstain, she advises them to reduce the amount and frequency of use to help reduce the risk of prenatal and infant complications.
"Even using less can mitigate the risk," she said. "Abstinence is ideal, but it's not realistic for many patients."
In addition to Lo, co-authors include Snehapriya Yaddala, PharmD., Beth Shaw, M.S., Shannon Robalino, M.S., of OHSU; Chelsea Ayers, M.P.H., Rachel Ward, B.A., of the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System; and Devan Kansagara, M.D., of OHSU and the Portland VA.
Oregon Health & Science University
Lo, J. O., et al. (2025). Prenatal Cannabis Use and Neonatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Pediatrics. doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.0689.
Posted in: Child Health News | Medical Research News | Women's Health News
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A major population study reveals that diets high in ultra-processed foods are tied to poorer mental health, and uncovers biological markers that help explain the link.
Study: Associations of Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Its Circulating Metabolomic Signature with Mental Disorders in Middle-Aged and Older Adults. Image Credit: Lightspring / Shutterstock
In a recent study published in the journal Nutrients, researchers assessed the associations of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and related metabolic signatures with mental disorders.
Mental disorders, including conditions like anxiety, substance use disorder (SUD), and depression, are major contributors to global disease and disability burden. Despite therapeutic advances, mental disorder prevalence has remained stagnant in the past decades, highlighting the need for complementary preventive strategies aimed at modifiable risk factors.
Dietary habits play a crucial role in the development and progression of mental disorders. In particular, diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vegetables, and fruits are associated with a reduced risk of mental disorders, whereas Western and pro-inflammatory diets rich in saturated fats and refined carbohydrates elevate the risk. UPFs are mass-produced foods that undergo multiple steps of processing and contain limited whole-food content.
UPF intake has steadily increased, driven by the globalization and urbanization of food systems. Despite substantial evidence implicating UPFs in mental health disturbances, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The poor nutritional profile of UPFs, characterized by minimal dietary fiber, higher calories, and excessive sugars, sodium, and saturated fats, has been linked to a heightened risk of various chronic conditions.
In the present study, researchers examined associations of UPF intake and related metabolic signatures with mental disorders. Data from the United Kingdom Biobank (UKB), a large prospective cohort of over 500,000 participants, were used. The UKB collected extensive information on sociodemographics, biological factors, and lifestyle. Participants were excluded if they lacked metabolomic measurements and dietary data or had prior mental disorder diagnoses.
Dietary intake data were obtained using a self-administered dietary assessment tool. High-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed on plasma samples to quantify circulating metabolic profiles. The primary outcomes were incident overall mental disorders, SUD, depressive disorder, or anxiety disorder. Secondary outcomes included 19 psychological symptoms.
These specific symptoms were unhappiness, meaningless feeling, unhappiness with health, feelings of anxiety, foreboding, excessive worry, irritability, restlessness, trouble relaxing, appetite changes, anhedonia, uncontrolled worry, feelings of depression, fatigue, trouble concentrating, feelings of inadequacy, psychomotor changes, sleeping problems, and suicidal ideation.
Potential confounders were age, sex, body mass index (BMI), index of multiple deprivation (IMD), prevalent diseases, healthy lifestyle factors, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Metabolic features linked to UPF intake were identified using an elastic net regression model. Cox proportional hazards regression models examined the associations of UPF intake and related metabolic signatures with mental disorders.
The basic model was adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and IMD. The multivariable model was additionally adjusted for lifestyle factors, prevalent diseases, and WHR. The mutually adjusted model included both UPF intake and its related metabolic signature to analyze the independence of their associations with mental health outcomes. Further, logistic regression models were used to examine associations with specific psychological symptoms.
Study workflow. A total of 30,059 UK Biobank participants were included in this study, with a median follow-up of 12.6 years. (A) Study flowchart detailing participant selection, exclusion criteria, and final cohort. (B) Definition of ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and the composition of constructed metabolic signature. (C) Cox proportional hazards regression models were employed to evaluate associations of UPF intake and its metabolic signature with the incident risks of overall mental disorder, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and substance use disorder, with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated. Logistic regression models were employed to evaluate associations of UPF intake and its metabolic signature with the risks of specific psychological symptoms, with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs estimated. Subgroup analyses were conducted stratified by age and sex. (D) Mediation analyses were applied to investigate the mediating effect of UPF-related metabolic signature. SUD indicates substance use disorder.
The study included 30,059 participants aged 56.5 years, on average. Overall, 7,594 individuals developed mental disorders over a median follow-up of 12.6 years. Of these, 892, 865, and 1,300 subjects developed anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, and SUD, respectively. Subjects with higher UPF intake were likely to be younger and have higher body BMI, WHR, higher levels of deprivation (lower socioeconomic status based on IMD scores), and unhealthy lifestyles.
Elastic net regression identified 91 metabolites associated with UPF consumption, which spanned various biochemical categories including fatty acids, lipoproteins (like HDL cholesterol ratios), glucose-related metabolites, and amino acids (like valine). Participants with high UPF intake had higher risks of overall mental disorders, anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, and SUD than those with low UPF intake. Similarly, a higher UPF-linked metabolic signature was associated with higher risks of all four mental health outcomes. Subgroup analyses suggested these associations could be stronger in certain groups; for instance, the link between the metabolic signature and SUD was more evident in females, and associations for UPF intake with SUD, and the metabolic signature with depression and anxiety, were stronger in those under 60 years old.
A mediation analysis showed that the UPF-linked metabolic signature partially mediated the associations between UPF consumption and mental disorder risks. Furthermore, higher intake of UPFs was associated with elevated risks of various mental health symptoms, including suicidal ideation, feelings of anxiety, and unhappiness with health. Conversely, the UPF-linked metabolic signature showed no significant associations with mental health symptoms in the overall population, although subgroup analyses revealed associations between the signature and symptoms like unhappiness with health and depressive feelings, specifically in individuals under 60 years old.
Associations of ultra-processed food intake and its metabolic signature with symptoms of mental health and stratified by age. The symptoms included three categories, namely subjective well-being (3 items), PHQ-9 (9 items), and GAD-7 (7 items). Logistic regression models were employed to evaluate associations of ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and its metabolic signature with the risks of specific psychological symptoms. (A) For UPF intake. (B) For metabolic signature. The results were presented with odds ratios (ORs) per 10% increment for UPF intake and ORs per SD increment for metabolic signature. Colors depict significance levels after false discovery rate correction (significant-blue and not significant-gray).
In sum, UPF intake was significantly associated with higher risks of overall mental disorders, anxiety disorder, SUD, and depressive disorder. The UPF-related metabolic signature was also independently associated with increased risks of these mental disorders; it also partially mediated the association between UPF consumption and psychiatric outcomes. The researchers noted limitations, including the study population being predominantly White UK residents, the reliance on self-reported data, the cross-sectional nature of metabolite measurement, and potential residual confounding, which means findings should be interpreted with caution. Thus, the findings suggest that improving diet quality and reducing UPF consumption may help maintain mental well-being.
Posted in: Men's Health News | Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News | Women's Health News
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Tarun is a writer based in Hyderabad, India. He has a Master's degree in Biotechnology from the University of Hyderabad and is enthusiastic about scientific research. He enjoys reading research papers and literature reviews and is passionate about writing.
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Sai Lomte, Tarun. (2025, May 05). Ultra-processed foods increase risk of anxiety and depression, study shows. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 06, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250505/Ultra-processed-foods-increase-risk-of-anxiety-and-depression-study-shows.aspx.
MLA
Sai Lomte, Tarun. "Ultra-processed foods increase risk of anxiety and depression, study shows". News-Medical. 06 May 2025.
Modified antibiotics beat a stubborn lung pathogen and dodge metabolic landmines, offering new hope for patients with HIV, cystic fibrosis, and TB co-infections.
Study: Next-generation rifamycins for the treatment of mycobacterial infections. Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock
The rise of drug-resistant bacteria is a major health crisis. Moreover, the development of antibiotic resistance in pulmonary pathogens such as Mycobacterium abscessus, against which treatment options are already limited, poses a serious problem for cystic fibrosis patients and immunocompromised individuals.
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explored new versions of rifamycins, antibiotics traditionally used to treat tuberculosis, to combat severe lung infections caused by M. abscessus. The researchers also explored modifications to the drug that could boost its strength and reduce harmful interactions with other medications.
Rifamycins are essential antibiotics, widely used to treat tuberculosis. These drugs effectively target and eliminate various mycobacterial populations. However, their effectiveness is limited against lung infections caused by M. abscessus, a non-tuberculous Mycobacterium, as the bacterium has intrinsic resistance to many antibiotics.
Mycobacterium abscessus develops resistance through mechanisms that include drug inactivation. Rifamycins also carry the risk of negative interactions with other drugs by affecting liver enzymes. This is particularly problematic for patients with conditions like cystic fibrosis or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), who require multiple medications. These concerns highlight the urgent need for new rifamycins that are more potent against M. abscessus and have fewer drug interactions.
In the present study, the researchers from the United States and Germany systematically identified and evaluated new rifamycin compounds through a multi-stage process. They began by synthesizing various analogs of the rifamycin antibiotic rifabutin and screening them for their ability to inhibit the growth of both wild-type M. abscessus and a mutant strain lacking the enzyme adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosyltransferase (Arr), which confers resistance to rifamycins.
This initial screen aimed to select compounds that could overcome the bacterium's intrinsic resistance mechanism. Compounds demonstrating favorable potency progressed to the next stage, where their plasma protein binding was assessed in human and mouse plasma.
The researchers then used mouse models to examine the compounds' pharmacokinetics, which is how the drugs move through the body, and their uptake by macrophages, a type of immune cell that engulfs bacteria in lung lesions. This helped predict how well the drugs would reach their target within infected tissues. Compounds with promising pharmacokinetic properties, comparable to or better than rifabutin, were chosen for further evaluation.
The selected compounds underwent additional biological profiling to thoroughly assess their effectiveness against M. abscessus. This included evaluating their bactericidal activity against different forms of the bacteria, such as extracellular (outside cells), intracellular (inside cells), replicating, and nonreplicating. The activity against nonreplicating bacteria is particularly important because these bacteria can survive in a dormant state and are often resistant to antibiotics.
Furthermore, the potential for drug-drug interactions was investigated by measuring the induction of the cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) enzyme in human hepatocytes. This enzyme is involved in metabolizing many drugs, and its induction can lead to reduced effectiveness or increased toxicity of other medications. Finally, the compounds' cytotoxicity, or their ability to harm human cells, was assessed to determine their safety profile.
The study found that several new rifamycin analogs, particularly the lead candidates UMN-120 and UMN-121, which belong to a C25-substituted carbamate series, exhibited significantly improved potency against M. abscessus compared to the current drug, rifabutin. This enhanced activity was attributed to the strategic modification of these analogs to overcome the bacterium's intrinsic resistance mechanisms, specifically ADP-ribosylation.
The new compounds demonstrated potent bactericidal activity against both replicating and nonreplicating M. abscessus, including intracellular bacteria residing within macrophages. This was particularly noteworthy since nonreplicating, drug-tolerant bacteria often contribute to the persistence of infection.
A key finding of the study was the reduced potential for drug-drug interactions with the new rifamycin analogs. Rifamycins, including rifabutin, can induce the CYP3A4 enzyme, which plays a critical role in metabolizing various drugs. Induction of CYP3A4 can lead to decreased effectiveness or increased toxicity of other medications. The researchers found that several of the new analogs, including the lead candidates, exhibited significantly lower CYP3A4 induction compared to rifabutin, suggesting a reduced risk of such interactions. Crucially, these compounds retained high potency against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of TB, meaning they could potentially treat TB without the drug interaction liability common to existing rifamycins, offering a significant advantage for patients co-infected with HIV.
Furthermore, in mouse models of M. abscessus lung infection, the lead compounds UMN-120 and UMN-121 demonstrated remarkable efficacy. When administered as single agents, they were shown to be at least as effective in reducing bacterial load in the lungs as a standard-of-care combination therapy involving four different drugs.
The study also assessed the new compounds' metabolic stability and cytotoxicity. Results indicated that the new rifamycins were generally less metabolically labile than rifabutin and demonstrated favorable cytotoxicity profiles in cell culture assays.
The authors acknowledged that the study had some limitations. The compounds' pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics were primarily evaluated in murine models of acute lung infection. While these results are promising, further research is needed to confirm their applicability to humans. Additionally, the study did not assess activity against M. abscessus in biofilm-like structures or chronic infection models, which are relevant to persistent human disease and represent areas for future investigation.
In summary, the research successfully identified new rifamycin analogs, specifically the preclinical development candidates UMN-120 and UMN-121, with enhanced activity against M. abscessus and reduced potential for drug-drug interactions. These findings offer a promising avenue for developing improved treatments for M. abscessus lung infections and potentially safer, more effective regimens for Tuberculosis, supporting their advancement towards clinical evaluation and bringing hope to patients with comorbidities such as HIV and cystic fibrosis.
Posted in: Drug Discovery & Pharmaceuticals | Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Disease/Infection News | Pharmaceutical News
Written by
Chinta Sidharthan is a writer based in Bangalore, India. Her academic background is in evolutionary biology and genetics, and she has extensive experience in scientific research, teaching, science writing, and herpetology. Chinta holds a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the Indian Institute of Science and is passionate about science education, writing, animals, wildlife, and conservation. For her doctoral research, she explored the origins and diversification of blindsnakes in India, as a part of which she did extensive fieldwork in the jungles of southern India. She has received the Canadian Governor General's bronze medal and Bangalore University gold medal for academic excellence and published her research in high-impact journals.
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Sidharthan, Chinta. (2025, May 05). New rifamycin drugs fight antibiotic-resistant lung infections more effectively. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 06, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250505/New-rifamycin-drugs-fight-antibiotic-resistant-lung-infections-more-effectively.aspx.
MLA
Sidharthan, Chinta. "New rifamycin drugs fight antibiotic-resistant lung infections more effectively". News-Medical. 06 May 2025.
Scientists harnessed AI to create mutation-resistant antibodies that outperformed conventional drug design, offering a powerful new tool against fast-evolving viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
Study: AI designed, mutation resistant broad neutralizing antibodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains. Image Credit: Lightspring / Shutterstock
In a recent study in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers tested and leveraged several cutting-edge technologies, including machine learning, protein structural modeling, natural language processing, and protein sequence language modeling, to computationally design antibodies capable of neutralizing more than 1,300 SARS-CoV-2 strains (including mutants). The design encompassed 64 key mutations in the spike protein's receptor binding domain (RBD), focusing on this critical region for viral entry. The antibody templates used were CR3022, Casirivimab (Regen 10,933), and Imdevimab (Regen 10,987), which are well-known monoclonal antibodies against coronaviruses.
Study findings demonstrated strong reactivity between the novel antibodies and SARS-CoV-2 strains, including Delta (10 antibodies) and Omicron (1 antibody). Notably, 14% of the first batch of antibodies and 40% of the second batch demonstrated “triple cross-binding,” meaning they bound to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of wild-type, Delta, and Omicron strains in ELISA assays. Notably, the present approach was shown to be much more time and cost-effective than traditional structure-based approaches. It may revolutionize future drug design and development, particularly for fast-evolving pathogens that require frequent modifications to account for their rapid mutation rates. However, while the study showed adaptability by reacting to the emergence of Omicron with a second round of antibody design, its predictive capability for completely new and unknown future variants is still speculative and was not directly demonstrated.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused the COVID-19 pandemic remains one of the worst in human history, claiming more than 7 million lives since its discovery in late 2019. Thankfully, government-enforced social distancing measures, in combination with widespread anti-COVID-19 immunization interventions, substantially curbed disease spread.
Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 is a rapidly evolving family of viruses, and novel strains resistant to previously approved antibody therapeutics have now emerged. A classic example of this is the resistance demonstrated by strains B.1.427 and B.1.429 to bamlanivimab and etesevimab due to their L452R substitutions.
While ongoing research races to keep up with the origins of novel, increasingly resistant SARS-CoV-2 strains, traditional antibody discovery approaches are labor-intensive, inefficient, and expensive. Leveraging recent computational and technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) models, such as graph neural networks (GNNs) and language-based networks (natural language processing architectures), may allow researchers to design and screen antibodies faster and more efficiently than ever before.
The present study aims to assess the viability of AI-based approaches to modeling antibody-antigen binding and screening for antibodies with broad-spectrum neutralizing capabilities. It demonstrates the application of AI models in rapidly discovering therapeutics to counter future pandemics and highlights their potential across medical fields.
“Our study describes using a deep learning model to computationally design effective and broad-spectrum mutations against various strains of the virus' spike protein, and subsequent wet-lab experimentation confirms the findings.”
The study developed several in-house ‘antibody affinity maturation AI models'. These models were based on both GNN and language-based network architectures. The GNN architecture specifically enabled modeling of the relationships between amino acid residues as a graph, capturing both local and global sequence features relevant to antibody-antigen binding. All models were trained using datasets obtained from four curated datasets: 1. SKEMPI database, 2. Observed Antibody Space, 3. Antibody-Bind (AB-Bind) database, and 4. UniProt.
Following training, model accuracy and performance were evaluated using a combined dataset synthesized from SKEMPI and AB-Bind databases. Accuracy and scalability were assessed using a ‘leave-5-out' (L5O) approach.
COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies were identified by first collating GISAID Database data (1300 SARS-CoV-2 strains), selecting templates for in silico cross-binding antibody assays, and generating in silico mutant libraries (mutations in the template). Machine learning models were then used to discover antibodies with broad-spectrum binding to several of the 1,300 supplied SARS-CoV-2 strains. Since the S1 protein is essential for antigen-antibody binding, antibodies that were resistant to mutations in viral S1 proteins (low-to-no reduced binding efficacy) were identified.
Wet lab assays (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays [ELISAs] and coronavirus cytotoxicity assays) were subsequently carried out to validate computational findings experimentally. After the emergence of Omicron, the researchers performed a second round of computational antibody design to further improve antibody affinity specifically against Omicron, demonstrating the reactive adaptability of their approach to newly arising variants.
SARS-CoV-2 cross-binding sequence selection and virus mutation data curation. Step 2: AI-based antibody binding prediction and cross-variants binding selection for potential candidate sequences for future variants. Step 3: Measurement of antibody's binding ability using an ELISA-based assay; and measurement of antibody's neutralizing capacity using neutralization and cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assays.
Evaluations of model accuracy (conducted using Spearman ranking coefficients) revealed that the graph-based model outperforms language-based approaches. Notably, both graph- and language-based models equaled or outperformed the current commercial (non-machine learning) structure-based approach – Discovery Studio.
“Unlike Discovery Studio, which employs a physical model derived from primary, secondary, and tertiary protein structure to compute binding affinity, our model learns the mapping between antibody sequence and binding affinity from a large amount of experimental data.”
The benefits of neural network results extended further, with the graph-based model (Pearson = 0.6) observed to outperform most conventional in silico approaches (Discovery Studio Pearson = 0.45).
Wet lab experiments confirmed these findings. The AI-designed antibody sequences with the highest predicted binding abilities were synthesized. Encouragingly, most of these antibodies were observed to bind and often reach an oversaturated state at higher concentrations to B.1, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 strains.
Coronavirus cytopathic assays revealed 10 antibodies capable of neutralizing Vero E6 host cells infected with Delta strains and one antibody capable of neutralizing cells infected with Omicron strains. However, the study also found that strong binding in ELISA assays did not always correspond to neutralizing ability in cell-based assays, indicating that binding affinity alone does not guarantee neutralization. This discrepancy may be due to differences in the spike protein's structure when plate-bound (ELISA) versus on live virus, as well as the specific epitope location and antibody conformation.
It is important to note that, while these results are promising, the study was limited to in vitro (laboratory) experiments. No in vivo (animal or human) efficacy studies were performed, and further research, such as epitope mapping and conformation dynamics studies, will be necessary for more precise antibody design and validation.
Additionally, while the study focused on achieving broad neutralization, the authors acknowledge that there may be a trade-off between broad cross-reactivity and therapeutic specificity, which could limit utility in some clinical contexts.
The present study highlights the benefits of leveraging AI-based structure-free deep neural networks for discovering and screening therapeutic antibodies. These computational models significantly outperformed traditional non-machine learning structure-based platforms in cost, efficiency, and accuracy. AI models have the added benefit of iteratively improving initially discovered antibodies to compensate for mutations in rapidly evolving pathogens.
“Because our approach combines flexibility and high-throughput at a low computational cost, it can be beneficial in other applications of the technology as well.”
Posted in: Drug Discovery & Pharmaceuticals | Device / Technology News | Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Disease/Infection News | Pharmaceutical News
Written by
Hugo Francisco de Souza is a scientific writer based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. His academic passions lie in biogeography, evolutionary biology, and herpetology. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, where he studies the origins, dispersal, and speciation of wetland-associated snakes. Hugo has received, amongst others, the DST-INSPIRE fellowship for his doctoral research and the Gold Medal from Pondicherry University for academic excellence during his Masters. His research has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases and Systematic Biology. When not working or writing, Hugo can be found consuming copious amounts of anime and manga, composing and making music with his bass guitar, shredding trails on his MTB, playing video games (he prefers the term ‘gaming'), or tinkering with all things tech.
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Francisco de Souza, Hugo. (2025, May 05). Scientists use AI to build mutation-proof antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 06, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250505/Scientists-use-AI-to-build-mutation-proof-antibodies-for-SARS-CoV-2.aspx.
MLA
Francisco de Souza, Hugo. "Scientists use AI to build mutation-proof antibodies for SARS-CoV-2". News-Medical. 06 May 2025.
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Real Madrid rarely wait. Whether in the transfer market or on the pitch, they act with the decisiveness of a club used to getting what it wants. That's why the story, first reported by AS, that they're offering Liverpool a “symbolic amount” to fast-track Trent Alexander-Arnold's transfer speaks volumes—not about the fee, but about the urgency.
Having already announced he will leave Anfield at the end of his contract in June 2025, Alexander-Arnold's early departure is now the subject of Madrid's focus. The Spanish giants want him available for the expanded FIFA Club World Cup kicking off in mid-June. Yet under his current deal, he cannot play until July 1st.
So Real have moved. They've reportedly offered Liverpool around €900,000 (£760,000), along with covering the England international's final month of wages. The total financial package edges towards €2m (£1.7m)—a paltry figure for a player of his stature, but the reward on offer for Madrid justifies the logic.
The backdrop for this sudden negotiation is the Club World Cup, an increasingly lucrative platform. Madrid are set to earn $38.2m (£28.6m) just by participating, with an additional $87.6m (£65.5m) available should they reach the final. The mathematics are simple: securing Alexander-Arnold's services early increases their chances of winning and multiplies the return.
Their group opponents—Al Hilal, Pachuca and RB Salzburg—might not send shivers down spines, but Madrid want their squad intact and firing. Alexander-Arnold's creativity and elite ball progression could be a decisive edge, especially in matches where opposition sides sit deep and disrupt.
Liverpool have stated Alexander-Arnold will depart once his contract expires on 30 June 2025. The phrasing, deliberately official and firm, suggests reluctance to release him before that point. Yet the symbolic gesture could be tempting. It would offer closure, a clean break, and a chance for fans to begin adjusting to life without one of their own.
Still, it's a difficult scenario. How do you place a value on 20 years of service, a local lad turned Champions League winner, now walking into the Bernabéu?
From a Liverpool supporter's perspective, this is less about heartbreak and more about pragmatism. The reality is, Trent Alexander-Arnold's time at Anfield is already done. His departure this summer has been confirmed, so the idea of him leaving a few weeks earlier than planned shouldn't come as a massive shock.
What's striking, though, is the price tag. €900,000? That barely scratches the surface of Trent's true value, even if he's technically out of contract. Still, when you consider the circumstances—his deal ending in June and Real Madrid's desire to have him ready for the Club World Cup—it starts to make sense. From Liverpool's perspective, accepting a modest fee and having his wages covered for the final month isn't the worst outcome.
In truth, this feels like the first quiet step in a new era. Arne Slot won't have Trent in his squad either way, so this early exit simply clears the path a bit sooner.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, will serve as executive director of his task force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
In the post on Truth Social, Trump also said Carlos Cordeiro, a FIFA senior advisor, will serve as a task force senior advisor. The United States, Canada and Mexico will host the World Cup in the summer of 2026.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Katharine Jackson)
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FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is just over a month away, yet we already have our first major controversy. On Tuesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected appeals from Mexican side Club León and Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) of Costa Rica, as both organizations sought avenues to play in the summer tournament.
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FIFA confirmed the decision, which means that León, winner of the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2023, has been excluded from the competition for violating the Club World Cup's regulations concerning multi-club ownership. León is owned by Grupo Pachuca, which also operates CF Pachuca, a club that also qualified for the competition.
LDA felt it had a case to replace León due to its ranking in the region, but CAS thought otherwise. Now, FIFA's solution is a one-game playoff between MLS's Los Angeles FC, the runner up to León in 2023, and Mexican powerhouse Club América, Concacaf's highest-ranked team that has not yet qualified for the competition. The win-and-in playoff will take place on May 31, with the victor entering Group D in the Club World Cup along with Chelsea, Flamengo and Espérance de Tunis.
So, what does this decision mean for all the parties involved? And what about Colombian star James Rodríguez, who signed with León in January with the Club World Cup cited as a major reason why he moved to Mexico in the first place? Let's discuss.
MLS clubs and Liga MX sides find ways to play each other every year. Whether it's a summer friendly, the MLS All-Star Game or in a tournament like the MLS-Liga MX Leagues Cup, the U.S.-Mexico storyline is forced upon American soccer fans like a hot iron. The problem is that those games are far from meaningful.
A one-game playoff for a berth to the 32-team Club World Cup features stakes that an MLS vs. Liga MX game has never had. Not only is this an opportunity for LAFC or Club América to compete against some of the top clubs in the world, a ticket to the Club World Cup includes a nearly $10 million bonus for all qualified teams, with more prize money on offer depending on performance. Although MLS players on participating teams can only earn $1 million collectively from the astonishing $1 billion total prize money, the financial factor is significant for teams in this region.
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The game is reportedly set to be held at LAFC's BMO Stadium, which boasts one of MLS's best matchday atmospheres. Add in Club América's massive following in LA and around the U.S., and you've the makings of a blockbuster moment for North American soccer.
On Tuesday, a press release by León described the CAS decision as “a difficult sentence” before pointing the finger at supposed Liga MX rivals who conspired to keep León out of the Club World Cup.
Without naming FIFA, León felt harshly judged by “an organization that is dedicated to promoting the game,” before adding “but from the beginning, there were no sporting principles at play during this case.” To call León the victims in this situation is debatable. But the fact is that the team earned a spot in the Club World Cup by winning a major continental trophy. In that sense, the reaction is understandable.
Meanwhile, León is currently in the quarterfinals of the Liga MX playoffs, where it'll face Cruz Azul, a team that recently reached the final of this year's Concacaf Champions Cup — and the winner is due to face either Pachuca or América, in another fun twist. Will the sting of this CAS decision derail the club's title hopes or inspire a championship run? Time will tell.
The short answer is yes. There will be a brief 10-day transfer window from June 1 to June 10 that will allow teams to sign players on a temporary basis. The tournament begins on June 14 in Miami. Rodríguez, 33, could be moved to León's sister club CF Pachuca, which has already qualified for the Club World Cup.
Conceivably, Rodríguez could be added to a number of teams, but it's doubtful that he'd have a list of suitors at this stage of his career. The Club World Cup was a big reason why the Colombian playmaker signed with León in the first place. Rodríguez is a big-stage player. He proved that last summer after leading Colombia to the Copa América final against Argentina.
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Rodríguez won the Golden Ball after setting a tournament record with six assists, which broke the previous record held by Lionel Messi. In that sense, it's a letdown to see the Club World Cup lose one of its more recognizable stars. In March, Rodríguez referred to the possibility of León being expelled from the tournament as “a grave injustice.”
“We won on the pitch,” Rodríguez told reporters. “The club and the players are hurt by this. Thinking about this, if we're out, it's not fair. The team that would replace us would be stained, football would be stained.”
Celebrity owners, a classy black and gold strip, and a short history of success in American soccer. That's LAFC's story since entering MLS in 2018. The club lifted its first MLS Cup in 2022 after a Gareth Bale header sent the final against the Philadelphia Union to extra time, and LAFC eventually prevailed on penalties.
That team featured Bale, Carlos Vela and Italian legend Giorgio Chiellini. Today's squad is less star-studded, although France World Cup winner Olivier Giroud is the backup No. 9 (and could meet one of his former clubs, Chelsea, in the group where LAFC would enter if successful). The Club World Cup, however, would give the LAFC's project the global boost that all MLS teams covet. Outside of Inter Miami and the LA Galaxy, there are few brands in MLS with a worldwide following. A win over Club América in the playoff and a respectable performance at the Club World Cup could change that for LAFC.
According to Club América, the team has over 45 million fans around the world, of which 15 million reside in Southern California. The club should feel at home inside LAFC's BMO Stadium. That won't surprise anyone who follows North American soccer. The Mexican giants are the top brand in the region and perennial favorites to win the Liga MX title and the Concacaf Champions Cup. Appearing in the Club World Cup is a great opportunity to accentuate that point and grow its global footprint.
