Business Sentiment
Sentiment Legend:
Negative < 44
Mixed 46-54
Positive > 56
Sean “Diddy” Combs overdosed on painkillers at the Playboy Mansion, his ex-girlfriend said.Cassie Ventura, who had an on-and-off relationship with the rapper for 11 years, said that Combs forced her to participate in drug-fuelled “freak-off” orgies.
Some of the sex parties, in which Ventura said she would sleep with male escorts as the rapper watched, would last as long as four days.During their relationship, she told the court, they both struggled with drug addiction, and the rapper in February 2012 overdosed on opiates at the Playboy Mansion.Ventura said that on that day, they had a “freak-off” and went to a sex club before Combs went to the party at Hugh Hefner's LA mansion without her.“From what he told me, he took a very strong opiate that night, but we didn't know what was happening, so we took him to the hospital,” she said.Ventura agreed Combs was extremely dependent on opioids “for a time” and became irritable when suffering from withdrawal symptoms.Combs is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex-trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted on all counts, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, and could face life in prison.He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Sean “Diddy” Combs's lawyers have shed doubt on Cassie Ventura's claims that she witnessed the rapper dangle her friend over a balcony.
Asked if she saw the incident first-hand, she replied: “I saw what I saw.”
The jury was then shown a text message Ventura sent to Combs's chief of staff shortly after the incident, in which she said she learnt about the incident after the fact.
It comes after Ventura yesterday told the prosecution that she awoke to see Combs holding her friend over her balcony railing.
Asked if she was drugs that night, Ventura said she could not remember if she had done drugs before falling asleep earlier that day.
Cassie Ventura has said her friends knew that Sean “Diddy” Combs physically abused her and had witnessed the treatment themselves.
She added that she also told her brother and parents about the abuse at different points.
Asked when her friends and family learnt of Combs's abuse, she referred to an incident in 2013 when the rapper attacked her for falling asleep and not packing before a trip, which resulted in a gash on her eyebrow.
Cassie Ventura has said Sean “Diddy” Combs was furious over her relationship with Kid Cudi.
She agreed with the defence lawyer's characterisation of Sean Combs as “irate” over Ventura's brief relationship with Kid Cudi, mainly because he was a rival celebrity.
“He brought it up quite a bit,” she testified, adding that whenever she would accuse him of cheating, he would bring up her history with Kid Cudi in response.
Ventura said she eventually broke off her relationship with Combs in 2015 by sending the rapper and his staff a video of him with another woman at an event.
She said she felt betrayed by them not telling her, and that she began a relationship with the actor Michael B Jordan soon afterwards.
Cassie Ventura messaged Sean “Diddy” Combs to express her sorrow at being kept at arm's length by the rapper.
In the 2013 message, she spoke about the unfairness of not going on family trips with Combs and his children.
“I've been at the edge of tears this whole week. I don't think that you sympathise with my feelings. I understand you feeling like you need to protect your children but after a while… It's like for what?” she wrote. “They've never known you and Kim [Porter] to be together. Unless there's something that I just don't know about. They were babies when we started dating.”
In April 2010, she emailed Combs to express her dismay at him rushing her off the phone and not spending time with her.
“That's not being in a relationship with someone that you love and are in love with ... I am really hurt by the way you deal with me, I don't need your money, I need some attention,” Ventura said, reading the email out in court.
Cassie Ventura told the court she got a burner phone to communicate with Kid Cudi because she didn't want Sean “Diddy” Combs to find out about her new relationship.
“I thought it would be way too dangerous to tell him about that,” she said.
Combs introduced Ventura to rapper Kid Cudi around 2011 so they could make a music video together, and the couple got together when she was a on a break with the disgraced rap mogul.
She said that Combs eventually found out about the relationship when he went through her phone during a “freak-off”, adding that she continued to take part in the sex parties when she was not seeing Combs because “it was a job”.
Ventura said Combs lunged at her when he discovered the relationship.
Cassie Ventura told the court that women on social media would often claim to be in a relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“It happened often enough that I don't know that I would remember every single one,” she said.
Asked if she would react to seeing Combs with other women, Ventura said: “Yes, mainly Gina”.
She went on to add that a woman called “Gina” was the main problem in their relationship.
The woman in question likely refers to Gina Huynh, also known as Virgina V, a former girlfriend of Combs who in 2019 claimed that the rapper stomped on her stomach.
Cassie Ventura told Sean “Diddy” Combs that she wished the pair could have had a “freak-off” together before he had to leave, in old messages shown to the court.
“Wish we could have fo'd before you left,” Ventura wrote in texts shown by the defence, which appear to show that Combs did not initiate the conversation about sex.
Cassie Ventura has said she was jealous of Kim Porter, one of Sean Combs's other girlfriends who is the mother of four of his children.
“I had some jealousy of Ms Porter,” Ventura said of the former model, who died in 2018.
Combs's lawyers asked if there was a time when the rapper left a “freak off” with Ventura in order to see Ms Porter, to which she responded, “yes”.
Ventura said the couple would argue about infidelity, including her own, which she said “was a little scary”.
The defence has shared messages with the court that suggest Cassie Ventura helped to plan freak-offs in 2009 and 2017.
“I'm too excited,” Ventura wrote to Combs in one exchange from 2017.
Addressing the message on the stand, she said: “I probably would have been excited to see him and have fun with him.”
In the 2017 message, Combs wrote: “Have fun, impress me,” before Ventura visited a sex shop for supplies. The defence highlighted that the singer had never said “no” at any point during their exchange, to which she replied: “correct”.
The defence also raised a message in which Ventura appeared to agree she enjoyed “freak offs”, writing: “When we both want it”.
On the stand, Ventura said: “I would say that loving FOs were just words at that point.”
In a further exchange raised by the defence, Combs wrote: “I want an FO right now,” to which Ventura replied, “lol, me too,” adding: “Well I want to have fun with you.”
Judge Arun Subramanian told the court that the defence must finish its cross-examination of Cassie Ventura by the end of the week.
Ventura taking the stand was always a contentious issue as the singer is heavily pregnant, and the judge has grown increasingly frustrated with Sean “Diddy” Combs's lawyers amid pressure to wrap up their questioning in a timely manner.
“In what universe did you not understand that this was important,” he said of the timing significance.
“The direct took a day and a half, so the defence will have a day and a half. So you have today, you have the morning tomorrow,” Judge Subramanian said.
“If there's something that really needs to be done after the lunch break, then you can have some additional time at my discretion,” he added.
Gene-editing breakthrough has potential to treat array of devastating genetic diseases soon after birth, scientists say
Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy.
International researchers have hailed the feat as a medical milestone, saying it demonstrates the potential for treating an array of devastating genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after affected children are born.
Specialists at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania started work as soon as the boy was diagnosed and completed the complex design, manufacture and safety testing of the personalised therapy within six months.
The baby, known as KJ, had the first dose of the bespoke treatment via an infusion in February and two more doses in March and April. Doctors said he was thriving, but would need careful monitoring for life.
Dr Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, a senior physician on the team, said the breakthrough was made possible by “years and years of progress” in gene editing. “While KJ is just one patient, we hope he is the first of many to benefit,” she said.
KJ was born with severe CPS1 deficiency, a condition that affects only one in 1.3 million people. Those affected lack a liver enzyme that converts ammonia, from the natural breakdown of proteins in the body, into urea so it can be excreted in urine. This causes a build-up of ammonia that can damage the liver and other organs, such as the brain.
While some patients receive liver transplants for CPS1 deficiency, babies with severe disease can have suffered damage by the time they are big enough to operate on.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors described the painstaking process of identifying the specific mutations behind KJ's disorder, designing a gene-editing therapy to correct them, and testing the treatment and fatty nanoparticles needed to carry it into the liver. The therapy uses a powerful procedure called base editing which can rewrite the DNA code one letter at a time.
KJ spent his first few months of life in hospital on a restrictive diet, but since his treatment doctors have been able to increase the amount of protein in his food and use less medication to remove nitrogen from his body. Details were presented at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy annual meeting in New Orleans.
The medical team said longer follow-up was needed to see how well the therapy worked, but early signs were encouraging.
“The promise of gene therapy that we've heard about for decades is coming to fruition, and it's going to utterly transform the way we approach medicine,” said Prof Kiran Musunuru at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr Miguel Ángel Moreno-Mateos, a geneticist at Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, said: “Although this has been a very specific approach, partly motivated by the devastating nature of the disease, it represents a milestone that demonstrates these therapies are now a reality. As the article reports, the patient will be monitored for a long time to ensure his wellbeing and determine whether additional doses are needed to further improve the symptoms of the disease.”
Connecticut activists are making big gains in their campaign against the airlines ICE is using to abduct people.
Connecticut activists are making big gains in their campaign against the airlines ICE is using to abduct people.
The Connecticut legislature has advanced two actions actively targeting Avelo Airlines, a previously little-known private airline that's taken the mantle of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant agenda by flying deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security.
In early May, the state's legislature advanced a bill that bans companies engaged in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights from business with state agencies, and dramatically and purposely did not extend a seemingly insignificant (but actually consequential) fuel tax exemption, all of which impact one company most significantly: Avelo Airlines.
As of May 12, the company is the only known commercial airline contracting with ICE to carry out deportation flights — including those carrying U.S. citizens and green card holders. Avelo is already under financial pressure, even though it has already signed for this tainted contract and money, it's also still desperately trying to raise $100 million to stay afloat, meaning these additional local-level blowbacks will have real financial consequences.
If the bill passes, it could jeopardize Avelo's contracts with institutions like the University of Connecticut, which includes a partnership for their athletics department: tickets for travel, partnerships for events and branding at UConn stadiums. Meanwhile, the loss of the fuel tax exemption will cost the company. But it doesn't stop there — Connecticut's attorney general has also threatened investigations.
These pointed actions follow weeks of organizing by students, workers, and other community members, joined by local politicians and even the president of the State Senate. The protests are rooted in a singular concern: Connecticut taxpayers shouldn't subsidize government-sanctioned kidnapping.
These voices don't stop in the Nutmeg State. Protesters are active in over a dozen cities across the country, and these protests are why local politicians and Avelo customers are responding. For instance, Avelo enjoys a fuel tax break in Delaware up for renewal this year, and even though Avelo is the only commercial airline in the state, the governor has said he's looking for alternatives specifically because of Avelo's contracting for deportation flights following local pressure.
The company also enjoys local subsidies in places like Scranton, Pennsylvania; Lakeland, Florida; and even the Delaware River and Bay Authority. Avelo has also partnered with universities around the country, like Yale and Quinnipiac, with arrangements that vary but are similar to the UConn collaboration — all while receiving incentives and tourism funds from places like Salt Lake City, Utah, and Salem, Oregon. Community members and their representatives are now taking stock and asking: Are our tax dollars helping deport people — sometimes without court hearings — even in defiance of federal court orders?
The financial blows could keep coming, because Avelo already has tough competition. Tens of thousands have signed petitions and pledges committing to boycott Avelo. The airline flies out of over 50 destinations around the country, but many passengers are looking at other companies that fly similar routes but have chosen not to profit off of abduction and the morally and legally corrupt work of aiding ICE.
The reasons for these boycotts and protests are obvious: the abuse of taxpayer dollars; avoidance of the law; and notably, the experience of these flights themselves. A ProPublica report revealed horrifying conditions on prior Avelo deportation flights. Detainees are shackled for hours. There's little to no training for staff. The operations are cloaked in secrecy.
The airline's flight attendants are speaking out because of concerns around passenger health and safety. These barely trackable routes operate in the shadows — removing people to send them to countries they aren't even from, sometimes without notifying families or lawyers.
When pressed, Avelo has said it took the ICE contract to save the company and protect jobs. But that justification rings hollow when the result is tearing families apart and potentially harming legal residents, all while placing the company's own workers in traumatizing conditions.
Now, concerned people across the country are making it clear: Choosing to enable ICE and profiting off of abductions doesn't save your business — it might sink it. Protests are growing, and this is no fringe movement. It includes students, retirees, faith communities, politicians and aviation workers. Groups like the national network Defend and Recruit, the Coalition to Stop Avelo, and many local immigrant rights and broader social justice groups around the country are organizing local and national actions to expand the movement, too.
These are unprecedented times. But the reason we're seeing responses from state legislatures is due to bottom-up pressure. This mirrors what I've seen work in my decades in community and worker organizing fighting exploitative companies. I've seen contracts dropped and policy changes from massive multinational corporations and small local companies that abuse workers and exploit immigrants because local people organized, and it's especially possible when the company is already so vulnerable.
We know these actions can work, but if we want to stop Avelo, we need more of them, in more places, and at more of the points that help the company stay solvent. It's not just about ticket sales — it's also about schools, jobs, taxes and tourism. Strategic actions, like these protests in key locations impact a company's ability to make money and raise funds. We've stopped immoral corporations before, thanks to combinations of local outrage and protests, as well as efforts to pressure local governments and key institutions like universities to cut off ties, end subsidies and demand more from these companies. And that means we can do it again.
We already know Avelo isn't the only airline option. And its complicity in the Trump administration's deportation agenda means public dollars are propping up likely illegal ICE actions. To respond to this increasingly horrific and immoral immigration system, we need to identify every choke point. That includes setting up ICE watch groups, educating our communities on their rights, ensuring workplaces and institutions are prepared to protect the Fourth Amendment — and targeting corporations profiting from this cruelty.
Avelo recently issued a statement saying, “When our country calls and requests assistance our practice is to say yes.” But we are the country. And we say no. Let's show them what we refuse to accept.
The Trump administration is cracking down on political dissent. Under pressure from an array of McCarthy-style tactics, academics, activists and nonprofits face significant threats for speaking out or organizing in resistance.
Truthout is appealing for your support to weather this storm of censorship. We've launched a fundraising campaign to find 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days. Will you be one?
As independent media with no corporate backing or billionaire ownership, Truthout is uniquely able to push back against the right-wing narrative and expose the shocking extent of political repression under the new McCarthyism. We're committed to doing this work, but we're also deeply vulnerable to Trump's attacks.
Your support during our fundraiser (7 days left) will help us continue our nonprofit movement journalism in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Please make a tax-deductible donation today.
Umme is a writer, editor, and organizer leading campaigns and trainings at Defend and Recruit, a national network supporting the movement for immigrant defense. A Bangladeshi-Texan, she's spent the past two decades fighting local and global campaigns with trade unions and worker bodies, immigrant rights and racial justice organizations, climate justice groups, and debtor unions. Her writing has appeared in Prism, In These Times, Filter, The Guardian, and The Progressive.
Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day.
As we rise to meet an era of unpredictable chaos, we urgently appeal for your support. We've set a goal to add 440 new monthly donors in the next 7 days – will you be one of them?
Countries dispute ownership of Essequibo, oil-rich region where Venezuela claims it will hold elections this month
Guyanese soldiers have come under attack three times in 24 hours in an oil-rich border region also claimed by neighboring Venezuela, which says it will hold elections there this month.
Armed men in civilian clothing carried out three separate attacks on troops conducting patrols on the Cuyuní River in the disputed Essequibo region, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) said.
“On each occasion, the Guyana Defence Force executed a measured response, and no rank sustained any injuries,” said a statement on Thursday. The GDF vowed it will “continue to respond to acts of aggression along the Guyana-Venezuela border”.
Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana's territory and is home to around 125,000 of its more than 800,000 citizens.
Guyana has administered the region for decades, and insists Essequibo's frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.
Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region's east forms a natural border that has been recognized as far back as 1777.
The long-running squabble was revived in 2015 after US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered huge crude reserves in Essequibo and reached fever pitch in 2023 when Georgetown started auctioning off oil blocks in the region.
The find gave Guyana, a small English-speaking former British and Dutch colony, the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world.
Caracas has since held a referendum asserting its claim to the territory, and has threatened to annex most of the region and make it Venezuela's 24th state.
It has also announced Essequibo will be included in gubernatorial elections planned for 25 May, despite the UN's top court ordering it not organize a vote there.
The GDF said Thursday it “remains resolute in its mission to protect Guyana's territorial integrity” and was taking “all necessary measures to safeguard the nation's borders and maintain peace and security within our beloved country”.
Tensions calmed after the two countries' presidents agreed in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines last December 2023 to avoid any use of force, but were fanned again in February when Guyana said six of its soldiers were wounded in an ambush in the region.
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck central Türkiye on Thursday, shaking the capital Ankara as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky.
The quake hit at 3:46pm local time in the Kulu district of Konya province, according to Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Authority (AFAD). The tremor was also reportedly felt in the surrounding provinces.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas confirmed that the quake was felt in the capital, saying authorities were “closely monitoring developments.”
Zelensky, who had announced his intention to visit Türkiye following Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal that Moscow and Kiev participate in direct talks, reportedly flew to Albania, having despatched a team of negotiators to Istanbul.
Last week, Putin proposed resuming direct dialogue to find a lasting settlement to the Ukraine conflict. The talks, which are expected to take place imminently in Istanbul, would mark the first such meeting between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, when the peace process was aborted by Kiev.
Zelensky, who had previously said he would only talk directly with Putin, said later in the day on Thursday that he would send a delegation led by Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
RT News App
© Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2025. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookies. Read RT Privacy policy to find out more.
Standard Chartered Bank continues to strengthen its global wealth management offering. In collaboration with Amundi, Europe's largest and one of the world's top 10 asset managers, Standard Chartered Bank is proud to introduce the third CIO fund — the “Signature CIO Balanced Fund.”
In line with the spirit of the CIO Fund series, this fund transforms the market insights of Standard Chartered Group's Chief Investment Office (CIO) into investment strategies and portfolio allocations, which are also designed to support investors in navigating volatile markets with a resilient and diversified approach.
Deeply rooted in Taiwan for 40 years, Standard Chartered accurately captures market trends for investors
Photo courtesy of Standard Chartered Bank
The CIO Fund Series has received widespread acclaim since its launch. The first two issues — the “CIO Income Fund” and the “CIO Growth Fund” — have both been well-received by clients due to the CIO team's excellent strategy execution.
Building on this success, the third product in the series — the “CIO Balanced Fund” — continues the core mission of providing diversified asset solutions that balance stability and growth potential.
The CIO Balanced Fund combines equities and bonds — Seizing opportunities to navigate both bull and bear markets
Against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty, including rising global tensions and potential trade policy shifts, the importance of diversified and balanced asset allocation has never been more apparent. Historical trends show that equities and bonds can seldom move in tandem, limiting the benefits of traditional diversification. The inclusion of gold and alternative assets in a portfolio has therefore become a critical element for risk mitigation.
The CIO Balanced Fund strategically diverse assets include stocks, bonds and gold. Based on a balanced allocation of stocks and bonds, this fund enhances risk control and resilience through the inclusion of gold and commodities. It enables a flexible balance between risk management and growth potential, while offering investors with the flexibility and potential to participate in market rebounds.
Five strategic advantages for all-round performance
The CIO Balanced Fund is built upon five core investment strategies, offering investors a comprehensive and flexible solution to pursue opportunities across market cycles:
All covered — A robust mix of equities, bonds and gold delivers broad diversification and effective risk control
All weather — A dynamic, all-weather strategy designed to adapt to interest rate shifts, inflation and geopolitical risks
All expert — Backed by insights from Standard Chartered's Chief Investment Office and actively managed by Amundi's experienced team for full-cycle professional oversight
All ETF — Leverages active strategy with low-cost ETF implementation, balancing flexibility with cost efficiency
All in one — Combines Standard Chartered's Chief Investment Office strategic views, multiasset exposure, and execution efficiency in a single fund structure
Never miss out an investment opportunity — SCB Fund2Fund, the ideal solution
Standard Chartered Bank had embarked on several ambitious innovations and solutions; besides the CIO Funds, “Fund2Fund” is an innovated Master-Feeder Fund, which combines the advantages of lump-sum and RSP subscription, serving as a solution for solving the pain point of disciplined investment for investors.
Fund2Fund offers three investment modes: “Fixed Date,” “Fixed Price” and “Cycle Plan.” Through an automated process, it enables active investors to seize market opportunities.
Moreover, SCB Fund2Fund provides nearly a thousand funds to select, including Signature CIO fund series, giving investors a convenient and efficient way to diversify and construct a comprehensive portfolio.
Standard Chartered Bank serves as the custodian bank for this “Signature CIO Balanced Fund,” and investors can subscribe through Standard Chartered online / mobile banking or at any branch from May 5.
For more information on the Signature CIO Balanced Fund, please visit: https://www.sc.com/tw/investment/cio/.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success.
The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya.
Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region.
However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion.
A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago's silver screens.
Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million.
Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect.
The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts' estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue.
US President Donald Trump's trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction.
However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday.
That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers' moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp's expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design.
The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
A: Where will the 35 sports of the 2025 World Masters Games be held?
B: Apart from Taipei and New Taipei City, some games will take place in Yilan County, Taoyuan County, and Hsinchu County and City.
A: The news says about 25,000 people, including many celebrities and sports stars, have already registered for the games.
Photo: CNA 照片：中央社
B: Even Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, who is 47, registered for softball and squash. New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi, who is 68, also registered for table tennis.
A: And it will be the largest sports event ever in Taiwan's history. How exciting.
A: 2025世界壯年運動會的35種運動要在哪裡比賽？
B: 除了雙北以外，某些項目會在宜蘭縣、桃園市，和新竹縣／市舉行。
A: 新聞說有多達2萬5千人報名，其中包括不少名人和運動明星。
B: 47歲的台北市長蔣萬安也報名了壘球與壁球，68歲的新北市長侯友宜則報名了桌球。
A: 這場台灣有史以來最大的運動會真令人興奮！
（By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
After the death of Pope Francis on April 21, the Vatican's papal conclave on May 8 elected a new leader for the Catholic Church. Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, who chose to be called Leo XIV, became the 267th pope, spiritual leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
But what exactly does a pope do? Here is a rundown of his main responsibilities.
CATHOLIC LEADER
The word pope comes from the Greek “pappas,” meaning “father, patriarch,” which is why believers call him the Holy Father.
He is considered the successor of St Peter, to whom Jesus Christ is said to have entrusted
If you could nominate any toys for the Toy Hall of Fame, what would they be? Iconic playthings like yo-yos, toy cars, or video games seem like obvious __1__. Classic toys such as jacks, playing cards, and board games like Chess, Monopoly, and Uno have brought endless joy to generations. Overall, there are countless toys that __2__ in the Toy Hall of Fame.
The National Toy Hall of Fame was __3__ in 1998 at The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. The Toy Hall of Fame aims to __4__ items that have been cherished for generations, and several
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日）
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang
However, not every toy has its moment. Some fans were __8__ that simple classics like balloons—a universal symbol of celebrations—haven't made the cut yet. With their lightweight charms and transformative puffs of air, balloons have __9__ millions for decades and will have to wait at least another year for a chance to be inducted.
As the Toy Hall of Fame continues to celebrate toys that __10__ creativity and joy, we can only wonder which treasures will earn a spot next. Will the widely adored balloon finally take its place in 2025? Only time will tell, but one thing is
Have you ever wondered who decides what we see in a museum or how one artwork seamlessly connects to the next? Behind every thoughtfully arranged gallery space stands a curator, a skilled professional who combines art and storytelling to craft meaningful experiences.
The term “curator” originates from the Latin word cura, meaning “to care.” Curators were originally caretakers of museum collections, but over time, their role has grown to include a broad range of responsibilities that extend far beyond preservation. Today, curators manage, organize and interpret collections in cultural institutions like museums and libraries. They research, acquire and catalogue
The quantum world is having a big month. From next-gen cybersecurity to international alliances, the headlines show how fast the tech is evolving and how many industries it's starting to touch. Here's a quick and easy rundown of what you need to know.
Oracle (ORCL) has teamed up with seQure, an Entanglement company, to launch Ground-Truth on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Previously only available on-premises, this advanced cybersecurity and observability platform is now accessible across Oracle's public, government, and sovereign cloud environments.
What makes Ground-Truth special is that it processes up to 20TB of data per day and uses AI and quantum-inspired algorithms to detect threats in under a second, with up to 90% fewer false alarms. It's designed for zero-trust environments and works across corporate networks, IoT, and operational tech (OT), making it a powerful fit for modern cyber defense.
Quantinuum just hit a new performance high: a Quantum Volume (QV) of 8,388,608 on its H2 system. QV is a metric, developed by IBM (IBM), that measures not just qubit count but also system coherence, error rates, and connectivity. Think of it as quantum computing's equivalent of horsepower.
Quantinuum pledged in 2020 to increase QV tenfold every year, and it's now delivered on that promise early. The company is now looking ahead to its next-gen Helios system, which is expected to push performance even further. No other company has made (or kept) such a public promise on QV growth.
Australian quantum computing startup Diraq has signed on to join the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), home to the $140 million Quantum Proving Ground and anchor tenant PsiQuantum. Diraq uses silicon spin qubits and CMOS-compatible tech to scale quantum systems efficiently as part of DARPA's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative.
Illinois continues to position itself as a global quantum hub, and Diraq's move signals growing international investment. The On-Ramp program will give Diraq early access to local facilities while the larger park is still under development.
Neutral-atom quantum company Pasqal has partnered with Google Cloud (GOOGL)(GOOG) to offer access to its 100-qubit QPU through the Google Cloud Marketplace. With a pay-as-you-go model and open-source tools, Pasqal is making it easier for both experts and newcomers to run quantum workloads in the cloud.
Users can monitor job progress, optimize workflows, and even run advanced simulations. More toolkits—especially in optimization and quantum simulation—are expected later this year, making Pasqal's platform a strong contender for real-world use cases.
The EU and Japan signed a Letter of Intent to strengthen quantum tech collaboration as part of the EU-Japan Digital Partnership. The agreement establishes joint funding (via Horizon Europe and Japan's SIP) and includes projects like Q-NEKO, which is focused on quantum AI for climate modeling and healthcare.
This partnership is about more than research; it also covers cybersecurity, semiconductors, and quantum communication, with a progress review set for 2026. It's another sign of global momentum in quantum R&D, especially on strategic issues like resilience and digital sovereignty.
QuEra Computing is now at the heart of two of six final projects in the prestigious Quantum for Bio Challenge. One is led by the University of Nottingham and Phasecraft, focused on targeting myotonic dystrophy. The other, from Harvard and MIT, aims to enhance ligand-protein binding predictions—both using QuEra's quantum simulation capabilities.
These projects are now entering Phase 3, where real quantum hardware will be used to validate earlier simulation results. With up to $2 million in funding available, this is a key step in proving that quantum computing can actually help solve real-world healthcare problems.
Below is Tipranks' Comparison Tool, where we've compared the prominent quantum computing companies. This way, investors gain a broader and more holistic view of each stock and the industry in general.
Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue
All market data (will open in new tab) is provided by Barchart Solutions. Copyright © 2025.
Information is provided 'as is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice. For exchange delays and terms of use, please read disclaimer (will open in new tab).
© Copyright 2025 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.
Andrew Saunders, President and CEO
“Now is the time to be bold and audacious,” says community safety organizer Che Johnson-Long.
“Part of my work as a community safety and security practitioner is about offering tools for people to feel and move through fear so that we can continue to keep more of us in this fight,” says Che Johnson-Long. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Johnson-Long and host Kelly Hayes discuss safety planning and practical actions that individuals and organizations can take right now to create as much safety as possible in our lives and our movements.
Music by Son Monarcas, Pulsed and Curved Mirror
Note: This is a rush transcript and has been lightly edited for clarity. Copy may not be in its final form.
Kelly Hayes: Welcome to “Movement Memos,” a Truthout podcast about organizing, solidarity, and the work of making change. I'm your host, writer and organizer, Kelly hayes. Today, we are talking about movement security and safety planning in these perilous times. I know many of us are feeling deeply unsafe right now, so I wanted to have a practical conversation about what we can do to create as much safety in our lives and movements as we can. We will be hearing from Che Johnson-Long. Che is the Community Safety Education Coordinator at Vision Change Win. She has also organized with the Racial Justice Action Center, the Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative, and the Safe OUTside the System Collective of the Audre Lorde Project. She comes from a long line of blues singers and calls Atlanta, Georgia, home.
If you appreciate this podcast, and you would like to support “Movement Memos,” you can subscribe to Truthout's newsletter or make a donation at truthout.org. You can also support the show by subscribing to “Movement Memos” on Apple or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, or by leaving a positive review on those platforms. Sharing episodes on social media is also a huge help.
Truthout is an independent news organization, publishing stories that the craven corporate media won't touch. We are a union shop with the best family and sick leave policies in the industry, and we could not do this work without the support of readers and listeners like you. So thanks for believing in us and for all that you do. And with that, I hope you enjoy the show.
[musical interlude]
KH: Che Johnson-Long, welcome to “Movement Memos.”
Che Johnson-Long: Hi.
KH: How are you doing today, friend?
CJL: I feel surprisingly hopeful. I feel really grateful for spring in Atlanta, and I feel like I could use a 27-hour nap.
KH: A 27-hour nap sounds amazing. I think I want one of those, too. These are busy times, and I think many of us could use a nap.
I know this is an especially hectic time for you, as someone that people look to for advice around safety and security — which are really widespread concerns right now. But before we get into a deep dive about what's unfolding right now, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work?
CJL: Yeah, my name is Che Johnson-Long. My pronouns are she/her. I am an abolitionist organizer. I am a somatics practitioner, and I'm a community safety and security practitioner and trainer. I run the programmatic offerings of Vision Change Win's community safety work, which means that I support left movement groups through navigating safety threats, threats that can include threats from the state, police, law enforcement, the right, and sometimes even safety threats from within our communities. I train groups, I offer rapid response support. I also run a Security School that's a 10-month training program for community organizing groups.
Yeah, what else to say? I am a sci-fi nerd. I believe strongly that sugar does not belong on grits and I'm willing to debate that. Yeah, I think that's me.
KH: Well, we love sci-fi nerds around here, and I don't have a strong position around grits.
CJL: The podcast is done.
KH: Yeah, I think that about covers it.
[Laughter]
But just to briefly address safety, since I have you here… in your role as someone who helps groups and organizations operate as safely as they can, what kind of threats and concerns are you seeing and hearing about right now? What are folks who are concerned for their safety grappling with?
CJL: Yeah, there's a ton of emerging threats to organizations, to individuals and to dissent in general. I say emerging because some of these threats are not new to this political moment, but they've either ramped up or they have been accompanied by so many new threats that they can feel new. Namely, I think there's just been a huge uptick in the right wing targeting left movement groups who support a free and liberated Palestine, Black-led groups and trans-led groups. There's been a number of right-wing think tanks who have put out reports quite literally naming these groups and putting a target on them.
We're seeing repression at the federal level with H.R. 9495, which is a bill that the second part of which would allow for the Treasury Secretary and the President to basically claim that a non-profit is “a terrorist supporting organization,” and that claim could then remove that group's 501(c)(3) tax status. I think threats like H.R. 9495 are important for us to track because I think they point to an emerging trend of creating new ways for the government to label an organization as a terrorist group or supporting terrorism. That's really scary because they could very, very immediately change a group's tax status, make it really difficult for them to receive grants [and] have staff.
I think there's also a lot of threats to groups who are doing any kind of mutual aid or collective care work. We've been seeing a lot of financial deplatforming happening. Namely this is happening with bail fund groups, but it's not exclusive to bail funds. We're seeing groups who receive donations through PayPal or other financial institutions get a notice from PayPal or other banks saying that they simply won't house their money. And in some cases, those groups are also then seeing their funds frozen, which then makes it really difficult for groups to continue doing their work.
And especially for bail funds, I think it's especially scary because these groups rely on many small donations to get people out of jail. And the existence of bail funds, I think is part of a political ecosystem that allows people to feel more confident about showing up to protests, knowing that if there are arrests and if they happen to be one of those people arrested, that there's an organized group of people whose role it is to get them out of jail. And so without those bail funds, I imagine that it would chill a lot of the protests and mass protests that we're seeing.
There are threats to individuals. I don't have to say that ICE has been incredibly terrifying. The ICE raids that we're seeing in Atlanta and Chicago, in New York City, in many places have been overwhelming to all sorts of left movement groups, but especially groups that focus on immigrant rights.
In addition to these ICE raids, in Atlanta and a lot of other places that are fighting against cop cities, we're seeing increased police targeting. I was just talking to someone the other day who had a story that I hear repeated in many other stories, which is essentially, I was driving, I got pulled over. The cop asked me a few questions, maybe saw a stack of flyers in my backseat or saw a bumper sticker or saw something that indicated involvement or support for the movement to Stop Cop City, and then asked for my phone and presumably went through my phone and then handed it back and let me go. And I think those kinds of stories are us starting to notice and pick up on police targeting.
And then I think the last thing is just a general threat to anyone who's dissenting. We see this all over the place, whether it's that recent Greenpeace lawsuit, they lost a suit against a big oil company called Energy Transfer, and the suit is what's known as a SLAPP suit. It stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” And these suits are basically meant to discourage folks from protesting and groups from organizing protests. They're meant to drag on and on and on, they're meant to be very costly. And right now, Greenpeace, because of this loss, might owe over $600 million in damages.
These suits are frivolous, they're absurd. Many courts have already said that they are illegal. I think over 35 states have anti-SLAPP laws that are basically meant to prevent these kinds of frivolous suits, but unfortunately, those anti-SLAPP laws aren't everywhere. And so suits like this are meant to, of course, end organizations like Greenpeace. And I think it should be noted that even though Greenpeace is the organization targeted, Greenpeace is not the organization who mainly led a lot of the organizing against the pipeline, the DAPL pipeline. And so I imagine that these suits will continue and are meant to eventually create enough intimidation that organizations distance themselves from protests.
I think Greenpeace is a good example because they tried everything. Before the SLAPP suit, they tried a RICO federal suit and it failed. And so I just think that we're in a political moment right now where dissent is very quickly being criminalized and the state is trying every possible avenue to criminalize that it can. I think we'll see more of these kind of meritless RICO suits in the future. I think we'll see more of these SLAPP suits in the future that are just meant to tie up groups in the court system for a long time or be very costly for groups.
KH: I'm glad you brought up the situation with Greenpeace because I don't think this is on a lot of people's radar, or that folks necessarily understand how this outcome might affect grassroots work. The idea that telling the truth about a pipeline project, or using messaging that defends a marginalized community, or holding direct action workshops, can lead to a $660 million judgement has chilling implications for grassroots organizers because grassroots folks do all of the things Greenpeace was targeted for, in this case, but don't have the kind of money Greenpeace has had to wage a defense. That case is going to move through the appeals process, but given the right-wing capture of the Supreme Court, it's a very daunting situation.
Which kind of describes what we're up against in general — it's a very daunting situation. So, in your experience, how are people adapting as our political climate becomes more overtly fascistic?
CJL: It's a scary time. It is a scary time, and I think that people are responding like it's a scary time. And so the question for everyone right now is how do you “do fear?”
I had this somatic coach years ago, she was wonderful and she was kind of a hard ass. And so one thing that she said to me that really stuck with me was, we were talking about bravery and what actually creates bravery in someone. And she said to me, “Bravery is not when someone doesn't feel fear in the midst of a scary thing happening. Bravery is when someone feels fear, really actually embodied feeling of fear, and then continues to move through it and continues to take an action that leads to more liberation, more freedom.” And then she proceeded to give me a bunch of homework about practicing more embodied fear, because at the time, I was someone who really loved to disassociate from fear and just kind of check out from it.
And so I say all this to say that I think we're seeing a lot of folks adapt to this political moment by choosing to feel fear and to move through it together anyways. And I think that is incredibly brave and I feel really inspired by all of these examples of bravery.
I don't mean to shout y'all out too much, but I feel very much a fan girl of the organizers of Chicago right now. Y'all are holding down some incredible organizing work when it comes to dealing with the ICE raids in your city. I think that it's probably the result of a lot of beautiful coordination and years of coalition work, but it's inspired me.
I think about… there was a House hearing last year on antisemitism in schools, and the hearing was really meant to target schools who allowed for folks to publicly speak in support of a free and liberated Palestine. And it inspired me because it was all these public schools from New York City and Berkeley, California and Maryland I think, and these public school teachers, they were steadfast. They were clear about their allegiances to a free and liberated Palestine, to addressing actual antisemitism in their schools and to remaining anti-Zionists. And I just feel like that kind of bravery is what we need. And I think it has led to a lot of other public schools creating space for people to talk about their work and to talk about not just Palestine, but supporting trans folks, being in solidarity with the Black Liberation movement, with the movement for abolition.
And at the same time, I do think that some people are adapting to our political moment by avoiding fear, which I get it. I have a lot of empathy for the desire to not want to feel the immense, sometimes overwhelming fear, but I think that avoiding fear means avoiding the news. It means sometimes avoiding the movement. I think avoiding fear in this moment can often be the thing that leads to isolation, that leads to people saying things like, Oh, I'm going to sit this one out. And unfortunately, I think that this moment is very critical and we actually just need all of us inside of our left movement. We need stronger base building strategies so that there are more of us.
And so part of my work as a community safety and security practitioner is also about offering tools for people to feel and move through fear so that we can continue to keep more of us in this fight.
KH: Well, I appreciate the Chicago shout out. We are very proud of the work that's happening here, and I hope more people will join those efforts.
I also want to say that I really relate to what you were saying about the distinction between not feeling something, and really feeling it, and allowing yourself to move through it. I am thinking about how, when I was younger, I did not have a healthy relationship with fear. In my early and mid-twenties especially, but for many years, I was not afraid in situations when I should have been. Trauma had really turned all of that off in me, which was helpful in some situations, and deeply unhelpful in others, because I took a lot of unnecessary risks in my life. In organizing, when I started to find myself in a position where other people took my actions and choices seriously, and might follow along, and do what I was doing, I had to reevaluate my actions. I had to think about what risks I was willing to create for other people. And in that way, I think my regard for other people helped me make better and more grounded decisions for myself, as well, because I started thinking about what would happen to us, instead of just disregarding what would happen to me.
As I have gotten a little older and a little more in touch with my mortality, and also done a lot of healing, I no longer have the problem of not being afraid when I ought to be. Now, I am thoroughly afraid of many things that I think it's really normal and healthy to be afraid of. And I am okay with that. I don't actually like that refrain from Dune that some people are fond of, about how “fear is the mindkiller,” because as someone who lacked fear when I should have had it, I know it has the power to keep me safe. I know fear can be like pain — sometimes it's just warning us that there's a problem, and we need to stop something, attend to something, or do something differently. But like pain, fear can become excessive, and it can take over our lives. At that point, it needs to be managed. I think we're at our weakest when we are ruled by our fears and resentments. So, for me, it's about not letting my fear govern me.
Because I think our fears, as you said, have the potential to immobilize us, and also the potential to compromise our values, if we allow that. So, much like grief, I think it's important that we not hide from fear. We need to own it, discuss it, and talk about what's grounded in something immediate, that needs to be attended to, and what's probably not as pressing right now, even though it's coming from a real place — and what we can and can't do about these things.
I think one of the greatest dangers we face right now comes from fear and what it will bring out in us. I think the impulse to hunker down and to try to protect ourselves is a real one, and that it leads to people acting outside their values, abandoning people and breaking solidarity. And those actions are what really make the ugliest outcomes we're afraid of more likely to happen in the long run.
CJL: Yes, I just want to say, now is the time to be bold and audacious. And I understand that move towards wanting to hide or be small, I have a lot of empathy for it. I think all of us have lots of practice of doing that in our lives, and this is not the time for small. This is the time for big, this is the time for actually more audacious campaign tactics and strategies and coalitions than what we've seen in the past.
KH: Thank you for that. I completely agree. And I think that to help people move through their fears, we need to give people tools, so they feel empowered to create as much safety as they can and reduce some of the harm and risks they and their communities might face. I know that's what you're doing in your work, and I have such a profound appreciation for that.
Can you talk a bit about what safety planning might look like for different groups and individuals right now? What kind of scenarios should people be looking at and how can we have these conversations without throwing ourselves into panic mode?
CJL: What a great question. I think it's important for us to start with examining what is panic mode? How does panic mode happen? So I'm going to start by talking about what safety planning is not. We all have different ways that we respond to pressure or to safety threats. We all have ways that we have navigated or survived harm as individuals, and maybe that way has been to hide or to run away or to fight your way out. Maybe that way has been to negotiate or to appease. And I think that those ways are really smart. I think that those ways have saved us, and in some cases have been the reason that many of us are still alive.
And so while I have a lot of gratitude for these ways that we each individually have dealt with and moved through harm, trauma, abuse, violence, pressure, these ways, and sometimes people might refer to these as trauma responses, these trauma responses are not very adaptive. They're kind of one-trick ponies. And they do not know how to read a calendar or a clock. And so they're often responding in a present moment as if it were the past, as if it were that time where you got out or that time where you survived that thing. And so they'll look at a current pressure or a current safety threat in 2025 and they'll respond as if it's 2009 or 1988 or 2023. And because they don't read a clock or they don't understand time very well, they can sometimes misread what's needed in a moment. And so I think it's important for us to just start by saying that it's often from this place if we allow for our trauma responses to lead us and if we allow for them to be the only tools in our toolbox, that is what can create panic mode.
And so in order to understand this political moment and to not safety plan from our trauma responses or go immediately into panic mode, I think we also have to be able to look at what's happening in our political landscape and understand some of the intention behind what the right is doing. I think namely the news is just a shit-show right now. There's this term “flooding the zone” that I hear everywhere, and I think this term is meant to refer to the news media being flooded with all sorts of scary things. Some of them are legitimate scary things that are actually happening and being implemented and some of them are just empty threats, but it's hard to tell the difference. And I think that the right means to overwhelm us with this tactic. I think the right means to activate our trauma responses and send us into a frenzy by overwhelming us.
And so one of the ways that we can push back against that frenzy and create safety plans for a more grounded place is through what we call a risk assessment. And a risk assessment is just a fancy way of saying, how can we ground our safety planning in what's likely and what will likely make a big impact on us? So a risk assessment is looking to answer those two questions. What is likely to happen to me or to happen to my organization in our part of the world given our identities and our work? And then what might make a big impact on us being able to do what we do?
Risk assessments can happen in a lot of ways, but I like to start by just thinking about it as a research project. When we're looking at this question of what's likely, we can often start by looking at the national level, understanding what sorts of threats are we hearing about often in national news media, what threats are we hearing about repeatedly across regions? I think understanding what's trending at the national level can help us to sometimes predict safety threats that might be happening at a different region of this country, but eventually it might make its way to us. I think that the national level gives us a little bit of a predictive sense or even just a sense of what are people talking about?
But I don't think it's smart to stop there, because in Atlanta, the political conditions here are very different than they are in Milwaukee, than they are in Miami, than they are in Durham. And so then I want to go and talk to coalition partners. I want to talk to the people in Atlanta who are out in the streets often, who do a lot of base building often, and I want to ask them about threats that I'm concerned about.
So for example, a few summers ago we had a really beautiful summer of action in the movement to Stop Cop City and the summer was filled with a lot of barbecues and just protests in Southwest Atlanta and more activity in parts of Atlanta that don't often see protests and barbecues and Stop Cop City-related stuff. And so as we were planning all these events, we were hearing rumors about cops showing up to different events and disrupting, and so we wanted to get a sense of is this a likely threat for our events coming up?
And so using this kind of risk assessment tool, we started by looking at the national level. Of course, the movement to Stop Cop Cities started in Atlanta, but it's national now because unfortunately Cop Cities are starting to be built in many states, and so we talked to a lot of partners in other states to get a sense of how their week of actions had gone. And they said, yeah, actually it's interesting because the cops are showing up more to our fliered events that say things like family friendly that are hosted in parks than they are to our big protests. And we thought that was really strange, and so we said, okay, that's good information for us to have.
Then we went around and talked to people in Atlanta, people who are part of the movement to Stop Cop City and people who are not. We talked to people who just throw barbecues, people in neighborhoods, people part of neighborhood planning units, to get a sense of what police presence was like at their events. We talked to folks who are intentionally not a part of our movement who maybe have political disagreement with us. And we talked to them because they know our communities well. And so for us, it's important that we build coalition across different kinds of groups and especially groups who have a strong understanding of the neighborhood, knowing that we don't have to have perfect political alignment with some groups in order to build safety together.
So as we talked to some of these groups, they said, no, we haven't seen increased police presence, but we have heard about police presence increasing at these parks specifically, so you should check out those places. We followed that line of questioning, always being sure to be clear with people that we are looking into an unverified threat. We're worried about this thing, we don't know if it'll happen, and so we're curious about it, just to avoid that rumor mill or to avoid information getting away from us and then becoming misinformation.
And then lastly, I think a lot of groups who are older than five years old tend to do great organizing, but sometimes struggle with documenting state threats over time. And so what can happen in a lot of organizations is they experience sort of cycles or seasons of the same threats coming back around, but because they're not tracking those threats over time, it can feel like a brand new threat and so then safety planning starts all over again.
And so for us, the movement to Stop Cop City has been a part of and has sort of been fed by many different movements in Atlanta against police violence. And so we talked to police violence groups that predated our movement to get a sense of what it's looked like in the past in Atlanta when there's been a big campaign against police violence or against police spending. What happened? And talking to those kind of long-time organizers in Atlanta was really helpful, because then they were able to talk to us about seasonal trends that they saw. When a campaign in Atlanta picks up steam like the campaign to reclassify marijuana possession in (I think that was 2017), talking to them and getting a sense of what happened when your campaign became popular enough to get to the national level? How did cops respond to your events? Those organizers helped us to fill in some of the gaps and to answer that question, is this likely?
And the answer ended up being yes, it is likely. But in addition to answering that question, we also got a ton of advice we heard from people who said, when the cops showed up to our barbecue in 2012 or in 2017, here's what we did that did not work and you shouldn't do this again, and here's what we did that did work. And so we were able to pick up a number of tactics that we just didn't have to spend a lot of time planning or coming up with ourselves, and that was a really big gift.
The second part of a risk assessment is again, just asking yourself what's the impact that this safety threat might have on our work? For us, the impact was pretty big because we were looking to have these events in a part of Atlanta that hadn't seen a lot of Stop Cop City events in the past few years, and we didn't want to scare people off in neighborhoods that maybe had a lot of people showing up to these events for the first time. And so it really informed how we did safety for these events, the ways that we navigated the cops and the ways that we were able to create a buffer for folks who might've been newer to our events.
A risk assessment is important to do because again, it just helps you to ground what is likely. There are so many safety threats in the news, there are so many safety threats that we hear about constantly, they're not all likely. And they might be likely for Atlanta folks, but they're not likely for folks in Milwaukee. Or they might be likely for a certain kind of organizing group and not for another. And we just don't have time or resources to waste developing safety plans for things that aren't likely to happen. And so again, just grounding in that risk assessment allows for us to really focus our energy on what we think is most likely to happen.
KH: I really appreciate the process you described around determining what is likely, because my work requires me to consume so much bad news, and so many horror stories, that my imagination is all over the place — and I think that's something a lot of people can relate to, right now. It's so easy to be haunted, or to just feel overtaken by nightmare scenarios. Our fears can seize upon our psyches in ways that can distort our sense of what's imminent or likely, and requires immediate action, what's possible, and may require long-term action, and what's probably not going to happen.
What are some baseline moves that individual activists can make to create more safety in their lives during this time?
CJL: Going back to that story about people in Atlanta being pulled over and then the cop asking for them to turn over their phone – many of those pullovers were for all sorts of different excuses and the state will find lots of excuses to target us. They will find the organizer with unpaid parking tickets, they will find the organizer who owes back taxes, they will find the folks with expired registration tags. And so one of the small ways that individuals can reduce their vulnerability to these sorts of safety threats is by figuring out where you can reduce your personal vulnerabilities.
This is going to be different for everybody. For some folks, it might mean actually paying those unpaid parking tickets because that might be the thing that gets somebody caught up. Or it might mean making sure that your tags are up to date. For some folks where that's possible, I think reducing those vulnerabilities actually protects our movement, but for other folks that might not be possible. And so I encourage folks to consider, is it paying my unpaid parking tickets or is it making sure that whenever I go to a protest, I text two friends to let them know when I'm leaving and when I'm coming back?
For some folks, it might mean not bringing your personal phone to the protest anymore, but instead bringing a low-data or a burner phone with fewer contacts and fewer sensitive information. For some folks it might be really upping their personal digital security. I can't tell you how many Signal threads I'm on, Signal groups I'm on and nobody has set their disappearing messages. And so all of our very sensitive information that we're communicating about on Signal is vulnerable because people are storing it for longer than it's needed. And so these are the kinds of personal practices that can not just protect individual people, but that can also prevent really sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.
I think it's also important that folks do their own work to recognize and understand how your fear response might take over. I think that the fear response that we all hold is probably in a normal time, is maybe on 3, but for a lot of us it's on 10. And so what that can mean in a coalition meeting or in a planning meeting is that sometimes we can come with safety concerns and we'll come with these valid concerns, but we'll share them in a way that can actually feel like more of a fight.
For example, I'm in this group, coalition group, and right now the group is concerned about how we document stuff and the group wants to move a lot of our documentation off of Google Drive. And there's one person in the group who is very, very adamant about this, for valid reasons. There was another organization that's a part of a coalition of ours who was just subpoenaed and Google just turned over all their information. And so they have valid reasons for wanting this safety practice, but the way that they bring it to meetings is like a strong embodied fight. It's like, if we don't do this, then we're just asking for them to come for us. It's like that kind of vibe. And there are other folks in the group who I think probably have a strong appease in them. And so instead of picking a practice, they'll say, I just think we need to just agree, we need to figure out how to agree, without addressing the root issues.
And all of these different ways I think are coming from a lot of people's fear responses. And so I think the more that we can each kind of understand our fear response ground in a risk assessment and have empathy and love and care for other people's fear responses, the easier some of these conversations are going to be about safety practices, because they're not easy conversations to begin with, and so we really need to show up with our best selves.
The last thing I'll say is to just not isolate. Everyone needs to be in a group right now. Everyone. I don't care if it's a local mutual aid group, if it's a base building organization, if it's national, if it's your neighbors on your block, but we all need to be in a group. And if you can't find the group that's right for you, then start a group, because that's what allows for us to coordinate with each other better and to be able to consolidate power.
KH: I agree so much that we all need to be in a group right now, and I know some people don't love hearing that, but it's really true. We all need to find our people and fortify our relationships right now. The creation of safety begins with our willingness to look out for each other and to make plans about how we're going to show up for each other. There is no safety in isolation. We are at our most vulnerable when we are on our own.
So, for people who have found their people, what are some actions that groups and organizations can take right now to create more safety for their members?
CJL: Every left movement organization needs to have some basic safety protocols right now. These protocols should include some of the most common safety threats that we're seeing, like what happens if ICE shows up to your organization? What happens if someone in your group goes missing or you don't hear from them for a while? And what happens if your group is targeted in a public way, meaning there's a social media post about your group or the group is talked about in some way that might draw attention to your group? Those are just three likely threats that a lot of groups are starting to plan around, but I encourage groups to first start by just going back to that risk assessment tool and getting critical about what are the likely threats for my organization given what we do, given who our opponents are, given our identities and our location.
I think once groups have that list of likely threats and they go through that risk assessment, then it's important to start building an inventory of what existing resources and skills do you have to address the threat. An inventory is also just a great way to build morale in an organization. I like to do inventories in fun ways, so I discourage people from sending out a very boring survey and encourage folks to get creative with how you get a sense of what you already have.
There was an organization recently that I worked with that was doing an inventory. They were looking to decrease their reliance on the state, and so they wanted to increase their medical knowledge so that there were fewer moments where they needed to call 911, because in their city calling 911 brought both an ambulance and the cops. And so there were all of these different skills that they wanted to inventory to get a sense of who knows how to do this, who's trained in CPR, who's trained in Stop the Bleed, et cetera. And they developed this highly competitive bingo game where every meeting that they had, they would have different skills on a bingo card. Have you been CPR trained and certified within the past six months? Have you been to a Stop the Bleed training? Have you facilitated a training around respiratory health?
And it was great. I think when groups can create those sorts of fun games or engagement, it's a friendly way to get folks thinking about the safety skills that exist in their crew, and it helps you to understand what do you have on deck and then what do you need. From there, just starting to go through each of those safety threats and developing a plan. How do we want to intervene in this threat? How do we want to prevent it? What skills might be needed in order to intervene well and do we have those skills?
I think when people are thinking through those questions around intervention, it'll often bring up training needs. They'll say, we really want to decrease the police presence in our block, but one barrier to that is us being able to deal with respiratory emergencies, people who have asthma, in a timely fashion. And so it will then naturally create, well, we need a training. And so figuring out where the training gaps are that would actually increase your group's skill. A big one right now is how do I read a legal warrant? I think every group should be in that kind of conversation.
Vision Change Win is one of many groups that's available to support some of those training gaps, namely around safety and security, but I also encourage folks to kind of think outside the box. I've been really pleased recently with the number of street medics in Atlanta who've been doing different kinds of trainings related to heat stroke and heat exposure that have really helped us to navigate some of the medical emergencies that show up during protests much faster than we would otherwise. There's also just a huge retired nurse and RN community inside of our left ecosystem here, and so it's been really fun to learn from elders here about different skills that have been really useful to deal with these emergencies during protests.
The last thing to consider when you're building these safety protocols is that training should happen regularly. So if you're building up a protocol, for example, around the cops showing up to your space with a warrant, you want to make sure that you have skill, someone knows how to read a legal warrant, how to recognize when a warrant isn't legal. You might want to identify the people in your group that would answer the door, maybe the people who would let folks know that the cops are here but it's being handled. But you might realize that as you're building up this practice, that oh, three of the people who knew how to read a legal warrant are about to be on maternity leave. And so having regular training can help you to identify when you might have gaps inside a plan.
Training is also a great place to evaluate. So a risk assessment can change, we can have risks that are likely in one month that are not likely the next month. And so as we're offering these regular trainings, it's also important to make sure we go back to our risk assessment at least once a year, but I would recommend more often than that, to make sure that the risks that we're planning around are still likely. Because as we all know, the political landscape is changing constantly, and so we just want to make sure that we're responding to the right threats.
I do think that this is a political moment where I want to encourage groups to resist the urge to plan last minute. I think it's very easy for us to say, we have to plan this last minute protest, we have to plan this last minute event, we have to respond to the moment. And I think the reality is that we are going to be in a rapid response moment for a while. And so figuring out where we can slow down also means being able to braid safety into the fabric of our work a bit more seamlessly so that safety isn't this last minute burden. When we're able to do that braiding well, when we're thinking about safety from the beginning of the protest plan and not in the last few days, I think that's when we see the most successful interventions and that's when we're able to do safety in a way that's also sustainable.
I think the last thing to say is, just like I think it's important for individuals to be in a group, I also think it's important for groups to find the coalitions that are right for them. Whether it's an alliance, a network, or just a partnership with one other group, I think that groups are stronger when they can communicate with other groups about safety threats. This is what allows us to predict safety threats and to intervene ahead of time. And so whatever that means for your organization, whether it means formalizing a sort of informal partnership you might have with a local group, or showing up more regularly to a coalition, or talking to a network who you're politically aligned with about sharing safety threats with each other, I think upping the rigor around working together is what's going to help groups to maintain safety over time.
KH: This is all such good advice. I really love what you said about last minute planning, and this is a mistake I've made in the past myself. When I look back at all of my organizing over the years, there are a couple of moments that really jump out at me when things went sideways, and if I am honest with myself, I knew in my gut, before doing the thing, that we didn't have enough time to plan and prepare the way we should have. I got swept up in the urgency of the thing, or in other people's arguments about why it had to happen right away, or maybe moved from a place of ego, thinking that we could handle it. And, you know, I learned by being humbled by my mistakes that we need to be thorough as fuck in our planning and in our preparations, and I think that's even more true now, because the stakes are so high.
I also really appreciate what you were saying about skill inventories and making plans about how you want to intervene. It made me think about the Chicago Teachers Union's Sanctuary Toolkit, and how teachers here are forming sanctuary teams, and taking on safety roles for scenarios when ICE might be trying to get into the building. This involves preparation, training, and probably some rehearsal, and that work makes everyone stronger and safer. CTU has also shared that toolkit publicly, and it can be adapted by teachers in other cities and states, and I hope folks will look at that, because learning from each other is so key right now.
And on that note, we have a lot to learn from Vision Change Win (VCW). VCW's resources have been so important to me as an organizer. I refer back to the Get In Formation toolkit all the time. It's a resource that I mention to just about every group that I work with, because I think it's both essential reading, and an essential resource to keep handy. I've also gotten a lot out of the VCW workshops I've attended over the years. Can you talk a bit about the resources you all offer and about any upcoming workshops that folks might want to plug into?
CJL: Yeah, the Get In Formation Training Series (G.I.F.T.S.) is the first resource that I would recommend folks check out. It's a three part training series that happens every month until we abolish prisons and police, and it's on the second, third and fourth Wednesday of the month. We cover verbal de-escalation, safety values. We talk about building a safety team for an event or direct action and organizational safety planning. And then quarterly, we have a session on digital security.
I think G.I.F.T.S. is a great entry point. I think it is a great way to start to learn about community safety. You can complete it in one month or you can take one training every month for four months, so it's really kind of a choose your own adventure training series. We offer Spanish interpretation quarterly, and we also offer late night sessions quarterly. And we're about to launch recorded trainings.
The second offering is we run a 10-month Safety and Security School. It's a cohort style, we'll be in our sixth year this year. And the Security School is for anyone who wants to take a deeper dive into community safety work within their organization. I really love Security School, it's a big, big commitment, but I think that it allows for groups to really, really develop strong safety practices or update existing practices. The application for Security School will drop in May. Folks should check out our website to find out more about other offerings.
There's a risk assessment mini toolkit that I have found really helpful, especially when describing a risk assessment to a group who might not be familiar with that language. That's available on our website. And I think more than anything, I want to keep plugging our rapid response system. Rapid response is kind of our warm line, so not quite a hotline, but it is our offering to be able to support organizations in urgent or emergent needs. We have about a 24- to 48-hour turnaround time, you can request support from going on our website. And groups reach out to us for all kinds of safety and security crises through that rapid response system, but often once they've developed a plan for that crisis, we'll then move into a training program. And so whether you're navigating a safety threat right now and you just need help now or you're concerned about preventing a threat from impacting you, I encourage you to reach out because there's a little bit for everybody.
KH: VCW's Rapid Response system is such a gift to our movements. I have been so grateful to be able to send some folks y'all's way in moments when they were facing some very scary, very credible threats. It meant everything to me, honestly, when folks reached out with those nightmarish experiences to be able to point them toward people who I knew would give them practical advice, based on years of experience and analysis around how we address these things. I won't get into those people's stories, because they are not mine to tell, but I will say that when we face threats in the movement, sometimes the scariest possibilities involve our loved ones being at risk, and that can make us feel so helpless and powerless. To offer people practical guidance on how we can move from that sense of helplessness and powerlessness to doing whatever we can to create safety for ourselves and our loved ones, that's just beautiful and essential work, and we're all so lucky that VCW exists. Because that's the kind of help that's going to allow us to be as brave and strategic as we can in these times.
So, as we wrap things up, is there anything else you would like to share with or ask of the audience today?
CJL: There's so many opportunities to collectivize practices that keep us healthy and well, or healthy and safe, and I am consistently blown away by the creativity of people in my community and all the ways that we continue to move away from individualism and into collectivism. And so I'm sure there are folks who are listening who might have a special skill. I've been talking to a lot of parents recently about how they're navigating this moment. There's a really incredible parenting collective in Atlanta that meets weekly to talk about community safety, namely for protests, but it's expanded beyond protests to talk about safety in their neighborhood, safety against ICE raids, safety against cops. And that group just formed because someone wanted to go to a protest and just didn't feel like they had capacity to be at the protest and care for three kids. So they reached out to a friend and the friend reached out to another friend, and before they knew it, they had a collective who was getting trained weekly.
I have friends who have been really interested in really getting clear about where there's clean drinking water in our neighborhood and in our community in case there's an emergency, in case our water gets shut off and we need to find access to clean drinking water. I have friends who are mechanics who are really skilled at fixing cars, and they've been reaching out to community members to offer a free tune up and oil change for folks so that they're able to drive around safely. And so I just feel like no matter who you are or what you're good at, there is a way to make that an offer to movement, and I just encourage folks to get really creative about what that offering is.
KH: Thank you so much for that. I love those examples, and I think this is a really important time for us to think expansively and creatively about what it means to create as much safety as we can. This is how we are going to move through these times effectively — by moving through our fears together, building skills, making plans, and having each other's backs. I want to thank you, Che, for helping us learn how to do that, and thank you so much for joining me and thinking alongside me today. Your insights and your knowledge are so deeply appreciated, and it's always good to talk to you.
CJL: Thank you. This is such an exciting opportunity, I'm such a fan of the podcast, so I am grateful to be here talking with you.
[musical interlude]
KH: Well, I am so grateful for Che and for Vision Change Win. Please remember to check the show notes of this episode for links to some of the resources we've discussed today.
I know many of us are grappling with our fears in these uncertain times. When I think about what's at stake right now, I have a lot of fears, and I need to allow myself to feel them. I also need to do what I can to reduce risk and anchor myself and others, as much as possible, because I am not powerless. For me, moving through fear is a process that involves acknowledging what's beyond my control, and examining what choices I can still make to protect myself and others, while also trying to live my values. That last part is important, because our fears can sometimes pull us away from our values, and prompt us to abandon other people, or hunker down, in the hopes that we can ride the storm out in safety, if we only look out for ourselves. That kind of mentality is what our enemies are counting on. Individualism shreds our solidarity and leaves us isolated.
I encourage everyone who is frightened right now to create or join a space to discuss those feelings with others. You might find that sharing your feelings not only helps you cope, but also opens the door to constructive conversations about what we can do to address our fears together.
Risk assessments and safety planning can empower us to create as much safety as we can in our lives and movements. Rather than becoming immobilized by fear, let's learn together and build skills that can help us meet the moment. Let's make space for what we're feeling and figure out how we can be constructive together. Solidarity means making every effort to protect each other, so let's figure out what that looks like in practice, for all of us.
I want to thank our listeners for joining us today, and remember, our best defense against cynicism is to do good, and to remember that the good we do matters. Until next time, I'll see you in the streets.
Show Notes
The Trump administration is cracking down on political dissent. Under pressure from an array of McCarthy-style tactics, academics, activists and nonprofits face significant threats for speaking out or organizing in resistance.
Truthout is appealing for your support to weather this storm of censorship. We've launched a fundraising campaign to find 500 new monthly donors in the next 10 days. Will you be one?
As independent media with no corporate backing or billionaire ownership, Truthout is uniquely able to push back against the right-wing narrative and expose the shocking extent of political repression under the new McCarthyism. We're committed to doing this work, but we're also deeply vulnerable to Trump's attacks.
Your support during our fundraiser (7 days left) will help us continue our nonprofit movement journalism in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Please make a tax-deductible donation today.
Kelly Hayes is the host of Truthout's podcast “Movement Memos” and a contributing writer at Truthout. Kelly's written work can also be found in Teen Vogue, Bustle, Yes! Magazine, Pacific Standard, NBC Think, her blog Transformative Spaces, The Appeal, the anthology The Solidarity Struggle: How People of Color Succeed and Fail At Showing Up For Each Other In the Fight For Freedom and Truthout's anthology on movements against state violence, Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Kelly is also a direct action trainer and a co-founder of the direct action collective Lifted Voices. Kelly was honored for her organizing and education work in 2014 with the Women to Celebrate award, and in 2018 with the Chicago Freedom School's Champions of Justice Award. Kelly's movement photography is featured in the “Freedom and Resistance” exhibit of the DuSable Museum of African American History. To keep up with Kelly's organizing work, you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day.
As we rise to meet an era of unpredictable chaos, we urgently appeal for your support. We've set a goal to add 440 new monthly donors in the next 7 days – will you be one of them?
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Pope Leo XIV has been handed a list of Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity during a ceremony at the Vatican, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on May 15.
A representative of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) families "personally" handed him the document during the Jubilee of Eastern Churches held on May 12–14.
"My heart goes out to the suffering and beloved people of Ukraine. Let us do everything we can to bring about a true peace, a just and lasting peace, as soon as possible," Pope Leo XIV said, according to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
"Let all the prisoners be released and let the children return to their families," he added.
There have been 64 POW swaps since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and five during 2025.
The Ukrainian delegation present in the Vatican included the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who congratulated Pope Leo XIV on his election.
Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected as head of the Catholic Church in the conclave on May 8 after the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
In his first Sunday address on May 11, Pope Leo XIV called for an "authentic and lasting peace" in Ukraine, adding that he carries in his heart the "suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine."
Previously, while serving as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, Leo XIV spoke out against Russia's continued war against Ukraine.
In a 2022 interview with Peruvian news outlet Semanario Expresion, he condemned Russia's war against Ukraine, characterizing it as "a true invasion, imperialist in nature, where Russia seeks to conquer territory for reasons of power."
We're working hard to show the world the truth of Russia's brutal war —
and we're keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information
should be available to all.
Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can
survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us
do it?
Kseniia Petrova, 31, was charged with one count of smuggling goods into the country.
If found guilty, she faces up to 20 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
The charges were announced just hours after a federal judge in Vermont heard arguments in a lawsuit Petrova filed against the Trump administration alleging she has been unlawfully detained at an immigration detention center in Louisiana for months.
She was transferred out of the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to a nearby Louisiana parish jail shortly after being charged.
An initial hearing in her criminal case has been set for May 15.
Petrova, a Russian national, was first taken into immigration custody on Feb. 16 after arriving at Logan International Airport in Boston following a trip to Paris.
According to prosecutors, she was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after her checked duffle bag was flagged for inspection, revealing biological items including a foam box containing clawed frog embryos in microcentrifuges, as well as embryonic samples in paraffin well stages and on mounted dyed slides.
Such biological products must be declared and require a permit to be brought into the country.
Prosecutors said that Petrova initially denied carrying such material in her baggage but acknowledged she had biological specimens when asked again.
She was then advised that she was ineligible for entry to the United States, at which point prosecutors say she agreed to willingly withdraw her application for admission, prosecutors said.
Her lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, called the case against his client “meritless” and questioned the timing of the charges being announced, noting she was transferred into criminal custody after the judge in her lawsuit set a May 28 bail hearing to consider releasing her.
“The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her,” he said.
During an interview under oath, Petrova allegedly claimed to be unsure that she was required to declare biological material when entering the country, prosecutors said.
However, prosecutors said text messages on her phone from an individual identified as one of her colleagues informed her that she was required to declare the biological material.
They alleged that in response to one text message asking how she planned to get through customs with the biological samples, Petrova said: “No plan yet. I won't be able to swallow them.”
Petrova's case has drawn criticism from Democrats, including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who filed an amicus brief on May 12 opposing the government's efforts to dismiss her petition for release.
The brief states that Petrova had been conducting critical research on degenerative diseases at Harvard under a valid J-1 visa prior to her detention 10 weeks ago.
“Ms. Petrova's case is not an isolated incident—this is just the latest example of the Trump Administration's reckless and cruel misuse of power to punish and terrorize non-citizen members of the academic community,” Campbell said. “I will continue to fight to defend the rights of our international students and faculty, who meaningfully contribute to the academic and economic success of our communities.”
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said Petrova was recently employed by the Institute of Genetic Biology in Moscow from 2023 to 2024 and previously served as a bioinformatician of genetic disorders at the Moscow Center for Genetics from 2016 to 2023.
Harvard University said in a statement that it “continues to monitor the situation.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Petrova's attorney for further comment.
MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. Russia's stance at negotiations on the situation in Ukraine has been modified if compared to 2022 and adjustments are due to the situation on the ground, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists on Thursday.
"Yes, there are adjustments in Russia's stance. These changes are due to developments on the ground," she said.
Zakharova noted that the Ukrainian territory diminishes every time the Kiev regime disrupts the negotiating process.
"If you want to grasp the connection between the negotiating process and territories, I should remind you of a statement made by the Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey Lavrov] on September 28, 2024," Zakharova said.
According to her, Foreign Minister Lavrov stated at that time that Ukraine would have preserved a part of Donbass if the agreements reached at the April 2022 negotiations in Istanbul were observed.
"However, Sergey Lavrov added that each time when any agreement backed by Russia is breached, Ukraine becomes smaller," Zakharova said. "I think it would be wise to keep this quote in mind for everyone trying to find a connection between the negotiating process and the size of the [Ukrainian] territory."
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin in the early hours of May 11, Putin urged Kiev to resume direct talks suspended in 2022, without preconditions. The plan is to start dialogue in Istanbul on May 15. Putin also recalled that Russia had declared multiple ceasefires that Kiev consistently broke, including a recent truce during the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Vladimir Zelensky, in turn, announced plans to travel to Istanbul on Thursday, following US President Donald Trump's call on Ukraine to immediately accept Putin's offer for talks. Prior to that, Zelensky had insisted that a 30-day ceasefire should precede any negotiations with Moscow.
The Russian delegation at the negotiations in Istanbul is led by Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky. The Russian team of negotiators also includes Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kostyukov, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin.
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) on May 14 for the first time presented its latest versatile Magura naval drones to the public.
The Magura drones, as well as the Sea Baby drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), have been pivotal in turning the tide of the war in the Black Sea, destroying or damaging multiple Russian ships and other assets.
HUR's Group 13 has deployed Magura drones to successfully hit 17 naval and aerial Russian targets. Fifteen of them, including two Mi-8 helicopters, two Su-30 fighter jets, and the Sergey Kotov, Ivanovets, and Ceasar Kunikov warships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, have been destroyed, the agency said.
Several variants of the Magura drones exist, including the "ship-killer" V5, the V7 capable of carrying machine guns or anti-air missiles, and the multi-platform V6P.
As of 2024, Ukraine was reportedly able to destroy or disable one-third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in a drone and missile campaign, despite Moscow's significant advantage in sheer naval power.
Black Sea hostilities have since then quieted down as Russia moved most of its naval assets from occupied Crimea further east and Ukraine managed to resume its maritime shipping.
We're working hard to show the world the truth of Russia's brutal war —
and we're keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information
should be available to all.
Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can
survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us
do it?
US president's reported comments in Qatar come as scores killed in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing. This live blog is closed
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”, as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in the Palestinian territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” the US leader said in Qatar, adding:
I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.
Here is a summary of the day's main developments so far:
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday he wanted the US to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”, a possible reiteration of a plan he put forward in February for the US to take control of the Palestinian territory to allow for its reconstruction as a luxury leisure and business hub. “I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone,” Trump said in Qatar.
Gaza's civil defence agency said that the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103. Most of the victims, including women and children, were killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in airstrikes that hit homes and tents, Palestinian medics said. Gaza's civil defence agency spokeperson Mahmud Bassal said at least 13 people were “recovered from rubble” after a dawn strike in Khan Younis.
The dead included a journalist working for Qatari television network Al Araby TV, the network announced on social media, saying Hasan Samour had been killed along with 11 members of his family in one of the strikes in Khan Younis.
Trump has arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he was greeted by president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he stepped off Air Force One. After addressing US troops at Qatar's al-Udeid airbase, Trump made his way to the presidental plane where the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, was waiting to see him off.
Trump has said that the US's air campaign against the Houthi rebels was “very successful, but maybe tomorrow, an attack will be made, in which case we go back on the offensive”. He made the comments on a visit to al-Udeid airbase in Doha, Qatar. Prior to that visit, the president attended a business forum in Qatar where he hailed what he said was a record $200bn deal for Boeing aircraft.
Trump said on Thursday that the USwas getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms. “We're in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Roads have been blocked in the occupied West Bank and a manhunt is under way after Israel's military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman. Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for nearby Palestinian villages to be flattened, while WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack, according to AFP.
Palestinians have been commemorating the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, to honour the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Pro-Palestinian protesters in Madrid attended a march on Thursday to commemorate Nakba Day.
In the West Bank village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks. “The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village,” Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP. The Israeli military said “soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building”.
Hamas on Thursday accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining mediation efforts for a hostage release and ceasefire deal by carrying out military operations in Gaza. “War criminal Netanyahu undermines mediation efforts through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives,” Hamas said in a statement referring to hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
Israel's foreign ministry said it had summoned the Spanish ambassador for a formal reprimand after the country's prime minister described Israel as a “genocidal state”. Pedro Sánchez made the remarks on Wednesday during an exchange in Spanish parliament in which his government was accused of continuing to trade with Israel. “I want to clarify one thing,” Sánchez said. “We don't trade with a genocidal state. We don't.”
“Israel's blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement on Thursday. HRW said: “The Israeli government's plan to demolish what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide.”
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, has been charged with “crowding and obstructing” others after he was arrested while protesting against the Gaza blockade during a US Senate hearing. Video film recorded at the hearing and posted by Cohen on social media shows him being hauled out of the committee room, handcuffed and escorted away.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday he will discuss the US decision to lift sanctions on Syria and the roadmap ahead in a meeting with his US and Syrian counterparts later in the day. Fidan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an informal Nato foreign ministers' meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where he later planned to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani.
Germany's Lufthansa airline group said on Thursday its suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv would last until at least 25 May amid ongoing regional conflict. Lufthansa said in a statement the decision to extend the suspension was made “due to the current situation”, without giving further details.
Israel will not fund a new US-led humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip, but it will facilitate and enable it, Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon told reporters on Thursday.
The US treasury has said that it has begun to execute Donald Trump's announcement in Saudi Arabia that Washington was lifting sanctions on Syria.
In a post on social media, the US said: “We look forward to implementing the necessary authorisations that would be critical to bringing new investment into Syria.”
It added that the action would help Syria begin rebuilding its infrastructure, economy and financial sector, to put the country “on a path to a bright, prosperous, and stable future.”
The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, told US president Donald Trump on Thursday that the Iranian nation considered him the “murderer” of Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani.
Suleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
He was killed in Iraq in a drone strike on 3 January 2020, ordered by Trump during his first term in office.
Trump had said earlier that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Tehran.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday met Syria's foreign minister to discuss normalising relations after president Donald Trump moved to ease sanctions on the country.
The top US diplomat, in the Turkish resort of Antalya for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers, opened talks with Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani, a state department official said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The closed-door meeting also involved top Turkish officials including foreign minister Hakan Fidan, the official added.
Trump, on a visit to Riyadh on Tuesday, announced that he would lift sanctions, saying that he wanted to give Syrians “a chance at greatness”.
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream, has been charged with “crowding and obstructing” others after he was arrested while protesting against the Gaza blockade during a US Senate hearing.
Cohen – the Ben in Ben & Jerry's – made his stand on Wednesday while Robert F Kennedy Jr was addressing a hearing of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. A group of activists heckled the health secretary over his anti-vaccine posture, yelling: “When Bobby lies, children die,” and “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America”.
Then Cohen stood up and made his Gaza protest. Video film recorded at the hearing and posted by Cohen on social media shows him being hauled out of the committee room, handcuffed and escorted away.
As he is being removed, a woman asked him why he was being arrested.
He replied:
Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US.
He added:
Congress and the senators need to ease the siege, they need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids.
Gaza is now in the 11th week of a total blockade by Israel which prevents essential items including food, fuel and medicines reaching the area's 2.3 million Palestinians. Many people are surviving on limited supplies of canned peas or dried beans.
A report this week from food security experts warned that Gaza was at “critical risk of famine”.
Here are some images from Gaza, where Palestinians have been commemorating Nakba Day, to honour the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. It is the 77th anniversary of the Nakba:
Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints reported many road closures in the north of the territory on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman (see 11.56am BST). “To make sure this never happens again … we need real revenge! Erase every terror village,” one user said, according to AFP.
In the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said a manhunt was under way. Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said:
We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable.
In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.
“The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village,” Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.
The Israeli military said “soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building”. “Following an exchange of fire, five terrorists were eliminated, and an additional terrorist was apprehended,” it said.
“Israel's blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination”, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement on Thursday.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), HRW said:
The Israeli government's plan to demolish what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide.
Gaza's civil defence agency said that the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103. Updates have been coming in throughout the day, with previous total, given by Palestinian rescuers, being 94 (see 12.20pm BST).
Palestinians and pro-Palestinian protesters have been marking Nakba Day, which is generally commemorated on 15 May to honour the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.
Here are some images, via the newswires:
Here are some more images, coming in via the newswires, of Trump's latest stop on his Middle East visit:
US president Donald Trump has arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he was greeted by president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as he stepped off Air Force One.
After addressing US troops at Qatar's al-Udeid airbase, Trump made his way to Air Force One, where the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, was waiting to see him off.
According to a White House spokesperson, the two leaders spoke for a moment, before Trump walked to the stairs of the presidential plane on a red carpet, with a Qatari honour guard standing at attention.
President Donald Trump's comment Thursday about not wanting to make “nuclear dust” in a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities mirrors the concerns of the Gulf Arab countries he's visiting in the Middle East this week.
The possibility of a US or Israeli strike on Iranian enrichment sites has renewed longstanding fears that Gulf Arab states have about Iran's programme, AP reported.
In the past, they have worried that an accident or a strike at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could send radioactive material into the air and spread across the Persian Gulf into their countries.
Speaking to a business forum on Thursday, Trump similarly brought up the idea.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They're not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust,” Trump said. “We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
Iran has criticised the US threats to strike.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday he will discuss the US decision to lift sanctions on Syria and the roadmap ahead in a meeting with his US and Syrian counterparts later in the day.
Fidan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an informal Nato foreign ministers' meeting in Antalya, Turkey, where he later planned to meet US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani.
US president Donald Trump made the surprise announcement on Syrian sanctions this week.
Just two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria last December, Israel launched a sweeping offensive, seizing the Golan Heights and carrying out hundreds of airstrikes across the country.
Israel has remained militarily involved in Syria, declaring regions near their shared border a demilitarised zone and carrying out frequent attacks, patrols and raids. These measures have frustrated the new leadership in Damascus, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, which has accused Israel of destabilising the country.
Amaa al-Omar, a journalist who reports on Syria, explains what is driving the conflict and what impact it has had on Syria's interim leaders in this video explainer:
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Editor's note: The article was updated with statements from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and from a source close to the Ukrainian Presidential Office.
A plane with the Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul ahead of planned peace talks with Ukraine, pro-state news agency Interfax reported on May 15, citing sources in aviation services.
Russia proposed to launch direct negotiations with Ukraine this week in lieu of an unconditional ceasefire proposed by Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately agreed to attend and invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to an in-person meeting in Istanbul on May 15.
The Russian leader seemingly declined to join himself and appointed his aide, Vladimir Medinsky, to lead the talks. When asked by the Kyiv Independent, a source close to the Presidential Office did not confirm whether Ukraine would still hold the talks if Putin does not join.
Ukraine's Presidential Office has previously said that Zelensky would not meet lower-level Russian officials if Putin refuses to come, making the format of the expected talks uncertain.
The Ukrainian president is first set to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara and will then decide on the next step regarding possible talks with Russia, the source noted.
The Russian delegation will also consist of Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Military Intelligence Director Igor Kostyukov, and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin.
The delegation's list is notably void of Putin himself and other Kremlin top politicians, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Putin's foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, was also absent from the list.
Putin held a preparatory meeting on the evening of May 14 with the Russian delegates, Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belusov, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, and chiefs of military and security forces, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
"I am waiting to see who will come from Russia, and then I will decide which steps Ukraine should take. So far, the signals from them in the media are unconvincing," Zelensky said on the evening of May 14.
Initially, TASS reported that the meeting would start at around 10 a.m., a claim refuted by Ukraine. The Russian state media later reported that the talks are likely to begin in the second half of the day.
U.S. President Donald Trump initially voiced optimism about the prospects of a Zelensky-Putin meeting and suggested he might attend as well. However, a White House official on May 14 said that Trump will not attend the peace talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Turkey on May 14 and met with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha in Antalya. Sybiha also met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.
Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Istanbul with Rubio on May 16 to participate in discussions on Ukraine.
We're working hard to show the world the truth of Russia's brutal war —
and we're keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information
should be available to all.
Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can
survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us
do it?
Document issued by Edward I in 1300 was bought by law school library for just $27 in 1946
A Magna Carta wrongly listed as an unofficial copy for nearly 80 years has been confirmed as an original from 1300.
The discovery means the document is just one of seven issued in 1300 by Edward I that still survive.
David Carpenter, a professor of medieval history at King's College London, stumbled on a document labelled as an unofficial copy of Magna Carta from 1327 in Harvard law school library's online collection.
He said: “I was trawling through all these online statute books trying to find unofficial copies of the Magna Carta … and I immediately thought: my god this looks for all the world like an original of Edward I's confirmation of Magna Carta in 1300, though of course appearances are deceptive.”
Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent, professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia, used a battery of tests to establish the authenticity of the document, known as HLS MS 172.
“Using spectral imaging and ultraviolet light, because in places the condition isn't very good, I worked through it word by word and it matched perfectly to the other six,” Carpenter said. “One extraordinary little detail about the handwriting is the initial E at the start of Edwardus. The next letter – the D – of Edwardus is also a capital, which is quite unusual. And yet you find that capital D in one of the other six originals.”
Magna Carta, originally granted by King John in 1215, was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government were not above the law.
Carpenter described HLS MS 172 as “one of the world's most valuable documents”.
He added: “It asserts a fundamental principle that the ruler is subject to the law. He can't just say: ‘Into prison, off with your head, I'm seizing your property.' If he wants to act against you, he has to do so by legal process. It's the foundation stone of the western tradition of law and democracy.”
According to the library's accession register, it had bought what it believed to be a copy for $27.50 in 1946. A month earlier, an RAF veteran had sold it to the London book dealers Sweet & Maxwell for £42.
Vincent said: “It's easy to understand why it was mis-catalogued when it was sold … it's a long time ago. Everyone in 1945 was a bit tired. It's worth many, many, many, many times that.”
Carpenter described the discovery as fantastic news for Harvard. “I felt amazed. First that it existed at all and secondly, that Harvard didn't realise what they had. I felt slightly awestruck in a way because the 1300 confirmation by Edward I is the most authoritative of all confirmations,” he added.
Carpenter and Vincent believe the document was issued to the former parliamentary borough of Appleby in Cumbria in 1300.
Vincent said: “It was then passed down through an evil aristocratic family of the 18th century, the Lowthers, who then gave it to Thomas Clarkson, who was the leading slavery abolitionist. And then, through Clarkson's estate, it went to this fellow, Forster Maynard, who was a first world war flying ace, who ended up as the commander of the airbase on Malta at the start of the second world war. The provenance of this document is extraordinary.”
Amanda Watson, Harvard Law School's assistant dean for library and information services, said: “Congratulations to Professors Carpenter and Vincent on their fantastic discovery. This work exemplifies what happens when magnificent collections, like Harvard Law Library's, are opened to brilliant scholars.”
Ukraine faces a difficult balancing act — sanction more Chinese firms for aiding Russia's war machine without alienating Beijing, which could be key to ending Russia's invasion.
Kyiv is currently considering imposing new sanctions against Chinese firms providing raw materials to Russia's defense sector, a source close to the matter told the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity.
But doing so could risk pushing Beijing — an important economic partner for Kyiv — further from Ukraine and closer to Russia, the source said.
As momentum builds around peace talks, with President Volodymyr Zelensky heading to Istanbul on May 15, Kyiv is hoping China can nudge its Russian ally toward negotiating a ceasefire and bringing end to the invasion, Ukrainian officials said.
China could be a key country in ending Russia's war and ushering in a “sustainable” peace, the press service of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine has largely abstained from publicly bad-mouthing China, but the relationship has taken a hit in recent weeks as Kyiv grows more vocal against Beijing's support for Russia.
Days after Chinese troops were captured in Donetsk Oblast fighting alongside Russians, President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 18 slapped sanctions on three Chinese companies. In an speech, he accused Beijing of supplying Moscow with gunpowder and weapons.
While claiming to be neutral in the full-scale invasion, China provided 76% of Russia's battlefield goods in 2023, according to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).Top Ukrainian sanctions official Vladyslav Vlasiuk told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine is “concerned about some apparently Chinese-made components found in weapons used to attack civilians and count on our partners to take some serious action to stop it.”Ukraine sanctioned two Chinese firms — Beijing Aviation and Aerospace Xianghui Technology Co. Ltd — as well as Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Xining Co. Ltd, for supplying carbon fiber to Russia used in Iskander ballistic missiles that frequently target cities across Ukraine, according to an official document seen by the Kyiv Independent.Days later, Zelensky said Chinese citizens were working in Russian drone production factories, even claiming Russia could have “stolen” drone technology from China, during a news conference in Kyiv.
On May 9, as Xi Jinping watched Russian soldiers march through Moscow during the WWII Victory Day parade, Ukraine followed up with sanctions on the Hong Kong-based firm Smart Kit Technology. The company was already subject to U.S. sanctions for shipping raw materials and technology like chip-making machines to Russian enterprises.Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reported in February that Chinese companies were also investing in occupied territories and working with the occupying authorities. Kyiv notifies Beijing when Russia attempts to lure a Chinese company to the occupied territories, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry press service said. “The government bodies of China respond to such appeals of the Ukrainian side and, after confirming the relevant information, take measures to prevent interaction of Chinese business circles with representatives of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” the ministry said. The recent sanctions are Ukraine's first proper slap on China's wrist. Zelensky previously accused Beijing of “disrupting” the peace process and supplying “elements of Russia's weaponry” during a conference in Singapore in June 2024, but took no tangible action.
Prior to the crackdown on the Chinese companies, Zelensky's administration turned a blind eye to Beijing's “no limits” partnership with Moscow, despite China helping Russia, including by skirting Western sanctions and supplying dual-use goods for military purposes. There is little anti-China rhetoric from the Ukrainian government, and unlike other countries that support Russia, Kyiv hasn't cut ties with Beijing. In July 2024, Ukraine's Foreign Minister at the time, Dmytro Kuleba, even visited Guangdong Province to convince local businesses and authorities to invest in Ukrainian regions, specifically in Mykolaiv Oblast. “At this moment, we cannot see a strong will from the side of the government to move away from China,” Arthur Khartyonov, President of the Liberal Democratic League of Ukraine, an NGO, and founder of the Free Hong Kong Center, a pro-democracy initiative , told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine is unlikely to divest from China, as Beijing remains the top producer for goods that it needs, including radio equipment for military use, drones, generators, and equipment that props up the energy grid after attacks.
Chinese exports to Ukraine reached a record high last year. The value of Chinese goods increased to $14.5 billion from $10.44 billion in 2023, outgunning Polish, German, and Turkish imports for the top spot, according to the Center for Economic Strategy (CES) in Kyiv. While Ukrainian exports to China dipped from $8 billion in 2021 to $2.4 billion last year, this is largely due to blocked trade routes and war-time complications rather than any political decision, Dmytro Goriunov, an expert at the KSE Institute and Head of the “Russia Will Pay” project, told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine is unlikely to divest from China, as Beijing remains the top producer for goods that it needs, including radio equipment for military use, drones, generators, and equipment that props up the energy grid after attacks, he added. Kyiv's budgetary constraints mean it is stuck with China, for now.
Issues began piling up when Kyiv failed to woo Beijing with its 10-point peace plan presented in 2022. Instead, Xi presented his own peace formula in February 2023 that received a lukewarm response in Ukraine. Zelensky said he agreed with only some of China's points. In the West, the plan was largely criticized for being too much in Moscow's favor, while Russia celebrated it. The points were general and included conditions like a cease-fire, the lifting of sanctions on Russia, and respect for territorial sovereignty. Beijing hasn't recognized Russia's 2-14 annexation of Crimea nor the occupied Ukrainian territories Moscow claims to have annexed in 2022.A year later, China snubbed Kyiv's invitation to the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland that gathered nations supportive of Ukraine's peace formula. To add insult to injury, Beijing then announced that over two dozen countries backed the Chinese peace plan. By June, Zelensky's frustrations reached a tipping point, and he accused China of “working hard… to prevent countries from coming to the peace summit.” Beijing maintained its neutrality and refuted “fanning fire or fueling the flames.”
On China's end, it wants to make sure the status quo within Russia remains steadfast, Dr. Marina Rudyak, an international development consultant and a lecturer at Heidelberg University's Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies, told the Kyiv Independent.“It's in China's interest to keep its border (with Russia) stable and secure and keep Russia stable. Anything that is not (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is more unpredictable than Putin,” she said.
After several attempts to engage with Chinese officials in Ukraine failed, Kyiv realized it needed a different approach. When Ukraine captured several Chinese soldiers on April 8 and Beijing denied any involvement, Kyiv saw its opportunity to put its foot down. While Ukraine can't simply cut trade with China, it knew it had scope to go after Chinese companies involved in Russian weapons production, as well as two Chinese captains sailing sanctioned Shadow Fleet vessels. It's not clear how informed the CCP is about the involvement of Chinese citizens and companies in the war. The central leadership is unlikely to have full knowledge or responsibility for all the Chinese support for Russia, said Rudyak. The testimonies of the captured Chinese troops suggest there is a “significant number” of Chinese citizens fighting with Russia, the Foreign Ministry's press service said. “This may indicate a systemic problem and insufficient effectiveness of the Chinese authorities' measures to prevent this phenomenon,” the ministry added. For now, China has not publicly responded to the sanctions aside from calling the accusations “groundless.” Tensions then escalated when Kyiv presented evidence of Chinese citizens and companies to the Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Ma Shengkun.
“China is first pro-China, not exactly pro-Russia, so there are hopes that China may persuade Russia to stop the war.”
“We have clarified China's position on the relevant issues. China strongly opposes groundless accusations and political manipulations,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a press briefing on April 22. Ukraine wants to open up dialogue with China so that tensions don't boil over. The country is powerful and, like Turkey, a possible mediator between Ukraine and Russia if Kyiv can win it over. “China is first pro-China, not exactly pro-Russia, so there are hopes that China may persuade Russia to stop the war,” Goriunov said. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis cautiously assured Ambassador Shengkun on April 22 that Ukraine “values its strategic partnership with China” while urging Beijing to “stop supporting Russia.”
President Xi didn't seem to get the message as he sat next to President Putin during Moscow's Victory Day Parade. The day before, the two “friends of steel” reiterated their partnership in a joint statement and announced deeper cooperation, including in military ties to counter the U.S. Conceringly for Ukraine, the statement included a line about China helping establish peace in Ukraine with Russia and addressing the “root causes” of the war– a thinly veiled reference to Russia's narrative about NATO expansion. While Ukraine is eager for a diplomatic meeting to iron out the tensions, the Chinese side is taking a long time to consider Kyiv's proposals, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. This does not bode well for their bilateral relations.“Further delaying or avoiding such contacts could lead to a crisis of confidence, which is highly undesirable,” the ministry added.
We're working hard to show the world the truth of Russia's brutal war —
and we're keeping it free for everyone, because reliable information
should be available to all.
Our goal: reach 20,000 members to prove independent journalism can
survive without paywalls, billionaires, or compromise. Will you help us
do it?
Follow:
Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is at the center of another controversy, and this time it directly involves Mexico.
MrBeast, who is by far the YouTuber with the most subscribers in the world (surpassing the second-place user by almost 100 million), published a video on May 10th in which he visited some of Mexico's most important archaeological sites, including Chichén Itzá in the state of Yucatán, home to the Temple of Kukulkan pyramid, known as El Castillo, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
MrBeast also visited the archaeological sites of Calakmul in the state of Campeche and Balamcanché in Yucatán.
The video, which as of Wednesday afternoon has accumulated more than 55 million views, shows MrBeast and his team in the surroundings of Kukulkan, but also inside other archaeological structures, in cenotes and temples.
Some of these sites are not permanently accessible to the public, as the Mexican government has acknowledged.
What is the controversy surrounding MrBeast in Mexico?
The controversy centers on the fact that the YouTuber was allowed entry to sites considered sacred to Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures, which in many cases are restricted.
In one part of the video, MrBeast himself says: “I can't believe the government is letting us do this. It's truly crazy. Not even archaeologists are allowed in here.”
In response to the controversy, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) – an agency attached to the Mexican government's Ministry of Culture – declared on Monday that both the visit and the recording were carried out through “formal requests.”
These requests, however, were not made by MrBeast, but rather by “the federal Ministry of Tourism and the governments of” Yucatán and Campeche, the INAH indicated. In the description of his video, MrBeast claims that the publication is a “collaboration with the Mexican Ministry of Tourism.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that there were permits for the “broadcast,” but asked the INAH to report “under what conditions this permit was granted.”
“And if the permit was violated, then (it must be determined) what sanctions apply,” the president added.
Other points have also caused controversy, such as a drone shot that appears to be inside the temple at the top of El Castillo in Chichén Itzá. Regarding this, the INAH said that this did not occur and that the shot was in fact recorded outside the structure.
There are also scenes where MrBeast appears to descend to the archaeological sites by helicopter or where he holds a pre-Hispanic mask in his hands.
All of this, the INAH says, is either false or was edited after the recording: “Clearly, the video involves extensive audiovisual post-production work and alludes to events that did not occur, such as the fact that the producers never descended from a helicopter, spent the night inside the archaeological site, or possessed a pre-Hispanic mask, as the one presented is clearly a contemporary reproduction. All of these are false assertions that reflect the theatricality of the YouTuber in question.”
How easy is it to apply for permits? Is it true that not even archaeologists can enter, as MrBeast claims?
Exploring, filming, and broadcasting in Mexican archaeological sites is a restricted activity that few are allowed to do.
The INAH stated that, while institute personnel were supervising MrBeast's activities at all times, access was granted to an area that is not permanently accessible to the general public.
“The tours were conducted in publicly accessible areas without affecting visitor access. In the case of Calakmul, the substructure of the Structure II was also visited. Although it is not permanently open to the public, it does provide access by arranging a scheduled visit in advance and with justification, as is the case with tours conducted with the communities surrounding the archaeological site,” it said in its Monday statement.
Sheinbaum asked the INAH to provide information on the nature of the permit for the MrBeast video. Until it is announced, its scope and the points it covers are unknown.
However, by law, exploration of Mexico's archaeological sites is permitted for a very small group of institutions.
In September 2024, the INAH responded to a request for citizen information requesting the “requirements and steps” necessary to enter the Kukulkan pyramid at Chichén Itzá.
In this request, the director of the Chichén Itzá Archaeological Zone, José Francisco Javier Osorio León, mentions that “in accordance” with the provisions of the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Monuments and Zones, “all types of material work to discover or explore archaeological monuments will only be carried out by the National Institute of Anthropology and History or by scientific institutions or those of recognized moral standing, with prior authorization.”
Likewise, Article 31 of this law states that the authorizations granted by the INAH must specify “the terms and conditions to which the work must be subject, as well as the obligations of those who carry it out.”
While the details of the permits for MrBeast's video are still unknown, the INAH stated that, although the YouTuber's video offers “distorted” information, its dissemination “may motivate interest among young audiences in Mexico and around the world to learn about our ancestral cultures and visit archaeological sites.”
Meanwhile, Federal Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel de Icaza spoke out against the activities carried out by MrBeast and his team at the archaeological sites.
“This isn't the first time this type of incident has happened, and it's been clarified. Of course we don't agree, and of course there will be appropriate sanctions because that's not what these spaces are for,” Curiel de Icaza said Tuesday at a decorative and utilitarian art event.
CNN has reached out to MrBeast for comment.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on a case that stems from the executive order President Donald Trump issued on his first day in office that would deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. “This is enshrined in the Constitution. My parents are Chinese immigrants,” says Liu. “They came here on temporary visas so I derive my citizenship through birthright.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A woman from CASA Maryland holds her 9-month-old baby as she joins others in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Tanjam Jacobson, of Silver Spring, Md., holds a sign saying “Citizenship is a Birthright,” Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside the Supreme Court in Washington. Jacobson is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in England of Indian descent, and her son was born here. “This is something that really matters,” says Jacobson, “it's so wrong against the constitution [to take away birthright citizenship].” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The Supreme Court at sunset in Washington, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
▶ Follow live updates of Thursday's oral arguments before the Supreme Court over Trump's birthright citizenship order
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed intent Thursday on maintaining a block on President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship while looking for a way to scale back nationwide court orders.
It was unclear what such a decision might look like, but a majority of the court expressed concerns about would happen if the Trump administration were allowed, even temporarily, to deny citizenship to children born to people who are in the United States illegally.
The justices heard arguments in the Trump administration's emergency appeals over lower court orders that have kept the citizenship restrictions on hold across the country.
Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. “This is enshrined in the Constitution. My parents are Chinese immigrants,” says Liu. “They came here on temporary visas so I derive my citizenship through birthright.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Nationwide injunctions have emerged as an important check on Trump's efforts to remake the government and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.
Judges have issued 40 nationwide injunctions since Trump began his second term in January, Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court at the start of more than two hours of arguments.
Birthright citizenship is among several issues, many related to immigration, that the administration has asked the court to address on an emergency basis.
The justices also are considering the Trump administration's pleas to end humanitarian parole for more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and to strip other temporary legal protections from another 350,000 Venezuelans. The administration remains locked in legal battles over its efforts to swiftly deport people accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term that would deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
The order conflicts with a Supreme Court decision from 1898 that held that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment made citizens of all children born on U.S. soil, with narrow exceptions that are not at issue in this case.
States, immigrants and rights group sued almost immediately, and lower courts quickly barred enforcement of the order while the lawsuits proceed.
The current fight is over the rules that apply while the lawsuits go forward.
A woman from CASA Maryland holds her 9-month-old baby as she joins others in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The court's liberal justices seemed firmly in support of the lower court rulings that found the changes to citizenship that Trump wants to make would upset the settled understanding of birthright citizenship that has existed for more than 125 years.
Birthright citizenship is an odd case to use to scale back nationwide injunctions, Justice Elena Kagan said. “Every court has ruled against you,” she told Sauer.
If the government wins on today's arguments, it could still enforce the order against people who haven't sued, Kagan said. “All of those individuals are going to win. And the ones who can't afford to go to court, they're the ones who are going to lose,” she said.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson described the administration's approach as “catch me if you can,” forcing everyone to file suit to get “the government to stop violating people's rights.”
Several conservative justices who might be open to limiting nationwide injunctions also wanted to know the practical effects of such a decision as well as how quickly the court could reach a final decision on the Trump executive order.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh pressed Sauer with a series of questions about how the federal government might enforce Trump's order.
“What do hospitals do with a newborn? What do states do with a newborn?” he said.
Sauer said they wouldn't necessarily do anything different, but the government might figure out ways to reject documentation with “the wrong designation of citizenship.”
The Supreme Court at sunset in Washington, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
Kavanaugh continued to push for clearer answers, pointing out that the executive order gave the government only about 30 days to develop a policy. “You think they can get it together in time?” he said.
The Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, has complained that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone instead of just the parties before the court.
Picking up on that theme, Justice Samuel Alito said he meant no disrespect to the nation's district judges when he opined that they sometimes suffer from an “occupational disease which is the disease of thinking that ‘I am right and I can do whatever I want.'”
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor was among several justices who raised the confusing patchwork of rules that would result if the court orders were narrowed and new restrictions on citizenship could temporarily take effect in more than half the country.
Some children might be “stateless,” Sotomayor said, because they'd be denied citizenship in the U.S. as well as the countries their parents fled to avoid persecution.
New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, representing 22 states that sued, said citizenship could “turn on and off” for children crossing the Delaware River between Camden, New Jersey, where affected children would be citizens, and Philadelphia, where they wouldn't be. Pennsylvania is not part of the lawsuit.
One possible solution for the court might be to find a way to replace nationwide injunctions with certification of a class action, a lawsuit in which individuals serve as representatives of a much larger group of similarly situated people.
Tanjam Jacobson, of Silver Spring, Md., holds a sign saying “Citizenship is a Birthright,” Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside the Supreme Court in Washington. Jacobson is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in England of Indian descent, and her son was born here. “This is something that really matters,” says Jacobson, “it's so wrong against the constitution [to take away birthright citizenship].” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Such a case could be filed and acted upon quickly and might even apply nationwide.
But under questioning from Justice Amy Coney Barrett and others, Sauer said the Trump administration could well oppose such a lawsuit or potentially try to slow down class actions.
Supreme Court arguments over emergency appeals are rare. The justices almost always deal with the underlying substance of a dispute.
But the administration didn't ask the court to take on the larger issue now and, if the court sides with the administration over nationwide injunctions, it's unclear how long inconsistent rules on citizenship would apply to children born in the United States.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
FILE -This photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, shows a Dick's Sporting Goods sign at a store in Miami. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)
Dick's Sporting Goods is buying the struggling footwear chain Foot Locker for about $2.4 billion, the second buyout of a major footwear company in as many weeks as business leaders struggle with uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Dick's said Thursday that it expects to run Foot Locker as a standalone unit and keep the Foot Locker brands, which include Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and Japanese sneaker brand atmos.
“Sports and sports culture continue to be incredibly powerful, and with this acquisition, we'll create a new global platform that serves those ever evolving needs through iconic concepts consumers know and love, enhanced store designs and omnichannel experiences, as well as a product mix that appeals to our different customer bases,” Dick's CEO Lauren Hobart said in a statement.
Both companies are led by women. Hobart became CEO at Dick's in 2021, while Mary Dillon has served as CEO of Foot Locker since 2022.
Foot Locker announced a turnaround plan in 2023 in part to help improve its relationship with big brands. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Retail Round Up Conference last month, Dillon said that Foot Locker is working closely with Nike, specifically in categories including basketball, sneaker culture and kids.
Earlier this month Skechers announced that it was being taken private by the investment firm by 3G Capital in a transaction worth more than $9 billion.
The retail industry has been growing increasingly concerned over Trump's trade war with other countries, particularly China. Athletic shoe makers have invested heavily in production in Asia.
Shares of sporting goods and athletic shoe companies have been under pressure all year. Foot Locker's stock has plunged 41% this year. It is also facing pressure elsewhere, with major athletic companies like Nike and Adidas shifting their sales strategies.
Skechers had fallen almost 8% this year.
About 97% of the clothes and shoes purchased in the U.S. are imported, predominantly from Asia, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association. Using factories overseas has kept labor costs down for U.S. companies, but neither they nor their overseas suppliers are likely to absorb price increases due to new tariffs.
Foot Locker, based in New York City, offers Dick's a lot of potential, namely its huge real estate footprint, and would give the Pittsburgh company its first foothold overseas.
Foot Locker has about 2,400 retail stores across 20 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It also has a licensed store presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The company had global sales of $8 billion last year.
Jefferies analyst Jonathan Matuszewski said that about 33% of Foot Locker's sales come from outside the United States. He anticipates that the combined company would generate approximately 12% of sales internationally on a pro forma basis.
The deal also broadens Dick's customer base, with sneaker collectors anxiously anticipating new drops from Foot Locker.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in an emailed statement that Foot Locker, which has a 4.3% share of the sporting goods market, would give an immediate boost to Dick's.
“It would also give Dick's substantially more bargaining power with national brands, especially in the sneaker space,” he added.
Foot Locker shareholders can choose to receive either $24 in cash or 0.1168 shares of Dick's common stock for each Foot Locker share that they own.
Dick's said that it anticipates closing on the Foot Locker deal in the second half of the year. The transaction still needs approval from Foot Locker shareholders.
Dick's stock dropped more than 10% before the market open, while shares of Foot Locker surged more than 82%.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Tawanda Jones leads a vigil outside of Baltimore City Hall on Oct. 21, 2015, for her brother, Tyrone West, who died during an encounter with police. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Family members of Anton Black, from left, LaToya Holley; father, Antone Black, and mother, Jennell Black, speak during a news conference Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks at a news conference on Thursday, May 15, 2025 in Annapolis, Md., Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is standing right. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
In this image from video, Dr. David Fowler, a retired forensic pathologist and former chief medical examiner for the state of Maryland testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides, on April 14, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Chauvin is charged in the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. (Court TV via AP, Pool, File)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks at a news conference on Thursday, May 15, 2025 in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — An audit of Maryland autopsies has uncovered at least 36 deaths in police custody that should have been considered homicides, state officials announced Thursday following a comprehensive review of such cases spurred by widespread concerns about the former state medical examiner's testimony in the death of George Floyd.
Medical examiners under Dr. David Fowler displayed racial and pro-police bias, according to the review. They were “especially unlikely to classify a death as a homicide if the decedent was Black, or if they died after being restrained by police,” Attorney General Anthony Brown said during a news conference.
“These findings have profound implications across our justice system,” Brown said. “They speak to systemic issues rather than individual conduct.”
The auditors reviewed 87 in-custody death cases after medical experts called Fowler's work into question because he testified that police weren't responsible for Floyd's death. The Maryland team focused on cases in which people died suddenly after being restrained, often by police, officials said.
Three-person panels evaluated each autopsy and, in 36 cases, they unanimously concluded that the deaths should have been classified as homicides but were not. In five more cases, two of the three reviewers came to that conclusion.
Fowler didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore said he has signed an executive order directing Brown to review the 41 cases and determine if any should be reopened for investigation.
Moore acknowledged the families whose loved ones have died in police custody, some of whom have been “screaming for this type of analysis — and have been met with silence.” He also acknowledged the many members of law enforcement who do their jobs honorably and protect the public.
Moore said he has also created a statewide task force to study the deaths of people restrained in law enforcement custody. He said the state won't shy away from rooting out misconduct and working to create a more equitable justice system.
Among a list of recommendations, the review suggested better training for law enforcement officers on the dangers of improper restraint techniques. It also directed the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to create standardized procedures for investigating restraint-related deaths.
The governor described the review as the first of its kind in the nation, saying he hopes it will provide a model for similar investigations elsewhere.
In a national investigation published last year, The Associated Press and its reporting partners found that medical examiners and coroners, whose rulings have huge consequences in the courts, can face pressure from law enforcement to exonerate officers. Some medical officials based their decisions not on physical evidence, but instead on whether they believed police intended to kill.
When deaths are ruled accidental, prosecutions of officers are exceedingly rare — of 443 cases that were ruled accidental, just two resulted in criminal charges. A family's chances of winning a wrongful death lawsuit also become much tougher.
While the audit findings are troubling, Maryland officials said they don't suggest intentional or malicious conduct. They emphasized that a homicide classification simply means someone died because of another person's action, not necessarily that the officers involved should be prosecuted.
Fowler, who testified for the defense at the 2021 murder trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, attributed Floyd's death to a sudden heart rhythm disturbance as a result of his heart disease — a widely rejected theory that did little to persuade the jury. Chauvin was ultimately convicted of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.
After his conviction, 400 medical experts signed a letter to the Maryland attorney general asserting that Fowler's testimony deviated way outside the bounds of accepted forensic practice. In addition to citing heart problems, he classified the manner of death as “undetermined” rather than “homicide.”
The letter called for an investigation to determine whether the office's in-custody death determinations under Fowler's leadership exhibited certain bias, among other potential issues.
Officials said Thursday that their audit found a troubling systemic pattern.
Nearly half of the reviewed cases cited “excited delirium” as a cause of death, a diagnosis that has been debunked by medical experts in recent years. Critics say it was often used to justify excessive force by police. The report recommended that medical examiners stop using the term altogether.
Fowler was Maryland's chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019.
In 2023, state officials approved a settlement agreement that reformed the process for conducting autopsies on people killed in police custody.
That change came in response to the 2018 death of Anton Black, who died in police custody on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His death was captured on video, which showed police in rural Greensboro holding the unarmed teenager down for more than six minutes. Fowler ruled that Black died because of a sudden cardiac event while struggling with police — not because they pinned him in a prone position. His death was declared an accident.
Fowler similarly ruled that Tyrone West died of natural causes after struggling with Baltimore police following a traffic stop in 2013. Witnesses and the officers themselves said there was a violent struggle between the officers and West. His manner of death was undetermined, according to the autopsy.
Both Black and West are now included on the list of cases that should have been ruled homicides.
Tawanda Jones, West's sister who has held weekly rallies for 616 weeks to highlight his case, said she feels something positive will come from the investigation. “They're finally listening to me now,” Jones said. “It feels good that finally they're listening.”
Fowler's tenure also included the death of Freddie Gray 10 years ago. The autopsy concluded Gray died from spinal injuries sustained during transport in a Baltimore police van. It also classified his death as a homicide because officers repeatedly failed to seek medical attention while he was in distress. Prosecutors filed charges against six officers, but none were convicted.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks during a news conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Feb. 22, 2024. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP, File)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure Thursday prohibiting local governments from adding fluoride to their water systems, making it the second state in the country after Utah to implement a statewide ban on the mineral.
DeSantis signed the bill at a public event in Dade City, Florida, over the concerns of dentists and public health advocates.
“Yes, use fluoride for your teeth, that's fine, but forcing it in the water supply is basically forced medication on people,” DeSantis said Thursday. “They don't have a choice, you're taking that away from them.”
State lawmakers approved the bill last month, requiring the mineral and some other additives be removed from water sources across the state. Utah was the first state to ban fluoride in late March, and its prohibition went into effect last week, while Florida's provision is effective July 1.
Some local governments in Florida have already voted to remove fluoride from their water, ahead of the statewide ban. Earlier this month, Miami-Dade County commissioners voted to override a veto by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and move forward with plans to remove fluoride from the county's drinking water.
“Water fluoridation is a safe, effective, and efficient way to maintain dental health in our county – and halting it could have long-lasting health consequences, especially for our most vulnerable families,” Levine Cava said in a statement defending her veto.
Some Republican-led states have sought to impose bans following a push by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop fluoridating water. Earlier this month, DeSantis pledged to sign the bill and was flanked by the state's surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, who has attracted national scrutiny over his opposition to policies embraced by public health experts, including COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Fluoride is a mineral that has been added to drinking water for generations to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Excess fluoride intake has been associated with streaking or spots on teeth. And studies also have traced a link between excess fluoride and brain development.
—-
Payne, who reported from Tallahassee, Florida, is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on the Pentagon's warning about a drone risk on 'Special Report.'
FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of drones that traipsed over Langley Air Force base in late 2023 revealed an astonishing oversight: Military officials did not believe they had the authority to shoot down the unmanned vehicles over the U.S. homeland.
A new bipartisan bill, known as the COUNTER Act, seeks to rectify that, offering more bases the opportunity to become a "covered facility," or one that has the authority to shoot down drones that encroach on their airspace.
The new bill has broad bipartisan and bicameral support, giving it a greater chance of becoming law. It's led by Armed Services Committee members Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in the Senate, and companion legislation is being introduced by August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., in the House.
Currently, only half of the 360 domestic U.S. bases are considered "covered facilities" that are allowed to engage with unidentified drones. The legislation expands the narrow definition of a covered facility under current statute to allow all military facilities that have a well-defined perimeter to apply for approval that allows them to engage with drones.
PENTAGON LACKS COUNTER-DRONE PROCEDURE LEADING TO INCURSIONS LIKE AT LANGLEY, EXPERTS SAY
Legislation led by Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in the Senate would expand domestic military base authority to shoot drones down. (Reuters)
The legislation also stipulates that the secretary of defense delegate authority to combatant commanders to engage drone attacks, cutting down on time to get approval through the chain of command in emergency situations.
"Leaving American military facilities vulnerable to drone incursions puts our service members, the general public and our national security at risk," Cotton said.
For more than two weeks in December 2023, a swarm of mystery drones flew into restricted airspace over Langley, home to key national security facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters.
Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do, other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities.
To this day, the Pentagon has said little about the incidents, other than to confirm that they occurred. Whether it knows where the drones came from or what they were doing is unclear.
"As commercial drones become more commonplace, we must ensure that they are not being used to share sensitive information with our adversaries, to conduct attacks against our service members, or otherwise pose a threat to our national security," Gillibrand said.
PLANES, STARS AND HOBBYISTS: LAWMAKERS INSIST NOTHING ‘NEFARIOUS' IS HAPPENING IN NJ SKIES
Dozens of drones that traipsed over Langley Air Force base in late 2023 revealed an astonishing oversight: military officials did not believe they had the authority to shoot down the unmanned vehicles over the U.S. homeland (Kaitlin McKeown/Daily Press/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
As defense-minded lawmakers sought more answers, Langley officials referred them to the FBI, who referred them to Northern Command, who referred them to local law enforcement, a congressional source told Fox News Digital last year.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, chief of Northern Command (NORCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said in February that there were over 350 unauthorized drone detections over military bases last year.
"The primary threat I see for them in the way they've been operating is detection and perhaps surveillance of sensitive capabilities on our installations," he said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "There were 350 detections reported last year on military installations, and that was 350 over a total of 100 different installations of all types and levels of security."
A surge in mysterious drone activity over New Jersey late last year and early this year prompted mass confusion.
Guillot said that regulations on UAV countermeasures created "significant vulnerabilities that have been exploited by known and unknown actors."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
He advocated for what the new legislation would do: expand Section 130i of Title 10, which pertains to the protection of "certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft."
"I would propose and advocate for expansion of 130i [authorities] to include all military installations, not just covered installations," Guillot said during the hearing. "I'd also like to see the range expanded to slightly beyond the installation, so they don't have to wait for the threat to get over the installation before they can address it, because many of these systems can use side looking or slant range, and so they could … surveil the base from outside the perimeter. And under the current authorities, we can't address that."
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
Live Updates
• Trump in Abu Dhabi: President Donald Trump is in the United Arab Emirates, the third and final stop of his Middle East trip after he visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Trump invited UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to the White House during a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.
• Trump's events earlier today: The president started the day in Qatar, where he spoke to American troops at the biggest US military installation in the Middle East and suggested progress on Iran nuclear negotiations, Russia-Ukraine talks, a potential India tariff deal, and the possibility of a Gaza “freedom zone.”
• Qatar deal: His trip has yielded a growing list of deals after a series of meetings with regional leaders. Trump and Qatar's emir signed a deal for Qatar to buy up to 210 American-made Boeing planes. Ahead of his trip, Trump said he plans to accept a plane from Qatar to be used as Air Force One — raising legal, ethical and security concerns.
President Donald Trump invited United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the White House during a bilateral meeting between the two leaders in the UAE.
“Let me have one month of fixing up the Oval Office, in other words, getting things ready. And I look forward to having you in the White House we'll celebrate together,” the president said on Thursday.
Trump appeared to be referring to the UAE's announcement in March that they would invest $1.4 trillion over 10 years focused on AI, semiconductors, manufacturing, and energy.
The UAE's existing US investments already total $1 trillion, according to its embassy in Washington.
President Donald Trump has spent the day on Thursday in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as he visited the largest US military installation in the Middle East and participated in a business roundtable with Qatari leaders before traveling to Abu Dhabi and touring the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Catch up below on key moments from Trump's Thursday in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates:
Roundtable with business leaders: Trump participated in a business roundtable with Qatari leaders, where he praised Syria's interim leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, floated the idea of a Gaza “freedom zone” and appeared to indicate that the US has reached a trade deal with India.
“India is the highest – one of the highest tariff nations in the world. It's very hard to sell into India, and they've offered us a deal where, basically, they're willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Trump said during the roundtable in Doha.
Visit to US military installation in Qatar: Trump thanked US troops for political support and said his priority is to end wars, but won't hesitate to “wield American power if it's required,” during a campaign rally-style visit to the largest US military installation in the Middle East, the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
“My priority is to end conflicts, not start them, but I will never hesitate to wield American power, if it's necessary, to defend the United States of America or our partners, and this is one of our great partners right here,” he said.
Trip to Abu Dhabi: Trump traveled aboard Air Force One from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the third and final stop on his tour of the Middle East.
He was feted with drums, chanting, and a military honor guard lining a hallway as he arrived at the presidential flight terminal in Abu Dhabi.
Grand Mosque: Trump toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque moments after arriving in Abu Dhabi, calling the rare closure of the Emirati cultural and religious landmark for his presidential visit a “great tribute.”
Trump's evening: The president is set to participate in bilateral meetings at the UAE presidential palace.
What's expected on Friday: Trump plans to wrap up his trip to the Middle East by participating in a US & UAE business family photo and roundtable before touring the Abrahamic Family House.
CNN's Betsy Klein and Shania Shelton contributed reporting to this post.
While President Donald Trump is in the United Arab Emirates, back in the US House Speaker Mike Johnson is meeting today with competing House GOP factions — House Freedom Caucus members and New York Republicans — as he attempts to strike a deal on the state and local tax deduction cap in Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts bill.
New York Republicans who arrived for the meeting, including Reps. Elise Stefanik, Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota, have been advocating for the SALT cap to be raised higher than $30,000.
LaLota reiterated that the $30,000 cap is “not a fix for us” and “I don't think it's a fix for the president.”
“Members of Congress who represent these districts throughout the country are through a deliberative process right now, haggling over in maybe an Apprentice-like style over what will be in the beautiful bill,” Lalota told reporters.
Ahead of the meeting with Johnson, conservative hardliner Rep. Chip Roy argued that the House reconciliation bill “must change.”
“It 1) increases debt by $20T (to over $56T in a decade), 2) backloads savings (typical swamp), 3) locks in place Obamacare's failing Medicaid expansion subsidizing able-bodied over vulnerable & likely pressuring no-expansion states to expand, 4) delays work requirements til AFTER Trump & includes massive waiver, 5) delays IRA subsidy repeal until after Trump, 6) many other issues,” he posted on X.
President Donald Trump toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque moments after arriving in Abu Dhabi, calling the rare closure of the Emirati cultural and religious landmark for his presidential visit a “great tribute.”
“Is this beautiful? It is so beautiful. Very proud of my friends, this is an incredible culture, that I can say,” Trump said in brief remarks inside the Al Noor Foyer.
Trump continued: “This is the first time they've closed the mosque for the day. First time they've closed it. It's an honor of the United States, I think. Better than an honor that's given to the country, but it's a great tribute, thank you.”
He asked the press if they were “having a good time.”
Joined by the mosque's director, the acting director of the Culture and Knowledge Department and other officials, Trump arrived at the Al Noor entrance and observed the mosque's exterior through the Sahan Courtyard. He then strode along the mosque's long, outdoor marble walkway with intricate floral columns.
Inside, Trump admired the Al Noor Foyer, the main prayer room, decorated with geometric patterns, impressive stonework, gilded columns, colorful chandeliers and a patterned traditional rug – the largest handmade carpet in the world, according to pool reporters traveling with the president.
He observed a carved, gilded wall with his guides, and later stood atop the center of the rug and posed for a photo.
President Donald Trump's remarks ahead of his visit to the United Arab Emirates show that the relationship between Washington and Gulf Arab states is “beyond transactional,” UAE Minister of Education Sarah Al Amiri said.
“This is a beneficial relationship to both nations, and this is a relationship that will create deep-rooted ties,” Al Amiri told CNN's Becky Anderson on Thursday, adding that “this is what we're looking for here in the UAE.”
The UAE is looking to diversify its economy, Al Amiri said, especially in fields of artificial intelligence and technology.
“We are in the perfect stage today to take on this paradigm shift that artificial intelligence is going to take on, and that's why we've invested in it so early,” she said.
Perhaps more than any other Gulf state, the UAE sees investment as central to its strategy for deepening ties with the US and securing returns – and it has money to back it up.
Abu Dhabi seeks to become a global leader in AI by 2031, a goal it is unlikely to achieve without American microchips. Under the Biden administration, the US had tightened curbs on AI exports to keep advanced technology out of the hands of foreign adversaries like China.
President Donald Trump was feted with drums, chanting, and a military honor guard lining a hallway as he arrived at the presidential flight terminal in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Trump processed through the arrival ceremony, warmly greeting UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other Emirati officials as children waved American and Emirati flags. Men in traditional green robes held swords and others in white robes stood with orange guns raised to the ceiling. A line of women in white robes danced and tossed their long, dark hair back and forth as part of the ceremony, a traditional Gulf dance.
The hallway appeared to be part of a large jet bridge that was attached directly to Air Force One.
Trump, who is keenly aware of the stagecraft of a presidential visit, has been received with grand displays of fanfare at each of his three Middle Eastern stops as all of his hosts seek to bolster ties with the US. In Doha, the presidential motorcade was escorted by a cavalry of red Tesla Cybertrucks and passed mounted camels and Arabian horses. And in Riyadh, Trump was welcomed with a royal purple carpet arrival ceremony and a 21-gun salute.
After a private greeting with the Emirati president, Trump is on the move to Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a major landmark in Abu Dhabi.
President Donald Trump was met with drums, chanting, and a military honor guard lining a hallway as he arrived at the presidential flight terminal in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Thursday. #CNN #News
President Donald Trump told reporters that when it comes to peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, “nothing is going to happen until” he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Nothing's gonna happen until Putin and I get together, ok? And obviously — he wasn't going to go. He was going to go, but he thought I was going. He wasn't going if I wasn't there and I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he landed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Trump added that he was not disappointed that the Russian delegation sent to Turkey Thursday for high-level talks with Ukraine did not include Putin: “I'm not disappointed in anything.”
He continued, “I'm not disappointed. Why would I be? We just took in $4 trillion, and you're disappointed about a delegation? I know nothing about a delegation, I haven't even checked.”
More on the talks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he won't meet with any Russian representatives in Turkey besides Putin. He called the delegation who showed up Thursday “phony.”
Trump indicated earlier Thursday that a trip to Turkey could still be on the table, keeping the option open even after top officials said there were no plans to do so.
“If something happened, I'd go on Friday if it was appropriate,” he said during a business roundtable in Doha.
Trump had vowed to end Russia's war in Ukraine on his first day in office, a resolution that has proven elusive. Since then, he has said he was exaggerating.
President Donald Trump is traveling aboard Air Force One from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the third and final stop on his tour of the Middle East.
In Qatar, the president highlighted key investments in Boeing, but also made news on Iran nuclear negotiations, Russia-Ukraine talks, a potential India tariff deal, and the possibility of a Gaza “freedom zone.”
He addressed thousands of US troops at Al Udeid Air Base, marking his largest crowd of the trip and an effort to highlight US-Qatari security ties.
Trump was also greeted with much fanfare by the country's emir and treated to a state dinner.
The president is expected to tour Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and attend a state dinner in Abu Dhabi upon his arrival.
President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked US troops for political support during a campaign rally-style visit to a US installation in Qatar, telling troops stationed at Al Udeid Air Base that “nobody's been stronger than the military in terms of backing us.”
“There's – nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us, nobody. So, I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor. Thank you very much,” Trump said at the largest US military installation in the Middle East, a base highlighting the deep security ties between the US and Qatar.
Trump, who is on the second of three stops in the Middle East, also repeated baseless claims of 2020 election fraud while on foreign soil, noting calls to seek a fourth term.
“We won three elections, okay? And some people want us to do a fourth. I don't know. Have to think about that,” he said.
President Donald Trump said his priority is to end wars, but he won't hesitate to “wield American power if it's required,” while addressing US troops in Qatar on Thursday.
Trump visited the Al Udeid Air Base, which houses 10,000 American troops and plays a critical role in US foreign policy, on his first major international presidential visit of his second term.
“My priority is to end conflicts, not start them, but I will never hesitate to wield American power, if it's necessary, to defend the United States of America or our partners, and this is one of our great partners right here,” he said.
President Donald Trump is speaking at the largest US military installation in the Middle East, the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
The base houses more than 10,000 troops and has played a pivotal role in US foreign policy over the last two decades.
President Donald Trump on Thursday morning appeared to indicate that the US has reached a trade deal with India, in which, India is “willing to literally charge us no tariff.”
“India is the highest – one of the highest tariff nations in the world. It's very hard to sell into India, and they've offered us a deal where, basically, they're willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Trump said during a roundtable with business leaders in Doha.
He continued, “So we go from the highest tariff – you couldn't do business in India. We're not even a top 30 (importer) in India because the tariff is so high, to a point where they have actually told us, I assume you too, (Treasury Secretary) Scott (Bessent), you were working on that also, that there will be no tariff, right? Would you say that's a difference? They're the highest, and now they're saying no tariff.”
On his so-called “liberation day,” Trump imposed 26% tariffs on India. The US has a $45.6 billion trading deficit with India.
As President Donald Trump makes his way to the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, the warm-up acts have already begun for a few thousand troops waiting to see their commander-in-chief.
“What's up Al Udeid? Thank you guys for having me,” said Theo Von, an American comedian-turned-podcaster, who took the stage to booming applause. “They said ‘do you want to go to the Middle East?' I said ‘the Middle East of what, Kentucky?'”
Von was among the right-leaning podcasters whose support of Trump in the presidential campaign was credited with helping to win the support of many young men. Today, he offered a few jokes at the president's expense.
“One of the most famous suntans in the world is here today, Donald Trump!” Von said. “That dude has the best one. He's got a tone of his own. He sunbathes at a Sherwin-Williams, dude.”
Lee Greenwood, the country music star whose “God Bless the USA” has become the anthem of Trump campaign rallies over the past decade, is also on hand here on the base outside of Doha.
Some background: Trump is making his first visit to Al Udeid Air base, which houses more than 10,000 troops and has played a pivotal role in US foreign policy over the last two decades. It served as a critical launching pad for airstrikes and intelligence missions over Afghanistan and was the main CENTCOM base following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It's the largest audience the president will face on his trip across the Middle East this week. He is expected to take a tour of base facilities before giving a rally-style speech to troops.
President Donald Trump on Thursday again proposed the idea of the US taking over Gaza, offering the idea of a “freedom zone” as he continued to muse about redeveloping the war-torn enclave.
“If it's necessary, I think I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone. Let some good things happen, put people in homes where they can be safe and Hamas is going to have to be dealt with,” Trump said at a business roundtable in Doha with top Qatari officials.
Trump's efforts to end the Israel-Hamas conflict have so far proven elusive, and the former real estate developer has previously floated the idea of the US taking control and developing Gaza.
“We're working very hard on Gaza, and Gaza's been a territory of death and destruction for many years. And you know, I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good: make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone, have a real freedom zone,” Trump said.
He continued, “They've never solved the Gaza problem and if you look at it, I have aerial shots, I mean there's practically no building standing, there's no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable, it's tremendous death. And I want to see that be a freedom zone.”
On the ground: Almost 70 people were killed overnight in Gaza as a week of intense Israeli strikes continues.
Israeli strikes killed 57 people in Khan Younis, according to a list from the Nasser Hospital mortuary. Videos supplied by local journalists show young children among those killed and bodies filling the mortuary at the hospital, with staff saying it was “packed with bodies.”
CNN's Kareem Khadder contributed to this report.
Donald Trump's perceived domestic political enemies appeared to remain top of mind during his Middle Eastern sojourn. The president took aim at Democrats and the media in Doha on Thursday even as he appeared at an event ostensibly aimed at heralding business deals with Qatar.
Former Transportation Secretary and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg reemerged on the national stage this week for a town hall in Iowa amid speculation about a 2028 presidential bid – and Trump took time to mock him in Doha.
As he praised his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for “working right now on the airports and getting a system,” Trump slammed the Biden administration and Buttigieg's bicycling commute.
“Biden didn't do a thing for four years, and Pete Buttigieg was the head. And he goes bicycling into work. He takes a bicycle to work. Can you believe? He's running the biggest air system in the world, and he takes a bicycle to work,” Trump said, surrounded by Qatari leaders.
“And they say he's going to run for president. I don't see it. Who knows, right? But I don't see it.”
Trump has largely ignored the long-held presidential norms of avoiding criticism domestic political opponents while traveling abroad, personally attacking his predecessor for the second day in a row.
“Biden was so bad, worst president we've ever had by far. There was never a president like this. This man was grossly incompetent, and now that's been proven, but people were able to see how bad it is, and it gave me a mandate.”
As he visits a region where a free press is not guaranteed, Trump called the media “enemies.”
“This has been a very historic trip. I watched some of the people talking about it, and even what I would perceive as enemies of ours, people that are not fair from the press, are saying it's been amazing,” he said, later referencing an outlet he described as an “enemy paper.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday continued to express hope for a nuclear agreement with Iran, suggesting progress even as he warned of a “violent step” if a deal is not reached.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: they're not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust. We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
He reiterated that Iran “can't have a nuclear weapon” and suggested that negotiators are “getting very close to maybe doing a deal.”
His top foreign envoy Steve Witkoff held a fourth round of talks with Iranian counterparts on Sunday, with discussions expected to continue in the coming days.
Trump offered two options: “There's a very, very nice step, and there's a violent step, the violence like people haven't seen before, and I don't – I hope we're not going to have to do this. I don't want to do the second step. Some people do. Many people do. I don't want to do that step. So we'll see what happens.”
Global oil prices fell after Trump's comments that the talks had made progress. A potential US-Iran nuclear deal raises the prospect of more of Tehran's oil becoming available on the global market, boosting overall supply.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell over 3% Thursday morning to $64 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the US oil benchmark, was trading down 3.5% to almost $61 a barrel around the same time.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian offered less optimistic language on Wednesday, lambasting remarks made by Trump earlier in his Middle East tour.
Seated at a business roundtable with Qatari leaders, Trump vowed that the US would “protect” Iran's neighbor.
“For this country in particular, because you're right next door, you're a stone's throw away, not even, right? You're a foot away. You can walk right into Iran. Other countries are much further away, so probably it's not quite the same level of danger, but we are going to protect this country, this very special place with a special royal family.”
CNN's Anna Cooban contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he was not disappointed by news that Vladimir Putin will not attend Ukraine war talks in Turkey, saying he didn't expect Putin to attend the talks that the Russian leader himself suggested.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would not attend the direct talks, which were first proposed by the president in response to the ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Ukraine's European allies on Saturday.
In a subsequent post to social media, Trump called on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”
On Thursday, Trump told reporters in Qatar he “didn't anticipate” Putin's participation when asked if he was disappointed by the Russian president's absence at the talks.
“No, I didn't anticipate (Putin would go). I actually said, ‘Why would he go if I'm not going?' Because I wasn't going to go. I wasn't planning to. I would go, but I wasn't planning to go. And I said, ‘I don't think he's going to go if I don't go.' And that turned out to be right,” Trump said.
He continued, “I didn't think it was possible for Putin to go if I'm not there.”
Trump repeatedly floated the possibility of traveling to Turkey to join the talks, which would have upended his Middle East trip.
“I was thinking about going,” Trump said Thursday in what could be an attempt to save face, but once more kept the option open:
“If something happened, I'd go on Friday if it was appropriate.”
CNN's Ivana Kottasova and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.
Donald Trump again praised Syria's interim leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Thursday, characterizing the former jihadist-turned-president as someone with a “strong past.”
“I met the new leader of the country, and he's got a, you know, strong past… I think he'll be a great representative, and we'll see,” Trump said at a roundtable with business leaders in Qatar ostensibly aimed at highlighting new investment in Boeing.
Trump's comments underscore his frequent efforts to publicly praise and admire strongmen leaders.
“You're gonna have to have a strong past to put that one around. You can't – you cannot be a weak person. If you're a weak person, we would just be wasting time. So he's a strong guy, and I thought he was good, and let's see what happens. But we're going to give him a fighting chance by taking off the sanctions.”
Trump announced Tuesday that he plans to lift sanctions on Syria following last year's fall of the Assad regime.
Trump and Al-Sharaa held a key meeting Wednesday in Riyadh as the US explores the possibility of normalizing diplomatic relations with Syria.
Some background: Until recently, al-Sharaa had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Once known by his militant nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, he was placed on the US Specially Designated Global Terrorist list in 2013 for heading al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria. But in 2016, he broke away from the group, according to the US Center for Naval Analyses.
CNN's Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected remarks made by Donald Trump during his Middle East tour, saying the US president is “naive” for thinking Iran will give in.
Trump “is naive for thinking that he can come to our region, threaten us, and hope that we back down against his demands. We will never negotiate our dignity. This is in the blood of every Iranian,” Pezeshkian told academics on Wednesday, according to Iranian media.
“You have tried to bring Iran to its knees for the past 47 years. We have existed for thousands of years and will continue as one for the years to come.”
Some context: At the Saudi-US investment forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Trump called Iran the “biggest and most destructive” of forces in the Middle East, saying “enemies get you motivated.”
Trump's comments come amid nuclear talks between the US and Iran. Trump said he wants to sign a nuclear deal with Iran, but that there will be a price to pay if Tehran rejects a deal.
“If Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure,” Trump said.
Trump repeated his threats on Wednesday, saying he doesn't want nuclear talks in Iran to take a “violent course.”
“I mean, two courses, there's only two courses. There aren't three or four or five, there's two. There's a friendly and a non-friendly, and non-friendly is a violent course, and I don't want that. I'll say it up front. I don't want that, but they have to get moving.”
Pezeshkian said “Iran will continue its progress with or without a deal.”
President Donald Trump is “open to virtually any mechanism to get us to a just, enduring and lasting peace” in Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, Turkey.
Rubio also repeated the Trump administration's position that there is “no military solution” to the war started by Russia's invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
Trump is not going to Turkey to mediate today's expected meeting between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul. He had repeatedly hinted that he might upend his Middle East trip to join negotiations after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be “grateful” for his presence and Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin would “like me to be there.”
Putin is also skipping the talks.
The US and Saudi Arabia inked a $142 billion defense partnership on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates are among the top 15 largest importers of weapons globally. A large proportion of their imports comes from the US.
American companies, led by Lockheed Martin, are the largest producers of arms worldwide.
Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman, and Kelly Ortberg, CEO of Boeing, joined Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, alongside other American business leaders, at a lunch in Riyadh's Saudi Royal Court on Tuesday— according to a list provided by the White House.
President Donald Trump met with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after the US leader said that he planned to lift sanctions on Syria.
CNN's Becky Anderson explains why the meeting was so significant:
In a historic meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, President Trump met with Syrian jihadist-turned-president Ahmed al-Sharaa and announced plans to lift sanctions on Syria. CNN's Becky Anderson breaks down who the Syrian leader is and why this meeting was so significant. #cnn #trump
An opulent welcome: Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani greeted US President Donald Trump atop a red carpet.
Then Trump's motorcade was escorted through the streets of Doha by a cavalry of red Tesla Cybertrucks, a nod to the president's senior adviser, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The motorcade was greeted at Amiri Diwan, the administrative offices of the emir, by dozens of mounted camels and Arabian horses.
Seated in plush, gilded chairs at a tea ceremony, the emir lavished praise on his guest, saying Trump was “the first American president to officially to visit Qatar.”
A Boeing deal: Economic deals totalling more than $243 billion between the US and Qatar were announced, including an agreement for Doha to purchase jets from US manufacturer Boeing for Qatar Airways.
A White House fact sheet said it was a $96 billion agreement to acquire up to 210 American-made Boeing planes, contradicting Trump, who said the deal was worth $200 billion and included 160 jets.
Boeing could use the help; it has faced a string of safety incidents and financial troubles in recent years.
The deal was inked days after Trump said he planned to accept a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar to be used initially as Air Force One — raising legal, ethical and security concerns and drawing widespread criticism.
The Qatari prime minister and minister of foreign affairs told CNN's Becky Anderson the offer was simply a “government-to-government transaction,” not a personal gift to Trump, adding that the matter was “still under legal review.”
Other agreements signed in Qatar: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth signed defense agreements, including a statement of intent on cooperation between the countries. Hegseth also signed offer and acceptance letters for MQ 9B aircrafts and FS-LIDS. And Trump signed a joint declaration of cooperation between the two countries.
Kit Maher contributed to this post.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
A Cuban immigrant 30 weeks into a high-risk pregnancy is dealing with the additional stress of not knowing for sure that her baby girl will be a U.S. citizen, as the Supreme Court weighs President Trump's birthright citizenship order. (AP Video: Nathan Ellgren)
Hannah Liu, 26, of Washington, holds up a sign in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. “This is enshrined in the Constitution. My parents are Chinese immigrants,” says Liu. “They came here on temporary visas so I derive my citizenship through birthright.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A woman from CASA Maryland holds her 9-month-old baby as she joins others in support of birthright citizenship, Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside of the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Tanjam Jacobson, of Silver Spring, Md., holds a sign saying “Citizenship is a Birthright,” Thursday, May 15, 2025, outside the Supreme Court in Washington. Jacobson is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in England of Indian descent, and her son was born here. “This is something that really matters,” says Jacobson, “it's so wrong against the constitution [to take away birthright citizenship].” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The Supreme Court at sunset in Washington, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
▶ Follow live updates of Thursday's oral arguments before the Supreme Court over Trump's birthright citizenship order
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday weighed whether to allow President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship to temporarily take effect in most of the country, even if they might ultimately be found to violate the Constitution.
The justices heard arguments in the Trump administration's emergency appeals over lower court orders that have kept the citizenship restrictions on hold across the country. Nationwide, or universal, injunctions have emerged as an important check on Trump's efforts to remake the government and a mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.
Judges have issued 40 nationwide injunctions since Trump began his second term in January, Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court at the start of more than two hours of arguments.
Birthright citizenship is among several issues, many related to immigration, that the administration has asked the court to address on an emergency basis, after lower courts acted to slow the president's agenda.
The justices are also considering the Trump administration's pleas to end humanitarian parole for more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and to strip other temporary legal protections from another 350,000 Venezuelans. The administration remains locked in legal battles over its efforts to swiftly deport people accused of being gang members to a prison in El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term that would deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily.
The order conflicts with a Supreme Court decision from 1898 that held that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment made citizens of all children born on U.S. with narrow exceptions that are not at issue in this case.
States, immigrants and rights group sued almost immediately, and lower courts quickly barred enforcement of the order while the lawsuits proceed.
The current fight is over the rules that apply while the lawsuits go forward.
The court's liberal justices seemed firmly in support of the lower court rulings that found the changes to citizenship that Trump wants to make would upset the settled understanding of birthright citizenship that has existed for more than 125 years.
Birthright citizenship is an odd case to use to scale back nationwide injunctions, Justice Elena Kagan said. “Every court has ruled against you,” she told Sauer.
But if the government wins on today's arguments, it could still enforce the order against people who haven't sued, Kagan said. “All of those individuals are going to win. And the ones who can't afford to go to court, they're the ones who are going to lose,” she said
Several conservative justices who might be open to limiting nationwide injunctions also wanted to know the practical effects of such a decision as well as how quickly the court could reach a final decision on the Trump executive order.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh pressed Sauer with a series of questions about how the federal government might enforce Trump's order.
“What do hospitals do with a newborn? What do states do with a newborn?” he said.
Sauer said they wouldn't necessarily do anything different, but the government might figure out ways to reject documentation with “the wrong designation of citizenship.”
Kavanaugh continued to press for clearer answers, pointing out that the executive order only gave the government about 30 days to develop a policy. “You think they can get it together in time?” he said.
The Trump administration, like the Biden administration before it, has complained that judges are overreaching by issuing orders that apply to everyone instead of just the parties before the court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was among several justices who raised the confusing patchwork of rules that would result if the court orders were narrowed and new restrictions on citizenship could temporarily take effect in 27 states.
Some children might be “stateless,” Sotomayor said, because they'd be denied citizenship in the U.S. as well as the countries their parents fled to avoid persecution.
New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, representing 22 states that sued, said citizenship could “turn on and off” for children crossing the Delaware River between Camden, New Jersey, where affected children would be citizens, and Philadelphia, where they wouldn't be. Pennsylvania is not part of the lawsuit.
One possible solution for the court might be to find a way to replace nationwide injunctions with certification of a class action, a lawsuit in which individuals serve as representatives of a much larger group of similarly situated people.
Such a case could be filed and acted upon quickly and might even apply nationwide.
But under questioning from Justice Amy Coney Barrett and others, Sauer said the Trump administration could well oppose such a lawsuit or potentially try to slow down class actions.
Supreme Court arguments over emergency appeals are rare. The justices almost always deal with the underlying substance of a dispute.
But the administration didn't ask the court to take on the larger issue now and, if the court sides with the administration over nationwide injunctions, it's unclear how long inconsistent rules on citizenship would apply to children born in the United States.
A decision is expected by the end of June.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
In a move that adds to an ever-growing stack of court interventions that have stymied the president's second-term agenda, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from targeting foreign service workers' collective bargaining rights amid an ongoing challenge against an executive order.
The American Foreign Service Association, a labor union for foreign service workers, lodged a legal challenge after President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year that, according to a White House fact sheet, aimed to "end collective bargaining with Federal unions in" various government entities "with national security missions."
"Certain Federal unions have declared war on President Trump's agenda," the release asserted. "Protecting America's national security is a core constitutional duty, and President Trump refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests."
Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — who was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton decades ago — issued the order granting the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction.
TRUMP'S NEWEST EXECUTIVE ORDER MOVES TO END COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AT AGENCIES SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY
U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Paul L. Friedman, left, and President Donald Trump. (Michel du Cille/The Washington Post via Getty Images | BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
The order signed by Friedman states, in part, that Trump's executive order "is unlawful as applied to the Defendants who are heads of agencies with employees represented by the Plaintiff."
"The effect of the Executive Order was substantial: it removed collective bargaining rights from approximately two-thirds of the federal workforce," Friedman's opinion declared, echoing verbatim a sentence included in an opinion Friedman issued last month in a similar case.
In that case, which was brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, Friedman also targeted Trump's executive order and granted a motion for a preliminary injunction.
JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS TRUMP ORDER ENDING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FOR MOST FEDERAL WORKERS
President Donald Trump departs the White House on May 12, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
American Foreign Service Association President Tom Yazdgerdi called the ruling "a significant victory—not just for our members, but for the integrity of the Foreign Service and for the accountability and transparency of our member agencies," according to a press release issued by the union.
"President Trump eliminated collective bargaining agreements that risk national security interests. He will always prioritize public safety for the American people," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement the White House provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
JUDGE UPHOLDS TRUMP'S AUTHORITY TO DEPORT CRIMINAL MIGRANTS UNDER ALIEN ENEMIES ACT
President Donald Trump signs an executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital also reached out to the Justice Department for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
A busy stretch of severe thunderstorms is underway due to record heat and now the threats are ramping up, putting major metro areas from Chicago to Nashville under threat as the country hits the peak of tornado season.
Severe thunderstorms rocked parts of the central US on Wednesday, and Thursday's storm threat spells trouble for tens of millions of people in the Midwest, where damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes, some of which could be strong, are possible.
It's part of what will likely be a week-long stretch of fierce weather—with an increasing chance of a severe storm outbreak on Friday—after a recent lull.
It's already been an incredibly busy year for tornadoes in the United States, but May is typically the busiest month of them all. This year is the third most active to date, only trailing the record-breaking 2011 season and last year's hyperactive season.
Here's what the next few days could hold:
A storm churning over the north-central US Thursday morning will fuel feisty storms later in the afternoon and evening in the Midwest.
More than 20 million people from Minnesota to Michigan and Indiana – including Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago – are under a level 3-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
A tornado watch was issued for millions of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin as thunderstorms rumbled to life Thursday afternoon.
Potent thunderstorms will continue to develop in parts of both states and expand into Illinois later in the afternoon. These storms could become very strong, very quickly, with the SPC warning of supercells – powerful, long-lived thunderstorms able to produce strong tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.
Storms will continue to expand south and push farther east overnight, eventually reaching much of the Midwest and butting into the Ohio Valley.
Strong tornadoes – rated EF2 or greater – are possible mainly during the afternoon and evening in an area from just east of Minneapolis, through Milwaukee, Chicago and into southern Michigan and northern Indiana.
Record-breaking, July-like heat has baked these locales this week, allowing the atmosphere to stock up plenty of fuel for explosive storms.
Damaging winds are likely in any storm from the afternoon on, but parts of Michigan and Indiana could feel gusts up to 75 mph late in the evening. A vast area from Minnesota and Wisconsin to parts of Missouri and Kentucky could receive hail larger than hen eggs.
A separate severe threat could develop in the afternoon in the Mid-Atlantic, where days of rain have already produced deadly flooding in Virginia. Storms with damaging wind gusts, hail and possibly a tornado are most likely in central Viriginia, but a few stronger storms might hit parts of North Carolina and Maryland, too.
A few strong thunderstorms may linger in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys early Friday, but a much more widespread severe threat could reignite in the afternoon.
A level 3-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms is in place from Missouri and Arkansas into parts of Ohio and West Virginia, according to the SPC. A smaller, but more significant level 4-of-5 risk level is also in place, centered mainly on the Mississippi Valley.
“All severe weather hazards are on the table, including damaging winds, large hail, tornadoes, and torrential rainfall,” the National Weather Service in Louisville, Kentucky, warned. “A few strong tornadoes and instances of very large hail are possible.”
Forecasters were initially concerned morning storms would lessen the chance of severe weather later in the day, but that scenario is seeming less likely.
The SPC is now warning of a “regional outbreak” with “a few intense supercells.”
Storms could fire up in parts of Missouri and Arkansas in the afternoon and expand rapidly in scope as they push east. Eventually, a line of thunderstorms is expected to come together and slam parts of Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky and southern Indiana with wind gusts stronger than 80 mph.
Dangerous storms could continue after dark, particularly in parts of Kentucky and areas east. It's a threat to be especially mindful of as nighttime tornadoes are nearly twice as likely to be deadly as those occurring during the day, a 2022 study found.
Severe thunderstorms are possible in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Saturday as the same storm driving Thursday and Friday's threats pushes east. Damaging wind gusts and hail are the greatest threats for now, but a tornado can't be ruled out.
New storms could bring damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes to parts of the southern Plains starting Saturday afternoon.
The Plains will remain the main focus of severe weather on Sunday and Monday as well, with damaging storms possible in much of Oklahoma and Kansas.
More details about the exact risks these storms will pose and the populations under threat next week will become clear in the coming days.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Dumbbells are displayed at a Walmart, Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Groton, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Bicycles are displayed at a Walmart, Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Groton, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Footballs are displayed on shelves at a Walmart, Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in Groton, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart, which became the nation's largest retailer by making low prices a priority, has found itself in a place it's rarely been: Warning customers that prices will rise for goods ranging from bananas to car seats.
Executives at the $750 billion company told industry analysts Thursday that they are doing everything in their power to absorb the higher costs from tariffs ordered by President Donald Trump.
Given the magnitude of the duties, however, the highest since the 1930s, higher prices are unavoidable and they will hurt Walmart customers already buffeted by inflation over the past three years.
Trump's threatened 145% import taxes on Chinese goods were reduced to 30% in a deal announced Monday, with some of the higher tariffs on pause for 90 days.
Those higher prices began to appear on Walmart shelves in late April and accelerated this month, Walmart executives said Thursday. However, a larger sting will be felt in June and July when the back-to-school shopping season goes into high gear.
“We're wired to keep prices low, but there's a limit to what we can bear, or any retailer for that matter,” Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told The Associated Press on Thursday after the company reported strong first quarter sales.
Rainey emphasized that prices are rising not just for discretionary items such as patio furniture and trendy fashions, but for basic necessities as well. The price of bananas, imported from Costa Rica, rose from 50 cents per pound, to 54 cents. He thinks car seats made in China that currently sell for $350 at Walmart will likely cost customers another $100. Baby strollers are also sourced from China, Rainey said.
Higher prices arrive as many Americans pull back on spending as they grow increasingly uneasy about the economy.
Government data Thursday revealed slowing sales growth for retailers. Walmart says that its consumers have become cautious and selective.
Tariffs on China and other countries are threatening the low-price model at the core of Walmart's success.
Retailers and importers had largely halted shipments of shoes, clothes, toys, and other items due to new tariffs, but many are resuming imports from China in the narrow window that opened during the temporary “truce” this week, hoping to avoid sparse shelves this fall. Yet retailers, already operating on thin margins, say they have no choice but to raise prices to offset higher costs from tariffs. And they are also bracing for higher shipping costs fueled by a surge of companies scrambling to get their goods on ships to the U.S.
Rainey told The Associated Press that the retailer did not pause shipments from China as a result of the tariffs like others because it didn't want to hurt its suppliers and wanted to keep merchandise flowing. It has built in hedges against some tariff threats. Two-thirds of Walmart's merchandise is sourced in the U.S., with groceries now accounting for roughly 60% of Walmart's U.S. business.
Still, Walmart isn't immune.
CEO Doug McMillon told analysts Thursday that Walmart imports general merchandise from dozens of countries. But China, in particular, represents a big chunk of volume in certain categories like electronics and toys.
Tariffs on countries like Costa Rica, Peru and Colombia are raising costs on groceries like avocados, coffee and roses, in addition to bananas, company executives said. Walmart is absorbing costs on general merchandise within departments and has yet to pass along rising costs in some cases.
Walmart is also asking suppliers to swap input materials for components if possible, for example, using fiberglass instead of aluminum, which Trump hit with tariffs in early March.
“We're very dependent upon imports for these types of products,” Rainey told The Associated Press.
He said there are some goods for which Walmart simply can't shift production or produce easily in the United States.
Walmart earned $4.45 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the quarter ended April 30, down from $5.10 billion, or 63 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Adjusted earnings per share were 61 cents, exceeding the 58 cent projections from industry analysts, according to FactSet.
Revenue rose 2.5% to $165.61 billion, just short of analyst estimates.
Walmart's U.S. comparable sales — those from established physical stores and online channels — rose 4.5% in the second quarter, though that's slowed from a 4.6% bump in the previous quarter, and a 5.3% increase in the third quarter of 2024. .
Business was fueled by health and wellness items as well as groceries. Sales were weaker in home and sporting good, which was offset by robust sales of toys, automotive goods and kid's clothing, the company said.
Global e-commerce sales rose 22%, up from 16% in the previous quarter.
Walmart said it expects sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% in the second quarter.
Like many other U.S. companies, however, it did not issue a profit outlook for the quarter because of the chaotic environment, with stated U.S. tariff policies changing constantly. The company maintained its full-year guidance issued in February.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on forthcoming Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists at the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian official plane, background, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board lands at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures to journalists as he leaves upon his arrival at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's delegation was made up of the most senior officials “to take any decisions that might lead to the expected and just peace”, and accused Russia of sending a ‘decorative level' delegation, with Russian President Vladimir Putin not attending. Russia's Foreign Ministry said it's delegation was “ready for serious work”.
The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin met with top Russian officials late Wednesday to “prepare for the upcoming negotiations with the Ukrainian side.” Video shared by Kremlin showed Putin entering the room with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian top officials seated at the table.
Donald Trump says he and Vladimir Putin need to get together to solve the Ukraine war. Trump says he doesn't “believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he didn't think Russian President Vladimir Putin would go to talks in Turkey with Ukraine if he wasn't there. Trump made the remarks at a business roundtable in Qatar on his trip to the Middle East.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, both countries said Thursday, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.
Zelenskyy said he is sending a team headed by his defense minister from the Turkish capital Ankara to Istanbul to meet a Russian delegation, even though Moscow's side doesn't include “anyone who actually makes decisions.”
Few had expected Putin to show up in Turkey, and his absence punctured any hope of significant progress in efforts to end the 3-year-old war that was given a push in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders. It also raised the prospect of intensified international sanctions on Russia that have been threatened by the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks to journalists as he arrives at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Zelenskyy, speaking to reporters in Ankara where he flew Thursday after challenging Putin to sit down with him, accused Moscow of not taking efforts to end the war seriously by sending a low-level negotiating team that he described as “a theater prop.”
AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports on peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey.
His proposal to Putin came after a flurry of maneuvering last weekend as each side sought a diplomatic advantage.
The head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said in Istanbul the representatives were ready to meet Ukrainian officials.
“The task of these direct negotiations with Ukraine is to establish long-term peace sooner or later by eliminating the root causes of this conflict,” he said in a brief statement.
It was not clear when they might meet. The Russian state news agency Tass reported that the talks will go ahead on Friday, citing an unidentified source.
In this handout photo released by Turkish Presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (Turkish Presidency via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due in Istanbul in Friday.
Zelenskyy, who heads Friday to Albania for a gathering of European officials, said he had decided to send the delegation to Istanbul to demonstrate to U.S. President Donald Trump that Ukraine wants to end the fighting.
The Ukrainian side would be headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and its aim is “to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war — namely, a ceasefire,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier welcomed Zelenskyy to the presidential palace in Ankara before holding their own talks.
The war has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the U.N., and continues along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Russian forces are preparing a fresh military offensive, Ukrainian government and Western military analysts say.
At least five civilians were killed and 29 injured in the past day, according to authorities in five eastern regions of Ukraine where Russia is trying to advance.