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On the flip side, the worst-case scenario could be quite humiliating, as a loss to LAFC in a game of such massive consequence would be a major setback for América and Mexican soccer. The rivalry that exists between the U.S. and Mexico on the pitch is often hostile and nationalistic. As of late, the North American sides have clawed their way back and enjoyed more success at the international level. Club América will carry the weight of its century-old history into the playoff, but it'll also represent the pride of a nation whose football has hit rock bottom of late.
(Top photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)
Felipe Cardenas is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer in South America, North America and more. Follow Felipe on Twitter @FelipeCar
Olympics
USA Basketball will announce a major shift in its structuring on Thursday when Sue Bird is announced as the managing director for the USA women's national team for the 2028 Olympic cycle, according to two sources close to the program.
The 44-year-old Bird, who won five Olympic gold medals and four World Cup titles playing for Team USA, will take on what is now known as the “Grant Hill” role on the women's side — A person with unquestioned credentials as a player at every level who is largely responsible for selecting both the player rosters and coaching staff for both the Olympic team and the World Cup team. Her hiring is a departure from a longstanding structure of using a committee to select players and coaches for national team rosters and comes on the heels of a very close call for the USA women in Paris.
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As financial opportunities for women grow in the sport and in marketing, USA Basketball wanted to make sure it was doing everything possible to ensure the allure of playing major international events remained strong, and a phone call from Bird is going to go along way with players, one source close to the USA program said. The announcement will come Thursday at the Nike HQ in New York City.
The USA men's national team has used a managing director for nearly two decades. Jerry Colangelo, a four-time executive of the year in the NBA and former owner of the Phoenix Suns, served in the role from 2005 to 2021, resurrecting the men's national team from turmoil following the 2004 Olympics (a bronze medal, after golds in 1992, 1996, and 2000). In 2021, USA Basketball named Hill as Colangelo's successor. Hill, one of the greatest college players who enjoyed an All-Star, albeit injury-plagued, NBA career, and won Olympic gold in 1996, took over for the 2023 World Cup and selected the Team USA men's squad that won gold in Paris this past summer.
Hill, and Colangelo before him, work hand in hand with Sean Ford, who has run day-to-day operations for the USA men's national team for more than two decades. The set-up on the women's side will be the side with Bird and Briana Weiss, who has held a role similar to Ford's since 2021.
This marks the second significant shift in leadership for the Team USA women's program over the last several years. In 2021, Carol Callan — who had been the national team's director since 1995 — retired to take a role with FIBA. She was succeeded by Weiss, who led the women's national team through the Paris Olympic cycle where the program won its eighth-consecutive Olympic gold medal.
Along with nearly losing the gold-medal game to France, the U.S. women's team was caught up in controversy leading up to the Olympics because Caitlin Clark was not on the team. The argument not to take Clark, a rising, global megastar in the sport, was in part because she had not participated in many Team USA offseason functions, and also because there were women with more national team experience who had earned the right to play at the Olympics. Bird's presence doesn't necessarily mean the next Clark will automatically make the Olympic team during her rookie year, but having Bird as the face of the team could help smooth some of the politics and also perhaps ensure that USA mini-camps — a long tradition for the women's team — remain well attended.
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The 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup will be held in Germany from Sept. 4-13, 2026. The first event for qualifying will take place in the November 2025 window, a year out from the championships and just six months from Bird's announcement. This makes the naming of a coach and camp rosters (including player evaluation) a high priority in the coming months as Bird takes on her new role.
There could be a significant amount of turnover in ahead of the World Cup roster announcements. Cheryl Reeve, who led the team in Paris, could be a potential coaching candidate, but she'd be the first Olympic coach in the gold-medal span since Geno Auriemma (2012, 2016) to coach more than one Olympic cycle. Another name to watch: On Tuesday, USA Basketball announced that Duke coach Kara Lawson would coach the 2025 USA Women's AmeriCup Team, which will be comprised of collegians and play in a senior national team event in Santiago, Chile, this summer from June 28 to July 6. She was one of Reeve's assistants during the 2024 Games and the head coach for the Team USA 3×3 team for the Tokyo Games, where the squad won a gold medal in the sport's Olympic debut.
From a player perspective, there could also be a good amount of turnover. Diana Taurasi, even before her retirement this summer, had announced that the Paris Games would be her last, but the inclusion of other vets on the roster is not a given, especially with a significant amount of young talent coming up through the ranks, including Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers. Those early senior national team training camp rosters will be important data points in seeing how Bird might approach roster construction moving forward.
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
The “crazy sports parents,” Skye Eddy says, have ruined the experience for everyone.
You know them. They live vicariously through their child. They have unrealistic expectations for him or her as an athlete. Or they are simply so unreasonable that there's little we can do to help them understand us better.
“As a coach, I've had an irrational parent on my team, and it has made my season miserable,” says Eddy, a former USWNT hopeful turned sports parent advocate. “They've been taking way too much of my time and energy from the children by asking too many questions. And so as coaches, when we've been in those experiences, we say, ‘OK, well, we're just gonna avoid all parents, because that was a really difficult season.' ”
Even Eddy, a one-time defensive MVP of the NCAA women's soccer Final Four for George Mason who later coached on the staff at the University of Richmond, found herself labeled as one of them.
She saw a veil come over the organization's executive director when she wanted to chat. To him, she was “a crazy parent, complaining about my daughter … I'm like, ‘Oh no, no, no, I'm just here to help,'" she says.
Then the door shut. It was the ignition that launched her passion project, soccerparenting.com, which today has about 43,000 members nationwide. It offers advice, training and encouragement for coaches and parents and youth sports leaders with a goal of helping us understand each other a little better.
From Eddy's experience and research, the vast majority of parents are not “crazy,” but level-headed folks who are just stressed.
“Parenting is stressful these days, like society's stressful,” says Eddy, 53, a mother of two kids put through the athletic wringer. “You add on a sports experience, and there is a lot.”
Eddy spoke with us about how our soccer parenting, and sports parenting, can improve when we take a more introspective look at ourselves. From the discussion, USA TODAY Sports came with ways we can soothe our stress around our kids' games and improve the environment in which they are playing.
Eddy, a former goalie, reached as high as U.S. women's soccer player could go in the 1990s, barring making the national team. She played professionally in Italy. She pushes back at the notion that she was living out her own athletic experiences when her daughter, Cali, also became an elite soccer player in high school.
“I loved my athletic career,” Eddy says. “I just didn't know what to say to her to help her, because our mindsets are so different.
“She was like, ‘I want to play D-I, I want to play D-1,' and she was getting D-1 interest, but she wasn't pursuing it. She would not pick up a phone and call the coach. She was struggling with her self-esteem, her confidence around herself as an athlete, and so she really needed coaches calling her. She needed to be built up like that.”
Eddy was seeing things from her own point of view, and what she would have done. In more recent years, she came across a term (“Decoupling”) that would have helped her.
It is associated with a romantic relationship, where two people pull back from their emotional connection but remain friends. It can also apply to teenagers growing into their own identities as athletes.
“It's sort of like not feeling things so deeply, letting our children dictate the path and us really being OK with it,” she says. “That is the learning, the making the mistakes: Not calling the coach, not eating the right food, or going to the sleepover the night before and playing really badly.
“And I think that because as parents, it's so easy to feel like the stakes are so high, we try to interject too much.”
But how do we redirect ourselves? The process can start with our actions on the sidelines, and often when our kids are very young.
You may not admit you're stressed at your kids' games. But perhaps unintentionally, you are projecting it onto them.
You cheer loudly. You jump up and down on the bleachers. You call to them. You interfere.
“That's stress,” Eddy says.
Soccer Parenting's Sideline Project, which helps condition parents on game day, identifies three types of sideline behaviors:
“Distracting behavior serves one primary purpose: To alleviate our stress as parents and coaches,” Eddy says in her Sideline Project online course. “Players should be hearing their teammates and reasonable information from their coach, not their parents.”
In the video, she demonstrates the Stroop Effect, named after an American psychologist who measured selective attention, processing speed and how interference affects performance.
She has an interactive exercise using colors to illustrate how your children feel when they are concentrating in a game and adults interrupt them. I hitched when I did it.
“There's a lag,” Eddy says. “This moment of interruption. That is how your child feels when they are playing, concentrating on the technical skill and what their decision is going to be, and they hear your voice telling them to shoot or pass."
Instead, a good youth coach won't distract, but give a subtle cue – a nod, a whistle, a finger point or a closed fist - to trigger something they worked on in practice.
“Whatever it is that we're screaming, we're taking away their learning opportunity,” Eddy says.
Cali was a tough defender. So tough, apparently, that she once came home from road club soccer tournament and reported: “Another parent from the other team was sitting on the sideline, flicking me off. She just sat there, giving me the finger, staring right at me.
“I said, ‘You do realize I'm 13 and you're a grown adult, right?'" she told her mom.
Eddy estimates that 2% of the youth sports ecosystem, perhaps one parent per team, are these hostile ones. Many of us are merely distracting, a quality we can correct.
U.S. soccer recently updated a referee abuse prevention policy for youth and amateur soccer. Suspensions from two games to lifetime bans are now issued if you belittle, berate, insult, harass, touch or physically assault sports officials.
Report the abusers and get them thrown out. They are not part of our experience.
I like to sit with the opposing team's fans when my sons are pitching in their baseball games. While I get a different video angle, I meet new people and feel and hear their emotions. Sometimes I just listen to them. It helps remind me why we are all in this.
"We care so much about sport because of the connection," Eddy says.
Cali quit soccer for short time when she was eight. She was bored.
Players were standing in lines. They did the same warmup at every practice. They weren't even given adequate instruction, Eddy thought. It was labeled as an advanced development program.
When she asked other parents what they thought of the environment, they were fine with it.
“It struck me that until parents understand what a good learning environment looks like, to lead to player inspiration and joy and really giving kids a connection to sport, then we're really going to be missing a big part of the solution when it comes to improving youth sports,” she says.
"The last thing we want to do is be perceived as one of these irrational parents, so we're not curious, we don't ask questions, we don't listen to our instincts, we don't follow up when we when we probably should, because we don't want to be perceived to care too much when there's a big difference between being irrational and caring."
When she tried to speak up and was rebuffed, she became a youth coach. And soccerparenting.com was born.
One of its foundational principles is to encourage coach and parent interaction, with clear and appropriate boundaries.
Some suggested parameters a coach can use:
The door is open to chat ... When your kid comes home from practice in a bad mood or doesn't want to go the next day; if he or she is having trouble playing a particular position; if you don't fully understand the scoring system or rules of the sport.
The door is closed to chat ... If you have a complaint about another player that doesn't involve a safety issue; if you're wondering why the coach made a tactical decision; if you don't respect a coach's time and want to have a long conversation after practice. (You can schedule one instead.)
“We see the correlation between parents having more understanding and the children's experience getting better, and then therefore clubs and coaches having to get better," Eddy says.
Coach Steve: Three steps to dealing with a ‘bad' coach
Even when we feel we have things under control during games, sometimes we don't. Eddy laughs about once walking across the field with a plan in her head of what she would say to Cali. It didn't involve the game. Instead, in the heat of the moment, she said: “You really need to work on your left foot.”
"Where did that come from?" she says. "I had zero intention of saying that. It just poured right out of me."
When I posed a question on social media about how we can be better soccer parents, Palmer Neill, of Dallas, told me: “Basically, when you feel like doing something at a game or practice other than cheer or clap ... just don't do it. Let the coach be the coach and let the ref, ref. You don't have (a) role. Life gets a lot easier when you realize this."
But we can also recognize that sometimes we slip, too, and take precautions. When Neill barks to his 10-year-old son to get onsides, or about an opponent's hand ball, he sits back in his chair and doesn't get up. He tries to stay seated during the game.
"It seems to give me one extra second to think before I sit up (or stand-up) and yell," he says.
Our own education and reflection, Eddy says, can relieve stress.
Know the rules (and recent modifications to them). Know your kid's goals in sports. Be curious, not upset, when other kids have more skills than yours.
Perhaps it's the Relative Age Effect, where young athletes born earliest among their age grouping are faster and stronger. Or that those kids move better because they play other sports or have more free play outside with friends and have better functional movement skills.
We can put our own sports paths into better context, too.
Coach Steve: MLS NEXT youth soccer rankings emphasize development over wins
What did you do when you were eight? Twelve? Sixteen?
When Eddy thinks about it, she liked to socialize at the local skating rink.
She only trained twice a week with her soccer team. On off days, she rode to a local park and kicked the ball into a piece of plywood against a fence. She would dive at the rebounds.
She used to wonder if Cali, who came back to soccer on her own terms, was getting enough reps on her own.
“What would I have been doing if I was in intense practices for an hour and a half four days a week, plus traveling to a lot in the games?” Eddy says. “Would I still have been doing that? Likely not.”
In today's world, it feels like kids sports matter a lot more. Maybe they do when we have more opportunities to play in front of college coaches. Maybe they don't when we play rec soccer, like Eddy's son, Davis, did, and parents screamed when he missed a shot.
Davis, now a junior in college, had a better experience playing at a small high school.
“Having that outlet for sport was really important to his development, just as a person, and getting some space and, kind of way to blow off some steam as a student,” she says.
Cali decided to work at a sleepaway camp in Maine during the summer before her junior year, a crucial one for college recruiting. She became a Division III All-American and now works for the Columbus Crew.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, it's so hard for you,' but not saying that out loud," Eddy says. "That was a really important capstone to a really important thing in our life. Yet, she really missed a lot of opportunities, and there were consequences of that. We just need to make sure that it's our child's voice that we're hearing."
We are when we let them lead the way, to choose friends over sports when they wish, and to have those sleepovers. Well, maybe not the sleepovers.
Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com
There is officially a path towards a third MLS team qualifying for this summer's FIFA 2025 Club World Cup, with the sport's governing body announcing Tuesday that LAFC will face Club América in a playoff match to determine who replaces Club León in the global tournament.
Should LAFC win, they would join Seattle Sounders FC (2022 Concacaf Champions Cup winner) and Inter Miami CF (host nation spot) when the 32-team tournament unfolds from June 14 to July 13 across the United States.
The LAFC-Club América date, venue, kickoff time, ticket sales and broadcast info will be communicated at a later date.
Club León qualified as 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup winners, but FIFA rules state that clubs competing at this summer's Club World Cup cannot share owners.
Club León and fellow LIGA MX side CF Pachuca, who qualified as 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup winners and will remain in the tournament, are both owned by Grupo Pachuca.
That decision was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which upheld FIFA's stance after appeals from CF Pachuca, Club León and Costa Rican side Alajuelense.
LAFC were selected as 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup runners-up, having lost that year's final to Club León (3-1 aggregate).
Meanwhile, Club América were chosen as the top-ranked team in the FIFA Club World Cup ranking at the conclusion of the 2024 edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
At the Club World Cup, the LAFC-Club América playoff winner will replace Club León in Group D alongside Chelsea (England), Flamengo (Brazil) and ES Tunis (Tunisia).
Club León's Group D matches were scheduled as follows, with the first two games respectively held at home venues for Atlanta United and Nashville SC:
Perennial MLS Cup contenders in the Western Conference, LAFC are led by forward Denis Bouanga. The Gabon international has earned two consecutive MLS Best XI nods (2023, '24) while scoring 20 league goals in back-to-back years. He also won the 2023 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi.
Additional stars include French national team legends Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris, as well as rising Venezuelan winger David Martínez and center back Aaron Long.
LAFC are coached by Steve Cherundolo, who will depart the club at season's end to return to Germany. Cherundolo led the club to an MLS Cup-Supporters' Shield double in 2022, plus the 2024 US Open Cup title.
Club América are one of Mexico's premier teams, having won a record seven Concacaf Champions Cup titles and 16 LIGA MX titles.
Led by manager André Jardine, star players include goalkeeper Luis Malagón, midfielder Álvaro Fidalgo, winger Alejandro Zendejas and forward Víctor Dávila. Zendejas is a former FC Dallas homegrown who represents the US men's national team.
Last year's Campeones Cup winners over the Columbus Crew, Las Águilas finished second in the recently-competed LIGA MX Clausura standings. They'll play Pachuca in the upcoming Liguilla playoffs.
The expanded 32-team Club World Cup will be held this summer across the United States from June 14 to July 13.
Teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams per group, playing in a single-game round-robin format. The top two teams per group reach the Round of 16, commencing a single-match knockout stage until the final.
Concacaf teams earn a guaranteed $9.55 million for participating in the Club World Cup, then up to $87.625 million if they win all three Group Stage games and eventually lift the title in the July 13 final at MetLife Stadium – resulting in $97.175 million of potential winnings.
Seven MLS stadiums are among the 12 venues selected to host games.
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FIFA Club World Cup
Los Angeles FC will play Club America in a one-off playoff to determine the final place in this summer's Club World Cup.
The winners of the playoff, which is expected to take place on May 31 but for which FIFA are yet to confirm details, will take the place of Club Leon in Group D for the newly-expanded tournament.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said earlier on Tuesday it had rejected the appeals filed by Mexican teams Club Leon, Pachuca and from Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) relating to the Club World Cup.
CAS judged that Leon and Pachuca did not meet the competition's regulations concerning multi-club ownership, with both clubs majority-owned by Grupo Pachuca. That decision led to Leon's expulsion from the tournament, while a separate appeal by LDA to fill that void was also rejected by CAS.
FIFA confirmed on March 21 that Leon had been removed from the competition after Grupo Pachuca “failed to meet the criteria on multi-club ownership”, which the group subsequently unsuccessfully appealed.
FIFA said later in March it was considering hosting a play-off game between Club America and LAFC to replace Leon, with the former being the highest-ranked Concacaf team not already at the tournament and the latter having lost to Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final.
As the winner of that final, Leon were due to participate at the Club World Cup as one of four Concacaf qualifiers alongside fellow Mexican sides Monterrey (winners of the 2021 Champions League) and Pachuca (winners of the 2024 Champions League) and American side Seattle Sounders (winners of the 2023 Champions League). Inter Miami qualified in the extra spot awarded a team from the host nation as the winners of the 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield.
Costa Rican side LDA were ranked below Club America of Mexico in the Concacaf rankings, but they were the highest-ranked team outside of Mexico. FIFA's guidelines for the Club World Cup state that each nation should not have more than two representatives at the competition unless they are the winners of the confederation's annual tournament, such as the Champions League.
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Whoever replaces Leon in Group D at the Club World Cup will face English side Chelsea, ES Tunis of Tunisia and Brazilian club Flamengo. If LAFC qualifies, it would see French striker Olivier Giroud come up against his former club Chelsea, where he won the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League during a four-year spell.
The Club World Cup begins on June 14, with the final to be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13.
Analysis from The Athletic's Football Finance Writer Chris Weatherspoon
As well as a spot in the expanded Club World Cup, the winners of this play-off will, in effect, guarantee themselves a decent chunk of cash too. FIFA have confirmed all four participating CONCACAF teams will receive $9.55million just for making it to this summer's tournament, so there are both sporting and financial incentives on offer for Los Angeles FC and Club America.
While that's the minimum the play-off winners will earn, it opens the way for them to bank far more. A performance prize pot of $475m is on offer for the 32 participating teams, with the potential for one team to earn $87.6m for winning just seven games.
Doing so would require not only winning the whole tournament, but every game they play in. That looks a tall order for LAFC and Club America, who are long shots when pitted against more illustrious European clubs.
Yet even getting through the group stage would see the pair double their money. Reaching the round of 16 earns clubs $7.5m, with group wins worth $2m apiece and draws $1m.
The riches of the expanded club competition will be particularly attractive to Club America. The Mexican club is undertaking works to improve its famous Azteca Stadium ahead of the 2026 World Cup, with $75m already spent on the remodel and a further $105m loan recently obtained from Bonarte, a Mexican bank. A boost to club coffers this summer will strengthen the club's hand in repaying the loan, which spans a 12-year term and will see the Azteca renamed Estadio Bonarte over that time.
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The Club World Cup used to take place every December and was contested by the winners of the six continental club competitions, as well as the host nation's domestic league champions. It featured a team from each of FIFA's confederations: the winners of the AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), Concacaf Champions League (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), Copa Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe).
The new competition follows the 32-team format from the old FIFA World Cup. Teams will be drawn into eight groups of four, with each side playing their group opponents once. The top two of each group will progress to the round of 16 and from there it will be single-match knockouts through to the final.
The opening game will be held at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on June 15 and the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — where the 2026 World Cup final will be held — on July 13.
Games will take place in Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Carolina, Ohio, California, Tennessee and Washington D.C.
Of the 32 places at the tournament, 31 have been filled with clubs qualifying via either a ranking pathway based on performances over a four-year period or by winning continental titles between 2021 and 2024. The only exception is Inter Miami, who qualified via the host nation place by winning the 2024 Supporters' Shield, awarded to the MLS team with the best regular-season record.
The 2025 Club World Cup draw was made in December.
The Club World Cup has a $1billion prize pot, which will be shared between the 32 competing teams. FIFA's prize pot owes much to the $1bn broadcast deal struck with DAZN in December.
Almost half of the total prize pot — $475m — will be shared based on sporting performance, with payments shaped by a team's progress in the competition and teams will then get a further participation payment.
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The 12 European clubs will also get between $12.8m and $38.2m in a “ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria”, with the six South American clubs getting a flat fee of $15.2m. Auckland City, the only Oceania club, will receive $3.58m, with the rest, from North and Central America, Africa and Asia, receiving $9.55m for qualifying.
(Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
Anthony Taylor has doubled down on his decision to allow Brentford's controversial second goal against Manchester United on Sunday.
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After being banned from the FIFA Club World Cup due to multi-club ownership rules, Club Leon has lost their appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and will need to be replaced at the tournament which will begin on June 14. To replace Leon in Group D alongside Chelsea, Flamengo, and Esperance Sportive de Tunis, FIFA has announced a one-game playoff between Los Angeles FC and Club America to determine that last spot.
These teams were determined due to LAFC being the runner-up to Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup and Club America being the top-ranked team in the FIFA Club World Cup confederation rankings. This playoff creates quite the opportunity for these teams as each Concacaf club participating in the tournament will receive $9.55 million in prize money from FIFA. This is before being able to win $2 million per win and $1 million per draw during the group stage.
It's quite a sum for any club, and is more than either can earn via their respective leagues, adding additional pressure to that playoff match. According to GiveMeSport, LAFC will host the playoff match at BMO Stadium on May 31. LAFC currently has a match facing the Colorado Rapids scheduled for that day, while Club America will be free as the Liga MX Clausura playoffs will have concluded by then.
"FIFA welcomes the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to reject the appeals of CF Pachuca, Club León and Asociación Liga Deportiva Alajuelense in relation to the FIFA Club World Cup 2025," FIFA said in a statement.
Leon's ban stems from both Leon and Pachuca being owned by Pachuca Group. With plans to put Leon up for sale not materializing in time, only one of those teams could participate in the tournament and the one that will continue is Pachuca. Pachuca and Leon's appeal to CAS was based around both clubs still complying with the Club World Cup eligibility to participate but it was deemed not to be the case.
Costa Rican side Alajuelense also filed an appeal with CAS that if one of Leon or Pachuca were removed form the tournament that they should be the team to replace them. CAS did hear that case before rejecting it. That rejection leaves it in FIFA's hands for how the empty spot in Group D will be filled.
Alongside other clubs taking part in the tournament, Leon had beefed up their roster adding James Rodriguez to the side but while he won't have a chance to lead them to a Club World Cup title, he will have a chance to lead them to a Liga MX Clausura title as they'll take on Cruz Azul in the quarterfinals on Thursday in that tournament.
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Chelsea will face either LAFC or Club America as the last team in their FIFA Club World Cup group after Club Leon remained removed on appeal.
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When Kansas City was chosen as a host city for the 2026 World Cup, the Chiefs said work would have to be done at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to prepare for the soccer games.
Chiefs president Mark Donovan in 2022 outlined the two-year process of getting the stadium ready for the World Cup. It would begin with removing seats this spring but returning them in time for the NFL season.
That work will be done again next year, when the soccer tournament comes to KC.
Photos from earlier this year showed work being done at Arrowhead Stadium. Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt spoke last month about what that construction entailed.
While Hunt referred to it as “fairly major surgery” to the stadium, he doesn't expect fans to spot the work that was done.
“I don't know how noticeable it will be because for the football season we're going to have all of the existing seats replaced,” Hunt said. “We've been going through a process, which started back in March, to remove approximately eight rows on the north side of the stadium.
“So, that's taking out all the seats, all of the concrete risers, there's limestone underneath that that we've had to remove. It's been a fairly major surgery to the stadium, which is ongoing. For the football season we're going to put aluminum risers back in with the seats that were there before we took them out so that the fans who own season tickets in those seats are not impacted.”
As Donovan said three years ago, Hunt doesn't expect the work to reduce the capacity at Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs games.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 11:39 AM.
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As the Coppa Italia final against Bologna looms for AC Milan, U.S. Men's National Team and Rossoneri star Christian Pulisic's future with the Serie A giants appears to have been confirmed.
With a thoroughly disappointing domestic season nearing its conclusion, and no European soccer next year a very real possibility for Milan, the roster looks set for a potentially mammoth overhaul in the summer.
However, having led the Rossoneri in goals this season, with 16 in all competitions, it appears that Pulisic is safe for another year, along with fellow midfielder, Tijjani Reijnders.
With Reijnders having recently put pen to paper on a new deal, and Pulisic seemingly set to follow suit, it appears that the midfield maestros will form the building blocks of Milan's rebuild, as per La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Others who may yet join them as cornerstones of a new-look Milan include goalkeeper Mike Maignan and defender Theo Hernandez, both of whom have had discussions with the front office over new deals.
That being said, Hernandez has also recently been linked with a move back to Real Madrid, six years after he departed La Liga for Serie A, as per Dario AS.
Unfortunately, this seemingly impending clear-out of the Milan roster could spell the end for, among others, USMNT midfielder Yunus Musah.
Having joined from Valencia in 2023 for around $22 million, Musah has failed to find his footing at the San Siro, used largely as a substitute this season and still yet to find the back of the net for Sergio Conceicao's side.
As for Conceicao, who it also appears is likely heading for the exit this summer either via a resignation or by force, he could yet leave Milan on a high note, having now guided his team to back to back to back wins for the first time during his tenure, following their 2-1 win at Genoa on Monday.
Far from an all-time classic, Milan had to wait until the 76th minute to bounce back from Vitinha's earlier goal, with Rafael Leao's heavily deflected shot finding its way past Nicola Leali.
The comeback was then completed just over a minute later, as Genoa's Morten Frendrup scored an unfortunate own goal off a Leao cross, while attempting to beat Joao Felix to the ball.
As for Pulisic, who started just behind forward Luka Jovic, he wound up playing nearly 80 minutes before being replaced by Musah.
Ultimately, the three points made little difference for Milan, who remain ninth in Serie A, six points behind Lazio in the final European qualification spot.
With just three league games remaining, a summer of significant change looms for Milan, who face the daunting prospect of a year without continental soccer, unless they win the upcoming Coppa Italia final against Bologna on May 14. A win at the Stadio Olimpico in Roma would ensure UEFA Europa League soccer next year.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected appeals from Grupo Pachuca and potential replacement club Alajuelense
Mexican soccer club León finally lost their legal match against Fifa on Tuesday and are officially out of the Club World Cup. Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC or another Mexican team, Club América, will likely be the late replacement in the United States next month after a yet-to-be-scheduled one-game playoff.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges rejected León's attempt to overturn being removed by Fifa from the 32-team tournament for being in the same ownership group as another Club World Cup qualifier, Pachuca.
“The panel examined the evidence, including the Club León trust set up by the owners of the club, and concluded that this trust was insufficient to comply with the regulations,” the court said in a statement.
The ruling says that “Fifa is responsible for designating the final qualified team to participate in the Club World Cup 2025.”
The worldwide governing body for soccer confirmed last month that it was considering a one-game playoff between LAFC and Club América for that purpose, to be held before the start of the Club World Cup on 14 June.
Fifa has not announced a date and venue for the potential playoff game, which would guarantee the winner almost $10m from the $1bn Club World Cup prize money fund.
As it stands, the schedule is tight. LAFC are scheduled to play a game at least every four days with one exception: A six-day break between league games on 18 and 24 May. Club América's schedule is up in the air – they complete a two-legged quarter-final tie in the Liga MX playoffs on 10 May, and there are no scheduled dates for the semi-final stage at time of writing. Should they qualify for the Club World Cup, Club América will likely have to back out of a scheduled friendly against San Diego FC set for 20 June.
The legal dispute played out in Switzerland five months after Fifa let León go into the tournament draw in Miami despite the pending multi-club ownership issue.
León were drawn in a group to play Chelsea in Atlanta on 16 June, then Esperance from Tunisia in Nashville, and Flamengo of Brazil in Orlando.
Fifa's new rules to protect the integrity of its prized, revamped club event prohibit two or more teams being in the same ownership group. That standard has been in place in Uefa-run European competitions for more than 20 years and is typically solved by management changes at one of the two clubs, which can be placed into an ownership blind trust.