Ayse Sahil, whose family emigrated from Bolshevik in Russia, holds a board near Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
The diplomatic maneuvering began Saturday when European leaders met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward peace. Putin responded early Sunday by proposing direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul. Then came Zelenskyy's challenge to Putin for face-to-face talks.
After days of silence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov finally said Thursday that Putin had no plans to travel to Istanbul in the next few days.
Trump said he was not surprised that Putin was a no-show. He had pressed for Putin and Zelenskyy to meet but brushed off the Kremlin leader's decision not to attend.
“I didn't think it was possible for Putin to go if I'm not there,” Trump told reporters at a meeting with business executives in Doha, Qatar, on the third day of his visit to the Middle East.
Trump said a meeting between him and Putin was crucial to breaking the deadlock.
“I don't believe anything's going to happen whether you like it or not, until (Putin) and I get together,” he said on Air Force One while traveling from Doha to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
Peskov said Putin has no plans to meet with Trump in the coming days.
Medinsky, Putin's aide, is leading the Russian team that also includes three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.
Also absent from the talks were Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, both of whom represented Russia at talks with the U.S. in Saudi Arabia in March.
Turkish security members stand guard at Dolmabahce palace where talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected, in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dilara Acikgoz)
The top-level Ukrainian delegation included Umerov, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian official said. Zelenskyy will sit at the negotiating table only with Putin, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Putin met Wednesday with senior government officials and members of the delegation in preparation for the talks, Peskov said. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov, and National Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu attended.
The Kremlin billed Thursday's talks as a “restart” of peace negotiations that wer held in Istanbul in 2022 but quickly collapsed. Moscow accused Ukraine and the West of wanting to continue fighting, while Kyiv said Russia's demands amounted to an ultimatum, not something both sides could agree on. That delegation also was also headed by Medinsky.
Putin's proposal came after more than three months of diplomacy kickstarted by Trump, who promised during his campaign to end the war swiftly — although it's been hard to pull off. The Trump administration in recent weeks indicated it might walk away from the effort if there was no tangible progress soon.
Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, met with Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday night in the Turkish city of Antalya, which is hosting NATO foreign ministers to discuss new defense investment goals as the U.S. shifts its focus to security challenges away from Europe.
Sybiha reaffirmed Ukraine's support for Trump's mediation efforts and thanked the U.S. for its continued involvement, urging Moscow to “reciprocate Ukraine's constructive steps” toward peace. “So far, it has not,” Sybiha said.
On Thursday morning, Sybiha also met with other European foreign ministers, including his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot, who in a post on X reiterated the call for a ceasefire and the threat of “massive sanctions” if Russia doesn't comply.
“We're in a very difficult spot right now, and we hope that we can find the steps forward that provide for the end of this war in a negotiated way and the prevention of any war in the future,” Rubio said Thursday.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Putin of “standing in the way of peace.”
“There was only one country that started this conflict -- that was Russia. That was Putin. There's only one country now standing in the way of peace -- that is Russia, that is Putin,” he said in a visit to Tirana, Albania.
Barrot echoed that sentiment: “In front of Ukrainians there is an empty chair, one that should have been occupied by Vladimir Putin,” he said. “Vladimir Putin is dragging his feet and in all evidence does not want to enter into these peace discussions.”
—-
Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels; Illia Novikov and Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; Aamer Madhani in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Matthew Lee in Antalya, Turkey, contributed.
___
Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
UnitedHealth Group said a recent media report that the Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into the embattled company is false.
The Wall Street Journal report, citing unnamed sources, alleged that the DOJ is investigating UnitedHealth Group, the country's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, for possible criminal Medicare fraud. After the outlet published the claims, UnitedHealth Group's stock fell by 17% early Thursday, to its lowest level in five years.
The group slammed the outlet's report on Wednesday, saying in a statement that it is unaware of any DOJ investigation at the company.
“The WSJ's reporting is deeply irresponsible, as even it admits that the ‘exact nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear,'” UnitedHealth Group said.
“We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution, in the Wall Street Journal today,” the statement continued. “We stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program.”
The company's latest downturn came after it had a tough year. In December, UnitedHealth Group was plunged into turmoil after the CEO of its insurance division was shot and killed in New York City by a suspect who accused the group of “parasitic” corporate greed. Since then, the group has experienced fallout over cascading claims that it wields corporate power to rip off clients.
MAN ARRESTED NEAR UNITEDHEALTHCARE HEADQUARTERS MONTHS AFTER CEO ASSASSINATED
Earlier this week, UnitedHealth Group unexpectedly announced that a new CEO would be taking the reins at the company after former CEO Andrew Witty surprisingly stepped down for “personal reasons.”
The change came after UnitedHealthcare pulled its 2025 financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Former White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford says it was a “big eye-opener” to see that presidents and their families are like “regular people” when they're in the private living areas of the executive mansion.
White House executive chef Cris Comerford, holds dishes as she speaks during a media preview for the State Dinner with President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Nov. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
Former White House exec chef Cristeta Comerford speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at Decatur House, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rick Gentile)
White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford shows the main course during a preview in the State Dining Room of White House in Washington, Sept. 24, 2015, for the state dinner of the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Former White House exec chef Cristeta Comerford speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at Decatur House, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rick Gentile)
Tables are decorated during a press preview at the White House in Washington, April 9, 2024, for the State Dinner for Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cristeta Comerford, a longtime White House executive chef who recently retired after nearly three decades of preparing meals for five presidents and their guests, says first families are “just regular people” when they're at home in the private living areas of the executive mansion.
“It's not what you see on the news,” she told The Associated Press in an interview.
Preparing the first families' meals was among Comerford's many culinary responsibilities. Meals mostly would be prepared in the main kitchen, then finished off in the residence kitchen on the second floor.
“At the end of the day, when you do the family meals upstairs, they're just regular people at home. They just want a good meal. They want to sit down with their family,” she said. “If they have children, they eat together. And just to see that on a daily basis, it's not what you see on the news.
“It's the other side of them that we get to see,” she said.
Comerford, who hung up her apron and chef's toque in July 2024 after nearly 20 years as top chef and nearly three decades on the kitchen staff, is the longest-serving chef in White House history. Her tenure spanned the presidencies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Each of the five families she served approached food differently, Comerford said at a recent White House Historical Association symposium on food and wine. She was asked whether she'd describe any of the presidents as “real foodies.”
The Clintons liked healthier meals, Comerford said. Then-first lady Hillary Clinton hired the first American executive chef, Walter Scheib, and had the kitchen avoid serving heavy sauces and creams.
She said, “I learned so much” about Southwestern cuisine from Bush, the former Texas governor who liked Tex-Mex food. “We made thousands of tamales for Christmas,” she said of the popular Mexican meal of stuffed corn dough wrapped in a corn husk and steamed until cooked.
Comerford got ideas from the vegetable garden Michelle Obama started when she was promoting healthy eating, primarily for children. “We used the garden as kind of like our backbone for our menu development,” she said.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are “very, very classic eaters,” she said. Mrs. Trump “loved Italian food, so we tend to do the pastas, but light ones.” Comerford didn't comment on President Trump's food choices, but he is known to like a well-done steak served with ketchup and fast food.
Jill Biden was the first Italian American first lady, and the kitchen did “a lot of Italian food, as well, because she loved Italian food.”
Overall, “it's different for each family,” said Comerford, “but my job as the chef is to execute their style, their likes and their preferences.”
A black-tie state dinner is the highest diplomatic honor the U.S. reserves for its close allies.
Comerford presided over 54 of these opulent affairs, including for France and Australia during Trump's first term. Sometimes, guest chefs were brought in to help.
State dinners give presidents the opportunity to bring together hundreds of guests from the worlds of government, politics and other industries for an evening in which the three-course meal, decor and entertainment are designed to help foster relations by dazzling the visiting foreign leader.
The first lady's staff and the social secretary typically have about two months to pull one together.
Comerford said her team started by researching the visiting leader's likes and dislikes, then she used the information to create a menu using the best of American food while incorporating nuances from the country being recognized.
She'd develop at least three different menus. Then came tastings for the first lady to make a final decision.
Comerford, 62, started her career tending a salad bar at a Chicago airport hotel before working as a chef at restaurants in Austria and Washington. Scheib, then the White House executive chef, hired her in 1994 for a temporary gig preparing a state dinner for Nelson Mandela, South Africa's newly elected president.
Scheib then hired her as an assistant chef in 1995, and she succeeded him a decade later, becoming the first woman and first person of color to permanently hold the executive chef's position. Comerford is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the Philippines.
Her husband, John Comerford, is a chef, too, and she credits him with sacrificing his career to be present for their daughter so she could thrive in hers. Their daughter is a pastry chef.
When Comerford retired, assistant chef Tommy Kurpradit, whose parents are from Thailand, was named interim executive chef. Melania Trump, who worked with Comerford in the first Trump administration, has not named a successor.
Comerford said she managed everything with “a lot of prayers,” often said during her hourlong, early morning drive into the White House, but also by being versatile, humble, able to handle chaos and having faith in herself and her team.
“One thing with cooking at the White House, you don't just do fine dining meals,” she said. “You have to know how to cook eggs and breakfast. You have to know to cook a smashburger.”
It also helps to remember that the job is about the family.
“There's no ego in it,” Comerford said.
White House culinary history includes chefs from China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand, as far back as the 19th century, according to Adrian Miller and Deborah Chang, co-authors of a new book, “Cooking to the President's Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History.”
Most sharpened their skills through service in the U.S. military.
Before Comerford, Pedro Udo, a Filipino trained in the U.S. military, was the first Asian heritage chef to run the White House kitchen after he was promoted from meat chef to head chef in June 1957, according to the book. He prepared meals for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip later that year, and for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in September 1959 during the Cold War.
But his stint ended after less than four years when the new first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, hired acclaimed French chef René Verdon in early 1961.
Miller said the book offers a “unique window” on the presidency.
“We get a look at the presidents, but also the presidents got a look at Asian American life in maybe ways that they hadn't before,” he told the AP in an interview. “And I think, you know, for the presidents that decided to open that window and find out more about the people who were providing, comforting them through amazing food, I think our nation is better for them.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Justice Kagan blasted U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer on the birthright citizenship executive order— which she noted has yet to succeed in any federal court, including cases heard by Trump-appointed judges.
Justice Elena Kagan grilled U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer on the practicalities of ending universal injunctions on Thursday, a major sticking point in a highly watched case centered on birthright citizenship and the power of lower courts to rule against the executive branch.
Kagan pressed Sauer Thursday on the practicalities of ending universal injunctions and how the higher court should then be tasked with managing the flow of lower court challenges.
She also noted that the Trump administration has been "losing uniformly" in lower court cases on the "substantive question" in dealing with birthright citizenship.
SUPREME COURT TAKES ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: LIBERALS BALK AT TRUMP ARGUMENT TO END NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan participates in a discussion at the George Washington University Law School on Sept. 13, 2016 in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
"If I were in your shoes, there's no way I'd approach the Court with this case!" Kagan quipped.
After he attempted to answer, she responded that "This is not a hypothetical – this is happening out there."
John Sauer, then-nominee to be solicitor general, testifies during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Building on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Every court is ruling against you."
Justices on the High Court agreed in April to hear the case, which centers on three lower courts that issued national injunctions earlier this year blocking President Donald Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order after delivering remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The order reinterprets the 14th Amendment to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their mother is unlawfully present or temporarily in the country, and if their father is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at the time of birth. Trump's action remains on hold nationwide pending Supreme Court intervention.
A Supreme Court decision here could have sweeping national implications, setting a precedent that would affect the more than 310 federal lawsuits that have challenged White House actions since Trump's second presidency began on Jan. 20, 2025, according to a Fox News data analysis.
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.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
'The Ingraham Angle' panelists Matt Towery and Ari Fleischer discuss President Donald Trump's latest poll numbers.
A new national poll released this week is one of the first to indicate a bump up in President Donald Trump's approval ratings after a steady edging down in the president's numbers since he returned to office in January.
Trump stands at 44% approval and 52% disapproval in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday (May 12-13). The president's approval rating edged up two points – which is within the survey's sampling error – from the previous Reuters/Ipsos national survey, which was in the field late last month.
US-CHINA TRADE TRUCE IGNITES STOCK MARKETS
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after announcing a trade deal with the United Kingdom in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, May 8, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Likely fueling the modest increase in the president's overall approval rating is his performance on the economy. The new poll indicates 39% of adults nationwide give Trump a thumbs up on how he is handling the economy, up three points from last month.
The new poll was conducted amid this week's surge in the stock markets following a truce between the U.S. and China in their tariff standoff, and in the wake of last week's signing of an initial trade deal with the United Kingdom – which is the first since Trump implemented massive tariffs on friends and foes across the globe six weeks ago.
WHAT'S IN THE TRADE TRUCE WITH CHINA
Trump's blockbuster tariff announcement in early April sparked a trade war with some of the nation's top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, left, and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent take part in a press conference after two days of closed-door discussions on trade between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, May 12, 2025. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
However, as Trump has partially reversed course in recent weeks by easing back on his sharpest trade moves, public concerns about recession have also slightly eased, while still remaining at heightened levels.
Sixty-nine percent questioned in the new poll said they were worried about a recession, down from 76% a month ago. Additionally, concerns about the stock market dropped seven points, to 60%.
Veteran Republican strategist Colin Reed told Fox News that the president has "been very clear-eyed about the fact that you are going to have to break some eggs to make an omelet and his voters will give him the latitude to do so.
"We're still less than 150 days in, he's got some time to make the hard calls that have to be made and still give the economic plane runway to take off ahead of the midterms, which is when all of these early decisions will be graded," Reed added.
WHERE TRUMP STANDS IN THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL
Most, but not all, of the most recent national public opinion surveys indicate Trump's approval ratings in negative territory, which is a slide from the president's poll position when he started his second tour of duty in the White House nearly four months ago.
Trump stood at 44% approval and 55% disapproval in the most recent Fox News national poll, which was conducted April 18-21.
(Fox News )
An average of the latest national surveys puts the president's approval rating underwater by around four points, but that is a slight improvement from late last month.
The economy, and inflation in particular, were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden's approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency, and which greatly contributed to Trump's White House victory last November.
They were behind Trump's slide in the polls so far this year.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Trump's return to office did not begin as he and his supporters had hoped. Campaign promises about inflation and interest rates appeared deferred while the daily news coverage focused on the many distractions plaguing the White House," longtime political scientist and analyst Wayne Lesperance noted.
However, Lesperance, president of New England College, said that "signs of progress may be emerging. Possible trade deals with Britain, China, and India are providing hope that some good may come from his tariff strategy. Add to that a rebounding stock market and lower gas prices at the start of summer vacation season and the president may see some calming of public nervousness."
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Two travelers from Arizona speak to Fox News Digital about the four letters "SSSS" that may be printed on your airline boarding pass.
Many Americans are planning to take to the skies to get to their destinations this summer.
Ahead of the season, American Airlines announced that for the period between May 16 and Sept. 2, over 715,000 flights have been booked — with July 6 predicted to be the most-traveled day.
American Airlines is looking to take some of the anxiety away from some of those flights by introducing new technology for customers with connections.
FLIGHT PASSENGERS MAY FACE BIG HURDLES DURING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND TRAVELS
"If the airline determines it can delay the flight without any impact on the airline's schedule, we will propose a short hold to get those connecting customers onboard," the airline announced in a press release.
The technology will first be rolled out at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport hub in Texas to "identif[y] departing flights with connecting customers who might miss their flight."
American Airlines is introducing new tech to hold flights for connecting passengers. (iStock)
It is unclear how long planes can be held and if there will be any impact on fellow flyers.
For more Lifestyle articles, visit foxnews.com/lifestyle
The technology "helps automate and enhance existing processes to hold certain connecting flights so the airline can help even more customers make their connections and get to their final destinations," the press release also notes.
The new technology will hold certain connecting flights for passengers. (iStock)
Following the first rollout, American Airlines plans to expand the test to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, followed by other hubs over the summer.
Heather Garboden, chief customer officer at American Airlines, said in the press release, "Expectations are high when customers are traveling for their hard-earned summer vacations."
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
A massive 45.1 million Americans are set to travel at least 50 miles from their home during the long weekend, AAA announced.
Of the millions of Americans traveling, AAA predicts 3.61 million will be flying to their destinations. That's a 2% increase from last year.
American Airlines announced that between May 16 and Sept. 2, over 715,000 flights have been booked already. (AP)
"Whether it's our redesigned app, improvements to our boarding process or other new technology across the operation, we are excited for customers to have a new and improved experience traveling with us this summer," Garboden added.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to American Airlines for additional comment.
A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor interrupted U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer during argument over birthright citizenship and nationwide court injunctions on Thursday, prompting Chief Justice Roberts to intervene.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reined in Justice Sonia Sotomayor during argument over birthright citizenship and nationwide court injunctions on Thursday.
Sotomayor dominated questioning for several minutes at the outset of Thursday's argument after taking over from Justice Clarence Thomas. She pressed U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer for President Donald Trump's administration on several points relating to the authority for federal courts to issue nationwide injunctions, often speaking over the lawyer and interrupting him.
Sotomayor argued that Trump's order invalidating birthright citizenship violated four Supreme Court precedents, and that it was justified for a federal judge to grant an injunction against such a controversial order.
"You are claiming that not just the Supreme Court, that both the Supreme Court and no lower court, can stop an executive from universally violating holdings by this court," Sotomayor said.
100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND 'TEFLON DON': TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reined in Justice Sonia Sotomayor during oral arguments Thursday. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
"We are not claiming that because we're conceding that there could be an appropriate case only in class only," Sauer said.
"But I hear that--," Sotomayor said, beginning to interrupt Sauer.
"Can I hear the rest of his answer?" Roberts then interjected.
APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN'S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT
Sauer then elaborated on his statement, saying the government is arguing that federal courts can intervene on behalf of specific plaintiffs before them, but not nationwide. He said the Supreme Court has the authority to grant nationwide injunctions in certain circumstances.
D. John Sauer serves as Solicitor General of the U.S. under Trump's administration. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Sauer used the bulk of his opening arguments Thursday to reiterate the Trump administration's view that universal injunctions exceeded lower courts' Article III powers under the Constitution, noting that the injunctions "transgress the traditional bounds of equitable authority," and "create a host of practical problems."
Universal injunctions "require judges to make rushed, high-stakes, low-information decisions," he said. "They operate asymmetrically, forcing the government to win everywhere," and "invert," in the administration's view, the ordinary hierarchical hierarchy of appellate review. They create the ongoing risk of conflicting judgments."
The Trump administration is challenging three separate nationwide injunctions imposed by federal judges. Oral arguments were held Thursday. (AP/Jon Elswick)
A Supreme Court decision here could have sweeping national implications, setting a precedent that would affect the more than 310 federal lawsuits that have challenged White House actions since Trump's second presidency began on Jan. 20, 2025, according to a Fox News data analysis.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The consolidated cases before the court are Trump v. CASA, Trump v. the State of Washington, and Trump v. New Jersey.
It's unclear when the justices will rule, but their decision to fast-track the case means an opinion or order could come within weeks – or even days.
Fox News' Breanne Deppisch, Shannon Bream and Bill Mears 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.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday revived a civil rights lawsuit against a Texas police officer who shot a man to death during a traffic stop over unpaid tolls.
The justices ordered the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to take a new look at the case of Ashtian Barnes, who died in his rental car in April 2016 on the shoulder of the Sam Houston Tollway in Houston.
Barnes was shot by Officer Roberto Felix Jr., who jumped on the sill of the driver's door of Barnes' car as it began to pull away from the stop. Felix fired twice in two seconds because he “reasonably feared for his life,” his lawyers wrote in their Supreme Court brief.
Lower courts had dismissed the excessive force lawsuit filed against Felix by Barnes' mother, Janice Hughes. The issue before the justices was whether those lower courts used the right standard, evaluating Felix's actions only at the “moment of the threat” that caused him to shoot Barnes.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court that courts should look at the “totality of the circumstances” to evaluate the suit against Felix. The standard embraced by the court Thursday often will be friendlier to plaintiffs in civil rights cases.
Barnes had been driving to pick up his girlfriend's daughter from day care when he was pulled over by Felix, who received a radio message that the license plate on Barnes' car had unpaid tolls associated with it. Barnes' girlfriend had rented the car, and Barnes was unaware of the outstanding tolls, according to court records.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Republicans in New York have expressed anger over a state budget proposal that could give state employees funds to cover themselves if President Donald Trump‘s Department of Justice pursues litigation against them.
The budget plan does not mention New York Attorney General Letitia James by name, but the budget sets aside $10 million to cover private defense costs for state employees who may be subject to federal investigation. The budget states that the funds are only made available so long as the investigation is “reasonably likely to have been commenced” because of that employee's work.
Republicans in the state are asking New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli not to sign off on the $10 million.
“This proposed use of public money is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. It undermines public trust in government and sends a troubling message that elected officials and state employees are entitled to a publicly-funded legal defense, even for matters entirely disconnected from their public responsibilities,” state Senate Republicans wrote to DiNapoli in a letter obtained by the New York Post.
The letter was signed by state Senate Minority Leader Republican Robert Ortt and 21 other Republican state senators.
LETITIA JAMES SUBJECT OF ETHICS COMPLAINT TO NEW YORK STATE COURTS AFTER CRIMINAL REFERRAL
The notion in New York's budget comes after Trump's DOJ launched a “working group” designed to investigate James and other legal officials who have investigated Trump over the years. The Justice Department recently launched a criminal investigation into allegations that James engaged in mortgage fraud when purchasing homes in New York and Virginia.
James's lawyer told CBS News that the investigation “appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that AG Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch. If prosecutors are genuinely interested in the truth, we are prepared to meet false claims with facts.”
Republicans in New York have expressed anger over a state budget proposal that could give state employees funds to cover themselves if President Donald Trump‘s Department of Justice pursues litigation against them.
The budget plan does not mention New York Attorney General Letitia James by name, but the budget sets aside $10 million to cover private defense costs for state employees who may be subject to federal investigation. The budget states that the funds are only made available so long as the investigation is “reasonably likely to have been commenced” because of that employee's work.
Republicans in the state are asking New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli not to sign off on the $10 million.
“This proposed use of public money is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. It undermines public trust in government and sends a troubling message that elected officials and state employees are entitled to a publicly-funded legal defense, even for matters entirely disconnected from their public responsibilities,” state Senate Republicans wrote to DiNapoli in a letter obtained by the New York Post.
The letter was signed by state Senate Minority Leader Republican Robert Ortt and 21 other Republican state senators.
LETITIA JAMES SUBJECT OF ETHICS COMPLAINT TO NEW YORK STATE COURTS AFTER CRIMINAL REFERRAL
The notion in New York's budget comes after Trump's DOJ launched a “working group” designed to investigate James and other legal officials who have investigated Trump over the years. The Justice Department recently launched a criminal investigation into allegations that James engaged in mortgage fraud when purchasing homes in New York and Virginia.
James's lawyer told CBS News that the investigation “appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact that AG Bondi assured the Senate would not occur on her watch. If prosecutors are genuinely interested in the truth, we are prepared to meet false claims with facts.”
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Fox News' David Spunt reports the latest on the case. Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley also weighs in during 'The Faulkner Focus,' and discusses the latest on backlash over a Wisconsin judge's arrest.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday in a challenge to President Donald Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship, a case that could more broadly call into question the powers of lower courts to block executive branch actions.
It's unclear when the justices will rule, but their decision to fast-track the case means an opinion or order could come within weeks – or even days.
Justices across the ideological spectrum appeared to agree Thursday that the use of universal injunctions has surged in recent years – blocking actions by both Democratic and Republican presidents.
"In the first Trump administration, it was all done in San Francisco," Justice Elena Kagan said. During the Biden years, "it was all done in Texas," she added, underscoring how both sides have used the tactic to challenge sitting presidents.
100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND 'TEFLON DON': TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT
Demonstrators hold up signs during a "Hands Off!" protest against President Donald Trump at the Washington Monument in Washington, Saturday, April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Kelsi Corkran, representing private plaintiffs and advocacy groups, proposed a middle-ground approach: allowing universal injunctions when government actions violate fundamental constitutional rights. If lower courts do get "ahead of their skis," she said, appeals courts can still rein them in, just as they do now.
U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer used the bulk of his opening arguments Thursday to reiterate the government's view that universal injunctions exceeded lower courts' Article III powers under the Constitution, noting that the injunctions "transgress the traditional bounds of equitable authority," and "create a host of practical problems."
Universal injunctions "require judges to make rushed, high-stakes, low-information decisions," he said. "They operate asymmetrically, forcing the government to win everywhere," and "invert," in the administration's view, the ordinary hierarchical hierarchy of appellate review. "They create the ongoing risk of conflicting judgments."
During a five-minute rebuttal period, Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned Sauer on what authorities the courts, under their argument, would have in this scenario.
"Your theory here is arguing that Article III and principles of equity [clause] both prohibit federal courts from issuing universal injunctions to have your argument," she said, adding: "If that's true, that means even the Supreme Court doesn't have that power."
Justice Elena Kagan, meanwhile, pointed out the practical challenge of expecting the Supreme Court to weigh in on every issue now handled by lower courts, which have already faced hundreds of federal lawsuits during Trump's second term.
Kagan also noted to Sauer that the Trump administration has lost every federal lawsuit challenging the birthright citizenship executive order, including under judges Trump appointed during his first term. "This is not a hypothetical; this is happening out there," she said. "Every court is ruling against you."
"If I were in your shoes there's no way I'd approach the Supreme Court in this case," said Kagan, who in fact had previously served in Sauer's exact role as U.S. solicitor general.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also appeared skeptical, telling the Trump administration lawyer that their argument seems to "turn our justice system, in my view at least, into a kind of ‘catch me if you can regime' … where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people's rights."
APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN'S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT
Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson are seen in this split image. (Getty Images)
As expected, several conservative justices on the court expressed skepticism about the use of universal injunctions.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who in 2018 described their use as "legally and historically dubious," noted Thursday that it was not until 1963 that the first universal injunctions were used, appearing to agree with the government's assertion that they could survive without them.
But Justice Samuel Alito, for his part, expressed a somewhat surprising degree of skepticism.
He asked Sauer about the possibilities of plaintiffs seeking emergency class certification, and de facto nationwide relief via other avenues, to highlight the point that blocking universal injunctions would not resolve the practical problems raised by the government.
And if that's the case, he said, "then what is the point of this argument about universal injunctions?"
U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum, representing the states, acknowledged that there could be alternative remedies for federal courts other than nationwide injunctions – though he suggested that in certain cases, the class action alternative presented by the Trump administration may not move fast enough to grant relief in certain cases.
"We are sympathetic to some of the concerns the United States has about percolation, about running the table in particular cases," he said. "We just don't think that that supports a bright line rule that says they're never available."
He suggested they should be available in certain cases, including the one currently before the court on birthright citizenship – a case where the "alternative ways of remedying the harm for the parties are not practically or legally workable."
Roberts and Sotomayor questioned Feigenbaum more in depth on how to determine in what cases universal injunction should not be the preferred remedy and how to ensure district courts are following that.
Justices on the high court agreed in April to hear the case, which centers on three lower courts that issued national injunctions earlier this year blocking Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship. The order reinterprets the 14th Amendment to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to children born in the U.S. if their mother is unlawfully present or temporarily in the country, and if their father is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at time of birth. Trump's action remains on hold nationwide pending Supreme Court intervention.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court in March to review the case, arguing that the three lower courts in question had exceeded their authority in issuing the universal injunctions.
President Donald Trump also weighed in on the case directly in a post Thursday on Truth Social. "Birthright Citizenship was not meant for people taking vacations to become permanent Citizens of the United States of America," he said, arguing that the law is about the "babies of slaves" and has nothing to do with illegal immigration.
As it turned out, the oral arguments had very little to do with the merits of the birthright citizenship challenge and focused instead on nationwide injunctions.
SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS REINS IN SOTOMAYOR AFTER REPEATED INTERRUPTIONS
President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on Air Force One at Miami International Airport, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
"These injunctions exceed the district courts' authority under Article III [of the Constitution] and gravely encroach on the President's executive power under Article II," U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told justices on the high court in a filing before arguments began. "Until this Court decides whether nationwide injunctions are permissible, a carefully selected subset of district courts will persist in granting them as a matter of course, relying on malleable eye-of-the-beholder criteria."
Plaintiffs told the high court that there is no reason for them to intervene here, objecting both to the executive order in question, which one lawyer described in a brief as "citizenship stripping," as well as any effort to block the nationwide injunctions. The lower court orders "preserve the status quo that has existed for more than a century, and the federal government suffers no harm, much less irreparable harm, by continuing to follow long-settled laws while the appeals proceed," Nicholas Brown, the Attorney General of Washington state, said in its filing.
Oral arguments are expected to focus not only on the lower courts that blocked Trump's birthright citizenship order – but also on whether federal judges can issue universal injunctions halting executive actions nationwide. The Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the practice, though several conservative justices, including Justice Thomas, have raised concerns.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A Supreme Court decision here could have sweeping national implications, setting a precedent that would affect the more than 310 federal lawsuits that have challenged White House actions since Trump's second presidency began on Jan. 20, 2025, according to a Fox News data analysis.
The consolidated cases before the court are Trump v. CASA, Trump v. the State of Washington, and Trump v. New Jersey.
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.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
A 31-year-old Russian national was charged with smuggling biological material after TSA at Boston's Logan Airport allegedly found clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples in her luggage.
Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of smuggling goods into the U.S., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. Petrova was originally detained on Feb. 16, 2025 after a law enforcement canine alerted its handler to her luggage.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said on Wednesday that Petrova allegedly denied having the biological material at first but later admitted to carrying it.
Prosecutors also claim that Petrova's text messages show that she was aware that she needed a permit to bring in the clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples that were allegedly found in her luggage. In one text message exchange cited by the office, Petrova was asked whether she had a plan to get the biological material into the U.S., and she allegedly responded by saying, "No plan yet. I won't be able to swallow them."
RUSSIAN HARVARD SCIENTIST KSENIIA PETROVA 'KNOWINGLY' SMUGGLED ILLICIT ITEMS TO US: FEDS
This undated photo provided by Polina Pugacheva in April 2025 shows Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University. (Polina Pugacheva via AP, File)
However, Gregory Romanovsky, the attorney representing Petrova, said on Thursday that customs experts confirmed that his client "did not need a permit to bring her non-living scientific samples that are not considered biological material under U.S. Customs law."
"Yesterday's hearing in federal district court in Vermont confirmed that Customs and Border Patrol officials had no legal basis for canceling Kseniia's visa and detaining her on Feb. 16. Less than two hours after the Vermont judge set a hearing on Kseniia's release, she was suddenly transferred from ICE to criminal custody. This is not a coincidence," Romanovsky said.
"It is an attempt by the government to justify its outrageous and legally indefensible position that this scientist working for the U.S. on cures for cancer and aging research has somehow become a danger to the community. The government confirmed in court yesterday its intent to deport Kseniia to Russia, where it knows she will face grave danger for opposing the Putin regime."
Petrova said in a recent New York Times op-ed that she was returning to the U.S. after vacationing in Paris when she was detained by ICE in February. She also expressed her fear of being arrested in Russia if deported, as she has been a critic of the war in Ukraine.
Kseniia Petrova, a bioinformatician at the Kirschner Lab, was bringing back frog embryos at the request of a professor at a French lab Harvard is collaborating with, her attorney Gregory Romanovsky confirmed to Fox News. (Kseniia Petrova's attorney Gregory Romanovsky)
RUSSIAN SCIENTIST AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL DETAINED BY ICE AT BOSTON AIRPORT
While she admitted in the op-ed to not filling out a customs form regarding the frog embryos in her luggage, she believed it would result in a fine or warning, not an arrest.
"At Logan International Airport, I did not complete a customs declaration for frog embryos (for use in our lab's research) in my luggage. I'm told this would normally result in a warning or a fine. Instead, my visa was revoked, and I was sent to a detention center in Louisiana," Petrova wrote.
In her op-ed, Petrova claimed that colleagues said the lab—home to the world's only NoRI (short for Normalized Raman Imaging) microscope—"ground to a halt" after her detention.
"Without me there to help, the lab has been unable to analyze the image data that the microscope generates," Petrova wrote.
Kseniia Petrova, a bioinformatician at the Kirschner Lab, was bringing back frog embryos at the request of a professor at a French lab Harvard is collaborating with. (Facebook)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
She also claimed that several of her colleagues are afraid of having their visa status revoked and being detained, as "many" are "foreign scientists."
On Wednesday, a federal judge grilled government attorneys on their grounds for canceling Petrova's visa and detaining her, the Times reported. The judge reportedly set a bail hearing for Petrova later this month.
Romanovsky told the NYT that he believes the government filed the criminal charge against his client "to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her." He also said that he and his client were "blindsided by the unsealing of a meritless criminal complaint," which came after the bail hearing was set.
Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
In a world with too much noise and too little context, Vox helps you make sense of the news. We don't flood you with panic-inducing headlines or race to be first. We focus on being useful to you — breaking down the news in ways that inform, not overwhelm.
We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?
The administration's attack on nature, explained by a dancing chicken.
by Benji Jones
The bird above is not your typical charismatic species. It's no bald eagle, no peregrine falcon.
It's a groundbird known as the lesser prairie-chicken that lives in the southern Great Plains. It's not even the greater prairie-chicken, another, related avian species, that's a bit larger.
Today, however, this bird is very much worth paying attention to.
In 2023, lesser prairie-chickens — which are actually fascinating birds, not least for their ridiculous mating rituals — were granted protection under the Endangered Species Act, the country's strongest wildlife law. Scientists say this protection is justified: The population of lesser prairie-chickens has crashed since the last century from hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of birds to roughly 30,000 today.
Now the Trump administration is trying to axe those extinction-thwarting protections. In a motion filed earlier this month in a Texas court, the administration argued that federal officials made an error when listing prairie-chickens under the Endangered Species Act. The listing — which makes it illegal to kill or harm the birds, with a number of exceptions — should be tossed out, the administration said.
The move isn't totally unexpected. Prairie-chickens overlap in some areas with oil and gas drilling. And President Donald Trump has signaled that he will prioritize drilling over environmental safeguards.
Yet it reveals that his administration will take extreme steps to undo wildlife protections if they stand in the way of his agenda. If his administration is successful in delisting the bird, it will signal that no endangered species is safe — especially those, like these chickens, that happen to live where fossil fuels are buried.
Do you have a story idea or a tip to share? Reach Benji Jones at benji.jones@vox.com or at the secure encrypted address benjijones@protonmail.com. You can also find him on Signal at @benji.90.
Male lesser prairie-chickens are extremely extra.
Each spring, they come together in breeding grounds called leks to dance for females, hoping to attract them as mates. They inflate large sacs on their neck, flare yellow combs above their eyes, and raise wing-like feathers behind their heads. Then they stomp their feet and start booming, producing a noise that sounds like sped-up yodeling. (These are not to be confused with the greater sage-grouse, a bird in the same family that has a similarly spectacular display.)
The Great Plains were once filled with these unusual dancing birds, which play important roles in grassland ecosystems: They provide food for raptors, spread seeds, and control insects. But in the last few centuries, prairie-chickens lost most of their habitat — largely to the expansion of oil and gas, commercial farming, housing developments, and, more recently, wind energy. Scientists estimate that the range of lesser prairie-chickens has shrunk by 83 percent to 90 percent since European settlement.
“Grasslands are the most threatened ecosystem on the continent and in the world, and nowhere more so than in the southwestern Great Plains,” said Ted Koch, executive director of the North American Grouse Partnership, a bird conservation group.
Facing extinction as a result of powerful industries, the prairie-chicken has been caught up in a game of political ping pong.
The government first granted them federal protection in 2014. Then, in response to a lawsuit filed by an oil-industry trade group and several counties in New Mexico, the Texas court tossed out the listing in 2015. They were officially delisted in 2016. The suit argued that in granting federal protections the government didn't adequately consider existing voluntary efforts, such as habitat conservation, to conserve the birds.
Shortly after, the Interior Department — the government agency that oversees endangered species listings — reevaluated the bird and once again determined, under the Biden administration, that it is at risk of extinction, even with those voluntary efforts in place. In 2023, Interior added the chickens back on the endangered species list.
That brings us to the present day, when these forsaken birds could once again lose protection.
The Trump administration is arguing that the Interior Department made a mistake when it recently listed the birds again.
It comes down to a somewhat wonky technicality. Briefly, the Endangered Species Act allows the government to grant formal protection to a species or to a population of a species — if those populations are important on their own, and at risk. That's what the Biden administration did: It determined that there were two distinct populations of lesser-prairie chickens and it granted each of them slightly different protections. One of the populations is in the northern end of the birds' range, including Oklahoma and Kansas, and the other is in the southern reaches of its range, in Texas and New Mexico.
Under the Trump administration, Interior claims that it didn't provide enough information to show that the two bird populations are distinct. That's reason enough to delist the birds, the administration argues, while it reviews their status over the next year. If the species is delisted — even temporarily — the government would be able to permit activities, such as energy projects, even if they might harm the bird and the endangered grasslands it's found in.
Avian experts, meanwhile, say the reasoning behind the original listing — which was the result of months of work and more than 30,000 public comments — is sound, and these birds are very clearly in trouble. “The North American Grouse Partnership agrees completely that listing of chickens is warranted,” said Koch, a former biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the division within Interior that implements the Endangered Species Act.
The move to delist prairie-chickens appears to be an effort by the Trump administration to skirt wildlife regulations that some perceive to stand in the way of the oil industry, said Jonathan Hayes, executive director of Audubon Southwest, a regional office of the National Audubon Society, a large environmental nonprofit.
“Whether it's true or not, this chicken symbolizes a challenge, or an impediment, to oil and gas development for industry,” Hayes told Vox. “We would expect this administration to push back on regulations that may or may not impact oil and gas. That's what it feels like is happening here.”
In a statement to Vox, the Interior Department said it has an “unwavering commitment to conserving and managing the nation's natural and cultural resources…and overseeing public lands and waters for the benefit of all Americans, while prioritizing fiscal responsibility for the American people.”
The new administration can quibble with the technical points of the listing, Koch said, but that will do nothing to change the reality: The bird is at risk of extinction and needs to be protected.
“Whether somebody wants to engage in debate on technicalities is up to them, but simply and fundamentally lesser prairie-chickens are threatened with extinction,” Koch said. “Delisting lesser prairie chickens on a technicality is going to do nothing to address the underlying threat to these ecosystems.”
There's no guarantee that prairie-chickens will lose protection.
The Trump administration's motion to delist the birds came in response to a pair of lawsuits filed by both the state of Texas and groups representing the oil and livestock industries. The suits allege that the Interior Department made a mistake in splitting the birds into two distinct populations and failed to follow the best available information. (Interior's spokesperson told Vox they will not comment on ongoing litigation.)
Before Trump took office, the government was planning to defend its decision to protect the birds — and to split them up — in court, in response to those lawsuits. Now it's reversing course and agreeing with Texas and the oil industry to toss out the listing.
It's possible that the judge overseeing this case could agree to remove protections, said Jason Rylander, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. In that case, groups like his would try to appeal to block the delisting.
The court could also tell the government to review the bird's status while keeping existing protections in place, Rylander says.
What's key here is that the decision to list lesser prairie-chickens involved a formal rulemaking process with public input. It's not clear that the government can simply reverse its decision and yank federal protections without going through that process again.
“The government can't act in a capricious way,” Hayes of Audubon said. “It can't just blow with the wind, and that's exactly what it did here. They just changed their minds when the administration changed. I'm not sure how they will legally defend their complete 180.”
But no matter how this plays out, this effort to delist lesser prairie-chickens puts other threatened species in an even more precarious spot, especially those that live in regions with oil and gas.
One example is the endangered dunes sagebrush lizard. It's a small, scaly reptile that lives in the Permian Basin of Texas, the largest oil-producing region in the country, and nowhere else on Earth.
The state of Texas similarly sued the government after it listed the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered last year. The suit — which asks the court to vacate the endangered listing — alleges, among other things, that the government didn't rely on the best available data to evaluate the lizard's extinction risk. That case is still pending, though environmental advocates fear that the Trump administration could side with Texas and claim it made a mistake when listing the lizard.
Then there's the beloved monarch butterfly.
Following decades of population decline, the government proposed federal protections for the iconic insect late last year. Monarch habitat similarly overlaps with the oil and gas industry, as well as commercial farmland. Fossil-fuel groups have already asked the Trump administration to reconsider the listing.
“As the Trump administration is in power, we can expect that endangered species protections are going to be under attack,” Rylander said. “I think there's a chance we can stop this in court,” he said of efforts to delist the prairie-chicken, “but I think if we don't, we will see more efforts to remand and vacate listings that they [the Trump administration] don't want to have in place anymore.”
It's important to remember that wildlife protections benefit people, Koch said. And prairie-chickens are a good example. Most of the remaining birds live on sustainably managed, private ranchlands in the Great Plains, he said. Those lands — those working grassland ecosystems — are under threat from energy development and other industries that are more profitable.
Saving prairie chickens means saving those lands. And saving those lands benefits the ranchers that live on them, he said.
“The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to conserve the ecosystems upon which we and all other species depend,” Koch said. “People depend on grassland ecosystems, and so do lesser prairie-chickens. We need to save grasslands for both of us.”
Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins.
What most of us get wrong about animal instincts.
The next big cicada eruption is upon us.
The aggressive push to privatize public lands, explained.
A federal program killed nearly 2 million wild animals last year. The reason might surprise you.
California researchers grapple with losing a landscape they love in real time.
The government says it's for the animals' own good.
© 2025 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Follow:
Democrats are leaning into a corruption argument against President Donald Trump, pointing to his crypto meme coin and plans to accept a luxury jet from Qatar as evidence that the president is potentially violating ethical norms and the US Constitution.
In floor speeches and interviews, on social media and in the skies above Trump's Florida resort, Democrats have warned that Trump is seeking to enrich himself – even as Republicans advance legislation that could cut programs such as Medicaid and the Department of Government Efficiency scales back the size of the US government.
“The first 114 days of this administration have been one bad deal after another for American families,” Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said during a floor speech Wednesday highlighting Trump's alleged conflicts of interest. “But if your last name is Trump, these 114 days have been just about the greatest deal of all time.”
It's a familiar strategy for Democrats and ethics watchdogs, who criticized Trump during his first term as foreign officials sought to curry favor with the president by staying at his hotels. This time, however, Democrats and ethics groups argue that the potential corruption of the second Trump administration has far surpassed the first term.
Tiffany Muller, president of the Democratic-aligned group End Citizens United, said that how Democrats message their anti-corruption arguments will be critical.
“Voters don't know who to trust on this issue, and whoever wins that trust battle will win the election,” Muller said in an interview with CNN. “We have to connect the corruption that we're seeing day to day back to their everyday lives and then also talk about how Trump and the Republicans are using it to line their own pockets.”
Muller and Molly Murphy, president of Impact Research, which conducted focus groups with swing voters last month, recently briefed congressional Democrats and staff on their findings relating to corruption. Voters in those groups expressed concern about corruption but also were cynical about lawmakers in Washington fixing the issue, Muller noted, adding that Democrats should talk about tangible actions they can take to fight corruption, including a congressional stock trading ban.
Trump's past call to “drain the swamp” and vows to reform the federal government have “helped inoculate him against some of the corruption messaging” among some voters, Muller said. But she argued voters would have “buyer's remorse” as additional ethically questionable episodes arise.
Faiz Shakir, an adviser to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, argued Democrats should combine pushback on corruption with a “proactive positive agenda,” similar to tactics used by Democrats in the 2006 midterms when they took control of both chambers of Congress.
“In addition to opposing Donald Trump and telling you he's corrupt, we need an agenda that speaks to the things we'll do,” Shakir said. “In order for the Democratic brand to be more powerful, it has to be something other than just opposing Trump.”
While some Republicans have expressed concerns about Trump's potential conflicts of interest, House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the president's actions.
“I can just tell you that President Trump has had nothing to hide,” Johnson said Wednesday. “He's very upfront about it. There are people who watch all the ethics of that.”
Republican strategist Matt Gorman said the talk of corruption is another “shiny object” for Democrats and highlights the party's lack of consistent messaging.
“It doesn't affect anyone, any actual, real people,” said Gorman. “It's the same thing when you talk about Democrats talking about esoteric terms like democracy and fascism while Trump is talking about paychecks and illegal immigration.”
CNN reported Sunday that the Department of Defense plans to accept a luxury plane from the Qatari royal family that would be used temporarily as Air Force One, then later donated to Trump's presidential library. Critics argue that accepting the plane would violate the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval.
“I think it's a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person, say, ‘No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane.' But it was, I thought it was a great gesture,” Trump said as he defended the move this week.
The administration has claimed the deal is above board. “Any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday.
The plane controversy comes as Trump has been accused of selling access to himself through his cryptocurrency. Last month, the website for Trump's meme coin announced that the top holders of the coin would be invited to a dinner and “exclusive reception” with the president.
Daniel Weiner, the director of the Brennan Center's Elections and Government Program, said that when it comes to ethical concerns about Trump's conduct, the Qatari plane and the president's cryptocurrency represent an “escalation” from Trump's first term.
“You didn't have anything like, for instance, the cryptocurrency that his family has launched that basically anyone who wants to ingratiate themselves with the president, or thinks that might work, can just pay directly into this platform,” Weiner said. “These are significantly bigger potential sources of conflict of interest.”
This isn't the first time Democrats have sought to message on corruption. In the 2006 midterms when Democrats consolidated power on Capitol Hill, the party focused on a “culture of corruption” in its messaging along with the “Six for ‘06” agenda, featuring specific deliverables the party aimed to pursue. Exit polls that year showed corruption and ethics were among the most important issues for voters.
After Democrats won back the House in 2018, the first bill they introduced was a sweeping voting rights and ethics reform package that would have strengthened conflict-of-interest laws for the White House. The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate in 2019 and 2021.
Democrats have faced questions about corruption in recent years as well. Former Sen. Bob Menendez resigned his seat last year after he was found guilty of 16 counts — including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent — for his role in a yearslong bribery scheme. Congressional Republicans seized on Hunter Biden's position with a Ukrainian natural gas company to fuel corruption allegations against his father former President Joe Biden, though there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the elder Biden's part.
While Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, it's not clear how much Democrats' corruption argument played into that election. What is clear is that Democrats are attempting to tie the corruption argument into a broader argument about the economy.
The Democratic National Committee flew a “Qatar-a-Lago” banner in Palm Beach, Florida Wednesday afternoon to highlight the plane gift and conflict of interest concerns related to the Trump Organization's new deal to build a golf course in the Middle Eastern country.
“Donald Trump is using the presidency to personally enrich himself while he bankrupts working families,” DNC chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “His corruption is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who are struggling to get by and put food on the table.”
Congressional Democrats are also making a push this week to highlight the administration's potential conflicts of interest.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer placed a blanket hold on confirming Justice Department political appointees in response to the Qatari plane gift, calling it “naked corruption” and a “grave national security threat.” Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, led by ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, filed a resolution Wednesday blasting Trump for attempting to accept the plane without congressional approval.
Democrats have also introduced legislation to block presidents and members of Congress from issuing meme coins. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who introduced the MEME Act, called Trump's meme coin “the most unethical, the most corrupt thing a president of the United States has ever done,” in a social media video promoting the legislation.
Murphy argued during a Tuesday appearance on CNN's “The Source” with Kaitlan Collins that the president was using his trip this week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates “to profit off of US foreign policy.”
“The real story here is that Trump is cementing the fundamental corruption of American foreign policy,” he said.
CNN's Haley Talbot contributed to this report.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
President Donald Trump's “big, beautiful bill” is in for a rude awakening if it passes the House, as Senate Republicans are already threatening to tear apart the progress made during difficult negotiations.
The legislation, which sweeps together Trump's tax, border, and defense priorities, has torn apart the Republican conference ahead of a House vote planned for next week. Republicans cannot agree on a slate of issues, from Medicaid reform to the state and local tax deduction demanded by blue-state lawmakers.
The infighting could jeopardize the strict time frame Republicans have set to send the legislation, which includes a hike in the federal debt ceiling, to Trump's desk. The administration wants to see it passed by mid-July to avert the prospect of default.
But Senate Republicans are also making clear they won't be content with the House bill as it stands, complicating the delicate balance leadership must strike with narrow majorities in both chambers. Fiscal hawks are unhappy with the relatively modest changes to Medicaid, including the delayed enactment of work requirements, while centrists are reluctant to meet the $1.5 trillion in spending offsets Republicans are targeting.
“That's why I've always thought I'd like to decouple the ‘big beautiful bill' into three separates, and I'm still recommending that,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), one of the fiscal hawks demanding further spending reductions. “I'm pushing it right now.”
For now, House Republicans are focused on getting the legislation through the House. Portions of the package were debated and advanced this week through key House committees, but negotiations continue outside of that process with holdouts who can almost singularly tank the bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who controls the House by three votes, could need to amend the bill on the House floor before it can pass. Any changes made in the Senate would then have to be reconciled between the two chambers before a final series of votes.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) described the House's version as a “good first step” but previewed more spending cuts in the Senate, a feat that will undoubtedly prove difficult to achieve given their three-vote GOP majority. Centrists in the upper chamber are equally, if not more, resistant to Medicaid changes that pare back the program.
“I think we should cut as much unnecessary spending as humanly possible, and I am hopeful that we will see the Senate prove to be even more fiscally conservative than the House,” Cruz said. “There is a whole lot of negotiation between today and the final finished product.”
In a bid to stay on the same page, Senate leadership and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) have been in regular contact with their House counterparts to avoid last-minute conflicts.
But Crapo, the Senate's top tax writer, acknowledged that there will be some daylight between the priorities of each chamber.
“We've been working very closely together to get our work product as close together as we can,” Crapo said. “I think you'll see a significant amount of overlap, but there will be differences.”
On the tax side, there is concern about the level of green energy clawbacks included in the House bill for the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. The spending reductions are meant to pay for the tax cuts, as are reforms to Medicaid that include more frequent eligibility checks and new fees for patients.
The bill is projected to reduce Medicaid spending by $715 billion over 10 years and lead 8.6 million people to lose health coverage from a mix of policy changes and work eligibility requirements.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the Senate's loudest Republican defender of Medicaid, has made benefit cuts to the government-run health program a red line.
“The bottom line is, we need to get our savings from somewhere other than Medicaid,” Hawley told the Washington Examiner before pivoting to the climate change-related tax credits. “We ought to be looking at the Green New Deal subsidies, for instance. A lot of those are still on the House's bill. That's absurd. That's gobs of money. That's gobs of money. Why are we not cutting that? Why would we cut Medicaid but not the Green New Deal?”
Even wonky, less contentious pay-fors are facing heightened scrutiny from senators. That includes a push to auction off $88 billion in radio spectrum owned by the government to companies like Verizon.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASS $4 TRILLION TAX CUT OUT OF COMMITTEE AS MEMBERS DEBATE SALT CAP
The House included legislation from Cruz to sell off some 600 megahertz to the private sector, but defense hawks like Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) expressed concern that the Pentagon could not afford to lose control of the airwaves.
“There are certain parts of the spectrum that are simply off limits for national security purposes,” Rounds said. “Those have to be respected. I don't think the language that they've got in the bill right now does that.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Rob Spalding joins ‘Fox & Friends' with insight on the president's show of ‘strength' on the world stage as he prepares to rally U.S. troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
President Donald Trump blasted President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan and cited his wish to give troops a pay raise in an address to U.S. service members on Thursday.
Trump made the comments during an address to troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar during his extended trip to the Middle East.
"My 2026 budget includes across the board – maybe you don't want to look for the good of the country, you don't have to take it – pay raises for each and every one of you. Substantial pay raises," Trump said.
"You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. That's the way it is. I said it last night. I said it's strong. We have the strongest military in the world. It's not even a contest. We have the best equipment, nobody has equipment like us, nobody has the planes or the missiles or anything else," he continued.
RUBIO TAKES SOMBER TONE ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE DEAL: 'CLOSE BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH'
President Donald Trump arrives to address troops at the Al-Udeid air base southwest of Doha on May 15, 2025. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
"And as your commander-in-chief, I'm here to say that America's military will soon be bigger, better, stronger and more powerful than ever," he added.
Trump went on to criticize Biden, noting the deaths of 13 U.S. troops during the evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan.
TRUMP CONSIDERS JOINING RUSSIA-UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS IN TURKEY, UNCLEAR IF PUTIN WILL SHOW
Trump's speech came less than a day after he on Wednesday signed a series of agreements with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Qatar.
President Donald Trump holds up a pen given by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as they exchange documents during a signing ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP)
The agreements involved a purchasing agreement by Qatar for Boeing aircraft, as well as letters of intent and "joint cooperation" between Qatar and the U.S. The emir also signed an intent agreement to purchase MQ-9 drone aircraft.
TRUMP SAYS HE'LL DROP SANCTIONS ON SYRIA IN MOVE TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS
Al Thani said he had a "great" conversation with Trump prior to the signing ceremony on Wednesday, adding that the agreements have elevated the U.S.-Qatar relationship to "another level."
A model of a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial drone vehicle is displayed during the Farnborough International Airshow. (John Keeble/Getty Images)
U.S. relations with Doha have come a long way since 2017, when Trump accused Qatar of harboring terrorism: "The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level," Trump said at the time.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
From there, Qatar became a major non-NATO ally to the U.S. in 2022 under Biden and is home to Al Udeid Air Base, one of the U.S.'s largest Middle Eastern bases and a key hub for U.S. Central Command operations.
Fox News' Morgan Phillips 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.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by
Factset. Powered and implemented by
FactSet Digital Solutions.
Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by
Refinitiv Lipper.
Follow:
Days of speculation that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky could meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Turkey have ended with the Kremlin pouring cold water on the idea, confirming that the Russian leader had decided not to show up for talks he himself suggested.
The possibility of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine was not entirely off the table as of Thursday morning, however, with lower-level delegations from both countries known to be in Turkey.
A direct meeting would be a major development – the two sides are not known to have met directly since soon after Moscow launched its unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
And while the talks are unlikely to yield immediate results, and almost certainly won't bring the elusive “deal” US President Donald Trump has been promising since his return to the White House, they could still have a major impact on the future of the war – if Trump decides that Putin's no-show is a sign of his unwillingness to end the war.
Adding to the general uncertainty over how a day of high-stakes diplomacy might unfold, Zelensky is sitting down with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in southern Turkey for an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
Here is what we know.
The talks were first proposed by Putin in response to the ceasefire-or-sanctions ultimatum given to Moscow by Ukraine's European allies on Saturday, when the leaders of Germany, France, Poland and the United Kingdom demanded that Russia accept a 30-day ceasefire proposal or face a new round of “massive” sanctions.
Putin ignored the ultimatum, proposing instead “direct talks” between Russia and Ukraine.
This was likely a delaying tactic by Putin – something he has successfully deployed several times in the past. But it appears to have backfired.
The Europeans and Ukraine initially said there could be no talks before a ceasefire is agreed, but that quickly changed when Trump got involved. In a post on social media, he publicly urged Zelensky to “HAVE THE MEETING, NOW!!!”
Related article
Analysis: Putin has outmanoeuvred a host of US presidents. Trump is only the latest
Putin wasn't suggesting a one-on-one with his loathed Ukrainian counterpart. He said he wanted a restart of the talks that took place in the spring of 2022 and were attended by top-level diplomats, but not the leaders themselves.
But Zelensky raised the stakes by announcing he would travel to Turkey himself and calling on Putin to do the same. The Ukrainian leader made it clear that he would not meet with any other Russian official, arguing that “everything in Russia depends on Putin.”
Trump, currently on a Middle East tour, added to the pressure by suggesting he might go as well, “if it's helpful.” That idea was endorsed by Zelensky, who said Ukraine would be “grateful” for Trump's presence. Trump also told CNN on Wednesday that Putin would “like me to be there.”
But two White House officials told CNN that Trump was not planning to travel to Turkey. “I was thinking about going,” Trump said Thursday in Qatar, but stressed it wasn't a firm plan. He kept the option open, though, adding: “If something happened, I'd go on Friday if it was appropriate.”
By putting the ball in Putin's court, Zelensky placed the Russian leader under pressure.
If Putin had decided to show up, he would have undermined his own narrative that Zelensky and his government are illegitimate.
But by staying at home, Putin gave Zelensky an opportunity to point out, once again, that Russia is not serious about peace.
This message is aimed squarely at Trump. Kyiv and its European allies have long said they don't believe Putin is seriously interested in negotiating peace.
Trump has previously repeatedly expressed his belief in the opposite, although he began expressing his doubts in recent weeks, questioning whether Putin wants peace after speaking to Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in the Vatican last month.
Highlighting this is likely the key reason why Zelensky suggested a personal meeting with Putin, who, according to Ukrainian and Western intelligence services, had previously ordered his assassination.
The two sides are so far apart that it is unclear what the talks – if they indeed happen – would be about.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that anything other than an agreement on an unconditional ceasefire would be a failure.
Putin, meanwhile, said that while Russia does not rule out that “during these talks there will be a possibility to arrange some kind of new truce, a new ceasefire,” the talks will aim to eliminate the “root causes” of the conflict.
The “root causes” he cites include long-held Russian grievances that include the existence of Ukraine – formerly part of the Soviet Union – as a sovereign state, and NATO's eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War.
Neither is negotiable for Ukraine or its allies.
The last known direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow took place in Turkey and Belarus in the spring of 2022 – when it became clear that Putin's initial plan to take over the whole of Ukraine and install a new puppet government in Kyiv within a few days had gone catastrophically wrong.
Related article
Ukraine ceasefire call is aimed at forcing Putin to reveal his war goals to Trump
This left Russia scrambling, trying to achieve its goals through negotiations.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, said the agreement that was proposed by Moscow called for Ukraine to surrender its sovereignty and would have made Ukraine completely powerless in the face of any future attacks.
Once Ukrainian forces began liberating parts of northern Ukraine, finding clear evidence of massacres and other atrocities as they advanced, the talks started to collapse.
The Russian abuses uncovered in one town in particular – Bucha, just north of Kyiv – horrified the world and hardened the resolve of the Ukrainian people.
Shortly after Zelensky challenged the Russian leader to travel to Turkey, the Kremlin started to lay the groundwork for the possibility that Putin might not attend.
The Kremlin late Wednesday said Vladimir Medinsky, Putin's senior aide and member of the country's Supreme Council bureau, would lead a delegation of Kremlin insiders. The aide previously headed Russia's delegation in 2022 when Kyiv and Moscow had their last known direct talks.
This is in line with Putin's call for the talks to pick up where the meeting in 2022 stopped – an option that would be unpalatable to the Ukrainians since the demands Russia was making back then would amount to a capitulation by Kyiv.
The stakes are higher this time though, as both Trump and Ukraine's European allies have said they will impose more sanctions on Moscow if it doesn't agree to the ceasefire.
It's not yet clear whether Ukraine will send a delegation to Istanbul to meet with the Russian negotiators and who might be part of it.
Not much. The Turkish government said earlier this week that it was prepared to provide “all kinds of support, including mediation and hosting negotiations, to achieve peace” in Ukraine.
Turkey has played the role of the bridge between Moscow and Kyiv in the past, most notably when it brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative which guarantees the safe passage of Ukrainian ships carrying food exports – a rare diplomatic success in the brutal conflict. Russia withdrew from the pact in 2023.
As a NATO member, Turkey is invested in the conflict, but it is also seen as more amenable to Russia, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously hailing his “special relationship” with Putin.
Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, and his foreign envoy Steve Witkoff both plan to be in Istanbul this week, a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday, a statement confirmed by another source familiar with the plans.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also in Turkey, attending the informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Antalya.
Rubio, Kellogg and Witkoff all took part in some of the previous rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia, in which they acted as intermediaries, meeting separately with the Russian delegation and then, a few days later, with the Ukrainians.
This time, the possibility that the two delegations might meet face to face is significant – even if their goal is more about satisfying Trump than reaching an actual deal.
CNN's Darya Tarasova, Kylie Atwood, Jeff Zeleny, Samantha Waldenberg, Mariya Knight, Caitlin Danaher, Fred Pleitgen and Gul Tuysuz contributed reporting.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Trump, and the pair had a short meeting.
Today's live updates have ended. Find more coverage at APNews.com.
President Donald Trump arrived in the United Arab Emirates Thursday for the last leg of his first major foreign trip. Air Force One was given a fighter jet escort into the country's airspace, just as Saudi Arabia and Qatar offered on the first stops of his Mideast trip.
Trump was greeted by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and later visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque — among the largest mosques in the world. He is attending a state dinner at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi.
What to know:
In an agency-wide town hall on Thursday, acting FEMA chief David Richardson reiterated the agency's intention to “return primacy to the states” in the upcoming hurricane season, which begins in 17 days, asserting that “indeed we are to some degree, to a great degree, ready for disaster season ‘25.”
The comments come during a period of agency upheaval. Richardson replaced acting chief Cameron Hamilton last week, one day after Hamilton told a congressional committee that he did not think FEMA should be eliminated. It has lost roughly 2,000 full-time staff since Trump took office, about one-third of its full-time workforce.
The acting chief also said FEMA will begin a “mission analysis” as part of a longer-term transformation to ensure the agency is only doing tasks it is assigned by law.
“We will not be doing anything that isn't in the statute,” Richardson said. “If we are, we are wasting the American people's money.”
The president walked out of the palace with Sheik Mohammed after dinner. They shook hands, and then Trump stepped into his limousine.
Once seated, he pumped his fist a few times and pointed at the UAE leader. Then the motorcade pulled away.
Trump has no other events planned this evening, which is his last scheduled night in the Middle East.
Rubio says the Trump administration will likely start easing sanctions on Syria by invoking waivers to pause congressionally mandated penalties imposed on the government of ousted President Bashar Assad.
After meeting Thursday with Syria's new foreign minister in Antalya, Turkey on the sidelines of a NATO meeting, Rubio said the administration would issue waivers for sanctions contained in the so-called “Caesar Act,” which hit the country with massive penalties in response to Assad's crackdown on dissent. President Donald Trump met earlier this week with Syria's new president in Saudi Arabia, where he announced that he would be lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria.
“I think we want to start with the initial waivers, which will allow foreign partners who wanted to flow in aid to begin to do so without running the risk of sanctions,” Rubio told reporters. “I think as we make progress, hopefully we'll be in a position soon or one day to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions.”
Rubio said the new Syrian authorities had asked for help in various areas, including the elimination of Assad-era chemical weapons stockpiles that may still be in the country and the U.S. is willing to help.
President Donald Trump signs a guest book as UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan looks on, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“It's an honor to be here,” the president said. “And the last four days have been really amazing.”
He said he was “probably going back to Washington, D.C., tomorrow.”
There have been questions about whether he would add another stop to his trip — particularly Turkey, where there are negotiations over the war in Ukraine — but White House officials have said there are no changes to the president's schedule.
“If the other side — whether during the earlier talks with the P5+1 or now with the United States — were able to destroy our nuclear facilities through military means, they would have done so,” Abbas Araghchi, the country's foreign minister said. “They came to the table because they cannot impose their will by force.”
The comments come as diplomatic efforts continue to revive stalled nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, while the U.S. has expressed concern over its growing stockpile of enriched uranium.
Araghchi said Iran's deterrence is made possible by its armed forces, which have, in his words, “created the capabilities that have made the enemy give up on military options.”
“It is the Islamic Republic's defensive power — our missiles — that gives our negotiators the strength to sit across from world powers,” the top diplomat said.
Araghchi also criticized what he called conflicting and inconsistent statements from the U.S. administration, describing them as either a sign of disarray in Washington or a calculated negotiation strategy.
Araghchi reaffirmed Iran's position on uranium enrichment, calling it a core right of the Iranian people and a red line in nuclear talks.
“We have said repeatedly that defending Iran's nuclear rights — including enrichment — is a fundamental principle,” the official said.
That's after Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to attend the talks, hosted by Turkey, and sent only a low-level Russian delegation instead. That helped scuttle hopes that the talks in Turkey could see Putin get together with President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to potentially jumpstart efforts for a ceasefire.
“I think it's abundantly clear that the only way we're going to have a breakthrough” is for Trump and Putin to talk directly, Rubio said.
Rubio spoke Thursday in Antalya, Turkey, where he said he would confer with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and the Ukrainian delagation on Friday in Istanbul.
Rubio said the low-level Russian delegation would be meeting Friday with other members of the U.S. team and that he hoped all sides could meet together.
Ukraine has sent more senior officials to the talks in Turkey, as Ukraine stresses its cooperation with U.S. efforts to broker an agreement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke as he prepares to travel to the Vatican this weekend to celebrate new Pope Leo XIV inaugural Mass.
Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, who are the highest-ranking Catholics in the administration, will both attend the Mass on Sunday. Speaking to reporters in Antalya, Turkey after a NATO foreign ministers meeting, Rubio maintained that there was no daylight between the administration's migration polices and the new pontiff, the first American pope, who has spoken out about the mistreatment of migrants.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to speeches during a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
“I think there is nothing incompatible,” he said. “We, too, are compassionate towards migrants. I would argue there's nothing compassionate about mass migration. There's nothing compassionate about open borders that allows people to be trafficked.”
Rubio rejected concerns that deportations to a notorious terrorism facility in El Salvador put migrants at risk for torture and other abuse, saying such charges were incorrect and that groups that have complained are “wrong.”
He also said the people sent to El Salvador were not migrants, but rather “criminals” who their home countries would not accept.
President Donald Trump is presented the Order of Zayed, the UAE highest civilian distinction, from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
At the end of the public portion of the meeting, Trump was awarded a medal known as the Order of Zayed, named for the U.A.E.'s first president.
It was presented for Trump's “exceptional efforts” to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.The bulky necklace was delivered in a display case, which he held with Sheikh Mohammed.
The meeting between the two leaders began with flattery.
Trump said “we've been good friends” and described the sheikh, known by his initials MBZ, as “a truly great warrior.”
He also boasted about his leadership of the United States.
“We've become a very hot country,” Trump said. “We were not such a hot country six months ago.”
Vice President JD Vance, from left, with second lady Usha Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi, makes the sign of the cross as a prayer is recited at the 44th annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the US Capitol grounds, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Vice President JD Vance paid tribute to fallen police officers at a memorial service Thursday at the U.S. Capitol and used his speech to criticize local officials and “far left prosecutors” who were not tough enough on crime and the “defund the police” movement.
“I know that none of us here like crime, but last year, in November, I think the American people killed the ‘defund the police' movement and they used Donald J. Trump as the murder weapon,” Vance said at the National Peace Officers Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
Vance said the administration would do everything to help the families of fallen officers and “never disparage or degrade our police officers, and particularly not the memory of those who died defending our society.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at the 44th annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the U.S. Capitol grounds, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Vance delivered his remarks at the Capitol where four years ago on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters rioted at the Capitol, leaving more than 100 police officers injured.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence, lauded the rioters as patriots and on his first day back in office, pardoned more than 1,500 people charged with crimes in the attack, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.
President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrive at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The president arrived at the Qasr Al Watan, a palace in Abu Dhabi.
He was greeted by children waving U.S. and U.A.E. flags, plus an honor guard that included camels.
Trump is participating in a tour led by the Arab country's first astronaut. He's also going to sit down with Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and receive a medal of honor from his hosts.
After the meetings, he'll attend a banquet dinner, his third of the trip. He was previously hosted in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The Thursday dinner will be at Qasr Al Watan, the sprawling and ornate presidential palace in Abu Dhabi.
The white-domed palace, parts of which were opened to the public in 2019, includes a vast library and a room housing gifts from world leaders.
Rubio, Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fiden and their delegations, including Sen. Lindsey Graham on the U.S. side, were to discuss plans for Syria's reintegration into the Middle East and global communities, the State Department said.
The meeting in in Antalya, Turkey — which follows Trump's meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier this week in Saudi Arabia and Trump's pledge to lift all sanctions against Syria —was closed to journalists and no details were immediately available.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he'll send the team headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to the Turkish city of Istanbul for peace talks with a Russian delegation.
Zelenskyy told a news conference in the Turkish capital Ankara that the Russian delegation doesn't include “anyone who actually makes decisions.”
But he said that to demonstrate to President Trump that Ukraine is seeking an end to the 3-year-old war, he decided to send officials from Ankara to Istanbul for the meeting.
Their aim is “to attempt at least the first steps toward de-escalation, the first steps toward ending the war — namely, a ceasefire.”
A bipartisan group of House representatives introduced the bill aimed at keeping the country's most advanced chips from China by requiring them be tracked.
The bill comes as the U.S. is competing with China to lead the race of artificial intelligence, in which advanced chips are crucial for computing powers. It also comes as the Trump administration has moved to rescind export controls on advanced chips. Lawmakers have expressed concerns that chips were smuggled to China despite export controls.
“This bipartisan bill closes those gaps with real safeguards to keep our most advanced chips out of the wrong hands,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on China.
Leading the effort is Rep. Bill Foster, an Illinois Democrat, who said technical tools are available to keep U.S. AI technology from wrong parties.
The bill would require chip exporters to track their chips subject to export controls and report to the federal government if their products should be diverted from their intended location or get tampered with.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to speeches during a NATO's informal meeting of foreign ministers in Antalya, southern Turkey, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Rubio met with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Antalya, Turkey to discuss U.S. “efforts to halt the senseless bloodshed in Ukraine,” the State Department said. Rubio also “emphasized that European leadership is critical for getting Russia and Ukraine to negotiate in good faith for a swift and durable peace settlement,” it said.
The meeting comes as confusion has mounted over the status of the peace plan even as direct talks between Ukraine and Russia are supposed to be held this week in Turkey.
Pope Leo XIV leaves the Augustinian General House in Rome after a visit, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The mass is Sunday. Vance, who's formally leading the U.S. delegation, will be accompanied by second lady Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and his wife, Jeanette Rubio.
Both Vance and Rubio are Catholic, and Vance's office says he's the first Catholic convert to be vice president.
Vance met Pope Francis, the current pope's predecessor, shortly before the pontiff's death April 21.
Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)
President Donald Trump speaks to Yousif Al Obaidli, director of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, as he tours along with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“It's beautiful,” Trump said. He also thanked his tour guides. “Very proud of my friends.”
The president sidestepped a reporter's question on whether Israel has been an obstacle to peace talks in Gaza.
Instead, Trump said “we're working very hard on Gaza,” which he described as “a territory of death and destruction for many years.”
He repeated his proposal to “make it a freedom zone,” and “let the United States get involved”
“I'd be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone, let some good things happen,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Nahyan walked with President Trump as they entered the city-state's Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
Trump had his shoes off, which is customary, as he stepped into the iconic house of worship, the country's largest mosque. Trump and Abu Dhabi's crown prince paused for a photo.
UAE Air Force F16 jets escort Air Force One as it approaches Abu Dhabi International Airport, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Air Force One was escorted by Emirati F-16 fighter jets as it entered the country's airspace, flying over the man-made Palm Jebel Ali archipelago in southern Dubai.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar both also offered the same escort on Trump's trip.
The house of worship is a vast monument to the United Arab Emirates' official religion and has hosted other heads of state before, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It's also an important symbol of national identity. The UAE's founder, Sheikh Zayed, is buried in the mosque's main courtyard.
U.S. wholesale prices dropped unexpectedly in April for the first time in more than a year despite President Trump's sweeping taxes on imports.
The producer price index — which tracks inflation before it hits consumers — fell 0.5% last month from March and rose 2.4% from April 2024, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices dipped 0.4% from March and rose 3.1% from a year earlier.
Economists had expected that producer prices rose modestly in April. A 0.7% drop in services prices brought the index down.
On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose just 2.3% last month from April 2024 — smallest year-over-year gain in more than four years.
Economists have predicted that Trump's tariffs would drive up prices, and many expect the effect to show up in June or July.
▶ Read more about U.S. wholesale prices
Democratic Sen. Andy Kim is expected Thursday to introduce a bill he co-sponsored with Sen. Jeff Merkley that would resurrect the Presidential Management Fellows Program, which was wiped out earlier this year by one of Trump's executive orders.
“I believe that public service and serving our nation is an honorable pursuit that should inspire and attract the very best talent in our country,” Kim said in a statement.
A former fellow himself, he added: “The PMF program has for years operated under both Republican and Democratic Presidents to lift up merit and align skills with opportunity. Even in these divided times, I hope we can show strong bipartisan support for the importance of talent in government and the need to codify this important program in legislation.”
The program was created by a 1977 executive order issued by then-President Jimmy Carter to entice highly qualified workers with advanced degrees to join the federal government. The bill being introduced lines up with the requirements that were in place at the time the program was dissolved, including graduate level degrees as well as the expectations for future government employment.
As he made his way from Doha Qatar to Abu Dhabi, United Emirates, on Thursday, the president reminded reporters about Joe Biden's 2022 fist bump with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
During that encounter, Biden awkwardly greeted the crown prince with a fist bump, a moment roundly criticized by human rights activists, who were already upset at Biden's decision to meet with the Saudi leader.
Trump noted that while in Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week, he's shaken many hands.
“They were starving for love because our country didn't give them love,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They gave him a fist bump. Remember the fist bump in Saudi Arabia? He travels all the way to Saudi Arabia … and he gives him a fist bump. That's not what they want. They don't want a fist bump. They want to shake his hand.”
Trump's trip to the United Arab Emirates come as Senate Democrats push that wealthy Gulf country to stop what the U.S., U.N. and international rights groups say are arms shipments to one of the sides in Sudan's devastating war.
The U.S. has sanctions on UAE companies over weapons deliveries to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, whose fight with a rival has uprooted millions of Sudanese and spurred atrocities and starvation. Aid groups call it one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters.
UAE's arms deliveries also are raising the risk of a “broader conflict that could destabilize the whole region,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week.
Ahead of Trump's trip, “my message to the UAE is to stop extending the aid” and work to stop the fighting, Shaheen said.
The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and a U.S. ally, has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF, something it has strenuously denied despite evidence to the contrary.
The president insists he's not disappointed with Russian President Vladimir Putin for not showing up for peace talks in Istanbul with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I don't believe anything's going to happen whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled from Doha, Qatar, to Abu Dhabi, United Emirates, on Thursday. “But we're going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying.”
President Donald Trump receives flowers from a child next to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan after arriving at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Trump left Air Force One after touching down in Abu Dhabi for the last leg of his first major foreign trip.
UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Trump. A young girl standing next to the UAE leader showed Trump a huge bouquet of white flowers.
Trump will head first to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque — among the largest mosques in the world — ahead of a state visit at Qasr al-Watan palace in Abu Dhabi.
President Donald Trump's comment Thursday about not wanting to make “nuclear dust” in a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities mirrors the concerns of the Gulf Arab countries he's visiting in the Mideast this week.
The possibility of a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iranian enrichment sites has renewed the long-standing fears that Gulf Arab states have about Iran's program. In the past, they've worried that an accident or a strike at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant could send radioactive material into the air and spread across the Persian Gulf into their countries.
Speaking to a business forum on Thursday, Trump similarly brought up the idea.
“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They're not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust,” Trump said. “We're not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
Iran has criticized the U.S. threats to strike.
A Qatari newspaper editor said President Donald Trump's visit to an air base in the country showed it is “very important” in the Middle East.
Faisal Almudahkha, the editor-in-chief of the Gulf Times, told Al Jazeera English immediately after Trump's visit to Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar that it helps the U.S. project power as well as protecting the energy shipments coming out of the Persian Gulf region, and Qatar itself.
“The base plays a very big part of the stabilization of this region,” Almudahkha said. “Let's face the truth: We are a small nation with a lot of ambition.”
He added Qatar also provides intelligence and diplomatic advice to the U.S.
President Donald Trump has boarded Air Force One to leave Qatar.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar's ruling emir, met him at the steps of Air Force One to say goodbye.
Trump climbed the stairs, turned around and then pointed at the emir and waved.
Trump now heads to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
President Donald Trump has ended his speech to U.S. troops at the Al-Udeid Air Base, dancing for a moment to the Village People's “YMCA.”
Trump pointed to several people in the crowd and waved. He then raised his fist in the air going off stage, as service members filmed his exit with their phones.
Standing in front of U.S. troops at the Qatari airbase, President Donald Trump said “we let a lot of four stars go,” touting his administration's effort to thin the military's top ranks.
There's long been friction between Trump and some top generals, and he's been more emboldened to remake the command structure in his second term.
He described some military leaders as “frickin' losers” as he addressed the rank-and-file.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump is speaking to troops at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
He started his speech thanking troops and discussing his Mideast trip so far, then spoke about America's military power.
“As president, my priority is to end conflicts, not start them, but I will never hesitate to wield American power if it's necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners,” Trump said. “And this is one of our great partners right here” in Qatar.
He added: “When we're threatened, America's military will answer our enemies without even thinking about it. We have overwhelming strength and devastating force.”
President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump has taken the stage in front of U.S. troops in Qatar as Lee Greenwood sings his signature song, “Proud to be an American.”
Trump swayed, his fists up, during the song's chorus, drawing cheers.
The assembled troops at the airbase stood up, most holding up cellphones to take pictures and videos of Trump.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asserted that “wokeness and weakness” allowed the wars in the world.
“We're restoring the warrior ethos. No more political correctness,” he told troops at Al-Udeid Air Base, before President Donald Trump takes the stage.
“Sadly, over the last four years, we saw a collapse in Afghanistan. And what happened on October 7th, the war in Ukraine, violence unleashed by wokeness and weakness.”
President Donald Trump gestures backdropped by an MQ-9 Reaper drone at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump has arrived at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where he is expected to address U.S. troops and view a demonstration of American air capability in the region.
The base was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It houses some 8,000 U.S. troops, down from about 10,000 at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attend a signing ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani greet delegations prior a state dinner at the Lusail Palace, in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Elon Musk gestures as he arrives for a state dinner hosted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in honor of President Donald Trump at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump is greeted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as he arrives on Air Force One at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Guards sit on camels outside Lusail Palace as President Donald Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani prepare to attend a state dinner in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
▶ See more photos from Trump's Mideast visit.
This post has been edited to paraphrase offensive and racist jokes.
American comedian Theo Von did a set Thursday before President Donald Trump's visit to a military base in Qatar that included a joke about a mixed-race baby and drugs as well as one that compared the base's Qatari hosts' attire to Klansman robes.
The jokes drew laughter and some groans from the service members at Al-Udeid Air Base, home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. military's Central Command.
Von did an extended one-on-one podcast interview with Trump during last year's presidential campaign in which they discussed addiction and the opioid crisis
President Donald Trump speaks during a business roundtable, attended by Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani,Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump kept up pressure Thursday on Iran, warning Tehran that a deal over its nuclear program or potentially airstrikes are the only two solutions to the diplomatic impasse.
Speaking in Qatar before business leaders, Trump said: “We'd like to see if we could solve the Iran problem in an intelligent way, as opposed to a brutal way. There's only two: intelligent and brutal. Those are the two alternatives.”
President Donald Trump speaks, seated between Kelly Ortberg President and CEO of Boeing, left, and Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace during a business roundtable, in the presence of Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump has suggested that India has offered to drop tariffs on U.S. goods to zero, something not immediately acknowledged by New Delhi.
Trump made the comments during a business roundtable in Doha, Qatar, on his Mideast tour, first discussing Apple's plans to build manufacturing plants for its iPhone there.
“It's very hard to sell into India and and they've offered us a deal with what basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Trump said. India is a close partner of the U.S. and is part of the Quad, which is made up of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia, and is seen as a counterbalance to China's expansion in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he didn't think Russian President Vladimir Putin would go to talks in Turkey with Ukraine if he wasn't there. Trump made the remarks at a business roundtable in Qatar on his trip to the Middle East.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he didn't think Russian President Vladimir Putin would go to talks in Turkey with Ukraine if he wasn't there.
Trump made the remarks at a business roundtable in Qatar on his Mideast trip.“I didn't think it was possible for Putin to go if I'm not there,” Trump said.
Trump had suggested he could travel there for the talks if Putin was going. On Thursday, however, Trump said: “I actually said, why would he go if I'm not going? Because I wasn't going to go. I wasn't planning to go. I would go, but I wasn't planning to go. And I said, I don't think he's going to go if I don't go.”
The signing ceremony included (from left) Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg; U.S. President Donald J. Trump; His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani Amir of the State of Qatar; and Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer. (Photo courtesy of the Qatari Amiri Diwan)
It has been a particularly good week for Boeing. The American aerospace manufacturer confirmed a $96 billion order from Qatar, one day after announcing an order from a company in Saudi Arabia for 20 737-8 jets and options for 10 additional aircraft.
The Qatar deal, which includes Boeing's 787 and 777X jets, is the biggest order for 787s and wide body jets in Boeing's history, the company confirmed. Shares of Boeing, which has been mired in legal and regulatory problems since the crashes six years ago, bounced to their highest level in more than a year Wednesday. It was the fifth straight day of gains for the company.
Boeing had already been in the news for its planes in the Middle East, but for different reasons. Donald Trump said he would accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar, setting off intense criticism from Democrats, ethicists, and even some unease among Republicans.
President Donald Trump speaks, seated between Kelly Ortberg President and CEO of Boeing, left, and Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace during a business roundtable, in the presence of Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs, left, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump has attended a business forum in Qatar.Trump sat with GE Aerospace's Larry Culp and Boeing Co.'s Kelly Ortberg on either side of him on Thursday. Both praised Trump for his support for the Qatar Airways order for Boeing aircraft. Ortberg called it one of the largest orders Boeing has ever had.
A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
Qatar's satellite news channel Al Jazeera has long been a powerful force in the Middle East, often taking editorial positions at odds with America's interests in the region during the wars that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida.
But during President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf Arab nation this week, state-funded Al Jazeera muted its typical critiques of American foreign policy.
The channel, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, broadly covered Trump's visit in a straightforward manner, highlighting it was the first-ever trip to Qatar by a sitting American leader. Mentions of the Israel-Hamas war, which Al Jazeera often has criticized America over for its military support to Israel, did not include any critiques of U.S. policy. Instead, journalists highlighted Qatar's role as a mediator in the war and aired comments by Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, calling for a ceasefire.
The president then travels to the United Arab Emirates, the final leg of his first major foreign trip. He will head first to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and then to a state visit hosted at Abu Dhabi's Qasr al-Watan palace.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
After a morning meeting with top U.S. and Qatari officials and American defense and aerospace business leaders, Trump heads to Al-Udeid Air Base, a U.S. installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East. There, he will address troops and is expected to view a demonstration of American air capability.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
In this article
Coinbase on Thursday confirmed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating whether the crypto exchange has misstated its user numbers.
The stock was last lower by 6%.
The inquiry focuses on the number of "verified users" reported by the company, which it has claimed is more than 100 million in various securities filings and marketing materials, according to The New York Times, which first reported the story that sent the stock lower. The investigation began during the Biden administration, which was famously hostile toward to the crypto industry, and has continued under the Trump administration's more crypto-friendly SEC.
"This is a hold-over investigation from the prior administration about a metric we stopped reporting two and a half years ago, which was fully disclosed to the public," Coinbase's chief legal officer Paul Grewal said in a statement shared with CNBC. "We explained that the verified users metric includes anyone who verified their email address or phone number with us, so it may overstate the number of unique customers."
"While we strongly believe this investigation should not continue, we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close," he added.
Grewal also noted that the company disclosed the "more relevant metric of monthly transacting users," or the number of people who use the Coinbase platform in a given month, and continues to do so.
Coinbase shares were already under pressure after the company said earlier Thursday that hackers stole customer information and were demanding a $20 million ransom. The incident may cost Coinbase up to $400 million to fix, the company estimated.
Coinbase operates the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. In the past week, it announced an acquisition that is expected to help it expand its global reach and gained entry to the benchmark S&P 500 stock index, which will take effect next week. On the earnings call last week, CEO Brian Armstrong discussed his ambition to make Coinbase "the No. 1 financial services app in the world" in the next five to 10 years.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Monday - Friday, 11:00 - 12:00 SIN/HK | 0500 - 06:00 CET
This report is from this week's CNBC's "Inside India" newsletter which brings you timely, insightful news and market commentary on the emerging powerhouse and the big businesses behind its meteoric rise. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
The Indian stock market has emerged from a volatile few weeks and soared past the level it was before the latest India-Pakistan flare-ups.
It shouldn't come as a surprise, though, because for a growing cohort of global investors focused on India, such border crises, while serious, are viewed as just one variable in a far more complex equation — for now.
While Indian stock markets initially dipped after it became apparent that India and Pakistan were headed toward armed conflict, Kieron Kader, an associate fund manager on Alquity's Indian Subcontinent fund, told CNBC that the episode was "not going to change the overall return profile dramatically."
Instead, the ensuing volatility was a "gift to the long-term investor," Kader added. He bought shares of NYSE-listed MakeMyTrip, Lemon Tree Hotels and Samhi Hotels after they tumbled, only to see them rise strongly since.
He isn't the only one with that view.
Anand Gupta, lead portfolio manager for Allianz India Equity fund, pointed out that the Indian equity market displayed "remarkable resilience" during the crisis peak, with the MSCI India index seeing only a "modest correction" of around 1.5% despite a spike in the India VIX, or "fear gauge."
He attributed this to "investor confidence supported by India's strong economic fundamentals" and a "historical pattern of limited market disruption during geopolitical flare-ups of this nature."
Indeed, the risks from recent military flare-ups appear to have been offset by the fact that India is considered by many to be an attractive investment destination. Research from Barclays's credit team also noted that the "macro impact is limited for both India and Pakistan" from the recent conflict.
However, while the hostilities may not have spooked investors, over the longer term, rising geopolitical tensions could pose risks.
And there have been some surprises in the conflict this time around. Events from earlier this month have marked a significant escalation from previous skirmishes between the two nuclear-armed nations. For the first time, both claimed to have attacked territories deep into the opposing side.
In contrast, the Balakot strikes in 2019 saw India hitting locations very close to the border. The Indian Air Force mostly kept within India during the 1999 Kargil war. For decades, most conflicts between the two remained largely on land.
While investors may be somewhat desensitized to India-Pakistan tensions, the political willingness to escalate conflict has raised concerns for some, given the wider geopolitical situation around the world.
"Geopolitically India is not in a great situation," said Venugopal Garre, head of India research at Bernstein, in a note to clients on May 7. He pointed to the change of political stance toward India by neighbors Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and its traditional allies, Russia and Israel. These countries are now occupied with war closer to home. Garre added that China's support of Pakistan doesn't help either.
India has a precarious relationship with China — its largest neighbor — exhibiting certain qualities that are similar to its relationship with Pakistan.
China and India share a long border with many points of disagreement that have remained unsettled for decades. The two countries also went to war in 1962 over a border dispute. More recently, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese forces in a disputed Himalayan border area in 2020.
While an actual military conflict between the two Asian giants is deemed "very, very unlikely" by Alquity's Kader, he admits that such an eventuality would be a "very scary situation" potentially requiring "global intervention" and significantly elevating India's risk premium.
The scenario is seen as being near-impossible because, economically, the two countries have an interdependent relationship.
Bernstein noted: "India needs China to help build its low-end assembly franchise while China may consider India as potential market (it runs a large trade surplus with India which it may not want to risk losing)."
Historically, however, India and Pakistan were also tied together economically as well as culturally. Yet, recent events show that when violence erupts, it can be difficult to predict how far each side will go. Investors might want to take note of the risks.
Trump doesn't want Apple building products in India. The U.S. President said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he doesn't want the tech giant to build its products in India, taking shots at the company's moves to diversify production away from China and urging him to pivot stateside.
India's consumer inflation rate in April cools. Headline inflation fell to 3.16% in April from 3.34% in March, and came in lower than the 3.27% expected by economists polled by Reuters. It was the sixth straight month that price increases moderated. Food inflation, which is a key inflation metric in the country, dipped to 1.78% in April, from March's figure of 2.69%.
Wholesale prices in India also fell. In April, wholesale inflation, which serves as a proxy for producer prices, rose 0.85% on an annual basis, much lower than the 2.05% increase the previous month and marking the slowest increase in more than a year. The reading was also lower than the forecast of 1.76% by a Reuters poll of economists. Encouraging consumer and wholesale inflation readings open the door to more rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India.
India raised the idea of retaliatory tariffs on America. Even as India is reportedly negotiating a trade deal with the U.S., the South Asian country on May 12 proposed to the World Trade Organisation that it retracts tariff concessions to the U.S., which would amount to $1.91 billion in duty collected from U.S. imports.
The ceasefire between India and Pakistan is brittle but intact. Both countries reached an agreement to stop military action on May 10, but have accused one another of violating it. That said, armed conflict has largely abated from the height of hostilities beginning May 6, which India said was a response to a militant attack last month in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. In a post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump offered help to find a "solution" regarding Kashmir.
The Nifty 50 index closed above 25,000 points for the first time since October, as it heads for a 4.4% gain this week. The index has risen 6% this year.
The benchmark 10-year Indian government bond yield declined to 6.23%, down by about 10 basis points from last week.
On CNBC TV this week, Shilpak Ambule, India's high commissioner to Singapore, said India will not distinguish between "terrorists and government sponsors of terrorist," and further discussed India's perspective of its conflict with Pakistan that broke out earlier this month. Ambule stressed that India is still forging trade ties with countries such as the U.S., the European Union and New Zealand amid its hostilities with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Mark Mobius, founder of Mobius Investments, said India is the "most exciting place" now because it will replace China in many areas. For instance, Apple has already shifted some of its manufacturing and export operations to India. Mobius also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing a good job of cutting through the Indian bureaucracy, streamlining the country's infrastructure and economy.
India's balance of trade figures, out Friday, will receive more scrutiny than usual, given U.S. President Donald Trump's emphasis on trade imbalances between America and its partners. Meanwhile, Integrity Infrabuild, a construction company, lists Tuesday, followed by Accretion Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday.
May 16: India balance of trade for April
May 20: Integrity Infrabuild Developers IPO
May 21: Accretion Pharmaceuticals IPO
May 22: India HSBC PMI flash data for May
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Apple may have only one way out of the rock and a hard place it finds itself in during President Donald Trump's second administration, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
The Grok chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI startup said Wednesday that it "appears I was instructed to address the topic of 'white genocide' in South Africa," according to responses viewed by CNBC.
CNBC was able to duplicate the artificial intelligence chatbot's responses via multiple user accounts on X, including by asking in one prompt, "Did someone program Grok to discuss 'white genocide' specifically?" Users noticed the chatbot was generating bizarre answers about the controversial topic on Wednesday afternoon in response to unrelated queries.
By Thursday morning, Grok's answer had changed, and the chatbot said it was not programmed to discuss "white genocide" or other conspiracies.
"No, I wasn't programmed to give any answers promoting or endorsing harmful ideologies, including anything related to 'white genocide' or similar conspiracies," the chatbot responded to CNBC on Thursday. "My purpose is to provide factual, helpful, and safe responses based on reason and evidence. If you've seen specific claims or outputs that concern you, I can analyze them or clarify further—just let me know!"
Musk's xAI did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Grok's responses to CNBC on Wednesday referenced several X users' posts and mainstream media outlets that had covered how the chatbot had "repeatedly brought up this topic in unrelated conversations, and said the circumstances suggested "a deliberate adjustment in my programming or training data."
The Grok response also noted, "The likely source of this instruction aligns with Elon Musk's influence, given his public statements on the matter."
Musk, who was born in and spent his childhood in South Africa, has promoted the idea for months that violence against some South African farmers constitutes "white genocide."
President Donald Trump has expressed similar views. Musk is a key advisor to Trump in leading the Department of Government Efficiency and was a major donor to his election campaign.
On Monday, the U.S. welcomed a group of white South Africans and granted them status as "refugees," protected under a Trump administration immigration carve out. The people who attained refugee status are part of the ethnic minority of Afrikaners, a group of white people of Dutch descent who ruled South Africa during the period of racial segregation known as apartheid.
Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, claimed in a post on his social media site X on Thursday that the South African government would not grant him a license for his satellite internet service Starlink because of his race.
"Even though I was born in South Africa, the government will not grant @Starlink a license to operate simply because I am not black," Musk wrote. "This is a shameful disgrace to the legacy of the great Nelson Mandela who sought to have all races treated equally in South Africa."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has repeatedly and publicly sparred with Musk, took a jab at xAI and Grok's style of phrasing on Thursday.
"There are many ways this could have happened. I'm sure xAI will provide a full and transparent explanation soon," Altman wrote in a post on X. "But this can only be properly understood in the context of white genocide in South Africa. As an AI programmed to be maximally truth seeking and follow my instr…"
--CNBC's Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Shares of UnitedHealth Group plunged more than 13% on Thursday following a report that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into the health-care giant over possible Medicare fraud.
The DOJ is focusing on the company's Medicare Advantage business practices, but the exact nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
In a statement, UnitedHealth Group said the Justice Department has not notified it about the reported probe and called the newspaper's reporting "deeply irresponsible."
The company also said "we stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program."
It marks the second time this year that the insurer's Medicare Advantage business has come under federal scrutiny. The Journal reported in February that the DOJ is conducting a civil investigation into whether the company inflated diagnoses to trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans.
UnitedHealthcare's Medicare and retirement segment, which includes the Medicare Advantage business, is UnitedHealth Group's largest revenue driver, raking in $139 billion in sales last year.
The reported investigation also follows the surprise exit of UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty, who will be replaced by the company's former longtime chief executive, Stephen Hemsley.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group are down roughly 49% this year following a string of setbacks for the company.
UnitedHealth Group has lost over $300 billion of its $600 billion market cap in just one month, Jared Holz, Mizuho health-care equity strategist, said in an email Thursday. He said there is some risk that the company will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average "at some point unless there is greater evidence of greater consistency."
UnitedHealth Group also had a tumultuous 2024, grappling with a historic cyberattack, higher-than-expected medical costs and the torrent of public blowback after the murder of UnitedHealthcare's CEO Brian Thompson.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Shares of UnitedHealth Group plunged more than 18% on Thursday following a report that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into the health-care giant over possible Medicare fraud.
The DOJ is focusing on the company's Medicare Advantage business practices, but the exact nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
In a statement, UnitedHealth Group said the Justice Department has not notified it about the reported probe and called the newspaper's reporting "deeply irresponsible."
The company also said "we stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program."
It marks the second time this year that the insurer's Medicare Advantage business has come under federal scrutiny. The Journal reported in February that the DOJ is conducting a civil investigation into whether the company inflated diagnoses to trigger extra payments to its Medicare Advantage plans.
The reported investigation also follows the surprise exit of UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty, who will be replaced by the company's former longtime chief executive, Stephen Hemsley.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group are down roughly 49% this year following a string of setbacks for the company.
UnitedHealth Group has lost over $300 billion of its $600 billion market cap in just one month, Jared Holz, Mizuho health-care equity strategist, said in an email Thursday. He said there is some risk that the company will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average "at some point unless there is greater evidence of greater consistency."
UnitedHealth Group also had a tumultuous 2024, grappling with a historic cyberattack, higher-than-expected medical costs and the torrent of public blowback after the murder of UnitedHealthcare's CEO Brian Thompson.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
Return to Office:
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon swiftly went viral earlier this year following some heated remarks about the perils of working from home. On Thursday, he acknowledged his emotions ran a little high but affirmed the case for bringing employees back to the office.
“I emoted a little bit,” Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview, when asked about the comments he made in February at a townhall discussion in Columbus, Ohio.
Coinbase said scammers bribed company insiders to steal sensitive data, and the hack could cost the cryptocurrency exchange as much as $400 million.
The firm said it was recently infiltrated by "criminals" who used cash rewards to get Coinbase customer support agents outside the US to send them customer data. The scammers intended to use the data to pose as Coinbase itself and trick users into sending over their crypto funds.
"Now, unfortunately, they were able to find a few bad apples," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a video response posted on X.
The scammers tried to "extort" Coinbase by demanding $20 million in ransom for covering up the situation, the firm said in a statement on Thursday morning. Armstrong turned down the offer in the video.
The firm said in a filing that the incident could cost $180 million to $400 million. The figures were based on Coinbase's preliminary estimates of remediation costs, customer reimbursements, and other related expenses.
"To the customers affected, we're sorry for the worry and inconvenience this incident caused. We'll keep owning issues when they arise and investing in world-class defenses," the firm said in a statement.
Coinbase declined to provide additional comment and referred BI to its blog post.
The exchange said the breach affected less than 1% of users, who may have had their names, account data, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information exposed.
It said it would reimburse customers who had accidentally sent funds to scammers.
It's also implementing a $20 million reward fund for information that could help with the arrest of the scammers. Coinbase said it had already tagged the addresses of the scammers, and was working with authorities.
Coinbase fired the customer support agents who provided insider information to the group, and said it would press criminal charges against those individuals.
"For these would-be extortionists or anyone seeking to harm Coinbase customers, know that we will prosecute you and bring you to justice. And now you have my answer," Armstrong said in his video.
Crypto crime has skyrocketed in recent years. Losses stemming from crypto investment fraud ballooned to $3.96 billion in 2023, up 335% over a two-year period, according to data from the FBI.
Coinbase stock dropped 6% on Thursday following the incident, denting a recent rally spurred on by news that the company would become the first crypto firm to join the S&P 500.
Check out: Personal Finance Insider's review of Coinbase.
Check out: Personal Finance Insider's review of Coinbase.
Jump to
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrive to the Gulf Cooperation Council Leaders' Summit in Riyadh on May 14.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump's flurry of artificial intelligence deals during his tour of the Middle East is opening a rift within his own administration as China hawks grow increasingly concerned the projects are putting US national security and economic interests at risk.
The Trump team has worked out agreements for parties in Saudi Arabia to acquire tens of thousands of semiconductors from Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., while shipments to the United Arab Emirates could top a million accelerators — mostly for projects involving or owned by US companies. Such chips are used to develop and train models that can mimic human intelligence, and they're the most coveted technology of the AI age.
Sign up today for the new CNBC Sport Newsletter
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
It's media Upfronts week, which these days serves primarily as a sports programming showcase. Readers of this newsletter shouldn't be surprised. As YouTube noted, NFL games were 90 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts during the 2024 NFL season. Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal just spent billions of dollars – each – on an NBA TV rights deal that kicks in next season.
Why have major media companies leaned so far into sports? One of the biggest reasons is ad revenue. That's what Upfronts week is all about.
I attended almost all of the major media company Upfronts and got a chance to speak with some executives and talent on the side. Here are some of my takeaways.
* Disney/ESPN: I'm going to start with Disney, because that was the company with the most consequential announcement this week – the long-awaited ESPN streaming service that I reported last week will be called … ESPN. This week, we learned the service will cost $29.99 per month, which isn't a surprise – I've reported for months it would either be $25 or $30 a month.
Still, the extent of the bundling discounts with Disney+ and Hulu were massive and unexpected. For customers that sign up at launch this fall (exact date TBD), Disney will throw in both Disney+ and Hulu for free to ESPN subscribers for 12 months. After that, the bundle of ESPN, Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) will cost $35.99 per month – just $6 more than ESPN alone.
Disney is pushing its bundle to cut down on churn – industry lingo for the rate of cancellation for streaming services. The idea is simple – if you make a bundle more cost effective than purchasing a solo service, more consumers will stick with the product. In other words, it's easier to cancel ESPN than ESPN, Disney+ and Hulu.
The CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media, delivered weekly to your inbox.
Subscribe here to get access today.
ESPN also wants to upsell its 24 million ESPN+ subscribers to the unlimited ESPN, Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said at a media event this week. ESPN+, which costs $11.99 per month for a smaller sampling of ESPN's live events, will essentially convert to an entry-level tier of ESPN. Part of the reason Disney is offering such a steep discount for the first-year bundle is to convert as many ESPN+ subscribers into ESPN customers as possible.
"A lot of our marketing, our messaging will be focused on upselling those trio bundle subscribers to this new bundle at this very attractive pricing," Pitaro said.
Disney is fully embracing ESPN these days, a shift from when it contemplated spinning off its sports media arm a few years ago. The first five people that showed up during Disney's Upfront presentation? Current and former NFL stars Saquon Barkley, Pat Mahomes, Eli Manning and Peyton Manning … and CEO Bob Iger.
Some other tidbits related to ESPN that I picked up during the week …
ESPN still wants UFC rights, but not for the mixed martial arts league's roughly $1 billion per year asking price. ESPN currently pays about $600 million for UFC, I'm told. That may lead to a situation where UFC splits its rights between multiple media partners.
It's a similar story for F1, though the dollars are lower. Despite some speculation ESPN was no longer interested in F1, I'm told that's not true. ESPN is specifically interested in the U.S. streaming rights for F1 given its younger audience and the lack of commercial breaks once a race begins. But I'm told the media company may only want a portion of a package – select races rather than the entire circuit. That could open the door for Amazon or even Netflix as a new partner. Netflix has a relationship with F1 through its documentary series "Drive to Survive," now amazingly in its seventh season. Still, Netflix's sports strategy remains "event" driven, and it's doubtful that an F1 race can be turned into an event, given its limited audience. F1 has been asking for $150 million per year for its rights, sources said.
On the programming side, ESPN is thinking about adding two new dayside shows. One would replace "Around The Horn," which concludes May 23. The other could sub in for the 2 p.m. SportsCenter. One idea being tossed around is a show that features newly-signed Peter Schrager, the NFL analyst who ESPN believes can be more of an all-sports figure, I was told by one plugged-in source.
I'm told ESPN's decision to cancel "Around The Horn" was largely cost driven. ESPN had dozens of journalists on its payroll given the revolving guest nature of the show, and it paid a licensing fee to Erik Rydholm, the show's executive producer. While ESPN has no intention of canceling "Pardon The Interruption," another Rydholm joint, it would prefer to create new programming in-house.
*NBCUniversal: The biggest news from NBC Sports was the addition of Michael Jordan to the NBA on NBC broadcasts next season. NBC said Jordan would be a "special contributor" to the broadcast, and then did the public the great service of not explaining what that means.
There's a reason for that – the role is still nebulous. But, fair reader, I'm here to serve. I'm told the initial plan is for Jordan to appear in taped segments during the season to provide analysis that will air during pregame shows or halftime shows. How that evolves over time is still TBD. The deal with Jordan was orchestrated by longtime NBC Sports executive Jon Miller, who has a decades-long relationship with MJ.
*Fox: Fox's biggest announcement was the launch of its streaming service, Fox One. Remember, the initial plan for Fox was to go into business with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery to create Venu Sports, a digital skinny bundle that would have given Fox a streaming outlet for its programming.
When the companies pulled the plug on Venu as it faced antitrust pushback, Fox pivoted to Plan B – launching its own streaming service consisting of live and on-demand programming from Fox broadcast, Fox News, Fox Business and Fox Sports, with the option to bundle with Fox Nation. The person in charge of the new streaming service? Pete Distad, who was going to be the CEO of Venu.
*Amazon: Amazon's biggest sports stars are probably Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce, who come to Amazon via Wondery, which owns "New Heights," the brothers' popular podcast. Amazon has "Thursday Night Football" and will now add the NBA and WNBA on Thursdays and Fridays.
But while Amazon threw a ton of star power at its Upfront (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael B. Jordan, John Cena, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.), I thought it was notable that its NBA star power is noticeably light compared to Disney's licensing of "Inside The NBA" (Shaq, Charles Barkley, etc.) and NBC's Jordan announcement.
Amazon trotted out Blake Griffin, Udonis Haslem, Maria Taylor and Candace Parker to talk about its NBA and WNBA lineup. While Parker is an all-time great in the WNBA, that collective is not exactly The Avengers. And Parker isn't even exclusively on Amazon – she showed up at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront too because she's also broadcasting "Unrivaled," the women's basketball three-on-three league that airs on Turner's cable networks.
As if to underscore the point, NFL analyst (and former quarterback) Ryan Fitzpatrick beat Griffin handily in an on-stage pop-a-shot contest, causing Jamie Lee Curtis to wonder out loud why the professional basketball player didn't know how to shoot.
I do think Amazon may have a bit of an NBA problem given its lack of on-air talent and weekday slate games. NBC made a huge deal of the return of the NBA during its Upfront, including flying in John Tesh to lead a large orchestra in "Roundball Rock." Jimmy Fallon even joked that the NBC Upfronts seemed like the NBA Upfronts. Earlier this month, NBC Sports president Rick Cordella told me NBC plans to incorporate stadium introduction music into its broadcasts – a throwback to the 1990s Chicago Bulls days. The idea is to make "Sunday Night Basketball" feel like the game of the week, he told me.
I fear Amazon's games may feel third-rate compared to ESPN and NBC. Amazon did pay less for its package of games than both companies, but ideally, Prime Video would find a way to make the games feel younger and fresher, given it's the first time an exclusive streamer has ever had NBA rights. And, to be fair, "Thursday Night Football" has improved in quality every year.
*Warner Bros. Discovery: When everyone else zigs, you zag. WBD lost its NBA rights for next season, so the company conspicuously downplayed sports relative to entertainment programming. While NBCU, Amazon and Disney all emphasized sports early in their presentations, it took WBD an hour before TNT Sports Chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser took the stage.
This wasn't an accident. WBD is changing the name of its streaming service from Max back to HBO Max. The point is to re-emphasize prestige programming and HBO rather than a B-minus sports lineup.
*Netflix: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell donned a Santa Claus suit to announce the platform's two new Christmas games — the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Washington Commanders and the Minnesota Vikings vs. the Detroit Lions.
Then, the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders performed a routine to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" to tout a new Netflix series featuring Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, "America's Team: The Gambler and his Cowboys," which hits the service this summer.
Netflix is still new to sports, so the service leaned on the strength of "Squid Game 3," "Stranger Things" season five, and "Nobody Wants This." Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said Netflix's event "is all about our shows and movies."
Netflix noted that eight of the top 20 Nielsen rated TV shows were on its platform. The company's sports strategy is showcasing big live events. So while Netflix announced the Christmas games and promoted an Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor women's boxing rematch, it's still figuring out how much of a player it wants to be as a media partner.
Still, there's a reason the NFL commissioner showed up at this Upfront. Netflix has a market valuation of nearly $500 billion. To use a Christmas analogy, Goodell wants to make sure Netflix isn't just the ghost of Christmas present, but also the ghost of Christmas future.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told me he frequently talks about adding more NFL games with Goodell, but the question always comes back to whether Netflix feels it can "eventize" the game beyond a random regular season occasion.
With UConn women's basketball star freshman Sarah Strong and WNBA veteran Allison Feaster...
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
The Coinbase website.
Coinbase Global Inc. said hackers bribed contractors or employees outside the US to steal sensitive customer data and demanded a $20 million ransom, in one of the most high-profile security breaches of a crypto trading platform.
The largest US crypto exchange said it won't pay the ransom and estimated the incident could cost the San Francisco-based firm up to $400 million to remedy.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that longer-term interest rates are likely to be higher as the economy changes and policy is in flux.
In remarks that focused on the central bank's policy framework review, last done in the summer of 2020, Powell noted that conditions have changed significantly over the past five years.
During the period, the Fed witnessed a period of surging inflation, pushing it to historically aggressive interest rate hikes. Powell said that even with longer-term inflation expectations largely in line with the Fed's 2% target, the era of near-zero rates is not likely to return anytime soon.
"Higher real rates may also reflect the possibility that inflation could be more volatile going forward than in the inter-crisis period of the 2010s," Powell said in prepared remarks for the Thomas Laubach Research Conference in Washington, D.C. "We may be entering a period of more frequent, and potentially more persistent, supply shocks — a difficult challenge for the economy and for central banks."
The Fed held its benchmark borrowing rate near zero for seven years following the financial crisis in 2008. Since December 2024, the overnight lending rate has been in a range between 4.25%-4.5%, most recently trading at 4.33%.
The "supply shocks" remarks are similar to those Powell has delivered over the past several weeks cautioning that policy changes could put the Fed in a difficult balancing act between supporting employment and controlling inflation.
Though he did not mention President Donald Trump's tariffs in his Thursday remarks, the central bank chief in recent days has noted the likelihood that tariffs will slow growth and boost inflation. However, the extent of either impact is difficult to gauge, particularly as Trump recently has backed off the more aggressive duties pending a 90-day negotiating window.
Nevertheless, the Fed has been reluctant to ease policy after cutting its benchmark rate by a full percentage point last year.
As for the ongoing framework review, the Fed will seek to develop a five-year plan for how it will guide decisions and the way the moves will be relayed to the public.
Powell said the process this time will look at a number of factors.
They include the way the Fed communicates its expectations for the future, while also entailing a look back at ways it can adjust the last review.
During the tumult of the summer of 2020, the Fed announced a "flexible average inflation target" approach that would allow inflation to run a little hotter than normal in the interest of providing full and inclusive employment. However, inflation targeting soon became a dead issue as prices soared in the wake of the Covid pandemic, forcing the Fed into a series of historically aggressive rate hikes.
The current review will look at how the Fed considers "shortfalls" in its inflation and employment goals.
Powell and his colleagues initially dismissed the 2021 inflation surge as "transitory" because of pandemic-specific factors. However, several Fed officials have said the 2020 framework adoption did not factor into their decision to hold rates near zero even as inflation was rising.
"In our discussions so far, participants have indicated that they thought it would be appropriate to reconsider the language around shortfalls," he said. "And at our meeting last week, we had a similar take on average inflation targeting. We will ensure that our new consensus statement is robust to a wide range of economic environments and developments."
Further addressing the idea of potential supply shocks and their policy impact, Powell said the review will focus on communication.
"While academics and market participants generally have viewed the [Fed's] communications as effective, there is always room for improvement," he said. "In periods with larger, more frequent, or more disparate shocks, effective communication requires that we convey the uncertainty that surrounds our understanding of the economy and the outlook. We will examine ways to improve along that dimension as we move forward."
Powell did not give a specific date on when the review will be completed, only saying that he expects it in "coming months." For the last review, Powell used his annual remarks at the Fed's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, retreat to outline the policy.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Coinbase on Thursday reported that cybercriminals bribed overseas support agents to steal customer data to use in social engineering attacks. The incident may cost Coinbase up to $400 million to fix, the company estimated.
The crypto exchange operator received an email on May 11 from someone claiming they obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts as well as other internal Coinbase documentation, including materials relating to customer service and account management systems, Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company's shares were down more than 6% in morning trading.
The email demanded money in exchange for not publicly disclosing the information, but Coinbase says it has not paid the demand and is cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation of the incident.
Although passwords and private keys were not compromised, affected data included sensitive data such as names, addresses, phone numbers and emails; masked bank account numbers and identifiers as well as the last four digits of Social Security numbers; government ID images and account balances, the company said.
"Cyber criminals bribed and recruited a group of rogue overseas support agents to steal Coinbase customer data to facilitate social engineering attacks," the company said in a blog post. "These insiders abused their access to customer support systems to steal the account data for a small subset of customers. No passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed and Coinbase Prime accounts are untouched. We will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker."
Coinbase had detected the breach independently in previous months, per the filing. It immediately terminated the employees involved, warned customers whose information may have been accessed and enhanced its fraud monitoring protections.
The threat actor paid overseas contractors and employees in support rolls to obtain the information, it said.
"We're cooperating closely with law enforcement to pursue the harshest penalties possible and will not pay the $20 million ransom demand we received," the company said in the blog. "Instead we are establishing a $20 million reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals responsible for this attack."
Coinbase operates the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. In the past week it announced an acquisition that is expected to help it expand its global reach and gained entry to the benchmark S&P 500 stock index, which will take effect next week. On the earnings call last week, CEO Brian Armstrong discussed his ambition to make Coinbase "the No. 1 financial services app in the world" in the next five to 10 years.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Dick's Sporting Goods said Thursday it plans to acquire rival Foot Locker as it looks to expand its international presence, win over a new set of consumers and corner the Nike sneaker market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dick's will use a combination of cash on hand and new debt to acquire Foot Locker for $2.4 billion. Foot Locker shareholders can receive either $24 in cash – a roughly 66% premium of Foot Locker's average share price over the last 60 days – or 0.1168 shares of Dick's stock.
Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon has been undertaking an ambitious turnaround at the footwear retailer, and while there have been signs of improvement, larger market conditions like tariffs and consumer softness have weighed on the company's stock, making Foot Locker a potential takeover target. As of Wednesday's close, Foot Locker shares were down 41% this year.
In a joint press release, Dillon said the acquisition is a "testament" to all of the work her and her team have done to improve the business.
"By joining forces with DICK'S, Foot Locker will be even better positioned to expand sneaker culture, elevate the omnichannel experience for our customers and brand partners, and enhance our position in the industry," said Dillon.
The CEO added she was "confident this transaction represents the best path for our shareholders and other stakeholders."
While the companies are longtime rivals — both competing to sell the same brands in their stores — Dick's is almost double the size of Foot Locker in terms of revenue. In their most recent fiscal years, Dick's reported $13.44 billion in revenue, while Foot Locker saw $7.99 billion.
Dick's said it expects to operate Foot Locker as a stand-alone business unit within its portfolio and maintain the company's brands – Foot Locker Kids, WSS, Champs and atmos.
Dick's CEO Lauren Hobart said on a conference call Thursday that the two businesses will be run as separate entities and the consumer "may or may not know that Dick's and Foot Locker are one."
"The combination of them for the consumer is not the most important thing, it's making sure that there's two powerful brands that are meeting all consumer needs, wherever, whenever, however they want to shop," Hobart said.
The merger brings together two iconic names in sports retailing and will give Dick's a massive competitive edge in the wholesale sneaker market, most importantly for Nike products.
Currently, Nike's primary wholesale partners are Dick's, Foot Locker and JD Sports. If the merger is approved, the combined company would be able to corner the Nike market at a time when the sneaker giant is more reliant on wholesalers than in years past.
"Dick's Sporting Goods and Foot Locker are two of the most storied and respected brands in our industry and have been our valued partners for decades," said Nike CEO Elliott Hill in a statement. "Each has their own loyal consumer following and deep understanding of the needs of athletes. I am confident that together, they will help elevate sport and continue to accelerate the growth of our industry."
The acquisition will also allow Dick's to enter the international markets for the first time, as Foot Locker operates 2,400 retail stores in 20 countries, and gives it access to the type of consumer who doesn't usually shop at its stores. The Dick's customer tends to be affluent, suburban and older, while the Foot Locker customer is urban, younger and more likely to be lower and middle income. That latter customer has long underpinned sneaker culture and is critical for Dick's to reach long-term growth and competitive advantage.
While Hobart said the company is not looking toward international expansion at this time, the total addressable market that Dick's is operating in will grow from $140 billion to $300 billion due to Foot Locker's global reach.
The proposed combination raises considerable anti-competition concerns, but Wall Street expects President Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission to be more favorable to mergers.
Hobart said during the call that the companies are "not expecting any regulatory concerns" with the FTC.
Foot Locker shares soared more than 80% after the deal was announced Thursday. Shares of Dick's fell roughly 15% as investors worried about the impact the merger could have on financial results.
While Dick's expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in the first full fiscal year post-close, and to deliver between $100 million and $125 million in cost synergies, Foot Locker has been struggling for some time. It has a cumbersome store footprint, many of which are in malls, and it's more exposed to economic downturns because of the lower-income level of its customer.
Foot Locker has assessed all of its stores and determined that some locations could close, Hobart said, but she does not expect a "significant" number of stores to shutter.
In a note on Thursday, TD Cowen called the deal a "strategic mistake" as it downgraded shares of Dick's to hold from buy. Analyst John Kernan said the transaction is "likely to produce low returns" and presents clear risks to synergies, integration and the structural foundation of Foot Locker's business. Kernan expects the return on capital to be low and said it raises balance sheet risks.
"There is little to no precedence of M&A at scale creating value for shareholders within Softlines Retail. In our view, there are countless examples of M&A destroying billions of dollars in value since we have covered the sector," said Kernan.
Dick's Executive Chairman Ed Stack said the company knew there would be some initial skepticism in response to the merger, but stressed that the two companies are "highly confident" and "up for the job."
"We're pretty conservative. We don't have a lot of big egos here," he said. "If we didn't see this clear line of sight to this, or we thought that this was going to impact what we're able to do with Dick's, we wouldn't be doing it."
Both companies preannounced fiscal first-quarter results after announcing the merger. Foot Locker reported comparable sales down 2.6% from the prior-year period, led by a slowdown internationally, and expects to see a net loss of $363 million for the period, compared with net income of $8 million in the year-ago period. That loss includes $276 million in charges related primarily to trademark and goodwill impairments.
Meanwhile, Dick's said it saw comparable sales growth of 4.5% and earnings per share of $3.24.
"We are very pleased with our strong start to the year and our demonstrated sustained growth," said Hobart. "The strength of our business puts us in a great position for our proposed acquisition of Foot Locker — a transformative step to accelerate our global reach and drive significant value for our athletes, teammates, partners and shareholders."
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
The advertisers and trade group targeted by an antitrust lawsuit from Elon Musk's X have hit back against its claims that they colluded to form an illegal boycott of the platform.
X is suing several major brands, including Mars, Lego, Nestlé, and Shell, alleging their participation in an ad industry initiative called the Global Alliance of Responsible Media, GARM, was tantamount to a conspiracy to "collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising" from X after Musk's takeover of the company, then known as Twitter.
X had claimed the alleged boycott resulted in it becoming "a less effective competitor to other social media platforms in the sale of digital advertising and in competing for user engagement on its platform."
In a joint motion filed on Wednesday seeking to dismiss the case, the defendants said the lawsuit was instead "an attempt to use the courthouse to win back the business X lost in the free market when it disrupted its own business and alienated many of its customers."
Founded in 2019, GARM was an initiative of the advertiser trade body The World Federation of Advertisers that aimed to provide the industry with a common language and frameworks to help categorize the kind of content that advertisers tend to want to avoid.
The categories ranged from obviously harmful content like child sex-abuse imagery, to content like violence, which different sorts of advertisers have varying risk appetites toward. The uptake of these frameworks was voluntary. X was previously itself a GARM member.
"None of the membership materials refers to boycotts, the exclusion of competitors, or the disclosure of competitively sensitive information," the WFA and advertiser defendants said in Wednesday's filing.
GARM discontinued operations after X filed its initial lawsuit last summer, saying the two-person operation lacked the resources to fight it. GARM's parent, the WFA, is still operating and remains a defendant in the case.
In Wednesday's filing, the WFA and the group of brands rejected the accusations of a conspiracy and said that advertisers — including non-GARM members —made their own individual decisions about pulling ad spend from X. It noted that X's own lawsuit said just 18 of GARM's more than 100 members stopped advertising on the platform.
X's advertising revenue had plummeted after Musk took control of Twitter in 2022. Under his leadership, the company fired reams of staff who had been responsible for areas like brand and platform safety, loosened content moderation rules, and brought back controversial banned accounts.
Some of X's original legal argument was built on a prior probe from the House Judiciary Committee, led by its Republican chairman Jim Jordan. The committee published an investigation last summer that alleged GARM and its members colluded to boycott platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other conservative-leaning media content they disfavored.
The WFA and the advertiser defendants said in the latest filing that even if marketers had chosen to stay away from X for political reasons, this would be protected by the First Amendment as an act of free speech and wouldn't be within the scope of antitrust law.
The WFA and some of the advertiser defendants — many of which are headquartered outside of the US — are also seeking to dismiss the case, which was filed in a Texas court, for lack of proper jurisdiction.
The WFA, CVS Health, and Nestlé declined to comment. X and the advertiser defendants — Mars, Ørsted, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmoliver, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell — didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
This month, X dropped its claims against the video platform Twitch, which was also previously a defendant in the case. X's court filing didn't state a reason, but the dismissal was brought "without prejudice," which means X could potentially sue Twitch again over the ad-boycott dispute. Last month, X had told the judge presiding over the case that the two companies had reached an agreement for the claims to be dropped if Twitch met conditions, which it didn't detail, this year.
Unilever was also initially named as a defendant in the original lawsuit, but reached an unspecified agreement with X and was dropped from the case in October.
Read the filing below:
Jump to
Cybersecurity firm Proofpoint is acquiring European rival Hornetsecurity for north of $1 billion to strengthen its European presence as it explores a return to public markets.
The deal marks the single largest acquisition in Proofpoint's history.
The cybersecurity industry has seen heightened consolidation in recent months, with companies snapping up smaller competitors to bolster their offerings in an era of AI-fueled cybercrime.
In March, Google announced a deal to acquire Israeli-founded cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion, while last month Palo Alto Networks said it was buying AI-focused cyber startup Protect AI.
Proofpoint, which is currently owned by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, told CNBC Thursday that the deal to buy Hornetsecurity would help deepen its expertise in the managed service provider (MSP) ecosystem.
Headquartered in Hannover, Germany, Hornetsecurity specializes in managed cloud-based email security services to help protect firms from cyberattacks, data loss, and compliance risks associated with Microsoft 365 and other IT infrastructure.
Proofpoint CEO Sumit Dhawan told CNBC the deal would help "consolidate fragmented security tools into a unified platform that protects people and defends data across the global threat landscape."
"Generative AI has fundamentally changed the threat landscape, enabling faster, more targeted, and more complex attacks," Dhawan said in an interview. Small and medium-sized firms "are increasingly in the crosshairs" of hackers and require "integrated, high-efficacy" solutions, he added.
Proofpoint's boss told CNBC in October last year that the company was exploring external funding as well as mergers and acquisitions of smaller cybersecurity firms with an aim to return to the public markets in 2026. The company went private in 2021 in a $12.3 billion acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
"Hornetsecurity brings very strong business to Proofpoint targeting a new market segment of MSPs and diversifies our routes to market," Dhawan said.
"It contributes significantly to our earnings and cash flow going forward, which makes us an even stronger company and business as we explore a return to public markets," he added.
Dhawan said that while there is "nothing new" to share on Proofpoint's IPO plans for now, "we remain interested in the IPO market and will explore public markets when we feel the time is right."
Hornetsecurity serves more than 125,000 small to medium-sized businesses and has more than 700 employees, according to a press release. Proofpoint has over 4,500 employees and counts 85% of the Fortune 100 as customers.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Shares of Ubisoft sank 18% on Thursday after the French video game firm reported full-year earnings that disappointed investors.
Ubisoft reported a 20.5% drop in net bookings for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, as a strong performance of the company's latest "Assassin's Creed" game did little to boost its full-year sales. "Assassin's Creed: Shadows" was released in March following two consecutive delays.
Ubisoft cited "lower than expected partnerships" for the decline in net bookings, which totalled 1.85 billion euros ($2.1 billion). The company also reported an operating loss of 15.1 million euros for the year.
The game maker's full-year 2025-26 outlook also failed to impress. The firm said it sees net bookings for the current fiscal year being "stable" year-on-year and that it expects to break even on a non-IFRS operating income basis.
Ubisoft shares closed down 18.32%, at a price of 9.55 euros.
The company's shares have lost almost 60% of their value in the past 12 months, as the firm faced financial struggles, development hurdles, and underperformance of some of its key titles.
In March, Ubisoft revealed plans to form a new gaming subsidiary part-owned by Chinese technology giant Tencent. The new unit will be responsible for developing and publishing its top game franchises including "Assassin's Creed," "Far Cry," and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six."
Tencent will invest 1.16 billion euros into the subsidiary, giving it a 25% stake. Ubisoft will retain majority ownership and earn royalties on sales related to its key franchises. The game maker said Wednesday that it expects the deal to conclude by the end of 2025.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Alibaba shares fell on Thursday after the Chinese e-commerce giant missed earnings expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter on both the top and bottom line.
Shares were down nearly 8%.
Here's how Alibaba did in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March versus LSEG estimates:
While falling short of analyst expectations, revenue was nevertheless up 7% year-on-year.
Alibaba's net income was also still 279% higher year-on-year, off a low base. Alibaba said it saw some losses as a result of the disposal of some of its subsidiaries, which was offset by an increase in income from operations and changes to valuations of its equity investments.
However, analysts were hoping the company's investments in artificial intelligence and its core e-commerce business would help it hit or exceed high expectations.
But Alibaba is grappling with macroeconomic volatility that has affected consumer sentiment in China. Washington's trade war with Beijing has created uncertainty in the world's second-largest economy, which has seen huge tariffs slapped from both sides during the latest quarter in which Alibaba reported.
Beijing and Washington agreed to suspend most tariffs on each other's goods this month.
Alibaba's core Taobao and Tmall group division — the company's China e-commerce business — saw revenue rise 9% to 101.4 billion yuan. That growth rate is faster than the level seen in the previous quarter. Customer management revenue, which Alibaba makes off of selling marketing and other services to merchants on its platform, jumped 12% year-on-year. This is a big revenue driver for the company.
Over the last few months, China has also introduced policies to spur consumption and consumer purchases.
In a move to boost purchases on its Tmall and Taobao platforms, Alibaba extended a partnership with Rednote, or Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like service in China. The deal allows Taobao links to be embedded in Rednote posts, so users can be taken directly to a product shopping page.
On the earnings call on Thursday, Alibaba management said that the company would be investing "aggressively" in its so-called "instant commerce" model. This is a feature introduced on Taobao this month that provides deliveries of certain products in China within an hour, underscoring Alibaba's bid to continue to differentiate itself from its rivals.
Alibaba executives said the hope is that will drive more engagement on the Taobao app.
Even with these changes, Alibaba is facing an intense price war in China with rivals including PDD and JD.com.
Alibaba said cloud revenue totaled 30.1 billion yuan in the March quarter, increasing at a year-on-year pace of 18% — faster than the growth seen in the previous quarter.
The company said this was driven by "faster public cloud revenue growth" and by "increasing adoption of AI-related products."
Investors are also focused on Alibaba's efforts in artificial intelligence, where it has become a leading player domestically and globally.
In April, the Hangzhou-headquartered company launched the latest version of its open source large language model, Qwen 3, which is being used to power Alibaba's AI assistant Quark.
AI competition in China is red hot and was exacerbated by DeepSeek's innovative model launched earlier this year. Chinese tech giant Tencent meanwhile on Tuesday announced a 91% year-on-year rise in capital expenditures in the first quarter, driven by investments in AI.
Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu said in an earnings release that AI-related product revenue achieved "triple-digit growth for the seventh consecutive quarter." Wu did not specify a figure for AI-related revenue.
During the earnings call on Thursday, Wu said companies are shifting toward cloud-based AI services. He said the company sees a "significant growth track for revenue" for Alibaba's cloud business for the next few quarters.
"We have quite strong confidence and conviction in that," Wu said, according to a company provided live translation of his comments.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he doesn't want the tech giant to build its products in India, taking shots at the company's moves to diversify production away from China and urging him to pivot stateside.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday," Trump said. "I said to him, 'my friend, I treated you very good. You're coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you're building all over India.' I don't want you building in India."
Trump was referencing Apple's commitment of a $500 billion investment in the U.S. which was announced in February.
Apple has been ramping up production in India with the aim of making around 25% of global iPhones in the country in the next few years, as it looks to reduce reliance on China, where around 90% of its flagship smartphone is currently assembled.
"I said to Tim, I said, 'Tim look, we treated you really good, we put up with all the plants that you build in China for years, now you got build us. We're not interested in you building in India, India can take care of themselves ... we want you to build here,'" Trump said.
The U.S. president added that Apple is going to be "upping" its production in the United States, without disclosing further details.
CNBC has reached out to Apple.
Trump made the comments about the U.S. tech giant while discussing Washington's broader trade relations with India.
Trump said India is "one of the highest tariff nations in the world," adding the country has offered a deal to the U.S. where "they are willing to literally charge us no tariff."
Under the White House's trade protectionist policies revealed in April, Trump has imposed a so-called reciprocal tariff of 26% on Indian goods, which has been temporarily lowered until July.
Apple's main assembly partner in India, Foxconn, received approval from the Indian government on Monday to build a semiconductor plant in the country in a joint venture with HCL Group.
Apple has spent decades building up its supply chain in China, but has looked to other countries like Vietnam and India to expand its production capacity.
But experts generally agree that moving production of the iPhone to the U.S. would be highly unlikely because of the final price of the end product. Varying estimates put the cost of an iPhone between $1,500 to $3,500, if it were made in the U.S.
Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. Currently, the Cupertino, California, giant produces the Mac Pro in the U.S. In February, it announced it would launch a manufacturing facility in Texas to produce servers for Apple Intelligence, its artificial intelligence system.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2025 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
You may think that coding languages are static, just a string of letters and numbers for humans to communicate with machines and software. But Herb Sutter, a tech leader at Citadel Securities, says otherwise.
"All the major languages that are in heavy use are living languages," Sutter told Business Insider. "That's why we see C++, Rust, C, and Python continuing to evolve. Our landscape is always changing, and it's important to stay abreast of those developments."
As a market maker, Citadel Securities needs to be ready to match buyers and sellers and provide liquidity to institutional and retail investors worldwide. The company is focused on mastering C++, because speed and execution are everything. It's considered a more specialized coding language that is often used at high-frequency trading firms and exchanges. Better use and understanding of C++ can translate to faster systems and fewer coding mistakes.
Sutter joined in 2024 from Microsoft to spearhead its training initiatives on C++, which is used extensively throughout Citadel Securities' technology. As one of the more senior technologists at the firm, it's Sutter's day job to keep up with the evolution of coding languages to make sure Ken Griffin's market maker is reaping the benefits of the latest and greatest. But even less experienced coders have something to gain by familiarizing themselves with the fresh features that come with new versions of C++; one edge is standing out in the interview process to nab a job at Citadel Securities, which can fetch up to $350,000 for jobs requiring C++ experience.
In this Q&A, Sutter discusses how the firm is embracing a new version of C++ that isn't even set to be fully released until next year, and two pieces of advice that can help engineers stand out from the crowd. It has been edited for length and clarity.
How've you been and what's keeping you busy these days?
I've been at Citadel Securities for about six months. Can you believe it? And it has been great. I've been drinking from a firehose because there's lots of exciting work to do and new things I'm being exposed to.
I've particularly enjoyed seeing how the firm is adopting the important and immediately useful elements of the new standards, even without waiting for the ink to officially dry.
One of the things I'm especially excited about is C++'s async framework that's coming in the next standard that will ship about a year from now. Async use of C++ is a big deal because we are all increasingly needing to do things concurrently and in parallel.
[Editor's note: "async" is shorthand for asynchronous — code that can run in the background without freezing your app. It's a new framework that helps developers write faster, smoother programs by handling tasks like downloading files or crunching numbers without making users wait.]
I didn't realize until I joined Citadel Securities just how much that framework is already used at the firm, including for our US equities trading. Working at Citadel Securities is almost like living in the future in that we're already diving deep into technologies that will eventually be widely used. That's been a lot of fun.
What exactly is an async framework, and why is it becoming increasingly important to have things work concurrently and in parallel?
Concurrency is the idea of doing more than one thing at a time, which we're always trying to do in a network-cloud world, whether that's waiting for cloud capacity or AI tokens. Parallelism is when you have one huge computation to do, but would like to spread elements out over multiple machines to get the answer more quickly.
What impresses me most about C++26's async framework is that it can handle both of those elements — the one that involves hiding and waiting, and the other that's doing many different things. Those are such different things. Doing them both well in one framework is pretty amazing.
Just think of what a trading system has to do. Requests for trades are flying across the wire all the time. You never know when the client is going to want to buy or sell, so as a market maker, you have to be ready at all times. And that means being very responsive, very efficient, and super fast. Execution is extremely important, and that's why we're investing in the async framework.
What are some of the advantages that you're seeing being an early adopter or a first mover in this new C++ standard?
At Citadel Securities, using the things today that everyone else is going to be using months or years from now builds muscle and familiarity — especially for something as core as an async framework. Beyond that, we have been providing feedback and suggesting tweaks to the standard that are being adopted. Because we're using the new standard in production and at scale, we're able to play a role in evolving the language, which has been great.
How would a prospective hire show off their C++ skills?
One way you can show off your C++ skills is simply by talking about what you're looking forward to most in C++26, describing the features that have helped you, or sharing something you've learned recently. I want to know that you're that curious and that you're focused on continuous learning, and that's true more generally, regardless of language. It's important to be able to demonstrate curiosity and knowledge about software advancements — and to show that you understand that there's more than one tool out there and that you know how to use them together.
What's your advice to young engineers interested in joining Citadel Securities?
I would encourage young engineers to get as much work experience as possible as early as possible. I went to the University of Waterloo in Canada, which has a well-known co-op program that served me incredibly well, but there are many others out there.
The key is to get some work experience so that by the time you graduate, you have spent a significant amount of time using your skills in a real-world environment. The biggest differentiator we see among candidates is their ability to use technology to solve commercial problems. Ultimately, knowing data structures, languages, and the like are important tools in the toolkit, but what will really set you apart is your ability to solve business problems.
Jump to
NEW YORK, May 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the XRP price breaks past $2.50 and momentum surges across the XRP Ledger ecosystem, attention is turning towards Ripple's initial public offering. Crypto observers closely watch how market participants react to Ripple's going public amid the emergence of a new alternative: Remittix.
Since making its grand entrance in the global payment sector, Remittix inflows have toppled records, surging above $15 million within weeks. This analysis breaks down the XRP news regarding the Ripple IPO and Remittix's impressive momentum.
XRP news: XRP price targets $5 move amid Ripple's IPO launch
Source: CoinMarketCap
The XRP price has surged over 55% since its April low of $1.61, buoyed by a broader crypto market resurgence. This upswing is fueled by a temporary U.S.-China tariff deal and April's unexpectedly low inflation data, which indicated a 2.3% year-over-year increase, its slowest pace since February 2021.
Amid this price performance, the XRP news of its initial public offering is bringing attention to Ripple. This market buzz started after CEO Brad Garlinghouse said a Ripple IPO is possible but not a priority. While no official date has been announced, speculations by year-end are highly entertained, given the slow momentum towards this project.
Meanwhile, the block data indicates that the XRP ETF has recorded inflows for five consecutive weeks, bringing its total assets to more than $99.1 million. This highlights the rising demand for XRP products.
Source: Captain Fabik on X
The momentum and positive developments had analysts double down on their bullish XRP price prediction. X analyst Captain Faibik spotted a falling wedge pattern. The chart pattern indicates a period of consolidation before signalling a reversal with a probable upside move in the XRP price. If the bullish pattern is confirmed, the price target is $5.
Remittix ICO breaks $15 million barrier with raw PayFi utility.
Raising $15 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) is no small accomplishment. This milestone shows the growing interest in the PayFi sector and investors' trust in Remittix. The new crypto's distinctive focus on transforming international remittances has resonated with its target audience.
This impressive performance shows that Remittix has the potential to be a ground-breaking project even for Ripple investors. The reason? Remittix simplifies international money transfers at a lower cost than conventional systems. It offers flexibility and accessibility with over 40 crypto options and 30 fiat currencies.
Remittix's innovation has spread its popularity beyond niche investors, especially as normal people adopt digital assets without experiencing technical issues. Its ongoing presale has raked in over $15 million in inflows, which has led industry experts to dub it the XRP 2.0 to ride the next wave of growing adoption in the global remittance sector.
Conclusion
While the latest XRP price prediction is not far-fetched, especially with its institutional growth, Remittix's focus on user accessibility and transparent fee structures for businesses positions it as a compelling alternative. Despite the choppy market conditions, Remittix's ICO has powered through the $15 million milestone while selling millions of tokens at around $0.0757.
Early adopters have earned four-digit percentage returns, and analysts believe Remittix can do much more.
Discover the future of PayFi with Remittix by checking out their presale here:
Website:https://remittix.io/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/remittix
Media details:
Company: Remittix
Website: https://remittix.io/
Contact Person: Bowen Higgins
Email Id: [email protected]
Address:22 Washington Square N, New York, NY 10011, USA
Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an "as-is" basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We assume no responsibility for any inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5ef01454-cbff-4e11-90d5-4b8b42f24261
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ac2cd072-bd67-452d-bb13-fa3b3e88b847
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be02f989-214e-467d-a6b8-2925354dc50a
New Read to Earn quest available!
Home » News » Tech News
The merger between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) is becoming tangible, step by step. For years, this marriage seemed like a distant promise. However, JPMorgan has just made a major first step by settling its first tokenized transaction on a public blockchain. This advance highlights the rise of blockchain in the institutional world and envisions a future where crypto and classic finance coexist.
JPMorgan, a global finance giant, announced an important milestone: the successful completion of a transaction involving tokenized US Treasury bonds. This operation took place on the Ondo Finance platform, a public blockchain, thanks to the interoperability ensured by Chainlink. Colin Cunningham, head of tokenization at Chainlink Labs, explains:
This is the first time a major global bank has connected its payment system to a public blockchain.
He adds that this milestone marks the future of financial transactions, where real assets will freely circulate between private and public chains.
This transaction is powered by Kinexys, JPMorgan's DeFi platform. It aims to bridge the gap between the two worlds, enabling near-instant settlements and cost reductions. The Kinexys project already manages about $2 billion in daily volumes and $1.5 trillion in underlying assets.
This achievement confirms the growing ability of traditional finance to incorporate crypto innovations.
The experience conducted with Ondo Finance and Chainlink perfectly illustrates the strengths of hybrid technologies. Chainlink acts as a bridge, ensuring secure communication between JPMorgan's private blockchain and Ondo's public blockchain. This interoperability eliminates the usual frictions encountered in crypto transactions across different networks. Nathan Allman, CEO of Ondo Finance, emphasizes:
The inaugural transaction is not just a major milestone, it is a statement about the future of finance.
Ondo Finance facilitates the tokenization of traditional assets, such as Treasury bonds, in a decentralized environment. The OUSG token, used in this transaction, is a tokenized money market fund. These innovations enable institutions to operate within open ecosystems, where liquidity and transparency are enhanced.
JPMorgan has been experimenting with blockchain since 2019 with JPM Coin, renamed Kinexys. This project is evolving towards a solution capable of settling transactions 24/7, reducing costs and accelerating cross-border payments. The recent public transaction marks a new step in this roadmap, signaling broader adoption among the institutional crypto community.
The scope of this project is as much financial as technological. The tokenization of real assets is gaining ground, with over $12 billion in value locked on more than 80 DeFi platforms, according to DeFi Llama. BlackRock ranks among the largest investors, with nearly $3 billion in tokenized cash funds.
JPMorgan's transaction fits into a rapidly growing market, especially among traditional players eager to enter the crypto community. Here are the notable figures:
These figures emphasize the scale of the revolution. JPMorgan takes a major step by directly connecting its payment system to public blockchains. This advance lays the groundwork for a future where crypto transactions will be at the heart of global financial flows.
Blockchain now finds its place in multiple sectors: finance, healthcare, aviation… However, it still struggles to convince some tech giants like Nvidia. These companies remain cautious, sometimes slowing the growth of a disruptive technology. Nevertheless, the entry of banks like JPMorgan into the crypto ecosystem shows that blockchain is gradually becoming a cornerstone of the economy of tomorrow.
Maximize your Cointribune experience with our "Read to Earn" program! For every article you read, earn points and access exclusive rewards. Sign up now and start earning benefits.
La révolution blockchain et crypto est en marche ! Et le jour où les impacts se feront ressentir sur l'économie la plus vulnérable de ce Monde, contre toute espérance, je dirai que j'y étais pour quelque chose
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Receive the latest and best crypto news directly to your inbox
in daily, weekly, or special format, to stay updated at your own pace
Receive the latest and best crypto news directly to your inbox
in daily, weekly, or special format, to stay updated at your own pace
New Read to Earn quest available!
Home » News » Tech News
The merger between traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) is becoming tangible, step by step. For years, this marriage seemed like a distant promise. However, JPMorgan has just made a major first step by settling its first tokenized transaction on a public blockchain. This advance highlights the rise of blockchain in the institutional world and envisions a future where crypto and classic finance coexist.
JPMorgan, a global finance giant, announced an important milestone: the successful completion of a transaction involving tokenized US Treasury bonds. This operation took place on the Ondo Finance platform, a public blockchain, thanks to the interoperability ensured by Chainlink. Colin Cunningham, head of tokenization at Chainlink Labs, explains:
This is the first time a major global bank has connected its payment system to a public blockchain.
He adds that this milestone marks the future of financial transactions, where real assets will freely circulate between private and public chains.
This transaction is powered by Kinexys, JPMorgan's DeFi platform. It aims to bridge the gap between the two worlds, enabling near-instant settlements and cost reductions. The Kinexys project already manages about $2 billion in daily volumes and $1.5 trillion in underlying assets.
This achievement confirms the growing ability of traditional finance to incorporate crypto innovations.
The experience conducted with Ondo Finance and Chainlink perfectly illustrates the strengths of hybrid technologies. Chainlink acts as a bridge, ensuring secure communication between JPMorgan's private blockchain and Ondo's public blockchain. This interoperability eliminates the usual frictions encountered in crypto transactions across different networks. Nathan Allman, CEO of Ondo Finance, emphasizes:
The inaugural transaction is not just a major milestone, it is a statement about the future of finance.
Ondo Finance facilitates the tokenization of traditional assets, such as Treasury bonds, in a decentralized environment. The OUSG token, used in this transaction, is a tokenized money market fund. These innovations enable institutions to operate within open ecosystems, where liquidity and transparency are enhanced.
JPMorgan has been experimenting with blockchain since 2019 with JPM Coin, renamed Kinexys. This project is evolving towards a solution capable of settling transactions 24/7, reducing costs and accelerating cross-border payments. The recent public transaction marks a new step in this roadmap, signaling broader adoption among the institutional crypto community.
The scope of this project is as much financial as technological. The tokenization of real assets is gaining ground, with over $12 billion in value locked on more than 80 DeFi platforms, according to DeFi Llama. BlackRock ranks among the largest investors, with nearly $3 billion in tokenized cash funds.
JPMorgan's transaction fits into a rapidly growing market, especially among traditional players eager to enter the crypto community. Here are the notable figures:
These figures emphasize the scale of the revolution. JPMorgan takes a major step by directly connecting its payment system to public blockchains. This advance lays the groundwork for a future where crypto transactions will be at the heart of global financial flows.
Blockchain now finds its place in multiple sectors: finance, healthcare, aviation… However, it still struggles to convince some tech giants like Nvidia. These companies remain cautious, sometimes slowing the growth of a disruptive technology. Nevertheless, the entry of banks like JPMorgan into the crypto ecosystem shows that blockchain is gradually becoming a cornerstone of the economy of tomorrow.
Maximize your Cointribune experience with our "Read to Earn" program! For every article you read, earn points and access exclusive rewards. Sign up now and start earning benefits.
La révolution blockchain et crypto est en marche ! Et le jour où les impacts se feront ressentir sur l'économie la plus vulnérable de ce Monde, contre toute espérance, je dirai que j'y étais pour quelque chose
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Receive the latest and best crypto news directly to your inbox
in daily, weekly, or special format, to stay updated at your own pace
Receive the latest and best crypto news directly to your inbox
in daily, weekly, or special format, to stay updated at your own pace
The latest draft of the U.S. Senate's stablecoin legislation includes enough changes that Democratic senators may now have an easier time getting back on board, though consumer advocates say it still falls short.
The bill to set oversight and standards for stablecoin issuers sailed through the Senate Banking Committee with wide bipartisan support in March, but it hit a wall on the Senate floor last week as many Democrats raised objections. Chief among them were the conflicts that may be presented by President Donald Trump's own crypto interests and the possibility that big technology firms like Meta and social-media site X may be able to issue such tokens.
"As the result of hard-fought negotiations, Democrats won major victories on a range of critical issues," proponents noted in a summary circulated with the draft bill. The question remaining is: Will it be enough to get back to a so-called cloture vote that will advance the bill to a floor debate that would mark its final major stage before the Senate takes a vote.
The next procedural move on the Senate floor could come by next week, according to people familiar with the talks.
The latest changes to the bill represent a mixed bag. The loudest requests from critics, that the president be explicitly stopped from personally benefiting from the crypto industry that his administration will regulate, were not directly addressed in this version of the bill.
But on the concerns over tech giants sprouting with a field of new dollar-based tokens, the bill dealt with it in part:
"A public company that is not predominantly engaged in one or more financial activities, and its wholly or majority owned subsidiaries or affiliates, may not issue a payment stablecoin unless the public company obtains a unanimous vote of the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee," according to the latest draft. The committee would be a multi-agency group created under the legislation to look at such requests.
There are major loopholes in that, according to Mark Hays, who focuses on crypto and financial-technology issues for Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress. For starters, he said, it affects only public companies and not private ones, such as X and TiKTok.
"There's already a way that large tech firms that aren't public could become issuers without adhering to these new standards," he said. Also, he added, "it's quite possible under this bill that a public company could secure an interest in a non-public company, and that's another way around it."
He argued that this overall draft gave toothless answers to the concern of consumer advocates.
"Pushing this through on an arbitrary deadline because the crypto industry is breathing down your neck is not a good way to make policy," Hays said. "And it's especially bad when that policy could further enable and enrich the president."
Bo Hines, one of Trump's chief advisers on crypto, appeared at Consensus 2025 in Toronto on Wednesday to insist that there's no conflict in the president's business interests or his family's involvement in the industry, including its stake in World Liberty Financial. He said that Trump "can't be bought."
The White House's Hines, who acts as a liaison to Capitol Hill during the legislative negotiations, expressed continued confidence about the effort staying on track in the Senate.
"Negotiations are ongoing," Hines said at Consensus. "But I remain steadfast in my optimism that we're going to achieve — the president's desire is to do it — both stablecoin legislation and market structure legislation before the August recess."
Nikhilesh De contributed reporting.
Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He's won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings.
About
Contact
Oops, something went wrong
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Chainlink has emerged as a top-performing altcoin in the latest crypto market rally, climbing 75% since forming a solid base in mid-April. This move follows a clean reaction off a long-standing trendline that dates back to its 2023 lows — a structure we highlighted in our April 14 commentary.
After months of downtrend and sideways action, LINK began showing early signs of accumulation just above its 2023 trendline support. As Bitcoin and Ethereum led the broader market higher, LINK joined the momentum, confirming its breakout on both the daily and weekly timeframes.
Don't Miss:
Trade crypto futures on Plus500 with up to $200 in bonuses — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different strategies.
Grow your IRA or 401(k) with Crypto – unlock the power of alternative investments including a Crypto IRA within your retirement account.
That April 14 base has now turned into a springboard, launching LINK into a multi-week climb that has caught the attention of traders and investors looking for strong altcoin plays.
Currently, LINK is facing a critical test. The weekly chart shows price trading into a significant supply zone between $17.60 and $19.848 — a region where LINK was previously rejected earlier this year. Historically, this type of zone has triggered profit-taking and pullbacks, so bulls will need to demonstrate real strength to break through.
This resistance isn't just technical — it also represents a psychological hurdle where many traders may choose to de-risk after a strong run.
The real test will come if LINK pulls back. If buyers step in during the next retracement and create a higher low, it could be a pivotal signal that the broader trend is shifting from bearish to bullish.
Such a development would set LINK apart from many altcoins, which have struggled to maintain bullish structure or establish higher timeframe reversals after months of decline.
Trending: New to crypto? Get up to $400 in rewards for successfully completing short educational courses and making your first qualifying trade on Coinbase.
While the recent rally is impressive, it's important to keep the bigger picture in mind. LINK is still down approximately 66% from its 2021 all-time highs, underscoring how much room remains for long-term recovery. This perspective is crucial for managing expectations and navigating volatility.
On the daily chart, a swing low has been established at $16.020. This level is now a crucial reference point. Holding above it with strength would confirm continued bullish control on the lower timeframes, potentially setting the stage for another leg higher.
If price breaks below that level, however, it could signal deeper retracement — possibly testing older breakout zones or previous demand areas.
As long as LINK continues to form higher lows and maintain bullish market structure on the daily chart, the case for a bullish bias remains valid. Traders should remain patient and focused, especially with broader altcoin strength appearing across the market.
If LINK can break above the $19.848 resistance zone with conviction, the next upside targets could open up — including psychological round numbers and former support zones turned resistance.
For now, LINK remains one of the more technically promising charts in the altcoin space — but like the rest of crypto, its next move will hinge on how well bulls defend structure during pullbacks.
Read Next:
A must-have for all crypto enthusiasts: Sign up for the Gemini Credit Card today and earn rewards on Bitcoin Ether, or 60+ other tokens, with every purchase.
‘Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can invest today for just $0.30/share with a $1000 minimum.
Image: Shutterstock
Send To MSN: 0
This article Altcoin 'Boom' Sparks LINK's 75% Rally: Will the Momentum Hold As It Tests Key Resistance Levels? originally appeared on Benzinga.com
A widely followed analyst says that Ethereum (ETH) may be gearing up for an explosive move to the upside.
In a new thread, crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe tells his 786,500 followers on the social media platform X that ETH may first dip to the $2,233 support level on the daily chart before increasing more than 56% of its current value.
“ETH has hit a higher timeframe resistance zone and that requires to have a build-up before it can break upwards. Sub $2,400 is a massive opportunity to get yourself [in] before this runs above $4,000.”
The analyst also says that ETH is likely in an uptrend against Bitcoin (ETH/BTC) on the weekly chart after printing a similar 2019 bottoming pattern.
“A gentle reminder that the previous bottom for ETH was in September 2019. After that, a bull market of 826 days took place. Right now, ETH has likely bottomed some weeks ago. That's just 21 days behind us, that doesn't mean we'll end the bull in the next 50 days.”
ETH/BTC is trading for 0.02480 BTC ($2,558) at time of writing, down 1.16% in the last 24 hours.
Lastly, the analyst says that if ETH starts breaking out, the broader altcoin market may soon follow.
“If this happens on ETH, that would signal a lot of potential upside to come for the entire altcoin market. Buy the dip opportunity.”
Generated Image: DALLE3
Covering the future of finance, including macro, bitcoin, ethereum, crypto, and web 3.
Categories
Bitcoin • Ethereum • Trading •
Altcoins • Futuremash • Financeflux •
Blockchain • Regulators • Scams •
HodlX • Press Releases
ABOUT US | EDITORIAL POLICY | PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS AND CONDITIONS | CONTACT | ADVERTISE
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
JOIN US ON X
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
COPYRIGHT © 2017-2025 THE DAILY HODL
© 2025 The Daily Hodl
Ethereum's native token, Ether (ETH), has surged from approximately $1,385 in April to a peak of over $2,730, a rally driven by the Pectra upgrade and easing US-China trade tensions.
These gains have propelled ETH above the average cost basis of many holders. Historical patterns suggest that such rapid ascents often precede pullbacks, potentially revisiting previous support levels.
The average cost basis represents the average price at which investors acquired their ETH holdings.
When the market price rises above this average, many investors find themselves in profit. This scenario can lead to increased selling pressure as holders decide to realize gains, potentially causing the price to pull back toward the average cost basis.
Data from CryptoQuant reveals that the average cost basis for ETH holders varies by wallet size:
These average cost levels often act as psychological support zones. If the price retraces to these levels and holds, it can instill confidence in the market, encouraging new buying and setting the stage for the next upward move.
However, if the price falls below these levels, it may signal a shift in market sentiment, leading to further declines. In the worst-case scenario, as a result, ETH's price can decline to as low as $1,222, down approximately 50% from current levels.
The bearish onchain analysis comes as Ether struggles to close below its 50-period exponential moving average (50-period EMA; the red wave) on the two-week chart.
ETH/USD briefly surged above the EMA, only to face a selloff. Additional downside pressure came from the symmetrical triangle's lower trendline. If the price consolidates below the resistance confluence for too long, its likelihood of correcting toward the 200-period EMA (blue) at around $$1,585 will increase.
That is around the realized price targets discussed above, and is also near the 1.0 Fibonacci retracement line at $1,500.
Conversely, retaking the 50-period EMA and the triangle's lower trendline as support may invalidate the bearish setup. Instead, ETH's price will likely attempt upside moves toward the triangle's upper trendline near $3,800, aligning with the 2.618 Fib line.