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León and Pachuca qualified for the Club World Cup by respectively winning the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Concacaf championship.
The owner of León and Pachuca, Grupo Pachuca, said it was prepared to sell one of the clubs to comply with Fifa rules but that it was not possible for a sale to be completed before the tournament started.
After Fifa officials decided León should be removed, Fifa appeal judges formally excluded León in March for non-compliance with the rules.
At a previous appeal hearing at Fifa, León argued that the governing body “should follow in the footsteps of Uefa and permit the implementation of a trust as a solution to the issue of multi-club ownership.”
Fifa lawyers argued that despite the intention of León's owners, they still had not been compliant with rules when signing a Club World Cup entry agreement in February.
A separate and long-shot appeal by Costa Rican club Alajuelense to replace León was incorporated into the overall case and also rejected on Tuesday, CAS said.
Fifa previously said LAFC would be in the playoff because they were beaten by León in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final. Fifa explained América's place was justified as the next-best ranked team in the Club World Cup confederation ranking.
Fifa has not offered a reason why América – one of Mexico's best-supported teams – are eligible to be included when Fifa's rules cap each country at two entries unless it has more than two winners of a continental championship in the qualifying period.
The entry that was fought over by lawyers is worth an initial $9.55m payment from Fifa for a Concacaf team, plus a share of the $1bn in total prize money based on results at the month-long tournament.
Real Madrid have approached Liverpool in an attempt to bring forward the signing of Trent Alexander-Arnold so that he is available to play in the Club World Cup, which starts on 14 June in the United States. The right-back is set to join the Spanish side when his contract expires at the end of June, but Madrid are eager to take him earlier.
Any agreement would lead to Liverpool receiving a fee. Fifa has implemented a two-window summer to benefit those playing at the Club World Cup, with the first lasting from 1 to 10 June and the second opening on 16 June. Madrid's first fixture is on 18 June against Al-Hilal at the Hard Rock Cafe Stadium in Miami.
Alexander-Arnold, who helped Liverpool win the Club World Cup in 2019, announced on Monday that he would not be renewing his contract after two decades with Liverpool, having started in the academy aged six. He is yet to confirm Madrid is his next destination, but is expected to move there on a five-year deal.
“After 20 years at Liverpool Football Club, now is the time for me to confirm that I will be leaving at the end of the season,” said Alexander-Arnold. “This is easily the hardest decision I've ever made in my life. I know many of you have wondered why or been frustrated that I haven't spoken about this yet, but it was always my intention to keep my full focus on the team's best interests, which was securing number 20,” referring to the club's 20th league title.
Madrid's eagerness to accelerate Alexander-Arnold's arrival is partly down to the problems they have at right-back. The veteran defender Dani Carvajal is out injured with cruciate ligament damage and the forward Lucas Vázquez has been filling in for his Spain teammate.
Los Angeles FC
will play Club America in a one-off match to qualify for the Club World Cup, with GIVEMESPORT able to exclusively reveal the match will take place on May 31 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
It is effectively a $10 million match, as the winner will gain a guaranteed entry fee of $9.55 million, plus an additional $2 million per group stage win and round-by-round prize money. The winner will be placed in the final spot of Group D, alongside Chelsea
, Flamengo and ES Tunis.
This spot opened up due to Club Leon being removed from the Club World Cup for a breach of multi-club rules. Club Leon and CF Pachuca are both part of Grupo Pachuca, while CF Pachuca will remain in the tournament.
Club Leon will not compete in the Club World Cup after their appeal to be reinstated was rejected
The Court of Arbitration has rejected Club Leon's appeal to be reinstated in the Club World Cup on Tuesday.
Leon had argued the club had been sufficiently placed in a blind trust, removing any conflict from both sides competing at the Club World Cup, but CAS rejected this argument.
Alajuelense have also failed in their appeal to take the vacant spot after initially flagging a conflict between Leon and Pachuca.
LAFC have been picked because they finished as the runners-up to Leon in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, while Club America top the co-efficient rankings for the four-year qualification cycle in question.
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which will feature 32 of the best teams from around the world, will be held in its new format in 11 venues across the USA one year before the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup.
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which will feature 32 of the best teams from around the world, will be held in its new format in 11 venues across the USA one year before the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup.
The tournament will be held from June 15 to July 13, 2025 with the Club World Cup final taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of the NFL's New York Jets and New York Giants, which will also host the 2026 FIFA World Cup final for men's national teams.
The tournament will be held from June 15 to July 13, 2025 with the Club World Cup final taking place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of the NFL's New York Jets and New York Giants, which will also host the 2026 FIFA World Cup final for men's national teams.
Nearly all the clubs that will participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup have been named, hailing from every region of the world. Each club met qualifying criteria to win a ticket to the tournament:
Nearly all the clubs that will participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup have been named, hailing from every region of the world. Each club met qualifying criteria to win a ticket to the tournament:
Among the host cities of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, Orlando will be the only one that will hold matches in two different stadiums:
Among the host cities of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, Orlando will be the only one that will hold matches in two different stadiums:
The tournament, which will run from June 15 to July 13, will kick off with a group stage with the 32 teams split up into eight groups of four teams each. The top two finishers from each group will advance to the knockout rounds beginning with the Round of 16.
The tournament, which will run from June 15 to July 13, will kick off with a group stage with the 32 teams split up into eight groups of four teams each. The top two finishers from each group will advance to the knockout rounds beginning with the Round of 16.
The knockout rounds will then proceed from the Round of 16 to the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final with no third-place match held. There will be a total of 63 matches played:
The knockout rounds will then proceed from the Round of 16 to the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final with no third-place match held. There will be a total of 63 matches played:
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Though the MLS primary transfer window closed less than two weeks ago, clubs have long been planning for the summer.
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne may be persuaded to remain on board if the hierarchy have a rethink over his contract situation
Liverpool are reportedly preparing to submit an opening offer worth £51m for the 22-year-old forward.
The Englishman took far too many risks with his technique, and it's got everyone talking.
He did NOT select Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi 😱
Tragedy chanting has become a huge issue in football over the last few years.
Club Leon won the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2023
Club Leon have failed with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against FIFA's decision to remove them from the Club World Cup.
Fifa determined in March that Club Leon and fellow Mexican team Pachuca did not meet tournament regulations on multi-club ownership.
Because both clubs are owned by Grupo Pachuca, Fifa removed Club Leon from the tournament which is being held in the United States from 15 June to 13 July.
Cas received separate appeals from Pachuca and Club Leon seeking to annul the decision and declare that the clubs comply with the Club World Cup eligibility requirements.
Club Leon also filed an additional appeal against the decision by the Fifa secretary general, seeking to be reinstated in the competition.
However, Cas upheld Fifa's original decision and said in a statement that a panel found that Club Leon "failed to meet the criteria in the regulations".
"The panel examined the evidence, including the Club Leon trust set up by the owners of the club, and concluded that this trust was insufficient to comply with the regulations," said a Cas statement.
"Consequently, Club Leon remains excluded from the competition and Pachuca remains qualified."
Cas also dismissed an appeal made by Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA), who said they should be admitted to the Club World Cup as the next eligible team.
LDA had lifted the 2023 Central American Cup, but Cas said it rejected the appeal "with reasons to follow later" and said Fifa was "responsible for designating the final qualified team to participate".
As BBC Sport reported in March, Major League Soccer side LAFC and Mexican team Club America are now set to play a one-off play-off game for the final spot in the Club World Cup.
LAFC were beaten by Club Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final, while Club America are the highest-ranked team behind Club Leon in confederation ranking that did not qualify for the competition.
The winners of the match are set to take Club Leon's spot in Group D alongside Chelsea, Flamengo and Esperance Sportive de Tunis.
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FIFA and On Location, the official Hospitality Provider for the FIFA World Cup 2026, and Major League Soccer, announced Tuesday that a collection of game-changing hospitality packages for matches held in the United States are available for purchase at FIFAWorldCup.com/Hospitality.
It marks the first opportunity for the public to purchase a seat at the world's biggest single-sport competition, with the full launch of hospitality packages, including matches held in Canada and Mexico, set to be made available later this year.
FIFA has entrusted On Location, in partnership with Major League Soccer, to deliver its largest hospitality program ever, providing fans with unprecedented access to next summer's tournament.
MLS and On Location bring together a dynamic and deeply experienced team to promote and sell transformative fan experiences for the world's most popular sporting event. MLS has clubs in each of the 13 FIFA World Cup 26™ host cities in the U.S. and Canada,
Limited initial release packages available to purchase online today include:
“The largest hospitality program in FIFA World Cup history is designed to bring fans from around the world together to celebrate the beautiful game and showcase the rich cultural traditions of 16 unique North American cities," said Alicia Falken, general manager of On Location's FIFA World Cup 26 business.
"Our packages will help passionate fans seamlessly navigate the competition schedule and support their team, while enjoying unprecedented access and one-of-a-kind experiences for an opportunity of a lifetime.”
Anthony Joshua has revealed he has started talks about a "serious investment" in a Championship club.
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Welcome to the ESPN Singapore Edition
Sebastian Salazar reacts to Michele Kang's $30 million donation to U.S. Soccer. (2:37)
LOS ANGELES -- When club owner and magnate Michele Kang sat in the "Futbol W" studio in L.A. to speak with ESPN, there was an obvious question lingering -- and one without an obvious answer.
Earlier that day, Kang announced her latest large investment in the U.S. Soccer Federation at an event a few blocks away. Seemingly everyone in town for the game between the U.S. women's national team and Brazil was asking the same question: Why? Why had Kang, who owns three professional women's soccer teams, offered to hand over to U.S. Soccer a business she poured $25 million into building -- after she already committed to donating $30 million to the federation over the next five years?
The question comes with some awe, but it is accompanied by the confusion that surrounds a first-of-its-kind splash. Kang, who has been building what appears to be the women's soccer version of City Football Group, has expanded her empire dramatically in a short time. So why donate elsewhere?
"At the end of the day, our vision and our goal is to get all the female teams to adopt these new standards and the way we train our female athletes," Kang told ESPN. "I thought that would be much better accomplished by an organization like U.S. Soccer as opposed to something private."
Kang is trying to transform the women's game by bringing more young players in and raising standards -- not just in the U.S. but around the world -- and a task that big requires buy-in from others. As Kang put it: "We need to do this on a massive scale, because we're talking about half of this population."
Kang has found an unlikely ally in USWNT head coach Emma Hayes. Hayes comes from a long soccer background that Kang readily admits she doesn't have, but both women speak similarly about detesting constant comparisons to the men's game and both emphasize the need to view everything through "a female lens," as Hayes recently detailed in her long-term plan for U.S. Soccer.
"[All parties] need to come together to make this product, women's football, women's soccer, the best sports entertainment product," Kang told ESPN. "And it's not that simple, unlike most of the businesses where you just go into a factory and you build something and you come out. But here, multiple stakeholders, both private and governing bodies, they all need to work together."
Kang is a self-made billionaire who, until about five years ago, never thought about owning a sports franchise. Since then, she's become one of the most prominent single owners in women's soccer. She's now the majority owner of the Washington Spirit in the NWSL, French giants Olympique Lyonnais and England's London City Lionesses. She also told ESPN she has imminent plans to add a fourth team on a new continent.
Her plan from the beginning was to pool resources to quickly scale up a global network of clubs -- something unprecedented for an operation exclusively focused on women's soccer.
Kang is used to being questioned -- it is an occupational hazard of being a disruptor, which Kang has been in women's soccer since her then-record purchase of the Washington Spirit in 2022. Her $35 million valuation of the Spirit when she assumed majority control of the team was 10 times greater than another NWSL team sale two years earlier. At the time, she reminds everyone to this day, people questioned why she would spend so much.
What has followed since is proof of concept. The record valuation for an NWSL team sale was broken twice last year, reaching $250 million for Angel City. Expansion fees have grown from about $2 million five years ago to $110 million, which a new group in Denver will pay to bring the NWSL to 16 teams next year.
She said she received similar criticism for spinning off Lyon's women's team into separate ownership from the men's team, but she has heard about other clubs planning to do the same thing.
"I can tell you when I first spun off Olympique Lyonnais from the men's team, there were a lot of criticisms," Kang said. "It's like, 'That can't happen,' and all that. Now, actually, the top teams both in France and England are doing it."
Kang says she is not trying to create some kind of player development network that feeds players to one team, which is one of the criticisms of the multi-club model on the men's side -- like, say, City Football Group ultimately serving Manchester City. As she put it: "I'm not going to rob the best players from one team and give them to another team." Rather, she wants to create "the No. 1 team in each country."
Her ambition to be on new continents stems from the idea that seeing is believing: "I don't want the young girls growing up thinking that whatever women's-specific training methodology, dedicated stadium, state-of-the-art training centers are sort of an American, English, French phenomenon. It's going to be in their backyard."
Despite the comparisons Kang's model has drawn to ownership groups in the men's game (where she holds a minority stake in Eagle Football Group, which owns multiple men's teams), Kang insists she is forging something new.
"The worst thing we can do to women's football is to copy and paste" what the men's game has been doing for decades, Kang said. That means determining a competitive format that works for the women's game, for instance, or building a different business model that, unlike a City Football Group or Red Bull's soccer network, is not so reliant on making money off the transfer market, which is still developing on the women's side.
"Our product, in our opinion, is fundamentally different -- and I think men's team owners will say the same thing," she said.
Two years into her multi-club model, Kang looks right on track. The Washington Spirit finished second in the NWSL and runners-up in the playoffs in 2024, barely falling on each occasion to a historic Orlando Pride team that went 23 games unbeaten to open the season. Washington hired Jonatan Giráldez away from global power FC Barcelona to become the team's head coach.
Lyon just clinched its 18th French league title in the past 19 seasons, although the eight-time European champions were upset by Arsenal in the UEFA Women's Champions League semifinals. Over the weekend, London City won promotion to England's top flight in Kang's first full season as owner, making them the only independently owned club to participate in next season's Women's Super League.
None of that is by coincidence. Kang has invested in staff (such as Giráldez), infrastructure (such as improvements to training facilities) and players (such as Trinity Rodman, whom Kang said she'll "do everything we can" to keep from leaving the club when her contract expires later this year).
Kang's vision extends to all women's sports. Last year she donated $4 million to the U.S. women's rugby sevens team to provide resources ahead of the 2028 L.A. Olympics.
This is still a business, however, as she is quick to remind everyone. Men's sports team owners have historically lost money until they sell. Women's sports are still fighting against the perception that they aren't good business long term, which, according to Kang, demands a more immediate return on investment.
"One of the very important aspects of what I'm doing is I want to prove that women's sports in general, that women's football is good business," Kang said. "No business can survive by losing money forever, right? So at least break even."
With a smile and her fingers crossed in front of her, she says the Spirit will "hopefully" break even in the near future. Washington finished fourth in the NWSL in average attendance last year -- nearly 14,000 fans per game -- and attendance is up this year.
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery for Kang's approach. The multi-club model is in vogue, and more women's soccer club owners are expanding their portfolios in the footsteps of Kang.
Bay FC's owners, Sixth Street, announced plans earlier this year to create a similar global network. Kansas City Current majority owners Angie and Chris Long, who funded the NWSL's first purpose-built stadium as the anchor of a $1 billion waterfront development, previously confirmed to ESPN that more clubs will soon be added to their portfolio. A group called Mercury/13 launched a multi-club model last year, first with the purchase of Italy's FC Como Women.
The recently launched Monarch Collective is dedicated to exclusively investing in women's sports teams and already holds stakes in Angel City FC, Boston Legacy FC and San Diego Wave FC -- the maximum (three) allowed by the NWSL's private equity rules. Avenue Sports Group, led by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, is focused on NWSL and WNBA investment and held serious discussions with at least four NWSL teams previously for sale.
Kang welcomes others to join her: "I'm actually seeing either intent or already moving in that direction [from] several groups already," she said. "I'm hearing so-and-so is buying this team and so forth. So, this is happening."
Kang has fielded questions about what she's doing -- the multi-club model, but also her Kynisca Innovation Hub that is "dedicated to revolutionizing how female athletes train" -- from more people privately.
"Women's football is kind of exploding," she told ESPN. The bad news, she quickly adds, is the lack of infrastructure and resources in place around it, including staffing and player development.
"We all need to move all those things together to really advance this game so that we don't miss a beat," Kang said, "because the last thing we need is: somehow, right now, things are really great, but what's the sustaining power?"
Kang's rhetorical question is the short answer to people asking "Why?"
Her plan is to boost investment in a space that has historically lacked it, much like any other business opportunity. How? Infrastructure, better player development and more training to build out a larger, more qualified network of staff. The money she has donated to U.S. Soccer is all earmarked for those initiatives.
With that foundation, the product of women's soccer can flourish at a scale beyond just a few clubs -- that's the plan, at least.
Bolavip, like Futbol Sites, is a company owned by Better Collective. All rights reserved.
May 06, 2025 03:02PM EDT
By Natalia Lobo
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek has addressed rumors that she was planning to skip Wimbledon this year, amid speculation surrounding her form in the 2025 season. The Polish star confirmed that she plans to compete in the Championships and dismissed the reports.
“Shouldn't believe this stuff,” Swiatek said when asked about the rumors during her Media Day press conference at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. “During the past few days I saw a million comments that were not true.”
This year, Swiatek has reached at least the quarterfinals of every tournament she has played. However, she has not made a final since last year's Roland Garros, where she won her fifth Grand Slam title.
“I don't get it,” said Swiatek, who is the defending champion in Rome. “There are so many theories right now, I would say especially in Polish media, about me that are not true. I think—I don't know—you guys like to make some articles that will attract people. I get it. It's part of the job,” she said.
Iga Swiatek playing during the Madrid Mutua Open ( Julian Finney/Getty Images)
“But yeah, for sure I'm not going to skip Wimbledon. I really want to learn how to play on grass better. Every year is another opportunity. I will play Wimbledon, for sure, unless I get injured,” she added. While Swiatek has enjoyed great success on clay courts, winning four French Opens, she is also a former junior Wimbledon champion.
see also
She was World No. 2, defeated Venus Williams but was forced to retire at just 27 due to injury
Swiatek is coming off a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Coco Gauff, who is now World No. 3 and closing in on her in the WTA rankings. However, the result followed an emotionally difficult week after the loss of her grandfather.
While she hasn't had the strongest start to the season, her solid 26–8 win-loss record shows consistency. With Rome, a tournament she has won three times, up next, she has a prime opportunity to return to winning form.
Natalia is a sports journalist at Bolavip US, where she covers soccer, tennis, and the broader sports world. She also works as an entertainment journalist at Spoiler US, focusing on the film industry, series, reality TV, and celebrity news. With a diverse background that includes reporting on sports, fashion, and culture, she brings a rich and varied perspective to her current roles. Natalia holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication and Media from the Universidad Central of Venezuela (UCV) and has over eight years of experience in digital media. She has previously contributed her bilingual skills in English and Spanish to outlets such as Revista Exclusiva and Cambio16.
Bolavip, like Futbol Sites, is a company owned by Better Collective. All rights reserved.
The defending Rome champion clarified his stance Tuesday after questioning the accuracy of technology in Madrid.ByTENNIS.comPublished May 06, 2025 copy_link
Published May 06, 2025
© 2025 Getty Images
After what played out at the Mutua Madrid Open, it was natural for a reporter in Rome to ask Alexander Zverev if he was happy to see the upcoming French Open stick with traditional lines-people over electronic line calling (ELC).“They still going to have that? Well, it screwed me last year,” he said with a smile Tuesday.Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
“They still going to have that? Well, it screwed me last year,” he said with a smile Tuesday.Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
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Despite that incident, Zverev clarified it's still his preferred methodology for detemining whether shots are in or out.“To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. I think there was something wrong with the system in Madrid,” said Zverev, who ultimately bowed out to Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16 at the Caja Magica.“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
“To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. I think there was something wrong with the system in Madrid,” said Zverev, who ultimately bowed out to Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16 at the Caja Magica.“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. Alexander Zverev
As for how to account for an erroneous miscue made by technology, Zverev conceded he didn't have the perfect solve to offer up.“It's not for me to decide. But when it's clear like that, then maybe the umpire should be able to come down from the chair. If we're talking about millimeters, then no. If we're talking about three, four, five centimeters, then maybe.”
“It's not for me to decide. But when it's clear like that, then maybe the umpire should be able to come down from the chair. If we're talking about millimeters, then no. If we're talking about three, four, five centimeters, then maybe.”
The 28-year-old is seeded No. 2 this week, though has unfavorable odds to carry that through to Roland Garros. With 2024 Rome results wiped, Carlos Alcaraz begins the tournament with a 755-point advantage to be the world No. 2 going into the Paris major.“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich,” Zverev commented. “All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there. Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.”Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich,” Zverev commented. “All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there. Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.”Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
The defending Rome champion clarified his stance Tuesday after questioning the accuracy of technology in Madrid.ByTENNIS.comPublished May 06, 2025 copy_link
Published May 06, 2025
© 2025 Getty Images
After what played out at the Mutua Madrid Open, it was natural for a reporter in Rome to ask Alexander Zverev if he was happy to see the upcoming French Open stick with traditional lines-people over electronic line calling (ELC).“They still going to have that? Well, it screwed me last year,” he said with a smile Tuesday.Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
“They still going to have that? Well, it screwed me last year,” he said with a smile Tuesday.Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
Zverev is back at the Foro Italico to defend his Internazionali BNL d'Italia crown. During his latest ATP Masters 1000 appearance in the Spanish capital, the world No. 2 incurred a code violation during a third-round win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after pulling out his cell phone to snap a photo of a ball mark that he felt contradicted what ELC captured.
A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)
Despite that incident, Zverev clarified it's still his preferred methodology for detemining whether shots are in or out.“To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. I think there was something wrong with the system in Madrid,” said Zverev, who ultimately bowed out to Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16 at the Caja Magica.“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
“To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. I think there was something wrong with the system in Madrid,” said Zverev, who ultimately bowed out to Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16 at the Caja Magica.“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
“I think the weeks before it worked perfectly fine. It was mistake-free kind of. I still think that it's the right way to go forward, too. When mistakes happen like this in Madrid, maybe they have to readjust it for the next day, readjust the system a little bit.”
To be honest, I like the electronic line calling. I think there was absolutely no mistakes in Monte Carlo, there were no mistakes in Munich. Alexander Zverev
As for how to account for an erroneous miscue made by technology, Zverev conceded he didn't have the perfect solve to offer up.“It's not for me to decide. But when it's clear like that, then maybe the umpire should be able to come down from the chair. If we're talking about millimeters, then no. If we're talking about three, four, five centimeters, then maybe.”
“It's not for me to decide. But when it's clear like that, then maybe the umpire should be able to come down from the chair. If we're talking about millimeters, then no. If we're talking about three, four, five centimeters, then maybe.”
The 28-year-old is seeded No. 2 this week, though has unfavorable odds to carry that through to Roland Garros. With 2024 Rome results wiped, Carlos Alcaraz begins the tournament with a 755-point advantage to be the world No. 2 going into the Paris major.“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich,” Zverev commented. “All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there. Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.”Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich,” Zverev commented. “All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there. Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.”Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz in his second Grand Slam final last June, the match he alluded to being “screwed” in earlier.
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Published : May 06, 2025 22:38 IST , Rome - 2 MINS READ
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Zverev, who is still seeking his first Grand Slam title, said he should in retrospect have taken time off after losing to Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the Australian Open final at the end of January.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
Defending Rome Open champion Alexander Zverev said he is now on a “good path”, putting a poor run of form following his defeat in the Australian Open final down to burn-out.
The 28-year-old world number two put an end to the dry run -- which included opening round defeats in Indian Wells and Monte Carlo -- by winning the ATP title in Munich in mid-April.
The German, who is still seeking his first Grand Slam title, said he should in retrospect have taken time off after losing to Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the Australian Open final at the end of January.
“Before Munich obviously my level of play wasn't great,” he said at Tuesday's press conference. “There are reasons for it. I think not taking time off after Australia was a big reason for it. I felt like I burned out a little bit.”
Zverev said the life of a professional tennis player was an incessant cycle of travelling and playing without any time to rest.
“We play a lot. We travel a lot. First of all, we don't give our bodies rest, but we also don't give our heads rest. They don't get mental rest. I needed that a little bit,” he said.
ALSO READ | Italian Open: Iga Swiatek struggling with ‘perfectionism' ahead of Rome
“I'm on a good path. I won a tournament two weeks ago. I cannot forget that. And I have to focus on the positives.”
Zverev, though, said he believed one day he would be world number one and lashed out at the media for belittling him when he was enduring the bad run.
He said he was not the only one who had been struggling lately with former number ones and multiple Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz also enduring some tough times.
“I do think the media also loves to put players down, right?” he said. “I had a bad two months before Munich, right?
“I didn't play great tennis before Munich. All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 ever. I don't deserve to be there.
“I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results.”
Zverev is hoping a good title defence in Rome will set him up to go one better than last year at the French Open and be crowned champion.
“At the end of the day in big matches, big moments, I still believe the top players will rise,” he said. “I still believe that I am going to find my tennis for the biggest tournaments.”
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13:00 EDT 06 May 2025, updated
13:26 EDT 06 May 2025
By
MATTHEW LAMBWELL
It sometimes feels as though ever since the 2021 US Open, Emma Raducanu has been trying to recapture the spirit of that schoolgirl who swept to the title. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that the 22-year-old version of that kid has a yearning to dust off her textbooks.
‘I'm going to start studying more,' says Raducanu, in a joint interview with Mail Sport and the Guardian at the Italian Open. ‘I think I need that. I've missed it for the last few years. I need something to stimulate and engage my brain so my entire life isn't just tennis.'
Will this be formal study? ‘I haven't decided yet. I think so. Whether I take my third A level, whether I go into a degree, I feel like I need some sort of pressure and adrenaline in that area of my life.
‘Growing up, I always had tennis as an escape from studying and studying as an escape from tennis. So it wasn't just my entire life, my entire personality dependent on this one thing.
‘I loved studying and I still do. I love those moments on my own, quiet reading in the library, figuring things out myself.
‘In this life, where it's so busy and there's so many people around, as you see (she gestures around the buzzing terrace of the Foro Italico) it's nice to have that little retreat.
‘Solving problems, getting a certain grade on an exam… your self esteem isn't just reliant on a win or a loss.'
What would that third A Level be (to go with maths and economics)? Raducanu considers. ‘English, politics or physics,' she says.
The subject arose from a question about Carlos Alcaraz's new documentary. The Spaniard said his greatest fear is for tennis to become an obligation - has the sport ever felt like that for Raducanu since her title in New York?
‘Yeah, I would say there have been times I felt that,' she says. ‘The last few years of my career have been a big, big learning curve.
‘I don't have all the answers now but I feel like I'm starting fresh. I want to do things in a different way. I'm working to see what I can do to bridge the gap between where I am now and the top of the game.
‘I'm working on a few things, in my game and off the court, setting up my life in different ways.'
It is no wonder Raducanu, a naturally curious and introspective soul, has been thinking things over recently.
A lot has happened this year. A back spasm which ruined her pre-season. The departure of trusted coach Nick Cavaday for health reasons. The terror of being stalked across four countries. A coaching trial with Vlado Platenik which ended after just two weeks.
The upshot of that abrupt parting from Platenik in Miami was an on-the-hoof partnership with Mark Petchey.
What began as a stop-gap has become a more permanent, if informal, arrangement, and Raducanu talks for the first time about how that alliance came about.
‘It happened completely by chance,' she says. ‘It was almost fate. I was working with Vlado and I just knew it had to come to an end. Mark was already in Miami, commentating, and I bumped into him in one of the corridors. He's someone that I trust so we were just talking. It was a bit of both: it was me being scared to ask, can you help? And it was him not wanting to push himself.'
Once again, Raducanu has reverted to someone who has known her before her Grand Slam triumph. Also in Rome is Jane O'Donoghue, her childhood coach turned financier. Raducanu reveals that O'Donoghue has taken a couple of months off her job in the city to be here for the clay court swing and into the grass. She has previously only done a week here and there.
Raducanu knows her own mind and is fiercely loyal to those who knew her before fame and fortune.
‘I am very independent and that definitely comes from my mum,' she says. ‘She's the strongest person I know, has gone through so much in life and she's always taught me to rely on people as little as possible.
‘But sometimes you do need to lean on people. I have become less afraid to do that.
‘It takes a lot for me to open up. I haven't truly opened up to many people in my life.
‘Once I let someone in, I let them in fully, and I care for them so much. I have been burned a few times, a few people who I've really trusted have surprised me.
‘It's very difficult for me to trust new people. I find myself gravitating towards those people I've known before the US Open. My circle is smaller than ever.
‘Up until I won the US Open, I was so sheltered. Up to 18, I was just with my parents. It was like nothing could touch me. And then all of a sudden everyone came and I got burned quite a lot of times, whether that's professionally or personally. Now I'm very Fort Knox with who I let in.'
Raducanu's path of self discovery continues as she grows up under the beam of a most intent spotlight. She begins her Italian Open campaign on Wednesday against a qualifier.