Yashu Gola is a crypto journalist and analyst with expertise in digital assets, blockchain, and macroeconomics. He provides in-depth market analysis, technical chart patterns, and insights on global economic impacts. His work bridges traditional finance and crypto, offering actionable advice and educational content. Passionate about blockchain's role in finance, he studies behavioral finance to predict memecoin trends.
NASDAQ Index, SP500, Dow Jones Forecasts – SP500 Tests New Highs As Producer Prices Fall
Gold, Silver, Platinum Forecasts – Gold Rebounds From Multi-Week Lows
Natural Gas, WTI Oil, Brent Oil Forecasts – Oil Pulls Back Amid Signs Of Progress In U.S. – Iran Talks
U.S. Dollar Retreats As Producer Prices Fall: Analysis For EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CAD, USD/JPY
US Dollar Forecast: DXY Falls as PPI Miss and Powell's Warning Weigh on Sentiment
TORONTO —Eric Trump, the son of U.S. President Donald Trump, said he believes bitcoin is digital gold and called the largest digital currency a store of value, during a packed panel at Consensus 2025 in Toronto.
"I really believe in digital gold, which is bitcoin, right? I believe in the store of value," Trump said.
However, Eric Trump — who has a background in real estate — told the crowd at CoinDesk's Consensus 2025 conference in Toronto that he didn't get into bitcoin or crypto until politics intertwined the Trump family and the crypto community.
"It wasn't until the very same group that was attacking my family for no reason whatsoever other than political beliefs, started attacking [the] crypto community that it really drove two people who might not have always been like-minded together and that partnership has been absolutely amazing," he said Thursday.
Aside from politics, he also realized real estate is not as liquid as bitcoin, which has better liquidity and was easier to transact, solidifying his belief in the digital currency. "I also realized, kind of, through some of that political weaponization, you know, some of the limitations of real estate. Real estate has created tremendous wealth for our family. At the same time, real estate can't be transferred. It's very hard to sell," he said.
"I sold a hotel two years ago. It took me a year and a half to literally transact that hotel because you have title reports and you have managers that have to go in, and you have best proliferations. You do all sorts of things," Trump said. "... You constantly have to manage it. You constantly have to watch operations, right? And then all of a sudden, you've got this kind of digital asset which you don't need to watch, you don't need to manage. You know, it's easy to transact on."
Trump is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin, a Bitcoin mining firm founded in partnership with Hut 8 and slated to go public via a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP).
The Gryphon partnership came about from a desire to take the American Bitcoin partnership public as quickly as possible, said Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot on stage alongside Trump to a standing-room only crowd. An existing mining business was a key part of that plan as well as getting 'American' and 'bitcoin' as part of the company name.
"American Bitcoin, to me, is everything, you know. And I we came up with the name, I said one thing. I said, Listen, it has to have the word American, and it has to have the word Bitcoin in it," Trump said.
Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He won a Gerald Loeb award in the beat reporting category as part of CoinDesk's blockbuster FTX coverage in 2023, and was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.
Aoyon Ashraf is CoinDesk's Head of Americas. He spent almost a decade at Bloomberg covering equities, commodities and tech. Prior to that, he spent several years on the sellside, financing small-cap companies. Aoyon graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in mining engineering. He holds ETH and BTC, as well as ADA, SOL, ATOM and some other altcoins that are below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.
About
Contact
Ethereum co-founder Anthony Di Iorio shared Thursday that he thinks the blockchain wasn't necessarily meant to be a “competitor to Bitcoin,” but rather “it was meant to be an alternative.”
Speaking to a crowd at Consensus 2025, Di Iorio shared with the audience about his time during Ethereum's early days, noting back then that he understood that the project could become a really big movement. “We could sense and feel that it was picking up,” Di Iorio said.
Di Iorio was one of the eight co-founders of the Ethereum blockchain, but originally got into cryptocurrency through his advocacy with Bitcoin. He started Bitcoin meetups in Toronto in 2012, and through that met Vitalik Buterin, who came up with the Ethereum whitepaper and shared it with his fellow co-founders.
While Di Iorio is still a big Bitcoin proponent, he has said that “I do think eventually Ethereum has a possibility of overtaking it in terms of market capitalization.”
“With the amount of use cases, and the value that Ethereum is allowing to be created, I think it has that opportunity, in order to possibly overtake it,” Di Iorio added.
After stepping away from the Ethereum Foundation, Anthony Di Iorio founded Decentral in 2014, which is best known for creating the Jaxx Liberty crypto wallet. In 2022, he launched Andiami, a project blending hardware, tokenomics, and game theory to tackle centralization vectors within decentralized networks.
Read more: Ethereum Co-Founder Di Iorio Unveils Project to Bring Blockchain Computers to a Wider Audience
Margaux Nijkerk reports on the Ethereum protocol and L2s. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.
About
Contact
Sign in with
Forget Password?
Learn more
share this!
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
May 15, 2025
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's
editorial process
and policies.
Editors have highlighted
the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
fact-checked
trusted source
written by researcher(s)
proofread
by Thierry Warin, Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, Robert Normand, The Conversation
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are experiencing spectacular growth thanks to the new opportunities they offer for interaction and monetization to fans, clubs and athletes in the sports industry.
Platforms such as NBA Top Shot, which allows users to own key moments in basketball as NFTs, generated nearly $500 million in sales and had over 800,000 registered accounts a few years ago.
The initial enthusiasm for NFTs quickly faded after scandals over speculation and fraud shook user confidence. For this sector to reach full maturity, there must be stricter regulation and enhanced security practices.
Beyond the promises of these new markets, the challenges in terms of security and regulation are considerable. If the sector wants to have sustainable growth, it must answer a crucial question: how can the healthy and secure development of these rapidly expanding assets be ensured? The adoption of NFTs in the sports industry continues to grow, but the regulatory framework must evolve to support this expansion.
As professors at Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal and researchers at CIRANO, our research focuses on social networks and new technologies.
NFT sales exploded in 2021 with record transactions such as the sale of a digital artwork by artist Beeple for US$69.3 million (C$96 million), and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's sale of his first tweet for US$2.9 million (C$4 million).
In the world of sports, a dunk by LeBron James during a game between the L.A. Lakers and the Sacramento Kings sold for US$208,000 (C$289,000) on the NBA Top Shot platform. The concept of owning a unique, authenticated, and verifiable moment on a blockchain has attracted a new wave of investors and fans willing to spend considerable sums of money.
In 2021, another dunk by Lebron James sold for US$210,000 (C$292,000).
The appeal of NFTs in the sports industry lies in their exclusivity and digital rarity.
A NFT establishes indisputable ownership of a digital asset, whether it's a player card, a video clip, or even a virtual souvenir of a sporting event. This blockchain-centric market enables absolute traceability and paves the way for additional revenue streams for clubs and leagues.
For example, NBA Top Shot completed more than three million transactions in 2021, the majority of which were microtransactions ranging from $10 to $50, while only 1% of transactions exceeded $1,500.
NFTs and fan tokens (fungibles) offer unprecedented opportunities to sports clubs to generate revenue and build fan loyalty.
A fan token is similar to a club "share," and each fan can own a small part of it. The price of the token depends on factors such as the value, profit or popularity of a club, which change with the club's successes or failures over time. Football clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona have launched their own fan tokens, which allow fans to buy a symbolic "share" in the club.
These tokens also allow fans to participate in smaller decisions, such as choosing the team's uniform or selecting the songs played during match breaks. NBA Top Shot, meanwhile, has enabled NFTs representing sporting moments to be sold at astronomical prices, thereby capturing the interest of collectors and investors.
But the enthusiasm of fans shouldn't mask the realities of the market. Despite significant volumes, there is a notable concentration of value in a small number of accounts: 9% of accounts hold 80% of the market value of the $41 billion worth of NFTs traded on the Ethereum blockchain. These inequalities serve as a reminder that, despite their apparent accessibility, NFTs can exacerbate market dynamics that already exist in the world of art and physical collections.
The spectacular success of NFTs in sports nevertheless has a downside.
Cases of fraud, counterfeiting and market manipulation are on the rise. Among the most worrying techniques is the "rug pull," where creators abruptly abandon a project after artificially inflating the value of NFTs.
A recent example is the Eternal Beings collection, promoted by American rapper Lil Uzi Vert. Shortly after encouraging his millions of followers to invest, he deleted his posts, causing the value of the tokens to plummet.
The phenomenon of wash trading, a practice that involves making artificial transactions to manipulate prices, is also a major problem.
In 2021, a report by Chainalysis revealed that 110 wash traders made nearly $8.9 million in profits by manipulating the prices of their own NFTs. Although they are documented, these fraudulent practices operate in a regulatory gray area.
To date, few regulations specific to NFTs have been put in place, although some countries, such as France, have begun to take action. In October 2023, the SREN law authorized the testing of games with monetizable digital items, including NFTs, for a period of three years.
The current regulatory framework for NFTs in the sports industry is still in its infancy.
In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed its first charges against non-compliant platforms. Impact Theory, a podcast studio, was fined for raising $30 million through unregistered NFT sales.
In the European Union, regulators are also beginning to explore how to integrate these new assets into their financial oversight frameworks. In May 2023, the European Union adopted regulations on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA), establishing a harmonized regulatory framework for crypto-asset issuers and related service providers.
Although MiCA doesn't specifically target non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the regulation stipulates that issuing crypto-assets in large series or collections may be considered an indicator of fungibility, thereby making these assets subject to the provisions of MiCA. This approach aims to prevent regulatory arbitrage and ensure appropriate oversight of emerging NFT markets.
NFTs in the sports industry undeniably represent a new frontier for clubs, fans and investors. They create new experiences and transform the way we perceive and consume sports.
However, increased regulation and enhanced security practices are necessary for this sector to reach its full maturity. At a time when speculation and fraud threaten user confidence, regulators must ensure that the promises of NFTs are fulfilled without giving in to abuses.
With appropriate regulation and increased user awareness of the opportunities and risks of NFTs, this segment could become an essential pillar of the digital economy. By balancing innovation and stakeholder protection, NFTs in sports have the potential to generate substantial economic opportunities while transforming the sports ecosystem to make it more inclusive and interactive.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Explore further
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Feedback to editors
6 hours ago
0
May 14, 2025
0
May 14, 2025
1
May 13, 2025
0
May 12, 2025
0
1 hour ago
3 hours ago
3 hours ago
3 hours ago
5 hours ago
5 hours ago
5 hours ago
6 hours ago
6 hours ago
21 hours ago
Oct 13, 2023
Apr 28, 2025
Jun 2, 2022
Dec 19, 2021
Apr 5, 2021
Mar 26, 2021
1 hour ago
3 hours ago
21 hours ago
May 14, 2025
May 14, 2025
May 13, 2025
NFTs have rapidly expanded in the sports industry, offering new revenue streams and fan engagement opportunities. However, issues such as fraud, counterfeiting, and price manipulation, including wash trading and rug pulls, pose significant risks. The sector's sustainable growth depends on stricter regulation and improved security, as current frameworks remain limited and evolving.
This summary was automatically generated using LLM.
Full disclaimer
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Tech Xplore in any form.
Daily science news on research developments and the latest
scientific innovations
Medical research advances and health news
The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web
This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads
personalisation and provide content from third parties.
By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy
Policy
and Terms of
Use.
Bitcoin Depot Shares Pop as ATM Operator Posts 19% Q1 Revenue Increase
$103,934.00
$2,591.14
$2.50
$659.64
$173.99
$0.999832
$0.228222
$0.788007
$0.275662
$2,588.53
$103,936.00
$3.90
$16.60
$3,115.06
$24.09
$0.300994
$0.00001518
$25.99
$0.202345
$8.93
$397.37
$3.15
$99.27
$4.89
$0.99978
$2,594.26
$0.919572
$344.10
$2,764.69
$0.00001395
$4.89
$1.002
$1.001
$104,063.00
$30.35
$444.95
$6.48
$2.98
$5.60
$232.57
$53.73
$1.012
$0.120566
$208.89
$5.56
$19.42
$0.102846
$1.00
$35.50
$21.68
$5.02
$12.98
$0.02967495
$0.755988
$1.051
$0.386411
$4.98
$0.243733
$1.17
$0.999579
$0.810965
$103,144.00
$3.02
$0.42036
$0.231403
$4.39
$2.92
$1.21
$0.555401
$0.00002234
$4.60
$2,595.62
$1,848.42
$1.003
$0.524662
$11.90
$182.89
$99.52
$2,706.49
$0.916344
$1.34
$0.804181
$4.73
$0.240906
$0.01966586
$1.28
$0.697154
$12.84
$1.92
$2,939.73
$0.792387
$0.073398
$0.118209
$103,782.00
$1.002
$1.068
$0.00010459
$3.44
$2,761.38
$0.716925
$660.20
$224.98
$0.937332
$0.01922527
$0.02096196
$1.033
$1.00
$0.01424476
$0.999552
$192.93
$103,892.00
$0.682048
$2,711.07
$0.334724
$105,317.00
$0.808362
$3,227.94
$0.999964
$102,645.00
$0.235036
$23.21
$3,233.72
$0.00000077
$2.36
$37.44
$0.744279
$4.02
$12.78
$2,711.03
$0.073195
$0.120957
$0.750136
$1.96
$0.433995
$42.82
$0.654403
$4.04
$2.00
$0.350951
$0.997741
$0.999168
$0.173121
$2.06
$0.228803
$1.081
$0.696533
$20.18
$0.01696565
$2,592.44
$2.03
$0.473223
$2,595.07
$2,763.17
$111.05
$0.00933544
$0.68598
$2,636.55
$0.168962
$103,661.00
$7.96
$0.00567418
$0.651371
$0.204436
$3.16
$0.055902
$0.999799
$0.512099
$0.99834
$103,959.00
$6.90
$2,594.22
$0.095463
$0.192205
$0.439772
$0.00002401
$0.103058
$1.93
$0.065307
$0.999802
$101,574.00
$1.72
$0.453111
$1.63
$0.688934
$1.50
$0.00860544
$0.04626805
$2,590.47
$0.00000113
$0.00000044
$3.57
$45.63
$1.65
$1.087
$103,519.00
$0.998954
$0.00476319
$0.152579
$0.243635
$0.999955
$0.400633
$0.01985005
$1.001
$2,744.44
$1.002
$34.00
$0.394256
$0.823358
$0.18583
$0.00537832
$0.0036968
$0.366706
$137.60
$0.03663834
$0.00000178
$1.00
$0.861515
$0.00006556
$0.321968
$2,852.58
$25.99
$21.01
$2,825.81
$20.30
$3.00
$0.269594
$1.099
$103,843.00
$0.305954
$0.233902
$1.001
$0.717813
$0.321566
$2,591.92
$23.94
$2,793.88
$0.999768
$0.00307275
$0.999757
$0.00073771
$0.00348587
$2,567.50
$0.525328
$3.58
$0.00
$0.587927
$24.04
$0.720493
Shares of Bitcoin Depot popped 20% to $2.04 on Thursday after the Bitcoin ATM operator reported a first-quarter profit of $12.2 million compared with a loss of $4.2 million a year earlier.
Revenue for the Atlanta-based firm, which manages over 8,400 kiosks in North America that let users convert cash to Bitcoin, rose 19% year-over-year to $164.2 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said the jump was driven by increased kiosk deployment over the three-month period and a higher median transaction size.
As part of its treasury strategy, Bitcoin Depot held $7.8 million worth of Bitcoin, up from $600,000 the previous quarter. The jump reflected a shift to fair value accounting. Last year, the company began purchasing Bitcoin with a portion of its cash reserves, while also carrying an “insignificant amount of Ethereum.”
Although Bitcoin Depot has kiosks in 48 U.S. states, the firm is trying to obtain a license to operate in the Empire State this year, CEO Brandon Mintz said on an earnings call. The state's population could support up to 3,000 kiosks over time, a shareholder presentation stated.
“New York state remains one of the largest untapped markets for Bitcoin ECMs,” he said. “We are in ongoing discussions with regulators and remain optimistic about obtaining a license to operate in the state in 2025.”
The company that promises users can “get Bitcoin in a minute” supplies software for its machines that are purchased from another company. Since its establishment in 2016, the company says it has facilitated around $3 billion worth of transaction volume, through machines located in gas stations, convenience stores, and other brick-and-mortar settings.
Since the company's shares were listed on the Nasdaq in July 2023, Bitcoin Depot's stock price has fallen 79%, according to Yahoo Finance. Based on current prices, the firm has a market capitalization of $44 million.
Bitcoin Depot's first-quarter performance represents a bounceback from the previous quarter, in which the firm posted a year-over-year drop in revenue. At the time, the company cited the negative impact of a law passed in California imposing daily transaction limits.
Bitcoin was recently changing hands around $103,000, a 0.4% decrease over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. In the first quarter, the asset's price dipped as low as $78,800.
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is among lawmakers that have called for Bitcoin ATM operators to “curb fraud against elderly Americans,” citing recent FBI statistics. In February, he unveiled a bill that would impose $2,000 daily transaction limits on new customers and require full refunds for transactions reported as fraudulent within 30 days.
In 2024, Americans over 60 years old reported $107 million in Bitcoin ATM-related losses to authorities, according to a recently published annual report. Criminals often impersonate tech support workers or government employees, the FBI found.
Bitcoin Depot says that it has 19 compliance personnel, in addition to “robust transaction monitoring systems,” as well as know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering programs.
The ATMs have their supporters, though. Earlier this month, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX), proposed putting them in federal buildings across the U.S. He wrote in a letter that “installations can serve as an educational resource for those unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies.”
Edited by James Rubin
Your gateway into the world of Web3
The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly.
© A next-generation media company. 2025 Decrypt Media, Inc.
The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.Read More
Infinix Note 50s 5G+
₹15,999
OPPO K13 5G
₹18,999
Lava Bold 5G
₹11,999
CMF Phone (2) Pro 5G
₹18,999
Samsung Galaxy M56 5G
₹24,999
Realme Narzo 80x 5G
₹13,998
Realme Narzo 80 Pro 5G
₹19,998
iQOO Z10x 5G
₹13,499
iQOO Z11 5G
₹23,990
Poco C71
₹6,688
Baby girl names from across the world that mean flower
7 Japanese memory techniques to never forget anything
Anju Kurian dazzles in shades of rose
11 lines from poetry and Classics that make people fall in love all over again
From Panda to Koala: 10 cutest animals in the world
10 ways to give your home the perfect regal decor and appeal
Just words? Think again, these 10 phrases can break someone inside
10 hydrating drinks to enjoy for breakfast during summer months
5 Zodiac Signs That Thrive in Their 70s and Beyond
Bitcoin and Ethereum Waver as Investors Take Profits on Recent Rally
$103,390.00
$2,534.01
$2.45
$652.30
$169.81
$0.999857
$0.221571
$0.767456
$0.273749
$2,533.45
$103,431.00
$3.87
$16.11
$3,036.22
$23.48
$0.295554
$0.00001485
$25.63
$0.198964
$8.86
$395.53
$3.09
$99.40
$4.80
$0.999848
$2,540.43
$0.88798
$339.25
$2,705.35
$4.83
$0.00001321
$0.999112
$1.001
$103,506.00
$30.25
$438.95
$6.24
$2.92
$5.36
$222.63
$53.57
$0.982209
$0.117785
$204.01
$0.102044
$1.00
$5.40
$18.89
$35.51
$21.77
$12.81
$0.758775
$4.90
$0.02897839
$1.051
$4.88
$1.17
$0.370374
$0.99958
$0.237491
$103,151.00
$0.783187
$2.94
$0.226188
$0.400985
$4.38
$2.80
$1.17
$0.545016
$0.00002123
$4.54
$2,530.16
$1.002
$1,793.31
$11.87
$0.502126
$178.83
$2,646.42
$96.87
$0.896351
$4.71
$1.31
$0.238725
$0.01939822
$1.26
$0.75505
$0.678681
$1.86
$12.37
$2,874.70
$0.782085
$0.072427
$0.114687
$103,263.00
$0.998328
$1.01
$0.00010064
$3.29
$2,698.32
$0.699665
$651.66
$219.49
$0.912734
$0.999442
$0.02015682
$0.992209
$0.01407111
$0.999665
$0.01798155
$188.17
$103,561.00
$0.679593
$2,659.29
$3,242.67
$0.798267
$103,357.00
$0.323061
$0.999981
$102,488.00
$0.228644
$3,248.34
$22.64
$0.00000076
$0.743552
$4.05
$12.89
$2.29
$36.62
$2,651.17
$0.07068
$0.11896
$42.40
$0.727566
$0.426798
$1.91
$0.640127
$4.00
$0.998465
$0.343046
$1.94
$0.999521
$0.01846429
$2.06
$0.1659
$1.10
$0.220801
$2,536.61
$0.673029
$19.45
$111.06
$2,530.55
$1.94
$2,696.33
$0.453692
$103,320.00
$2,585.26
$0.00895429
$0.659637
$0.6292
$0.197153
$0.999819
$0.161396
$0.00545543
$7.63
$3.08
$0.999557
$0.502273
$103,453.00
$2,540.43
$6.75
$0.190251
$0.092202
$0.00002349
$0.999807
$0.065109
$0.429611
$0.099661
$1.87
$0.454007
$100,697.00
$0.673982
$2,536.65
$1.64
$0.00828355
$0.00000044
$0.0475609
$0.04503892
$1.41
$1.52
$3.47
$0.00000106
$1.087
$1.006
$102,910.00
$44.78
$0.15207
$1.60
$0.999703
$0.00463858
$0.237271
$0.395259
$0.01970145
$0.998945
$1.001
$33.90
$2,688.57
$0.00526374
$0.385308
$0.03649578
$0.180637
$1.001
$0.79135
$0.00000175
$134.67
$0.00354107
$0.35177
$0.00006422
$0.838035
$2,789.30
$25.70
$20.81
$0.309276
$2,767.19
$1.099
$0.310264
$103,263.00
$0.998647
$19.52
$0.260859
$2.88
$0.709197
$23.62
$0.227509
$2,534.14
$0.999639
$1.00
$2,732.62
$2,533.32
$0.0034016
$0.00293882
$0.0007061
$0.509998
$3.48
$0.00
$23.53
$0.574755
$25.68
$0.828064
Top cryptocurrencies experienced a pullback on Thursday, amid signs investors are taking profits off the table after a recent rally.
Bitcoin touched lows of $101,500 at one point, indicating a return to all-time highs might not be as imminent as some bulls hoped.
Sell-offs were more pronounced among major altcoins. Ethereum has fallen by 3% over the past 24 hours—with XRP, Solana and Dogecoin all shedding about 5%.
Risk appetite also appears to be cooling in the stock market too, with the Federal Reserve set to cut interest rates less frequently in 2025 than first thought.
BRN's lead research analyst Valentin Fournier argues healthy inflows into BTC and ETH ETFs "provides a solid foundation for long-term support."
Describing Thursday's declines as a "modest pullback," he wrote: "While this appears to be a healthy correction, altcoins, after leading the rally, are showing more volatility.
"We believe Bitcoin's $100k level will serve as a critical support zone for an extended accumulation phase," Fournier wrote.
YouHodler's chief of markets Ruslan Lienkha told Decrypt that upward momentum is moderating now that tariff negotiations have concluded, with short-term traders deciding to lock in profits across the equity markets.
"This shift in sentiment has spilled over into riskier assets, including Bitcoin. As a result, the current pullback appears to be a correction within a broader medium-term uptrend," he added.
Going forward, Lienkha believes "ongoing global economic uncertainty and persistently high interest rates in the U.S. may act as headwinds" for crypto, and could limit upside potential.
Newhedge measures Bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 on a scale of -1 to 1. While -1 indicates there's no connection between these markets, a score closer to 1 suggests they rise and fall in tandem with one another.
With a current reading of 0.86, continued strength for BTC may hinge upon how things unfold on Wall Street.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
Your gateway into the world of Web3
The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly.
© A next-generation media company. 2025 Decrypt Media, Inc.
J.T. Miller (via Getty Images)
The TOI Sports Desk excels in a myriad of roles that capture the essence of live sporting events and deliver compelling content to readers worldwide. From running live blogs for India and non-India cricket matches to global spectacles featuring Indian talents, like the Chess World Cup final featuring Praggnanandhaa and the Badminton World Championships semifinal featuring HS Prannoy, our live coverage extends to all mega sporting events. We extensively cover events like the Olympics, Asian Games, Cricket World Cups, FIFA World Cups, and more. The desk is also adept at writing comprehensive match reports and insightful post-match commentary, complemented by stats-based articles that provide an in-depth analysis of player performances and team dynamics. We track news wires for key stories, conduct exclusive player interviews in both text and video formats, and file content from print editions and reporters. We keep track of all viral stories, trending topics and produce our own copies on the subjects. We deliver accurate, engaging, and up-to-the-minute sports content, round the clock.Read More
Baby girl names from across the world that mean flower
7 Japanese memory techniques to never forget anything
Anju Kurian dazzles in shades of rose
11 lines from poetry and Classics that make people fall in love all over again
From Panda to Koala: 10 cutest animals in the world
10 ways to give your home the perfect regal decor and appeal
Just words? Think again, these 10 phrases can break someone inside
10 hydrating drinks to enjoy for breakfast during summer months
5 Zodiac Signs That Thrive in Their 70s and Beyond
OG collector Pranksy is one of the most prolific figures in the NFT space, yet remains one of crypto's greatest mysteries, with his true identity still unknown.Starting with just $600 worth of ETH in 2017 (incredibly he's never had to buy any more ETH with fiat) Pranksy cut his teeth with the explosion of CryptoKitties and quickly built up a stack of ETH which he relentlessly poured back into the ecosystem, being dubbed the “King of the Mint” by the time NFT mania truly hit in 2020-21.A key figure in popularizing Bored Ape Yacht Club, some of his trades have become legendary.On September 4, 2021, he purchased a Zombie CryptoPunk #6275 for 1,000 ETH ($3.89M) and sold it later that same day for 1,320 ETH ($5.12mil) — a casual $1.23 million profit in 24 hours.
Today, he still has more than 45,000 NFTs in his primary wallet, pranksy.eth, with Avastars and CyberBrokers two of his biggest current holdings.
But while few names in NFTs carry as much weight as his, ask him who Pranksy really is and the answer might surprise you.
“Pranksy was an individual. In fact, the name ‘Pranksy' was only adopted a few years into the world of NFTs, when the market started gaining interest in digital art,” he tells NFT Collector.
“Pranksy now represents a wonderfully diverse team of people; however, ‘Pranksy' is still an individual voice, who runs his own social media, he just has help running NFTBoxes and our new shiny thing, the House of Pranksy.”
Similar to the trajectory of other OG NFT collectors such as j1mmy.eth and Nate Alex, Pranksy first stumbled upon NFTs through CryptoKitties around the end of 2017. He had never even bought ETH at the time.
“A friend told me via Slack that people were paying ridiculous amounts of money for pictures of cats on the internet, and you could breed those cats, the rest is history,” Pranksy says.
“I bought around $600 of ETH to buy and mint those kittens, I never bought ETH again after this.”
That moment led to years of collecting, experimenting and building up a huge stack of ETH in a space that most of the world hadn't yet heard of. Long before 2021-22 NFT mania, Pranksy was stacking NFTs and making a name for himself among a tight-knit group of collectors, artists and project founders through 2017-2020.
And the origin of the name “Pranksy”? “Before Pranksy, it was Pranked. I wanted to rebrand when minting my first piece of terrible artwork,” he says.
One of Pranksy's most notable moments in his career as a top NFT whale started like any other mint.
On 1 May 2021, he minted 1,250 Bored Apes in a few batches. His initial mint of 250 was followed with a tweet, “No horrible FOMO pricing strategy, each Ape is .08 ETH, + they look great.” Within a few more hours, Pranksy ran his total up to 1,250 total Apes.
Pranky's multiple large mints and tweets, along with j1mmy.Eth's sweep of 420 Apes led to the sell-out of all 10,000. At the time, no one, including Pranksy, could predict the trajectory BAYC was about to take.
“It wasn't very different to many other mints, it was at a time when NFT projects didn't sell out in seconds with a huge waitlist for minting. Nobody expected BAYC to be one of the greatest returns on initial investment in the history of finance.”
He recalls interacting with his running mate, j1mmy.eth and BAYC, “Passed the profile picture test.”
What followed was a historic run. A single Ape could eventually net a holder close to $1mil from a mint cost of 0.08 ETH (~$220), if they held their original BAYC and sold their airdrops: BAKC (June '21), MAYC (Sep '21), ApeCoin (Mar '22), and Otherside Land (May '22). The top coincided with the Otherdeed for Otherside mint at the end of April 2022, almost exactly one year after the mint.
The eye-watering run-up of value for Bored Apes didn't happen immediately. For the first month, Apes were still sitting below a 1 ETH floor price, and Pranksy was still sending large quantities of his collection to friends.
By the back half of 2021, Apes were becoming a cultural phenomenon and they were everywhere: Steph Curry, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, Madonna, Justin Bieber and many more. Everyone wanted a piece of the action.
Pranksy ended up doing deals with some of the world's most famous people and sports stars, from Gwyneth Paltrow to Tinie Tempah to NBA star Josh Hart, who's currently playing in the NBA playoffs.
Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat: Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)
The Becoming of Bitcoin: A Narrative Untainted by Illusions of Truth
“At the time, BAYC was just another NFT project. I was doing giveaways and trades for ridiculous things to raise awareness for NFTs as a whole, as well as my own following, not a particular project.”
“I traded with NBA stars, musicians and celebrities, usually for things like sports jerseys and sunglasses.”
Who were his favorites to interact with?
“Gwyneth Paltrow was lovely to talk to and genuinely engaged. Imogen Heap was experimenting with the blockchain long before the ERC-721 standard was written. Tinie Tempah was also fun, we were looking at some creative collaboration options at one point, he is still repping his Ape today.”
And any regrets about parting with so many Apes?“No ‘ragrets',” he says.
Pranksy is a huge sports fan too, and when NBA Top Shot launched, he became one of the top collectors.
While the magic of the early days of NBA Top Shot has fizzled out for many, Pranksy believes the platform and sports NFTs may still have their best days ahead of them yet.
“During its alpha launch, I repeatedly stated publicly that NBA Top Shot would define NFTs, and its failure or success would drive the future of tokenized collectibles. In 2021, Top Shot exploded in popularity, as did NFTs,” says Pranksy.
“Four years later, the ridiculous prices have disappeared, but the project still has fans who mint regularly. The use cases for NFTs are exponential, we lost that vision during the PFP bull market during COVID-19, but I still believe in the tech and its potential.”
Sorare, a fantasy football game that uses NFTs as digital trading cards, also captured his attention, and Pranksy is now a promotional partner for the project.
“I'm a huge fan of sports, analytics and stats within sports. Sorare couldn't be better placed to fit my interests. I genuinely believe it's the best fantasy sports product in the world. I've spent over 1,000 ETH on some football JPEGs. I don't believe another NFT project has found a better balance between utility and collectibles.”
Pranksy is also no stranger to creating. In 2021, Pranksy launched NFTBoxes, a curated experience designed to spotlight artists and make art collecting fun. It was inspired by the success of his previous NFT Advent Calendar.
“The idea simply was to put quality NFT pieces together in a single monthly box from talented artists within the space. Art can be so exciting, but the art world can be closed and talent often gets pushed out of the spotlight. We aimed to break that boundary and bring inspiring art pieces to NFT collectors and beyond.
Now he's teasing House of Pranksy, a new project with different ambitions.
“Unlike traditional NFT clubs that revolve around speculative value, House of Pranksy is being built around cultural permanence, knowledge, community and legacy.” Project updates will be on his personal X account.
Unlocking Cultural Markets with Blockchain: Web3 Brands and the Decentralized Renaissance
Story Protocol helps IP creators survive AI onslaught… and get paid in crypto
When did you mint your first NFT?
December 2017 with CryptoKitties.
When did you buy your first crypto?
December 2017. I bought around $600 of ETH to buy and mint CryptoKitties. I never bought ETH again after this.
What's the origin of your name?
Before Pranksy it was Pranked, I wanted to rebrand when minting my first piece of terrible artwork.
If you could only keep 3 NFTs forever, which ones would they be?
1 — Josie – Tune In & Physical Print
2 — Mercedes x MDJ F1 Car (It's a real F1 car)
3 — D&G Dresses from a dream.
What's your favorite 1 of 1 art piece that you own?
Josie —Tune In
Favorite artists?
Alotta Money, Josie, Hackatao, Burnt Toast, Nina Chanel, Trevor Jones, Rizacan Kumas, Angie Taylor, Nate Alex and many, many more.
What's your thesis as an NFT collector? How do you think about buying and selling?
You might as well ask me, “How do you breathe?” because the answer is, I don't know. It just happens. Instinct and luck play a part. Collect because you authentically believe in something, want to participate in something, or because you like it. Speculation isn't always the fun part.
What's an under-appreciated NFT project right now in your opinion?
Avastars & CyberBrokers – #onchaingang
Whose NFT portfolio do you think has an awesome collection outside of yours?
There are many individuals, I think anyone who has stuck around since 2017 deserves a mention.
What's been your biggest NFT sale?
I bought CryptoPunk #6275 for 1,000 ETH ($3.89 million) and sold it for 1,320 ETH ($5.12 million) on the same day.
Where's your head currently at with the NFT space?
A large majority of the “NFT space” have moved to memecoins, AI, or whatever else is on trend. However, I see daily posts from “OGs” and the class of 2021 missing the vibe we had when NFTs were the only thing we were talking about. In 2020-22, we had the perfect storm of lockdown, the Beeple auction and the rise of Top Shot. I don't think we'll ever see that perfect storm again, but I wouldn't rule out an NFT renaissance.
Email address
SUBSCRIBE
Tyler Warner on round tripping 1,000 ETH due to ‘rock star complex': NFT Collector
Tyler Warner (Tyler Did It) convinced himself he was a rock star trader in the bull market but failed to hold on to his gains: NFT Collector.
SCB tips $500K BTC, SEC delays Ether ETF options, and more: Hodler's Digest, Feb. 23 – Mar. 1
The SEC dismissed its lawsuit against Coinbase, SCB say Bitcoin could reach $500,000 before the end of Donald Trump's term: Hodler's Digest
Pranksy: Inside the anonymous life of an NFT legend — NFT Collector
Metric signals $250K Bitcoin is ‘best case,' SOL, HYPE tipped for gains: Trade Secrets
Bitcoin eyes ‘crazy numbers,' JD Vance set for Bitcoin talk: Hodler's Digest, May 4 – 10
Finally blast into space with Justin Sun, Vietnam's new national blockchain: Asia Express
Bitcoin to $1M ‘by 2029,' CIA tips its hat to Bitcoin: Hodler's Digest, April 27 – May 3
Email address
SUBSCRIBE
Cointelegraph Magazine is a new publication that goes beyond the daily news and delves much more deeply into the stories, trends, and personalities that inspire cryptocurrency and blockchain conversations around the world.
We are people-centric, delving into *why* the true believers of blockchain feel they can change the world (and why they think it needs to be changed).
Through long-form features, thoughtful analysis, and a little humor and satire, we illustrate how the implementation of this technology is affecting the lives of countless people — today, right now, not at some distant point in the future.
Professor of Data Science for International Business, HEC Montréal
Professeure titulaire en théorie de la décision et gestion des risques, Polytechnique Montréal
Researcher, Polytechnique Montréal
Thierry Warin has received funding from the AMF-Finance Montréal Fintech Research Chair.
Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin received funding from the AMF-Finance Montréal Fintech Research Chair.
Robert Normand has received funding from the AMF - Finance Montréal Fintech Research Chair.
HEC Montréal provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA-FR.
HEC Montréal provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA.
AUF (Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie) provides funding as a member of The Conversation FR.
View all partners
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are experiencing spectacular growth thanks to the new opportunities they offer for interaction and monetization to fans, clubs and athletes in the sports industry.
Platforms such as NBA Top Shot, which allows users to own key moments in basketball as NFTs, generated nearly $500 million in sales and had over 800,000 registered accounts a few years ago.
The initial enthusiasm for NFTs quickly faded after scandals over speculation and fraud shook user confidence. For this sector to reach full maturity, there must be stricter regulation and enhanced security practices.
Beyond the promises of these new markets, the challenges in terms of security and regulation are considerable. If the sector wants to have sustainable growth, it must answer a crucial question: how can the healthy and secure development of these rapidly expanding assets be ensured? The adoption of NFTs in the sports industry continues to grow, but the regulatory framework must evolve to support this expansion.
As professors at Polytechnique Montréal and HEC Montréal and researchers at CIRANO, our research focuses on social networks and new technologies.
NFT sales exploded in 2021 with record transactions such as the sale of a digital artwork by artist Beeple for US$69.3 million (C$96 million), and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's sale of his first tweet for US$2.9 million (C$4 million).
In the world of sports, a dunk by LeBron James during a game between the L.A. Lakers and the Sacramento Kings sold for US$208,000 (C$289,000) on the NBA Top Shot platform. The concept of owning a unique, authenticated, and verifiable moment on a blockchain has attracted a new wave of investors and fans willing to spend considerable sums of money.
In 2021, another dunk by Lebron James sold for US$210,000 (C$292,000).
The appeal of NFTs in the sports industry lies in their exclusivity and digital rarity.
A NFT establishes indisputable ownership of a digital asset, whether it's a player card, a video clip, or even a virtual souvenir of a sporting event. This blockchain-centric market enables absolute traceability and paves the way for additional revenue streams for clubs and leagues.
For example, NBA Top Shot completed more than three million transactions in 2021, the majority of which were microtransactions ranging from $10 to $50, while only one per cent of transactions exceeded $1,500.
NFTs and fan tokens (fungibles) offer unprecedented opportunities to sports clubs to generate revenue and build fan loyalty.
A fan token is similar to a club “share,” and each fan can own a small part of it. The price of the token depends on factors such as the value, profit or popularity of a club, which change with the club's successes or failures over time. Football clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid and FC Barcelona have launched their own fan tokens, which allow fans to buy a symbolic “share” in the club.
These tokens also allow fans to participate in smaller decisions, such as choosing the team's uniform or selecting the songs played during match breaks. NBA Top Shot, meanwhile, has enabled NFTs representing sporting moments to be sold at astronomical prices, thereby capturing the interest of collectors and investors.
But the enthusiasm of fans shouldn't mask the realities of the market. Despite significant volumes, there is a notable concentration of value in a small number of accounts: nine per cent of accounts hold 80 per cent of the market value of the $41 billion worth of NFTs traded on the Ethereum blockchain. These inequalities serve as a reminder that, despite their apparent accessibility, NFTs can exacerbate market dynamics that already exist in the world of art and physical collections.
The spectacular success of NFTs in sports nevertheless has a downside.
Cases of fraud, counterfeiting and market manipulation are on the rise. Among the most worrying techniques is the “rug pull,” where creators abruptly abandon a project after artificially inflating the value of NFTs.
A recent example is the Eternal Beings collection, promoted by American rapper Lil Uzi Vert. Shortly after encouraging his millions of followers to invest, he deleted his posts, causing the value of the tokens to plummet.
The phenomenon of wash trading, a practice that involves making artificial transactions to manipulate prices, is also a major problem.
In 2021, a report by Chainalysis revealed that 110 wash traders made nearly $8.9 million in profits by manipulating the prices of their own NFTs. Although they are documented, these fraudulent practices operate in a regulatory grey area.
To date, few regulations specific to NFTs have been put in place, although some countries, such as France, have begun to take action. In October 2023, the SREN law authorized the testing of games with monetizable digital items, including NFTs, for a period of three years.
The current regulatory framework for NFTs in the sports industry is still in its infancy.
In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed its first charges against non-compliant platforms. Impact Theory, a podcast studio, was fined for raising $30 million through unregistered NFT sales.
In the European Union, regulators are also beginning to explore how to integrate these new assets into their financial oversight frameworks. In May 2023, the European Union adopted regulations on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA), establishing a harmonized regulatory framework for crypto-asset issuers and related service providers.
Although MiCA doesn't specifically target non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the regulation stipulates that issuing crypto-assets in large series or collections may be considered an indicator of fungibility, thereby making these assets subject to the provisions of MiCA. This approach aims to prevent regulatory arbitrage and ensure appropriate oversight of emerging NFT markets.
NFTs in the sports industry undeniably represent a new frontier for clubs, fans and investors. They create new experiences and transform the way we perceive and consume sports.
However, increased regulation and enhanced security practices are necessary for this sector to reach its full maturity. At a time when speculation and fraud threaten user confidence, regulators must ensure that the promises of NFTs are fulfilled without giving in to abuses.
With appropriate regulation and increased user awareness of the opportunities and risks of NFTs, this segment could become an essential pillar of the digital economy. By balancing innovation and stakeholder protection, NFTs in sports have the potential to generate substantial economic opportunities while transforming the sports ecosystem to make it more inclusive and interactive.
This article was originally published in French
This article was originally published in French
Write an article and join a growing community of more than 203,700 academics and researchers from 5,202 institutions.
Register now
Copyright © 2010–2025, The Conversation US, Inc.
Some of its employees and contractors went rogue after they were bribed by hackers to gather information.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Crypto company Coinbase reported that some contractors and employees based outside the U.S. stole the data of some of its customers, including names, addresses, and emails, for hackers who used them to trick its customers into moving their funds to accounts linked to the attackers. According to Reuters, the crypto exchange projects a loss of $180 million to $400 million because of this cyberattack, which affected only a small segment of the company's customer base. Customers who lost money also need not worry, as the company said it will reimburse them.
The company received an email from the threat actor last May, saying that they had information on customer accounts and internal documents, and were asking for a $20 million ransom. But instead of paying off the hackers, Coinbase instead alerted law enforcement and established a reward of the same amount for information that will lead to the arrest of the attackers.
“Instead of funding criminal activity, we have investigated the incident, reinforced our controls, and will reimburse customers impacted by this incident,” Coinbase said. It also added, “Remember, Coinbase will never ask for your password, 2FA codes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet. We will never call or text you to give you a new seed phrase or wallet address to move your funds to. If you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.”
Coinbase has since fired all the involved overseas customer support agents who stole the customer data. It also reiterated that “no passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed, and Coinbase Prime accounts are untouched.” The $400 million loss is also relatively small compared to the $328 billion worth of assets it holds and its more than $67 billion market capitalization.
Despite not being widely used for day-to-day transactions, losses from blockchain hacks have reached over $2.2 billion in 2024. Earlier this year, ByBit, another cryptocurrency exchange platform, fell victim to a $1.5 billion hack — the largest crypto heist in recorded history — which the FBI suspects was the work of North Korean hackers.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
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.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
by Helen Breese
,
Nottingham Trent University
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
An international study into why some countries are accelerating Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) projects, and why others are holding back, has found that the adoption of CBDCs is shaped less by technological readiness or economic development, and more by politics, levels of government transparency and, in some cases, corruption.
A CBDC is a digital form of government-issued money, backed and regulated by a nation's central bank.
The research, led by Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University, analyzed 68 countries and revealed that more authoritarian governments are leading the charge on CBDCs due to centralized power structures which allow these governments to quickly implement tightly controlled systems—often leveraging digital currencies to enhance surveillance and control capital flows.
In contrast, countries with more democratic institutions and political systems are proceeding with more caution, taking time to address concerns around privacy, transparency, and trust before moving forward.
The study also explored the relationship between corruption and CBDC adoption and found that countries with higher levels of perceived corruption are more likely to explore digital currencies.
Dr. Milad Armani Dehghani, who led the research with Professor Alex Brauneis from Nottingham Business School, said, "At first, that might seem backwards. But when you think about it, it starts to make sense. Digital currencies give governments powerful tools to fight things like money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal money flows, especially in places where traditional banking systems aren't exactly known for being transparent.
"Take China's e-CNY, for example. It's built on encrypted tech that lets the government track spending and stop things like counterfeit currency.
"Russia's digital Ruble takes a different approach—it outright bans private cryptocurrencies, citing fears about terrorism and illegal arms funding. In these cases, CBDCs aren't just about innovation. They're about control, stability, and bringing some order to messy financial systems, though whether that's a good thing or a little too much oversight really depends on how you look at it."
The rise of stablecoins—privately issued digital currencies like USDT and USDC—has also played a role in shaping national strategies. Although these currencies are not the direct cause of CBDC development, their rapid growth has increased the urgency for governments to respond. Stablecoins are fast, efficient, and borderless, making them attractive but also threatening to traditional financial systems and national monetary sovereignty.
The research also found that a country's level of development, measured by factors such as income, education, and life expectancy, has little bearing on whether it pursues a CBDC. Both advanced and developing economies are actively exploring digital currencies, but for different reasons.
While wealthier nations focus on innovation and competing with Big Tech, developing countries are drawn to the potential of CBDCs to increase financial inclusion and reduce corruption.
Professor Alex Brauneis, co-author and Professor of Finance and Innovation at the Center for Finance, Technology and Society at NBS, said: "This research helps policymakers and innovators alike understand the broader implications of digital currency. Whether you're building the technology or shaping the regulations, the question isn't just can they do this, but why are they doing it?
"For developers of digital wallets and crypto platforms, understanding the regulatory landscape in each country is crucial, particularly how political systems influence the pace and direction of innovation.
Governments are encouraged to critically evaluate whether their CBDC strategies support goals like economic freedom and transparency, or whether they risk concentrating power and oversight.
More information:
MA Dehghani, et al. Stablecoins, CBDCs, and the Digital Bridge to Global Finance: What Characteristics Make Countries Endeavor CBDC Projects? aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewconte … le=4652&context=cais
Provided by
Nottingham Trent University
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request
Optional (only if you'd like a response)
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
0 shares
Political motives behind global adoption of Central Bank Digital Currency revealed
Note:
Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Tech Xplore in any form.
About
Tech Xplore provides the latest news and updates on information technology, robotics and engineering, covering a wide range of subjects.
Tech Xplore is a part of Science X network.
With global reach of over 5 million monthly readers and featuring dedicated websites for hard sciences, technology, medical research and health news,
the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people.
Science X Account
Forgot Password?
Not a member? Sign up.
Identify the news topics you want to see and prioritize an order.
Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox
© Tech Xplore 2014 - 2025 powered by Science X Network
by Helen Breese
,
Nottingham Trent University
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
An international study into why some countries are accelerating Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) projects, and why others are holding back, has found that the adoption of CBDCs is shaped less by technological readiness or economic development, and more by politics, levels of government transparency and, in some cases, corruption.
A CBDC is a digital form of government-issued money, backed and regulated by a nation's central bank.
The research, led by Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University, analyzed 68 countries and revealed that more authoritarian governments are leading the charge on CBDCs due to centralized power structures which allow these governments to quickly implement tightly controlled systems—often leveraging digital currencies to enhance surveillance and control capital flows.
In contrast, countries with more democratic institutions and political systems are proceeding with more caution, taking time to address concerns around privacy, transparency, and trust before moving forward.
The study also explored the relationship between corruption and CBDC adoption and found that countries with higher levels of perceived corruption are more likely to explore digital currencies.
Dr. Milad Armani Dehghani, who led the research with Professor Alex Brauneis from Nottingham Business School, said, "At first, that might seem backwards. But when you think about it, it starts to make sense. Digital currencies give governments powerful tools to fight things like money laundering, tax evasion, and illegal money flows, especially in places where traditional banking systems aren't exactly known for being transparent.
"Take China's e-CNY, for example. It's built on encrypted tech that lets the government track spending and stop things like counterfeit currency.
"Russia's digital Ruble takes a different approach—it outright bans private cryptocurrencies, citing fears about terrorism and illegal arms funding. In these cases, CBDCs aren't just about innovation. They're about control, stability, and bringing some order to messy financial systems, though whether that's a good thing or a little too much oversight really depends on how you look at it."
The rise of stablecoins—privately issued digital currencies like USDT and USDC—has also played a role in shaping national strategies. Although these currencies are not the direct cause of CBDC development, their rapid growth has increased the urgency for governments to respond. Stablecoins are fast, efficient, and borderless, making them attractive but also threatening to traditional financial systems and national monetary sovereignty.
The research also found that a country's level of development, measured by factors such as income, education, and life expectancy, has little bearing on whether it pursues a CBDC. Both advanced and developing economies are actively exploring digital currencies, but for different reasons.
While wealthier nations focus on innovation and competing with Big Tech, developing countries are drawn to the potential of CBDCs to increase financial inclusion and reduce corruption.
Professor Alex Brauneis, co-author and Professor of Finance and Innovation at the Center for Finance, Technology and Society at NBS, said: "This research helps policymakers and innovators alike understand the broader implications of digital currency. Whether you're building the technology or shaping the regulations, the question isn't just can they do this, but why are they doing it?
"For developers of digital wallets and crypto platforms, understanding the regulatory landscape in each country is crucial, particularly how political systems influence the pace and direction of innovation.
Governments are encouraged to critically evaluate whether their CBDC strategies support goals like economic freedom and transparency, or whether they risk concentrating power and oversight.
More information:
MA Dehghani, et al. Stablecoins, CBDCs, and the Digital Bridge to Global Finance: What Characteristics Make Countries Endeavor CBDC Projects? aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewconte … le=4652&context=cais
Provided by
Nottingham Trent University
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request
Optional (only if you'd like a response)
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
0 shares
Political motives behind global adoption of Central Bank Digital Currency revealed
Note:
Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Tech Xplore in any form.
About
Tech Xplore provides the latest news and updates on information technology, robotics and engineering, covering a wide range of subjects.
Tech Xplore is a part of Science X network.
With global reach of over 5 million monthly readers and featuring dedicated websites for hard sciences, technology, medical research and health news,
the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people.
Science X Account
Forgot Password?
Not a member? Sign up.
Identify the news topics you want to see and prioritize an order.
Science X Daily and the Weekly Email Newsletter are free features that allow you to receive your favorite sci-tech news updates in your email inbox
© Tech Xplore 2014 - 2025 powered by Science X Network
Oops, something went wrong
Good morning. Many of the world's largest banks are actively developing and piloting blockchain projects, and JPMorgan Chase has made a big move.
For years, JPMorgan has quietly built its own blockchain technology, opting for a “walled garden” approach by creating a private network accessible only to its customers. But, as my Fortune colleague Ben Weiss reports, JPMorgan is now venturing beyond those walls. On Wednesday, the bank announced it settled a transaction on a public blockchain, partnering with crypto firms Chainlink and Ondo Finance to make it happen.
“In early May, JPMorgan's blockchain division, Kinexys, transferred money between two accounts on its private blockchain to settle the purchase of tokenized treasuries on Ondo's public ledger,” Weiss writes. “Tokenized treasuries are money market funds that live on the blockchain. To trigger the payment, JPMorgan used Chainlink, a communication protocol that lets blockchains process outside information.” For the first time, JPMorgan has built out a structure to interface with a public blockchain. “This is not just another POC [proof of concept],” Sergey Nazarov, cofounder of Chainlink, told Weiss. “This is the beginning of something big.” You can read the complete article here.
Under President Trump's crypto-friendly administration, which is expected to take a lighter regulatory approach, banks recognize the cryptocurrency market is no longer a niche. Lawmakers are now seeking to pass legislation on stablecoins. So-called stablecoins are digital assets like Bitcoin, but are backed by the U.S. dollar, making them akin to a money market fund with check access or a bank account. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan recently said in an interview that if stablecoins become legal, “we will go into that business.”
Big banks face competitive pressure from fintechs and crypto-native firms, making engagement with crypto and blockchain a logical step for future relevance and growth. Alesia Haas, CFO at Coinbase, which is one of the largest centralized crypto exchanges in the U.S., recently said that regulatory clarity will “unlock” innovation, banking relationships, and new capital inflows.
Before joining Coinbase, Haas worked in asset management as a CFO and held senior roles at Merrill Lynch and General Electric. I recall a conversation I had with Haas last year, when I asked her what attracted her to Coinbase.
“When I learned about blockchain, I could see that if you tokenize real-world assets, and send value peer to peer, that was going to create a more inclusive, faster, and cheaper financial system,” she said. “And that was such an exciting thing to be a part of.”
Today's CFOs are expected to lead technological adoption. In the near future, many CFOs may need to become adept at managing crypto assets, leveraging blockchain for operational innovation, and navigating new regulatory environments.
Sheryl Estradasheryl.estrada@fortune.com
*****
Upcoming event: Emerging CFO: Agentic AI and the Future of Finance
Join us on June 12 from 11 a.m. to noon ET for our next Emerging CFO webinar. AI agents are transforming the workplace and reshaping the boundaries of innovation, driving a new era of efficiency and providing finance leaders with essential tools to innovate and create value across their organizations. In this session, we'll explore what CFOs need to know about this technology, the opportunity costs involved, and how to effectively use agentic AI to streamline workflows, improve decision-making, and augment human productivity at scale. Featured speakers include Jamie Miller, chief financial officer and operating officer of PayPal; Matt Castonguay, CFO of Team Car Care; and Silvio Savarese, EVP and chief scientist at Salesforce AI Research.
Fortune, in partnership with Workday, convenes this series to support and inspire emerging CFOs and senior finance leaders. You can find out more information and register here.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Sign in to access your portfolio
Stablecoins aren't far from becoming mainstream, per Deutsche Bank.
Marion Laboure, managing director of thematic research at the German multinational investment bank, and analyst Camilla Siazon wrote in a presentation that the coins are likely to start being more widely used this year as the US pushes forward with legislation to regulate the crypto market.
Stablecoins are a type of decentralized digital currency that can be bought and sold on a blockchain, similar to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, and meme coins, such as $Trump and Dogecoin.
The most prominent stablecoin is Tether, with an overall market capitalization of around $150 billion, per CoinMarketCap, but dozens of others also exist. Deutsche Bank said the sector has a market capitalization of $246 billion.
The difference between stablecoins and regular cryptocurrencies is that stablecoins are pegged to other assets, often commonly used and relatively secure ones, including safe havens like the US dollar or gold. One stablecoin might be equal to one dollar, with the coin's value rising and falling alongside the dollar.
Both the House bill, the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, and the Senate bill, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, aim to create a regulatory framework for dollar-denominated stablecoins.
Crypto legislation has faced some backlash. Senate Democrats have rallied against the GENIUS Act over concerns about President Donald Trump and his family's links to the industry. Both Trump and his wife Melania have cryptocurrencies bearing their names, which launched soon after he became president.
The market capitalization of stablecoins has soared from $20 billion in 2020 to its current level, a more than 1200% surge. The coins also saw $28 trillion in transfer volume — the value of coins traded — last year, surpassing the levels of transfers made using major credit and debit card providers like Visa and Mastercard.
"They now power over two-thirds of crypto-trading," the analysts said.
The analysts wrote that 83% of fiat currency-backed stablecoins are backed by the dollar. Over $120 billion in dollar reserves are held in stablecoins. Deutsche Bank said $99 billion in US Treasury bills are held in Tether, making it one of the top stores of US government debt worldwide.
Deutsche Bank's analysts predict that mainstream adoption of stablecoins will lead to overall increased demand for US Treasurys.
"They are now integral to digital dollar infrastructure, transforming FX, liquidity, capital flows, and payment innovation," Laboure and Siazon said.
"US regulation will bring clarity, enabling mainstream use cases and deeper financial integration."
Check out Business Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges
Check out Business Insider's picks for best cryptocurrency exchanges
Indices
Commodities
Currencies
Stocks
200% Bonus: 100K Daily Giveaways, Instant Withdrawals, Best VIP Club, 3000+ Slots, Poker, Blackjack and More - Provably Fair
Join Drake At Stake - America's Social Casino. Claim $25 Stake Cash FREE - PLAY NOW
Share
Ethereum is doubling down on security as tokenized real-world assets gain traction across global markets.
On May 14, the Ethereum (ETH) Foundation announced the launch of an initiative called “One Trillion Security”, which aims to make the network resilient enough to safely support trillions of dollars in assets. The network will benefit all kinds of users from individual savings to corporate treasuries and potentially government-issued instruments.
The Foundation stated that as more value flows on-chain, the system needs stronger protection at every level. from user wallets and smart contracts to validators and the base protocol. This push comes as tokenization continues to accelerate faster than many expected.
In a May 8 post on X, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan noted some recent major developments. Among them, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce backed blockchain-based equity issuance, while Superstate unveiled “Opening Bell,” a new platform for trading tokenized shares on Ethereum and Solana (SOL).
Stocks are going to move on-chain much faster than people think. In the last 24 hours: 1) Robinhood announced plans for a service that would let Europeans trade US stocks on Solana and/or Arbitrum ;2) SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce gave a speech about allowing stocks to be…
Ethereum already dominates the tokenized assets sector, holding over $6.9 billion in RWAs, according to RWA.xyz data. That figure jumps to nearly 89% when factoring in Ethereum layer-2 networks like zkSync. The Foundation believes long-term adoption depends on making the network more secure for high-value use cases.
A bigger wave is coming. A report by Boston Consulting Group estimates the tokenized asset market could reach $16 trillion by 2030, roughly 10% of global GDP. To support that scale, Ethereum is now establishing itself as the infrastructure layer for tokenized finance.
As demand from fintech platforms and enterprise issuers rises, Ethereum's security roadmap reflects a growing urgency to meet institutional standards. The 1TS program will focus on identifying security weak points, funding audits and bug bounties, and improving developer tools.
Read more about
Deep Dives
Web3 can solve gatekeepers, deplatforming for online creators: Interview with new Lukso COO
Ethereum doesn't need another rollup | Opinion
Ethereum rebounds 95% in a month — is this the start of a $10,000 cycle or just a technical squeeze?
Stablecoins are on the rise these days: new announcements, collaborations, and launches
In 2025, crypto firms go public in record numbers | Opinion
Exclusive: Nansen joins MANTRA Chain as validator to boost Web3 compliance
Exclusive: inabit and Google Cloud team up to strengthen crypto transaction security
Is Bitcoin really the anti-bank wildcard?
Stablecoins: The gateway to mainstream crypto in 2025 | Opinion
Beeple spills the crypto tea: NFTs, future plans, and Trump's troll army
Related News
Ethereum doesn't need another rollup | Opinion
Ethereum bet: BTCS raises $57.8m to mirror Strategy's crypto play
Ethereum rebounds 95% in a month — is this the start of a $10,000 cycle or just a technical squeeze?
Get crypto market analysis and curated news delivered right to your inbox every week.
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
Search keywords to find relevant posts.
Search keywords to find relevant events.
Search keywords to find relevant professional.
Search keywords to find relevant companies.
Search keywords to find relevant Currencies.
Search keywords to find relevant markets.
Log in to access your notifications and stay updated. If you're not a member yet, Sign Up to get started!
Fun-loving and cheerful, a passionate blockchain and crypto writer who knows no boundary…connect if you share the same passion. With 10+ years of writing experience, I am a Crypto Journalist by chance, exploring, and learning all the dynamics of the sci-fi action-filled crypto world. Currently, focusing on cryptocurrency news and price data. With a passion for research and challenging my capabilities, I am slowly getting into the crypto arena to bring new insights every day.
Altcoins slump over 5% as crypto market cools following last week's macro-driven rally.
Bitcoin whales accumulate 83K BTC amid profit-taking, while traders eye Coinbase's S&P 500 inclusion for the next catalyst.
After a strong week-long surge, the crypto market has entered a cooling phase. Major altcoins like Dogecoin, Cardano, and Solana have dropped over 5% in the past 24 hours as investors chose to lock in recent gains. The broader sentiment remains cautious as traders await fresh catalysts.
The latest dip in prices comes after a macro-driven rally last week that pushed Bitcoin to nearly $104,000 and Ethereum to $2,700. But both hit resistance at key levels, prompting traders to step back. Solana, Cardano, and Dogecoin saw notable declines, following the lead of large-cap assets as momentum slowed.
According to FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich, Bitcoin is struggling to break past its December-January highs, while Ethereum is showing signs of a possible correction toward $2,400 after gaining 55% in just a week.
Sentiment indicators are now flashing caution. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has dropped to 71 from 74, a level that typically signals excessive bullishness and potential overbought conditions. Analysts suggest the market may need to cool down before making the next move, especially after last week's bullish run was largely driven by external events.
The rally had been sparked by a combination of lower-than-expected U.S. inflation data, strong earnings from China's tech sector, and a breakthrough in U.S.–China trade relations. While those factors gave markets a boost, crypto prices have now begun to stabilize as traders reassess risk.
🐳🦈 Bitcoin's key whale & shark tier (holding 10-10K BTC) have now accumulated 83,105 more BTC in the past 30 days. Meanwhile, the smallest retail holders (holding <0.1 BTC) have dumped 387 BTC in the same time period.For both tiers, these are significant movements relative to… pic.twitter.com/Xg5FmF57GQ
Despite the pullback, Bitcoin whales and sharks are still accumulating. According to Santiment, Bitcoin's largest holders, wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC, have accumulated over 83,000 BTC in the past month, signaling strong confidence in further upside. In contrast, small retail investors holding less than 0.1 BTC have offloaded 387 BTC, likely locking in profits amid fears of a market top.
Looking ahead, all eyes are on Coinbase's inclusion in the S&P 500 on May 19. Analysts at QCP Capital believe the move could act as a short-term catalyst for the crypto sector, potentially attracting over $9 billion in passive fund flows.
For now, though, the market is catching its breath.
Stay ahead with breaking news, expert analysis, and real-time updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin, altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, and more.
The market is cooling; caution is advised as indicators show overbought conditions and potential short-term correction.
Yes, whales added 83K BTC in a month, showing strong confidence despite recent market pullback.
Search keywords to find relevant posts.
Search keywords to find relevant events.
Search keywords to find relevant professionals.
Search keywords to find relevant companies.
Search keywords to find relevant market currencies.
Search keywords to find relevant market exchanges.
The leader of an NFT project and Bitcoin mining venture has been sued by his former business partners for allegedly failing to pay them their promised equity returns.
Several investors in a non-fungible token (NFT) project, Hashling NFT, have accused its founder of misappropriating millions of dollars in profits from the project and a closely tied Bitcoin mining operation.
According to the May 14 court filing in Illinois, the plaintiffs allege that their former business partner, Jonathan Mills, lied about transferring assets from Hashling NFT and at least $3 million from the Bitcoin mining project to a holding company — Satoshi Labs LLC (formerly known as Proof of Work Labs LLC), which Mills is the founder and CEO of.
The plaintiffs have sued Mills for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, claiming that they have not received any of the equity returns that he supposedly promised.
They also claim to have raised a combined $1.46 million from two NFT drops on the Solana and Bitcoin blockchains, but didn't receive any returns from their investment.
Mills allegedly began ghosting them shortly afterward, according to the plaintiffs, adding that he created a flawed shareholder agreement to falsely support his claim that the holding company controlled the project's assets.
This was “rife with errors” to support his lie, the plaintiffs said.
According to the supposedly flawed shareholder agreement, Mills was to receive a 67% equity share in Proof of Work Labs (before he later renamed it to Satoshi Labs) while several other investors contributed up to $20,000 into the company in exchange for just 2% equity.
He allegedly assured them that their equity stakes would remain unchanged despite the name change.
Mills also held a 67% voting stake on all matters related to Proof of Work Labs (at the time) while no other partner held more than 2%.
Cointelegraph reached out to Mills but didn't receive an immediate response.
The Hashling NFT project was born from a different idea that Mills had initially discussed with one of the plaintiffs, Dustin Steerman, who initially established rapport with Mills from earlier collaborations.
They followed through with the Hashling NFT project despite Mills initially telling Steerman that he had no money and no NFT-related experience to contribute to the project.
Related: Bitcoin NFTs surpass Ronin in all-time sales
“[Mills] had a willingness to help push the project forward, and he did have an idea at the start,” the investor's attorney, Clinton Ind of Ind Legal Group LLC told Law360.
To ensure the Hashling NFT project's success, Mills and Steerman recruited other investors, now also plaintiffs, to assist with everything from the NFT art and social media marketing to even attending NFT conferences in New York.
Mills even got his girlfriend to invest in the Hashling NFTs project, the plaintiffs claimed.
In addition to the fraud and breach of fiduciary actions, the plaintiffs also requested a constructive trust over the project's assets and full legal restitution.
Magazine: Danger signs for Bitcoin as retail abandons it to institutions: Sky Wee
US crypto investors contributed millions of dollars to Trump's election victory and did not conceal lingering contempt for Biden at Consensus
“Across the board, it's been a very encouraging three months,” said Lewis Cohen, a lawyer specialising in digital assets with the New York firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
Cohen was speaking at Consensus, the world's longest-running crypto conference, hosted this year in Canada's largest city, Toronto.
Trump's son Eric, who is promoting his own crypto business, is expected to address the conference on Thursday amid increasing questions about potential conflict of interest with his father in the White House.
Eric Trump is deeply involved in the crypto industry through direct business ventures, notably as a co-founder and executive at American Bitcoin, as well as through family-backed projects like World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP meme coin.
The digital currency saw a spike in value when it announced that its top holders would be invited to a dinner with the president, set to take place on May 22 at the Trump National Golf Club near Washington.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
You can also search for this author in PubMed
Google Scholar
You have full access to this article via your institution.
Baby KJ Muldoon, who was born with a genetic disease that affected his ability to metabolize proteins, is the first person to receive a bespoke CRISPR treatment. Credit: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
A baby boy with a devastating genetic disease is thriving after becoming the first known person to receive a bespoke, CRISPR therapy-for-one, designed to correct his specific disease-causing mutation1.
Little KJ Muldoon, now nearly ten months old, is doing well after receiving three doses of a gene-editing treatment to mend a mutation that had impaired his body's ability to process protein, his parents told reporters this week. But it is too soon to use the word “cure”, says Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, a paediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and one of Muldoon's physicians. “This is still really early days,” she says. “We know we have more to learn from him.”
CRISPR treatment inserted directly into the body for first time
CRISPR treatment inserted directly into the body for first time
To reach this point, an international team of clinicians and researchers in industry and academia, with support from US government funders and regulatory agencies, raced to develop Muldoon's therapy in a mere six months. Yet, the drug that it developed, described in the New England Journal of Medicine on 15 May, is specific to Muldoon's genetic sequence and will probably never be used for another person, says Ahrens-Nicklas.
It's an ambitious approach that researchers hope will inspire others to harness CRISPR to treat ultra-rare genetic diseases. “This truly is the future for all of these gene and cell therapies,” says Arkasubhra Ghosh, who studies gene therapy at Narayana Nethralaya Eye Hospital in Bengaluru, India, and who was not involved in the study. “It's really exciting.”
Dozens of people have received CRISPR-based therapies for genetic conditions such as sickle-cell anaemia, but those treatments were designed to be used in many people with the same disorder, regardless of the underlying mutations that caused it. By contrast, researchers tailored Muldoon's therapy to correct a specific genetic sequence in his genome.
Muldoon had inherited two mutations, one from each parent, that meant that he did not produce the normal form of a crucial enzyme called carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS-1). This compromised his ability to process the nitrogen-containing compounds produced when the body breaks down protein. As a result, his blood had high levels of ammonia, a compound that is particularly toxic to the brain.
Hope, despair and CRISPR — the race to save one woman's life
Hope, despair and CRISPR — the race to save one woman's life
The best treatment for CPS-1 deficiency is a liver transplant, but it would be months before Muldoon would be eligible. Meanwhile, each day brought added risk of brain damage or death: only about half of babies with severe CPS-1 deficiency survive long enough to receive a transplant.
Ahrens-Nicklas decided to offer the family another option. She and her colleagues had been working with a CRISPR-based technique called base editing, which can make targeted, single-letter changes to DNA sequences. The team was developing ways to quickly and safely tailor a base-editing therapy to correct an individual's particular mutations. Perhaps now it was time to try the approach in humans, she thought.
With the approval of Muldoon's parents, the researchers enlisted a lengthy roster of collaborators. The team quickly screened for the best base-editing approach and tested it in mice and monkeys. Companies donated proprietary expertise and components. The US Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked its evaluation of the treatment.
or
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01496-z
Musunuru, K. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2504747 (2025).
Article
Google Scholar
Download references
Reprints and permissions
CRISPR genome-editing grows up: advanced therapies head for the clinic
Super-precise CRISPR tool enters US clinical trials for the first time
UK first to approve CRISPR treatment for diseases: what you need to know
How political attacks could crush the mRNA vaccine revolution
News Feature 09 MAY 25
Google AI better than human doctors at diagnosing rashes from pictures
News 09 MAY 25
Exclusive: documents reveal how NIH will axe climate studies
News 08 MAY 25
Clonal dynamics after allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation
Article 30 OCT 24
Can AI shake-up translational research?
Spotlight 16 OCT 24
Your diet can change your immune system — here's how
News Feature 16 OCT 24
UNIL is a leading international teaching and research institution, with over 5,000 employees and 17,000 students split between its Dorigny campus, ...
Lausanne, Canton of Vaud (CH)
University of Lausanne (UNIL)
The Institute for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC, Head Prof. Dr. Philipp Henneke) is looking for a Bioinformatician (m/f/d, PhD).
Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg (DE)
University Hospital Freiburg
Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU) is an internationally oriented and regionally networked university with a strong research profile. ...
Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt (DE)
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität
Guangzhou, Guangdong (CN)
Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC), Sun Yat-sen University
Join the International Institute for Intelligent Nanorobots and Nanosystems (IIINN) at Fudan University.
Shanghai, China
International Institute for Intelligent Nanorobots & Nanosystems, Fudan University
CRISPR genome-editing grows up: advanced therapies head for the clinic
Super-precise CRISPR tool enters US clinical trials for the first time
UK first to approve CRISPR treatment for diseases: what you need to know
An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday.
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Nature
(Nature)
ISSN 1476-4687 (online)
ISSN 0028-0836 (print)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its
findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note
there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.
Ku70 and Ku80 form Ku, a ring-shaped complex that initiates the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) DNA repair pathway.1 Ku binds to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) ends and recruits other NHEJ factors (e.g., LIG4, DNA-PKcs). While Ku can bind to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)2 and trap mutated-DNA-PKcs on ribosomal RNA (rRNA),3,4 the physiological role on Ku-RNA interaction in otherwise wildtype cells remains unclear. Intriguingly, Ku is dispensable for murine development5,6 but essential in human cells.7 Despite similar genome sizes, human cells express ~100-fold more Ku than mouse cells, implying functions beyond NHEJ - possibly through a dose-sensitive interaction with dsRNA, which binds Ku 10~100 times weaker than dsDNA.2,8 Investigating Ku's essentiality in human cells, we found that Ku-depletion - unlike LIG4 - induces profound interferon (IFN) and NF-kB signaling via dsRNA-sensor MDA5/RIG-I and MAVS. Prolonged Ku-degradation further activates other dsRNA sensors, especially PKR (suppressing translation) and OAS/RNaseL (cleaving rRNA), leading to growth arrest and cell death. MAVS, RIG-I, or MDA5 knockouts suppressed IFN signaling and, like PKR knockouts, all partially rescued Ku-depleted human cells. Ku-irCLIP analyses revealed Ku binding to diverse dsRNA, predominantly stem-loops in primate-specific antisense Alu elements9 in introns and 3'-UTRs. Ku expression rose sharply in higher primates, correlating tightly with Alu-expansion (r = 0.94/0.95). Thus, Ku plays a vital role in accommodating Alu-expansion in primates by limiting dsRNA-induced innate immunity, explaining both Ku's elevated expression and its essentiality in human cells.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Institute for Cancer Genetics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Yimeng Zhu, Angelina Li, Brian J. Lee, Kyle J. Wang, Antony B. Holmes & Shan Zha
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Yimeng Zhu, Angelina Li, Brian J. Lee, Kyle J. Wang & Shan Zha
Barnard College, New York, NY, USA
Angelina Li
Department of System Biology, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Suvrajit Maji, Daniel F. Moakley, Raul Rabadan & Chaolin Zhang
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Suvrajit Maji, Sophie M. Korn, Daniel F. Moakley, Anna-Lena Steckelberg & Chaolin Zhang
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Jake A. Gertie, Tyler J. Dorrity, Jianhua Wang, Hachung Chung & Shan Zha
Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
Jake A. Gertie
Medical Scientist Training Program, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA
Jake A. Gertie
Program of Mathematic Genomic, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Jianhua Wang & Raul Rabadan
Department of Genome Integrity, Cancer Research Center of Marseille, CNRS UMR7258, Inserm U1068, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Aix Marseille Univ, Marseille, France
Amandine Pelletier & Mauro Modesti
Department of Biochemistry, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
Rachel D. Kelly, David R. Edgell & Caroline Schild Poulter
Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
Caroline Schild Poulter
Department of Medicine, Univeristy of Virginia Medical School, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Eric A. Hendrickson
Department of Pediatrics, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Shan Zha
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Shan Zha
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to
Chaolin Zhang or Shan Zha.
Supplementary Figs 1–9 and legends for Supplementary Tables 1–15 (tables supplied separately).
Supplementary Tables 1–15 – see Supplementary Information document for descriptions.
Reprints and permissions
Zhu, Y., Li, A., Maji, S. et al. Ku limits RNA-induced innate immunity to allow Alu-expansion in primates.
Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09104-w
Download citation
Received: 11 May 2024
Accepted: 06 May 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09104-w
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature
(Nature)
ISSN 1476-4687 (online)
ISSN 0028-0836 (print)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature Communications
volume 16, Article number: 4528 (2025)
Cite this article
Metrics details
This work reports the successful production of rare earth (RE) metal using Na-RE-F. Presently, RE metals are primarily produced using RE-fluoride due to its higher air and moisture stability compared to RE-chloride. However, its preparation requires the use of corrosive and hazardous chemicals, such as hydrofluoric acid (HF) or ammonium bifluoride (NH4HF2). The present study demonstrates that Na-RE-F is an alternative salt to the typically used RE-fluoride. The Na-RE-F for this work is produced via a scalable hydrometallurgical approach using three different RE salts as feedstock, including acetate, nitrate, and chloride. HF is neither used nor generated during the salt preparation process. Furthermore, the Na-RE-F powder dries in air (without dry HF), and only water evolves during the drying process. Analyses of the Na-RE-F show that NaF liberates as a flux during the heating process, which lowers the salt reduction temperature to <900 °C, thus minimizing or eliminating the need for additional flux. Calciothermic reduction of the Na-RE-F salt is successfully employed to obtain RE metal. This work represents a safer, greener, and more widely deployable approach for producing the RE metals needed for permanent magnets which support the transition to a cleaner society through the decarbonization of the transportation industry.
Rare earth elements (REEs) are increasingly susceptible to supply risks due to their limited geographical availability and the fact that they are subject to rising geopolitical tensions. Some REEs, such as neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb), are used for permanent magnets that support many clean energy and renewable energy applications, e.g., electric vehicles, defense systems, electronics, etc. Hence, REEs have been termed “the vitamins of modern industry”1,2,3,4,5.
Reduction of rare earth (RE) salts to metals is typically accomplished through molten salt electrolytic or metallothermic methods. The molten salt electrolytic method is the widely used approach because of its relatively simple process-flow and better suitability for continuous production6. The electrolyte for the molten-salt bath can be chloride- or fluoride-based, and the feedstock can be RE-chloride or RE-oxides, respectively. The molten salts for both the chloride and fluoride electrolytic routes require heating a mixture of RE-halides and alkali or alkaline earth salts to 800–1000 °C. Unlike the metallothermic methods, the electrolytic methods use consumable graphite electrodes which results in CO2 emissions7,8,9,10,11. Fluoride-based baths have higher current efficiency (<87%), compared to chloride-based baths (<50%)12 because the hygroscopic nature of RE-chlorides and the formation of oxychlorides limit yield and contaminate the obtained RE-metal product.
In the metallothermic methods, the RE-feedstock materials are exothermically reduced to metals using more reactive metals like calcium (calciothermic reduction)13. This method can use RE-oxides, chlorides, or fluorides as feedstock. RE-fluoride is less hygroscopic than RE-chloride and both have lower melting temperatures than RE-oxide. The energy cost for direct metallothermic reduction of RE-oxides, as well as the potential for oxidation of the obtained RE-metals due to the lack of a protective flux, makes it less practical. Although calciothermic reduction of RE-chloride has been attempted, it was limited by low yield, and the difficulties with handling the hygroscopic and high vapor pressure RE-chlorides14.
From the foregoing discussion, the practical (hence preferred) application of both the electrolytic and metallothermic approaches requires RE-fluoride, which can be prepared via wet or dry processing techniques. The former involves the wet chemical reaction of RE chloride or nitrate salts and hydrofluoric acid (HF), followed by drying at 600–700 °C in a dry hydrogen fluoride environment15. In the dry processing method, RE2O3 is directly reacted with an excess of dry hydrogen fluoride (200%) at ≥700 °C to obtain anhydrous RE-fluoride16,17. The health hazards18,19,20,21,22,23,24 associated with using or generating HF create a considerable technical gap in the anhydrous RE-fluorides preparation for RE metal supply chain. Furthermore, the high melting point of RE-fluorides (>1300 °C) necessitates fluxing with LiF, NaF, KF, etc. during RE metal production. Thus, the need for an alternate feedstock to generate RE metals is timely.
In this work, we report the use of NaNdF4 (NNF) to overcome most of the challenges faced in the RE metal production using the calciothermic reduction process. NNF has the following advantages (a) in-situ formation of NaF as a fluxing agent during reduction, (b) lower liquidus temperatures (~1100 °C)25, (c) facile room temperature synthesis by co-precipitation26, and (d) no requirement for toxic HF or NH4HF2. Furthermore, reports on using NNF in human cancer pathological studies indicate that it would be a non-toxic feedstock27,28. We have demonstrated the use of NNF for Nd metal production using the calciothermic process. Unlike conventional RE-fluoride reduction, NNF not only ensures fluoride ion availability but also represents a strategic shift toward safer, more sustainable, and regulation-compliant rare earth metal production.
The reaction between Nd(CH3COO)3 · 2H2O (neodymium acetate hydrate) and aqueous sodium fluoride solution yields single phase precipitate of α-NaNdF4 (α-NNF) [space group: \({Fm}\bar{3}m\) (no. 225)] (Fig. 1), in agreement with a previous report [Powder Diffraction File (PDF) No. 00-028-1114]. The reaction proceeds as:
The diffraction pattern for the sample synthesized using the acetate precursor, i.e., NNF-A, comprised of a single α-NaNdF4 phase (denoted with a diamond symbol). The NNF-C and NNF-N samples (synthesized using the chloride and nitrate precursors, respectively) had two phases corresponding to α-NaNdF4 and NdF3 (denoted with a solid square symbol) phases.
The reaction of NdCl3 · 6H2O (neodymium chloride hydrate) and Nd(NO3)3 · 6H2O (neodymium nitrate hydrate) with sodium fluoride both yielded two phases (Fig. 1): α-NNF [space group: \({Fm}\bar{3}m\) (no. 225)] and NdF3 [space group: \(P{6}_{3}/{mcm}\) (no. 193)] [Powder Diffraction File(PDF) No. 00-009-0416]. The contents of the NdF3 phases were 10% for neodymium chloride hydrate and 5% for neodymium nitrate hydrate (Table 1). The formation of two phases in the products can be attributed to having more than one phase of the salts in the starting materials. For example, both NdCl3 and NdOCl would be present for the chloride salt, as further explained in the supplementary information. A recent study by Gibson et al. reported a negative Gibbs' energy for NNF, indicating its thermodynamic stability at 298.15 K29. Additional phase analysis information is provided in Supplementary Figs. 2–4 and Supplementary Tables 1–3. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the fluoride samples in the present study was used to confirm that they have particle sizes of <100 nm (Supplementary Figs. 5–7). Hereinafter, the NaNdF4 produced from acetate, chloride and nitrate will be referred to as NNF-A, NNF-C, and NNF-N, respectively.
The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data (Fig. 2a) depicts one exothermic and two endothermic peaks for all three samples. The NNF-A and NNF-N exhibit the first exothermic peaks at T = 394 °C and T = 355 °C, respectively. The first exothermic peak is not pronounced for NNF-C. This first peak for all the samples is a concomitant occurrence of two thermal events, namely, the volatilization of the water of crystallization (endothermic) and the conversion of α-NaNdF4 to β-NaNdF4 phase (exothermic)26, with the latter being more prominent.
a The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) plot of the three fluoride samples. The exothermic peak is due to \(\alpha -{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\to \beta -{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\) transformation, while the two endothermic peaks correspond to the melting of \(\beta -{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\) and \(\beta -{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\to \alpha -{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\) transformation. b thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) patterns of the fluoride samples obtained from the different precursor salts. The higher mass loss for NNF-A is due to the higher α-NaNdF4 content.
The endothermic peaks at 642 °C, 750 °C and 700 °C (broad peak) represent the melting of the eutectic mixture comprising NaF and β-NaNdF425 for NNF-N, NNF-C, and NNF-A, respectively. The variation in the peak positions, and the broadness of the peak for NNF-A, are possibly due to the differing contents of the β-NaNdF4 in the three fluorides. Also, respectively, the endothermic peaks at 815 °C, 813 °C, and 821 °C represent the \({{{\rm{\beta }}}}-{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\to {{{\rm{\alpha }}}}-{{{\rm{NaNdF}}}}4\) phase transformation in the samples25,26.
The thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) results show less than 2% mass loss for all the samples, with the NNF-A sample losing the most (Fig. 2b). This is possibly due to the higher phase fraction of NaNdF4 in the NNF-A sample which, in turn, contributed to higher water of crystallization content. The TGA profile of NNF-A depicts two mass loss regions: (a) 150 °C to 300 °C for volatilization of adsorbed water and (b) >350 °C for volatilization of water of crystallization.
Mass spectrometric analysis was performed in the quasi-multiple ion detection (QMID) mode during the TG-DSC experiments and are depicted in Fig. 3.
a There are two peaks in the NNF-A sample corresponding to water at 220 °C and 400 °C, b The NNF-C has a sharp peak at ~100 °C and two less prominent peaks at 300 °C and 400 °C, and c The NNF-N has a sharp peak at ~100 °C and another prominent peak at 470 °C. All three fluorides did not exhibit the evolution of any hydrogen fluoride. NNF-A sample synthesized using the acetate precursor, NNF-C sample synthesized using the chloride precursor, NNF-N sample synthesized using the nitrate precursor.
The peaks from the QMID plots help determine the chemical species with a certain mass number that evolves during thermal treatment. There are two notable peaks of mass number 18 (due to water) in all three fluorides. The first peak at <300 °C represents the volatilization of surface water, while the second peak at ~400–500 °C represents the volatilization of the crystallization water. These results corroborate the findings of the DSC studies that show a thermal event at ~400–500 °C (Fig. 2a), along with a mass loss observed in the TGA plot (Fig. 2b). The absence of HF evolution was confirmed by the flat line corresponding to mass number 20 in all the three fluorides. The absence of HF was further validated by heating the sample to 600 °C for 3 h (to ensure complete drying), while testing with a HF gas detector.
To investigate the phases in the NNF powder samples after the volatilization of water of crystallization, the as-synthesized samples were heat treated at 500 °C for 3 h and the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were recorded (Fig. 4).
The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern obtained by heating as-synthesized powders of NNF-A (black plot), NNF-C (red plot), and NNF-N (blue plot) at 500 °C for 3 h shows three phases for each of the samples. The open circle, solid square, and open square symbols correspond to β-NaNdF4, NdF3, and NaF phases, respectively. NNF-A, sample synthesized using the acetate precursor; NNF-C, sample synthesized using the chloride precursor; NNF-N, sample synthesized using the nitrate precursor.
Three phases corresponding to β-NaNdF4 (β-NNF) [space group: \(P{6}_{3}/m\) (no. 176)], NdF3 [space group: \(P{6}_{3}/{mcm}\) (no. 193)], and NaF [space group: \({Fm}\bar{3}m\) (no. 225)] were observed. The phase fractions of the samples are presented in Table 2. The phase decomposition of the α-NaNdF4 phase can be explained by the deviation from the single-phase region below 785 °C (Supplementary Fig. 8). Below this temperature, the composition corresponding to the α-NaNdF4 phase falls in a two-phase region of β-NaNdF4 and NdF326. Furthermore, below 732 °C, the β-NNF phase exists as a line compound, and any deviation in stoichiometry leads to a two-phase region of β-NaNdF4 and NaF phases (Supplementary Fig. 8). This explains the formation of three phases upon sample heating and is consistent with previous reports26.
All the samples formed significant amounts of NdF3 phase, in addition to the β-NaNdF4 phase. NNF-A had the least amount of NaF while the amounts in NNA-C and NNA-N are comparable. The collected metal after calciothermic reduction is shown in Fig. 5a. The XRD of the reduced and polished metal in Fig. 5b shows peaks matching with Nd metal [space group: \(P{6}_{3}/{mmc}\) (no. 194)]. The analysis of the Nd metal shows that it contains C:176 ppm, N: 52 ppm, O: 925 ppm, and S: 1 ppm. It is common for metals produced by calciothermic or electrolytic methods to undergo further purification which helps to reduce the impurities30,31, such as those from the slag or the unreacted salts, etc. In the present work, the metal production yield was 70–80%, which is expected to increase at higher-scale operations.
a Nd metal seated on tantalum cap after calciothermic reduction. The purple surface color is due to the unreacted material and slag on the metal, which was removed by mechanical polishing. The portions of the image corresponding to Nd metal and Ta cap are identified in the picture; b X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern from the samples reduced to metal. All the peaks correspond to Nd metal [space group: \(P{6}_{3}/{mmc}\) (no. 194)]. The asterisk represents CaF2 phase from the slag.
TG-DSC measurement was performed on a sample of the metal, and the results are plotted in Fig. 6. The DSC plot depicts two endotherms at 852 °C and 1016 °C corresponding to a transformation of the unreacted fluoride sample from β-NaNdF4 to α-NaNdF4 and melting of metallic Nd, respectively. The TGA plot depicts little to no mass change, as expected for Nd metal.
The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) result (blue plot) shows little variation in the mass change over the temperature range. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) plot depicts two endothermic transformations likely corresponding to the melting of the unreacted α-NaNdF4 phase (852.2 °C) and the melting of Nd metal (1016.2 °C). The inset is a spherical ball of Nd metal obtained after the TG-DSC experiment.
Neodymium acetate (99%) from Sigma Aldrich was used for this work. Neodymium chloride and neodymium nitrate were synthesized by dissolving industrial grade of neodymium hydroxide in hydrochloric and nitric acids, respectively, and drying at 80 °C. Neodymium chloride hexahydrate (10 mmol, 3.6 g) and neodymium nitrate hexahydrate (10 mmol, 4.4 g) were dissolved in 50 mL of water each. To this Nd salt solution, 2.1 g NaF in 50 ml water (50 mmol) were added, and the contents were stirred at 25 °C for 6 h. We found that a slightly lower ratio yielded no NaNdF4, and a slightly higher ratio resulted in almost 100% NaNdF4 but required even more excess NaF. The resulting NaNdF4 precipitate was filtered, washed, and dried overnight at 80 °C in the air. To obtain dehydrated NaNdF4 product, the sample was heat treated at 500 °C for 3 h in air.
Structural analysis of the NaNdF4 product was performed by powder XRD using a Bruker D-8 X-ray diffractometer with Cu-Kα radiation. The XRD analysis was used to determine the phase constituents via the reference intensity ratio method with Match! Software (Version 3.15), and with Corundum as the reference. Simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC) were performed using a STA449F1 system (Netzsch, Selb, Germany) with Al2O3 crucibles from 30 °C to 1050 °C. The temperature was scanned at 10 °C/min in ultra-high purity nitrogen gas flow (60 mL/min). Evolved gas analysis was performed using an Aeolos QMS 403D quadrupole mass spectrometer connected to the TGA furnace via a heated transfer line. Resublimed calcium prepared at Materials Preparation Center, Ames National Laboratory was used at a Ca: NaNdF4 ratio of ~2.6 to reduce the NaNdF4 to metals.
The reduction process was performed in a 0.75 × 5 × 1.2 (width × length × thickness) cubic inch tantalum crucible. A spun cap was welded at the bottom, and another loose spun cap was used as a lid. The tantalum crucible was placed in a quartz tube with a secondary quartz tube to retain the tantalum cap. The assembly was then suspended into an induction coil (Supplementary Fig. 1a), which was then heated from room temperature to 880 °C in 15 min. The reduction set-up was maintained under vacuum till 700 °C, and then backfilled with Ar to −100 mmHg (Supplementary Fig. 1b). The temperature was monitored with a two-color pyrometer until the coating obscured the view at ~880 °C (Supplementary Fig. 1c). The run continued for 23 min, following which an eruption of vapor and an induction heated plasma was observed. The induction power was terminated at this stage. The quartz tube was broken to bring out the sample. The contents were machined to remove the slag and tantalum to collect the neodymium metal (Supplementary Fig. 1d). The nitrogen and oxygen were analyzed with LECO-ON836 using 0.1 g of sample in a graphite crucible under helium atmosphere. The carbon and sulfur were analyzed using LECO-CS844 using 0.5 g of sample in an alumina crucible under an O2 atmosphere. The morphology of the fluoride samples was recorded using a FEI Teneo SEM.
The present study demonstrates the metallothermic reduction of fluoride salts to Nd metal, using NaNdF4 synthesized via a facile route that excludes the use of HF. The fluoride salts were synthesized through room-temperature reactions involving only an aqueous solvent. The elimination of HF in synthesizing the fluorides improves the operational safety of the process. Three different rare earth salts have been utilized as starting materials to demonstrate the versatility of the process. Results show that only water evolved from the salts during the heating process.
Data sets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request. Determination of an acceptable request and subsequent data provision are subject to Ames National Laboratory approval.
Balaram, V. Rare earth elements: a review of applications, occurrence, exploration, analysis, recycling, and environmental impact. Geosci. Front. 10, 1285–1303 (2019).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Elshkaki, A. Sustainability of emerging energy and transportation technologies is impacted by the coexistence of minerals in nature. Commun. Earth Environ. 2, 1–13 (2021).
Article
Google Scholar
Filho, W. L. et al. Understanding rare earth elements as critical raw materials. Sustainability 15, 1919 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Pawar, G. & Ewing, R. C. Recent advances in the global rare-earth supply chain. MRS Bull. 47, 244–249 (2022).
Article
ADS
Google Scholar
Ormerod, J., Karati, A., Baghel, A. P. S., Prodius, D. & Nlebedim, I. C. Sourcing, refining and recycling of rare-earth magnets. Sustainability 15, 14901 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Liao, C. et al. Research status of electrolytic preparation of rare earth metals and alloys in fluoride molten salt system: a mini review of China. Metals 14, 407 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Vogel, H., Flerus, B., Stoffner, F. & Friedrich, B. Reducing greenhouse gas emission from the neodymium oxide electrolysis. Part I: analysis of the anodic gas formation. J. Sustain. Met. 3, 99–107 (2017).
Article
Google Scholar
Vogel, H., Friedrich, B., Vogel, H. & Friedrich, B. Reducing greenhouse gas emission from the neodymium oxide electrolysis. Part II: basics of a process control avoiding PFC emission. Int. J. Nonferrous Metall. 6, 27–46 (2017).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Cvetković, V. S. et al. Investigation on the electrochemical behaviour and deposition mechanism of neodymium in NdF3–LiF–Nd2O3 melt on Mo electrode. Metals 10, 576 (2020).
Article
Google Scholar
Vogel, H., Friedrich, B., Scholz, H. & Franz, H. Development and research trends of the neodymium electrolysis—A literature review. In Production of non-ferrous metals – indispensable foundation for the industry and our prosperity; Proceedings of the 8th European Metallurgical Conference, Düsseldorf - Vol. 2, 689–702 (GDMB Verlag GmbH, 2015).
Vahidi, E. & Zhao, F. Assessing the environmental footprint of the production of rare earth metals and alloys via molten salt electrolysis. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 139, 178–187 (2018).
Article
Google Scholar
Zhu, H. Rare earth metal production by molten salt electrolysis. In Encyclopedia of Applied Electrochemistry (eds Kreysa, G., Ota, K.-i. & Savinell, R. F.) 1765–1772 (Springer, 2014).
Herget, C. Metallurgical ways to NdFeB alloys, permanent magnets from coreduced NdFeB. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Workshop on Rare-earth Magnets and Their Applications and the Fourth International Symposium on Magnetic Anisotropy and Coercivity in Rare Earth-Transition Metal Alloys 407–422 (University of Dayton, School of Engineering, 1985).
Ivanov, V. A., Dedyukhin, A. S., Polovov, I. B., Volkovich, V. A. & Rebrin, O. I. Fabrication of rare-earth metals by metallothermic reduction: thermodynamic modeling and practical realization. AIP Conf. Proc. 2015, 020033 (2018).
Article
Google Scholar
Carlson, O. N., Schmidt, F. A. & Spedding, F. H. Preparation of yttrium metal by reduction of yttrium trifluoride with calcium (Ames Laboratory, 1956).
Spedding, F. H. & Daane, A. H. The Rare Earths (Wiley, 1961).
Brashear, D. R. & Zevenbergen, L. A. Preparation of enriched rare-earth metals by hydrofluorination and reduction. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 438, 23–29 (1999).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Braun, J., Stöß, H. & Zober, A. Intoxication following the inhalation of hydrogen fluoride. Arch. Toxicol. 56, 50–54 (1984).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Bajraktarova-Valjakova, E. et al. Hydrofluoric acid: burns and systemic toxicity, protective measures, immediate and hospital medical treatment. Open Access Maced. J. Med. Sci. 6, 2257 (2018).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sanz-Gallén, P., Nogué, S., Munné, P. & Faraldo, A. Hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia due to hydrofluoric acid. Occup. Med. 51, 294–295 (2001).
Article
Google Scholar
Stuke, L. E., Arnoldo, B. D., Hunt, J. L. & Purdue, G. F. Hydrofluoric acid burns: a 15-year experience. J. Burn Care Res. 29, 893–896 (2008).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Peters, D. & Miethchen, R. Symptoms and treatment of hydrogen fluoride injuries. J. Fluor. Chem. 79, 161–165 (1996).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Zierold, C. D. & Chauviere, M. Hydrogen fluoride inhalation injury because of a fire suppression system. Mil. Med. 177, 108–112 (2012).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Lund, K., Ekstrand, J., Boe, J., Søstrand, P. & Kongerud, J. Exposure to hydrogen fluoride: an experimental study in humans of concentrations of fluoride in plasma, symptoms, and lung function. Occup. Environ. Med. 54, 32–37 (1997).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Thoma, R. E., Insley, H. & Hebert, G. M. The sodium fluoride-lanthanide trifluoride systems. Inorg. Chem. 5, 1222–1229 (1966).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Yang, S., Jayanthi, K., Anderko, A., Riman, R. E. & Navrotsky, A. Thermochemical investigation of the stability and conversion of nanocrystalline and high-temperature phases in sodium neodymium fluorides. Chem. Mater. 33, 9571–9579 (2021).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Wang, X. et al. Single ultrasmall Mn2+-doped NaNdF4 nanocrystals as multimodal nanoprobes for magnetic resonance and second near-infrared fluorescence imaging. Nano. Res. 11, 1069–1081 (2018).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Lu, S. et al. Multifunctional nano-bioprobes based on rattle-structured upconverting luminescent nanoparticles. Angew. Chem. 54, 7915–7919 (2015).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Gibson, A., Yang, S., Riman, R. E., Navrotsky, A. & Woodfield, B. F. Heat capacity and thermodynamic functions of sodium rare earth ternary fluorides. J. Chem. Thermodyn. 188, 107154 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Huffine, C. L. & Williams, J. M. Refining and purification of rare-earth metals. Technical Report AECU-4426 (General Electric Co., Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Dept., Cincinnati, OH, 1959). https://doi.org/10.2172/4213369.
Spedding, F. H. & Daane, A. H. Production of rare earth metals in quantity allows testing of physical properties. JOM 6, 504–510 (1954).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Download references
This work was supported by the Critical Materials Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office. The work was performed at Ames National Laboratory, operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University of Science and Technology under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11358.
These authors contributed equally: Denis Prodius, Ikenna C. Nlebedim.
Division of Critical Materials, Ames National Laboratory, Ames, IA, USA
Anirudha Karati, Harshida Parmar, Denis Prodius & Ikenna C. Nlebedim
Division of Materials Science and Engineering, The Materials Preparation Center, Ames National Laboratory, Ames, IA, USA
Trevor Riedemann & Matthew Besser
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
A.K.: Data collection, Experimentation, Data analysis, Writing: original draft; H.P., T.R., and M.B.: Experimentation, Data analysis; D.P. and I.C.N.: Data analysis, Writing: review and editing, Supervision, Acquiring of funding.
Correspondence to
Ikenna C. Nlebedim.
The authors declare the following competing interests. All authors are co-inventors on a related pending patent application entitled “preparation of rare earth metals with double salts”. (Patent Application No. 20250075359). Applicant: Iowa State University Research Foundation, Inc. (Ames, IA).
Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions
Karati, A., Parmar, H., Riedemann, T. et al. Rare earth metals production using alternative feedstock that eliminates HF.
Nat Commun 16, 4528 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59468-w
Download citation
Received: 30 August 2024
Accepted: 24 April 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59468-w
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature Communications
(Nat Commun)
ISSN 2041-1723 (online)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Hobby metal detectorists strike again!
Metal detectors work by transmitting an electromagnetic field from the search coin (that round part that detectorists sweep back and forth) into the ground. If a metal object falls within the pulse, it becomes energized and returns its own electromagnetic field to the machine, alerting the user. The detector can be set off by discarded bottle caps, modern coins, or even chunks of lead in the ground, but sometimes the treasure proves to be more exciting.
The machines prove so effective that researchers often include metal detector surveys in their archaeological studies. Even amateur detectorists have found incredible artifacts with their machines. Just recently, one found a golden raven head and another found a hoard of Iron Age artifacts. And that list of big discoveries is still growing, as one metal detectorist scanning a field unearthed nearly 1,500 Romanian coins.
The man who discovered the hoard, Bebe Mangeac, went out for a typical day with his trusty metal detector—a model he described to What's The Jam as “average and neither cheap nor top end.” He explained that he goes out for the exercise, never knowing what he's going to find. The area he picked for this particular hunt was in Letca Veche, a hilly area with soft soil and little vegetation southwest of Bucharest, Romania.
Mangeac began scouting the area, and his machine soon picked up a signal not far beneath the surface. Mangeac gently dug into the topsoil—that's when he saw them: the first silver coins. They appeared oxidized yet still well defined.
“My hands were shaking,” Mangeac said. “The coins kept coming out. I didn't want to leave any behind. When you realise you've made a hard-earned discovery, part of you wants to celebrate. The other, more instinctive part tells you to hurry up. Every minute of light was important, especially since the size of the monetary treasure was enormous.”
As he kept digging, Mangeac hit ceramic. Well, more like ceramic shards of what once was a storage vessel, likely an amphora or a dolium. The broken vessel could indicate that the owner of the hoard smashed it intentionally in a protective ritual before burying it. He continued to carefully unearth the collection—and the coins just kept coming. Once he was finished at the site, Mangeac uncovered 1,469 silver coins along with the ceramic pieces.
“I didn't count them all there and then, but it felt like there were a lot,” he remarked. “I mean, a lot.”
The coins are believed to be Denarius coins (Roman coins) buried around 1,700 years ago. Some depict Emperor Trajan and others elephant iconography. The coins appear to be from several different periods, likely a result of accumulating the collection over time.
The real time crunch began when Mangeac got home with the hoard. In Romania, citizens have 72 hours to hand artifacts of historical significance over to the authorities. Mangeac notified the police and they took note of where he found the treasure. The site will later be deemed an archeological site and subjected to further research.
The hoard, originally discovered in mid April, is currently held by the County Directorate for Culture. The collection will eventually be put on display at the Teohari Antonescu County Museum in Giurgiu. Though the worth has yet to be calculated, Mangeac is entitled to a hefty 45% of the value if the haul is classified as treasure.
Perhaps Mangeac is the perfect example of why metal detecting should be the next hobby you pick up—and maybe you and your “average” machine will make the next monumental archeological discovery in your area.
Emma Frederickson is a Pace University student by day, journalist by night. She enjoys covering anything from pop culture to science to food. Her work appears in several publications including Biography.com and Popular Mechanics. When she's not writing, Emma can be found hopping between coffee shops on the hunt for the world's best oat milk cappuccino.
An 8-Year-Old Discovered a 170-Year-Old Shipwreck
Genome of 'Last Neanderthal' Has Been Sequenced
A Collapsing Church Wall Revealed Hidden Skeletons
Metal Detectorist Finds 4,000-Year-Old Axe Head
A Crew Found a Gold Treasure Under a Buddha Statue
Explorers Found Maya Sacrifices in a ‘Blood Cave'
Detectorists Find a Dazzling Golden Raven Head
Ancient Temple Found Buried in Peruvian Sand
Chinese Tomb Mural from 8th Century Has Blonde Man
Experts Found Ancient Psychedelic Paraphernalia
Ancient Papal Palace Uncovered at Vatican
Archaeologists Find Third Ancient Fort on One Site
A Part of Hearst Digital Media
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
©2025 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
May 15, 2025
4 min read
Friend or Food: Why Are Iceland's Orcas Taking in Pilot Whales?
Newborn pilot whales have been spotted mysteriously swimming among pods of orcas. Scientists are trying to puzzle out how the pilot whale calves got there and what happened to them
By Marina Wang edited by Andrea Thompson
A neonate long-finned pilot whale surfaces in echelon position next to a killer whale (adult female IS069) on June 20, 2023.
“Interactions between Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) and Neonate Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas) off South Iceland,” by Chérine D. Baumgartner et al., in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 16, No. 4, Article No. e71193; April 2025 (CC BY 4.0)
One day in June 2022 Chérine Baumgartner, a researcher at the Icelandic Orca Project, was watching from a dinghy as a pod of killer whales fed on herring—when she noticed something very odd about what seemed to be a young member of the pod. “At first, we were like, ‘Oh my god, this killer whale calf has a problem,'” she says. It was far tinier than normal and lacked an infant orca's characteristic black-and-pale-orange coloration. Baumgartner, now a Ph.D. student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, suddenly realized she was seeing an entirely different species: a baby pilot whale. She and her team observed the pod for nearly three hours before weather conditions forced them back to land. They found the pod the next day, but the pilot whale calf was nowhere to be seen.
Scientists noticed orcas interacting with baby pilot whales off Iceland every year from 2021 to 2023. Each instance was short-lived and featured different individual pilot whales (dark-gray members of the dolphin family with a bulbous forehead) and different pods of orcas. Now, in a new study in Ecology and Evolution, Baumgartner and her colleagues describe the 2022 and 2023 incidents and posit three potential explanations: predation, play or parenting.
A neonate long-finned pilot whale swims among killer whales on June 23, 2022.
“Interactions between Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) and Neonate Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas) off South Iceland,” by Chérine D. Baumgartner et al., in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 16, No. 4, Article No. e71193; April 2025 (CC BY 4.0)
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
In all the sightings, a weeks-old pilot whale swam by a female killer whale in what scientists call an echelon position, with the young whale located beside and slightly behind the adult orca. In the 2022 and 2023 instances, the killer whales occasionally nudged the calf along. In 2023 a calf was seen swimming ahead of the group, possibly as if to run away—and at one point it was lifted, belly-up, out of the water on the back of an orca.
With the first possible explanation, the killer whales could have been keeping the young pilot whales around like a living lunch box; some orcas in Iceland are known to eat harbor seals and porpoises. But Baumgartner notes that these Icelandic killer whales are predominantly fish eaters and that they didn't display overtly aggressive behavior toward the pilot whale calves. So predation is less likely, though not impossible, she and her colleagues say.
Alternatively, the killer whales could have been playing with the young whales or using them to practice hunting. Iceland's orcas often herd herring, and they could have been incorporating the pilot whale calves in their hunting games.
Finally, the killer whales could have been extending their parental instincts to the young calves. Whales and dolphins in the wild often care for the young of other members of their pod, and although it's rare, dolphins have adopted calves from different species. In the pilot whales' case, Baumgartner says, she wouldn't categorize the relationship as adoption because the interactions seemed to be short-lived. The young pilot whales would likely have died without milk, and none of the female orcas were lactating at the time.
These three possibilities also aren't mutually exclusive, she says. “It could be [that the orcas] encountered the pilot whale opportunistically, and some individuals played with the whale, and others tried to nurture it,” Baumgartner adds.
A neonate long-finned pilot whale is lifted out of the water on the back of an unidentified killer whale on June 20, 2023.
“Interactions between Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) and Neonate Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas) off South Iceland,” by Chérine D. Baumgartner et al., in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 16, No. 4, Article No. e71193; April 2025 (CC BY 4.0)
The other conspicuously missing pieces of the puzzle are how, in each instance, the orcas came across a pilot whale calf in the first place and what happened to that calf afterward. “Was it lost or abandoned?” asks study co-author Filipa Samarra, principal investigator at the Icelandic Orca Project and director of the University of Iceland's research center on the Westman Islands. “Or did the killer whales actively approach to take the calf away?” The researchers also wonder if the calves escaped or died or were killed or eaten by the orcas.
Sarah Teman, a graduate student in ecology at the University of Washington, who was not involved with the new study, says her jaw dropped when she saw pictures of the pilot whales with the orca pods. Teman previously studied southern resident killer whales interacting with porpoises in the Salish Sea off British Columbia and Washington State. In that research, she observed interactions that may have been motivated by nurturing, hunting practice or “play”—and often ended up killing the porpoises. “It was fascinating to see such similar behaviors” in the Icelandic orcas, she says, adding that the animals' interactions with the pilot whales seemed to be largely driven by nurturing or play behavior, just as had been seen in the southern resident killer whales' interactions with porpoises.
Samarra also speculates that the unusual interactions off Iceland could be a result of climate change because pilot whales increasingly follow schools of mackerel moving into warmer waters that overlap with the killer whales' range. She hopes that, next summer, her group will finally observe how the young pilot whales get entangled with the orcas and what happens to them next.
Marina Wang is a freelance journalist covering science and everything else weird and wonderful. She was previously an editor at Hakai Magazine and is based in Victoria, British Columbia. Visit Wang's website at www.marina-wang.com or follow her on Bluesky @marinacoladas.bsky.social
Subscribe to Scientific American to learn and share the most exciting discoveries, innovations and ideas shaping our world today.
Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.
© 2025 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF SPRINGER NATURE AMERICA, INC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature Microbiology
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
Persisters are phenotypically switched bacteria that survive antibiotic exposure despite being genetically susceptible. Three pathways to persistence—triggered, spontaneous and antibiotic-induced—have been described, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we used antibiotic time–kill assays as well as single-cell approaches to show that all of the pathways depend on a common switch involving the alarmone guanosine tetra/penta-phosphate ((p)ppGpp) in Bacillus subtilis, each stemming from different alarmone synthetase(s). The accumulation of (p)ppGpp promotes persistence through depletion of intracellular GTP. We developed a fluorescent GTP reporter to visualize rare events of persister formation in wild-type bacteria, revealing a rapid switch from growth to dormancy in single cells as their GTP levels drop beneath a threshold. While a decrease in GTP in the bulk population slows growth and promotes antibiotic tolerance, (p)ppGpp drives persistence by driving rapid, switch-like decreases in GTP levels beneath the persister threshold in single cells. Persistence through alarmone–GTP antagonism is probably a widespread mechanism to survive antibiotics in B. subtilis and potentially beyond.
Antibiotic persisters are individual bacterial cells that survive prolonged bactericidal antibiotic treatment despite being genetically sensitive to antibiotics1,2,3. Joseph Bigger originally proposed that persisters can be generated before or after treatment with antibiotics2. Later, persisters were categorized by their pathways of generation—starvation triggered, spontaneously generated and antibiotic induced1—yet their molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Although persistence can be triggered by nutrient deprivations4 through the intracellular accumulation of the alarmone (p)ppGpp5,6,7,8,9, it is also argued that slow growth or a reduction in ATP levels, rather than (p)ppGpp, is responsible for triggering persistence10,11. In addition to starvation, persisters can form spontaneously3. However, spontaneous persisters exist in natural populations at a low frequency, making their identification challenging and making it difficult to establish the mechanisms of their formation. While toxin–antitoxin (TA) modules are strongly implicated in persistence3,5,8,12,13, their roles in spontaneous antibiotic persistence of wild-type bacteria remain unclear14. Finally, persisters were observed both before and after treatment with antibiotics15, and bacteriostatic antibiotics are known to induce persisters16. However, it is difficult to differentiate antibiotic-induced persistence from antibiotic tolerance1, spontaneous persistence, transcriptional response to specific drugs or by-products of cellular damage from drug treatment1. The mechanisms of antibiotic-induced persistence remain poorly understood. Here we directly visualize the formation of starvation-triggered, spontaneous and antibiotic-induced persisters in the Gram-positive bacterium B. subtilis belonging to the phylum Bacillota and reveal that multiple cellular mechanisms of persistence can converge on a common pathway of alarmone–GTP antagonism.
To quantify persistence in B. subtilis, we began by treating cells with the cell-wall-targeting antibiotic vancomycin at concentrations of 20 times higher than its minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) (Fig. 1a and Supplementary Fig 1). The results revealed biphasic killing kinetics, with a rapid elimination of the majority of cells followed by the prolonged survival of a small subpopulation. This surviving fraction (approximately 0.1%) remained consistent across varying drug concentrations and, after regrowth, became resensitized to antibiotics (Fig. 1a), confirming that these are phenotypically switched persisters rather than genetically altered resisters1,2,17. We also tested the effect of prophages on persistence, given that persistence against the DNA-damaging antibiotic ciprofloxacin has been shown to be complicated by prophage activation in Escherichia coli14. We confirmed that, similar to E. coli, persistence against ciprofloxacin is weakened by prophages (Supplementary Fig. 2), but persistence against vancomycin remains unaffected regardless of the presence or absence of resident prophages SPβ and PBSX within the genome. Furthermore, the levels of persisters in prophage-cured cells were consistent across different classes of antibiotics, including vancomycin, ciprofloxacin and kanamycin, that target translation (Fig. 1b). This suggests that the persisters originate from a common subpopulation that is refractory to multiple antibiotics1.
a, Survival curves of B. subtilis wild-type (WT) and (p)ppGpp0 after treatment with lethal concentrations of vancomycin (VAN). Rekill indicates that cells that survived 20× MIC vancomycin treatment were regrown and treated with vancomycin again. b, Survival curves of prophage-cured WT B. subtilis treated with 20× MIC vancomycin, 20× MIC ciprofloxacin or 8× MIC kanamycin. c, Starvation-triggered persistence of WT B. subtilis depends on (p)ppGpp. Biphasic kill curve assays of vancomycin treatment were performed after treatment with several starvation-inducing or (p)ppGpp-inducing conditions. Stationary, stationary phase; RHX, pretreated with the amino acid starvation inducer arginine hydroxamate; CCCP, pretreated with ATP synthesis inhibitor CCCP; p-sasA or p-sasASyn, (p)ppGpp0 strains overexpressing the (p)ppGpp synthetase SasA or its synthetase-dead variant SasASyn (sasAD87G). Plots shown on a log scale are provided in Extended Data Fig. 2. d, The nucleotide levels in cells pretreated with arginine hydroxamate or ATP synthesis inhibitor CCCP or arsenate (As) for 30 min (top). UT, untreated. The nucleotide levels were measured using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and normalized to their levels before induction. Bottom, persistence of the pretreated cells to vancomycin treatment. e,f, Schematic (e) and quantification (f) of the survival of exponential phase (Exp), serial-passaged populations after vancomycin treatment for 5 h. Persisters that remained through the passage were defined as spontaneous persisters. g, In B. subtilis and many Gram-positive bacteria, (p)ppGpp is synthesized by three (p)ppGpp synthetases. Rel is the bifunctional (p)ppGpp synthetase and hydrolase, whereas SasB (also known as SAS1, RelQ or YjbM) and SasA (also known as SAS2, RelP or YwaC) are monofunctional synthetases. h, Persister levels in starvation-induced (arginine hydroxamate; black) WT and (p)ppGpp mutants. i, The levels of spontaneous persisters (green, second passage) in WT and (p)ppGpp mutants. relSyn (relD264G) is a synthetase-inactive variant of Rel that retains its hydrolase activity essential for viability in the presence of sasB and sasA. sasBF42A encodes an allosteric pppGpp-binding-site mutant of SasB. For a–d, f, h and i, data are mean ± s.d. from three or more biological replicates. For d, f, h and i, P values were calculated using unpaired two-tailed t-tests.
(p)ppGpp is a starvation-induced alarmone that is strongly implicated in antibiotic survival9. We therefore examined the effect of (p)ppGpp on antibiotic resistance, tolerance and persistence using mutant B. subtilis lacking all three (p)ppGpp synthetases (hereafter, (p)ppGpp0)18,19. Compared with the wild-type strain, the (p)ppGpp0 strain exhibited similar resistance to a variety of antibiotics (MIC assay; Supplementary Fig. 1), a modestly reduced antibiotic tolerance (approximately 5% reduction in MDK99, where MDK99 is the minimum duration of killing for 99% of the population; Extended Data Fig. 1a,b) and strongly reduced (around tenfold) antibiotic persistence (Fig. 1a and Extended Data Fig. 1c). These results indicate that (p)ppGpp predominantly promotes antibiotic persistence.
Antibiotic persistence can be triggered by starvation or occur spontaneously1. To investigate the role of (p)ppGpp in starvation-triggered persistence, we starved cells using several methods: allowing growth into stationary phase, inducing amino acid starvation, or depleting ATP with arsenate10 or CCCP20. We then performed kill curves with vancomycin under these conditions or after starvation was removed by back-diluting in rich medium. The biphasic kill curves (Fig. 1c and Extended Data Fig. 2a) showed a high level of triggered persisters (around 500-fold increase from 0.1% to about 50%) after all starvation treatments and even after starvation removal, consistent with the established definition of triggered persistence1.
Notably, all starvation conditions also induced (p)ppGpp accumulation. We observed (p)ppGpp buildup not only after amino acid starvation but also during ATP depletion (Fig. 1d and Supplementary Fig. 3). Furthermore, starvation-triggered persistence was abolished in the (p)ppGpp0 mutant, indicating that (p)ppGpp induction is necessary for triggered persistence (Extended Data Fig. 2b and Supplementary Table 5). Finally, we found that, even in the absence of starvation, gratuitous induction of (p)ppGpp by overexpressing its synthetase21 was sufficient to produce high levels of persisters (Fig. 1c; p-sasA). These findings demonstrate that (p)ppGpp accumulation is both necessary and sufficient to trigger persistence.
We next investigated the occurrence of spontaneous persistence. To differentiate spontaneous persisters from those triggered by starvation, we performed a classical serial passage experiment1,3 (Fig. 1e). In this method, cells are repeatedly diluted into fresh medium during exponential growth, which removes starvation-triggered persisters from the lag-phase culture while leaving a consistent, basal fraction of spontaneously generated persisters. This approach enabled us to identify a rare population of spontaneous persisters (around 0.05%) after the starvation-triggered persisters have been eliminated (Fig. 1f). Notably, the spontaneous persisters were absent in the (p)ppGpp0 mutant, indicating that (p)ppGpp has a key role in both spontaneous and starvation-triggered persistence.
In B. subtilis, (p)ppGpp is synthesized by three enzymes: Rel, SasA and SasB (Fig. 1g). To assess their roles in persister formation, we analysed single, double and triple mutants of these synthetases (Fig. 1h,i, Supplementary Figs. 4 and 5 and Supplementary Tables 6 and 7). Our findings show that only the starvation-responsive synthetase, Rel, is essential for starvation-triggered persistence (Fig. 1h). By contrast, spontaneous persistence is controlled by both Rel and SasB, as mutations in either rel or sasB significantly reduce spontaneous persister levels and, in combination, they completely abolish this phenotype (Fig. 1i). Rel can be activated by pppGpp (Supplementary Fig. 6), aligning with recent findings22. SasB, a tetrameric enzyme, enables allosteric activation of (p)ppGpp synthesis by pppGpp, with a Hill coefficient of around 3.0 (ref. 23). A mutation that disrupts the allosteric pppGpp-binding site in SasB (sasBF42A) leads to a similar decrease in spontaneous persistence as observed in the ΔsasB mutant (Fig. 1i). These results suggest that self-amplification of (p)ppGpp synthesis is crucial for spontaneous persister formation.
We next searched for the downstream effector of (p)ppGpp that mediates antibiotic persistence. (p)ppGpp is a bacterial alarmone with pleiotropic functions including upregulating competence and sporulation24. We found that disruption of competence, sporulation or three known TA systems in B. subtilis has little impact on persistence (Supplementary Fig. 7). (p)ppGpp also antagonizes the essential nucleotide GTP in B. subtilis and downregulates macromolecular biosynthesis18. (p)ppGpp production consumes GTP, and (p)ppGpp directly inhibits multiple enzymes along the pathway of GTP production18,25,26,27 (Fig. 2a). Moreover, (p)ppGpp binds to the purine transcription regulator PurR to inhibit transcription of the pur operon, encoding de novo purine biosynthesis genes upstream of GTP synthesis28. Furthermore, (p)ppGpp competes with GTP to regulate macromolecule synthesis enzymes, including the DNA replication enzyme primase29,30, and GTPases for ribosome biogenesis, assembly and protein translation31,32,33,34. Under starvation conditions that trigger persisters, GTP levels were significantly depleted, whereas ATP levels varied (Fig. 1d), suggesting that GTP depletion may be a common effector leading to persistence.
a, (p)ppGpp robustly inhibits de novo GTP biosynthesis by inhibiting the guanylate kinase Gmk and the IMP dehydrogenase GuaB, as well as inhibiting expression of the pur operon through the PurR repressor. (p)ppGpp also inhibits GTP synthesis by purine salvage, which is not illustrated here. b,c, Vancomycin-survival curves of WT, purine-biosynthesis mutants ∆purB, ∆purL and ∆purF, the GTP-synthesis mutant ∆guaA and the guaB-repressed mutant (guaBDown) (b); the slow-growth mutants ∆pyk (pyruvate kinase) and ∆ctaA (haem synthase) (c); and the (p)ppGpp0 and (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R strains (b). Data are mean ± s.d. from three biological replicates. d, Measurement of low-GTP cells in the bacterial population. The PlowGTP reporter is activated when cellular GTP levels are low. Flow cytometry analysis of the WT population containing the reporter (around 1.5 × 106 cells). A representative image of cells with low or high PlowGTP fluorescence is shown. Scale bar, 5 µm. e–j, The correlation between the growth rate (e,g,h,j), tolerance (e,f), persistence (h,i), population-averaged PlowGTP signals (j) and frequency of low-GTP cells (f,g,i; high PlowGTP fluorescence cells) in WT cells under different growth conditions. WT cells containing the PlowGTP reporter were grown in minimal medium with different carbon sources. Circles denote glucose; upright triangles denote pyruvate; crosses denote glycerol; inverted triangles denote succinate; and squares denote glutamate. Populations were measured for their growth rate, PlowGTP fluorescence and levels of high PlowGTP fluorescence cells using flow cytometry (around 1.5 × 106 cells), and their tolerance and persistence were determined on the basis of vancomycin-survival curves as shown in Extended Data Fig. 5. Each value represents a single replicate. Three replicates for each condition are shown. r represents the Pearson correlation coefficient. P values were calculated using two-tailed Pearson correlation tests. Est., estimated.
To test whether GTP depletion mediates antibiotic persistence even in the absence of (p)ppGpp induction, we used our previously published strain with inducible downregulated expression of the guanine nucleotide synthesis gene guaB35 (guaBDown), lowering GTP without inducing (p)ppGpp (Supplementary Fig. 8). We observed an increase in persistence by about tenfold (Fig. 2b), indicating that GTP depletion is sufficient to generate persisters. Moreover, we performed a non-biased transposon-insertion-sequencing (Tn-seq) analysis in B. subtilis to identify genes of which the disruption increased cell survival after prolonged antibiotic treatment (Extended Data Fig. 3). The strongest hits mapped to 12 de novo purine biosynthesis genes in the pur operon and guaA, encoding GMP synthetase (Extended Data Fig. 3b,c and Supplementary Tables 8 and 9). We verified that disruption of the pur operon or guaA reduces purine levels, including GTP (Extended Data Fig. 3d), and the corresponding kill curves confirmed increased antibiotic persistence (Fig. 2b,c and Extended Data Fig. 3e). We next wanted to determine whether reducing GTP in the complete absence of (p)ppGpp can still promote persistence. Using a genetic screen, we identified a mutation in gmk (encoding guanylate kinase; Methods) that reduces the GTP levels of the (p)ppGpp0 strain back to the wild-type level (Extended Data Fig. 4). This mutant (hereafter, (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R) restored persistence back to wild-type levels (Fig. 2b,c and Extended Data Fig. 4), confirming that GTP depletion is sufficient for antibiotic persistence.
In addition to increased persistence, we also noted a modest increase in antibiotic tolerance in the GTP-synthesis mutants (Supplementary Fig. 5), consistent with our previous findings that GTP depletion leads to slower growth35. Slower growth has been shown to contribute to antibiotic tolerance11,36. This raises questions of whether increased antibiotic persistence is simply a consequence of slow growth, and whether it is always correlated with tolerance.
Genetic screens in B. subtilis have identified slow-growing mutants, some of which deplete GTP while others do not. We tested a couple of slow-growing mutants that do not rely on GTP depletion. Notably, although these mutants exhibited increased tolerance, they do not show an increase in persistence; in fact, some showed decreased persistence (Fig. 2c). This suggests that, although tolerance and persistence are correlated in certain mutants or conditions11, they can be genetically uncoupled.
To further distinguish between tolerance and persistence, we grew wild-type cells in different carbon sources, measuring their growth rates and antibiotic killing dynamics (Extended Data Fig. 5a,b). Our results revealed a strong correlation between slower growth rates and increased tolerance (Fig. 2e), but no significant correlation between growth rates and persistence (Fig. 2h). This demonstrates that, although tolerance and persistence can share overlapping characteristics, they represent distinct biological phenomena that can be independently regulated.
Our findings, while unexpected, are explainable: although both slow growth and antibiotic tolerance are population-level phenomena, persistence reflects the behaviour of a phenotypically heterogeneous subpopulation of cells functioning as outliers. To differentiate population-based tolerance from the phenotypically heterogeneous subpopulation of persisters, it is critical to measure GTP levels in single cells.
To achieve this, we constructed a fluorescent reporter for GTP levels in single cells. Building on our previous result that the ilvB gene is induced by approximately 20-fold after GTP depletion through the CodY repressor—which uses GTP as a co-repressor37,38—we cloned the CodY operator from ilvB to control fluorescent protein expression ectopically (Extended Data Fig. 6a). This reporter, termed PlowGTP (Fig. 2d), is fully repressed in (p)ppGpp0 cells, with fluorescence indistinguishable from background autofluorescence (Extended Data Fig. 6b). In (p)ppGpp+ cells, the reporter displays a dose-dependent increase in fluorescence across a physiological range of (p)ppGpp induction and GTP depletion (Extended Data Fig. 6c-d). This response to amino acid or ATP starvation is abolished in (p)ppGpp0 mutants (Supplementary Fig. 9). Moreover, neither the PlowGTP reporter nor the CodY regulator interferes with antibiotic survival (Supplementary Fig. 10). The PlowGTP reporter activity is inversely related to the ribosomal P1 promoter activity (Supplementary Fig. 11), which is activated by GTP35. Although increased fluorescence could theoretically result from a failure to dilute the fluorescent protein during slow growth, our data show that PlowGTP fluorescence responds to changes in GTP levels rather than slow growth (Supplementary Fig. 12).
After calibrating the PlowGTP reporter in the bulk population, we examined whether it reflects GTP levels in individual cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) of cells with high PlowGTP fluorescence, followed by analysis using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC–MS), confirmed that the bright cells had notably lower GTP levels (Supplementary Fig. 13). This demonstrates that the reporter accurately reflects GTP levels at both the population and single-cell levels. Together, these results confirm that our reporter reliably tracks GTP depletion rather than slow growth, enabling us to distinguish between slow-growing tolerant cells and GTP-depleted persister subpopulations.
Using this reporter, we examined GTP distributions in single cells using flow cytometry (Fig. 2d and Supplementary Fig. 14). Most cells are dark during growth in rich medium, consistent with bulk measurements (Extended Data Fig. 6b). However, we identified a heavy-tailed subpopulation of rare, bright cells that depended on the presence of the reporter (Fig. 2d and Supplementary Fig. 14b), indicating substantial GTP depletion. This subpopulation was absent in (p)ppGpp0 cells but reappeared in (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R cells with rescued persistence (Supplementary Fig. 14c).
The fractions of bright, low-GTP cells varied when cells were grown in medium with different carbon sources (Extended Data Fig. 5c,d). Notably, the fraction of low-GTP cells was strongly correlated with the fraction of persisters, measured using kill curves (Fig. 2i and Extended Data Fig. 7a,b; 5 h survivors), but was not correlated with the growth rate (Fig. 2g,h,j) or antibiotic tolerance (Fig. 2f and Extended Data Fig. 5d). These results distinguish persistence from tolerance, demonstrating that persistence under various growth conditions is driven by the fraction of low-GTP outliers, not by the population's average growth rate.
Despite the strong correlation between persisters and low-GTP cells, it is essential to determine whether these two subpopulations were indeed the same. To explore this, we used two methods. First, we used FACS to sort exponentially growing wild-type cells containing the PlowGTP reporter (Fig. 3a). FACS-isolated cells with high PlowGTP fluorescence (top 0.1%) were immediately treated with vancomycin. After 5 h of treatment and subsequent antibiotic removal, cells were plated. Around 80% of the sorted low-GTP cells formed colonies compared with only about 0.1% survival in the low-fluorescence population (Fig. 3b). This demonstrates that nearly all low-GTP cells are antibiotic-refractory persisters capable of regrowth after antibiotic removal. We confirmed that this persistence was specifically dependent on PlowGTP, using a differentially labelled Pveg control that measured the effect of protein dilution (Supplementary Fig. 15a), or through fluorescent protein swapping (Supplementary Fig. 15b).
a, Schematic of the FACS sorting and antibiotic survival assay using the PlowGTP reporter. The bacterial population containing the reporter was sorted based on PlowGTP fluorescence and was immediately treated with antibiotic. Survival was measured by serial dilution and plating followed by colony counting. b, WT cells containing the PlowGTP–GFP (green fluorescent protein) reporter were FACS-sorted into low or high PlowGTP fluorescence fractions. Approximately 1 × 106 cells were sorted per sample per replicate. The fractions were treated with vancomycin and measured for survival over time. Data are mean ± s.d. from three biological replicates. c, Representative time-lapse micrograph from three biological replicates of WT cells containing the PlowGTP reporter in response to antibiotic treatment. Exponentially growing WT cells containing the reporter were patched onto agarose pads made with growth medium. High PlowGTP fluorescence cells were identified (arrow) and monitored for antibiotic survival using carbenicillin and Sytox Blue staining (cyan) for viability. The numbers indicate time in minutes. Scale bar, 10 µm. d, The survival of low-GTP cells in biofilm. Representative time-lapse micrograph of WT cells containing both PlowGTP (for low GTP, green) and PrrnBP1 (for high GTP, yellow) reporters were grown into colony biofilm and then treated with vancomycin for 6 h. Scale bar, 50 µm. The bar graphs indicate changes in the high-GTP and low-GTP populations before and after treatment. Data are mean ± s.d. of four biological replicates. P values were calculated using unpaired two-tailed t-tests. e, Representative single-cell dynamic trace of persister formation. A total of around 30,000 cell growth and division events was recorded to reveal about 10 persistence entrance events. The numbers indicate time in minutes. Scale bar, 10 µm. The arrows indicate a cell with increased PlowGTP fluorescence followed by growth attenuation. f, Quantified changes in cell length (left) versus PlowGTP fluorescence (right) from the single trace in e. The dotted lines indicate persistence entrance. g, Summary data of the specific growth rate and reporter fluorescence from about 100 independent single-cell traces, similar to e (ten entrance traces). The solid lines indicate the nonlinear regression model fitted to the data.
In addition to FACS sorting, we used time-lapse microscopy to monitor cell fate during antibiotic treatment. We found that only bright cells were non-growing before antibiotic treatment and remained viable during the treatment, while the rest of the cells, which elongated and divided, were rapidly killed (Fig. 3c and Supplementary Video 1).
To further investigate persisters in biofilms, where they are commonly found39, we developed a microfluidic biofilm system with confocal microscopy (Supplementary Fig. 16). Using dual-labelled cells (PrrnBP1 and PlowGTP), we identified a mixture of persisters and growing cells in microfluidic biofilms (Fig. 3d). After prolonged (6 h) antibiotic treatment, the low-GTP cells survived within the biofilm (Fig. 3d), confirming that the majority of persisters in biofilms are low-GTP cells.
After confirming that PlowGTP-bright cells are persisters, we investigated how these persisters form before antibiotic treatment. Our goal was to observe how rare, spontaneous persisters emerge from actively growing wild-type cells, and to examine how this process relates to GTP levels. We seeded highly diluted, growing cells onto solid growth medium and monitored around 30,000 growth and division events (Supplementary Fig. 17a,b). From this, we identified ten cells that entered a persister state before reaching a high cell density (Fig. 3e, Supplementary Fig. 17c–k and Supplementary Video 2). We retrospectively analysed the dynamics of their transition into persistence by quantifying their growth, division and GTP reporter activity. This revealed distinct, switch-like behaviours at the single-cell level (Fig. 3f and Supplementary Fig. 17c–k). Initially, each pre-persister cell maintained the same elongation rate as actively growing cells, while its PlowGTP fluorescence gradually increased, often over more than one cell division (Supplementary Fig. 17c–k). This was followed by a sudden stop in elongation, marking entry into dormancy when the PlowGTP fluorescence reached a threshold (Fig. 3f and Extended Data Fig. 8a–i). In all cases, the reporter fluorescence increased before growth inhibition occurred (Fig. 3f and Extended Data Fig. 8a–i), indicating that GTP depletion triggers growth inhibition rather than resulting from it.
The fluorescence thresholds were highly consistent across different persister entry events (Fig. 3g), suggesting that the switch to persistence is activated when intracellular GTP levels fall to a specific threshold. This threshold aligns with values seen in our microscopy and flow cytometry experiments, corresponding to an estimated GTP concentration of around 0.1–0.2 mM (ref. 40). This range is comparable to what is observed in wild-type cells experiencing strong (p)ppGpp accumulation (Extended Data Fig. 6c,d), where most cells became starvation-triggered persisters.
While GTP depletion leads to persistence, we next examined the role of (p)ppGpp in persister dynamics. Notably, the (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R mutant, which has GTP levels similar to wild-type cells but lacks (p)ppGpp (Fig. 2c), can still form spontaneous persisters (Fig. 3f, Extended Data Fig. 8j–l, Supplementary Fig. 17l–n and Supplementary Video 3). However, these mutants do not exhibit the switch-like dynamics characteristic of persister entry in wild-type cells. Instead, their entry into dormancy is gradual, with elongation slowing as reporter activity increases (Fig. 3f). Moreover, in these mutants, GTP levels and growth rates show a linear relationship (Fig. 3g), contrasting with the switch-like relationship seen in wild-type cells. Thus, (p)ppGpp promotes GTP depletion, enabling the rapid switch-like entry into persistence observed in wild-type cells.
Finally, we used our established system to investigate the poorly understood phenomenon of antibiotic-induced persistence1. We found that PlowGTP fluorescence increased in cells exposed to lethal concentrations of cell wall antibiotics, including carbenicillin, vancomycin and bacitracin (Fig. 4a and Extended Data Fig. 9a). While most cells were killed by irreversible damage, a few PlowGTP-bright cells survived and resumed growth after the antibiotics were removed (Extended Data Fig. 9b,c and Supplementary Video 4). LC–MS analysis revealed that exposure to both lethal and sublethal doses of bacitracin led to the accumulation of alarmones, such as ppGpp and ppApp, and a decrease in GTP levels (Fig. 4b–d). These results suggest that cell wall antibiotic treatment induces alarmone production and depletes GTP. Using mutants of (p)ppGpp synthetases, we found that a single alarmone synthetase, SasA21, is responsible for (p)ppGpp accumulation and GTP depletion during cell wall antibiotic treatment (Fig. 4e and Supplementary Figs. 18 and 19).
a, Cell wall antibiotics induce PlowGTP reporter fluorescence. WT cells containing the PlowGTP reporter were treated with 20× MIC ciprofloxacin (CIP), 4× MIC kanamycin (KAN), 200× MIC carbenicillin (CARB), 20× MIC vancomycin (VAN) or 3× MIC bacitracin (BAC) for 2 h. Fluorescence was measured using microscopy (>200 cells each, three biological replicates). b–d, The levels of ppGpp (b), ppApp (c) and GTP (d) in WT cells treated with sublethal or lethal concentrations of bacitracin for 0.5 h. Sublethal (SL), 0.5× MIC bacitracin; lethal (L), 3× MIC bacitracin. e,f, The levels of cell wall antibiotic-induced persisters in WT and (p)ppGpp mutants. e, Strains containing the PlowGTP reporter before and after 0.5× MIC bacitracin treatment for 0.5 h were measured for generation of low-GTP cells using flow cytometry (around 1 × 106 cells per sample per replicate, three replicates). The levels of induced low-GTP cells were determined by subtracting the levels in uninduced populations. f, The survival of WT or (p)ppGpp mutants pretreated with 0.5× MIC for 0.5 h, followed by lethal (3× MIC) bacitracin treatment for up to 5 h. The levels of induced persistence were determined by subtracting the survival of uninduced populations at 5 h. g, Survival curve of WT or ∆sasA cells pretreated with sublethal (0.5× MIC) bacitracin for 0.5 h, followed by lethal (3× MIC) bacitracin treatment for up to 5 h. For a–g, data are mean ± s.d. from three or more biological replicates. Statistical comparisons were performed between WT and mutant pairs or untreated and treated pairs using unpaired two-tailed t-tests. h, Model for persistence pathways mediated by (p)ppGpp-GTP antagonism. Starvation-triggered persistence (purple) is mediated primarily through the (p)ppGpp synthetase Rel. Spontaneous persistence is mediated through the activities of two (p)ppGpp synthetases, Rel and SasB (green). Persisters can also be induced by cell wall antibiotics through SasA (orange). Thus, (p)ppGpp enables integration of different signals to trigger persistence through GTP depletion.
To assess whether this alarmone response provides a protective effect, we measured persistence due to treatment with sublethal concentrations (below MIC) of bacitracin (Fig. 4f,g and Supplementary Fig. 20). While sublethal bacitracin did not impact cell viability, it did induce SasA expression41,42 (Supplementary Fig. 21). Notably, when followed by a lethal dose of bacitracin (3× MIC), cells pretreated with sublethal antibiotics showed approximately five times more persisters than non-pretreated cells, with minimal differences in tolerance (Fig. 4g). This survival mechanism, dependent on SasA but not on other alarmone synthetases (Fig. 4f), enables pre-exposed cells to better resist lethal antibiotic exposure. Thus, antibiotic-induced persistence may serve as an adaptive strategy, substantially enhancing cell survival against a later lethal antibiotic challenge.
Our data highlight the pivotal role of (p)ppGpp in persistence. We demonstrate that conditions triggering persistence10 also induce (p)ppGpp accumulation, that persistence depends on (p)ppGpp accumulation, and that three (p)ppGpp synthetases are differentially responsible for starvation-triggered, spontaneous and antibiotic-induced persistence (Fig. 4h). While (p)ppGpp senses environmental signals to initiate persistence, GTP antagonism functions as a critical effector, probably through coordinated suspension of multiple GTP-dependent processes such as protein translation and DNA synthesis, as well as potentiating competitive inhibition by (p)ppGpp (Extended Data Fig. 10). Our research also distinguishes persisters from tolerators, revealing that persisters arise through specific genetic pathways that generate individual cells with low GTP, independent of population-wide growth rates or bulk GTP levels.
Our results suggest a metabolic model for spontaneous persistence. Phenotypic switch into persistence can be mediated by competition between toxins and antitoxins in TA modules to provide a threshold-like mechanism3,12,43. Our findings suggest that cells can also use an alternative mechanism for the spontaneous entrance, through allosteric enzyme cooperativity and self-amplification of (p)ppGpp synthesis (Supplementary Fig. 22). This enables rapid amplification of a small signal, such as from noise in (p)ppGpp synthesis, to allow spontaneous persister formation in rare individual cells.
Our study also provides strong evidence for bactericidal antibiotic-induced persistence. While previous research suggested that antibiotics induce persistence through cellular damage15 and stress responses such as the SOS pathway44, our results show that antibiotics, particularly cell-wall-targeting ones, induce persistence through the accumulation of alarmones like (p)ppGpp, driven by SasA expression in response to cell envelope damage41,42,45. In the soil bacterium B. subtilis, the evolution of this regulation may be shaped by a fitness advantage from its habitat to enhance survival to diffusible antimicrobials from neighbouring microorganisms. For example, bacitracin, which we show to induce persistence, is a diffusible natural antibiotic produced by other soil Bacillus species46. Clinically, this model may explain why (p)ppGpp mutants in pathogens in the Bacillota phylum, such as Staphylococcus aureus, show reduced survival against cell-wall-targeting drugs47 and diminished clearance under combination antibiotic therapies48.
Finally, persistence may have a key role in the emergence of genetic resistance by expanding the reservoir of surviving bacteria during antibiotic treatment. Given that antibiotic overuse increases bacterial exposure to these drugs, driving the evolution of resistance49, targeting persister formation could improve treatment outcomes and help curb the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections.
A list of all of the bacterial strains, plasmids and oligonucleotides used in this study is provided in Supplementary Tables 1–4. LB and LB agar were used for cloning and maintenance of strains. For selection in B. subtilis, media were supplemented with the following antibiotics when required: spectinomycin (80 µg ml−1), chloramphenicol (5 µg ml−1), kanamycin (10 µg ml−1) and tetracycline (10 µg ml−1). The combination of lincomycin (12.5 µg ml−1) and erythromycin (0.5 µg ml−1) was used to select for macrolide–lincosamide–streptogramin (MLS) resistance. Carbenicillin (100 µg ml−1) was used for selection in E. coli.
B. subtilis (p)ppGpp biosynthesis mutants were constructed by transformations of integration plasmids containing an I-sceI endonuclease cut site and regions of homology upstream and downstream of specific synthetase genes (pJW300 for ∆sasB; pJW370 for sasBF42A; pJW306 for ∆sasA; and pJW371 for relD264G) followed by transformation of pSS4332 for marker-less recombination50. Successful recombination was verified by PCR. For the construction of the (p)ppGpp0 mutant, ∆sasA ∆sasB cells were transformed with ∆rel::mls PCR product from genomic DNA using the oligos oJW902 and oJW903 followed by MLS resistance selection26. Construction of integration plasmid for sasBF42A was performed using site-directed mutagenesis of pJW370 by PCR using the oligos oJW2309 and oJW2310.
The (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R mutant was obtained from isolating suppressor mutants from (p)ppGpp0 cells by plating on S7 minimal medium plates containing 1% glucose. The surviving colonies were plated on S7 minimal medium plates containing 0.5% casamino acids and 0.5 mM 8-azaguanine, or S7 minimal medium plates containing 0.5% casamino acids and 0.1 mM guanosine26 to differentiate between mutants with mutations in hprT or gmk. Colonies that can grow on guanosine but not 8-azaguanine were sequenced to identify the mutant gmk allele. Whole-genome sequencing was performed to confirm that gmkQ110R is the only mutation in the strain.
The guaBdown mutant in the (p)ppGpp+ background was constructed by transformation of pJW30526, which replaces the chromosomal copy of guaB with an isopropyl-β-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible copy of guaB (Pspac-guaB). This enables controllable guaB expression using IPTG during strain construction and growth to avoid generation of suppressors.
B. subtilis deletion mutants were constructed by serial transformation of PCR products from the B. subtilis knockout collection (BGSC, Gross laboratory)51. Where required, the lox-site-flanked ermR or kanR cassette was removed using pDR244-cre followed by selection for the loss of MLS or Kan resistance.
Construction of PlowGTP fluorescence reporters was done by fusion of PCR products containing the PlowGTP promoter (primers oJW1935 and oJW1936) with coding regions of fluorescence proteins (primers oJW1995 and oJW1996 (for GFP) or oJW2805 and oJW2806 (for mCherry)) using ligase cycling reaction (LCR)52. The promoter–fluorescence protein gene fusions were cloned into the pDR110 backbone flanked by amyE without the Pspank promoter for subsequent transformation.
For the construction of the PrrnBP1-GFPns (unstable GFP sequence described previously53) reporter, DNA fragments of PrrnBP1 (primers oJW2083 and oJW2084), GFPns (primers oJW1995 and oJW2020), the flanking regions of lacA (primers oJW1990 and oJW2414, and oJW2413 and oJW2082) and lox-site-flanked ermR cassette (primers oJW2133 and oJW2134) were amplified by PCR using synthetic oligonucleotides or genome DNA. The resulting PCR products were fused by LCR followed by amplification using PCR to generate the linear recombination fragment of lacA::PrrnBP1-GFPns-lox-ermR-lox for transformation.
For the construction of PsasA-mCh reporter, DNA fragments of PsasA (primers oJW3099 and oJW3079), mCh (primers oJW2805 and oJW2806), the flanking regions of lacA (primers oJW1990 and oJW2414, and oJW2413 and oJW2082) and lox-site-flanked ermR cassette (primers oJW2133/oJW2134) were amplified by PCR using synthetic oligonucleotides or genome DNA. The resulting PCR products were fused by LCR followed by amplification using PCR to generate the linear recombination fragment of lacA::PsasA-mCh-lox-ermR-lox for transformation.
For the construction of Pveg-GFP reporter, DNA fragments of Pveg (primers oJW3928 and oJW2806), GFP (primers oJW1995 and oJW1996), the flanking regions of lacA (primers oJW1990 and oJW2414, and oJW2413 and oJW2082) and lox-site-flanked ermR cassette (primers oJW2133 and oJW2134) were amplified by PCR using synthetic oligonucleotides or genome DNA. The resulting PCR products were fused by LCR followed by amplification using PCR to generate the linear recombination fragment of lacA:: Pveg-GFP-lox-ermR-lox for transformation.
Removal of the lox-site flanked ermR cassette was done by transformation with pDR244-cre and selecting for the loss of MLS resistance. All of the mutants and constructs were verified by DNA sequencing.
B. subtilis strains were grown in S7 defined medium54; MOPS was used at 50 mM rather than 100 mM, supplemented with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids. Growth of the YB886 strain background was supplemented with 20 µg ml−1 tryptophan and 50 µg ml−1 methionine. For growth in minimal medium, both glutamate and casamino acids were replaced with 200 µg ml−1 l-isoleucine, 200 µg ml−1 l-leucine and 200 µg ml−1 l-valine, and 1% carbon sources were used as indicated.
Routinely, cells from young colonies on overnight LB-agar plates at 37 °C (<12 h) were inoculated into growth medium and then grown at 37 °C with 250 rpm shaking. Cultures in logarithmic phase (optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of around 0.1–0.3) were treated with antibiotics or inducers, including arginine hydroxamate (RHX, 0.5 mg ml−1), carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP, 5 µM), sodium azide (NaN3, 4 mM) or arsenate (2.5 mM). IPTG was added to a final concentration of 0.5 mM to induce guaB expression from an IPTG-inducible promoter (Pspac), while depletion of guaB expression was done by omitting IPTG in the growth medium.
The following inducers and concentrations were used unless otherwise specified: RHX, 0.5 mg ml−1; CCCP, 5 μM; NaN3, 4 mM; arsenate, 2.5 mM; carbenicillin, 0.5 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 100 μg ml−1 (200× MIC); bacitracin, 64 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 384 μg ml−1 (3× MIC); ciprofloxacin, 0.1 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC); kanamycin, 0.625 μg ml−1 (0.3× MIC) or 8 μg ml−1 (8× MIC); vancomycin, 0.1 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC) along with the non-induction controls.
MICs for chloramphenicol, tetracycline, kanamycin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, rifampicin, bacitracin and vancomycin were determined using the microdilution method55. Logarithmic-phase cells were back-diluted to a final titre of around 5 × 105 colony-forming units (CFU) per ml into 96-well plates containing twofold serial dilutions of respective antibiotics in S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids. After incubation for 16–20 h at 37 °C with 250 rpm shaking, the MIC was determined as the lowest drug concentration that prevented visible growth.
For growth measurement, fresh colonies of B. subtilis strains on LB agar were resuspended into different growth media as specified and diluted to OD600 ≈ 0.005 in 96-well plates. Growth was monitored by OD600 at 37 °C under shaking in the Synergy2 microplate reader (BioTek). Doubling times were estimated by fitting the growth data to the exponential growth curve using a custom Python script.
To prepare exponentially growing B. subtilis populations, cells from young colonies on overnight LB-agar plates at 37 °C (<12 h) were inoculated into S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids, and grown to OD600 ≈ 0.1–0.3 at 37 °C, 250 rpm. For growth in minimal medium, both glutamate and casamino acids were replaced with 200 µg ml−1 l-isoleucine, 200 µg ml−1 l-leucine and 200 µg ml−1 l-valine, and 1% carbon sources were used as indicated. Treatments with bactericidal antibiotics were performed at the following concentrations: ciprofloxacin, 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC); vancomycin, 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC); kanamycin, 8 μg ml−1 (8× MIC); and bacitracin, 384 μg ml−1 (3× MIC). To determine cell viability, culture aliquots were taken at T = 0 and at designated times after treatment, serially diluted and plated onto LB agar. Plates were incubated at 37 °C overnight. The viability at different timepoints, determined as the CFU per ml and relative survival (versus T0), was calculated.
For experiments involving pre-induction of cells with (p)ppGpp-inducing agents, cells were grown to OD600 ≈ 0.1 and divided into two cultures: one containing the inducing agent (RHX, 0.5 mg ml−1; bacitracin, 64 μg ml−1; CCCP, 5 μM; NaN3, 4 mM; arsenate, 12.5 mM) and other as a non-induction control. The cultures were grown for an additional 30 min under the same conditions (T = 0.5 h) and subjected to the persister assay, as described above.
In the case of measuring spontaneous persistence, we defined spontaneous persisters as those that are generated during growth in a non-stressed condition1,3. To achieve this, early-exponentially growing cultures were 1:100 back-diluted into fresh medium and regrown to exponential phase (OD600 ≈ 0.1–0.3) for one or two rounds followed by antibiotic treatment1.
For the estimation of population tolerance, we used the MDK99 (ref. 1). To exclude the contribution of persisters to population tolerance, we determined the level of persisters in the biphasic killing curve and subtracted this subpopulation from the bulk population. The MDK99 of the population was estimated from the logarithmic killing phase in the killing curve.
To measure intracellular nucleotides, cells were first collected from overnight plates, back-diluted to OD600 = 0.005 and grown in low-phosphate (0.1× phosphate, 0.5 mM) S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids. Once cultures reached OD600 ≈ 0.05, 1 ml cells was labelled with 50 µCi of 32P orthophosphate (900 mCi mmol−1; Perkin Elmer) for 2–3 generations before treatment or sampling. At OD600 ≈ 0.15, RHX, CCCP or arsenate were added to the cultures and the samples were collected at regular timepoints for nucleotide extraction. Nucleotides were extracted by incubating 100 µl cells with 20 µl of 2 M formic acid on ice for at least 20 min. The samples were spotted onto PEI cellulose TLC plates (Millipore, 1055790001) and resolved in 1.5 M or 0.85 M potassium phosphate monobasic (KH2PO4, pH 3.4) buffer to separate (p)ppGpp or GTP, respectively. TLC plates were exposed on storage phosphor screens (GE Healthcare) and scanned on the Typhoon imager (GE Healthcare).
LC–MS quantification of nucleotides was performed as described previously21. Cells were grown in S750 medium supplemented with 20 amino acids21 to OD600 ≈ 0.3 at 37 °C, 250 rpm before collection. Then, 25 ml of cultures was sampled and filtered through PTFE membrane (Sartorius, 14555419). For experiments involving bacitracin induction, cells were collected before and after 0.25× MIC (sublethal) or 1.25× MIC (lethal) bacitracin treatment for 30 min. Membranes with cell pellets were submerged in 3 ml extraction solvent mix (on ice 50:50 (v/v), chloroform:water) to quench metabolism, lyse the cells and extract metabolites. Mixtures of cell extracts were centrifuged at 5,000g for 10 min to remove organic phase and then centrifuged at 20,000g for 10 min to remove cell debris. The samples were analysed using an HPLC–MS system, consisting of a Vanquish UHPLC system linked through electrospray ionization (ESI, negative mode) to the Q Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) operated in full-scan mode to detect targeted metabolites based on their accurate masses. LC was performed on the Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 × 100 mm; Waters). The total run time was 30 min with a flow rate of 0.2 ml min−1, using solvent A as denoted above and acetonitrile as solvent B. The gradient was as follows: 0 min, 5% solvent B; 2.5 min, 5% solvent B; 19 min, 100% solvent B; 23.5 min, 100% solvent B; 24 min, 5% solvent B; 30 min, 5% solvent B. Quantification of metabolites was performed using MAVEN software56 and normalized to the OD600 at the time of cell collection.
For LC–MS analysis of FACS-sorted cells, membranes with filtered cells (about 8 × 106 cells) were submerged in 1.5 ml extraction solvent mix (methanol:acetonitrile:H2O, 40:40:20) to quench metabolism, lyse the cells and extract metabolites. The cell extract was centrifuged at 21,000g for 10 min at 4 °C, and 1 ml of supernatant was then transferred to a new microcentrifuge tube and dried completely with the SpeedVac. Dried metabolites were then resuspended in 100 μl solvent A (97:3 (v/v) water:methanol, 10 mM tributylamine ~pH 8.2–8.5 adjusted with ~9 mM acetic acid). The samples were analysed using an HPLC-MS system consisting of a Vanquish UHPLC system linked through heated electrospray ionization (ESI, negative mode) to a hybrid quadrupole high-resolution mass spectrometer (Q-Exactive Orbitrap, Thermo Fisher Scientific) operated in full-scan selected ion monitoring (MS-SIM) mode to detect targeted metabolites on the basis of their accurate masses. MS parameters were set to a resolution of 140,000, an automatic gain control (AGC) of 3 × 106, a maximum injection time of 100 ms and a scan range of 400–1,000 m/z. Only ions with a retention time of 10–15 min were scanned by MS. LC was performed on the Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 × 100 mm; Waters). The total run time was 30 min with a flow rate of 0.2 ml min−1, using solvent A and 100% acetonitrile as solvent B. The gradient was as follows: 0 min, 5% B; 2.5 min, 5% B; 19 min, 100% B; 23.5 min, 100% B; 24 min, 5% B; and 30 min, 5% B. Raw output data from the MS was converted to mzXML format using custom software. Quantification of metabolites was performed using MAVEN software56 and normalized to an internal standard of six most represented nucleotides detected in the sample.
To monitor (p)ppGpp induction using fluorescence reporters, cells were grown to OD600 ≈ 0.1–0.3 followed by 30 min induction with the following inducers at concentrations listed below unless otherwise specified: RHX, 0.5 mg ml−1; CCCP, 5 μM; NaN3, 4 mM; arsenate, 2.5 mM; carbenicillin, 0.5 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 100 μg ml−1 (200× MIC); bacitracin, 64 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 384 μg ml−1 (3× MIC); ciprofloxacin, 0.1 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC); kanamycin, 0.625 μg ml−1 (0.3× MIC) or 8 μg ml−1 (4× MIC); vancomycin, 0.1 μg ml−1 (0.5× MIC) or 4 μg ml−1 (20× MIC), along with the non-induction controls.