It's hard to win big without matches under your belt. But there's another Italian to consider.ByZachary CohenPublished May 06, 2025 copy_link
Published May 06, 2025
© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
The final clay-court Masters 1000 event of the year is here, as the best players on the ATP Tour are in Rome for the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. The entry list doesn't include Novak Djokovic, who hasn't been himself for a couple of weeks and seemingly needs some time to get himself right for Roland Garros. But it does feature Jannik Sinner, who is back from his three-month doping suspension. Nobody was able to take Sinner's spot atop the ATP rankings while he was out, and the Italian is the betting favorite to win this tournament in front of a home crowd.But rust could be a factor for the world No. 1, and Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Sinner on clay at Roland Garros last year, is lurking. So is defending champion Alexander Zverev, always a force on clay.Let's get into it in this edition of Game, Set, Bet, presented by BetMGM, with a Rome betting preview, a breakdown of the court conditions, our players to watch and a pick to win.Internazionali BNL d'Italia Open Winners2020: Novak Djokovic2021: Rafael Nadal2022: Novak Djokovic2023: Daniil Medvedev2024: Alexander Zverev
But rust could be a factor for the world No. 1, and Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Sinner on clay at Roland Garros last year, is lurking. So is defending champion Alexander Zverev, always a force on clay.Let's get into it in this edition of Game, Set, Bet, presented by BetMGM, with a Rome betting preview, a breakdown of the court conditions, our players to watch and a pick to win.Internazionali BNL d'Italia Open Winners2020: Novak Djokovic2021: Rafael Nadal2022: Novak Djokovic2023: Daniil Medvedev2024: Alexander Zverev
Let's get into it in this edition of Game, Set, Bet, presented by BetMGM, with a Rome betting preview, a breakdown of the court conditions, our players to watch and a pick to win.Internazionali BNL d'Italia Open Winners2020: Novak Djokovic2021: Rafael Nadal2022: Novak Djokovic2023: Daniil Medvedev2024: Alexander Zverev
(For all of the odds, head over to BetMGM)
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Altitude was the story of the Mutua Madrid Open, as that event plays faster than most of the clay-court tournaments on the calendar. We saw several big servers win big matches in Spain. Well, we're back to sea level for this 1000-level event, meaning the conditions in Rome are gritty. So, get ready to put a little more weight into baseline play, and the ability to grind out long rallies.Last year, Tennis Abstract had Rome with a Surface Speed of 0.67, which means the Ace Rate at the tournament was 33% lower than that of a tour-average event. While having a great serve is always a good thing, it's not going to give players a massive leg up this week. You really have to have rally tolerance in Rome. If not, you better be striking the ball as clean as can be.
Last year, Tennis Abstract had Rome with a Surface Speed of 0.67, which means the Ace Rate at the tournament was 33% lower than that of a tour-average event. While having a great serve is always a good thing, it's not going to give players a massive leg up this week. You really have to have rally tolerance in Rome. If not, you better be striking the ball as clean as can be.
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Jannik Sinner (+200): All eyes are on Sinner this week. The Italian hasn't lost a match this season—though he's only played seven, winning the Australian Open before serving his three-month suspension. Sinner is going to be extremely well rested coming, and one would think he has had quite a bit of time to work on his body and make any technical changes he saw fit. Tennis players usually aren't afforded three full months off, so there's a chance he'll be even more dangerous. But how will Sinner look without having played actual matches since January? On-court rust can get the better of anyone, even if it only manifests itself in the form of poor match conditioning.As far as the conditions go, I'm a big believer in Sinner's clay-court game. I know he hasn't yet had a big breakthrough on the dirt, but he looked like he was on his way to winning in Madrid before pulling out of the tournament with an injury last year. Overall, he's 54-24 on clay at the tour level.Sinner's ability to maneuver the baseline, blast the ball from both wings and serve and return at elite levels will make him a factor on any surface. And I strongly feel that the variety Sinner has added to his game will result in some huge clay results eventually. Adding a drop shot, improving his net game and mixing up the types of shots he hits in rallies will only make it harder for opponents to know what's coming. And all of that plays well in slower, grittier conditions.
As far as the conditions go, I'm a big believer in Sinner's clay-court game. I know he hasn't yet had a big breakthrough on the dirt, but he looked like he was on his way to winning in Madrid before pulling out of the tournament with an injury last year. Overall, he's 54-24 on clay at the tour level.Sinner's ability to maneuver the baseline, blast the ball from both wings and serve and return at elite levels will make him a factor on any surface. And I strongly feel that the variety Sinner has added to his game will result in some huge clay results eventually. Adding a drop shot, improving his net game and mixing up the types of shots he hits in rallies will only make it harder for opponents to know what's coming. And all of that plays well in slower, grittier conditions.
Sinner's ability to maneuver the baseline, blast the ball from both wings and serve and return at elite levels will make him a factor on any surface. And I strongly feel that the variety Sinner has added to his game will result in some huge clay results eventually. Adding a drop shot, improving his net game and mixing up the types of shots he hits in rallies will only make it harder for opponents to know what's coming. And all of that plays well in slower, grittier conditions.
Rune's victory over Alcaraz in the final was also the milestone 20th Top 10 win of his career.© AFP or licensors
© AFP or licensors
Holger Rune (25-1): I'm at the point where I have no idea what to expect out of Rune. When he's healthy, he has the game to beat anyone—which is why I said he has the potential to win Grand Slam titles on Tennis Bets Live. In Barcelona, Rune beat Casper Ruud, Karen Khachanov and Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in his final three matches to win the title. However, Rune then went to Madrid and retired after dropping the first set in his Round of 64 meeting with Flavio Cobolli. He has had a lot of trouble finishing matches all throughout the year.Is Rune healthy enough to compete in Rome? If so, his all-court ability will make him a tough out. And I happen to think he has a great path to the quarterfinals, as I'm not expecting Jack Draper to play very well after losing in the final in Spain.
Is Rune healthy enough to compete in Rome? If so, his all-court ability will make him a tough out. And I happen to think he has a great path to the quarterfinals, as I'm not expecting Jack Draper to play very well after losing in the final in Spain.
Musetti's efforts in Madrid will see him rise inside the Top 10 Monday for the first time.© Associated Press
© Associated Press
Lorenzo Musetti (28-1): I'm not sure Musetti will actually win this tournament, but he has a pretty clear path to the quarterfinals. At that point, he'd likely face Arthur Fils, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Zverev—no easy match-ups. But Musetti is playing as well as anyone right now. He went all the way to the final in Monte-Carlo, then he followed it up with a run to the semifinals in Madrid. Well, why can't he take it a step further playing in front of a home crowd?The conditions in Rome are a bit more like Monte-Carlo, so Musetti is going to have time to load up with his one-handed backhand. And the high bounces are going to make it very difficult to get the ball by him. So, this should be Musetti at his very best. And at 28-1, it feels like this is worth a pizza-money play. When filling out a bracket for this tournament, I had Musetti facing Alcaraz in the semifinals. And while that went the Spaniard's way in Monte-Carlo, I'd like Musetti's chances against a banged-up Alcaraz in Rome. I also think the winner of this tournament will come from the bottom half of the draw, so if Musetti is in the final, then he just might win this.
The conditions in Rome are a bit more like Monte-Carlo, so Musetti is going to have time to load up with his one-handed backhand. And the high bounces are going to make it very difficult to get the ball by him. So, this should be Musetti at his very best. And at 28-1, it feels like this is worth a pizza-money play. When filling out a bracket for this tournament, I had Musetti facing Alcaraz in the semifinals. And while that went the Spaniard's way in Monte-Carlo, I'd like Musetti's chances against a banged-up Alcaraz in Rome. I also think the winner of this tournament will come from the bottom half of the draw, so if Musetti is in the final, then he just might win this.
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Tennis
ROME — Nearly 50 American tennis players will descend on Rome this week for the Italian Open, the signature tournament for a country whose recent success in developing talent has become an inspiration for the rest of the world — especially the U.S..
Italian tennis has been punching far above its weight lately, producing the country's first world No. 1 in Jannik Sinner and a bevy of young talent, despite operating with far less money and less than 20 percent of America's population. So when the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) embarked on a reorganization of its player development system, its leaders put the Italian Tennis Federation (FITP) under a microscope to try to figure out the ingredients and recipe for their secret sauce.
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Everyone in the sport watched the past 10 years as Italy added a slew of lower-level professional tournaments, giving its players far more local opportunities to compete without frittering money and time on travel. It built more hard courts to prepare its talents for a circuit that plays on them more than any other surface. It decentralized its high-performance structure, to improve coaching continuity as talented juniors become talented adult professionals. It has reaped the rewards: there are nine Italians in the ATP top 100 and three in the WTA top 100, two in the men's top 10 and one in the women's.
“They heavily go strong on sports science support between 15, 16, and 17,” Tracy Davies, a longtime USTA executive who recently became the general manager of USA Tennis, the organization's newly created high-performance division, said in an interview.
“They're making sure the kids have the best in athletic development, making sure they have the best mental training, that they have all the data they need every single match they play.”
Italy's rewards have even extended to adding a top American talent to its ranks. Tyra Grant, a rising figure in the women's game with an American father and Italian mother, in April decided to switch to il tricolore. Grant, 17, was born and raised in Italy, but had spent significant time in the U.S. through her childhood and much of the past 18 months of her professional development using the national USTA campus in Orlando, Fla. as her home base.
During a roundtable in Rome, Grant said that she switched because she had more of an affinity with Italy.
“I feel mostly Italian. Even though I'm half and half, I think I'm more connected to the Italian part,” she said at the Foro Italico.
“I was born here and I grew up here and my friends are here. I feel more connected to the Italian culture and feel more home here.”
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Nearly 20 years ago, when a golden generation of Spanish players dominated the top of men's tennis, the United States Tennis Association built a player development system based on the Spanish machine.
Now the U.S. wants to be Italy.
The U.S. player development program has not exactly been a flop. Since 2008, the last time the organization restructured, it has produced 23 junior Grand Slam champions, but winning adult titles is the real measure of success. American women have been winning Grand Slam titles for decades, and while Andy Roddick's 2003 U.S. Open remains the most recent on the men's side, the U.S. has achieved the kind of depth at the top of the ATP Tour that it hadn't seen since the 1990s.
There are four American women in the WTA top 10 and four American men in the ATP top 16. Madison Keys won the Australian Open just this year; Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula reached the U.S. Open singles finals in 2024. But for years now on the men's side, only unicorns with the rarest of innate tennis gifts have been reaching that lofty plateau of Grand Slam champion. Keys was touted as a multiple-major winner before she was 18. She proved to be an overnight success story 16 years in the making.
The question now is whether Davies and her team at the USTA can incorporate the Italian formula for success into the sprawling organism of American tennis. Lew Sherr, who became USTA chief executive three years ago, had not planned on restructuring a player development program that had enjoyed significant success. When the Covid-19 pandemic brought a few lean years to the world's most profitable tennis federation, Sherr focused on maintaining, and then growing participation as opposed to elite performance coaching. The USTA cut funding for camp programs and reduced the number of national team coaches from 24 to 11.
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Then the man who orchestrated much of that successful player development program during the past 15 years decided to weigh in.
Jose Higueras, who coached Jim Courier and Roger Federer at their pinnacles, led the player development program at the USTA from 2008 to 2014 and served as a consultant for several years after that. He watched with a combination of fear and anger as the organization cut back on elite coaching and training for rising juniors.
In March of last year, he circulated a letter to leaders in the American tennis community.
“The current leadership has veered off course, deliberately cutting funding and staffing for the Team USA pathway and American players, while they waste millions of dollars on boondoggles like unnecessary building renovations at the USTA Campus in Lake Nona and a million-dollar holiday party.
“If the decisions of the past four years are not reversed soon, in ten years, American Tennis will be irrelevant on the world stage,” Higueras wrote.
Brian Vahaly, a former professional who took over as president of the USTA in January, said in an interview in April that creating a new generation of stars and growing participation are not mutually exclusive missions.
“American success is incredibly important to us getting there,” Vahaly said.
Stars, he said, make television ratings spike and inspire kids to play, just as he was inspired as a child by meeting Michael Chang. This is the phenomenon that Italy is seeing with Sinner, who has become the male sporting icon in a country that, for so many years, was one of the most dominant soccer nations in the world. As that dominance has waned and Italian tennis has risen, Sinner has become its celebrity. Children see him and want to be him.
“We are seeing tremendous demand in our sport and that's coinciding at a time when we have a really large amount of top 100 players that are Americans,” Vahaly said. “It's a key driver.”
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Sherr said that after reading Higueras' letter, he made a decision to be “much more directly involved with our player development efforts and organization.” He came to realize that each high-performance division — from strength and conditioning, to data analysis, to tournament organization — had its own budget and had to advocate for itself. Everything was siloed. There was no unifying force or strategy.
Davies, a former player for the University of Tennessee, has the job of being that unifier. USA Tennis now includes everything from player development to junior competitions, international team events and managing all professional tournaments other than the U.S. Open — all with one eye across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.
“You look to learn from countries like Italy and others that are finding success,” said Vahaly.
“We'd be crazy not to learn from other countries and what they're doing really well.”
At the top of the list was adding more second- and third-tier tournaments, as the Italians had done. The U.S. will host 130 such events this year. Last year there were about 110 but many were — and still are — at the lower end on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit. Those events are useful for the most elite juniors, like 17-year-old American Iva Jovic, who won her first title on that circuit when she was 14 and has since won main-draw matches at Grand Slams.
But it's the ATP Challenger and WTA 125 circuits, which are the second tiers of professional tennis, that truly mould players. At the highest level, more and more ATP and WTA 1,000 events (one rung below a Grand Slam) now run for a fortnight. That leaves a lot of losers hanging around with a week or more to kill, and a good deal of them enter Challenger and WTA 125 events to get some reps.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka played a WTA 125 event in France in early May. In the same week the Estoril Open in Portugal, which is in the highest ATP Challenger tier, had several top-30 players in the draw. Being able to get that kind of experience on home soil, without the costs of international travel and accommodation, is invaluable to rising players.
The USTA, which provides about $10 million in subsidies at these professional events, mostly for prize money, is pushing to add more events at the higher end of those tiers, targeting as much as an annual 30 percent increase. Tournaments with more prize money and points are more attractive to better competition; investing in domestic events may be a more efficient use of money than paying for a handful of top players and coaches to travel to Europe for tournaments. Davies wants to do a better job of scheduling the events and clustering them geographically to make them more accessible to more players.
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Same goes for elite junior events. The U.S. is home to some 14,000 junior tournaments, more than any other country. Davies said she leans regularly on the advice of the captains of the Billie Jean King and Davis Cup teams, Lindsay Davenport and Bob Bryan. Both won their share of Grand Slam titles and gold medals and reached No. 1 in their world rankings.
Both also have talented tennis-playing children. Davenport's son, Jagger Leach, won the boys' singles title at Indian Wells in March and plans to attend Texas Christian University, the program that nurtured British players Cameron Norrie and Jacob Fearnley.
Leach had a rather rarefied tennis childhood, with a mother who is a former world No. 1 and a father who was an All-American at the University of Southern California. Still, Davenport told Davies that her son might have benefitted from having more consistent coaching in USTA programs. Like most tennis federations, the USTA generally has coaches who work with younger players, and then others who take them on as they progress through their teenage years.
Italy went the other way, introducing a network of regional performance centers to offer local resource while keeping players in the same environment, and with the same coaches, for as long as possible. Sinner's formative years were not in an FITP center, but at a private academy, the Piatti Tennis Center in Bordighera. The FITP instead focused on infrastructure at the national level, from data to sports psychology, just as the USTA'S USA Tennis initiative intends to do now.
The organization has Larry Lauer, a longtime sports psychologist, leading its mental skills department. Lauer often speaks to developing players and parents at national and regional camps and through webinars.
Players have been hiring their own mental performance coaches at younger ages, but there are a lot of talented players at the lower end of the income scale who can't afford that. Davies said that's a solvable problem, in addition to building awareness and access to mental health professionals who have nothing to do with sports psychology or high performance.
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“Just going back and continuing to remind ourselves, it's not about me, you know, or anyone, or what their past results are playing,” Davies said. “It's really about the players and where they are now and what we can do to support them.”
If there is an irony in all this, it's that one of Italy's most important innovations is right in the U.S. tennis wheelhouse. Its hard-court drive produced the male success story that predates Sinner: Matteo Berrettini, who reached the Wimbledon final in 2021 and has the booming serve and forehand of the male American tennis archetype. Sinner has followed him and transfigured men's tennis into a game of attack or be attacked from anywhere in the court, alongside Carlos Alcaraz, his biggest rival.
But in that fallow period for male American Grand Slam champions since Roddick, clay-court skills — use of angles over linear ballstriking, variety, lateral movement and rally tolerance — defined the evolution in men's tennis. Italy's hard-court boom may yet create a best-of-both worlds training environment, but the U.S. tennis landscape is yet to embrace a similar hybridity.
The USTA doesn't have to lift a finger to get players hard-court experience, since those courts dominate American tennis. The clay experience, specifically the red clay experience, which they know from experience can be so helpful, is always a work in progress, because there just isn't all that much of it in America. The better players can find it at the Orlando training center and other select locations. Many others have to use green clay as a substitute. It's not a great one, since sliding and ball movement is different on that surface, but it's something, and it's prevalent, especially in Florida.
Higueras, who lives on a ranch in Palm Springs, Calif., said he wasn't consulted on any of the changes. Reached last week and informed that the letter had caused Sherr to focus more heavily on player development, Higueras was magnanimous.
“I wish them all the best,” he said.
(Photos: Ion Alcoba Beitia, Robert Prange, Oscar J. Barroso, Tiziana Fabi / Getty Images; Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic)
Matthew Futterman is an award-winning veteran sports journalist and the author of two books, “Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed” and “Players: How Sports Became a Business.”Before coming to The Athletic in 2023, he worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Star-Ledger of New Jersey and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He is currently writing a book about tennis, "The Cruelest Game: Agony, Ecstasy and Near Death Experiences on the Pro Tennis Tour," to be published by Doubleday in 2026. Follow Matthew on Twitter @mattfutterman
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won final grand slam titles at the same age. The odds of beating that mark seem long, but the Serbian has always been ruthlessly determined
On a clear September New York evening in 1981, following a soul crushing loss to John McEnroe in the US Open final for the second consecutive year, Björn Borg disappeared into the night and vanished from the sport. He was only 25. He had accumulated an extraordinary 11 grand slam titles by then, but it left one to wonder how many more championships he could have amassed had he not retired so young. His conqueror that day had a much longer career and played until he was 33. But McEnroe, like Borg, won his last grand slam singles title at 25.
Back in those old days of the first phase of Open tennis (which I'll date from 1968-1985; most of the top pros didn't start playing the Australian Open regularly until the mid-1980s), players reached their peaks in their mid-20s and winning majors as one approached 30 was considered unusual.
Consider, when Jimmy Connors, the other figure of that bygone's era “big three” won Wimbledon and the US Open in 1982 it was roundly applauded as a brilliant end-of-career comeback. Connors played until he was 40. But his last grand slam victory was the 1983 US Open, when he was 31.
For most of the great men's champions of the last 60 years, their final title in a major was achieved around 30, if not earlier: Rod Laver (31), John Newcombe (31), Arthur Ashe (32), Ivan Lendl (29), Mats Wilander (24), Stefan Edberg (26), Boris Becker (28), Jim Courier (22), Pete Sampras (31), and Andre Agassi (32).
And the pattern holds true for the women as well. For the most prolific champions of the Open era, most women won their final grand slam singles title around the age of 30: Margaret Court notched her last slam at 31, a similar mark to Billie Jean King (31), Chris Evert (32), Martina Navratilova (33), Steffi Graf (29), Monica Seles (32), and Venus Williams (28).
And then there is Serena Williams. Like her Big Three contemporaries in the men's game, Serena set a new standard for winning after 30. Out of her 23 grand slam singles titles, 10 of those were won after 30 with her final coming at the age of 35 at the 2017 Australian Open. Serena also reached four additional finals after turning 35, her last being at the 2019 US Open just days before her 38th birthday.
There is one clear outlier – Ken Rosewall. The Australian, who straddled both the pre-Open and Open eras, won his final major title at the 1972 Australian Open at the age of 37 – and he is still the oldest winner of a grand slam singles title in the Open era.
All this is to say that what has transpired among Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic over the last seven years is paradigm-shifting. All three won consistently into their mid-30s, while still playing one another frequently.
How has this trio been able to reverse the aging process? For starters, they were (are, in Djokovic's case) just better than everyone else. Further, athletes' diet and conditioning regimens are far advanced from the days of McEnroe and Borg. And no tennis player, man or woman, has been as obsessed with maintaining his fitness level as Djokovic; from utilizing hyperbaric chambers to his gluten-free diet, Djokovic's strict routines have allowed him to thrive into his fourth decade. And this type of commitment has been seen across other sports and activities – from Tom Brady winning Super Bowls in his 40s to Phil Mickelson winning a major at 50 to Mick Jagger still projecting maximum physical energy on stage at the age of 80.
There's no question that tennis is a far more physical sport than it was a decade or two ago. As the serve-and-volley style nears extinction, there are more grueling, all-court points on all surfaces and most players now routinely slide even on hard courts. This makes it that much more amazing that an extra-physical player like Nadal was able to win a major at 36. Which is why, no matter what advances we'll continue to witness in sports science and nutrition, the mid-late 30s age may be a wall that's impossible to overcome.
Federer won four majors after the age of 30, his final triumph coming at the 2018 Australian Open at 36. Federer also came heartbreakingly close to winning Wimbledon in 2019 when he was nearly 38, but he couldn't convert either of two match points on his serve. Nadal upped the ante by winning an amazing eight slams after turning 30, with his last coming at the 2022 French Open at the age of 36.
And now tennis fans are witnessing what are surely the final stages – days, months, maybe a year? – of Djokovic's brilliant career. The Serb has claimed an almost unbelievable 12 grand slam titles since turning 30. But his last came at the 2023 US Open when he was … 36.
This establishes a wonderful – and somehow perfect – symmetry for Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Forever linked with playing some of the most incandescent tennis the sport has ever witnessed while competing against each other, for the three to all finish their Slam dominance at 36 is fitting … unless, of course, Djokovic does something about it.
Djokovic has acknowledged his struggles over the last year and he admits that he's not used to being in the position of having difficulty winning consecutive matches. Although he does not believe he is done quite yet.
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“Tennis is a sport where it's necessary to nurture that mentality of, ‘It's never enough'. Because once it's enough, then it's really enough and you have to put the racket aside,” he told Business Traveler this month. “And … I still don't feel it's enough for me.”
From this journalist's perspective it is highly doubtful that Novak can win another major. Having just pulled out of the crucial French Open tune-up event in Rome, Djokovic will head into Roland Garros with a paucity of clay court preparation. What makes matters worse is that his world rankings has dropped to No 6, putting him in the unenviable position of potentially having to play both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in Paris. The long, grueling red dirt battles would be a huge physical and mental burden.
Wimbledon is where Djokovic has the best chance to triumph. With the shorter points and being able to utilize his still-underrated stellar serve, Djokovic is most likely already planning to put in the fullest grass court prep possible and is probably doesn't expect to get much out of Roland Garros.
There is a general consensus among the most astute followers of the sport that Djokovic will have to pull out a near miracle to win other grand slam title. But there are those who firmly believe he can. Steve Flink, one of only seven journalists enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, is among them.
“While I understand why the skeptics are convinced that Djokovic as he closes in on the age of 38 is not going to win another major, I disagree,” Flink told me. “His sole purpose in continuing to compete after realizing all of his goals is to add another grand slam title to his collection, to garner No 25. He was not far away in Australia after beating Carlos Alcaraz to reach the semi-finals but his hamstring issue caused him to retire against Zverev. No doubt he has slumped since then and week in and week out he lacks his customary motivation but he will be primed for the three remaining grand slam tournaments this season. Djokovic has won two of the past four French Opens. He has been in every Wimbledon final since 2018 and has won the title there seven times. And he has taken the US Open title four times, appearing in 10 finals in New York.
“Last year many were doubting him after he was beaten soundly by Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final but he turned the tables … to win the Olympic gold medal in Paris. He often thrives when people are doubting him the most.”
One thing is certain – the more Djokovic hears about that he's finished or that he should walk away before it gets really ugly out there, the more he is motivated. It's a stance that Djokovic has perfected, having always been in the position of not being as openly loved as Federer and Nadal.
But if Djokovic doesn't win another Slam it'll just mean that the Big Three will be forever linked with winning their last at 36, yet another tie that binds the trio for eternity.
Iga Swiatek has dismissed rumours that she plans to skip this year's Wimbledon. The 23-year-old is preparing for the Italian Open and will then attempt to defend her French Open crown after winning the title in Paris for the last three years in a row.
Swiatek reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January but struggled for form during the Madrid Open last month. She eventually reached the last-four in Spain but was thrashed 6-1, 6-1 by Coco Gauff as the American took just over an hour to secure the victory. Swiatek admitted she needed a break in the aftermath of her loss to Gauff, with later reports suggesting she could give Wimbledon a miss.
Ahead of the Italian Open, Swiatek was asked whether she plans to skip Wimbledon. And she replied: “Shouldn't believe this stuff.”
She added: “During the past few days I saw a million comments that were not true. I don't get it. There are so many theories right now I would say, especially in the Polish media about me that are not true.
“I don't know, you guys like to make some articles that will attract people. I get it, it's part of your job. But yeah, for sure, I'm not going to skip Wimbledon. I really want to learn how to play on grass better. Every year is another opportunity. I will play Wimbledon, for sure, unless I get injured.”
Read more... Boris Becker shares nine-word message to Carlos Alcaraz before telling response
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Swiatek has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and was knocked out at the third round stage by Yulia Putintseva at last year's edition of the tournament.
The previous season, she was defeated by Elina Svitolina in the last-eight after succumbing to Alize Cornet in the third round back in 2022.
Despite her struggles on grass, Swiatek is a five-time Grand Slam champion, with four of those titles coming at the French Open. She claimed her first Major away from Roland Garros in 2022 when she defeated Ons Jabeur in the US Open final and is also a two-time semi-finalist at the Australian Open.
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Swiatek hit 28 unforced errors during her defeat to Gauff. And offering a gloomy assessment of her displays in the Spanish capital, she explained: “I feel like I haven't been moving well and the tennis also was like on and off for most of the tournament.
“So I wasn't really sure what I have in my tool box. But yeah, for sure, I didn't even have a plan B because nothing was working today.
“I didn't play well even on these matches that I won. I think I pushed kind of with my head for more than I even should, tennis-wise.”
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2025 Rome
WTA Staff
ROME -- After scoring the first win of her comeback at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Petra Kvitova was relieved -- and a little confused.
"It's kind of weird that my first one came here," she said after defeating Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-1.
"I've never played my best tennis here. But it feels much better than losing, that's for sure."
The last time Kvitova had won consecutive matches in Rome was a decade ago, when she reached the 2015 quarterfinals.
Rome: Draws | Scores | Order of play | Tournament info
The former World No. 2 had gone 0-4 in the first four tournaments of her return, falling to Jodie Burrage in Austin, Varvara Gracheva in Indian Wells, Sofia Kenin in Miami and Katie Volynets in Madrid -- a run of results that makes her grimace. But despite the losses, Kvitova's comeback has been underpinned by a joy that surprised even her.
"I was 95% that I would never come back," she said, recalling the last tournament before her maternity leave -- Beijing in 2023. "I had enough of tennis at that time. I was like, 'I can't do it any more,' so we decided to try for a baby. I didn't say anything because it wasn't 100%."
After her son, Petr, was born in July last year, the 5% of doubt grew. Kvitova had been frustrated at being unable to be active during her pregnancy, so she was eager to pick up a racquet again.
"When I could do something finally after pregnancy, I played some tennis -- and it felt so good," she said. "I was laughing. Every shot I hit smoothly, I was like, 'Wowwww -- it's still there.' It's not in the legs -- but in the hands, it's sometimes very good."
That was evident against Begu, during which Kvitova dropped serve just once. That came in her first attempt at serving the first set out at 5-4. She responded by rattling off eight of the last nine games. Among her highlights was a spectacular backhand down the line, struck after a desperate, scrambling lob.
"I'm not as fit as I wanted to be, for sure," she said. "But even in practices my game was going up."
While the shot-making still brings Kvitova joy, she sighs deeply when talking about everything else that comes with being a professional player.
"You have to train every day, you have to fight, you have to travel," she said, a gloomy tone entering her voice. "That's all the things that are not my favorites ... Practicing and gym and recovery stuff. I was like, 'Oh my god, really, this again?'"
Hotel rooms also seem suddenly small, now that Petr is beginning to crawl "everywhere" and sleeping less. Kvitova and Jiri Vanek, her husband and coach, now prefer to rent apartments, where their son has room to play with toys and where they feel at home. But for now, the on-court joy outweighs the grunt-work. Kvitova refuses to set any goals or impose any sort of time limit on this stage of her career.
"However long I'm going to enjoy it," she said.
Kvitova will next face No. 27 seed Ons Jabeur in the second round. She leads their overall head-to-head 4-2, though this will mark their first meeting on clay.