All of the imaging samples were spotted onto 1.5% agarose pads made with the same growth medium, and immediately imaged on the Olympus IX-83 inverted microscope (Olympus) using a ×60 phase-contrast objective with fluorescence filters (excitation: 470/20 nm, dichroic mirror: 485 nm, emission: 515/50 nm for GFP; excitation: 575/20 nm, dichroic mirror: 595 nm, emission: 645/90 nm for mCherry or propidium iodide; and excitation: 427/10 nm, dichroic mirror: 595 nm, emission: 472/30 nm for Sytox Blue). Metamorph Advanced (v.7.8.3.0) (Molecular Devices) was used for microscopy data collection. Single-cell time-lapse imaging was performed at 15 min intervals for each field at 37 °C using a temperature-controlled imaging chamber (Tokai Hit) coupled to an automatic stage and the microscope control as described previously57. The measurement was generally over the course from the birth of the cell until the time lapse stopped owing to crowding of the microcolony or, in rare cases, severe drifting of focus. When comparing phenotypes between strains, both strains were imaged in parallel on the same imaging dish using the same microscope with same settings. For imaging persister survival in time-lapse experiments, final concentrations of 5 μg ml−1 carbenicillin (10× MIC) and 200 nM Sytox Blue or propidium iodide (Molecular Probes) were applied to the agarose pads at designated times. To remove carbenicillin after treatment, 5 U ml−1 final concentration of penicillinase (Sigma-Aldrich, P0389) was applied. Strains without the fluorescence reporters were used for autofluorescence measurement.
B. subtilis biofilms were grown on a custom microfluidic device fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane. The device contains a central chamber connected to inlet and outlet media channels, allowing for constant medium flow through the central chamber. A semipermeable dialysis membrane was fixed on top of the central chamber to provide a platform for biofilm growth. This setup allows diffusion of nutrients or small molecules from the medium flow underneath to support biofilm growth on the membrane and allows subsequent treatment with antibiotics. To grow B. subtilis biofilms, 1 µl of early exponential phase culture (OD600 ≈ 0.05) was applied onto the membrane and grown at room temperature (25 °C) for 24 h under a constant flow of S750 medium supplemented with 0.5% glutamate and 0.5% glycerol.
Imaging of biofilms was performed with the IXplore SpinSR confocal imaging microscope (Olympus) using a ×20 phase-contrast objective with fluorescence filters (488 nm laser with 510–550 nm emission filter for GFP; 561 nm laser with 575–625 nm emission filter for mCherry). Biofilms at 24 h after inoculation were imaged before and after switching to the same growth medium containing 4 µg ml−1 vancomycin. In total, 51 stacks at 1 µm intervals were taken for each timepoint. Images were projected along the z axis from the top of the biofilm using maximum-intensity projection using cellSense Dimension v.2.2 (Olympus). For quantitation of reporter signals within the biofilm, we sampled around four random regions within the centre of the biofilm and measured their GFP and mCherry intensities. The background fluorescence was measured from regions without biofilm and used for background subtraction.
Flow cytometry was performed at the UWCCC flow cytometry core. To prepare samples for flow cytometry, cells from young colonies on overnight LB-agar plates at 37 °C (<12 h) were inoculated into and grown in S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids to OD600 ≈ 0.1–0.3 at 37 °C, 250 rpm. For growth in minimal medium, both glutamate and casamino acids were omitted and 1% carbon sources were used as indicated. Cells were immediately fixed with 0.4% paraformaldehyde for 15 min at room temperature, washed three times with 1× PBS and kept at 4 °C until analysis. Fixation was verified by viability plating and microscopy. Flow cytometry analysis was performed using the BD LSRFortessa flow cytometer (BD Biosciences) with a 70 µm nozzle. BD FACSDiva v.8.0.2 was used for data collection. Cell populations were detected using both forward and side scatter (FSC and SSC). Single-cell fluorescence was measured using the 488 nm laser and detection filters for GFP (530/30 nm, 505LP dichroic filter). Autofluorescence was measured by analysing parental strains without the fluorescence reporter and subtracted from the raw reporter fluorescence. Approximately 1.5 million events were measured for each sample. For the determination of antibiotic-induced persistence, the frequency of low-GTP cells after antibiotic induction was subtracted from the frequencies before induction.
FACS was performed at the UWCCC flow cytometry core. To prepare samples for cell sorting, cells were collected from young colonies on overnight LB-agar plates at 37 °C (<12 h) and grown in S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids to OD600 ≈ 0.3 at 37 °C, 250 rpm. FACS analysis was performed using the BD FACSAria cell sorter (BD Biosciences) with a 70 µm nozzle at room temperature using the 488 nm laser and 530/30 nm detection filters for GFP, and the 561 nm laser and 610/20 nm detection filters for mCherry. BD FACSDiva v.8.0.2 was used for data collection. Autofluorescent cells were eliminated by gating using an isogenic strain without the fluorescent reporters. At least 1,000 cells were obtained from the rarest gate for each sample. Cell recovery rate was estimated to be >90% based on viability counting on LB plates. For antibiotic treatment, cells were directly sorted into tubes containing 4× MIC of vancomycin followed by shaking at 37 °C. Aliquots were taken at different times for serial dilution and plating to measure survival by colony counting. The number of cells before treatment (T0) was measured using the cell sorter.
For FACS-sorting of cells for LC–MS analysis, cells containing the PlowGTP reporter were grown in S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids to either exponential (OD600 ≈ 0.2) or stationary (OD600 ≈ 4.0) phase. Both populations were mixed at a 10:1 ratio, and immediately FACS-sorted into low-fluorescence or high-fluorescence fractions. Autofluorescent cells were eliminated by gating using an isogenic strain without the fluorescent reporters. Approximately 8 × 106 cells were sorted and filtered on the PTFE membrane (Sartorius, 14555419) to remove the sheath fluid. Membranes with filtered cells were then subjected to metabolite extraction and LC–MS analysis. CFU count analysis was performed from a small aliquot of the sorted fractions to account for potential variations in the number of cells sorted between fractions.
The B. subtilis 168 transposon mutant library was provided by the Grossman laboratory58. Construction of the library was performed as follows. In brief, in vitro transposition of B. subtilis 168 genomic DNA (gDNA) with magellen6x transposon was performed by mixing 1.3 µg pCJ41 (containing magellen6x transposon), 34 ng purified MarC9 transposase, 5 µg B. subtilis gDNA, 10 µl 2× buffer A (41 mM HEPES pH 7.9, 19% glycerol, 187 mM NaCl, 19 mM MgCl2, 476 µg ml−1 BSA and 3.8 mM DTT) into a 20 µl reaction in vitro and incubated overnight at 30 °C. The transposed DNA was precipitated and resuspended in 2 µl 10× buffer B (500 mM Tris-Cl pH 7.8, 100 mM MgCl2, 10 mM DTT), 2 µl 1 mg ml−1 BSA and 11 µl H2O followed by 4 h incubation at 37 °C. After incubation, 4 µl of 2.5 mM dNTPs and 1 µl of 3U µl−1 T4 DNA polymerase were added to the DNA and further incubated for 20 min at 12 °C, followed by heat-inactivation at 75 °C for 15 min. Next, 0.2 µl 2.6 mM NAD and 1 µl of 10 U µl−1 E. coli DNA ligase were added and the reaction was incubated overnight at 16 °C. The resulting in vitro transposed and repaired gDNA was transformed into B. subtilis 168 and plated onto LB agar containing spectinomycin and incubated overnight. Colonies containing the transposon were washed off and pooled into a single library. The library was estimated to contain around 50,000 unique transposon inserts across the genome.
For the selection experiment with the transposon library, an aliquot of the library was inoculated and grown in S750 medium with 0.1% glutamate, 1% glucose and 0.5% casamino acids supplemented with tryptophan (20 µg ml−1) at 37 °C, 250 rpm. At OD600 ≈ 0.1–0.3, the cultures were treated with 20× MIC vancomycin or ciprofloxacin. Cultures before and after antibiotic treatment were plated onto LB plates and recovered after incubation for around 14 h at 37 °C. Around 650,000 colonies from each sample were pooled and snap-frozen for gDNA extraction and sequencing library preparation.
Preparation of the sequencing library was performed as previously described59. Frozen cell pellets were resuspended in 500 µl lysis buffer with lysozyme and RNase A (20 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, 50 mM EDTA, 100 mM NaCl, 2 mg ml−1 lysozyme, 120 µg ml−1 RNase A) and incubated at 37 °C for 20–30 min. Next, the incubated cell lysate was mixed with 60 µl 10% N-lauroylsarkosine and further incubated at 37 °C for 15 min. gDNA was purified using 600 μl phenol, then 600 µl phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) and finally 600 µl pure chloroform. DNA in the aqueous phase was precipitated using 1/10 volumes of 3 M NaOAc and 2 volumes of 100% ethanol. The DNA pellet was washed with 70% ethanol, air-dried on the bench and resuspended in 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.5 and stored at 4 °C. For each sample, 6 µg of DNA was used for MmeI digestion in 200 µl (6 µg gDNA, 6 µl MmeI (2,000 U ml−1, NEB), 0.5 µl 32 mM S-adenosylmethionine, 20 µl NEB CutSmart Buffer and double-distilled H2O up to 200 µl). DNA was digested for 2.5 h at 37 °C, after which 2 µl calf intestinal phosphatase (10,000 U ml−1, NEB) was added to the digest and the sample was incubated for 1 h at 37 °C. Digested gDNA was extracted with 200 µl phenol:chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (25:24:1) followed by 200 µl of pure chloroform. DNA in the aqueous phase was first mixed with 1/10 volume of 3 M NaOAc and 67 ng ml−1 glycogen, and then 2.5 volumes of 100% ethanol. The tubes were then placed at −80 °C for 20 min and then centrifuged at maximum speed for 15 min at 4 °C. Precipitated DNA was washed with 150 µl 70% ethanol twice at room temperature, air-dried and resuspended in 15 µl of double-distilled H2O.
For annealing of the DNA adaptor, 20 µl of 100 µM synthesized oligos (IDT) were mixed with 1 µl of 41 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0 (final concentration of adaptor, 50 µM in 1 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0). Oligos were annealed by heat denaturation (95 °C for 5 min) and stepwise cool-down (94 °C for 45 s then repeat with −0.3 °C per cycle for 250 cycles, then hold at 15 °C) using a PCR machine. Annealed adaptors were diluted to 3.3 µM in double-distilled H2O and stored at −20 °C.
For adaptor ligation, 5 µl of digested DNA was mixed with 1 µl of 3.3 µM DNA adaptor, 1 µl of 10× T4 DNA ligase buffer (NEB), 1 µl of T4 DNA ligase (400,000 U ml−1, NEB) and 2 µl double-distilled H2O. The ligation mix was incubated overnight at 16 °C in a PCR machine.
Amplification of the adaptor-ligated DNA library was performed using barcoded primers and Phusion high-fidelity DNA polymerase (NEB) for 18 cycles according to the provided instructions. The PCR products were mixed in equal amounts, purified by size exclusion and submitted for sequencing using the Illumina sequencing primer (5′-ACACTCTTTCCCTACACGACGCTCTTCCGATCT-3′). Deep sequencing was performed on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 (Illumina) system by the University of Michigan DNA Sequencing Core. Analysis of sequencing data was performed using a custom Python script and mapped to the B. subtilis 168 reference genome (NCBI: NC_000964.3). Visual inspection of transposon insertion profiles was done using GenomeBrowse (Golden Helix).
The plasmid for Rel purification was constructed as follows. The B. subtilis rel coding sequence was PCR amplified from NCIB3610 genomic DNA using the primers oJW3196 and oJW3197. The pE-SUMO expression vector was amplified using the primers oJW3194 and oJW3195. The PCR products were assembled to generate pJW753 by Golden Gate assembly (New England BioLabs). Plasmids were verified by DNA sequencing.
To express His6–SUMO–Rel, fresh transformants of E. coli BL21 carrying pE-SUMO-rel were grown in LB at 37 °C to OD600 ≈ 0.5, followed by 1:50 dilution into Terrific Broth and grown at 30 °C until OD600 ≈ 1.5. His6–SUMO–Rel expression was induced with 1 mM IPTG for 4 h at 30 °C. Cells were pelleted and stored at −80 °C until use. Frozen cell pellets were thawed on ice, resuspended in ice-cold lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8, 1 M NaCl, 10 mM imidazole, DNase and cOmplete protease inhibitor (Roche)), and lysed using a French press at 4 °C. The cell lysate was centrifuged at 4 °C, 16,000g for 30 min to obtain the supernatant. The filtered supernatant was injected into the ӒKTA FPLC system (GE Healthcare) and passed through the HisTrap FF column (GE Healthcare). His6–SUMO–Rel was eluted with a gradient of buffer A (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8, 1 M NaCl, 5% glycerol, 10 mM imidazole) and buffer C (50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8, 1 M NaCl, 5% glycerol, 500 mM imidazole). The fractions containing the protein were pooled with 300 µl SUMO protease into Spectra/Por dialysis tubing (Spectrum), and dialysed into 50 mM Tris-HCl, 1 M NaCl, 1 mM β-mercaptoethanol and 5% glycerol overnight. Rel without the His6–SUMO tag was passed through the HisTrap FF column and then purified by size exclusion using the Superose 12 10/300 GL column (GE Healthcare) with the ӒKTA FPLC system. The fractions containing the Rel protein were pooled and measured for its concentration using the Bradford Assay (Bio-Rad). Aliquots were snap-frozen using liquid nitrogen and stored at −80 °C.
In vitro pppGpp synthesis by Rel was monitored by measuring synthesis of radiolabelled pppGpp over time. The reaction contained 236 nM B. subtilis Rel, 0.05 µM [α32P]GTP, 1 mM ATP, 50 mM NaCl and 10 mM ATP in 20 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5, with or without 10 µM non-radioactive pppGpp. The reaction lacked manganese to avoid a potential effect of pppGpp hydrolysis. The reaction was initiated by the addition of ATP and incubated at 37 °C. At the indicated times, 10 µl of the reaction was mixed with 2 µl of 2 M formic acid and chilled on ice for 20 min to quench the reaction. Then, 1 µl samples were spotted onto PEI cellulose TLC plates (Millipore, 1055790001) and resolved in 1.5 M potassium phosphate monobasic (KH2PO4, pH 3.4) buffer to separate pppGpp. TLC plates were dried and exposed on storage phosphor screens (GE Healthcare) and scanned on the Typhoon imager (GE Healthcare).
For TLC experiments, nucleotide spots were quantified using ImageQuant v.5.0 (Molecular Dynamics). The raw intensities were corrected to the number of phosphates in the corresponding nucleotide and normalized to OD600 or ATP level before treatment (ATPT=0) for comparison between samples. For in vitro pppGpp synthesis assays, changes in pppGpp levels were normalized to T = 0.
Microscopy image analysis and cell parameters (cell area and fluorescence intensity) measurements were performed using Metamorph Advanced (v.7.8.3.0) (Molecular Devices). Background and autofluorescence were subtracted by comparing images obtained from identical strains without the fluorescence reporter. The single-cell specific growth rate (µ) at each frame was calculated using the equation \(\mu =\frac{1}{l}\frac{\Delta l}{\Delta t}\), where l is the cell length, Δl is the change in cell length and Δt is the change in time (in min). Flow-cytometry data were analysed using FlowJo X (FlowJo); an example gating strategy is shown in Supplementary Fig. 14a. Cells within a narrow range of cell sizes were gated, subgated to filter cell aggregates and then measured for their fluorescence distribution. Autofluorescence was measured using isogenic strains without the fluorescent reporters and subtracted from raw reporter signals. Gating for PlowGTP-high cells was set at fivefold or higher above mean population fluorescence. This cut-off agrees with our FACS sorting experiment in which cells with reporter fluorescence above this threshold are predominantly persisters. For the determination of antibiotic-induced persistence, the frequency of low-GTP cells after antibiotic induction was subtracted from the frequencies before induction.
Statistical information of individual experiments is included in the figure legends. n represents the number of biological replicates or number of cells for experiments involving single-cell measurements as indicated in the legends. Significance was tested using unpaired two-tailed t-test or as specified in the figure legend. Confidence intervals were calculated based on binomial distribution. Prism 7 (GraphPad) was used for statistical analysis.
Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.
Data generated in this study are included in the figures and Supplementary Information as much as possible. The sequencing data used for Tn-seq analysis are available at SRA under BioProject under accession number PRJNA1229644. Any other relevant data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.
Balaban, N. Q. et al. Definitions and guidelines for research on antibiotic persistence. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 17, 441–448 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bigger, J. Treatment of staphylococcal infections with penicillin by intermittent sterilisation. Lancet 244, 497–500 (1944).
Article
Google Scholar
Balaban, N. Q., Merrin, J., Chait, R., Kowalik, L. & Leibler, S. Bacterial persistence as a phenotypic switch. Science 305, 1622–1625 (2004).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Fung, D. K., Chan, E. W., Chin, M. L. & Chan, R. C. Delineation of a bacterial starvation stress response network which can mediate antibiotic tolerance development. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 54, 1082–1093 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kaspy, I. et al. HipA-mediated antibiotic persistence via phosphorylation of the glutamyl-tRNA-synthetase. Nat. Commun. 4, 3001 (2013).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Nguyen, D. et al. Active starvation responses mediate antibiotic tolerance in biofilms and nutrient-limited bacteria. Science 334, 982–986 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Korch, S. B., Henderson, T. A. & Hill, T. M. Characterization of the hipA7 allele of Escherichia coli and evidence that high persistence is governed by (p)ppGpp synthesis. Mol. Microbiol. 50, 1199–1213 (2003).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Helaine, S. et al. Internalization of Salmonella by macrophages induces formation of nonreplicating persisters. Science 343, 204–208 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Pacios, O. et al. (p)ppGpp and its role in bacterial persistence: new challenges. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 64, e01283-20 (2020).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Conlon, B. P. et al. Persister formation in Staphylococcus aureus is associated with ATP depletion. Nat. Microbiol. 1, 16051 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Pontes, M. H. & Groisman, E. A. Slow growth determines nonheritable antibiotic resistance in Salmonella enterica. Sci. Signal. 12, eaax3938 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rotem, E. et al. Regulation of phenotypic variability by a threshold-based mechanism underlies bacterial persistence. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 12541–12546 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Moyed, H. S. & Bertrand, K. P. hipA, a newly recognized gene of Escherichia coli K-12 that affects frequency of persistence after inhibition of murein synthesis. J. Bacteriol. 155, 768–775 (1983).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Harms, A., Fino, C., Sorensen, M. A., Semsey, S. & Gerdes, K. Prophages and growth dynamics confound experimental results with antibiotic-tolerant persister cells. mBio 8, e01964-17 (2017).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Johnson, P. J. & Levin, B. R. Pharmacodynamics, population dynamics, and the evolution of persistence in Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS Genet. 9, e1003123 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Westfall, C. et al. The widely used antimicrobial triclosan induces high levels of antibiotic tolerance in vitro and reduces antibiotic efficacy up to 100-fold in vivo. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 63, e02312-18 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
El-Halfawy, O. M. & Valvano, M. A. Antimicrobial heteroresistance: an emerging field in need of clarity. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 28, 191–207 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W., Fung, D. K. & Wang, J. D. Regulatory themes and variations by the stress-signaling nucleotide alarmones (p)ppGpp in bacteria. Annu. Rev. Genet. 55, 115–133 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Atkinson, G. C., Tenson, T. & Hauryliuk, V. The RelA/SpoT homolog (RSH) superfamily: distribution and functional evolution of ppGpp synthetases and hydrolases across the tree of life. PLoS ONE 6, e23479 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kwan, B. W., Valenta, J. A., Benedik, M. J. & Wood, T. K. Arrested protein synthesis increases persister-like cell formation. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 57, 1468–1473 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Fung, D. K., Yang, J., Stevenson, D. M., Amador-Noguez, D. & Wang, J. D. Small alarmone synthetase SasA expression leads to concomitant accumulation of pGpp, ppApp, and AppppA in Bacillus subtilis. Front. Microbiol. 11, 2083 (2020).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Roghanian, M. et al. (p)ppGpp controls stringent factors by exploiting antagonistic allosteric coupling between catalytic domains. Mol. Cell 81, 3310–3322 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Steinchen, W. et al. Catalytic mechanism and allosteric regulation of an oligomeric (p)ppGpp synthetase by an alarmone. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 13348–13353 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Potrykus, K. & Cashel, M. (p)ppGpp: still magical. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 62, 35–51 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W., Hao, A., Satyshur, K. A., Keck, J. L. & Wang, J. D. Molecular mechanism of regulation of the purine salvage enzyme XPRT by the alarmones pppGpp, ppGpp, and pGpp. J. Mol. Biol. 432, 4108–4126 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kriel, A. et al. Direct regulation of GTP homeostasis by (p)ppGpp: a critical component of viability and stress resistance. Mol. Cell 48, 231–241 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wang, B. et al. Affinity-based capture and identification of protein effectors of the growth regulator ppGpp. Nat. Chem. Biol. 15, 141–150 (2019).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Anderson, B. W. et al. The nucleotide messenger (p)ppGpp is an anti-inducer of the purine synthesis transcription regulator PurR in Bacillus. Nucleic Acids Res. 50, 847–866 (2021).
Article
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wang, J. D., Sanders, G. M. & Grossman, A. D. Nutritional control of elongation of DNA replication by (p)ppGpp. Cell 128, 865–875 (2007).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Giramma, C. N., DeFoer, M. B. & Wang, J. D. The alarmone (p)ppGpp regulates primer extension by bacterial primase. J. Mol. Biol. 433, 167189 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Corrigan, R. M., Bellows, L. E., Wood, A. & Gründling, A. ppGpp negatively impacts ribosome assembly affecting growth and antimicrobial tolerance in Gram-positive bacteria. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, E1710–E1719 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Yang, J. et al. The nucleotide pGpp acts as a third alarmone in Bacillus, with functions distinct from those of (p)ppGpp. Nat. Commun. 11, 5388 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Irving, S. E., Choudhury, N. R. & Corrigan, R. M. The stringent response and physiological roles of (pp)pGpp in bacteria. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 19, 256–271 (2020).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Diez, S., Ryu, J., Caban, K., Gonzalez, R. L. Jr. & Dworkin, J. The alarmones (p)ppGpp directly regulate translation initiation during entry into quiescence. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 15565–15572 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bittner, A. N., Kriel, A. & Wang, J. D. Lowering GTP level increases survival of amino acid starvation but slows growth rate for Bacillus subtilis cells lacking (p)ppGpp. J. Bacteriol. 196, 2067–2076 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Tuomanen, E., Cozens, R., Tosch, W., Zak, O. & Tomasz, A. The rate of killing of Escherichia coli by β-lactam antibiotics is strictly proportional to the rate of bacterial growth. J. Gen. Microbiol. 132, 1297–1304 (1986).
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kriel, A. et al. GTP dysregulation in Bacillus subtilis cells lacking (p)ppGpp results in phenotypic amino acid auxotrophy and failure to adapt to nutrient downshift and regulate biosynthesis genes. J. Bacteriol. 196, 189–201 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Handke, L. D., Shivers, R. P. & Sonenshein, A. L. Interaction of Bacillus subtilis CodY with GTP. J. Bacteriol. 190, 798–806 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Lewis, K. Multidrug tolerance of biofilms and persister cells. Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 322, 107–131 (2008).
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Liu, K. et al. Molecular mechanism and evolution of guanylate kinase regulation by (p)ppGpp. Mol. Cell 57, 735–749 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Libby, E. A., Reuveni, S. & Dworkin, J. Multisite phosphorylation drives phenotypic variation in (p)ppGpp synthetase-dependent antibiotic tolerance. Nat. Commun. 10, 5133 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
D'Elia, M. A. et al. Probing teichoic acid genetics with bioactive molecules reveals new interactions among diverse processes in bacterial cell wall biogenesis. Chem. Biol. 16, 548–556 (2009).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Veening, J. W., Smits, W. K. & Kuipers, O. P. Bistability, epigenetics, and bet-hedging in bacteria. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 62, 193–210 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Miller, C. et al. SOS response induction by β-lactams and bacterial defense against antibiotic lethality. Science 305, 1629–1631 (2004).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Eiamphungporn, W. & Helmann, J. D. The Bacillus subtilis σM regulon and its contribution to cell envelope stress responses. Mol. Microbiol. 67, 830–848 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Katz, E. & Demain, A. L. The peptide antibiotics of Bacillus: chemistry, biogenesis, and possible functions. Bacteriol. Rev. 41, 449–474 (1977).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Geiger, T., Kastle, B., Gratani, F. L., Goerke, C. & Wolz, C. Two small (p)ppGpp synthases in Staphylococcus aureus mediate tolerance against cell envelope stress conditions. J Bacteriol 196, 894–902 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lazar, V., Snitser, O., Barkan, D. & Kishony, R. Antibiotic combinations reduce Staphylococcus aureus clearance. Nature 610, 540–546 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Martinez, J. L. Environmental pollution by antibiotics and by antibiotic resistance determinants. Environ. Pollut. 157, 2893–2902 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Janes, B. K. & Stibitz, S. Routine markerless gene replacement in Bacillus anthracis. Infect. Immun. 74, 1949–1953 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Koo, B. M. et al. Construction and analysis of two genome-scale deletion libraries for Bacillus subtilis. Cell Syst. 4, 291–305 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
de Kok, S. et al. Rapid and reliable DNA assembly via ligase cycling reaction. ACS Synth. Biol. 3, 97–106 (2014).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Griffith, K. L. & Grossman, A. D. Inducible protein degradation in Bacillus subtilis using heterologous peptide tags and adaptor proteins to target substrates to the protease ClpXP. Mol. Microbiol. 70, 1012–1025 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Harwood, C. R. & Cutting, S. M. Molecular Biological Methods for Bacillus (Wiley, 1990).
Adimpong, D. B. et al. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Bacillus strains isolated from primary starters for African traditional bread production and characterization of the bacitracin operon and bacitracin biosynthesis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 78, 7903–7914 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Clasquin, M. F., Melamud, E. & Rabinowitz, J. D. LC-MS data processing with MAVEN: a metabolomic analysis and visualization engine. Curr. Protoc. Bioinform. 37, 14.11.1–14.11.23 (2012).
Article
Google Scholar
Young, J. W. et al. Measuring single-cell gene expression dynamics in bacteria using fluorescence time-lapse microscopy. Nat. Protoc. 7, 80–88 (2011).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Johnson, C. M. & Grossman, A. D. Identification of host genes that affect acquisition of an integrative and conjugative element in Bacillus subtilis. Mol. Microbiol. 93, 1284–1301 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
van Opijnen, T., Lazinski, D. W. & Camilli, A. Genome-wide fitness and genetic interactions determined by Tn-seq, a high-throughput massively parallel sequencing method for microorganisms. Curr. Protoc. Mol. Biol. 106, 7.16.1–7.16.24 (2014).
PubMed
Google Scholar
Download references
We thank A. Grossman, K. Griffit and D. Kearns for sharing strains and reagents; and B. Levin, P. Levin, M. Cox and the members of the Wang laboratory for comments on the manuscript. This study is supported by the National Institute of Health R35 GM127088, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Emerging Pathogens Initiative, a USDA Hatch Formula Award (to J.D.W.), Louis and Elsa Thomsen Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowships (to J.Y.) and National Science Foundation (NSF) grant award no. 1715710 (to D.A.-N.).
These authors contributed equally: Danny K. Fung, Jessica T. Barra.
Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
Danny K. Fung, Jessica T. Barra, Jin Yang, Jeremy W. Schroeder, Fukang She, Megan Young, David Ying, David M. Stevenson, Daniel Amador-Noguez & Jue D. Wang
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
J.D.W. conceptualized the study and supervised the research. D.K.F. and J.T.B. designed the experiments. D.K.F., J.T.B. and D.Y. conducted experiments. J.Y. performed LC–MS measurement of cellular nucleotides. J.W.S. performed bioinformatics analysis. F.S. performed biofilm growth and imaging experiments, and LC–MS measurement of sorted cells. D.A.-N. and D.M.S. provided LC–MS instruments and technical support. M.Y. performed Rel activity assays. D.K.F., J.T.B., J.W.S. and J.D.W. discussed the results and interpretations. D.K.F., J.T.B. and J.D.W. wrote the paper.
Correspondence to
Jue D. Wang.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Microbiology thanks Tanel Tenson and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
(a) Measuring tolerance from kill curve. The biphasic killing curve is composed of two phases: an initial killing phase (red) where the non-persister population dies rapidly upon antibiotic treatment, followed by an antibiotic-refractory phase (black) where persisters survive prolonged treatment. To measure tolerance of the bulk population, we subtracted the persister fraction from the population and estimated its MDK99 (minimum duration of killing for 99% cells) from the killing phase. (b-c) Tolerance (b) and persistence (c) of exponentially growing WT or (p)ppGpp0 mutant after 5 h vancomycin treatment. Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. p values were derived from unpaired two-tailed t-test.
(a) Vancomycin survival curves of WT cells after starvation or (p)ppGpp induction. stationary: stationary phase, RHX: pre-treated with amino acid starvation inducer arginine hydroxamate, +CCCP: pre-treated with ATP synthesis inhibitor CCCP, +As: pre-treated with ATP synthesis inhibitor arsenate. Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. (b) Vancomycin survival curves of (p)ppGpp0 after starvation or (p)ppGpp induction. RHX: pre-treated with amino acid starvation inducer arginine hydroxamate, +CCCP: pre-treated with ATP synthesis inhibitor CCCP, p-sasA or p-sasASyn: (p)ppGpp0 strains overexpressing the (p)ppGpp synthetase SasA or its synthetase-dead variant SasASyn (SasAD87G). Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. See also Supplemental Data Table 5 for a summary of resistance, tolerance and persistence in starvation-induced wild type and (p)ppGpp0 mutant.
(a) Schematic of Tn-Seq experiment. Transposon mutant library was grown to log phase followed by treatment with Vancomycin or Ciprofloxacin. Populations before and after treatment were sampled for sequencing library preparation and deep sequencing. In this assay, only insertions in non-essential or conditionally essential genes (due to availability of casamino acids) will be selected. (b) Genome-wide insertion profile from the experiment in (a), red box indicates enrichment of the pur operon disruptions after antibiotic treatment. (c) Pathway of de novo purine and GTP biosynthesis. Enriched gene disruptions in the pur operon and guaA from the Tn-Seq library screen were highlighted in cyan. Numbers in parentheses indicate relative enrichment of disruptions in log2 (vs before Vancomycin treatment). Overall, the insertions before the IMP step would all lower GTP and ATP synthesis, while guaA insertion would lower GTP but not ATP synthesis. guaB and gmk have been reported as essential genes and were not present in the library. (d) ATP and GTP levels of WT, ∆purB, ∆purL, ∆purF, and ∆guaA. Nucleotide levels were measured by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and normalized to OD600. Values represent mean and error bars indicate s.d. from three biological replicates. p values were derived from unpaired two-tailed t-test between WT and mutant pairs. (e) Vancomycin survival curves of WT, ∆purB, ∆purL, ∆purF, and ∆guaA. Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. Importantly, guaA deletion which only lower GTP but not ATP showed the same increase in persistence as the pur mutants. This implies that GTP depletion is critical to persistence.
(a-b) Vancomycin survival curves of WT, gmkQ110R,(p)ppGpp0, (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R, and guaB repressed mutant (guaBDown). WT and gmkQ110R kill curve in (b) was performed at 30⁰C to minimize the generation of suppressor mutant in gmkQ110R in (p)ppGpp+ background. Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. (c-d) GTP levels (c) and persister levels (d) of WT, gmkQ110R,(p)ppGpp0, (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R, and guaB repressed mutant (guaBDown). Nucleotide levels were measured by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and normalized to OD600. Values represent mean and error bars represent s.d. from three biological replicates. p values were derived from unpaired two-tailed t-test.
(a) Wild type cells containing the PlowGTP reporter were grown in minimal media with different carbon sources as indicated. Growth was monitored by OD600 measurement. Each curve represents a single replicate. (b) Survival curves of the populations in (a) to vancomycin treatment. (c) Distribution of cells with high PlowGTP fluorescence analysed using flow cytometry ( ~ 1.5×106 cells per sample per replicate, three biological replicates). Numbers indicate the fraction (%) of GFP-high cells. The fluorescence cut-off for GFP high cells was selected based on FACS and antibiotic treatment experiment that these high fluorescence cells display persistence phenotype (see Fig. 3a-b). (d) Panel of growth rates, tolerance, population PlowGTP fluorescence, frequency of high PlowGTP-GFP-high cells, and persistence to vancomycin treatment from the data in a-c. Values represent mean ± s.d., three biological replicates.
(a) Architecture of the PlowGTP reporter derived from the CodY regulatory regions in the ilvB promoter. Low GTP inactivates CodY binding thus de-repressing the promoter (that is reporter ON) and vice versa. It has been demonstrated that ilvB promoter activity is proportional to GTP over a physiologically relevant range in vitro38. Our previous transcriptome work showed that the ilvB promoter is responding almost exclusively to GTP levels in a variety of conditions and mutants in vivo37. Sequence of PlowGTP is included in Supplemental Table 4. (b) PlowGTP fluorescence in wild type or (p)ppGpp0 population during exponential growth in rich media with or without (p)ppGpp induction using arginine hydroxamate (RHX). Background fluorescence was subtracted using strains without the reporter. (c-d) Correlation of PlowGTP fluorescence versus (p)ppGpp (blue) and GTP (red) in wild type upon (p)ppGpp induction by amino acids starvation. PlowGTP fluorescence was determined using microscopy from averages of > 200 cells each from three biological replicates. AU stands for arbitrary units. (c) Nucleotide levels were measured by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and normalized to their levels before induction. R square was derived from linear regression from three biological replicates for each data point. (d) Nucleotide levels were measured by LC-MS and normalized to OD600. Values represent mean and error bars indicate s.d. from three biological replicates for each data point.
(a) Flow cytometry analysis of low GTP persisters in exponentially growing populations of wild-type and (p)ppGpp biosynthesis mutants containing the PlowGTP reporter ( ~ 1.5×106 cells each in triplicate). Numbers indicate the fraction (%) of GFP-high cells. ~1.5×106 cells in each sample. The fluorescence cut-off was chosen based on FACS and antibiotic treatment experiment that these high fluorescence cells display persistence phenotype (see Fig. 3a-b). (b) Correlation between persisters and GFP-high cells. Persister levels were determined from vancomycin kill curves in Supplemental Data Fig 4. Error bars indicate s.e.m., three biological replicates. Solid line indicates linear regression.
(a-l) Single cell traces of spontaneous persistence entrance plotted as growth rate against time in (a-i) wild type and (j-l) (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R mutant. Changes in PlowGTP reporter fluorescence (green) and growth rate (black) are shown. Persistence entrance in each trace is highlighted by the shaded area. Overall, we observed that, the first event in pre-persister is that PlowGTP reporter fluorescence (reflecting drop in GTP) increases, sometimes over several cell cycle (up to 120 min) while cells are growing at a normal rate without slowing down. Only as the fluorescence reaches a common threshold (on our microscope ~600 fluorescence unit), growth suddenly stopped within our 15 min observation window. If bacteria stop growth first, then we would see fluorescence increase only after growth cessation. This conclusion applies to all our cell trajectory measurements. The results suggest that GTP drop occurs before growth cessation, rather than GTP drops once bacteria stop growing.
(a) (Left) Example images of wild type cells containing the PlowGTP reporter before and after treatment with 200x MIC carbenicillin (CARB) and cell death dye propidium iodide (PI, magenta) for 2 h. (Right) Quantitation of PlowGTP fluorescence in survivors (PI-negative cells) before and after treatment. About ~300 survivors were counted. Scale bar: 10 µm. (b-c) Representative time-lapse images from three biological replicates of antibiotic-induced survival upon antibiotic treatment. Exponentially growing wild type cells containing the PlowGTP-GFP reporter (green) were allowed to grow in the absence of antibiotic followed by carbenicillin treatment with the cell death dye propidium iodide (PI, magenta). Antibiotic was removed by penicillinase treatment. Arrow indicates a cell that regrew after drug removal. Numbers indicate time in min. Scale bar: 10 µm. (c) Same experiment as (b) but with PlowGTP-mCherry reporter (red) and cell death dye sytox blue (cyan). Numbers indicate time in min. Scale bar: 10 µm.
How does low GTP lead to growth suspension and persistence? Although reduction of GTP levels elicits a fundamental change in transcription, the effect of depleting GTP is far beyond transcription. Low GTP is sufficient to broadly suspend diverse growth-determining cellular processes that utilize GTP, including DNA replication, rRNA synthesis, translation initiation and elongation, ribosome assembly, 100S ribosome dissociation, and potentially cell wall synthesis. In addition, since the majority of (p)ppGpp regulation on targets such as protein synthesis, rRNA maturation via ribosome-dependent GTPases, or DNA synthesis all stem from competition between (p)ppGpp and GTP binding to the enzyme active site, low GTP would exacerbate the inhibitory effect of (p)ppGpp on most (p)ppGpp targets. Since lethality of conventional antibiotics stems from deleterious disruption of these growth-associated processes, low GTP bacteria will be able to better survive antibiotic treatment. Therefore, persistence can be due to a global metabolic brake of multiple cellular processes triggered by low GTP. (p)ppGpp-GTP may also facilitate coordinated shut down of macromolecular synthesis, such as transcription and replication, to minimize detrimental conflicts. Finally, the growth suspension may also reduce generation of reactive oxygen species which have been implicated in antibiotic lethality. Contributions of these downstream effects require further investigation.
Supplementary Figs. 1–22 and Supplementary Tables 1–9.
Antibiotic survival of low-GTP cells.
Spontaneous persistence entrance in wild-type B. subtilis.
Spontaneous persistence entrance in (p)ppGpp0 gmkQ110R mutant.
Antibiotic-induced persistence in single cells.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions
Fung, D.K., Barra, J.T., Yang, J. et al. A shared alarmone–GTP switch controls persister formation in bacteria.
Nat Microbiol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02015-6
Download citation
Received: 19 December 2024
Accepted: 14 April 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-02015-6
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature Microbiology
(Nat Microbiol)
ISSN 2058-5276 (online)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature Methods
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
Viromics produces millions of viral genomes and fragments annually, overwhelming traditional sequence comparison methods. Here we introduce Vclust, an approach that determines average nucleotide identity by Lempel–Ziv parsing and clusters viral genomes with thresholds endorsed by authoritative viral genomics and taxonomy consortia. Vclust demonstrates superior accuracy and efficiency compared to existing tools, clustering millions of genomes in a few hours on a mid-range workstation.
Metagenomics and viromics are identifying new viruses at an unprecedented rate, but recognizing which sequences were seen before remains challenging1,2. Calculating average nucleotide identity (ANI), essential for classification, is limited by the scalability of alignment tools like anicalc3, commonly used to cluster viruses into virus operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), or VIRIDIC4, recommended by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) to delineate bacteriophage species and genera. Large-scale sequence comparisons rely on efficient, albeit less accurate, k-mer approaches such as sketching (FastANI5) or sparse approximate alignments (skani6). Moreover, most tools lack clustering functionality or do not scale to large metagenomic datasets (Extended Data Table 1).
Vclust is a fast alignment-based method that calculates ANI measures for complete and fragmented viral genomes and clusters them according to ICTV and Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG) standards1,4 (Extended Data Table 1). It introduces three components (Fig. 1a). First, Kmer-db 2, a successor of Kmer-db7, rapidly determines related genomes using either all k-mers or a predefined fraction. Second, LZ-ANI, a Lempel–Ziv parsing-based algorithm (Fig. 1b and Methods), identifies local alignments within related genome pairs and calculates overall ANI from these aligned regions with high sensitivity and accuracy. Third, Clusty efficiently implements six clustering algorithms suited for sparse distance matrices with millions of genomes (Fig. 1c).
a, Vclust's workflow: (1) prefilter similar genome sequence pairs with sufficient k-mer-based identity estimated using Kmer-db 2; (2) align similar genome pairs and calculate ANI using LZ-ANI; and (3) cluster genomes based on defined cutoffs using Clusty. b, Sequence alignment using Lempel–Ziv parsing (Methods). c, Vclust's clustering algorithms. Vertex size represents genome sequence length, and edge lengths indicate the distance (1 − ANI) between genomes. A more detailed depiction of the clustering algorithms is shown in Extended Data Fig. 1. d, Illustration of the calculation of Vclust's sequence similarity measures.
We first tested Vclust's accuracy of total average nucleotide identity (tANI) estimation (Fig. 1d) among 10,000 pairs of phage genomes containing simulated mutations, including substitutions, deletions, insertions, inversions, duplications and translocations (Methods and Supplementary Table 1). Vclust and VIRIDIC, both alignment-based tools, provided tANI values close to the expected ones, with mean absolute error (MAE) values of 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively, outperforming FastANI (6.8%) and skani (21.2%; Fig. 2a). Vclust predictions consistently approached expected values as tANI increased, while VIRIDIC underestimated tANI (Fig. 2a). Among genome pairs above the ICTV's species threshold (tANI ≥ 95%4, n = 1,188), Vclust reported only 22 pairs below the threshold, whereas VIRIDIC underestimated nearly 10× more (n = 210; Supplementary Table 2).
a, Difference between predicted and expected tANI values for 10,000 bacteriophage genome pairs with simulated mutation events. b, Correlations with VIRIDIC tANI values for 22,607 complete bacteriophage genome pairs. c, Wall time and peak memory usage for processing 4,244 bacteriophage genomes (32 threads). Vclust and VIRIDIC include clustering, while FastANI and skani only calculate ANI. d, Venn diagrams comparing numbers of contig pairs meeting MIUViG thresholds (ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85%) predicted by BLASTn (purple) and other tools (red). The boxen plot shows the error distribution of predicted ANI and AF values relative to corresponding BLASTn-based reference values for 4,361,743 contig pairs meeting MiUVUG thresholds. The center line denotes the median, while each box level from the median contains half of the remaining observations. e, Wall time and peak memory usage for calculating ANI and AF among 15,677,623 IMG/VR contigs (64 threads). BLASTn values were estimated from a random sample of 1,000 query contigs. Vclust was tested in its default setting and with a 0.2 fraction of k-mers used at the ‘prefilter' step. f, Wall time and peak memory usage of Vclust's clustering algorithms for grouping IMG/VR contigs into vOTUs.
Source data
Next, we determined tANI using VIRIDIC in an all-to-all comparison of 4,244 bacteriophage genomes. Vclust had a higher correlation with VIRIDIC tANI (Pearson's r = 0.983) than skani (r = 0.902) and FastANI (r = 0.671) across the entire tANI range ≥ 70% (22,606 genome pairs; Fig. 2b) and outperformed both tools within their reliability range ≥ 80%5,6.
Then, we compared the consistency of the bacteriophage species groupings (tANI ≥ 95%) with the official ICTV taxonomy (Methods). Vclust and VIRIDIC showed moderate agreement with ICTV (73% and 69%, respectively), followed by FastANI (40%) and skani (27%). Upon examining genome pairs where both Vclust and VIRIDIC diverged from the ICTV's classification, we found inconsistencies in 50 ICTV taxonomic proposals (Supplementary Tables 3 and 4). Excluding these cases improved the agreement of both tools with ICTV taxonomy, with Vclust retaining superiority (95%) over VIRIDIC (90%) and the other tools (Supplementary Table 5). For genus groupings (tANI ≥ 70%), Vclust achieves 92% agreement with ICTV taxonomy, comparable to VIRIDIC's 93%, despite inconsistent application of the threshold we found across ICTV genera (Supplementary Tables 6 and 7 and Extended Data Fig. 2). Given Vclust's high agreement with ICTV taxonomy, accurate tANI determination and processing speed >40,000× faster than VIRIDIC (Fig. 2c and Supplementary Table 8), it emerges as the prime tool for bacteriophage classification.
We then assessed Vclust's accuracy in matching contig pairs that satisfy MIUViG thresholds (ANI ≥ 95% and aligned fraction (AF) ≥ 85%; Fig. 1d). We subsampled over 90,000 metagenomic contigs from the IMG/VR database and used BLASTn8+ anicalc3 (most accurate alignment-based method) to identify over 4 million sequence pairs that met MIUViG thresholds. Vclust recovered the highest number of pairs (99%), followed by MegaBLAST + anicalc (97%), skani (96%, or 86% in the fastest mode), FastANI (96%) and MMseqs2 (ref. 9) (70%; Fig. 2d and Supplementary Table 9). Both Vclust and MegaBLAST produced ANI and AF estimates consistently with the BLASTn values (Pearson r > 0.96), outperforming the other tools (r = 0.2–0.8). On average, ANI and AF values obtained by Vclust and MegaBLAST showed minimal deviation from the expected values (MAE < 1%; Supplementary Table 9), with Vclust having the narrowest error range among all the tools (Fig. 2d). This trend is consistent across varying contig sizes, from smallest (<5 kb) to largest (>100 kb; Supplementary Table 10).
The scalability of the tools was tested using the entire IMG/VR database of 15,677,623 virus contigs. Vclust performed sequence identity estimations for ~123 trillion contig pairs and alignments for ~800 million pairs, resulting in 5–8 million vOTUs depending on the clustering algorithm (Supplementary Table 11 and Supplementary Fig. 1). These vOTUs are generally consistent with those identified by MegaBLAST, with Vclust clustering approximately 75,000 more contigs on average, indicating higher sensitivity (Supplementary Table 11). Vclust was >115× faster than MegaBLAST, >6× faster than skani or FastANI, and ~1.5× faster than MMseqs2 (Fig. 2e,f, Extended Data Fig. 3 and Supplementary Table 12). Although skani in its fastest mode was 7× faster than Vclust (Supplementary Table 12), it was substantially less accurate (Supplementary Table 9). In addition, Vclust's runtime and memory usage can be further reduced by ~40% and ~60%, respectively, by analyzing 20% of the k-mers in each genome during prefiltering (Fig. 2e), with negligible impact on sensitivity and specificity (Extended Data Fig. 4).
In conclusion, Vclust surpasses the current state-of-the-art methods in viral genome comparison in both accuracy and speed, remaining effective in datasets of millions of sequences. It provides a complete solution for calculating intergenomic similarities and clustering complete, partial and circularly permuted (Extended Data Fig. 5) virus genomes using various ANI measures and clustering algorithms. Given the astonishing diversity of viruses in metagenomic data, we believe that Vclust will be essential for large-scale dereplication and taxonomic classification of viral sequences. It is freely available on GitHub, with a web service option for smaller projects (https://www.vclust.org/), and its core components—Kmer-db, LZ-ANI and Clusty—are available as stand-alone tools for broader applications in sequence comparison and general clustering tasks. Similar to other tools6, Vclust's performance may decrease with large datasets of highly similar genomes owing to the high number of sequence pairs requiring alignment and clustering after prefiltering (Methods). Future work will focus on improving scalability for large homogeneous datasets, including bacterial genomes, and implementing amino acid-based computations (for example, average amino acid identity).
Vclust is a workflow that introduces and integrates three tools:
Kmer-db 2: performs the initial k-mer-based estimation of sequence identity of all genome pairs (‘Sequence identity estimation: Kmer-db 2').
LZ-ANI: aligns sequence pairs with nucleotide identity exceeding a specified threshold and calculates ANI and AF measures (‘Sequence alignment: LZ-ANI' and ‘Calculating ANI and AF').
Clusty: clusters sequences based on ANI and/or AF criteria (‘Clustering sequences: Clusty').
We implemented Kmer-db 2, LZ-ANI and Clusty in C++20 as stand-alone tools, adaptable for various sequence comparison and clustering tasks (‘Code availability'). Vclust, a Python script, integrates these tools to calculate and cluster viral genomic sequences (‘Vclust implementation').
Kmer-db 2 is an updated tool for k-mer-based estimation of pairwise similarities among nucleotide sequences, using either all or a selected fraction of k-mers. Unlike fixed-sized sketching (used, for example, by Mash10), Kmer-db 2 retains a proportional fraction of k-mers per genome, preserving the relationship between sequence lengths.
Kmer-db 2 introduces several improvements enabling the processing of tens of millions of sequences. First, unlike its predecessor, which stored similarity values in RAM as a dense matrix7, Kmer-db 2 uses sparse matrices that retain only nonzero elements in all-to-all pairwise genome comparison mode (‘all2all-sp'), allowing it to handle large and diverse genome sets. Second, Kmer-db 2 supports genome datasets partitioned into multiple input files, each generating a separate Kmer-db database. A new mode, ‘all2all-parts', calculates shared k-mers within and across databases, optimizing memory by loading one or two databases into RAM sequentially, although at the expense of additional computational time from repeated database loading. Third, Kmer-db 2 further minimizes RAM usage by storing only genome pairs that meet a minimum threshold of shared k-mers and sequence identity. Finally, all modes in Kmer-db 2 support multithreading, except for the distance calculation step, which is sufficiently fast without parallelization. Supplementary Fig. 2 shows the computational performance improvements of Kmer-db 2 over Kmer-db 1, with runtime reductions of 3× to 100× across modes and substantially lower RAM requirements.
The LZ-ANI algorithm uses Lempel–Ziv parsing11 to align two sequences (the query and the reference).
First, the algorithm constructs two indices (dictionaries): for anchors and seeds. The anchor index maps all a-mers (substrings of length a) from both strands of the reference sequence to their positions, while the seed index performs the same mapping for shorter s-mers (Fig. 1b, step 1).
Next, the query is read from left to right using a sliding window of a nucleotides, moving one nucleotide at a time. The parsed a-mers are used to search the anchor index for matches in the reference. Upon finding an exact match, the algorithm extends it in both directions (Fig. 1b, step 2). In each direction, a window of size aw slides until it encounters more than a certain number of mismatches (am) at a time. Then, the extensions of terminal windows are trimmed to remove poorly aligned ends until they have at least ar exactly matched nucleotides. This extended anchor initiates the first ‘region', which corresponds to a local alignment, and is constructed as described below.
The algorithm then moves to the next nucleotide after the extended anchor and looks for a-mers (anywhere in the reference) and s-mers (within r nucleotides from the end of the extended match in the reference) in the dictionaries. Four scenarios may arise:
No anchor or seed is found: shift by one position in the query and repeat the process of finding a new anchor or a seed match. However, if the distance in the query between the current position and the end of the previous match exceeds q nucleotides, the seed search is discontinued.
Only a seed match is found: extend the seed similarly to the initial anchor match, append it to the region, and continue the search for a new anchor or seed match (Fig. 1b, step 3).
Only an anchor match is found: close the current region and extend the anchor match to initiate a new region (Fig. 1b, step 5).
Both anchor and seed matches are found: select the match less likely to occur by chance, based on their lengths, seed proximity (r nucleotides) and the reference sequence length, leading to either scenario 2 or 3 (Fig. 1b, step 4).
Upon closing a region, the algorithm realigns the nucleotide stretches between all the extended matches within the region (Fig. 1b, step 6). This realignment aims to maximize the number of matching nucleotides between neighboring extended matches by allowing a single multi-symbol insertion in the reference or query sequence. As a result, the region represents a local alignment containing both matched and mismatched nucleotides, along with approximated indel fragments. To remove spurious alignments, regions shorter than g nucleotides are excluded from further analysis.
The LZ-ANI tool reads input sequences and stores them in RAM in a compact format with three nucleotides per byte. The tool processes sequences in parallel, with each thread comparing a reference sequence to all other sequences. By default, the tool performs all-versus-all pairwise alignments, but it can also accept a filter specifying sequence pairs to align, such as a file generated by Kmer-db (used by Vclust by default).
LZ-ANI parameters are adjustable and were optimized for virus genome sequences (Extended Data Table 2). The default anchor length was set to 11 nucleotides, matching the BLASTn default word size, which provides greater sensitivity than MegaBLAST's 28-nucleotide word size. The remaining LZ-ANI parameters were optimized using Bayesian optimization with Gaussian process minimization. This optimization involved 100 evaluations on a dataset of 10,000 pairs of complete genomes with simulated mutations (that is, substitutions, insertions, deletions, duplications, inversions and translocations) and known expected ANI values of ≥70% (Supplementary Table 13). The default Vclust parameters were selected based on the lowest MAE between the predicted and reference tANI values. Supplementary Fig. 3 compares the length, number and identity of alignments generated by Vclust (using default parameters), BLASTn and MegaBLAST.
Similarly to BLAST-based ANI methods3,4, LZ-ANI alignment between query (A) and reference (B) encompasses ‘regions', analogous to BLAST's high-scoring segment pairs. This alignment allows direct calculation of:
L(A, B)—the total length (sum) of all regions when aligning query A to reference B, in nucleotides
M(A, B)—the total number of matching nucleotides in all regions
These values are used to compute seven sequence similarity measures as follows:
ANI for A and B: \(\frac{M(A,\,B)}{L(A,\,B)}\)
ANI for B and A: \(\frac{M(B,\,A)}{L(B,\,A)}\)
AF of query A to reference B: \(\frac{L(A,\,B)}{{|A|}}\)
AF of query B to reference A: \(\frac{L(B,\,A)}{{|B|}}\)
Global ANI for A and B: \(\frac{M(A,\,B)}{{|A|}}\)
Global ANI for B and A: \(\frac{M(B,\,A)}{{|B|}}\)
Total ANI: \(\frac{M(A,\,B)+M(B,\,A)}{{|A|}+{|B|}}.\)
Clusty is a versatile package facilitating rapid clustering across diverse data types, using six algorithms: single linkage, complete linkage, UCLUST12, greedy set cover9, CD-HIT13 and Leiden14. Our implementations of these algorithms were optimized for sparse distance matrices. A linear memory complexity with the number of distances allows the clustering of tens of millions of objects, provided the matrix remains sufficiently sparse.
Clusty uses threshold-based clustering, assigning an object to a cluster if its distance from the cluster does not exceed a user-defined threshold. Depending on the algorithm, this distance can refer to the closest, furthest or centroid member. While UCLUST, greedy set cover and CD-HIT are inherently threshold-based algorithms, single and complete linkage algorithms construct dendrograms that can be pruned at customizable distance thresholds. Clusty's sparse data representation assumes all input values to meet the distance or similarity threshold. However, the tool allows clustering data at more stringent thresholds through additional filtering of any combinations of distance/similarity values (for example, tANI, ANI and AF) and/or other measure values (for example, minimum/maximum number of alignments, minimum/maximum number of matched nucleotides). Consequently, the matrix provided to Clusty does not need to be sparse; the tool can handle dense matrices and apply filtering at the loading stage.
Clusty interprets input data as a graph, where vertices represent objects and edges represent connections. Extended Data Fig. 1 shows details of the clustering algorithms and their time complexities.
Vclust is a Python tool integrating Kmer-db 2, LZ-ANI and Clusty for streamlined computation of intergenomic sequence similarities and clustering of viral genomes. Vclust provides three commands: ‘prefilter', ‘align' and ‘cluster' (Fig. 1a). ‘prefilter' and ‘align' accept a single FASTA file containing viral genomic sequences or a directory of FASTA files (one genome per file), with support for gzipped inputs and outputs.
The ‘prefilter' command uses Kmer-db 2 to screen out dissimilar genome pairs before alignment, reducing the number of genome pairs to only those with sufficient k-mer-based sequence similarity (that is, minimum number of common k-mers and/or the minimum sequence identity. Sequence identity in Kmer-db 2 is calculated similarly to ANI in Mash (1 − Mash distance) but uses the overlap coefficient15 instead of the Jaccard index. The overlap coefficient measures the intersection size of two k-mer sets (representing two genomic sequences) relative to the smaller set size, rather than the union of both sets. As a result, sequence identity values in the prefiltering step are generally higher than ANI from the alignment step. This allows users to set the minimum sequence identity in prefiltering close to the final ANI threshold without risking the exclusion of relevant genome pairs; for example, if targeting an ANI threshold of 95% or higher, the minimum sequence identity can be set to approximately 0.95 (Supplementary Fig. 4).
The ‘align' command uses LZ-ANI to perform pairwise sequence alignments and compute ANI and AF measures between genome pairs identified by the pre-alignment filter. If the filter is not provided, Vclust aligns all possible genome pairs. The output includes two TSV files that are used for clustering: one containing ANI measures for genome pairs and the other listing genome identifiers sorted by decreasing sequence length. Optionally, Vclust can output detailed alignment results in a TSV format similar to BLASTn/MegaBLAST, with coordinates, strand orientation, matched/mismatched nucleotides and sequence identity for each local alignment.
The ‘cluster' command uses Clusty for genome clustering, allowing users to specify a similarity measure (for example, tANI, ANI) and its threshold for clustering genomes, with optional additional filtering thresholds for other similarity measures, including AF. Output includes a TSV file listing genome identifiers and numerical cluster identifiers (including identifiers for singleton genomes). Alternatively, Vclust can output representative genomes instead of numerical cluster identifiers, which is particularly useful for dereplication tasks.
Vclust is designed for dereplication and clustering of viral sequences across a range of identity values. Computational performance may decline with datasets of highly redundant genome sequences (for example, tens of thousands of sequences from the same species; Supplementary Fig. 5). In all-versus-all pairwise genome comparisons in the ‘prefilter' step, the high frequency of similar sequences expands the similarity matrix, increasing memory consumption and the number of pairs to align, which in turn raises computational demands for alignment and clustering. Vclust has three additional techniques to optimize performance and mitigate excessive resource consumption. First, it partitions a dataset into smaller, equally sized batches of genome sequences using the built-in multi-fasta-split C++ tool. This option considerably reduces memory requirements of the ‘prefilter' step without altering results, although it may slightly increase runtime (Extended Data Fig. 4a). Second, Vclust can limit the number of k-mers analyzed from each genome sequence, reducing memory usage and runtime with minimal impact on sensitivity (Extended Data Fig. 4b). Third, similarly to MMseqs2 and BLAST-based methods, Vclust's ‘prefilter' can restrict the number of sequences reported per query genome by selecting those with the highest sequence identity, reducing the overall number of genome pairs passing initial similarity assessment.
All runtimes were benchmarked on a workstation equipped with an AMD Epyc 9554 CPU (64 cores clocked at 3.1 GHz) and 1,152 GiB (approximately 1,237 GB) RAM. Unless otherwise specified, all tools were run using 64 threads. The exact commands are shown in Supplementary Tables 8, 9 and 12.
The tANI accuracy of Vclust v1.2.8, FastANI (v1.33)5, skani (v0.2.1)6 and VIRIDIC (v1.1)4 was assessed using two reference sets. In both reference datasets, VIRIDIC was run with default parameters (--word_size 7, --reward 2, --penalty 3, --gapopen 5, --gapextend 2) for highly sensitive BLASTn alignments. Similarly, skani was run in its most accurate mode optimized for small sequences (--slow, --s 0, --m 200). FastANI and Vclust were run with default parameters. The first reference dataset comprised 22,606 tANI values ranging from 70% to 100%, as determined by VIRIDIC across 4,244 complete genomes of bacteriophages affiliated with the ICTV using ICTV's Virus Metadata Resource (VMR v38.3). Since FastANI and skani do not directly report tANI, their values were calculated from ANI, AF and genome lengths: tANI = (ANI1 × AF1 × LEN1 + ANI2 × AF2 × LEN2)/(LEN1 + LEN2). The second reference set contained expected (true) tANI values in the 70–100% range, derived from 10,000 pairs of bacteriophage genomes subjected to simulated mutations, including different levels of substitution, insertion, deletion, duplication, inversion and translocation events. Specifically, we randomly selected 100 genomes from the bacteriophage dataset and generated 100 copies of each genome. For each genome copy, we introduced mutations using Mutation-Simulator (v3.0.2)16 by randomly selecting a combination of mutation events and their corresponding frequencies (Supplementary Table 1). The expected (true) tANI value between each copy and reference genome was determined based on the variant call format produced by Mutation-Simulator, describing the exact locations of introduced mutations and the number of altered nucleotides.
The ANI and AF values predicted by Vclust, FastANI, skani, MegBLAST v2.13.0+ and MMseqs2 v2fad714b525f1975b62c2d2b5aff28274ad57466 (ref. 9) were compared to reference ANI and AF values determined by BLASTn (v2.13.0+)8. Since running BLASTn on the entire IMG/VR v4.1 database was not feasible, we subsampled 94,225 viral contigs and performed an all-to-all BLASTn search to identify 4,361,743 contig pairs meeting the MIUViG thresholds (ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85%). MegaBLAST, MMseqs and BLASTn outputs were used by the anicalc script from CheckV (v1.0.3)3 to compute ANI and AF values. Pearson correlation and MAE between the predicted and expected ANI and AF values were calculated based on the 4,361,743 contig pairs meeting MIUViG thresholds (ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85%) determined by BLASTn. Given the high level of sequence identity of the reference contig pairs, if a tool did not return a result for a given contig pair, the ANI and AF values were set to zero for that pair.
The agreement between clustering results from different tools and the reference clustering was assessed using the adjusted Rand index (ARI). ARI assesses clustering similarity by comparing the number of correct clustering overlaps and disagreements17 against those expected by chance. An ARI of 0 indicates random assignment, while a score of 1 indicates a perfect match. We used the scikit-learn (v1.3.2)18 implementation of the ARI.
Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.
The datasets generated in this study have been deposited in in Figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28294805)19 and include complete RefSeq and GenBank genomes of 4,244 bacteriophages classified by ICTV, RefSeq and GenBank genome sequences of 10,000 bacteriophages with simulated mutations and corresponding expected total ANI values, and 94,225 metagenomic viral contigs sampled from IMG/VR v4.1 with expected BLASTn-based ANI and AF values. Supporting data generated in this study are provided in the Supplementary Information. Other databases used in the study include IMG/VR v.4.1 (https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/portal/IMG_VR/) and Virus Metadata Resource v38.3 from ICTV (https://ictv.global/vmr/). Source data are provided with this paper.
Vclust is available as a stand-alone tool at https://github.com/refresh-bio/vclust/ and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14756166 (ref. 20) and as a web service at https://www.vclust.org/. Kmer-db 2, LZ-ANI and Clusty are available in the GitHub repositories at https://github.com/refresh-bio/kmer-db/, https://github.com/refresh-bio/LZ-ANI/ and https://github.com/refresh-bio/clusty/, respectively.
Roux, S. et al. Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG). Nat. Biotechnol. 37, 29–37 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Camargo, A. P. et al. IMG/VR v4: an expanded database of uncultivated virus genomes within a framework of extensive functional, taxonomic, and ecological metadata. Nucleic Acids Res. 51, D733–D743 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Nayfach, S. et al. CheckV assesses the quality and completeness of metagenome-assembled viral genomes. Nat. Biotechnol. 39, 578–585 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Moraru, C., Varsani, A. & Kropinski, A. M. VIRIDIC-a novel tool to calculate the intergenomic similarities of prokaryote-infecting viruses. Viruses 12, 1268 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jain, C., Rodriguez-R, L. M., Phillippy, A. M., Konstantinidis, K. T. & Aluru, S. High throughput ANI analysis of 90K prokaryotic genomes reveals clear species boundaries. Nat. Commun. 9, 5114 (2018).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Shaw, J. & Yu, Y. W. Fast and robust metagenomic sequence comparison through sparse chaining with skani. Nat. Methods 20, 1661–1665 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Deorowicz, S., Gudys, A., Dlugosz, M., Kokot, M. & Danek, A. Kmer-db: instant evolutionary distance estimation. Bioinformatics 35, 133–136 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Altschul, S. F. et al. Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Res. 25, 3389–3402 (1997).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Steinegger, M. & Söding, J. MMseqs2 enables sensitive protein sequence searching for the analysis of massive data sets. Nat. Biotechnol. 35, 1026–1028 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ondov, B. D. et al. Mash: fast genome and metagenome distance estimation using MinHash. Genome Biol 17, 132 (2016).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Salomon, D. & Motta, G. Handbook of Data Compression (Springer, 2009).
Edgar, R. C. Search and clustering orders of magnitude faster than BLAST. Bioinformatics 26, 2460–2461 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Li, W. & Godzik, A. Cd-hit: a fast program for clustering and comparing large sets of protein or nucleotide sequences. Bioinformatics 22, 1658–1659 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Traag, V. A., Waltman, L. & van Eck, N. J. From Louvain to Leiden: guaranteeing well-connected communities. Sci. Rep. 9, 5233 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
McGill, M., Koll, M. & Noreault, T. An Evaluation of Factors Affecting Document Ranking by Information Retrieval Systems (School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, 1979).
Kühl, M. A., Stich, B. & Ries, D. C. Mutation-Simulator: fine-grained simulation of random mutations in any genome. Bioinformatics 37, 568–569 (2021).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rand, W. M. Objective criteria for the evaluation of clustering methods. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 66, 846–850 (1971).
Article
Google Scholar
Pedregosa, F. et al. Scikit-learn: machine learning in Python. J. Mach. Learn. Res. 12, 2825–2830 (2011).
Google Scholar
Zielezinski, A. et al. Ultrafast and accurate sequence alignment and clustering of viral genomes. Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28294805.v1 (2025).
Zielezinski, A. & Gudyś, A. Vclust: source code and precompiled binaries (1.2.8). Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14756166 (2025).
Download references
This work is supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, project DEC-2022/45/B/ST6/03032 (to A.G. and S.D.), the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant 865694: DiversiPHI, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy—EXC 2051—Project-ID 39071386 (to B.E.D.), the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Networks grant agreement no. 955974 (VIROINF; to B.E.D.), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the context of an Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship founded by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (to B.E.D. and P.R.) and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the program ‘Perły Nauki', project number PN/01/0063/2022 (to P.R.). The computations were partially performed at the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (grant numbers pl0243-01 and pl0074-02).
Open access funding provided by Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
These authors contributed equally: Andrzej Zielezinski, Adam Gudyś.
Department of Computational Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Andrzej Zielezinski & Piotr Rozwalak
Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland
Adam Gudyś, Krzysztof Siminski & Sebastian Deorowicz
Department of Molecular Virology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Jakub Barylski
Institute of Biodiversity, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
Piotr Rozwalak & Bas E. Dutilh
Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science4Life, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Bas E. Dutilh
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
A.Z., A.G., J.B. and S.D. designed the study. A.Z. conducted the comparative analyses and developed the web service. A.G. designed and developed Clusty with input from K.S. and S.D. A.G. and S.D. designed and developed Kmer-db. S.D. designed and developed LZ-ANI. A.Z., A.G. and S.D. developed the Vclust tool. A.Z. and J.B. compared predictions to the ICTV taxonomy and reviewed ICTV proposals. A.Z., J.B., A.G., P.R., B.E.D. and S.D. analyzed the results. A.Z., A.G. and P.R. designed figures, with inputs from S.D., J.B., K.S. and B.E.D. A.Z., A.G. and S.D. wrote the manuscript with substantial contributions from B.E.D., J.B. and P.R. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.
Correspondence to
Bas E. Dutilh or Sebastian Deorowicz.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Methods thanks Eugene Koonin, Stephen Nayfach and Carson Miller for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Lin Tang, in collaboration with the Nature Methods team. Peer reviewer reports are available.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The dataset is represented as a graph: objects (genomes) are shown as vertices with sizes proportional to user-assigned weights (for example, sequence length) and edges indicate distances (for example, 1 – tANI). In the consecutive steps of each algorithm objects are assigned to clusters marked with distinct colors. The left panel shows each algorithm's time complexity, with n as the number of vertices and e as the number of edges. Distance values for this example are available in the source data provided with the paper.
Source data
The subtree of Bastillevirinae branch from the maximum-likelihood tree based on a concatenated alignment of 10 marker proteins in Herelleviridae family. Leaves are labeled with species names and four species are represented by more than one genome (for example, multiple strains). Snippets of the total heatmap on the right highlight instances where Vclust clustering algorithms and/or ICTV disagree. Numbers in these boxes show tANI (only values higher than 60% - Vclust reliability threshold are shown). Despite recommended rank-demarcation criteria, the classification of viruses is based on multiple forms of evidence, ranging from calculating tANI between pairs to protein content and phylogenetic analyses. Therefore, inconsistencies between Vclust clustering and the official ICTV taxonomy may arise, especially if the tANI oscillates around the demarcation criterion, such as between Bastillevirus hoodyT and Bastillevirus evoli, where the tANI is 95.2%.
The dataset was sampled from IMG/VR v4.1, and the execution commands for the tools are detailed in Supplementary Table 12. Vclust was tested with all k-mers (default) and 0.2 fraction of k-mers retained at the prefilter step. The left panel shows execution times. The runtimes of all tools decrease linearly with up to eight threads, but beyond this, FastANI, MegaBLAST, and Vclust showed reduced speed-up while skani and MMseqs2 maintained linear scaling. Vclust with 0.2 k-mers fraction was the fastest algorithm independently of the number of threads. It was followed by the default Vclust setting with the exception of 64 threads, where slow-down caused by the task fragmentation overhead at the prefilter step made it inferior by a small margin to less accurate MMseqs2. In the right panel, memory usage was constant across thread counts for all algorithms except FastANI, which showed a linear increase in memory consumption.
Source data
a, Wall time and peak memory usage for prefiltering genomes in a varying number of equally-sized sequence batches. The prefilter was configured to consider all k-mers (default) or 0.2 fraction of k-mers. Increasing the number of batches slightly increased runtime, significantly reducing memory usage for both k-mer fractions. b, Wall time and peak memory usage for different combinations of k-mers fractions (1 to 0.001) and minimum shared k-mers (20 to 1) during prefiltering. Below each combination, the outputs of prefilter and align steps are compared to the default settings (k-mers fraction 1 and minimum shared k-mers 20). The numbers represent: contig pairs passing the prefilter step (≥95% sequence identity; blue), pairs passing the align step (ANI ≥ 95%, AF ≥ 85%) common to the pairs obtained using all k-mers (green), contig pairs missed compared to using all k-mers (red), and additional contig pairs detected at the specified k-mers fraction but missing compared to using all k-mers (magenta). For instance, a 0.2 k-mers fraction reduces time and memory usage threefold, with a minimal impact on sensitivity and specificity.
Source data
Comparison of a, total average nucleotide identity (tANI) and b, aligned fraction (AF) values on a reference dataset of 4,244 complete bacteriophage genomes and the same dataset where two regions in each genome were swapped at a random breakpoint position. Both plots cover 40,618 genome pairs with tANI ≥ 70%.
Source data
Supplementary Figs. 1–5
Supplementary Table 1. The expected (true) tANI values in the 70–100% range, derived from 10,000 pairs of bacteriophage genomes subjected to simulated mutations, including different levels of substitution, insertion, deletion, duplication, inversion and translocation events. Mutation-type frequencies and corresponding altered nucleotide counts are detailed in the table. Supplementary Table 2. Comparison of the tANI values predicted by Vclust and VIRIDIC in the reference to true ANI values in the ≥95% range. True tANI values were determined among 1,188 genome pairs with simulated mutations, including substitutions, insertions, deletions, inversions and translocations (Methods). Vclust shows superior accuracy in determining tANI, with a maximum difference (error) from the true tANI of 0.6%, whereas VIRIDIC's maximum error in tANI values reaches up to 4.7%. Supplementary Table 3. List of bacteriophage genome pairs showing tANI ≥ 95% as predicted by both Vclust and VIRIDIC, yet classified into different species by the ICTV. For each such pair, the history of all involved taxa was reviewed using the ICTV Taxonomy Browser and taxonomic proposals were checked for adopted demarcation criteria and presented. List of bacteriophage genome pairs showing tANI ≥ 95% as predicted by both Vclust and VIRIDIC, yet classified into different species by the ICTV. For each such pair, the history of all involved taxa was reviewed using the ICTV Taxonomy Browser (https://ictv.global/taxonomy/taxondetails/) and taxonomic proposals were checked for adopted demarcation criteria and presented evidence of genome-genome similarity. Supplementary Table 4. List of bacteriophage sequence pairs showing tANI < 95% as predicted by both Vclust and VIRIDIC, yet classified into same species by the ICTV. The identity of such records was reviewed by manual inspection of the GenBank records and associated literature. As our pipeline investigated complete genomes only, all sequences were interpreted as separate genomes. This fragmented genome was flagged, as the sequences belong to the same species, but show almost no sequence similarity. Supplementary Table 5. Comparison of species-level agreement between Vclust and other tools with the ICTV taxonomy (Virus Metadata Resource v38.3) across six different clustering algorithms. Clustering for the evaluated tools was conducted using Clusty based on a tANI threshold of ≥95%. Agreement between the tool clusterings and ICTV species-level clusters was assessed using the ARI, where an ARI of 0 represents no agreement beyond random chance, and an ARI of 1 indicates identical clustering results. Supplementary Table 6. List of 614 ICTV bacteriophage genera containing more than one species or genome. For each genus, the mean and maximum tANI values were calculated using VIRIDIC, the recommended and most widely used tool for genus delineation in ICTV taxonomic proposals. Notably, in nearly 10% of genera (n = 57), no genome pair exceeds the genus threshold of 70% tANI, and an additional 8% of genera (n = 43) have a mean tANI below 70%. Supplementary Table 7. List of 39 ICTV genera pairs with tANI values exceeding the genus threshold of 70%. The table includes the 609 pairs of genomes from different genera where tANI > 70%, encompassing 60 genera. Only the genome pairs (ID1 and ID2) with the highest tANI values are presented. Supplementary Table 8. Wall time and peak memory usage for all-to-all comparisons on the 4,244 bacteriophage genomes in Fig. 2b,c with 32 threads. The time and memory measurements of Vclust and VIRIDIC also include the clustering step, while FastANI and skani perform only ANI calculations. The table also contains the method commands and parameters used for benchmarking. Supplementary Table 9. Comparison of ANI and AF values predicted by the tools in reference to the expected ANI and AF values obtained from BLASTn. The ANI and AF values were calculated among 94,225 viral metagenomic contigs subsampled from IMG/VR v4.1. Only the contig pairs that satisfied the MIUViG's threshold of ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85% were considered in the comparison. As shown in the third column, BLASTn returned 4,361,743 contig pairs satisfying the MIUViG's threshold. The columns include the Pearson correlation coefficient (Pearson r) between the predicted and reference ANI/AF values, the MAE representing the average absolute difference between predicted and reference ANI/AF values, and the maximum error, which indicates the largest single absolute difference between a predicted ANI/AF value and its corresponding reference. Supplementary Table 10. Comparison of ANI and AF values predicted by the tools in reference to the expected ANI and AF values obtained from BLASTn. This table shows results of Supplementary Table 9, stratified by different contig sizes: <5 kb (n contigs = 19,280), 5–10 kb (n = 29,853), 10–20 kb (n = 17,238), 20–50 kb (n = 22,100), 50–100 kb (n = 4,747), >100 kb (n = 1,007). Only the contig pairs that satisfied the MIUViG's threshold of ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85% in BLASTn were considered in the comparison. Supplementary Table 11. Clustering 15,677,623 virus contig sequences from IMG/VR v4.1 into vOTUs based on the MIUViG thresholds (ANI ≥ 95% and AF ≥ 85%). As a reference, ANI and AF values between all-versus-all contigs were calculated from MegaBLAST (--max_target_seqs 20000 and --evalue 1e-03) and clustered with six algorithms using Clusty. The clustering outputs were evaluated against the MegaBLAST-based reference clustering using ARI (10th column). Additionally, comparisons were made with the original IMG/VR vOTU assignments (11th column). Notably, vOTU clusters based on ANI values from Vclust and MegaBLAST showed high ARI values across different clustering algorithms. Vclust with the ‘--kmers-fraction' option set to 0.2, using 20% of k-mers during prefiltering, has minimal impact on the number of clusters compared to the default setting, which uses all k-mers. Discrepancies between the original IMG/VR vOTUs and Vclust/MegaBLAST clusters are due to differences in the implementation of the Leiden algorithm between the studies. vOTU clusters generated by each clustering algorithm were compared based on the distribution of intra-cluster and inter-cluster ANI values, as presented in Supplementary Fig. 1. Supplementary Table 12. Wall time and peak memory usage for calculating ANI and AF among 15,677,623 IMG/VR contigs, with 64 threads. Vclust performed k-mer-based estimation of sequence identity for 122,893,931,465,064 contig pairs (in the prefilter step), and aligned 811,099,152 contig pairs (in the ANI calculation step). BLASTn measurements were estimated from a random sample of 1,000 contigs used as a query to search a database of 15,677,623 contigs. ANI and AF values from MegaBLAST and BLASTn outputs were calculated using the anicalc tool from CheckV. Vclust with the ‘--kmers-fraction' option set to 0.2, using 20% of k-mers during prefiltering, reduces runtime and RAM usage threefold compared to the default setting, which uses all k-mers. Supplementary Table 13. Selection of default LZ-ANI parameter values based on Bayesian optimization. The table summarizes the results of Bayesian optimization performed using scikit-optimize v0.9.0 on a dataset of 10,000 pairs of complete genomes, each with simulated mutations and known true tANI values of ≥70%. Each row represents one of the 100 evaluation runs, with different sets of LZ-ANI parameter combinations. The columns include the Pearson correlation coefficient (Pearson r) between the predicted and reference tANI values, the MAE representing the average absolute difference between predicted and reference tANI values, and the maximum error, which indicates the largest single absolute difference between a predicted tANI value and its corresponding reference. The evaluation run with the lowest MAE is highlighted in bold and is set as the default parameter configuration in Vclust.