Iga Swiatek says she has already made up her mind about competing at Wimbledon this year while she also took aim at the “million comments that were not true”.
On the back of her semi-final exit from the Madrid Open, it was reported that the five-time Grand Slam winner considered skipping the entire grass-court season, including Wimbledon, in order to be fresh for the North American hard-court swing.
Polish website Onet claimed: “As we hear unofficially, everything will depend on the results in Rome and Paris
“In the event of a defeat, Swiatek may consider giving up playing on grass, there are not many points to lose here, and use this time for a longer vacation, to return to hard courts with new strength and properly prepare for the US Open.
“But Team Swiatek will wait until the very end with this decision.”
But Swiatek has dismissed suggestion she will not play at Wimbledon.
Here is her full exchange with journalists during her Italian Open press conference.
Q. I'm not sure if it's correct, but I read are you considering to skip Wimbledon?
IGA SWIATEK: Who said that?
Q. I just read that on social media, so I wanted to clarify.
IGA SWIATEK: “Shouldn't believe this stuff.”
Q. It's off the charts?
IGA SWIATEK: “Yes.”
Q. I already saw a comment of Brad Gilbert slightly criticising that.
IGA SWIATEK: “During past few days I saw a million comments that were not true.”
Q. How do you handle it?
IGA SWIATEK: “I don't get it. There are so many theories right now I would say especially in Polish media about me that are not true. I think, I don't know, you guys like to make some articles that will attract people. I get it. It's part of the job.
“But yeah, for sure I'm not going to skip Wimbledon. I really want to learn how to play on grass better. Every year is another opportunity. I will play Wimbledon, for sure, unless I get injured.”
Casper Ruud shares reason for message to ‘devastated' Iga Swiatek and makes ‘cool' Coco Gauff confession
Iga Swiatek: Time to stop the hate flowing in the direction of a champion who deserves better
Although Swiatek has reached the quarter-final or better in her eight tournaments so far this year, she is yet to win or title.
One thing she believes is currently holding her back is her perfectionism.
“I have love-and-hate relationship with my perfectionism. Yeah, like coming on these clay court tournaments, I just kind of try to reflect on how I see my game and how I also saw previous seasons,” she said.
“The thing is that I only remember the good stuff from last years because I was winning titles and everything. My head kind of remembers the good stuff.
“Sometimes I'm on court, I feel like I'm going to play this loopy forehand there, my great backhand there. I'm making decisions that are not really good at the moment because I just remember how it felt previous tournaments or previous years. I kind of assume it's going to go in, and then I make mistakes. It's not the same, I'm confused.
“As I said, that's why every tournament and every year is different. There's no reason to compare because we are, like, at different places in our lives, as well.
“That's why I'm happy that I have my team around me to also help me to manage this stuff. Without them, for sure it wouldn't be so easy.”
Iga Swiatek is in rankings trouble at the Italian Open - can she avoid a crucial drop?
Our writers predict their ATP and WTA Italian Open champions.
Casper Ruud: "I like to follow and see how they develop their games."
Aryna Sabalenka can emulate three former world No 1s with a stellar feat if she wins in Rome.
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Since her arrival on the WTA Tour Iga Swiatek has struggled on grass.
The Pole has yet to win a title on the surface and she has yet to find her st from at the Wimbledon Championships.
To further illustrate her difficulties on grass, Iga Swiatek has reached the quarter-finals at the All-England Club just once.
She usually enters the grass court season in imperious form on the clay, but so far that has not been the case for the World number two this season.
Swiatek suffered one of the worst defeats of her career at the recently concluded Madrid Open.
The 23-year-old lost 1-6, 1-6 to Coco Gauff in the semi-finals, bridging her title defence to an abrupt end.
Following that result, reports emerged that suggested Swiatek could skip the grass court season, including Wimbledon.
But according to a post on X by the Talking Tennis podcast on Tuesday, Swiatek has since confirmed that she will not skip Wimbledon and intends to play the grass court Grand Slam which commences on June 30.
Swiatek has played five times at Wimbledon throughout her career so far.
The former World number one has played 16 matches in total, and won 11, giving her a win percentage of 69%, her lowest at any of the Grand Slams.
Swiatek's overall grass court record consists of 24 wins and 10 defeats, and this percentage stands at 70.59%.
She will hope to change that when she takes to the hallowed grass courts at SW19, and if she does lift the Venus Rosewater dish, Swiatek will become the eighth woman to win a Grand Slam on hard, clay and grass courts.
Jannik Sinner is back on the ATP Tour, having served his three-month suspension in time to return at the Italian Open.
Sinner is the top seed at the 2025 Italian Open, having retained his world number one ranking despite his three-month ban.
Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz occupy second and third respectively in the ATP Tour rankings, with the duo also taking on the Italian Open.
All three players have been handed a bye in round one of the ATP Masters 1000 event, which takes place in Rome.
Jiri Lehecka was confirmed as Sinner's first practice partner at the tournament, but his preparations started previously with another ATP player.
Sinner trained with Jack Draper as part of his preparations, with the Italian now sharing his thoughts on the Briton for Sky Sports.
“He is a good friend of mine, also off the court,” Sinner said of Draper. “He has an incredible game. Great mentality.
READ MORE: Casper Ruud says what he thinks of Jack Draper as a tennis player after beating him in the Madrid Open final
“We all have been following for so long already and now he is coming through some incredible matches. One of the best players in the world right now. I was happy to share the court with him [in practice].
“Tried to understand where my level is, in the beginning things were not as perfect as I wanted to, which is normal. But after it went a little bit better, so I am happy about that. I am very happy for him.”
Draper has enjoyed a stunning rise in a short space of time, most recently reaching the final of the Madrid Open.
But the 23-year-old did lose out on the trophy to Casper Ruud, who won their entertaining clash 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
READ MORE: Annabel Croft shocked by what Casper Ruud did in the final game of the Madrid Open final to beat Jack Draper
Like Sinner, the Italian Open fifth seed has a bye into round two, having just risen to fifth in the world rankings.
It represents a career-high for the British number one, with Draper now chasing a fourth career title in Rome, and a first on clay.
Sinner agreed on a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February and began an immediate three-month suspension after authorities accepted that the anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system via massages from his physiotherapist.
The three-time Grand Slam champion, who has not played since winning the Australian Open in January, will now hope to leave the doping saga behind him and build momentum for the French Open, which runs from May 25th to June 8th.
The Italian was cleared to return to training from April 13th, with his suspension ending on May 4th.
"It's a very, very low expectation tournament in general for me, it's talking also results-wise," Sinner told reporters ahead of the Italian Open.
"What's missing is the complete feedback on where my level is. That's going to come then slowly with the time of playing, after the first round match, I'm going to have a good picture of myself - where I am at."
Despite missing out on three months' action, the 23-year-old was assured of retaining the top ranking for his home tournament after his closest challenger, Alexander Zverev, crashed to an early defeat in the Monte-Carlo Masters.
"For me personally, good news that the Grand Slams were not included... This kind of agreement, I didn't want to do it in the beginning.
"It was not easy for me to accept it because I know what really happened, but sometimes we have to choose the best in a very bad moment," Sinner said.
"It's all over now, so I'm happy to play tennis again."
Sinner said last year was very difficult for him.
"I was in a tough situation, and at the beginning of the Australian Open, I struggled a lot. So, it was nice also to take a small break," he added.
"But I could feel that I'm not playing for quite a long time. The body still has to adjust the times... the blisters in hands, they come again because you're not used to it anymore."
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This year, Roland-Garros is taking over the Place de la Concorde with an exceptional open-air fan zone.
The Parisian Grand Slam is heading into the heart of the capital! While the matches held from Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 June will be entertaining for the fans Porte d'Auteuil, they will also be able to experience the action from the quarterfinals to the finals at the Place de la Concorde.
The "Tribune Concorde" initiative, organised with the support of the City of Paris, is set to unfold in one of the most iconic locations in the French capital.
"It was very important for us to offer Parisians, tourists and anyone interested, an opportunity to be a part of the Roland-Garros experience," explained Amélie Mauresmo during the press conference presenting this new edition.
For five days, you will be able to take a seat in the stands or relax in the Hespérides deckchairs and watch the matches live on two giant screens set up for the occasion. Among the four days of competition broadcasted, two will even feature an electrifying night session: a quarterfinal on Wednesday, June 4 starting at 8:15pm and one of the two men's semifinals on Friday, June 6 from 7pm – one of the standout new features of this 2025 edition of Roland-Garros!
This free fan zone can host up to 5 000 spectators at once, offering a unique experience of relaxation and entertainment – however you choose to enjoy it! While tennis enthusiasts soak up the matches, those with a keen interest could also find something to suit their taste, from exploring the exclusive products at the relocated Roland-Garros boutique to experiencing the various activations offered by Wilson, Lacoste, and Haier. And to complete the experience, three food trucks will be on site, along with a bar and a Perrier terrace – all set within a space animated by a DJ and master of ceremonies throughout the day: the ideal setting to experience Roland-Garros in a whole new way!
Finally, to close on these exceptional days, the lucky ones present at the Place de la Concorde will have the honour of welcoming the newly crowned singles, doubles, junior and wheelchair champions as they make their way to the fan zone to present their trophies!
Alex de Minaur has landed on the same side of the draw as Jannik Sinner at the Italian Open, and could face the World No.1 in the semi-finals in his return to tennis. Sinner is back in action in Rome this week after a three-month suspension for inadvertently ingesting a banned substance.
He received a hero's welcome by his home fans when he hit the court for a practice session on Sunday, with spectators flocking to get a glimpse of the four-time grand slam champion. Sinner's ban has ended right in time for a return at home in Italy - a detail that many believe isn't a coincidence.
The World No.1 has been handed a first-round bye as the top seed, and will face the winner of Mariano Navone and local wildcard Federico Cina in the second. Aussie star de Minaur is on the same side of the draw as Sinner, and the pair are slated to face off in the semis if they both make it that far.
It might present de Minaur the perfect opportunity to grab a first career win over Sinner, with their head-to-head record currently 10-0 in the Italian's favour. Clay isn't Sinner's favourite surface, and if he shows any signs of rust it might open the door for de Minaur.
The Aussie has risen to World No.8 in recent weeks after making the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, quarters in Barcelona and fourth round in Madrid. He's certainly got more match practice under his belt than Sinner, who has had the wood over the Aussie their whole careers.
De Minaur has only ever won the solitary set against Sinner, but that came way back in 2020. Most recently he was thrashed by the World No.1 in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Sinner moved to lower expectations about how he'll perform in his first tournament for three months. And in extraordinary scenes, he even moved to address recent speculation about his love life.
Sinner was spotted with Russian model Lara Leito by the paparazzi recently, but said in Rome: “There's a lot of attention. Also, off the court, I was surprised to see some pictures, which, nothing serious. I'm not in a relationship.”
“There was a lot of attention, both on and off the court. I was surprised to see some pictures… nothing serious, I'm not in a relationship”.#Sinner 🦊 sulla sua (non) relazione con la modella russa Lara Leito.#tennis🎾 pic.twitter.com/mlD90MlgTs
— Carlo Galati (@CarloGalati) May 5, 2025
Sinner previously dated Russian tennis player Anna Kalinskaya, but they ended their relationship last year. He was seen walking alongside Leito in Monte Carlo last month, and the model also attended the Monte Carlo Masters event where Sinner was practicing.
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A post shared by LARA LEITO (@laraleito)
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A post shared by LARA LEITO (@laraleito)
Addressing his return and the difficult period surrounding his positive tests, the 23-year-old said: "Last year was very difficult. I had a lot of personal pressure, holding everything. I couldn't talk with many people about what happened.
"I was in a tough situation at the beginning of the Australian Open. I struggled a lot, so it was nice to take a small break. Three months, but it is what it is. A small break was good. I could feel that I'm not playing for quite a long time.
“What's missing for me is the complete feedback of where my level is. That's going to come slowly with time of playing. After the first-round match, I'm going to have a good picture of myself and where I'm at."
The World No 1 makes his return after a three-month suspension
ROME — Nearly 50 American tennis players will descend on Rome this week for the Italian Open, the signature tournament for a country whose recent success in developing talent has become an inspiration for the rest of the world — especially the U.S.. Italian tennis has been punching far above its weight lately, producing the country's first world No. 1 in Jannik Sinner and a bevy of young talent, despite operating with far less money and less than 20 percent of America's population. So when the U
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Following on from the Miami Grand Prix, Alpine have announced that Team Principal Oliver Oakes has resigned from the squad with immediate effect.
Oakes joined Alpine in July 2024, the Briton – a former racing driver, who also runs the Hitech Grand Prix squad – overseeing a strong end to the season that saw the team lift themselves to sixth in the Teams' Championship.
Post-Miami, Alpine currently sit P9 in the Teams' standings on seven points, only one point ahead of Kick Sauber – with the still-to-score Jack Doohan having also faced questions over his future in Miami after he crashed out on Lap 1 of the Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Gasly admits Alpine ‘need answers' after difficult weekend in Miami as Doohan reflects on Lap 1 collision with Lawson
A team statement released on Tuesday said: “BWT Alpine Formula One Team announces that Oliver Oakes has resigned from his role as Team Principal.
“The team has accepted his resignation with immediate effect.
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“As of today, Flavio Briatore will continue as Executive Advisor and will also be covering the duties previously performed by Oliver Oakes.
“The team would like to thank Oliver for his efforts since he joined last summer and for his contribution in helping the team secure sixth place in the 2024 Constructors' Championship.
“The team will not be making any further comment.”
It remains to be seen who Alpine will look to replace Oakes with, the Briton joining the likes of Otmar Szafnauer and Bruno Famin on the list of Alpine Team Principals who have left the role in the previous two years.
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff singled out Kimi Antonelli for a job well done in Miami, while explaining where the Silver Arrows are lacking compared to McLaren as third-placed George Russell finished over 30 seconds behind the frontrunning duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Despite plenty of positives for Mercedes in the US, Wolff was left to reflect on a weekend where McLaren's dominance made it hard to assess where Mercedes are in terms of pure pace.
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While Russell went on to secure his fourth podium of the season, partly aided by the timing of a Virtual Safety Car, Antonelli also caught the eye throughout the weekend as the Italian teenager secured Sprint pole – becoming the youngest F1 polesitter ever in any format – and P3 in Qualifying for the Grand Prix.
“I think the high point definitely was seeing his [Antonelli's] speed on a single lap, great,” Wolff said, as he singled out the youngster for particular praise. "You know that's another proof of his talent and a good indication to how the future can be.
Antonelli's pole was the highlight of the weekend for Mercedes
“And then in the race, challenging because [it is] so difficult here to find the right reference. You can say, 'was the medium stint quick enough?' You know, with George holding on in the back on the hard tyre - that was not good. And then when he went on to the hard, he just lacks experience managing it the right way.
“And then finding the right references, and Bono [Race Engineer Pete Bonnington] really tried to guide him, but when you're in that car, it's not easy. And I think it's just part of the learning curve.
“It's nothing that is disappointing or not. Overall, I go away with the feeling that he's done a good job.”
READ MORE: ‘We made it count when it mattered' – Russell satisfied with recovery to podium after troublesome Miami weekend
Antonelli admitted to struggling on the hard compound tyre in the race, but he was far from alone – the two McLaren drivers the only ones able to get the C3 rubber working from the word go. On the mediums both Mercedes drivers were much more competitive, with Russell using that tyre to hold off Max Verstappen in the closing stages.
“It is simply that we have a really fast car, I believe on a single lap or on a few laps, [it is] absolutely where it can be, but we're just not good with the tyres over an extended run and McLaren shows how it's being done to a degree," Wolff explained.
Mercedes were able to celebrate another podium courtesy of Russell even if they had no answer to the pace of the McLaren
“I think that Red Bull, with Max, they're managing it better, but also tricky performances and I would say we are solid in what we're doing but [McLaren] are definitely doing an excellent job, by being able to go fast around the corners without overheating them. So, this is what we need to look up to and engineer our way out of the topic.”
Over one lap, Mercedes seem to be in the mix right at the front, Antonelli's pole in Sprint Qualifying testament to that, but Wolff explained that sustaining the pace in a race is where the Silver Arrows' focus needs to be.
READ MORE: Piastri full of praise for McLaren after ‘unbelievable' and ‘impressive' victory in Miami
“You put everything down [in Qualifying], what is the car capable of generating in terms of downforce and we are right in the ballgame,” added Wolff. "But at the end the points are being given for a race and a race means also being able to maintain that pace over a long time, over many laps and we are not capable of doing that.
“We just need to be better. We just need to understand, we need to find out where do we need to focus our attention in terms of development, what are the main performance contributors and we are on it, completely on it.
“We are trying to find out, we are experimenting and we are going to definitely be able to challenge [McLaren].”
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By Stewart Clarke
The Eternaut has landed in Netflix's viewing charts and also delivered a $34M financial boost to the country's economy, figures from the streamer reveal.
The apocalyptic sci-fi series was produced in Argentina and largely in and around Buenos Aires where it is set – with international collaboration coming into play for the VFX and post-production elements.
Production of the drama – the biggest ever series out of Argentina – contributed over 41B ($34M at current exchange rates) to the country's economy, Netflix said. It does not break out production budgets, but said its measure takes in the wider impact on GDP. That measure factors in direct spending on the show as well as the ripple effect, which could be travel, tourism, or the boost to local stores and employment.
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Telling the story of what happens after a deadly snow descends, The Eternaut has quickly topped Netflix's global top ten for non-English-language series. It also broke into the overall top ten in countries including the U.S., Brazil, France, Germany and Spain.
Netflix is keen to talk up its local production credentials and how it is boosting the film and TV sector in various countries. LatAm programming boss Francisco ‘Paco' Ramos has told Deadline that the aim of its local spending is to generate hits but also to buoy the industry in the territories where it is commissioning.
With One Hundred Years of Solitude out of Colombia, Senna out of Brazil and now The Eternaut out of Argentina, it has greenlit three of the biggest shows ever made in LatAm. One Hundred Years of Solitude spurred the Colombian economy to the tune of $52M, per Netflix's figures and as reported in our scoop from last December.
Breaking out the contribution its films and series make to the GDP of the country where they are made is also good positioning for Netflix. It counters talk of levies on international streamers, which are designed to boost homegrown production, and which are being introduced and debated in many countries.
The Eternaut is an adaptation of the classic graphic novel by Héctor G. Oesterheld, illustrated by Francisco Solano López and first published in 1957. The series was created and directed by Bruno Stagnaro and produced by Buenos Aires-based K&S Films.
The good news for fans of the show — and for Argentina – is Season 2 is confirmed. Netflix's Ramos and K&S Producer Matías Mosteirin teased some details in a Deadline interview last week.
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After an exhausting three years of trying to start a family, Laura Vandervoort says she and her fiancé Adam Coates have decided to give in vitro fertilization (IVF) one final try. The Hallmark actress, who last starred in 2023's hit “Miracle in Bethlehem, PA” opposite Benjamin Ayres and just finished filming a new holiday movie, bravely opened up to her fans on May 1, 2025.
Captioning a time lapse video of giving herself injections and undergoing procedures as part of the invitro fertilization process, Vandervoort, 40, wrote, “We have just completed our 4th IVF round with the retrieval yesterday. The waiting game now begins.”
A post shared by LAURA VANDERVOORT [11:11] (@lauravandervoort)
Engaged to Coates since September 2023, Vandervoort shared in her vulnerable post, “I think we can say we are basically pros at this point when it comes to IVF injections, medications, procedures and the excruciatingly long waiting process.”
Expressing gratitude for those who have followed their journey, the “Smallville” alum wrote, “Thanks to everyone who has been supportive of us going through these cycles. 3 years of injections and appointments … we've decided that this is our final round.”
Vandervoort added, “It is helpful to us to know we have done everything in our power to give it the best chance and the rest is out of our hands.”
IVF is a “complex series of procedures that can lead to pregnancy,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Mature eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a lab, per Mayo, and the resulting embryos are placed inside the uterus. Before this process, most women receive hormone shots of hormones that help their eggs develop.
Hundreds of friends and fans rallied around Vandervoort in the comment section of her post, including one who wrote, “Sending you all the positive energy and my best wishes. No matter what happens, I'm cheering for you with all my heart. Your courage in sharing such a personal moment is admirable and touching. I hope you feel surrounded by love, strength, and support, even from afar. You are an inspiration! You are incredible! ❤️”
Another shared, “Having done it myself, IVF is a tough and draining path to travel. Wishing you all the luck and positivity 🍀🙏”
A post shared by LAURA VANDERVOORT [11:11] (@lauravandervoort)
Vandervoort first shared about her and Coates' IVF journey in late January, writing on Instagram at the time, “I have thought long and hard about sharing this. Wanting to be private. But the longer we have spent in this process, the more it frustrated and saddened me that more people don't talk about it. That more people don't share their stories to help others through it. It's so common and nothing to be ashamed of.”
The “Playing Cupid” star opened up about what an emotional rollercoaster the process and desire to get pregnant can be, sharing, “Regardless of the scientific fact that so much is out of our control, we as women feel like we aren't enough, we are inadequate… that something is wrong with us as women. This feeling swirls around in our bodies and minds which makes the process even more difficult.”
“It often feels like a solo experience, injections, pills, monitoring appointments….blood draw after blood draw, ultrasound after ultrasound for three years straight,” Vandervoort continued. “So much of this process is just put upon the women. Our partners (if you choose to have one) often feel useless and wish they could take on more of the process. Adam did everything possible to help during the good and bad times. I couldn't have asked for a better partner to lift me up for the past several years.”
Vandervoort shared that she'd silently suffered through the trials and tribulations of failed IVF rounds, including playing a new mom in “Miracle in Bethlehem, PA,” reminding people that they never know what someone else is going through.
“So we share our story as it is still in motion in hopes of others feeling seen and heard,” she wrote. “In hopes of others knowing they aren't alone and in hope that others educate themselves and grow as people around IVF & what it truly means.”
Other Hallmark stars have also shared their own IVF journeys over the last year. New mom Torrey DeVitto revealed in July 2024 that she got pregnant through IVF and described how difficult the process was for her. Meanwhile, Taylor Cole shared on April 26 how hard her own journey to get pregnant has been, noting that “if sharing my journey can bring even one person a little bit of comfort, or help someone feel seen in their own struggle, then it's more than worth it.”
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By
Nikki McCann Ramirez
Austerity for thee but not for me. As Donald Trump advises the American public on how to save some money — buy fewer dolls, five pencils max — to counteract the effects of tariff-induced price increases, he's making clear that cost-saving measures don't apply to his office decor budget.
During a Tuesday meeting with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the president bragged to reporters about his renovations to the Oval Office.
“You see the new and improved Oval Office,” Trump said to Carney. “As it becomes more and more beautiful with love — you know we handle it with great love — and 24-karat gold, that always helps too.”
Yes, love and 24-karat gold leaf has indeed transformed the Oval. Who needs dignified classicism when you can make one of the most famous rooms on the planet look like an overstuffed and inbred cousin of Versailles? Trump has decked out every mantle and surface he can see with gold-plated vases, moldings, and reliefs of a canary yellow that screeches nouveau riche petulance at all who behold it.
Earlier this week, in that very same office, Trump defended himself to NBC News when asked on Sunday about comments he'd made a few days earlier about how Americans could cut back on their spending by only purchasing three to five dolls for their little girls, instead of 30, as his tariffs take a toll on consumers.
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Only a man who has never stressed over a credit card payment would think that the children of this nation are being gifted 30 dolls — or other toys — at any given time, or even that they would accumulate that many over years.
The president also added that a person doesn't “need to have 250 pencils, they can have five.”
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Much like Trump's fascination with the concept of groceries and the way the peasant class goes to a store to buy goods, the president's fixation on dolls is yet another sign of how deeply out of touch he is with not only the economic conditions of the average Americans, but the way his actions as president affect everyday consumers. Trump further endeared himself as an attentive champion of the working class by scoffing to reporters later on Sunday that the only prices hit by his tariffs are those on “the thing you carry the babies around in.”
Americans are already beginning to feel the effects of higher prices. No major tariff deals have been announced even as Trump claims he's in negotiations with dozens of countries. China, the U.S.'s third-largest trade partner, has made clear they are not interested in a deal so long as Trump's astronomical tariffs remain in place. As domestic stockpiles and inventories of goods dwindle, things are only going to get worse. But don't worry, while you struggle to stretch your budget, you can sleep easy knowing the president's office is full of love — and 24-karat gold.
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Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the director of the Oscar-winning “Drive My Car” and his most recent film “Evil Does Not Exist,” will head from Japan to Paris for his next feature titled “All of the Sudden.”
Hamaguchi is currently in Paris prepping the film based on a script he co-wrote with Léa Le Dimna, according to a report in Variety. And the film is set to star French-Belgian actress Virginie Efira (“Benedetta”) and Japanese actress Tao Okamoto (“The Wolverine”). The film will shoot primarily in Paris.
“All of the Sudden” is loosely based on a published collection of real-life letters by philosopher Makiko Miyano, who wrote two books after being diagnosed with months to live as a result of breast cancer, and exchanged letters with an anthropologist. The film will follow the bond between two women, one a Japanese theater director and the other a French head of a nursing home.
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Hamaguchi told Variety that with this film he wanted to “show a Paris that's a little different from the clichés we might have about the city.”
“I'm starting to discover some places that aren't touristy. So I think that will give a slightly different view of Paris than usual,” he added.
Cinefrance Studios is producing the film, with David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Jean-Luc Ormières, and Renan Artukmaç serving as producers. Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida, Yuji Sadai are also producing for the Japanese distributors Office Shirous and Bitters End. Bettina Brokemper is also producing for Germany's Heimat Film, as is Joseph Rouschop at Belgium's Tarantula.
The film is being shopped to international buyers at the Cannes Marche du Film next week, but it already has distribution in both Japan and France.
Hamaguchi's “Drive My Car” was a box office hit, bringing in $15.3 million worldwide before winning the Oscar for Best International Feature. His follow-up “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in the U.S. last year, won the Silver Lion from Venice.
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By Matt Grobar
Senior Film Reporter
EXCLUSIVE: Apple‘s Cape Fear series has three new additions: Anna Baryshnikov (Love Lies Bleeding), Jamie Hector (Bosch), and Clara Wong (Billions).
Character details are under wraps. As previously announced, Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, Patrick Wilson and CCH Pounder are also set.
In Cape Fear — created, written, and showrun by Nick Antosca — a storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden (Wilson) when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison. The 10-episode series is a tense, Hitchcockian thriller and an examination of America's obsession with true crime in the 21st century.
Hailing from UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Amblin Television, the show is based on both the novel The Executioners, which inspired Gregory Peck's 1962 film for Universal, as well as the acclaimed 1991 remake directed by Martin Scorsese, who's among the executive producers here.
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Other exec producers include Antosca and Alex Hedlund for Eat The Cat; Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, and Steven Spielberg for Amblin Television — the latter, the producer of Scorsese's version — Bardem, Adams, and Morten Tyldum, who directs the pilot. The series is developed and produced through Antosca's overall deal at UCP, where he's been based since 2017.
Best known for roles in A24's Love Lies Bleeding, Apple's Dickinson, and Amazon's Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea, Baryshnikov recently starred in and exec produced Nastasya Popov's dramedy Idiotka, which premiered at SXSW. Currently in production on the psychological horror Sender opposite Britt Lower and Jamie Lee Curtis, she is represented by CAA, Brookside Artist Management, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
Best known for starring in Amazon's Bosch and sequel series Bosch: Legacy, Hector has also been seen on shows like We Own This City, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, The Strain, and The Wire, among others. Film credits include Vacation Friends 2, The Listener, and All Eyez on Me. He's repped by Paradigm and Robersons Artist Management.
Soon to be seen in indies Miracle on 74th Street and Bunnylovr — the latter, a Sundance 2025 cam girl drama directed by and starring Kararina Zhu — Wong has also been seen in films like You Hurt My Feelings from Nicole Holofcener and The Assistant from Kitty Green. TV credits include Goliath, Dear Edward, Billions, and The Tick, to name a few. She's repped by Lasher Group and Nicolosi & Co.
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Jon Hamm is bringing a “Mad Men” reunion to his latest collaboration with his “Wet Hot American Summer” director David Wain. Hamm will co-star alongside John Slattery (who also directed him in “Maggie Moore(s)”) for Wain's yet-untitled R-rated comedy. Hamm previously appeared in the spinoff miniseries “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.”
Wain cowrote the script with “Wet Hot American Summer” alum Ken Marino, who also stars in the film. Variety announced the feature as being described as an “off-the-rails odyssey through modern day Hollywood.” Zoey Deutch leads the movie as Midwestern bride-to-be Gail Daughtry whose fiancé lives out their celebrity hall pass agreement. Gail instead sets out to find her own celebrity to cheat on him with while visiting L.A. Sabrina Impacciatore, Ben Wang, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley also star.
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The film is being produced by Anthony Bregman and Peter Cron for Likely Story, Crystine Zhang for Oval-5, and Wain, Marino, and Charles Zhong. Robert Herjavec, Chechen Dong, Tom Griffin, Amanda Chang, Adrian Politowski, Jamie Canniffe, Franny Baldwin, Hamm, Deutch, and Slattery will executive produce. WME Independent is representing worldwide sales.
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“I have been excited about working with David for 25 years since I read what I thought was the funniest script of all time, ‘Wet Hot American Summer,'” producer Bregman said in a statement. “Now, years later, I am happy to now be working with him and Ken on the only script that's ever made me laugh harder.”
Producer Zhang added, “I couldn't be more excited to bring this wildly fun story to life with such a brilliant team. Working with David Wain, Ken Marino and attaching this phenomenal cast — including Zoey Deutch, Jon Hamm and John Slattery — has been a dream come true. I can't wait for audiences to join us for this super wacky comedy with lots of heart.”
The “Wet Hot American Summer” franchise was co-created by Wain and director Michael Showalter. The duo reunited for a sequel and a TV series adaptation of the 2001 cult film.
“I came to a realization, and have over and over, over the years, just that: You could be making so much money, and your bank statement gets bigger and bigger, but if you're not psyched to go to work in the morning, it doesn't matter,” Wain told IndieWire at the time of selecting his collaborators. “It sucks. So you wanna just be psyched to see the people that you work with, and have fun with. Then you've won.”
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By Justin Kroll
Film Editor
EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Qualley is set to star in the Amazon MGM Studios pic, Love of Your Life, with Rachel Morrison directing. Julia Cox wrote the script with Ryan Gosling and Jessie Henderson are producing.
Plot details are under wraps. Deadline was first to report the major script sale in October after an intense bidding war, which Gosling and Henderson won for Amazon MGM Studios. At the time, the auction was one of the bigger ones of the year given that no talent was involved outside of the producers, so once Amazon MGM Studios came on board, the lead role was seen as one of the more highly-coveted role in town for any A-list leading lady. While sources say several individuals were in the hunt for the part, Qualley seemed like the top-choice from the start especially after meeting with Morrison for the role earlier this year.
Qualley is coming off a very strong year that included her critically acclaimed role in the Oscar-nominated thriller The Substance. She is currently filming Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars with Jacob Elordi and she also has the Ethan Coen pic Honey Don't coming out this August, in which she is the lead with Aubrey Plaza and Chris Evans. Other high-profile credits include Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood and The Maid.
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Qualley is repped by CAA, Anonymous, Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.
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Revlon's Elizabeth Arden made millions selling Britney's fragrances for years, but went to court last year over claims that its own execs took her business to an upstart rival.
By
Bill Donahue
Revlon has fully settled a corporate espionage lawsuit that claimed several former employees “sabotaged” the company's decades-old fragrance partnership with Britney Spears.
The case, filed last year by Revlon and its Elizabeth Arden unit, accused four ex-staffers of stealing trade secrets and breaching their contracts by taking the Britney account to upstart rival Give Back Beauty – a move the lawsuit described as a “heist.”
But over the past few months, Revlon has quietly struck deals to resolve those claims – first with Give Back Beauty and one of the execs in February, then last week with three more ex-staffers. On Monday, the judge signed off on the latter deal and ruled that the “matter be closed.”
Trending on Billboard
The settlements have cleared the way for Give Back Beauty to formally take over Britney's lucrative perfume brand. In a February press release, the smaller company announced that it had “signed a transition agreement” with Revlon to clear the use of the intellectual property and end the legal dispute.
“My fragrance business has always held a special place in my heart,” Spears said at the time. “It's always been a way for me to connect with my fans, who I love. I'm excited for this new chapter and bringing more beauty into the world with Give Back Beauty.”
A rep for Revlon did not immediately return a request for comment on the resolution of the litigation.
Spears first inked a deal with Elizabeth Arden in 2004, launching her “Curious” scent later that year to a reported $100 million in sales. By 2013, that brand had reportedly sold more than 500 million bottles and the overall Spears-Arden partnership was earning $30 million a year. But last year Spears declined to renew the deal and instead signed with Give Back Beauty, an Italian firm founded in 2017.
Faced with the loss of a valuable partnership, Revlon went the legal route – claiming that Britney had not simply walked away, but had been illegally poached by Give Back Beauty. The lawsuit claimed four Arden staffers (Vanessa Kidd, Dominick Romeo, Reid Mulvihill and Ashley Fass) had secretly helped orchestrate the star's departure, including one who allegedly “acted as a double-agent” – working directly with Give Back Beauty while ostensibly negotiating with Britney's team to renew her Revlon deal.
“Revlon and Elizabeth Arden were completely unaware that Revlon's own team was actively sabotaging one of their most valuable licensing relationships,” the company's lawyers claimed at the time. Spears herself was not named in the lawsuit nor accused of any wrongdoing.
Give Back Beauty and the former execs strongly denied the allegations, arguing in a later legal response that Revlon had gone to court with a “false narrative” of espionage and corporate raiding simply because it was angry that it had been beaten by a competitor.
“Revlon's motion is … an anticompetitive ruse to damage a competitor because Revlon, weakened in the market by its recent bankruptcy, cannot compete fairly with GBB, and seeks to frustrate GBB's transition of Britney Brands, at the same time, sending a warning about future competition from an international rival that poses a growing threat to Revlon's market share,” the smaller company's lawyers wrote at the time.
But by February, despite the strongly-word legal broadsides, Give Back Beauty and Revlon had apparently struck a deal to end their dispute. Beyond allowing Give Back to take over the IP for the brand, the terms of the deal have not been disclosed in court filings.
“Give Back Beauty will bring Britney's fragrance and beauty business to another level,” Corrado Brondi, the company's founder, wrote at the time. “We are looking forward to building on that legacy, introducing innovations to her product lines and expanding the brand into new markets globally, while ensuring that the spirit and authenticity of her brand remain intact.”
The February settlements covered Give Back itself and Ashley Fass; the settlement approved Monday covered Kidd, Romeo, Mulvihill. Reps for both sides did not immediately return requests for comment.
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By Andreas Wiseman
Executive Editor, International & Strategy
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has landed worldwide distribution rights to The Beekeeper 2 in a deal pegged by sources at comfortably north of $50M.
Jason Statham will reprise his role in the sequel, which is due to start production in the fall. As we previously revealed, Timo Tjahjanto (Nobody 2) is set to direct the film from a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer. Miramax is producing and negotiated the deal with Amazon.
The first movie, directed by David Ayer, follows a retired clandestine human-intelligence operative who sets out for revenge after his kind-hearted landlady becomes the victim of a phishing scam that steals millions of dollars from a charity she runs. It garnered $163M at the global box office after being sold by Miramax to international distributors and Amazon for domestic.
Watch on Deadline
RELATED: Cannes Competition: Aster, Trier, Dardennes, Reichardt, Ducournau & Wes Anderson Among Lineup — Full List
The sequel is due to be released theatrically in a number of key territories. We've heard there's a chance it could be among the early movies released via Amazon's new international theatrical arm.
As we noted last week, this type of deal will likely become more common for Miramax as it moves away from in-house international sales. Patrick Wachsberger's 193 will be selling Scandalous! for Miramax in Cannes.
RELATED: Full List Of Cannes Palme d'Or Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery
Producers on the sequel include Statham via his Punch Palace Productions banner, Chris Long via Long Shot Productions, and Wimmer.
Amazon MGM recently teamed up with Statham and Ayer on A Working Man, which has made $98M at the box office since being released in late March.
RELATED: Cannes Lineup Takeaways: A Distinctly Fresh Vibe But Also Plenty Of Star Power
RELATED: Record Nine Oscar Wins For Films That Debuted In Cannes As Awards Season Internationalization Continues
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By Matt Grobar
Senior Film Reporter
EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Kurtis David Harder has quietly wrapped production on Influencers, a new film following up his acclaimed 2023 Shudder thriller Influencer.Shudder, the genre-focused streaming service AMC Networks, has once again picked up rights in English-speaking territories. Cassanda Naud has returned to lead the ennsemble, which also includes Georgina Campbell (Barbarian), Lisa Delamar (Survive), Jonathan Whitesell (The 100), Veronica Long (Billy the Kid), and Dylan Playfair (Letterkenny).
In Influencer, a social media star vacationing in Thailand meets a mysterious woman, leading to unexpected and dangerous consequences. Set in the picturesque landscapes of southern France, the sequel watches as a young woman's chilling fascination with murder and identity theft sends her life into a whirlwind of chaos. Pic deepens a cinematic universe built around themes of deception, online identity, and the darker sides of curated personas, offering an expanded canvas compared to the original.
“With INFLUENCERS, I wanted to revisit the themes of control and illusion, but from a new angle — one that's more seductive, more dangerous, and more unhinged,” said Harder. “It's a film that plays with perception. Fans of INFLUENCER will feel something familiar beneath the surface, but the real fun is discovering just how deep those connections run.”
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The film was produced by Jack Campbell, Chris Ball, Taylor Nodrick, Rebecca Campbell, Harder and Micah Henry and under the Jackrabbit Media banner, which will also rep international rights at Cannes.
“Kurtis has once again crafted a film that's both sharply contemporary and deeply unsettling,” said Shudder SVP Emily Gotto. “INFLUENCERS seduces the viewer with atmosphere and aesthetic before cutting into something darker, smarter, and much more dangerous. It's exactly the kind of visionary genre storytelling we're proud to support.”
Added Jackrabbit CEO Jack Campbell, “We couldn't be more excited to share INFLUENCERS with the world. Kurtis has elevated his vision in every way — the film is more elegant, more unsettling, and more twisted. We're confident it will be one of the most talked-about titles at Cannes.”
Returning to Shudder following work on Influencer and It's a Wonderful Knife, Naud has also appeared on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Loudermilk, See, and a number of other series. She's repped by Play Management.
Harder is known for his history of producing acclaimed low-budget genre films including V/H/S/94 for David Bruckner; Still/Born, which was named Scariest Film at the Overlook Film Festival; as well as What Keeps You Alive, which debuted at SXSW. He's currently co-writing and directing a film for Screen Gems, and is also attached to direct 10-31 for Dan Kagan and C2 Films. He's repped by Aperture Entertainment's Adam Goldworm and Ashley Silver at Brecheen Feldman.
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By
Nikki McCann Ramirez
Pete Hegseth has already displayed a predictable lack of competence in his role as defense secretary, but it's not just a sloppy use of Signal chats that has forced the White House to do damage control on his behalf. According to a Tuesday report from Reuters, early in his tenure Hegseth cancelled military aid to Ukraine without a direct order from President Donald Trump.
The pause, which Hegseth ordered just days after Trump was sworn in, led the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) to ground 11 flights moving weapons and artillery to Ukraine. According to Reuters, when Ukrainian and Polish officials reached out to the White House to ask what was going on, officials in the Pentagon, State Department, and the president's office caught unaware that any such pause had been ordered.
Records reviewed by Reuters showed that Hegseth had given a verbal order to halt the weapons shipments shortly after attending an Oval Office meeting where cutting military aid to Ukraine was discussed — but not ordered. The order was quickly reversed, and until now the incident was effectively hushed away.
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The White House claimed that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump aligned with the administration's policy towards Ukraine at that time, but other sources who spoke to Reuters and were aware of the events as they unfolded said U.S. National Security Officials and others who would typically be involved in such a decision had no idea the order had been made.
It's another instance in which sloppy communication problems — either in excess or absence — have caused embarrassment to the defense secretary and the administration. Hegseth was already in hot water after revelations that he shared sensitive attack plans against Houthi rebels in Yemen in two Signal group chats. According to a Monday report from The Wall Street Journal, Hegseth has used Signal — which is only approved for extremely limited, unclassified communication use by the Pentagon — much more extensively than previously known.
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Sources who spoke to the WSJ say the defense secretary has made over a dozen Signal chats to discuss all manner of DOD policy and issues with relevant parties — including representatives from foreign governments and partner nations. According to the sources, Hegseth has used Signal to discuss potentially sensitive information both on his personal phone, and on unsecure lines in the Pentagon. In other instances, it's Marine Col. Ricky Buria — a Hegseth aide — who posts information onto Hegseth's Signal chats on his behalf. Buria was, according to sources, the individual who posed air strike plans against the Houthis in a chat with Hegseth's wife and brother.
The Department of Defense has invested vast fortunes in the creation of secure internal and external communications networks to protect against intentional and inadvertent leaks, or outright hacking and espionage. Hegseth, however, seems to prefer the convenience of a third-party application. Aides and others the secretary messages via Signal told the WSJ that they're sometimes forced to go away from their desks and hunt for a place within the Pentagon where they get enough cell service to respond on the application.
The Pentagon will continue to exist in a state of uncertainty so long as Hegseth is at its helm. On Monday, the defense secretary ordered that the number of four-star generals and admirals in the military be cut by 20 percent across the board.
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“Secretary Hegseth has shown an eagerness to dismiss military leaders without cause, and I will be skeptical of the rationale for these plans until he explains them before the Armed Services Committee,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC News.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he's sticking by Hegseth, despite all of the controversy. He told The Atlantic recently that he's spoken to Hegseth about his issues, and that he's confident the man he put in charge of the United States military will “get it toegether.”
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The editor, formerly at New York magazine and the Styles desk at The New York Times, is the latest to join as the brand rebuilds its digital operations.
By
Erik Hayden
Executive Editor, Business
How will the founder of The Awl make a mark at CNN?
The cable news network said Tuesday that it had hired Choire Sicha, the creator of the New York-based culture website which published daily ruminations on city weather under a motto of “Be Less Stupid,” to lead its new effort at editorial features.
Sicha, who most recently was editor at large at New York magazine and also led the Styles desk at The New York Times, will join CNN as svp of features editorial on May 19. The move marks the latest hire at the brand as it attempts to reorient itself in the online news ecosystem with an eye toward developing subscription products — a big pivot for CNN, but one seen as a necessity as the channel looks past its linear TV roots. It also signals that the news outlet aims to compete on the Times turf.
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In its hiring release, the cable brand touted the editor's work specifically in the paid subscriber arena. “Sicha was instrumental in transforming Style's focus towards subscriber recruitment and engagement and served as the editorial partner of the Times's advertising department,” the network said.
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After layoffs were made in January — about 6 percent of jobs, or 200 staffers — CNN has been stocking up on editorial talent, including many senior hires who had previously worked on its short-lived Jeff Zucker-era subscription product, CNN+. (That $300 million service, which was scrapped after less than a month, was a casualty of AT&T's spinoff of parent Warner Bros. to Discovery in 2022.)
In April this year, the company rehired CNN+ alum Amanda Wills from The Wall Street Journal, as chief content officer, and a month earlier Nancy Han also rejoined the cable news outlet as svp, video editorial.
Overseeing CNN's business is former New York Times president Mark Thompson, who in January outlined his moves including investing $70 million in digital (“Some of that money's going in product and tech, but a lot is also going into new high-quality journalism and storytelling,” he wrote in a memo). And there are also plans afoot for a “lifestyle-oriented digital product” as well as a new standalone streaming service for the news brand outside of its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery's Max platform (which now has 117 million global subscribers).
Currently CNN has set aside a few news articles from its daily output — for instance, on Tuesday it has a news analysis titled “Is China trying to make a move on Greenland or are Trump's fears overblown?” — that are behind a paywall that's priced at $3.99 monthly. But a live TV subscription to CNN is still only available through a Pay TV provider or digital subscription service (like Hulu + Live TV) or on Max.
“CNN could really be unique,” Warners CEO David Zaslav said on an earnings call on March 4. “And what Mark did for The New York Times, we're fighting to have him do that for CNN. And I think, it's important for us. And I think it's important as you look at where do you go for trusted news around the world, particularly in an environment where AI exists.”
Zaslav added, “We're probably the only news company that has people everywhere in the world on the ground, the best journalists. We have to monetize that in a very different way.”
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Dan Stevens, who has become synonymous with indie horror, is paired with icon Al Pacino for the ultimate exorcism film, “The Ritual.” The duo star as two priests who “face the ultimate test of faith,” as the logline teases. The film is based on the true story that was captured in 1935 book “Begone Satan!” about a Church-sanctioned exorcism. The original account of the events went on to inspire “The Exorcist” book and William Friedkin's famed 1973 film that later spurred a franchise.
The official synopsis for “The Ritual” reads: “When the Church sanctions the exorcism of Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowan), two priests — divided by doubt — must confront a force beyond comprehension… and their own faith.” Ashley Greene and Patricia Heaton co-star.
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Pacino recently told Entertainment Weekly that after starring in “The Ritual,” he can finally watch Friedkin's “The Exorcist.” Pacino worked with the late auteur on “Cruising,” which was released seven years after “The Exorcist.”
“I didn't even see ‘The Exorcist' in my life,” Pacino said, adding, “It's a great film, I hear. I should see it. I think I'm strong enough to see it now.”
Meanwhile, Stevens is joining another horror franchise by starring in and executive producing the third installment of anthology series “The Terror: Devil in Silver.” The “Abigail” actor will play Pepper, a “working-class moving man who, through a combination of bad luck and a bad temper, finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital — an institution filled with the people society would rather forget,” the logline reads. There, he “must contend with patients who work against him, doctors who harbor grim secrets, and perhaps even the very Devil himself.”
“I'm thrilled to be a part of ‘The Terror: Devil in Silver.' This series is a dark symphony of psychological horror and gripping drama, set to rock the audience,” Stevens said in a statement. “Victor LaValle, Christopher Cantwell, and this incredible team have crafted a unique and twisted dance of devils and shadows. I look forward to delivering something epic that will echo through the halls like an iron bell.”
Karyn Kusama (“Yellowjackets”) will also executive produce the installment, and will direct the first two episodes of the six-episode season. Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker executive produce for Scott Free Productions, with Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert for Emjag Productions, Guymon Casady (Entertainment 360), and Brooke Kennedy executive producing.
XYZ Films will release “The Ritual” in theaters on Friday, June 6. Check out the trailer below.
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The superstar revealed her bump shortly before making her appearance at the Met Gala on May 5.
By
Anna Chan
Please recognize she's trying! Shortly before arriving at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday (May 5), Rihanna revealed that she's pregnant with her third child with partner A$AP Rocky. So not surprisingly, in addition to discussing what she was wearing for fashion's biggest night, there were questions about whether growing her family would mean delaying her already long-awaited ninth studio album.
When asked about that on the blue carpet, Ri — who was in a custom Marc Jacobs — had a very confident answer. “Noooooo!” she insisted about the upcoming album's arrival to Entertainment Tonight before admitting some things might come a little later. “Maybe a couple videos! I can still sing!”
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The “Umbrella” singer — who shares sons RZA, nearly 3, and Riot Rose, 1, with Rocky — also joked earlier on to reporters as she was walking the carpet at the star-studded event that she “brought the kid!” Though she was dressed to the nines and in high heels, she told ET that she was feeling good that night. “I'm shockingly feeling OK and not too overwhelmed at the moment,” she shared before admitting that perhaps her third pregnancy did have her feeling a little bit overwhelmed in the beginning. “At first, it was kinda like, ‘Ahhhhhhhh,' and ‘I'm tired,'” the nine-time Grammy winner said. “But then I'm excited.”
As for the “Tailor Swif” rapper, he was excited to let the world in on the couple's happy news. “We were tired of holding that, and it was time to show the people what we was cooking up,” he told the Associated Press. “I'm glad everybody's happy for us, because we're definitely happy.”
And hopefully soon, Ri's Navy will also be happy with the eventual arrival of R9. The “Disturbia” singer last released an album nearly a decade ago when she dropped Anti in February 2016. As for the delayed set? Ri shared in her March Harper's Bazaar cover story that contrary to what she called “way off” rumors, the album would not be reggae.
“There's no genre now. That's why I waited,” the star explained. “After a while, I looked at it, and I was like, this much time away from music needs to count for the next thing everyone hears. It has to count. It has to matter. I have to show them the worth in the wait. I cannot put up anything mediocre. After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”
Watch Ri talk about R9 and her pregnancy with ET above.
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By Andreas Wiseman
Executive Editor, International & Strategy
EXCLUSIVE: Malin Akerman (Watchmen) and Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight) are set to lead spy thriller Spymasters from writer-director Lance Kawas.
Bleiberg Entertainment has boarded worldwide rights to the film ahead of the Cannes market with filming due to begin in the U.S. at the end of the summer.
Described as a throwback to the “high-stakes erotic thrillers of the '90s, coupled with modern action and intensity”, the film centers on a CIA operative (White) assigned to surveil and possibly eliminate a former lover (Akerman), a dangerous and enigmatic figure within the agency known for her psychological prowess and covert influence over the world's elite.
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Pic is produced by Asif Akbar, Colin Bates, Jon Keeyes, Demetrius Stear, Mandi Murro, and Lance Kawas for Whispered Insanity the Movie, LLC, with executive production by Fadi Assaf for FilmLens. Ehud Bleiberg, Ariel Bleiberg and Nicholas Bennett from Bleiberg Entertainment has also come onboard as executive producers. Casting was led by Gabrielle Almagor for Urban Tales.
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Negotiations were handled by Nicholas Bennett on behalf of Bleiberg Entertainment.
“We're excited to make the film and work with these actors,” said Lance Kawas and Asif Akbar. “We loved the idea of making a film like this that hearkens back to the old school high-stakes sexy thrillers of the 90s like Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction but with a touch of more action and intensity.”
“We're thrilled to be representing this film. To have this cast portraying the two classic tropes of the cunning femme fatale and the hardened CIA assassin and watch them realize they still have feelings for one another while each is trying to outsmart and outmaneuver and ultimately defeat the other. It's going to be a lot of fun,” added Ariel Bleiberg, Head of Acquisitions and Development at Bleiberg.
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Former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson was rocking two eye-catching accessories at the May 5 Met Gala.
One was a new short hairdo- a cropped bob with baby bangs.
The other- her oldest son with rocker Tommy Lee- 28-year-old Brandon Thomas Lee.
The 57-year-old actress wore a sparkly, bejewelled long-sleeve Tory Burch gown encrusted with layers of intricate beading, jewels and sequins. And while she kept true to her new look of minimal makeup, she did add a diamond Pandora ear cuff to complete the fit.
A post shared by Good Morning America (@goodmorningamerica)
A post shared by Pamela Anderson (@pamelaanderson)
Pamela Anderson summed up how she felt about her look for the Met Gala in three words.
In an Instagram post showing her from every angle, she wrote: ‘Bold… Brave… Precise. A celebration of courage and craftsmanship. Thank you for the invitation—an honor. Love, P'.
And her fans were quick to agree, including singer Katy Perry.
The pop star commented: ‘One of my favorite looks! And the hair was the cherry ❤️'.
Perry has sported some of the most iconic looks of the Met Gala in years past, but was not at this year's event.
Fans and followers on Instagram gushed: ‘WOW this hair and this look are perfection love the hair!!!!”; ‘Absolutely sublime! You look ethereal!' ‘THE MOST GORGEOUS GIRL IN THE WORLD'.
‘You look fabulous! Love this new hair on you!'; ‘Bold, brave, and BOB!! ‘Pamela Anderson is a goddess!';
“Love the bob, fringe & bold lippy! The dress is stunning too. Gorgeous.”
“THE MOST GORGEOUS GIRL IN THE WORLD”
Others commented on her timeless, old Hollywood look, writing, “Pam is so naturally beautiful, her profile is amazing. She reminds me of Mia Farrow with her hair like this 😍”
‘Stunning as always! Pamela brings timeless glam to the Met. ✨'; ‘beauty. Old hollywood glam vibes.'
“channeling Mia Farrow 🤍”
Pandora, who Anderson is a spokesperson for, also chimed in with “An absolutely incredible look! It is an honor to have our jewelry worn by you at the Met Gala again. 💕”
Anderson's oldest son, Brandon Thomas Lee, kept his look simple with a classic black tuxedo by Genuardi.
Pam shares sons Brandon, 28, and Dylan Lee, 26, with her ex-husband, musician Tommy Lee.
And this isn't the first time Brandon has been Pam's plus one.
A post shared by Brandon Thomas Lee (@brandonthomaslee)
He was her date to this year's Golden Globes, when Anderson was nominated for her performance in “The Last Showgirl.”
In an Instagram post about the night, Lee wrote, “Such a wonderful evening and so incredibly proud of @pamelaanderson for all she has accomplished with her film The @lastshowgirl . With only 18 days to shoot and a small budget this film and your performance stand amongst the giants it was nominated next to. I think @jamieleecurtis said it best… 1 in 10 is magic… and I think you have done just that. ✨
I can't wait to see where we go from here 🙏”
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The media and entertainment world is no stranger to existential crises. So, while the recent shutdown of Industry Arts' Coverfly and sibling platforms ScreenCraft, The Script Lab, WeScreenplay, and The Tracking Board was unfortunate, it wasn't exactly a huge disruption. Each site offered distinct services, from highlighting talent and hosting events to tracking screenplay sales. But let's be real: Hollywood never depended on them to function.
These groups were a nicety. Relatively beneficial to LA screenwriters who like to keep up with the latest sales and trends, as well as many far outside industry towns looking for a way to get noticed. Many found representation through these services; some saw their projects get made. They were also more accessible than groups like The Black List, which now handles screening services for the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship — further evidence of consolidation within the screenwriting competition industry.
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Coverfly and The Tracking Board will officially shut down in August and September, respectively. IA is rumored to be working on a new all-in-one platform that merges these brands' efforts. Maybe that will streamline the process and offer more to screenwriters. Maybe not.
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What does Coverfly shutting down mean for screenwriters? #screenwriter #screenwritingtiktok #filmtok #hollywood #screenwritingtips #juliayorks #writingtips #writing #writingadvice
But if you're a screenwriter waiting for the next platform to save you — don't. Seriously. Hell, no.
The pipeline for getting your script made has dried up. Blame COVID. Blame the strikes. Blame studios that refuse to greenlight new projects. Whatever the reason, the path to becoming a working screenwriter is harder.
Coverfly's gone. But maybe throwing your script into a pit of other scripts in the hopes of earning someone's attention was never a foolproof strategy. Especially when there are so many other ways that may be more effective.
Let's break them down.
We live on screens now — phones, TVs, laptops — and your personal platform is your new resume. With tools like Wix, Squarespace, and Canva, it's easier than ever to build a site to showcase your scripts, short films, or creative process. If there's a learning curve, ride it: The skill set is common enough that you risk being at a disadvantage without it, and building a site forces you to refine the essential element of how you pitch yourself.
💻 BUILD A WEBSITE IN UNDER 20 MINS USING CANVA 💻 I've recently added a new service 👉🏼 @madebymairead_ (insta) I needed a quick and easy website to display my portfolio and manage enquiries so I used this Canva tip This is a great easy and budget friendly option for businesses if they just need to showcase information. 🚨This is not an alternative to a full website ~ you can't install a pixel and run ads to this but it's a great start Follow @crossboxmarketing for more tips! #canvahack #websitebuilder #socialmediamarketing #smallbusinesshelp #canva #canvadesign
You can't just write a great script and expect a deal anymore. Today, screenwriters need to be their own brand. That means staying visible. Start a Substack. Post videos on TikTok or YouTube about your creative journey. Share advice, updates, behind-the-scenes content. Build a following — not for vanity, but to show you're serious and consistent. Demonstrating yourself as a professional will go far in earning that title from others.
Success in screenwriting often comes from finding community. You need collaborators who balance your weaknesses. Are you a writer who wants to direct? Find a producer or cinematographer who shares your vision. Your ideal team might not be experienced; maybe it's just a friend who takes great photos and is crazy organized. When you're starting out, trust is more important than credits.
Mark Duplass at SXSW dropping major wisdom.
If you're a writer who wants to see your work on screen, stop waiting for permission. Even if writing is truly the only thing for you, find a collaborator interested in directing and producing and make something. Work on a microbudget or no budget at all. The final product — short film, pilot, a proof-of-concept reel — speaks louder than a logline. Finished work gets noticed. Spec scripts get buried.
No one wants to DM strangers on LinkedIn or ask friends for introductions. You probably don't even want to bother your own family. We get it — but to do this, you must risk annoyance. Becoming a genuine pain in the ass is usually not the way, but you have to balance your innate emotional intelligence with following up and putting yourself out there. Success is not a waiting game; the difference between those who make it and those who don't often comes down to sheer persistence. If you're not connected, find someone who is — and then another. Keep going.
People in Hollywood are starving and aren't making money bc of people like Zaslav and the streaming pay structure and nothing being made anymore #hbo #netflix #prime #hulu #streaming #writer #tvfilm
Living in L.A. or NYC, funding your own projects, networking — draining your funds can end a screenwriting career before it begins. It can feel like only rich kids or nepo babies can afford to play the game. If that discourages you enough to quit, there are other careers built around financial stability. But if the thought of selling out is worse than grinding through, remember: Getting rich is just as hard as getting produced. Might as well chase the dream.
⭐ Hollywood career advice, delivered weekly: ⭐Subscribe to In Development, IndieWire's Future of Filmmaking newsletter.
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Noah Baumbach is getting back in the awards race, and he's bringing a star-studded cast including George Clooney and Adam Sandler.
Netflix has announced that Baumbach's upcoming feature “Jay Kelly” will open in theaters on November 14 before hitting the streaming service on December 5. The announcement was accompanied by a photo of Clooney, who plays the title character, walking past a poster of himself.
“Jay Kelly” appears to be a return to the familiar territory of middle aged neuroses for Baumbach, following the apocalyptic ambition of his previous feature, “White Noise.” While little is known about the film‘s plot, it is believed to center around the relationship between Clooney's eponymous character and a longtime friend played by Sandler. A cryptic official synopsis reads “Everybody knows Jay Kelly, but Jay Kelly doesn't know himself.”
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In addition to Clooney and Sandler, “Jay Kelly” stars Billy Crudup, Laura Dern, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Riley Keough, Emily Mortimer, Patrick Wilson, Nicôle Lecky, Thaddea Graham, Jim Broadbent, Eve Hewson, Alba Rohrwacher, Lenny Henry, Josh Hamilton, and Greta Gerwig.
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“Jay Kelly” marks the fourth collaboration between Baumbach and Netflix. His last three films, 2017's “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected),” 2019's “Marriage Story,” and 2022's “White Noise,” were all produced by the streaming giant. “Jay Kelly” is Baumbach's first directorial effort since “White Noise,” though he picked up an Oscar nomination in the meantime for co-writing “Barbie” with his partner Greta Gerwig.
The fall release date signals that Netflix views “Jay Kelly” as an Oscar contender, and makes a major fall festival premiere seem inevitable. Baumbach's previous two Netflix films debuted at the Venice International Film Festival, while “The Meyerowitz Stories” controversially premiered at Cannes in 2017 and helped lead to the festival's refusal to screen movies produced by Netflix due to their lack of theatrical exclusivity in France.
“Jay Kelly” is directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer. David Heyman and Amy Pascal, who have recently been tapped to spearhead the James Bond franchise for Amazon MGM, produce the film alongside Baumbach.
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By Matt Grobar
Senior Film Reporter
Netflix announced this morning that Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach‘s new film starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler, is slated for release in theaters on November 14 and will debut on streaming on December 5.
The service also unveiled a first-look still of Clooney as the title character, which you can view below.
In announcing Jay Kelly, Netflix referred to the project as a “heartbreaking comedy,” though little about the project is known apart from that. Per the logline, everybody knows Jay Kelly…but Jay Kelly doesn't know himself.
Baumbach wrote the script for the pic — marking his fourth outing with Netflix — with Emily Mortimer, one of many others featuring in the ensemble. He also produced the film alongside David Heyman and Amy Pascal, the duo who recently inked a deal to produce the next Bond film at Amazon MGM. Additional cast includes Billy Crudup, Laura Dern, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Riley Keough, Patrick Wilson, Nicôle Lecky, Thaddea Graham, Jim Broadbent, Eve Hewson, Alba Rohrwacher, Lenny Henry, Josh Hamilton, Greta Gerwig, and Ruby Stokes.
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Baumbach has a long history with Netflix, having first partnered with the streamer on the release for his 2017 dysfunctional family dramedy The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), starring Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, and more. Following that acclaimed Cannes title, Baumbach reunited with the streamer on 2019's Marriage Story, starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, a poignant exploration of divorce that garnered six Oscar nominations and secured Dern a statuette for Best Supporting Actress.
On the heels of Marriage Story‘s success, Baumbach inked an exclusive multi-year deal to write and direct films for the platform in 2021. He released his third Netflix film, an adaptation of Don DeLillo's postmodern novel White Noise starring Driver and Gerwig, the following year.
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The Anthony Bourdain A24 biopic “Tony” is looking to be as authentic as possible — and have real chefs star alongside “The Holdovers” breakout Dominic Sessa, who is portraying late icon Bourdain. Atomic Honey Casting posted an open casting call seeking “real restaurant kitchen staff with unique, dynamic personalities” to play roles in the film. IndieWire confirmed with A24 that the casting will take place for a shoot in Provincetown, MA from May through July 2025.
While no prior acting experience is required for the aforementioned roles, prior kitchen experience is a must. The casting call is looking for males of all ethnicities.
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Sessa stars as a young Bourdain in the origin story of the “Kitchen Confidential” author and “Parts Unknown” host. Antonio Banderas co-stars in an unspecified role. “Tony” will be directed by Matt Johnson (“Blackberry”) with Todd Bartels and Lou Howe writing the script. The film was announced in April 2025, with Bourdain's estate producing.
“Tony” will take place during the summer of 1976, which was Bourdain's last experience on the Cape before enrolling in culinary school. The film will chart Bourdain's rise from working as a dishwasher to a line cook before starting his empire.
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Bourdain died by suicide in 2018 at age 61. He posthumously was at the center of Morgan Neville's documentary, “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” which included the use of artificial intelligence to recreate Bourdain's voice for the narration of three different sequences. “Part of the experience of watching Tony on television was his voice. His point of view is what made those shows,” director Neville said in 2021. “And if you actually — as I have — take his voiceover out of the shows, they're very strange and melancholic ruminations of visitations of countries around the world. His point of view does everything to those shows. I just felt like to do a film and not have his point of view expressed would be wrong.”
Neville also said in a statement of Bourdain's legacy, “Anthony Bourdain did more to help us understand each other than just about anyone in the history of television. He connected with people not in spite of his flaws, but because of them. To have the opportunity to tell his story is humbling.”
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Emily Zemler
A man was detained by Los Angeles police after crashing his car through the gates of Jennifer Aniston's Bel-Air mansion on Monday. The actress was home when the incident took place.
Officers received a call regarding a crash in Bel Air around 12:20 p.m. on Monday, May 5. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that a male suspect who is “approximately 70 years of age, rammed his vehicle through the gate to the residence and gained access to the property,” per People.
“There was a security guard on premises who was able to detain that suspect until officers arrived, at which time they took him into custody without incident,” the LAPD added. “The resident was home at the time.” The suspect sustained minor injuries, but no one else was hurt.
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According to ABC News, the suspect was detained by the LAPD and taken into custody. He will be book for felony vandalism due to the damage. ABC News confirmed that “the incident does not appear to have been an accident, though there is also nothing to indicate yet that the driver was targeting Aniston.” It added that while the suspect has a minor criminal history, none of his prior charges involve Aniston.
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Aniston showcased her Bel-Air home in 2018 to Architectural Digest (she was married to Justin Theroux at the time). The Friends star bought the property in 2011. “If I wasn't an actress, I'd want to be a designer,” she told the outlet. “I love the process. There's something about picking out fabrics and finishes that feeds my soul.”
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From theatrical trains to ultra-wide shoulders, this year's (relatively few) truly compelling red-carpet outfits were the bolder interpretations of the Black dandyism theme.
By
Lovia Gyarkye
Arts & Culture Critic
Moments before the Met Gala was set to begin, I confessed to a friend, with whom I'd been texting, that I was a little stressed about what celebrities would wear this year. The theme and accompanying exhibition — Superfine: Tailoring Black Style — marked a historic moment for the Costume Institute, which organizes the fundraising gala with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. It is the first exhibition to focus on designers of color and only the second show dedicated to menswear. (The first was Bravehearts: Men in Skirts in 2003.)
Superfine is inspired by the scholar Monica L. Miller's excellent book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, a cultural history of Black dandyism and its most influential sartorial figures, and Andrew Bolton, head curator at the Institute, tapped Miller to help build the exhibition.
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“Who will do this well?” I asked my friend, as if she were an oracle. It turns out not that many people — but the ones who did understand the assignment made powerful impressions.
Adhering to a core tenet of the Black dandy, the evening's dress code was a broad, interpretive invitation to choose an outfit tailored to the wearer. The best-dressed guests found distinctive modes of self-expression within these capacious parameters. They, like the Black dandies of the 18th and 19th centuries, used their attire to remix their past and respond to their present. These outfits — like Lauryn Hill's gorgeous yellow get-up or Teyana Taylor's intimate maroon costume — embodied what dandy artist and special consultant to the exhibition Iké Udé called “future perfect.” Their clothes radiated a visionary and forward-thinking energy.
The more underwhelming outfits stayed within the realm of convention, leaning more heavily into precise tailoring than a radical vision of fashion. These were mostly forgettable ensembles, clothes that would not cause a stir and are likely to fade with time (see Sydney Sweeney in Miu Miu and Nicole Kidman in Balenciaga.) It's notable that most of them were worn by white celebrities, who seemed to struggle in their interpretation of this year's theme. There were few egregious faux pas, but I will be contemplating why BlackPink member Lisa's custom Louis Vuitton one piece, which featured embroidered portraits by the artist Henry Taylor, included a figure who bears a striking resemblance to Rosa Parks right on her crotch area.
As always, the stairs set the tone for the night, inviting guests and spectators watching through the Vogue livestream (which ended promptly at 9 p.m., excluding many of the most fashionable attendees) into the otherworldly interior constructed by Raul Avila. This year's steps were carpeted with a deep blue fabric adorned with white and yellow daffodils. The striking design was the brainchild of the artist Cy Gavin, whose enormous paintings have a celestial quality to them.
The evening began with the arrival of the gala's chairs — Wintour, Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Colman Domingo — and the range within the group reflected the kinds of outfits presented throughout the evening. LeBron James, who was named honorary chair, could not attend because of a knee injury. His wife, Savannah James, still attended, wearing a custom burgundy pinstripe suit designed by Hanifa, the label run by Congolese designer Anifa Mvuemba.
Wintour didn't stray from her usual uniform in her custom silver dress by Louis Vuitton (they are the exhibition sponsors) and a powder blue coat; Williams, who serves as Men's Creative Director of Louis Vuitton, left much to be desired despite the flair of his double-breasted blazer made of 100,000 pearls. Together, these two represented the safer, more ordinary set and some of the outfits that fell flat.
Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Domingo were the winners among this group of gala helmers, with looks that either embraced the drama of Black style or the finer details that define Black dandyism's legacy. Hamilton wore an ivory ensemble designed by Grace Wales Bonner and a beret by Stephen Jones Millinery that gestured toward Barkley L. Hendricks portraits and told a story through its jeweled embellishments, from the baobab flower affixed to his lapel to the cowrie shells and pearls dotting his jacket tail. A$AP Rocky wore a three-piece black suit he designed himself with Christian Louboutin shoes. His hair was an event too, with cornrows wrapping around his head like a crown.
Domingo's outfit was a double whammy of Black queer history and personal style. The Sing Sing actor started the evening with a cobalt blue, intricately embroidered cape by Valentino that recalled the outfits of the late André Leon Talley and the ones that members of a church choir would wear. Later, Domingo sloughed off that layer to reveal another Valentino get-up: a double-breasted wool jacket embellished with pearls and crystals, a black neck scarf with hand-painted white polka dots, and wide-leg wool trousers.
The understated playfulness of Hamilton's attire found echoes in other outfits from the evening — including Jenna Ortega's dazzling form-fitting Balmain dress constructed entirely out of metal rulers, as well as Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing's metal sewing machine-shaped bag and gold metal shirt under his wide-shoulder suit. Zendaya, who surprised guests at the Met Gala last year with two distinct red carpet outfits, opted for a subtler look this year. Working with co-conspirator Law Roach, who also styled Tyla, Jeremy Pope, Jon Batiste, Nicki Minaj and Andre 3000, Zendaya channelled Bianca Jagger's bridal look with a deftly tailored cream silk suit from Louis Vuitton and a complementary wide-brimmed hat. I would be remiss not to mention Kerry Washington's custom piece from Simkhai, which featured a plunging neckline, an organza-like A-line skirt, mesh gloves and a matching cream hat.
Not everyone kept quiet though. Some of the evening's most memorable looks leaned into drama, functioning as discrete stories about the people wearing them. I'm thinking about Diana Ross's gasp-worthy outfit designed by Ugo Mozie with its 18-foot train, which had the names of her children and grandchildren embroidered into it. Or Teyana Taylor's outfit, which was designed in collaboration with Academy-Award winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.
I could talk about Taylor's maroon ensemble — the pinstripes, the durag underneath the hat, the David Yurman jewels adorning the pants, the walking stick and the words “Harlem Rose” inscribed into the cape — all day, so compelling was its marriage of Harlem's past and present, with a slight nod to its future. Her outfit felt particularly meaningful when she, conducting red carpet interviews for Vogue with Ego Nwodim (in Christopher John Rogers), spoke to Harlem legend Dapper Dan. He wore a white zoot suit embroidered with the Ghanaian adinkra symbol, sankofa, which instructs us to revisit the past in order to understand the future. How beautiful it was to see two Harlem icons, past and present, talking about what this evening means for their futures.
Other dramatic storytellers included Whoopi Goldberg, Al Sharpton, Doja Cat, Brian Tyree Henry, Jodi Turner-Smith (in a stunning burgundy Burberry suit that paid homage to Black equestrian Selika Lazevski) and Damson Idris, who had handlers tear off his F1 suit (complete with a bedazzled helmet) to reveal a three-piece crimson suit by Tommy Hilfiger.
There was also Janelle Monae, who collaborated with Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell (Wicked) and Thom Browne to create a costume that bent time. Her “time-traveling dandy,” as she referred to the look, fit into the musician's Afro-futurist leanings while also playing with sharp tailoring. The exterior garment was a striking red, white and black pinstripe jacket that looked like an optical illusion. Monae continued that motif in the interior, which featured a more fitted two-piece skirt-and-jacket combo. She completed the look with a top hat and cheeky monocle.
However, perhaps no one could top Rihanna, who arrived fashionably late and debuted a baby bump while wearing a Marc Jacobs ensemble that included a gray bustier and black floor-length skirt, or Andre 3000, who showed up on the carpet with a piano affixed to his back. In a move that felt in sync with the idea of being a Black dandy — that is, to surprise and subvert — he used the opportunity to release a new project called 7 Piano Sketches. But what I'd really like to know is what he was carrying in that trash bag.
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Host Drew Afualo gives our 2025 Billboard Women in Music Breakthrough honoree Ángela Aguilar flowers for being a pug mom, and Aguilar returns the favor to her mom, her fans and her husband for supporting her backstage at Billboard's Women In Music 2025.
Drew Afaulo
Here we are again, backstage with the iconic, the legendary Ángela Aguilar. Honored to have you, queen. How are you feeling tonight?
Ángela Aguilar
I'm so happy. No more nerves. Tequila hit and the speech was good. I feel good.
Drew Afaulo
Period. I could hear the mariachis in the air.
Ángela Aguilar
I know!
Drew Afaulo
Stunning and gorgeous. And when they walked out, I said, ‘Period, period, period,' as they were walking past. ‘Yes, thank you. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Work, it, work, it.' Love that. I think you're stunning and amazing. So actually, first I want to ask you, how does it feel celebrating other women in music tonight?
Ángela Aguilar
It feels amazing. You know, I'm very happy to be here, because my mom has always been behind the scenes, and she was always my momager, she was like, helping me since I was very little with like my dress and stuff,
Drew Afaulo
That's cute.
Ángela Aguilar
And they're honoring her tonight as well.
Drew Afaulo
Oh my gosh, how amazing.
Ángela Aguilar
The first awards ceremony that they honor me and my mom, and she deserves it more than I do.
Drew Afaulo
Oh my gosh, that's so sweet and amazing. What a milestone. Incredible. So for some fun things, I actually am going to give you some flowers tonight.
Ángela Aguilar
Thank you!
Drew Afaulo
Yes, of course, these are for you, both literally and metaphorically, giving you your flowers. These are well known, my favorites, mine too. Look at us. OK, and we're falling in love. My question for you is: Who do you give flowers to for getting you where you are now?
Watch the full video above!
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Adam Lambert is ascending to one of the most coveted musical roles in Broadway history.
The “American Idol” star is set to join a special production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in Hollywood this summer with a buzzy cast.
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Lambert will take on the role of Jesus's frenemy, Judas. Broadway turned film star Cynthia Erivo will be taking on the role of Jesus.
No word yet on who's playing Mary Magdalene.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” tells the story of Jesus's relationships with his disciples and followers, Judas, Magdalene, and the Roman Empire.
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Lambert was recently nominated for the iHeartRadio Music Award Fan Favorite Broadway Debut for his role as The Emcee in “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.” He told the New York Times playing the role was “therapeutic” and he tried to differentiate his version from other famous people – including Eddie Redmayne, Neil Patrick Harris, John Stamos and others – who have taken on the role.
“I really loved Eddie's take on this sort of demented puppet master ventriloquist dummy. But that didn't resonate for me as what I was going to do,” he told the outlet. “I was like, the Emcee's probably a little drunk. He's probably a little high on something. And he's in this permissive environment… That's who he is in my sense of him.”
When asked if he compares himself to his Emcee predecessors, he says he learned early in his career as a singer that comparisons are unwise.“When I was younger as a theater performer and even as a recording artist, I had the tendency to look and compare myself to people. And it made me miserable. It limited me, and it made me get in my head and second-guess myself,” Lambert elaborates. “One of the things I've learned as I've gotten older and more mature is like, no, no, no. Got to do you. That's what the audience is going to respond to the most. That's what's going to make you the happiest as a performer and feel as free as possible.”
Lambert also mentioned he's in the early stages of writing his own musical.
Fans of the Hollywood Bowl venue can buy season tickets to the shows there starting Tuesday, May 6 at 10 AM PT.
This new production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” features the famed lyrics and music by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber respectively. Director and choreographer Sergio Trujillo will take on leadership duties. Stephen Oremus is the conductor and musical director.
The original version of the show was released as a concept album in 1970 before premiering on Broadway in 1971. It was nominated for five Tony Awards. Revivals of the show were staged in 1977, 2000, and 2012. A film version was released in 1973. A televised version dubbed “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” starring John Legend was aired in 2018 on NBC.
The performances for this short run of “Jesus Christ Superstar” will begin Friday, August 1 and go through Sunday, August 3.
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Charisma Madarang
The Baltimore Ravens announced Monday that they are releasing kicker Justin Tucker from the team. The news arrives after multiple massage therapists accused Tucker of sexually inappropriate behavior in a report published by The Baltimore Banner months prior.
Executive Vice President and General Manager Eric DeCosta addressed the release in a statement shared on Monday. “Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances,” said DeCosta. “Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker.” DeCosta made no mention of the accusations in his statement.
In January, six Baltimore-area massage therapists accused Tucker of sexual misconduct in an investigation published by The Baltimore Banner. The following month, three more therapists — all of whom were employed at Baltimore luxury spa The QG — claimed that they had similar encounters with the All-Pro placekicker.
Tucker, 35, who had been with the team since 2012, previously denied the allegations and in a lengthy social media post, called them “unequivocally false.” Tucker said that he'd “never before been accused of misconduct of anytime” and claimed the Banner was “deliberately misconstruing events as nefarious,” while calling the newspaper's report “desperate tabloid fodder.”
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“I maintain I did not act inappropriately at any point before, during, or after a professional bodywork treatment session,” Tucker wrote at the time. “I would never intend to offend or hurt anyone, ever.”
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His attorneys Thomas A. Clare and Steven J. Harrison also previously denied the claims to the Banner, stating that Tucker “has never behaved inappropriately during any massage therapy session, and certainly never in the manner described.”
The Raven's announcement comes a day after its head coach John Harbaugh said the NFL was still investigating misconduct allegations against Tucker and that any decisions the team made about the kicker “would be based on football.”
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André 3000 has surprise-released a new instrumental project dubbed 7 Piano Sketches. As the name suggests, it's a seven-song collection that centers around piano, with the individual tracks prefaced by himself, Emmy Paalman, or Fatima Robinson reading off the song titles. Vocal effects and occasional samples, like a laugh track on “Off Rhythm Laughter,” also intermittently appear. Give it a listen below.
“The original title for it was The Best Worst Rap Album in History,” André 3000 said in a press release. “And here is an excerpt from the original liner notes: ‘It's jokingly the worst rap album in history because there are no lyrics on it at all. It's the best because it's the free-est emotionally and best I've felt personally. It's the best because it's like a palette cleanser for me.'”
Partially composed and recorded prior to New Blue Sun, 7 Piano Sketches first took shape nearly a decade ago when André 3000 stayed in a sparse Texas house with his son that only had a piano, two beds, and a few TV screens. “Having lived with the recordings for a time, André was drawn to the idea of creating more and sharing them in the Spring, a time of year that promises that life, creativity, and possibility are ever-renewing,” a press release elaborates.
It's no coincidence that André 3000 dropped this new project late at night. He timed the release to align with his appearance at the 2025 Met Gala in New York, where he wore a bespoke piano by Burberry on his back, in collaboration with Benji Bixby—an evolution of Benjamin Bixby, André 3000's late aughts fashion line—and styled by Law Roach. His outfit appears to align with the illustration on the 7 Piano Sketches's cover artwork.
7 Piano Sketches is André 3000's first new music since releasing the flute-focused album New Blue Sun in 2023. That served as the Outkast rapper's debut solo LP, and it earned him three Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. The 2024 short film Moving Day, directed by Dexter Navy, documented the making of New Blue Sun and included a previously unreleased track from those recording sessions.
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Shaboozey took his tailored suit to a whole other level for his debut at the 2025 Met Gala on Monday (May 5).
By
Heran Mamo
Shaboozey took his tailored suit to a whole new level for his debut at the 2025 Met Gala on Monday (May 5).
The turquoise grillz, watch and beaded design across his black collared tank and behind his black cropped suit jacket added a nice pop of color to his ensemble. And Shaboozey traded his signature cowboy hat for a sleek black slanted hat.
Outside of his Met Gala debut, the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hitmaker has been having an incredible start to his week. His 2024 album Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going is No. 8 on the Billboard 200 this week (chart dated May 10), nearing its No. 5 peak from last June.
This year's Met Gala celebrated the theme of “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” inspired by Monica L. Miller's 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. The official dress code is “Tailored for You,” a nod to the spring 2025 exhibition's focus on menswear and is “purposefully designed to provide guidance and invite creative interpretation,” according to Vogue.
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Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton served as co-chairs, while LeBron James served as honorary chair. James announced on X he had to cancel his appearance due to a knee injury he sustained at the end of the season. Tyla, Doechii, André 3000, Usher, Janelle Monáe and more also served as members of the costume institute benefit host committee.
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The ‘Midnight Cowboy' and ‘Heat' actor — also a “special ambassador” to the entertainment industry for the White House — presented a plan to return more production to U.S. shores after meeting with industry stakeholders.
By Katie Kilkenny, Alex Weprin
May 5, 2025 2:31pm
One of President Donald Trump's “special ambassadors” to Hollywood has spoken — and has a plan to bring more production back to the U.S., or so he says.
After a period of silence on his role as a liaison between the entertainment industry and the White House, actor Jon Voight on Monday revealed his intentions for resolving so-called runaway production, or film and television productions fleeing the U.S. for more cost-effective shores.
That plan involves a combination of federal tax incentives, tax code changes, co-production treaties and infrastructure subsidies for theater owners, production and postproduction companies, according to a press release sent Monday by a representative for Voight and his business partner Steven Paul.
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The release made only brief mention of tariffs, which Trump in a Sunday social media post said he would apply to productions produced outside the U.S. Voight's plan involves “tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” the release stated.
“The President loves the entertainment business and this country, and he will help us make Hollywood great again,” said Voight.
The Midnight Cowboy and Heat actor added, “We look forward to working with the administration, the unions, studios, and streamers to help form a plan to keep our industry healthy and bring more productions back to America.”
The plan is the result of months of meetings between Voight and his team and entertainment stakeholders, such as studios, streamers, unions and guilds. Voight and Paul confirmed that they met with Trump at Mar-A-Lago over the weekend, and the White House is “reviewing” their proposals.
The details from Voight come after a tumultuous 24 hours in which Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the U.S., before the White House walked that back a bit Monday morning, telling The Hollywood Reporter in a statement that “although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump's directive to safeguard our country's national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.”
The news caught Hollywood off guard, and brought with it more questions than answers about how it would work and what would be subject to tariffs (let alone questions of legality). Hollywood unions, not surprisingly, seemed open to the idea of government intervention, though SAG-AFTRA and the Teamsters had very different levels of enthusiasm when it came to tariffs in particular.
There may actually be bipartisan support for Voight and Paul's proposal.
In a statement of his own Monday, Sen. Adam Schiff said that he was in favor of incentives to bring back filmmaking, although he pushed back on the idea of blanket tariffs: “I share the administration's desire to bring movie making back to the United States,” Schiff said. “While blanket tariffs on all films would have unintended and potentially damaging impacts, we have an opportunity to work together to pass a major federal film tax credit to re-shore American jobs in the industry. I welcome the opportunity to work with the administration and my Republican colleagues to pass a globally competitive federal film incentive to bring back run-away production.”
Schiff has been discussing the possibility of a federal tax incentive with unions for some time.
Later on Monday, Voight released a video where he discussed his proposal to Trump. In the video, the actor said Trump “loves the entertainment industry business and wants to see Hollywood thrive and make films bigger and greater than ever before, as he says.” Trump also wants to see “productions come back to America and Hollywood,” Voight said.
May 5, 6:31 p.m. Updated with Voight's video about his proposal.
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Researchers studying pterosaur tracks have found that ancient flying reptiles became better adapted to life on land during the middle of the Jurassic period and even shared environments with dinosaurs.
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Ancient tracks reveal that many pterosaurs were just as comfortable walking on the ground as they were flying through the skies during the age of dinosaurs, a new study finds.
Pterosaurs, informally called "pterodactyls," were flying reptiles that ruled the skies when dinosaurs dominated the land. However, new research has discovered that pterosaurs diversified during the middle of the Jurassic period (201 million to 145 million years ago) and evolved to walk more effectively on four limbs, using their hands and feet.
The findings were published May 1 in the journal Current Biology, and support decades-old evidence from the fossil record. Researchers also matched previously unidentified tracks to specific pterosaur groups, offering a new window into their lives.
"Footprints offer a unique opportunity to study pterosaurs in their natural environment," study lead author Robert Smyth, a doctoral researcher at the University of Leicester in the U.K., said in a statement. "They reveal not only where these creatures lived and how they moved, but also offer clues about their behaviour and daily activities in ecosystems that have long since vanished."
Related: 'Sexy' pterosaur tail should have been nightmare for flying. How did it work?
Many pterosaur studies have focused on their flight and feeding. However, researchers have uncovered many fossilized pterosaur tracks in recent decades, which represent a unique and untapped resource, according to the study.
The problem with pterosaur tracks — or any other extinct animal tracks — is that it's difficult for researchers to know which species or group left them behind. Fossilization is rare, and researchers typically don't find bones and tracks alongside each other, which fossilize under different conditions.
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—Dinosaurs might still roam Earth if it weren't for the asteroid, study suggests
—Largest Jurassic pterosaur on record unearthed in Scotland
—Hollow bones in giant dinosaurs and pterosaurs show convergent evolution in action, fossil study suggests
For the new study, researchers created 3D models of pterosaur tracks and compared them with different pterosaur skeletons. They identified three distinct pterosaur track types and linked them to three known groups: ctenochasmatoids, dsungaripterids and neoazhdarchians. The neoazhdarchian group included Quetzalcoatlus northropi, one of the largest pterosaurs — and largest flying animals — to ever live.
They used this analysis to show that neoazhdarchian footprints were present in coastal and inland regions, suggesting that the animal was often on the ground, living in the same environments as dinosaurs, according to the statement.
Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master's Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master's degree in international journalism. He also has a second master's degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn't writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains.
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Cloudy with some rain in the morning, then some breaks of sun in the afternoon but still scattered showers or a t-storm..
Mostly cloudy with a few scattered showers lingering overnight, but trying to dry out late.
Updated: May 6, 2025 @ 1:17 pm
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Bucks County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Bucks County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Warren County
state: NJ
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Warren County
state_name: New Jersey
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Montgomery County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Montgomery County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: The National Weather Service in State College PA has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...
Central Schuylkill County in central Pennsylvania...
* Until 200 PM EDT.
* At 120 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Strausstown,
moving north at 30 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage
to roofs, siding, and trees.
* Locations impacted include...
Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah, Minersville, Mahanoy
City, Frackville, St. Clair, Ashland, Orwigsburg, Pine Grove, Port
Carbon, and Tremont.
This includes Interstate 81 from mile markers 111 to 134.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Stay inside a well built structure and keep away from windows.
&&
HAIL THREAT...RADAR INDICATED;
MAX HAIL SIZE...1.00 IN;
WIND THREAT...RADAR INDICATED;
MAX WIND GUST...60 MPH
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Warning
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:20:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T14:00:00-04:00
county_name: Schuylkill County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Warning from TUE 1:20 PM EDT until TUE 2:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Immediate
severity: Severe
certainty: Observed
geographicname: Schuylkill County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 9 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
COLUMBIA DAUPHIN LANCASTER
LEBANON MONTOUR NORTHUMBERLAND
SCHUYLKILL SULLIVAN YORK
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF BERWICK, BLOOMSBURG, DANVILLE,
HARRISBURG, HERSHEY, LANCASTER, LAPORTE, LEBANON, POTTSVILLE,
SHAMOKIN, SUNBURY, AND YORK.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Schuylkill County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Schuylkill County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Monroe County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Monroe County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Warren County
state: NJ
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Warren County
state_name: New Jersey
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Hunterdon County
state: NJ
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Hunterdon County
state_name: New Jersey
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Lehigh County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Lehigh County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Northampton County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Northampton County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Carbon County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Carbon County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 145 PM EDT
FOR NORTHWESTERN BERKS COUNTY...
At 125 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Strausstown, or
8 miles southwest of Schuylkill Haven, moving northeast at 35 mph.
HAZARD...Ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. At 113 PM
EDT, quarter sized hail and minor damage to trees was
reported in Mount Aetna
SOURCE...Broadcast media.
IMPACT...People and animals outdoors will be injured. Expect hail
damage to roofs, siding, windows, and vehicles. Wind damage
to roofs, siding, trees, and power lines is possible.
Locations impacted include...
Strausstown.
This includes Interstate 78 in Pennsylvania between mile markers 12
and 23.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Move
indoors immediately. Lightning is one of nature's leading killers.
Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck
by lightning.
&&
HAIL THREAT...OBSERVED;
MAX HAIL SIZE...1.50 IN;
WIND THREAT...OBSERVED;
MAX WIND GUST...60 MPH
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Warning
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:25:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:45:00-04:00
county_name: Berks County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Warning until TUE 1:45 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Immediate
severity: Severe
certainty: Observed
geographicname: Berks County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Berks County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Berks County
state_name: Pennsylvania
Bulletin: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
233 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS
IN NEW JERSEY THIS WATCH INCLUDES 6 COUNTIES
IN CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
MERCER
IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
HUNTERDON MORRIS SOMERSET
SUSSEX WARREN
IN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 10 COUNTIES
IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
BERKS LEHIGH NORTHAMPTON
IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
CARBON MONROE
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
BUCKS CHESTER DELAWARE
MONTGOMERY PHILADELPHIA
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLENTOWN, BETHLEHEM, BLAIRSTOWN,
DOYLESTOWN, EASTON, FLEMINGTON, JIM THORPE, MEDIA, MORRISTOWN,
NEWTON, NORRISTOWN, PHILADELPHIA, READING, SOMERSET, STROUDSBURG,
TRENTON, AND WEST CHESTER.
Info:
Type: Severe Thunderstorm Watch
start_time_local: 2025-05-06T13:06:00-04:00
end_time_local: 2025-05-06T20:00:00-04:00
county_name: Lehigh County
state: PA
headline: Severe Thunderstorm Watch from TUE 1:06 PM EDT until TUE 8:00 PM EDT
county_fips:
category: Met
url:
urgency: Future
severity: Severe
certainty: Possible
geographicname: Lehigh County
state_name: Pennsylvania
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - If you're looking for a peek into the paranormal, the Allentown Public Library is the place to be.
Eric Mintel, a jazz maestro who leads a double life as a paranormal investigator will be diving into the unknown.
The investigations will show videos of ghosts, UFO's, cryptids, and more.
The event is scheduled for Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
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Less than two minutes into the movie, the narrator makes a shocking claim.
“The evidence we are about to present to you has the potential to rewrite thousands of years of human history. It will present evidence that suggests ancient serpent or lizard-like aliens came to earth thousands of years ago,” the narrator says. “We'll also present evidence that these ancient aliens are still among us today.”
This bizarre narrative echoes a paranoia about shadowy reptilians that has persisted for decades on the absolute fringes of the conspiracy theory movement. However, in this case, the story of “serpent or lizard-like aliens” who are secretly wielding influence over the human race isn't coming from some pamphlet or dark corner of the internet. It is among the most watched films available for streaming on a service run by a multibillion dollar media company that is owned by the President of the United States.
When they launched a streaming service last year, President Trump's business partners at the Trump Media and Technology Group announced it would be focused on “news, Christian content, and family friendly programming that is uncancellable by Big Tech.” Yet this supposed haven for young viewers and wholesome Christian fare is also home to “Lizard People: Rulers of Time and Space,” a bizarre hour-long movie that presents claims that there is a race of “serpent-like aliens who created humans and the religious systems used to control them.” As of this writing, Trump's company is marketing this to viewers as a “documentary” — and it's not the only one on their platform filled with shocking statements linking Christianity and other faiths to shadowy, sinister alien conspiracies.
These ideas are easy to dismiss as utterly and obviously ridiculous. However, they have a history of attracting troubled believers on the furthest conspiracy fringe. And, while these movies are available on other streaming platforms, in this case the sitting president's nascent media empire is playing a role in the promotion of this extreme content. Trump's streaming service also seems to have helped it to find an audience. On Monday and through much of last week, “Lizard People” was listed among the top 10 “most watched” programs on the streaming service.
This service and some of its more unhinged offerings is effectively the underbelly of one of the more prominent features of the new Trump era — Truth Social.
Throughout his second re-election campaign and first hundred days back in office, President Trump has used the Truth Social platform to issue near constant updates including policy pronouncements, personnel announcements, attacks on his political enemies, and even musings on last month's NFL Draft. The site serves a quasi-official role with Trump's “truths” sometimes also being distributed by the official White House Office of Communications. Truth Social was launched in early 2022 after Trump was banned from multiple more mainstream sites following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The platform is the centerpiece of Trump Media & Technology Group, a company that is majority owned by the president and that has extensive ties to his current administration.
More recently, as Trump's media empire has made headlines for quickly losing and raising massive sums of cash, it has expanded beyond social networking into other forms of entertainment. Now, the company's ventures include Truth+, the streaming service with multiple films being marketed as documentaries that present wild conspiracy theories, including allegations alien beings are “manipulating world events and are using religion and other means to secretly control humanity.”
TPM reached out to TMTG for comment on this surprising fare. Spokeswoman Shannon Devine responded on the company's behalf with a note that wove its own dramatic tale of nefarious plotting by shadowy forces.
“Having trafficked in absurd conspiracy theories for years, the partisan hacks at Talking Points Memo, at the behest of their leftwing puppet masters, turn around and demand we censor content on our free-speech platform,” Devine said.
TMTG, which is also known as “Trump Media,” has had what one analyst described to the UK's Telegraph newspaper as a “wild ride largely fueled by Donald Trump's political influence.” TMTG was started in 2021 by Trump and two former contestants on his reality show, “The Apprentice.” The relationship between Trump and the other founders eventually descended into lawsuits as the company underwent a merger and prepared to go public. TMTG, which trades under the symbol “DJT,” had its IPO in March 2024 at an $8 billion valuation. Since then, the stock has been on a rollercoaster ride, with prices climbing above $60 after the initial offering before coming down to, as of last week, roughly $25.
Having a publicly traded media company means Trump, who owns a majority of the DJT shares, is in a position to rake in sums from individual advertisers and investors at a level that is unprecedented for a sitting president. After winning the 2024 election, Trump placed his stake in the company into a revocable trust solely managed by his son, Donald Trump Jr., who is also on the company's board. The president isn't the only official who has been in a position to cash in on the company. Other members of the Trump administration have also held shares or served on TMTG's board. TMTG's CEO and chairman is Devin Nunes, who is a former Republican congressman and the current chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory board.
TMTG's high value has, thus far, been at odds with steep losses that have dwarfed the company's revenues and totaled over $400 million last year. Stock sales have helped Trump Media offset that and close out 2024 with a $777 million cash reserve. However, even with those assets, the company appears to be searching for ways to expand its business model. Truth+, which includes a streaming service, launched last August and has been framed by Nunes as central to those efforts.
In an April 29 letter to shareholders, Nunes described several potential revenue streams from Truth+, including a crypto token and “premium features” for subscribers like a verified “red check badge.” Nunes reiterated the message that the streaming service would focus on the family and people of faith.
“We're assessing various means of monetizing the Truth+ platform, including through advertising and a subscription package with premium content,” Nunes wrote. “Meanwhile, we are continuing our efforts to secure new programming encompassing family-friendly entertainment, documentaries, children's shows, Christian content, and unbiased news broadcasts.”
The current slate of streamable video on Truth+ includes rebroadcasts of shows from the right-wing cable network “Real America's Voice” and disgraced former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. Along with partisan news, there are also documentaries, religious programming, and movies including some that are clearly labeled “sci fi, “fantasy,” and “horror.” Among these offerings are multiple shows that veer towards the extreme and conspiratorial.
While other Truth+ programming is categorized with entertainment genres, as of this writing, the full description on the service identifies “Lizard People” simply as a “documentary” that poses a tantalizing, troubling question: “Did ancient serpent or Lizard-like aliens come to Earth thousands of years ago to play a role in creating humanity and are they still among us today?”
Viewers who are intrigued by this pitch and opt to watch are treated to a brief “WARNING” noting “some parts of this film may be objectionable or offensive and may contain triggers for post traumatic stress disorder, for some viewers.” The disclaimer also declares “the views and opinions expressed in this film are entirely those of its makers.” Other than that, the hour-long show contains no effort to question or downplay any of the shocking claims contained therein. Instead, the deep-voiced narrator repeatedly and authoritatively suggests the film's claims all may be true.
“There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that alien, serpent-like creatures did come to Earth thousands of years ago and created religion, humanity, and continue to control us even now,” the narrator says at one point.
Along with the dramatic narration, “Lizard People” includes a compilation from various stock footage and image libraries along with computer animations. The “evidence” presented resists basic scrutiny, as it largely lacks citations and consists of sweeping statements about ancient art, culture, and more modern alien encounters. While the premise and bizarre presentation ensure that remotely discerning audiences would dismiss the film's claims, they are continually presented as wholly factual research supported in part by the assertions of federal government agencies.
“With every passing day, NASA tells us that they have discovered yet another earth-like planet that could sustain life,” the “Lizard People” narrator states near the end of the show, adding, “They alter their equations on the existence of alien life on a weekly basis. Even they are growing more and more aware that soon they will discover something special. The question is, will we awaken the ancient invaders and will they return — if they're not already here?”
Those comments directly give way to some of the more shocking imagery that appears in the climax of the hour-long film. As “Lizard People” enters its final minutes, footage plays across the screen showing grey alien figures standing over a nearly nude man splayed out on a table surrounded by machinery and tubes prodding into his flesh.
Against this backdrop, the narrator declares: “The fact is, these serpent aliens may use more than space to appear on earth. They may also use time.” The footage gives way to images of human bodies suspended in pods and a suggestion that proof for all of this lies in tales of titans in “Greek mythology,” the story of the serpent and the Garden of Eden in the “Christian Bible,” and more modern disclosures about unexplained alien phenomena. This blend of strange imagery, ancient lore, and UFOlogy transitions to the movie's final argument.
“In conclusion, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that ancient serpent aliens still visit earth and also use time travel,” the narrator says as the screen goes dark.
Variations of the claim that reptilian extraterrestrials have played an influential and sometimes sinister role in world history have been promoted by conspiracy theorists for well over a hundred years. Researcher Logan Strain, who has written about conspiracy theories for the Washington Post and covers the topic in depth for the podcast “QAA,” which he co-hosts pseudonymously as “Travis View,” told TPM the phenomenon can be traced as far back as the 19th century occultist writer Helena Blavatsky.
“She wrote about ancient civilizations that influenced the modern day, and ancient lost races,” Strain explained. Blavatsky theorized an ancient race of dragon men. These claims, Strain said, “were later adopted by conspiracists.”
”But what really got it kicked off was a couple things,” he continued. “Robert E. Howard, who wrote the Conan the Barbarian series — he wrote some fiction about lizard people. This was picked up by a cult leader named Maurice Doreal.”
Doreal, Strain explained, wrote a pamphlet entitled The Mysteries of Gobi that described a civilization beneath the desert. “He claimed that there was an ancient race of lizard people,” Strain said. “So, this was like from the 1940s.”
Strain described reptilian theories, today, as “more fringe than QAnon.”
“There are more people who believe fringe conspiracy theories about the faked moon landing and stuff than lizard people,” Strain said. “It is a very fringe, minority conspiracist belief in a land where people feel free to believe lots of wild things.”
While the number of people convinced of a dark reptilian influence may be small, Strain pointed out belief in lizard people has been linked to multiple incidents of real world violence.
“This is such a wild, out-there belief, if someone espouses this belief and sincerely believes this, it signals, usually, some kind of an instability or mental illness,” said Strain. “There've been multiple examples of people who promote conspiracy belief, who've committed violence or committed suicide in a spectacular way.”
The lizard people conspiracy is also, as Strain put it, “very heavily intertwined with anti-Semitic tropes” and the idea Jews are among the sinister, elite forces operating behind the scenes. Strain noted that the idea that reptilians are manipulating the world was “really popularized” more recently by the prominent British footballer-turned-conspiracy theorist David Icke. While Icke denies being an anti-Semite, his past statements — including blaming Jewish groups for COVID — have led him to be banned from multiple countries and internet platforms.
The film “Lizard People” does not include focused criticism of Jews. However, the movie and another on Trump's Truth+ platform include bizarre and conspiratorial statements about multiple religions. In “Lizard People,” the narrator suggests the “very children of Israel” engaged in “intermarriage” with “serpent worshippers.”
“This is very revealing,” the narrator declares. “Intermarriage and worship of the serpent gods. Today, we can easily replace the word ‘gods' with aliens.”
The movie also includes some inflammatory commentary about the Catholic Church.
“The Vatican comes from the words ‘vatis' for prophet and ‘can' for serpent, making the Vatican a place of serpent prophecy,” the narrator says. “The very book of Christians across the world, The Bible, is full of the serpent.”
Most etymologists explicitly do not agree with this interpretation of the term “Vatican.”
Another film on Truth+ delves more specifically into the idea that major religions are part of an extraterrestrial conspiracy. “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” has also been described on the service as a “documentary.”
“Explore the powerful, secret underworld of a shocking coalition of the human elite and advanced beings not of this world dating back hundreds of years,” the description says.
Like “Lizard People,” “Conspiracy Chronicles” is approximately one hour long and seemingly wholly made up of ominous narration set against stock footage and computer animation. It begins with a disclaimer that says “the views expressed in this film are not necessarily the views of … any other person involved in the making and distribution of this film.” There is no other attempt to downplay the claims in the movie or indicate they have no basis in reality.
And “Conspiracy Chronicles” may be even weirder than the reptilian saga, as it includes a rapidfire smorgasbord of wild claims about everything from Freemasonry to the Jesuits to the Moon, which it contends is actually “hollowed out” and a “base for aliens.”
“Power cleverly shifts around, but always at the very top, the same families run the world,” the “Conspiracy Chronicles” narrator declares at one point, quickly adding, “The modern era of mind control began with the creation of the Illuminati.”
“Conspiracy Chronicles” also goes beyond the rhetoric of “Lizard People.” Rather than simply posing religion as a tool for nefarious forces to control the populace, it suggests the Judeochristian God and other religious leaders including the Hindu deity Krishna are actually extraterrestrials themselves.
“There are a few pieces of evidence that suggest that Jesus may have been an alien,” the narrator says before going deeper down the rabbit hole. “And what about other religious originators such as Buddha? … He wasn't human. He was an alien. So, the next time you see a statue of Buddha, remember that he was an alien.”
The array of theories in “Conspiracy Chronicles” also include some suggesting the U.S. government is part of a scheme to cover up both UFOs and “dark ops” experiments. According to the film, this secret laboratory work includes “deliberate production of utterly abominable results such as ape-human embryos and other ungodly biological combinations.” The movie outlines an especially disturbing scenario that it links to a military base in New Mexico.
“One of the most horrifying claims made for this installation was the presence of the so-called ‘blood lab' where various kinds of blood, both natural and synthetic, was processed ostensibly for the consumption of the extraterrestrials who required it for their existence,” the narrator says.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of these claims of government involvement in unnatural experiments and alien blood sacrifice is that they are being streamed on a service owned by the president of the United States. The White House did not respond to a request for comment asking if Trump thinks this content is in line with his company's values. They also didn't answer specific questions about whether Trump believes in “lizard-like” aliens or if the government is covering up UFOs or human-animal breeding experiments.
There is other conspiratorial content on Truth+ including a film on the “Illuminati” that was also, as of last week, among the services “most watched” videos. However, “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” stand out as truly bizarre in both their claims and presentation. Alchemy Werks LLC is identified as the production company behind both films on IMDB pages that are also linked on Truth+. “Lizard People” also cites Alchemy Werks in its credits. The company says on its website that it has produced dozens of movies about aliens that it bills as “reality films.” “Conspiracy Chronicles” additionally describes itself in its credits as a production of American River Media Group, a company that also advertises THC “horse treats.” When TPM reached out to these businesses, we received a call back from a man who identified himself as Charles Thompsen, who is credited as a producer on both “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld.”
Thompsen pointed to the disclaimers on both films, which state that the filmmakers do not vouch for the “accuracy” or “completeness” of the claims presented. The disclaimer on “Lizard People” also states that the filmmakers are “not responsible or liable for any action or inaction by a viewer of this video that is based on the content of this film.”
“I don't know how you could take ‘Lizard People' seriously, honestly,” Thompsen said. He went on to compare the films to “Dungeons and Dragons” and other fantasy entertainment.
“We have nothing but support for President Trump,” he said. “They should be noted that the genres are sci-fi and there's a big base that enjoys movies about aliens and lizard people and such. They're insatiable about it.”
Thompsen suggested he would talk with Truth+ about having his movies marked as “sci-fi/fantasy.”
“Unfortunately, they're not being denoted as such on the Trump Media site and I'm going to have to look into that,” he said.
In the days since, the label on “Conspiracy Chronicles: Dark Underworld” has been switched from “documentary” to “sci-fi” on Truth+. As of this writing, “Lizard People: Rulers of Time and Space” is still identified as a “documentary.”
Conspiracy inflected plots are, of course, not uncommon in mainstream entertainment. Films, books and television including “The Da Vinci Code,” the “National Treasure” film series starring Nicolas Cage, and “The X Files” have long included clearly fictionalized storylines that delved into elements of popular conspiracy theories. While it is more rooted in conspiracy theories than any actual evidence, the idea that aliens played a role in early human history has also spawned relatively mainstream content that straddles the line between faux news and tongue-in-cheek entertainment. Specifically, the series “Ancient Aliens” has earned meme infamy while being broadcast on the “History Channel” and Netflix.
However, the conspiratorial “documentary” content that is popular on Truth+ is different, in part because it leans into the version of this mythos that frames the ancient extraterrestrials as “lizard-like” serpents. This reptilian take on the theme has historically been one of the most extreme versions of the belief that aliens played a pivotal role in human history. Strain, the conspiracy theory researcher, suggested it is particularly troubling to see lizard people conspiracy theories advanced on a platform owned by Trump because the presidential association could give these wild ideas momentum. He alluded to instances where Trump has engaged with followers of another popular conspiracy theory, QAnon, online and off.
“One of the reasons that QAnon spread so far and was so adopted is because Trump and some of his close associates were willing to sort of wink and nod at the QAnon community and make no effort to denounce them or denounce their beliefs,” Strain said. “That obviously fueled a lot of QAnon believers.”
Both “Lizard People” and “Conspiracy Chronicles” are also available on YouTube, Amazon Prime and other streaming services. However, at least on Amazon Prime, “Lizard People” is clearly identified as “science fiction.”
Other movies on Truth+ similarly come from companies that have dozens of little-known productions and that also make those films available on both free and paid streaming services. The fact these movies are simultaneously available from multiple different sources at widely varying price points brings up another question: How is it cost effective for producers to make dozens and dozens of movies? What exactly are they selling if these things are widely available and, in some cases, free?
TPM reached out to Richard Rushfield, a longtime chronicler of Hollywood and columnist at the entertainment industry site The Ankler, to try and understand this business model. There are various production companies who churn out work in bulk, at a low cost, and are then able to monetize even relatively small audiences via the internet or streaming, he said. He described it as a sub-Hollywood “weird internet” world and “very sort of bottom-feedery business.”
“It's like the mud at the bottom of the floor,” he said. “It's like living at that level.”
TPM asked Rushfield if it surprised him to see a company owned by the president engage with this type of content.
“Three months ago, it would have,” Rushfield said with a laugh. ”I don't know that I have the capacity for surprise any more.”
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When will this longest running, f_ckin' nightmare end??
Hunter deserves serious comp time for watching these things so we dont have to.
I guess their idea of the process in making America great again involves triggering every emotionally disturbed person in the country.
And it is making the country very very weird.
This is all old news, previously teased in National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Men in Black.
I just want to learn more about how the Masons and the illuminati are involved. That, and Elvis's recruitment by the CIA to try to stop Ted Cruz's dad from killing JFK.
My takeaway from this is that a good portion of our nation's populace is insane.
31 more replies
Plans are underway to create new AI-powered drones that can fly for much longer than current designs.
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Scientists are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) chip the size of a grain of rice that can mimic human brains — and they plan to use it in miniature drones.
Although AI can automate monotonous functions, it is resource-intensive and requires large amounts of energy to operate. Drones also require energy for propulsion, navigation, sensing, stabilization and communication.
Larger drones can better compensate for AI's energy demands by using an engine, but smaller drones rely on battery power — meaning AI energy demands can reduce flying time from 45 minutes to just four.
But this may not be a problem forever., Suin Yi and his team at the University of Texas have been awarded funding by the 2025 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program (part of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research) to develop an energy-efficient AI for drones. Their goal is to build a chip the size of a grain of rice with various AI capabilities — including autonomous piloting and object recognition — within three years.
To build a more energy-efficient AI chip, the scientists propose using conducting polymer thin films. These are (so far) an underused aspect of neuromorphic computing; this is a computer system that mimics the brain's structure to enable highly efficient information processing.
The researchers intend to replicate how neurons learn and make decisions, thereby saving energy by only being used when required, similar to how a human brain uses different parts for different functions.
Although neuromorphic computing was first proposed by scientist Carver Mead in the late 1980s, it is a field of computer design theory that is still in development. In 2024, Intel unveiled their Hala Point neuromorphic computer, which is powered by more than 1,000 new AI chips and performs 50 times faster than conventional computing systems.
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—Intel unveils largest-ever AI 'neuromorphic computer' that mimics the human brain
—Tiny AI chip modeled on the human brain set to boost battery life in smart devices
—New brain-like transistor goes 'beyond machine learning'
Meanwhile, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center develops AI software and neuromorphic hardware. Their particular focus is on developing systems for sharing all sensor information with every member of a network of neuromorphic-enabled units. This technology could allow for greater situational awareness, with applications so far including headsets and robotics.
Using technology developed through this research, drones could become more intelligent by integrating conducting polymer material systems that can function like neurons in a brain.
If Yi's research project is successful, miniature drones could become increasingly intelligent. An AI system using neuromorphic computing could allow smaller and smarter automated drones to be developed to provide remote monitoring in confined locations, with a much longer flying time.
Peter is a degree-qualified engineer and experienced freelance journalist, specializing in science, technology and culture. He writes for a variety of publications, including the BBC, Computer Weekly, IT Pro, the Guardian and the Independent. He has worked as a technology journalist for over ten years. Peter has a degree in computer-aided engineering from Sheffield Hallam University. He has worked in both the engineering and architecture sectors, with various companies, including Rolls-Royce and Arup.
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Predictions about the end of the world are not uncommon, ranging from asteroid collisions to AI domination to environmental collapse. But one particularly startling claim comes from Calvin Parker, a man from Mississippi, the United States, who said he was abducted by aliens not once, but twice.
In a newly resurfaced interview, Parker recalled that the extraterrestrials warned him that humans themselves would bring about the end of the world.
Parker first made headlines in 1973, when he and a companion, Charles Hickson, claimed they were taken aboard a UFO while fishing along the Pascagoula River. At the time, the incident drew significant media attention in the United States, though the scientific community largely remained silent. While Hickson continued to speak publicly about the event, Parker stayed quiet for years, until a second, voluntary encounter in 1992.
In the 1992 meeting, which took place in Baldwin, Louisiana, Parker claimed that the aliens allowed him aboard their craft and shared dire warnings. “There's no need to fear us; fear your own people who are destroying the world," one alien reportedly told him. Parker added that the aliens were collecting crops and soil samples, just as they had in 1973.
According to Parker, the alien also said, “I will give you proof and try to change it," which deeply disturbed him. It was only years later, shortly before his death in 2023, that Parker shared the full story with author Philip Mantle, leading to the release of three books. A video interview, recently uncovered, has now gone viral on the internet, reigniting public interest in his experiences.
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Parker urged humanity to reflect and change its ways, warning that continued environmental harm such as deforestation and pollution would eventually lead to global catastrophe. “We cannot go on living like this," he said, adding that a small alien creature seemed more intelligent than humans.
Mantle, who documented Parker's story, said the sincerity with which Parker told his tale struck a chord. The Pascagoula encounter remains one of America's most compelling UFO cases, and this newly surfaced interview has added a fresh layer to its enduring mystery.
Trump Administration
At every level of government, authority figures are embracing once-extreme ideas, including that the Earth is flat or that the state controls the weather.
Credit...Photo Illustration by Kevin Van Aelst
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By Tiffany Hsu
Tiffany Hsu covers disinformation and conspiracy theories.
People who question whether the Earth is round — a fact understood by the ancient Greeks and taught to American children in elementary school — might have been political pariahs a decade ago. Now, they're running local Republican parties in Georgia and Minnesota and seeking public office in Alabama.
A prominent far-right activist who has said, despite years of research and intelligence establishing otherwise, that the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside job by the U.S. government commemorated the 9/11 anniversary last year alongside President Trump.
And Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pledged the agency's support last month for a fight involving so-called chemtrails, a debunked theory that the white condensation lines streaming behind airplanes are toxic, or could even be used for nefarious purposes.
Conspiracy theories that were relegated to random and often anonymous online forums are now being championed or publicly debated by increasingly powerful people. Mr. Trump in particular has embraced, elevated and even appointed to his cabinet people promoting these theories — giving the ideas a persuasive authority and a dangerous proximity to policy.
“The real problem with the ideas and the communication of conspiracy theories is when they get evinced by people with the power to act on them,” said Joseph E. Uscinski, a professor at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories. “If some guy, somewhere, thinks the Earth is flat, the answer is ‘So what?' But when people in power have those beliefs, it becomes a serious issue.”
He added: “You can wind up harming many, many people over a fantasy.”
Anna Kelly, a spokeswoman for the White House, said in a statement that the mainstream media “has tried and failed to paint President Trump as extreme for his entire political career” and that his agenda was “common sense.”
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Lewis Dartnell
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is interested in finding alien civilisations by detecting signs of their activity.
The use of radio telescopes to listen out for alien broadcasts dates back to the 1960s, but SETI researchers also look for evidence of enormous engineering projects.
For example, an alien civilisation might construct a thin shell around its host star to harvest energy.
Such a ‘Dyson sphere' ought to be detectable as a warm source of infrared rays without a corresponding visible light source.
Astronomers have looked for these telltale signatures but haven't found any.
Many of these ‘technosignatures' discussed by SETI researchers relate only to advanced civilisations, far beyond our current level of technological ability.
Sofia Sheikh, at the SETI Institute, California, and her colleagues are interested in a slightly different question.
How far away would Earth be detectable as harbouring an intelligent species, using only the technology we have today?
As the authors put it: "One could imagine a spaceship loaded with all of humanity's best modern-day instruments, launched towards a mirror image of Earth – which present-day technosignatures would be detectable first?"
They look at a range of possible technosignatures: radio emissions; bright lasers shone into the sky; and changes to Earth's atmospheric composition from agricultural and industrial activity.
Starting with radio emissions, the team calculated that if we beamed a signal with the intention of making contact, we'd be able to detect ourselves from around 12,000 lightyears away.
Of course, as attempts such as the 1974 Arecibo message have only been sent in the last century, any signals won't have had time to make it nearly that far yet.
Meanwhile, inadvertent leaking of much weaker radio waves into outer space, from mobile phone towers or television broadcasts, would be detectable from four lightyears away – only as far as the nearest star to us.
Indicators of Earth's industrial activity in the atmosphere could be detected from slightly further away.
While nitrogen dioxide is produced by lightning and some biological processes on Earth, huge amounts of it are also released by human industrial activity: mainly vehicle engines and fossil-fuelled power stations.
Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide peaked in 1980 at levels that ought to be detectable from 5.7 lightyears away with the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a space telescope due to launch in the 2040s.
Light pollution is a big problem for astronomers in built-up areas, so might this urban technosignature be detectable?
Many cities are lit by the yellowy light from high-pressure sodium lamps, and this is particularly spectroscopically distinctive.
Sheikh's team calculates that a telescope like the HWO could detect this artificial light from around 2,300 AU, where 1 AU is the Earth–Sun distance – an alien probe would need to be within the inner edge of our Solar System's Oort cloud to see our nighttime cities.
Sheikh and her colleagues conclude that Earth is most detectable through radio emissions.
They stress that there are good reasons to not expect an extraterrestrial civilisation to have reachedexactly the same technological level as us, but this work does help focus attention on what sort of technosignatures we might be able to detect on exoplanets.
Lewis Dartnell was reading Earth Detecting Earth: At What Distance could Earth's Constellation of Technosignatures be Detected with Present-day Technology? by Sofia Z Sheikh et al.
Read it online at: arxiv.org/abs/2502.02614
This article appeared in the May 2025 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Lewis Dartnell
Astrobiologist