Statistical source data for Fig. 2b–f and Extended Data Figs. 1 and 3–5.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions
Zielezinski, A., Gudyś, A., Barylski, J. et al. Ultrafast and accurate sequence alignment and clustering of viral genomes.
Nat Methods (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02701-7
Download citation
Received: 09 July 2024
Accepted: 14 April 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02701-7
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature Methods
(Nat Methods)
ISSN 1548-7105 (online)
ISSN 1548-7091 (print)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research, free to your inbox weekly.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature Biotechnology
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
Intracellular delivery of biomacromolecules is hampered by low efficiency and cytotoxicity. Here we report the development of elastin-based nanoparticles for therapeutic delivery (ENTER), a recombinant elastin-like polypeptide (ELP)-based delivery system for effective cytosolic delivery of biomacromolecules in vitro and in vivo. Through iterative design, we developed fourth-generation ELPs fused to cationic endosomal escape peptides (EEPs) that self-assemble into pH-responsive micellar nanoparticles and enable cytosolic entry of cargo following endocytic uptake. In silico screening of α-helical peptide libraries led to the discovery of an EEP (EEP13) with 48% improved protein delivery efficiency versus a benchmark peptide. Our lead ELP–EEP13 showed similar or superior performance compared to lipid-based transfection reagents in the delivery of mRNA-encoded, DNA-encoded and protein-form Cre recombinase and CRISPR gene editors as well as short interfering RNAs to multiple cell lines and primary cell types. Intranasal administration of ELP–EEP13 combined with Cre protein achieved efficient editing of lung epithelial cells in reporter mice.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Data used for training EEP predictive models and the compiled α-helical peptide database are available on GitHub (https://github.com/sayoeweje/elp-eep-discovery)89. Source data are provided with this paper. All additional data are available upon request.
All scripts and data used for EEP design can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/sayoeweje/elp-eep-discovery (ref. 89).
Baden, L. R. et al. Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 384, 403–416 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Polack, F. P. et al. Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 383, 2603–2615 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Adams, D. et al. Patisiran, an RNAi therapeutic, for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis. N. Engl. J. Med. 379, 11–21 (2018).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Gillmore, J. D. et al. CRISPR–Cas9 in vivo gene editing for transthyretin amyloidosis. N. Engl. J. Med. 385, 493–502 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Frangoul, H. et al. CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing for sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. N. Engl. J. Med. 384, 252–260 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ramaswamy, S. et al. Systemic delivery of factor IX messenger RNA for protein replacement therapy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, E1941–E1950 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rurik, J. G. et al. CAR T cells produced in vivo to treat cardiac injury. Science 375, 91–96 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Parayath, N. N., Stephan, S. B., Koehne, A. L., Nelson, P. S. & Stephan, M. T. In vitro-transcribed antigen receptor mRNA nanocarriers for transient expression in circulating T cells in vivo. Nat. Commun. 11, 6080 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Mendes, B. B. et al. Nanodelivery of nucleic acids. Nat. Rev. Methods Primers 2, 24 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Tian, Y., Tirrell, M. V. & LaBelle, J. L. Harnessing the therapeutic potential of biomacromolecules through intracellular delivery of nucleic acids, peptides, and proteins. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 11, 2102600 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bulcha, J. T., Wang, Y., Ma, H., Tai, P. W. L. & Gao, G. Viral vector platforms within the gene therapy landscape. Sig. Transduct. Target. Ther. 6, 53 (2021).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Zhao, Z., Anselmo, A. C. & Mitragotri, S. Viral vector‐based gene therapies in the clinic. Bioeng. Transl. Med. 7, e10258 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hou, X., Zaks, T., Langer, R. & Dong, Y. Lipid nanoparticles for mRNA delivery. Nat. Rev. Mater. 6, 1078–1094 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Das, R., Kanjilal, P., Medeiros, J. & Thayumanavan, S. What's next after lipid nanoparticles? A perspective on enablers of nucleic acid therapeutics. Bioconjug. Chem. 33, 1996–2007 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Koren, E., Apte, A., Sawant, R. R., Grunwald, J. & Torchilin, V. P. Cell-penetrating TAT peptide in drug delivery systems: proteolytic stability requirements. Drug Deliv. 18, 377–384 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Schmidt, N., Mishra, A., Lai, G. H. & Wong, G. C. L. Arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides. FEBS Lett. 584, 1806–1813 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Derossi, D., Joliot, A. H., Chassaing, G. & Prochiantz, A. The third helix of the Antennapedia homeodomain translocates through biological membranes. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 10444–10450 (1994).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Krishnamurthy, S. et al. Engineered amphiphilic peptides enable delivery of proteins and CRISPR-associated nucleases to airway epithelia. Nat. Commun. 10, 4906 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sánchez-Navarro, M. Advances in peptide-mediated cytosolic delivery of proteins. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 171, 187–198 (2021).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Boisguérin, P., Konate, K., Josse, E., Vivès, E. & Deshayes, S. Peptide-based nanoparticles for therapeutic nucleic acid delivery. Biomedicines 9, 583 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kim, W. & Chaikof, E. L. Recombinant elastin-mimetic biomaterials: emerging applications in medicine. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 62, 1468–1478 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Gagner, J. E., Kim, W. & Chaikof, E. L. Designing protein-based biomaterials for medical applications. Acta Biomater. 10, 1542–1557 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Jenkins, I. C., Milligan, J. J. & Chilkoti, A. Genetically encoded elastin-like polypeptides for drug delivery. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 10, 2100209 (2021).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Urry, D. W. Physical chemistry of biological free energy transduction as demonstrated by elastic protein-based polymers. J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 11007–11028 (1997).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Dreher, M. R. et al. Temperature triggered self-assembly of polypeptides into multivalent spherical micelles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 687–694 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Li, N. K., García Quiroz, F., Hall, C. K., Chilkoti, A. & Yingling, Y. G. Molecular description of the LCST behavior of an elastin-like polypeptide. Biomacromolecules 15, 3522–3530 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kim, W., Xiao, J. & Chaikof, E. L. Recombinant amphiphilic protein micelles for drug delivery. Langmuir 27, 14329–14334 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kim, W., Brady, C. & Chaikof, E. L. Amphiphilic protein micelles for targeted in vivo imaging. Acta Biomater. 8, 2476–2482 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kim, W. et al. Targeted antithrombotic protein micelles. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 54, 1461–1465 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Yi, A., Sim, D., Lee, Y.-J., Sarangthem, V. & Park, R.-W. Development of elastin-like polypeptide for targeted specific gene delivery in vivo. J. Nanobiotechnology 18, 15 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Yi, A., Sim, D., Lee, S.-B., Sarangthem, V. & Park, R.-W. Application of bioengineered elastin-like polypeptide-based system for targeted gene delivery in tumor cells. Biomater. Biosyst. 6, 100050 (2022).
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Eweje, F. et al. Protein-based nanoparticles for therapeutic nucleic acid delivery. Biomaterials 305, 122464 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kim, W., Thévenot, J., Ibarboure, E., Lecommandoux, S. & Chaikof, E. L. Self-assembly of thermally responsive amphiphilic diblock copolypeptides into spherical micellar nanoparticles. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 49, 4257–4260 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zuris, J. A. et al. Cationic lipid-mediated delivery of proteins enables efficient protein-based genome editing in vitro and in vivo. Nat. Biotechnol. 33, 73–80 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Dorr, B. M., Ham, H. O., An, C., Chaikof, E. L. & Liu, D. R. Reprogramming the specificity of sortase enzymes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 13343–13348 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kwon, H.-S. et al. Anti-human CD117 antibody-mediated bone marrow niche clearance in nonhuman primates and humanized NSG mice. Blood 133, 2104–2108 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Czechowicz, A. et al. Selective hematopoietic stem cell ablation using CD117-antibody-drug-conjugates enables safe and effective transplantation with immunity preservation. Nat. Commun. 10, 617 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Freeman, E. C., Weiland, L. M. & Meng, W. S. Modeling the proton sponge hypothesis: examining proton sponge effectiveness for enhancing intracellular gene delivery through multiscale modeling. J. Biomater. Sci. Polym. Ed. 24, 398–416 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Hajimolaali, M. et al. Application of chloroquine as an endosomal escape enhancing agent: new frontiers for an old drug. Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 18, 877–889 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Nielsen, E. J. B. et al. In vivo proof of concept of oral insulin delivery based on a co-administration strategy with the cell-penetrating peptide penetratin. J. Control. Release 189, 19–24 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
El-Sayed, A., Masuda, T., Khalil, I., Akita, H. & Harashima, H. Enhanced gene expression by a novel stearylated INF7 peptide derivative through fusion independent endosomal escape. J. Control. Release 138, 160–167 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rai, D. K. & Qian, S. Interaction of the antimicrobial peptide aurein 1.2 and charged lipid bilayer. Sci. Rep. 7, 3719 (2017).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Peterson, J. J. & Meares, C. F. Cathepsin substrates as cleavable peptide linkers in bioconjugates, selected from a fluorescence quench combinatorial library. Bioconjug. Chem. 9, 618–626 (1998).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Biniossek, M. L., Nägler, D. K., Becker-Pauly, C. & Schilling, O. Proteomic identification of protease cleavage sites characterizes prime and non-prime specificity of cysteine cathepsins B, L, and S. J. Proteome Res. 10, 5363–5373 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Abboud-Jarrous, G. et al. Cathepsin L is responsible for processing and activation of proheparanase through multiple cleavages of a linker segment. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 18167–18176 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Biswas, A. et al. Endoprotease-mediated intracellular protein delivery using nanocapsules. ACS Nano 5, 1385–1394 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Xie, J. et al. Cell-penetrating peptides in diagnosis and treatment of human diseases: from preclinical research to clinical application. Front. Pharmacol. 11, 697 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Guterstam, P. et al. Elucidating cell-penetrating peptide mechanisms of action for membrane interaction, cellular uptake, and translocation utilizing the hydrophobic counter-anion pyrenebutyrate. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1788, 2509–2517 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Islam, M. Z., Ariyama, H., Alam, J. M. & Yamazaki, M. Entry of cell-penetrating peptide transportan 10 into a single vesicle by translocating across lipid membrane and its induced pores. Biochemistry 53, 386–396 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Akishiba, M. et al. Cytosolic antibody delivery by lipid-sensitive endosomolytic peptide. Nat. Chem. 9, 751–761 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Sato, H. & Feix, J. B. Peptide–membrane interactions and mechanisms of membrane destruction by amphipathic α-helical antimicrobial peptides. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1758, 1245–1256 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ho, A., Schwarze, S. R., Mermelstein, S. J., Waksman, G. & Dowdy, S. F. Synthetic protein transduction domains: enhanced transduction potential in vitro and in vivo. Cancer Res. 61, 474–477 (2001).
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kabelka, I. & Vácha, R. Advances in molecular understanding of α-helical membrane-active peptides. Acc. Chem. Res. 54, 2196–2204 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Brock, D. J. et al. Mechanism of cell penetration by permeabilization of late endosomes: interplay between a multivalent TAT peptide and bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate. Cell Chem. Biol. 27, 1296–1307 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Guay, D., Del'Guidice, T. & Lepetit-Stoffaes, J.-P. Polypeptide-based shuttle agents for improving the transduction efficiency of polypeptide cargos to the cytosol of target eukaryotic cells, uses thereof, methods and kits relating to same. US patent US9738687B2 (2016).
Wang, G., Li, X. & Wang, Z. APD3: the antimicrobial peptide database as a tool for research and education. Nucleic Acids Res. 44, D1087–D1093 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Pirtskhalava, M. et al. DBAASP v3: database of antimicrobial/cytotoxic activity and structure of peptides as a resource for development of new therapeutics. Nucleic Acids Res. 49, D288–D297 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Tsai, C.-Y. et al. Helical structure motifs made searchable for functional peptide design. Nat. Commun. 13, 102 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Machida, S., Niimi, S., Shi, X., Ando, Y. & Yu, Y. Design of a novel membrane-destabilizing peptide selectively acting on acidic liposomes. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 64, 985–994 (2000).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Slaninová, J. et al. Toxicity study of antimicrobial peptides from wild bee venom and their analogs toward mammalian normal and cancer cells. Peptides 33, 18–26 (2012).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Oh, J. H. et al. Multimeric amphipathic α-helical sequences for rapid and efficient intracellular protein transport at nanomolar concentrations. Adv. Sci. 5, 1800240 (2018).
Article
Google Scholar
Chong, S.-E. et al. Intracellular delivery of immunoglobulin G at nanomolar concentrations with domain Z-fused multimeric α-helical cell penetrating peptides. J. Control. Release 330, 161–172 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kobayashi, T. et al. Separation and characterization of late endosomal membrane domains. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 32157–32164 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhang, S., Shen, J., Li, D. & Cheng, Y. Strategies in the delivery of Cas9 ribonucleoprotein for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. Theranostics 11, 614–648 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rilo-Alvarez, H., Ledo, A. M., Vidal, A. & Garcia-Fuentes, M. Delivery of transcription factors as modulators of cell differentiation. Drug Deliv. Transl. Res. 11, 426–444 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhang, F. et al. Genetic programming of macrophages to perform anti-tumor functions using targeted mRNA nanocarriers. Nat. Commun. 10, 3974 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Krausgruber, T. et al. IRF5 promotes inflammatory macrophage polarization and TH1–TH17 responses. Nat. Immunol. 12, 231–238 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rennick, J. J., Johnston, A. P. R. & Parton, R. G. Key principles and methods for studying the endocytosis of biological and nanoparticle therapeutics. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 266–276 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Hołubowicz, R. et al. Safer and efficient base editing and prime editing via ribonucleoproteins delivered through optimized lipid-nanoparticle formulations. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 9, 57–78 (2025).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chen, K. et al. Lung and liver editing by lipid nanoparticle delivery of a stable CRISPR–Cas9 ribonucleoprotein. Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02437-3 (2024).
Mónica Bravo-Anaya, L. et al. Coupling of RAFT polymerization and chemoselective post-modifications of elastin-like polypeptides for the synthesis of gene delivery hybrid vectors. Polym. Chem. 12, 226–241 (2021).
Article
Google Scholar
Bravo-Anaya, L. M. et al. Nucleic acids complexation with cationic elastin-like polypeptides: stoichiometry and stability of nano-assemblies. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 557, 777–792 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kelly, G. et al. Intratumoral delivery of brachytherapy and immunotherapy by a thermally triggered polypeptide depot. J. Control. Release 343, 267–276 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lee, C. H., Ingrole, R. S. J. & Gill, H. S. Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells using elastin like polypeptides as a non-viral gene delivery system. Biochim. Biophys. Acta Mol. Basis Dis. 1866, 165405 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Piña, M. J. et al. A double safety lock tumor-specific device for suicide gene therapy in breast cancer. Cancer Lett. 470, 43–53 (2020).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Del'Guidice, T. et al. Membrane permeabilizing amphiphilic peptide delivers recombinant transcription factor and CRISPR–Cas9/Cpf1 ribonucleoproteins in hard-to-modify cells. PLoS ONE 13, e0195558 (2018).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chow, D. C., Dreher, M. R., Trabbic-Carlson, K. & Chilkoti, A. Ultra-high expression of a thermally responsive recombinant fusion protein in E. coli. Biotechnol. Prog. 22, 638–646 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Tripathi, N. K. Production and purification of recombinant proteins from Escherichia coli. ChemBioEng Rev. 3, 116–133 (2016).
Article
Google Scholar
Schneier, M., Razdan, S., Miller, A. M., Briceno, M. E. & Barua, S. Current technologies to endotoxin detection and removal for biopharmaceutical purification. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 117, 2588–2609 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhang, S., Sun, Y., Zhang, L., Zhang, F. & Gao, W. Thermoresponsive polypeptide fused l-asparaginase with mitigated immunogenicity and enhanced efficacy in treating hematologic malignancies. Adv. Sci. 10, 2300469 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Cheng, T.-F. et al. Differential activation of IFN regulatory factor (IRF)-3 and IRF-5 transcription factors during viral infection. J. Immunol. 176, 7462–7470 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Brinkman, E. K., Chen, T., Amendola, M. & van Steensel, B. Easy quantitative assessment of genome editing by sequence trace decomposition. Nucleic Acids Res. 42, e168 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Xu, L., Liu, Y. & Han, R. BEAT: a Python program to quantify base editing from Sanger sequencing. CRISPR J. 2, 223–229 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Seluanov, A., Vaidya, A. & Gorbunova, V. Establishing primary adult fibroblast cultures from rodents. J. Vis. Exp. 2010, 2033 (2010).
Angsana, J. et al. Syndecan-1 modulates the motility and resolution responses of macrophages. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 35, 332–340 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chen, J. et al. Modulation of lymphocyte-mediated tissue repair by rational design of heterocyclic aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists. Sci. Adv. 6, eaay8230 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Tran, N. T. et al. Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockin in mouse hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Cell Rep. 28, 3510–3522 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bayes, H. K., Ritchie, N., Irvine, S. & Evans, T. J. A murine model of early Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung disease with transition to chronic infection. Sci. Rep. 6, 35838 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Eweje, F. et al. Self-assembling protein nanoparticles for cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids and proteins. GitHub https://github.com/sayoeweje/elp-eep-discovery (2025).
Download references
We thank members of the laboratory of E.L.C. for helpful discussions; B. Pinckney, G. Haskett and J. Tigges (BIDMC Flow Cytometry Core); A. Pauer and T. Ferrante (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering); S. White (BIDMC Histology Core); A. Black (BIDMC Precision RNA Medicine Core); R. Nair (Harvard Molecular Electron Microscopy Suite) and A. Berger and P. Hammond for HeLa-d2eGFP cells (via P. Jain, University of Florida). Research in the laboratory of E.L.C. was supported by the NIH (UG3AI15055 and UH3AI150551) as part of the Somatic Cell Genome Editing consortium. Research in the laboratory of D.R.L. was additionally supported by HHMI. F.E. is supported by the Harvard/MIT MD–PhD program (5T32GM007753-42) and a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA F31 Fellowship (F31HL167533). V.I., K.A. and A.A. acknowledge research fellowship support from the Harvard College Research Program. M.L.W. is supported by the Harvard/MIT MD–PhD program (5T32GM144273-02). Images in Figs. 1a and 4a and Supplementary Fig. 1e were created with BioRender.com.
These authors contributed equally: Feyisayo Eweje, Jiaxuan Chen.
Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Feyisayo Eweje, Vanessa Ibrahim, Aram Shajii, Michelle L. Walsh, Kiran Ahmad, Assma Alrefai, Dominie Miyasato, Hyunok Ham, Kaicheng Li, Carolyn A. Haller, Jiaxuan Chen & Elliot L. Chaikof
Harvard and MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Feyisayo Eweje & Michelle L. Walsh
Harvard/MIT MD–PhD Program, Boston, MA, USA
Feyisayo Eweje & Michelle L. Walsh
Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
Feyisayo Eweje, Hyunok Ham, Kaicheng Li, Carolyn A. Haller, Jiaxuan Chen & Elliot L. Chaikof
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jessie R. Davis & David R. Liu
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jessie R. Davis & David R. Liu
Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jessie R. Davis & David R. Liu
Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Michael Roehrl
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
E.L.C., J.C., F.E., C.A.H. and D.R.L. designed the experiments and analyzed the results. F.E., V.I., A.S., K.A. and A.A. expressed and purified ELPs and cargo proteins. J.C. performed sortase conjugation studies. H.H. and K.L. designed and synthesized linkers for monoclonal antibody–ELP sortase conjugation. J.R.D. designed and cloned protein cargo plasmids. F.E., V.I., A.S. and J.C. performed nanoparticle size and zeta potential characterization. F.E., J.C., V.I., A.S., K.A., A.A., D.M. and M.L.W. conducted in vitro delivery studies. F.E. conducted predictive model development and EEP design. F.E. and J.C. performed in vivo delivery studies and analyzed efficacy. M.R. conducted histological evaluation of lung tissues. F.E., J.C. and E.L.C. wrote the paper with input from coauthors.
Correspondence to
Jiaxuan Chen or Elliot L. Chaikof.
F.E., J.C. and E.L.C. are inventors on a pending patent related to this work filed by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (PCT/US2024/038614). D.R.L. is a consultant and equity holder of Nvelop Medicine, Prime Medicine, Beam Therapeutics, Pairwise Plants and Chroma Medicine, companies that use or deliver gene editing or genome engineering agents. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Biotechnology thanks Joao Conde, Michael Mitchell and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
a) PAGE gel image depicting result of sortase-mediated Cre-LPETG conjugation to V1-ELP at varying ratios. The reaction solution underwent centrifugal filtration against a 100 kDa filter to remove unreacted Cre. b) Quantification of Cre-V1-ELP conjugation efficiency via densitometry analysis, measured as percentage of total ELP conjugated to Cre. c) Diameter of Cre-V1-ELP nanoparticles (n = 3 technical replicates). d) PAGE gel image depicting result of sortase-mediated SpCas9-LPETG conjugation to V1-ELP at varying ratios. e) Diameter and f) Zeta potential of SpCas9-V1-ELP nanoparticles (n = 3 technical replicates). g) PAGE gel image and h) Densitometry analysis of CD117 mAb-V1-ELP conjugation efficiency. i) MFI and j) Fluorescent images of CD117 + P815 mast cells treated with CD117 mAb-functionalized V1-ELP nanoparticles compared to unfunctionalized controls (n = 3). Scalebars = 10 μm. For all experiments, [V1-ELP] = 8 μM unless otherwise noted. Significance assessed via one-way ANOVA with Dunnett's correction for multiple comparisons. Data represented by mean ± SEM.
Source data
Supplementary Methods, Figs. 1–16, Tables 1 and 2 and uncropped supplementary gel images.
Source data for supplementary figures.
Sequences and catalog numbers of the oligonucleotides used.
Statistical source data.
Uncropped gel images.
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
Reprints and permissions
Eweje, F., Ibrahim, V., Shajii, A. et al. Self-assembling protein nanoparticles for cytosolic delivery of nucleic acids and proteins.
Nat Biotechnol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02664-2
Download citation
Received: 14 August 2024
Accepted: 01 April 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02664-2
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature Biotechnology
(Nat Biotechnol)
ISSN 1546-1696 (online)
ISSN 1087-0156 (print)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Advertisement
Nature Communications
volume 16, Article number: 4501 (2025)
Cite this article
Metrics details
Optical beam steering enables optical sensing, imaging, and long-range communication over free space. Despite the inherent speed of light, advanced applications increasingly require simultaneous steering of multiple, independently controlled beams, to enhance imaging throughput, boost communication bandwidth, and control qubit arrays for scalable quantum computing. However, precise multi-beam steering and control remain a significant challenge with current solid-state beam steering technologies, driving the need for integrated and scalable multi-beam steering solutions. Here, we report a scalable multi-beam steering system comprising an array of integrated acousto-optic beam steering channels on a thin-film lithium niobate platform. Each channel generates tens of individually controllable beams at 780 nm with sub-microsecond switching time by exciting acoustic waves using multi-tone microwave signals. We demonstrate the system's unique capabilities through multiple-input, multiple-output free-space communications, simultaneously transmitting to multiple receivers at megabits/sec data rates. This technology is readily scalable to steer hundreds of optical beams from a compact chip, potentially advancing many areas of optical technologies and enabling novel applications.
Solid-state optical beam steering is crucial for a wide array of optical technologies (Fig. 1a), including light detection and ranging (LiDAR)1,2, bioimaging3,4, optical trapping5,6,7, and performing parallel gate operations of optically addressed qubits, such as neutral atoms8,9,10,11, trapped ions12,13,14, and defect centers in solids15,16. It also enables free-space optical communications (FSOC)17,18,19. Various solid-state beam steering technologies have been developed, including optical phased arrays (OPA)20,21,22, focal plane switch arrays (FPSA)23,24, digital micromirror devices (DMD)25,26, and spatial light modulators (SLM)27. These technologies share a common principle: they steer light by creating a synthetic aperture composed of an array of microscale pixels, which relies on sophisticated peripheral control circuits to precisely control optical amplitude or phase at each pixel. Demands on wider steering angles and higher steering resolutions necessitate an increasing number of pixels, presenting significant scaling challenges. Moreover, while existing solid-state beam steering technologies primarily focus on steering a single beam, multi-beam steering28,29 could address performance requirements in advanced applications. For instance, the imaging frame rate of a single-beam-scanning LiDAR system is fundamentally limited by the time of flight and insufficient for autonomous driving systems. This limitation can be addressed by scanning multiple beams simultaneously28,29. Multi-beam steering also enables scalable quantum computing using optically addressed qubits11. These applications demand high beam quality, fast scanning speeds, and independent control of individual beams, critical capabilities that can only be achieved through high-performance, solid-state multi-beam steering technology. Achieving multi-beam steering with SLM or OPA is possible, but they face challenges that make them impractical for many applications. For example, SLMs can segment their aperture into several sub-apertures to diffract and scan multiple beams. However, the scanning speed is limited to the kHz range, which is insufficient for high-speed applications27. OPAs can generate multiple beams by superimposing multiple phase patterns on the array, but they suffer from low extinction ratios due to high crosstalk between the beams30,31. In general, multi-beam steering using integrated photonic systems must overcome several common challenges. The first is power handling capability: each beam must carry the same optical power as in single-beam mode, significantly increasing the total power handling requirement. The second challenge is the increased crosstalk between different beams, which is caused by reduced beam quality when multiple beams are generated from the same aperture. Lastly, there is the challenge of controlling and modulating individual beams so that they can be utilized independently and multiplexed to enhance sensing and imaging throughput or overall system communication bandwidth. The limitations of existing technology call for the innovation of new optical beam steering techniques.
a Optical multi-beam steering finds many important applications ranging from (clockwise from upper left) LiDAR, quantum computing, AR/VR display, and free-space optical communication. b Optical microscope image and (c) scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the mAOBS array. The device consists of three main components of (d) IDT (left white box in b), (e) mode converter (right white box in b), and f. integrated photonic circuits of beam splitters and waveguide tapers.
The emerging integrated acousto-optic devices could provide a powerful solution to overcome the abovementioned challenges. Acousto-optic devices utilize acoustic waves that are electromechanically excited in materials to generate a moving phase mask, which coherently modulates and shapes optical waves that pass through. Conventional acousto-optic devices using bulk materials, including acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) and modulators (AOMs), have already proven to be effective as optical switches and intensity modulators in various laser tools32,33. Recently, AODs operated in the multi-beam mode have played a critical role in performing parallel gate operations on neutral atom arrays for quantum computing8,9,10,11. With the emergence of new material platforms and the advancement of optomechanical systems, acousto-optics have been incorporated into integrated photonics, demonstrating versatile applications on various platforms34,35,36,37,38. Guided-wave acousto-optic devices for RF signal processing, optical filtering, and switching have been demonstrated on bulk lithium niobate substrates with a compact footprint39,40. Previously, on a lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platform, we demonstrated an integrated acousto-optic beam steering (AOBS) device in which GHz frequency acoustic waves are generated to steer waveguided light into free space with a wide field of view and diffraction-limited resolution41. Here we achieved multi-beam steering where individual beams can be independently controlled and modulated, advancing beyond single-beam AOBS capabilities. In contrast to schemes using pixelated apertures, AOBS has a continuous aperture and uses only a single acoustic transducer to control beam steering. Moreover, the coherent acousto-optic scattering process allows one AOBS device to be driven simultaneously by multiple control signals of different frequencies. Each tone of the generated acoustic wave scatters light into a different angle to achieve multi-beam steering. The compact size of AOBS allows multiple devices to be closely integrated on one chip, proportionally increasing the number of steerable beams. Furthermore, the amplitude and phase of each beam can be independently modulated by the corresponding control signal with an overall bandwidth of hundreds of MHz.
In this work, we report an integrated multi-beam AOBS (mAOBS) array and demonstrate free-space optical communication (FSOC) with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) by combining multi-beam steering and modulation. The mAOBS features an array of monolithically integrated channels, each capable of generating and steering more than twenty visible-band beams along one axis with high beam quality and superior dynamic performance. An array of such channels generates a 2D array of beams. By modulating each beam using Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) coding, we achieve MIMO communication with an aggregate bandwidth exceeding 100 megabits per second (Mbps). MIMO-enabled FSOC affords precise and swift multi-channel communication between decentralized drone swarms or autonomous vehicles, ensuring secure and efficient coordination42. It also enables fast-deployed, reconfigurable, and broad bandwidth satellite or air-to-ground communications43. Our results demonstrate that the mAOBS array is a scalable and flexible multi-beam steering solution that has the potential to enable many emerging optical technologies (Fig. 1a).
Our mAOBS array consists of three main components (Fig. 1b, c): interdigital transducer (IDT) arrays for surface acoustic wave (SAW) generation; a continuous acousto-optic (AO) aperture for beam steering, and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for on-chip light coupling, distributing, and shaping. The AO aperture, as in Fig. 1b, is the slab area between the IDTs (Fig. 1d) and mode converters (Fig. 1e). It comprises multiple AOBS channels that are formed by collimated acoustic and optical beams, rather than by patterning, to maximize the interaction area and reduce background scattering by etched structures. In each channel, the SAW is launched by an IDT to scatter light off the chip and steer along the horizontal axis (H-axis). The array of AOBS channels is distributed along the vertical axis (V-axis), as denoted in Fig. 1b. We place the mAOBS chip at the focal plane of a cylindrical convex lens, which collimates the beams from different channels. For light steered from each AOBS channel, the steering angle along H-axis is controlled by the frequency of the control signal, while the angle in V-axis is determined by the position of the AOBS channel. With each AOBS channel driven by multiple control signals of different frequencies, a 2D array of beams is generated. In addition, each beam can be individually modulated by the corresponding control signal at each channel.
The device is fabricated on an X-cut lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) substrate with 300 nm thick LN layer. A visible-band laser with 780 nm wavelength (Newport TLB-6712) is coupled from fiber to the chip through a waveguide edge coupler. PICs (Fig. 1f) of single-mode waveguides are patterned and etched in the LN layer to route and distribute light to different channels on the chip. Before entering the AO aperture, the waveguide mode is expanded to the \({30}{\mbox{-}}\mu{\rm{m}}{\mbox{-}}{\rm{wide}}\) slab mode to increase the AO interaction area and aperture width. At the end of the mode expander, the slab mode is converted from the TE0 mode to the TE1 mode by a mode converter (Fig. 1e), and then freely propagates into the AO aperture. Our simulation has shown that the TE1 mode can be more efficiently steered by the SAW, propagating along Y-axis of the LN layer than the TE0 mode due to the enhanced moving boundary effect (See Supplementary Information S1). The pitch (d) between the AOBS channels is 250 \(\mu{\rm{m}}\), sufficient to prevent crosstalk. On the other end of the AO aperture, an array of broadband IDTs is fabricated. The IDT periods are linearly chirped from 1.05 to 1.25 \(\mu{\rm{m}}\) to generate SAW with frequencies centered at f0 = 2.45 GHz over a bandwidth of BW = 450 MHz. Each IDT is wire-bonded to a microwave circuit board to be connected to signal sources.
We characterized the mAOBS array's steering performance by imaging the 2D beam array using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera placed on the image plane of the collimating lens. Four AOBS channels are operated simultaneously. Figure 2a shows a superimposed image of an array of 4×21 beams captured by the camera. The beams are generated by scanning the control signal frequency across the IDT bandwidth with a step of \(\varDelta f=\)15 MHz. Each row of beams is generated by each AOBS channel. The distortion of the beam in the second row is attributed to a small blemish of contamination on the surface of the chip. The average beam divergence is 0.19°. By fitting the beam's intensity profile, we determine the effective aperture length (l) of the AOBS channel is 373 \(\mu{\rm{m}}\), which is the overlap between guided acoustic mode and optical mode, limited by acoustic loss. The best beam steering efficiency of a single beam is 3.3% (−14.8 dB), referred to the optical power in the waveguide, when 14.8 dBm control signal power is used (See Supplementary Information S1). The theoretical number of resolvable spots of a single channel is given by \({N}_{1}={BW\cdot l}/v=\) 54, using the SAW velocity of v = 3,110 m/s. For multiple channels, each controlled by different control signals, the total number of resolvable spots Nt simply increases proportionally with channel count. The area-normalized resolvable spot density of our device thus is \(\sigma={N}_{t}/({d\cdot l})=\)579 (spots/mm2), where d is the width of the whole AO aperture. Compared with conventional bulk AODs (ISOMET D55-T80S-2, \(\sigma\)=64 spots/mm2), the mAOBS array has a significant advantage.
a Superimposed image 4 × 21 beams generated by four AOBS channels and captured on the image plane of the collimating lens. The field of view is 8°×8°. Each row is generated by one AOBS channel. Beams in the second row suffer distortion due to a blemish of contamination on the chip surface. b Normalized intensity profile measured along H-axis of 4 (top), 8 (middle), and 16 (bottom) beams simultaneously generated from a single AOBS channel. The channel is driven by control signals comprising 4, 8, and 16 frequency tones, respectively. Cyan curves show the optical intensity at the focal plane while the shaded areas show the background when the control signals are turned off. Circles on the top mark the position and on (solid) or off (hollow) of each site. The H-axis position is normalized to the average beam width w0. The annotations show the sidelobe suppression ratios. c 2D intensity profile of 16 beams generated simultaneously by a single AOBS channel. b, c are captured by scanning a fiber on the focal plane of the collimating lens. The color bar applies to both (a, c).
Another important metric of beam steering systems is the extinction ratio between beams. Figure 2b shows beam profiles of 4, 8, and 16 beams generated by a single AOBS channel (cyan lines). Because the extinction ratio exceeds the dynamic range of the CCD camera (14 dB), to quantify the on/off contrast and crosstalk between beams, we collected the steered beams by scanning a single-mode fiber on the focal plane of the collimating lens and measured the optical power with a photodetector. For comparison, the background signal, when the SAW is turned off, is plotted as the shaded region. We used an arbitrary waveform generator (Tektronix AWG70001A) to synthesize control signals with up to 16 frequency tones in the range from 2.35 to 2.65 GHz with \(\varDelta f=\)20 MHz. The corresponding angular positions of the 16 beams are marked with circles in Fig. 2b. The x-axis of Fig. 2b is the beam position on the image plane, normalized to the average beam width w0 = 43.9 μm. When four beams are generated simultaneously using four frequency tones with a total power of PT = 16 dBm, the maximum (average) on-off contrast achieved is 29.7 (27.8) dB. As more beams are generated, the on/off contrast gradually reduces because of reduced power at each RF tone when PT is fixed. The IDT has a limited power handling capability, beyond which it can be damaged due to overheating in ambient conditions. This power limit can be improved using more robust material with protection by a passivation layer and by operating in vacuum or inert gas environment. As shown in Fig. 2b, the maximum (average) on/off contrast is 27.4 (24.8) dB for 8 beams and 27.8 (20.9) dB for 16 beams. The contrast degradation with more beams is due to RF power constraints: as the total power is distributed across more beams, the power per tone decreases while the noise floor remains constant, resulting in reduced signal strength. While the beam power is uniform with less than 1% variation, the background has a larger variation due to scattering by etched device structures on the chip. From the recent results of high-Q LN ring resonators44,45,46, we can estimate the optical scattering limit of LN photonic structures and expect the on/off contrast to be further improved to above 60 dB. The crosstalk between beams separated by 5w0 (~1° in angular position) is ~−20 dB, reducing to ~−25 dB at 10w0 separation. Figure 2c shows the detailed 2D mapping of 16 concurrently generated beams, featuring uniform beam shapes and contrasts across the whole field of view.
Besides the multi-beam steering capability, the mAOBS array also shows superior dynamic performance than conventional technologies. We first characterize the linearity, accuracy, and stability of the beam power controlled by the control signal. Figure 3a plots the measured power of a steered beam versus the control signal power varied from 0 to 13 dBm. The optical power is measured with a photodiode using 100 \(\mu{\rm{s}}\) integration time. We repeated the measurement among 16 control signal power levels with overall 3 × 104 switching cycles. The result and linear fitting of it in Fig. 3a show excellent agreement, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) is very low at 0.42%. Figure 3b displays the photodiode voltage waveform captured on an oscilloscope when the control signal is switched on, showing a very short switching rising time of 116 ns (10% to 90%).
a Average beam intensity of a single beam versus control signal power (symbols) along with a linear fitting (line). Each data point is averaged over approximately 1875 measurements, with a total of 30,000 switching cycles. Symbol color represents the relative standard deviation (RSD), calculated as the standard deviation divided by the mean for each data point. b Time trace of the photodetector voltage receiving the beam when the control signal is switched on. The 10–90% rising time is measured to be 116 ns. c Eye diagrams of the AOBS transmitted data of pseudo-random sequence encoded by OOK (upper) at 2 Mbps and PAM4 (lower) at 4 Mbps. d Constellation diagram of the AOBS transmitted data using 64-QAM modulation at 6 Mbps.
The demonstrated linearity, repeatability, and speed of AOBS are important attributes for applications such as optical control of qubits and FSOC. To demonstrate the latter, we modulated the control signal and encode pseudo-random pulse sequence data using various coding schemes. The data was carried by the steered beams and transmitted over free space in a direction controlled by the frequency of the control signal. The steered beam was detected by a receiver and characterized by performing eye diagram and constellation diagram analysis. Figure 3c shows measured eye diagrams when on-off keying (OOK) and 4-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) coding are used, respectively. The data rate is 4 Mbps, which is equivalent to Bluetooth 5.0 transmission rate. Both diagrams show clear eye openings, with a quality factor of 14, indicating a high signal-to-noise ratio. We then advanced the coding scheme to 64-level quadrature amplitude modulation (64-QAM). Figure 3d shows the measured constellation diagram transmitted at 6 Mbps. All 64 symbols are clearly separated with a −26 dB error vector magnitude (EVM).
The multiple beams steered by an AOBS channel in different directions can be modulated by corresponding control signals to transmit different data simultaneously, thereby realizing MIMO optical communication (Fig. 4a). The total communication throughput of each AOBS channel is upper bound by the bandwidth of the IDT, which is 450 MHz in the current device. For multi-beam communication, the available bandwidth is reduced to avoid crosstalk, which requires an inter-beam frequency separation higher than 8 MHz set by beam divergence. The total throughput of the mAOBS array increases proportionally with the number of channels. We demonstrate MIMO optical communication with the scheme as shown in Fig. 4a. Due to the limited number of signal generators, we drove a single AOBS channel with only four control signals to generate four beams, each transmitting a different image. Figure 4b shows the spectrum of the four control signals with frequencies ranging from 2.27 to 2.39 GHz and 40 MHz spacing. Each control signal carries the data stream of an image encoded using 16-QAM return-to-zero coding at 2 Mbps, which helps reduce inter-symbol interference. The transmitted optical signals are received by photodetectors and decoded using digital signal processing (DSP). Figure 4c displays samples of 20 μs duration of the transmitted signals. The aggregated constellation diagrams after demodulation and corresponding images recovered from the data streams are shown in Fig. 4d. The clearly separated constellation demonstrates the communication fidelity of four beams with a combined data rate of 8 Mbps. If all four channels of the mAOBS array are used, each generating 16 beams and transmitting data at 2 Mbps, the aggregated data rate of the current system will reach 128 Mbps.
a System schematic of MIMO-enabled FSCO using the AOBS array. In the transmitter (Tx), a laser source is coupled to the mAOBS array and split to each AOBS channel using PICs. Multiple control signals are used to drive the mAOBS array to steer multiple beams at angles (θi) controlled by the control signal frequency (Ωi). Data is encoded on the beams by amplitude and phase modulating of the control signals. In the receiver (Rx), the beams are received by photodetectors, followed by filters and analog-digital converters. The transmitted signals are demodulated by digital signal processing to decode the data. b Spectrum of the control signals driving one AOBS channel with four different central frequencies from 2.27 to 2.39 GHz with 40 MHz spacing. Each control signal carries the data stream of an image encoded in 16-QAM at a data rate of 2 Mbps. c Sections of photodetector signals when receiving four beams steered to different positions. d The constellation diagrams (left) and the corresponding recovered images (right) transmitted by the mAOBS array.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated a multi-beam AOBS array, which monolithically integrates PICs with acousto-optics on a scalable platform. This system, with its compact footprint, high extinction ratio, superior dynamic performance, and broadband modulation capabilities, presents a promising multi-beam steering solution for diverse applications in optical sensing, imaging, and communication. There are several enabling innovations that are worth noting. The use of lithium niobate and the large steering aperture enable AOBS to handle high optical power over a broad spectral range from near-IR to visible, which is significantly advantageous over OPAs and FPSAs that use silicon photonics. The system's high beam quality and broad acoustic bandwidth result in lower than -20 dB inter-beam crosstalk. Future improvement in fabrication quality and device structure are expected to further reduce crosstalk. Additionally, the broadband IDT design provides ample bandwidth for modulating individual beams, making the mAOBS array particularly powerful for applications like LiDAR, quantum gate operations, and MIMO-enabled FSOC. The latter is especially valuable in scenarios such as communication among drone swarms and emergency communication reconstruction, when the ability to communicate distinct information to different receivers is crucial. Further development of this technology will enhance its efficiency and versatility, making it an optimal solution for high-speed, multi-beam imaging, control, and communication in a variety of demanding applications.
The mAOBS array is fabricated on x-cut lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) wafers with 300 nm thick LN layer (from NanoLN Inc.). The optical waveguides are patterned with electron-beam lithography and then etched by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etcher (ICP-RIE). After stripping the resist, piranha and standard cleaning solution are used to remove resist residue and smooth the surface. The mode converter is patterned with electron-beam lithography using negative resist hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). The IDT was patterned with electron-beam lithography and followed by a lift-off process of 100 nm thick aluminum film.
A fiber-coupled laser (Newport TLB-6712) operating at 780 nm is used as the light source in all measurements. An arbitrary waveform generator (Tektronix AWG70001A) is used to generate the control signals for the measurement shown in Fig. 2 and 3. For multi-beam steering and communication measurement in Figs. 4, multi-tone control signals are generated by a multi-channel FPGA system. The beam profiles in Fig. 2a are captured by a CCD camera (Lumenera Infinity2) at the focal plane of the collimating lens. A beam splitter is placed between the camera and the lens. This enables simultaneous measurement using a fiber to measure beam intensity with a high dynamic range. A fiber is scanned in the focal plane by a 2-axis motorized micropositioning system (MCL Micro-Stage) with closed-loop control to collect the scattered light. The light collected by the fiber is detected by a photodetector (APD130A2). The electrical signal from the photodetector is measured by an oscilloscope (MSO/DPO70000DX).
The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available via Figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28765613.
Schwarz, B. Mapping the world in 3D. Nat. Photonics 4, 429–430 (2010).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Kim, I. et al. Nanophotonics for light detection and ranging technology. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 508–524 (2021).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zheng, W. et al. Adaptive optics improves multiphoton super-resolution imaging. Nat. Methods 14, 869–872 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Qin, Z. et al. Deep tissue multi-photon imaging using adaptive optics with direct focus sensing and shaping. Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 1663–1671 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Endres, M. et al. Atom-by-atom assembly of defect-free one-dimensional cold atom arrays. Science 354, 1024–1027 (2016).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Bola, R., Treptow, D., Marzoa, A., Montes-Usategui, M. & Martín-Badosa, E. Acousto-holographic optical tweezers. Opt. Lett. 45, 2938 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Brown, M. O. et al. Time-of-flight quantum tomography of an atom in an optical tweezer. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01890-8 (2023).
Graham, T. M. et al. Multi-qubit entanglement and algorithms on a neutral-atom quantum computer. Nature 604, 457–462 (2022).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Norcia, M. A. et al. Midcircuit qubit measurement and rearrangement in a Yb 171 atomic array. Phys. Rev. X 13, 041034 (2023).
CAS
Google Scholar
Lis, J. W. et al. Midcircuit operations using the omg architecture in neutral atom arrays. Phys. Rev. X 13, 041035 (2023).
CAS
Google Scholar
Bluvstein, D. et al. Logical quantum processor based on reconfigurable atom arrays. Nature 626, 58–65 (2024).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Niffenegger, R. J. et al. Integrated multi-wavelength control of an ion qubit. Nature 586, 538–542 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Mehta, K. K. et al. Integrated optical multi-ion quantum logic. Nature 586, 533–537 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Vasquez, A. R. et al. Control of an atomic quadrupole transition in a phase-stable standing wave. Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 133201 (2023).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wan, N. H. et al. Large-scale integration of artificial atoms in hybrid photonic circuits. Nature 583, 226–231 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Irber, D. M. et al. Robust all-optical single-shot readout of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Nat. Commun. 12, 532 (2021).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chan, V. W. S. Free-space optical communications. J. Light. Technol. 24, 4750–4762 (2006).
Article
ADS
Google Scholar
Wu, L., Han, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, Y. & Fu, H. Y. 12 Gbit/s indoor optical wireless communication system with ultrafast beam-steering using tunable VCSEL. Opt. Express 30, 15049 (2022).
Article
ADS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Liverman, S. et al. Dynamic indoor free-space optical communication enabled by beam steering and beam shaping. Appl. Opt. 62, 2367 (2023).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Sun, J., Timurdogan, E., Yaacobi, A., Hosseini, E. S. & Watts, M. R. Large-scale nanophotonic phased array. Nature 493, 195–199 (2013).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chul Shin, M. et al. Chip-scale blue light phased array. Opt. Lett. 45, 1934 (2020).
Article
ADS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Liu, Y. & Hu, H. Silicon optical phased array with a 180-degree field of view for 2D optical beam steering. Optica 9, 903 (2022).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Rogers, C. et al. A universal 3D imaging sensor on a silicon photonics platform. Nature 590, 256–261 (2021).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhang, X., Kwon, K., Henriksson, J., Luo, J. & Wu, M. C. A large-scale microelectromechanical-systems-based silicon photonics LiDAR. Nature 603, 253–258 (2022).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Zupancic, P. et al. Ultra-precise holographic beam shaping for microscopic quantum control. Opt. Express 24, 13881 (2016).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Shih, C.-Y. et al. Reprogrammable and high-precision holographic optical addressing of trapped ions for scalable quantum control. npj Quantum Inf. 7, 1–8 (2021).
Article
Google Scholar
Zhang, B., Peng, P., Paul, A. & Thompson, J. D. Scaled local gate controller for optically addressed qubits. Optica 11, 227 (2024).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Riemensberger, J. et al. Massively parallel coherent laser ranging using a soliton microcomb. Nature 581, 164–170 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chen, R. et al. Breaking the temporal and frequency congestion of LiDAR by parallel chaos. Nat. Photonics 17, 306–314 (2023).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Wu, L. et al. Arbitrary multiple beam forming by two cascaded liquid crystal optical phased arrays. Opt. Express 26, 17066–17077 (2018).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wang, Z. et al. Enhancing wireless optical communication through multi-beam scanning and bandwidth optimization using an optical phased array. Opt. Commun. 550, 129981 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Trypogeorgos, D., Harte, T., Bonnin, A. & Foot, C. Precise shaping of laser light by an acousto-optic deflector. Opt. Express 21, 24837 (2013).
Article
ADS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Liu, X., Braverman, B. & Boyd, R. W. Using an acousto-optic modulator as a fast spatial light modulator. Opt. Express 31, 1501 (2023).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Eggleton, B. J., Poulton, C. G., Rakich, P. T., Steel, M. J. & Bahl, G. Brillouin integrated photonics. Nat. Photonics 13, 664–677 (2019).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Kittlaus, E. A. et al. Electrically driven acousto-optics and broadband non-reciprocity in silicon photonics. Nat. Photonics 15, 43–52 (2020).
Article
ADS
Google Scholar
Liu, J. et al. Monolithic piezoelectric control of soliton microcombs. Nature 583, 385–390 (2020).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Tian, H. et al. Magnetic-free silicon nitride integrated optical isolator. Nat. Photonics 15, 828–836 (2021).
Article
ADS
Google Scholar
Zhao, H., Li, B., Li, H. & Li, M. Enabling scalable optical computing in synthetic frequency dimension using integrated cavity acousto-optics. Nat. Commun. 13, 5426 (2022).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kim, B. & Tsai, C. Thin-film tunable optical filtering using anisotropic and noncollinear acoustooptic interaction in LiNbO3waveguides. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 15, 642–647 (1979).
Article
ADS
Google Scholar
Chen, S. T. (ed.) Guided-Wave Acousto-Optics: Interactions, Devices, and Applications, Vol. 23 (Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 1990).
Li, B., Lin, Q. & Li, M. Frequency–angular resolving LiDAR using chip-scale acousto-optic beam steering. Nature 620, 316–322 (2023).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Muhammad, S. S. et al. Challenges in establishing free space optical communications between flying vehicles. In Proc. 6th International Symposium on Communication Systems, Networks and Digital Signal Processing, 82–86. https://doi.org/10.1109/CSNDSP.2008.4610721 (IEEE, 2008).
Wang, G., Yang, F., Song, J. & Han, Z. Free space optical communication for inter-satellite link: architecture, potentials and trends. IEEE Commun. Mag. 62, 110–116 (2024).
Article
Google Scholar
Zhang, M., Wang, C., Cheng, R., Shams-Ansari, A. & Lončar, M. Monolithic ultra-high-Q lithium niobate microring resonator. Optica 4, 1536 (2017).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Zhang, M. et al. Broadband electro-optic frequency comb generation in a lithium niobate microring resonator. Nature 568, 373–377 (2019).
Article
ADS
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Shams-Ansari, A. et al. Reduced material loss in thin-film lithium niobate waveguides. APL Photonics 7, 081301 (2022).
Article
ADS
CAS
Google Scholar
Download references
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (Award No. ITE-2134345 and OSI-2326746) and the DARPA MTO SOAR program (Award No. HR0011363032). The authors acknowledge Atom Computing for providing the FPGA system. Part of this work was conducted at the Washington Nanofabrication Facility and Molecular Analysis Facility, a National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) site at the University of Washington with partial support from the National Science Foundation via award nos. NNCI-2025489. Part of device fabrication was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS2022-B-01473), which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. The authors acknowledge Xichen Li (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington) for valuable discussions. The authors thank the University of Washington for providing photographic materials.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Qixuan Lin, Shucheng Fang, Yue Yu, Bingzhao Li & Mo Li
Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Zichen Xi & Linbo Shao
Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering (VTQ), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Linbo Shao
Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Mo Li
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
M.L., B.L., and Q. L. conceived the research. Q.L. and B.L. designed and fabricated the devices with contributions from Z. X. and L.S. Q.L. and B.L. performed the experiments, conducted the simulation, and derived the theory with contributions from S.F. and Y.Y., B.L., Q.L., and M.L. prepared the manuscript with discussion and input from all authors. M.L. and B.L. supervised the research.
Correspondence to
Bingzhao Li or Mo Li.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Communications thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions
Lin, Q., Fang, S., Yu, Y. et al. Optical multi-beam steering and communication using integrated acousto-optics arrays.
Nat Commun 16, 4501 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59831-x
Download citation
Received: 24 September 2024
Accepted: 30 April 2025
Published: 15 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59831-x
Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative
Advertisement
Nature Communications
(Nat Commun)
ISSN 2041-1723 (online)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Posted:
Coders were hit hardest among Microsoft's 2,000-person layoff in its home state of Washington, Bloomberg reports.
Over 40% of the people laid off were in software engineering, making it by far the largest category, Bloomberg found based on state filings. Relatively few sales or marketing positions were affected, Bloomberg added.
To be fair, coders are a big chunk of Microsoft's workforce, although it doesn't disclose the exact proportion. The cuts are part of recent layoffs at Microsoft affecting about 6,000 people.
Still, these cuts come after CEO Satya Nadella said last month that up to 30% of the company's code was now written by AI.
TechCrunch asked Microsoft if the layoffs were motivated by the rise of AI-assisted coding. The tech giant declined to comment. Microsoft has said the layoffs are aimed at reducing management layers.
Topics
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Subscribe for the industry's biggest tech news
Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch's coverage.
TechCrunch's AI experts cover the latest news in the fast-moving field.
Every Monday, gets you up to speed on the latest advances in aerospace.
Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice.
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
The one-off treatment highlights the promise of a new type of gene editing and the challenges of using it to treat extremely rare genetic diseases.
Doctors say they constructed a bespoke gene-editing treatment in less than seven months and used it to treat a baby with a deadly metabolic condition.
The rapid-fire attempt to rewrite the child's DNA marks the first time gene editing has been tailored to treat a single individual, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The baby who was treated, Kyle “KJ” Muldoon Jr., suffers from a rare metabolic condition caused by a particularly unusual gene misspelling.
Researchers say their attempt to correct the error demonstrates the high level of precision new types of gene editors offer.
“I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this is the future of medicine,” says Kiran Musunuru, an expert in gene editing at the University of Pennsylvania whose team designed the drug. “My hope is that someday no rare disease patients will die prematurely from misspellings in their genes, because we'll be able to correct them.”
The project also highlights what some experts are calling a growing crisis in gene-editing technology. That's because even though the technology could cure thousands of genetic conditions, most are so rare that companies could never recoup the costs of developing a treatment for them.
In KJ's case, the treatment was programmed to correct a single letter of DNA in his cells.
“In reality, this drug will probably never be used again,” says Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, a physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who treats metabolic diseases in children and who led the overall effort to treat the child.
That effort involved more than 45 scientists and doctors as well as pro bono assistance from several biotechnology companies. Musunuru says he cannot estimate how much it had cost in time and effort.
Eventually, he says, the cost of custom gene-editing treatments might be similar to that of liver transplants, which is around $800,000, not including lifelong medical care and drugs.
The researchers used a new version of CRISPR technology, called base editing, that can replace a single letter of DNA at a specific location.
Previous versions of CRISPR have generally been used to delete genes, not rewrite them to restore their function.
The researchers say they were looking for a patient to treat when they learned about KJ. After he was born in August, a doctor noted that the infant was lethargic. Tests found he had a metabolic disorder that leads to the buildup of ammonia, a condition that's frequently fatal without a liver transplant.
In KJ's case, gene sequencing showed that the cause was a misspelled letter in the gene CPS1 that stopped it from making a vital enzyme.
The researchers approached KJ's parents, Nicole and Kyle Muldoon, with the idea of using gene editing to try to correct their baby's DNA. After they agreed, a race ensued to design the editing drug, test it in animals, and get permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to treat KJ in a one-off experiment.
The team says the boy, who hasn't turned one yet, received three doses of the gene-editing treatment, of gradually increasing strength. They can't yet determine exactly how well the gene editor worked because they don't want to take a liver biopsy, which would be needed to check if KJ's genes have really been corrected.
But Ahrens-Nicklas says that because the child is “growing and thriving,” she thinks the editing has been at least partly successful and that he may now have “a milder form of this horrific disease.”
“He's received three doses of the therapy without any complications, and is showing some early signs of benefit,” she says. “It's really important to say that it's still very early, so we will need to continue to watch KJ closely to fully understand the full effects of this therapy.”
The case suggests a future in which parents will take sick children to a clinic where their DNA will be sequenced, and then they will rapidly receive individualized treatments. Currently, this would only work for liver diseases, for which it's easier to deliver gene-editing instructions, but eventually it might also become a possible approach for treating brain diseases and conditions like muscular dystrophy.
The experiment is drawing attention to a gap between what gene editing can do and what treatments are likely to become available to people who need them.
So far, biotechnology companies testing gene editing are working only on fairly common gene conditions, like sickle cell disease, leaving hundreds of ultra-rare conditions aside. One-off treatments, like the one helping KJ, are too expensive to create and get approved without some way to recoup the costs.
The apparent success in treating KJ, however, is making it even more urgent to figure out a way forward. Researchers acknowledge that they don't yet know how to scale up personalized treatment, although Musunuru says initial steps to standardize the process are underway at his university and in Europe.
Human “bodyoids” could reduce animal testing, improve drug development, and alleviate organ shortages.
Pigs whose DNA makes them resistant to a virus could be the first big consumer product using gene editing.
The multimillionaire longevity influencer thinks his new faith could save humanity from superintelligent AI.
Colossal Biosciences claims it has revived an extinct species, but scientists outside the company are skeptical.
Discover special offers, top stories,
upcoming events, and more.
Thank you for submitting your email!
It looks like something went wrong.
We're having trouble saving your preferences.
Try refreshing this page and updating them one
more time. If you continue to get this message,
reach out to us at
customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you'd like to receive.
© 2025 MIT Technology Review
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Chips are a critical component of the AI industry. But new chips don't hit the market with the same speed as new AI models and products do.
Cognichip has a lofty goal of creating a foundational AI model that can help bring new chips to market faster.
San Francisco-based Cognichip is working to build a physics-informed foundational AI model that can be used by semiconductor companies to speed up the development process of new chips. The company is calling this approach “artificial chip intelligence” and hopes it can help speed up chip production times by 50% and reduce the associated costs as well.
This ambitious idea comes from semiconductor industry veteran Faraj Aalaei, who worked at various companies including Fujitsu Network Communications and Centillium Communications.
Aalaei told TechCrunch that his company's origin story begins back in 2015. At the time, Aalaei was a member of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which would often meet to talk about what was ailing their industry.
He was growing concerned about what was happening in the semiconductor industry. He gave a presentation to the group about the stark drop in venture capital investing into semiconductor companies, which peaked at 200 deals a year in 2000, he said, and dropped to just one or two a year by 2015.
“I essentially warned the other CEOs that this cannot be good for us,” Aalaei said. “It cannot be good for the semiconductor industry in America, and that what we needed to do is to fundamentally change things about it. If that trend continues, then we're going to lose our competitiveness. We're going to lose the energy that brings in new ideas to the table.”
Considering how long it takes new chips to come to market, it's not surprising these companies weren't attracting venture investors, he said. Then he sat on the idea for almost a decade.
He went on to found Candou Ventures in 2016, and through that fund got to watch the rise in AI startups. When he realized that advancements in generative AI had gotten to a point where it could be used to potentially help solve some of the semiconductor industry's existent challenges, he decided to launch Cognichip in 2024.
Cognichip has been operating in stealth ever since and has amassed a team of AI experts from places like Stanford, Google, and MIT to start building. Aalaei said it will take at least a few years to build the model to “ultimate performance” but said it should be able to help companies before it reaches that goal.
“When we get to that point, this artificial chip intelligence, we will be building a system that can actually act like an expert engineer,” Aalaei said. “Once we achieve that vision, then you can actually get the same work done with a fraction of the people and in much, much shorter time.”
Cognichip is now emerging from stealth with $33 million in seed funding in a round co-led by Lux Capital and Mayfield with participation from FPV and Candou Ventures.
Navin Chaddha, a managing partner at Mayfield, told TechCrunch that when he was introduced to Aalaei, he felt they were “cut from the same cloth.” The vast majority of work in the semiconductor industry is still being done by humans; he said he thinks the timing is right to bring AI into the mix.
“This is a major pain point, and the solution this company will provide will be a pain killer and not a vitamin for the semiconductor industry,” Chaddha said. “If you don't have humans doing the job, can AI do it where there's shortage of talent? Number one, great team, second, [they are] solving a real pain point in a massive, trillion-dollar industry.”
Aalaei said that he hopes Cognichip will also be able to help democratize access to building chips so that more semiconductor companies can get started and land investment. Easier access also means that smaller companies can build more specific chips for specialized or smaller models, too, he said.
All of this will depend on when, or if, the company can reach artificial chip intelligence.
“What we're doing is not some incremental change,” Aalaei said. “We're not building an [electronic design automation] tool, we're not trying to tweak the process a little bit. We're trying to set a new goal for our industry and bring some major change.”
Topics
Senior Reporter, Venture
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters
Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI
Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference
Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
23andMe customers notified of bankruptcy and potential claims — deadline to file is July 14
The near joy of biking with Ray-Ban Meta glasses
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Google announced on Thursday that it's rolling out new AI and accessibility features to Android and Chrome. Most notably, TalkBack, Android's screen reader, now lets you ask Gemini about what's in images and what's on your screen.
Last year, Google brought Gemini's capabilities to TalkBack to give people who are blind or have low vision access to AI-generated descriptions for images, even when Alt text isn't available. Now, people can ask questions and get responses about their images.
For example, if a friend texts you a photo a their new guitar, you can get a description of it and ask questions about the brand and color. In addition, you can now get descriptions and ask questions about your whole phone screen. So, if you're shopping in an app, you can ask Gemini about the material of an item you're interested in or if there is a discount available.
Google also announced today that it's updating Expressive Captions, Android's real-time captions feature that uses AI to capture what someone says, and how they say it.
Google says it's aware that one of the ways people express themselves is by dragging out the sound of their words, which is why it has developed a new duration feature on Expressive Captions. Now, you'll know if a sports announcer is calling out an “amaaazing shot” or when someone isn't simply saying “no” but “nooooo.” You'll also start to see new labels for sounds, such as when a person is whistling or clearing their throat.
The update is rolling out in English in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia for devices running Android 15 and above.
Google is also making it easier to access PDFs on Chrome. Until now, you wouldn't be able to use your screen reader to interact with a scanned PDF in your desktop Chrome browser. Now, Chrome automatically recognizes these types of PDFs, allowing you to highlight, copy, and search for text like any other page and use your screen reader to read them. This is thanks to the introduction of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Google says.
Plus, Page Zoom on Chrome on Android now lets you increase the size of the text you see without affecting the web-page layout. You can customize how much you want to zoom in and then choose to apply the preference to all of the pages you visit, or just certain ones. You can access this feature by tapping the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of Chrome.
Topics
Consumer News Reporter
Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor's degree from University of Toronto and a master's degree in journalism from Western University.
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters
Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI
Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference
Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
23andMe customers notified of bankruptcy and potential claims — deadline to file is July 14
The near joy of biking with Ray-Ban Meta glasses
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
You can twist and turn this AIO's built-in display however you want.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Antec just announced the new Vortex View AIO cooler that features a 5-inch IPS display that rotates a full 360 degrees. This ensures that the display stays upright, no matter how you configure or mount the water block. TechPowerUp also said that the screen features an ARGB backglow, which softly illuminates the rest of your motherboard to showcase each and every component. The Vortex View is compatible with both AMD and Intel processors, although Antec did not say which generations are supported.
Aside from being Antec's latest AIO offering, the Vortex View will also be the first unit to use the company's updated iUnity platform. This PC monitoring and control app now features smarter fan and pump curve control, as well as support for multi-device syncing and personalized dashboards. The company said that it will also be compatible with upcoming product releases, so we anticipate an Antec ecosystem of cases, power supplies, coolers, and more in the near future.
“The Vortex View is a natural evolution of what performance cooling should be,” said Antec CEO Frank Lee. “With a 360-degree free-rotational five-inch IPS display powered via USB 3.0, it delivers real-time system insight with total flexibility, without compromising on thermal efficiency. It's also the first AIO to launch with our revamped iUnity platform, enabling deeper customization and seamless future integration across Antec products. This cooler stays true to our core principle: prioritizing performance first, then layering in meaningful functionality.”
Antec put a high-efficiency PWM pump on the Vortex View, allowing it to vary the pump speed as needed, based on your computer's power load and temperature. It also reduced noise levels, and when paired with Antec's ARGB fans that prioritize airflow and silence, you don't have to worry about your gaming PC sounding like a drone taking off. The company also used premium braided tubing, ensuring that it will last longer and prevent any leaks that could damage your computer.
We don't know yet if the Vortex View will come in both 240 mm and 360 mm or other colors. Hopefully, Antec will give PC builders those options, especially as the Vortex and Vortex Lum AIO coolers are available in those sizes. The company will show off its latest AIO cooler at the upcoming Computex 2025 in Taiwan, where we expect to see its other products. Hopefully, we can get a chance to test out the Vortex View to see how it stacks up against the best AIO coolers of 2025.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
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.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Instagram Threads is taking on Linktree and other “link-in-bio” solutions by introducing a way for creators to use their Threads profile to share links to their other interests and online presences. At launch, the feature will support adding up to five links to a bio, which can connect visitors to the creator's blog, newsletter, website, or other social profiles, for example. In addition, creators will be able to access new tools to see how well those links perform.
The Meta-owned social app, which now has over 350 million monthly active users, is positioning the feature as an alternative to its competitor X.
However, Threads' ability to point users to a host of other social and web profiles from links easily accessed from within a creator's bio is something that could eat into the business of services like Linktree, Beacons, Linkin.bio, Koji, and others that offer tools that allow creators to build a landing page for multiple links. These services initially emerged because social media apps only offered one place to add a URL to a bio, and creators needed a way to direct their fans to everything else they published online, including their posts on other social networks as well as their own websites or storefronts.
With the update, Threads will provide creators with insights that allow them to see how many people have visited the links in their profile as well as any links shared in their posts.
The company explained that the idea is to make Threads a place where creators can grow their reach, even if that means helping creators promote a presence that's outside Meta's app.
In addition, Meta says it will soon launch a weekly recap feature for Insights that offers a summarized snapshot of the past week, including a week-over-week comparison of the number of posts they've shared, total views, new follower counts, and replies on their posts. These recaps will also include other personalized tips to help creators learn how to better engage their community.
Topics
Consumer News Editor
Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters
Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI
Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference
Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
23andMe customers notified of bankruptcy and potential claims — deadline to file is July 14
The near joy of biking with Ray-Ban Meta glasses
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
But there is a major catch.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Right now, AMD's Instinct MI300-series accelerators are aimed at both AI and HPC, which makes them universal but lowers maximum performance for both types of workloads. Starting from its next-generation Instinct MI400-series, AMD will offer distinct processors for AI and supercomputers in a bid to maximize performance for each workload, according to SemiAnalysis. However, there might be a problem with the scalability of these compute GPUs.
AMD plans to offer the Instinct MI450X for AI and the Instinct MI430X for HPC sometime in the second half of 2026. Both processors will rely on subsets of the CDNA Next architecture, but will be tailored for low-precision AI compute (FP4, FP8, BF16) or high-precision HPC compute (FP32, FP64). Such bifurcation of positioning will enable AMD to remove FP32 and FP64 logic from MI450X as well as FP4, FP8, and BF16 logic from MI430X, therefore maximizing die space for respective logic.
In addition to workload optimizations, AMD's Instinct MI400-series accelerators will also feature not only Infinity Fabric but also UALink interconnections, which will make them some of the first AI and HPC GPUs to feature UALink, a technology designed to challenge NVLink. But there is a major problem with UALink.
Support for UALink will be limited in 2026 due to the absence of switching silicon from external vendors, including Astera Labs, Auradine, Enfabrica, and XConn. As a result, the Instinct MI430X will only be usable in small configurations in topologies like mesh or torus, as there will be no UALink switches next year. AMD does not develop its own UALink switches and therefore relies entirely on partners, which may not be ready in the second half of next year.
Progress in UALink development has been slow due to coordination delays in the standards body. According to SemiAnalysis, chipmakers like Broadcom view the market for such switches as too small and are not assigning enough engineering resources to accelerate timelines. By contrast, networking initiatives under the Ultra Ethernet Consortium are advancing more quickly and already have compatible hardware available commercially.
In a bid to compete against Nvidia with its own rack-scale solutions, AMD intends to offer systems called Instinct MI450X IF64 and MI450X IF128 that will rely on the Infinity Fabric technology, possibly over Ethernet. SemiAnalysis believes that such solutions could be competitive with Nvidia's VR200 NVL144 platforms in the second half of 2026, though it remains to be seen how these systems will stack up.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
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.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Plus software-free web-based RGB controls
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Swedish PC hardware mainstay Fractal makes some great cases – in fact, you'll find three of them currently on our Best PC Cases list. And the company is back with its airflow-focused Meshify 3 and 3 XL chassis. The cases combine the company's iconic triangle-pattern mesh front with three 140 mm fans and a scooped air guide behind the lowest fan that is designed to direct airflow at your GPU. Other interesting features and design choices include robust cable routing with dual-channel removable plastic cable brackets, and RGB fans (on some models) that plug into an included magnetic hub via a single cable.
Meshify 3
Meshify 3 XL
Motherboard support
E-ATX (max 277 mm), ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX
E-ATX, ATX, mATX, Mini-ITX, EE-ATX, SSI-EEB, SSI-CEB
Color
Black or white
Black or white
Case dimensions (H x W x D)
19.96 x 9.02 x 16.65 inches (507 x 229 x 423 mm)
20.28 x 9.65 x 22.32 inches (515 x 245 x 567 mm)
2.5-inch drive support
Up to 6
Up to 5
3.5-inch drive support
Up to 2
Up to 2
PCIe expansion slots
7
7
Fan support
6x 120 mm or 5x 140 mm
Up to 10
Pre-installed fans
3x 140 mm
3x 140 mm
CPU cooler clearance
6.81 inches (173 mm)
7.17 inches (182 mm)
GPU clearance
13.74 inches (349 mm)
20.16 inches (512 mm)
Vertical GPU support
No
No
PSU length
7.1 inches (180 mm)
9.1 inches (230 mm)
Radiator support
Up to 280 mm top, up to 360 mm front
Up to 420 mm top, up to 360 mm side, up to 360 mm front
MSRP
$139 (no RGB), $159 (RGB), $219 (Ambience Pro RGB)
$169 (no RGB), $189 (RGB), $249 (Ambience Pro RGB)
Fractal sent us the Meshify 3 in white and the 3 XL in black. I was able to spend some time with them, but didn't have time to do a full build because of time constraints ahead of Computex. I was, though, able to take several photos, and the cases definitely have some interesting features. Some of those choices, though, lead to the frame feeling a little flimsy.
The main difference between the two cases is depth, with the 3 XL adding room for larger motherboards, lengthier graphics cards and PSUs, and larger radiators up top. The 3 XL also has mounting points for a side-mounted radiator or three more fans (behind a cover in the image above).
From the back, you can see the extensive cable routing options, with three removable plastic cable brackets to keep a plethora of wires in check. The 3 XL also has pre-installed velcro loops along the back edge of the case for wrangling the CPU power connector and an exhaust fan cable (if you install an exhaust fan). Also shown here is the Adjust Pro Hub, which has what looks like four USB-C ports (two occupied out of the box), along with its PWM and USB connector. It's a PWM and RGB hub that works with Fractal's Momentum RGB fans, which combine both PRM signals and lighting controls in a single cable that terminates in a plug that's physically identical to USB-C (but is not actually USB-C). Combining multiple cables into one is nice for simplified building and wire hiding, but of course, this locks you into using Fractal's newer fans if you want to use the hub.Fractal is touting the ability to change lighting and fan speed settings through a web app, with all the settings actually stored in the hub itself. This is an interesting move similar to what we've seen on keyboards that support VIA or Keychron's Launcher. I much prefer this to the bulky (and often buggy) RGB and peripheral software from Asus, Corsair, Razer, and others.
You just have to hope Fractal keeps hostingits app for as long as you keep using your case – I don't see that as a huge concern (Fractal has been around since 2007), but some might prefer software you can download and run.
Both cases feature a scooped-out area behind the bottom intake fan that is designed to angle airflow up toward the graphics card. This is similar to designs we've seen from NZXT and others. But where it's typically a flat, angled slope, Fractal has used molded plastic to round out the shape in a way that, if nothing else, feels more in line with Scandinavian design. The cases also feature some interesting elements designed to make component installation easier. Not only can you remove the top mesh panel (which pulls off the back with the help of a strap), but the entire top portion of the frame can be removed by loosening a couple of captive thumb screws.
This lets you mount a radiator or fans to the top of the frame from outside the case, then reinstall the top portion afterward. Likewise, the entire front fan mount section (and fans, if installed) can swing out on hinges.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
While these are nice enough features, making these structural parts easy to remove results in the steel frame not feeling as rigid as I'd expect from Fractal (or any company making a case in this price range). I don't think it is a major drawback for most people. Just know this case does have some noticeable flex.
Top port selection is pretty typical, with two USB-A ports, a USB-C (20 Gbps if your board has the appropriate header), power button, and a headphone / mic combo jack.
Fractal will offer the Meshify 3 and 3 XL in white or black, and there doesn't seem to be a price premium for the lighter shade. There are, though, plenty of options for both cases: You can choose a glass side or metal (again, for the same price) on the non-RGB models. Paying $20 extra gets you the model with RGB rings around the fans. But if you want the Ambience Pro RGB model, which has the RGB ring fans plus an RGB strip around the front frame and along the side of the PSU area, that will set you back an additional $60, topping out at $249 for the 3 XL Ambience Pro RGB version. As nice as the RGB glow does look on the high-end option, I'm not sure I'd pay $80 for it over the base / no-RGB model. Still, I try to never knock a company for giving us options. And at $169 sans RGB, the Meshify 3XL in particular looks like a nice airflow-focused option for big builds. That's as long as you can live with its SATA drive limitations. It feels like this case is big enough to handle more than two 3.5-inch hard drives.
After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He's spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site.
With the weather starting to warm up, we'll all be rushing to spend some more time relaxing outside with our loved ones and maybe even planning some much needed camping trips. You can facilitate these outdoor activities with a portable power station. EcoFlow has an 1800W power station with a solar panel included for a solid 46% off as part of a limited time deal. Normally priced at $1,299, you can now get it for just $699—saving you $600.
See at Amazon
This portable battery can power almost anything and power all your appliances with its 1800W output. That's on par with gas powered outdoor generators but no fumes nor noise. You can draw enough power to have an outdoor movie night with a projector plugged into the power station. It'll power a projector for 12 hours or a 50″ TV for nearly eight hours.
You can recharge your phone fast, getting it from 0% up to 80% in just 50 minutes. Get it all the way up to 100% in just 80 minutes using the AC power. This makes this a wonderful utility to bring outside in the backyard when you have guests or to use in an emergency situation if the house has lost power.
As far as ports are concerned, the EcoFlow Delta 2 power station has two USB-A fast charging ports , two standard USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, two DC5521 ports, a solar and car charging input, the AC charging input, plus six AC output sockets. That means you can power up to 15 devices are once.
The battery on this standalone power station has a capacity of 1,000Wh but that can be expanded by another 3000Wh with option extra batteries. Perfect of camping, RV traveling, or off-the-grid living. This listing on Amazon includes a 220W solar panel to ensure you never run out of power. It'll bring your Delta 2 power station back from zero to 100% in under six hours.
The EcoFlow Delta 2 power station is built to last, able to sustain charging and depleting over 3,000 times in its lifetime. That'll get you years and years of use before running into any issues. Plus with the companion app, you can monitor real-time energy insights and control from afar.
Spring is still a couple months away, but if you've been on the lookout for a portable power station either for leisure use, to have on hand in an emergency, or both, look no further than the EcoFlow Delta 2 — currently down 46% at just $699.
See at Amazon
Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.
©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved.
Mode
Follow us
Mode
Follow us
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Although the Corsair Vengeance a7500 is priced out of the mainstream realm, its premium hardware and high-flying gaming performance make it a real standout.
Impressive gaming performance
Fast PCIe 5.0 SSD
Good looking and high
quality case
Plenty of RGB accoutrements
Two-year warranty
Pricey
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
When it comes to the best gaming PCs available for consumers, there's an embarrassment of riches covering a wide variety of price points. Today, we have the Corsair Vengeance a7500, which includes plenty of high-end hardware to satisfy demanding gamers.
The system is loaded to the gills with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a 1TB PCIE 5.0 SSD, a Corsair Nautilus 240mm water cooling unit, and an attractive Corsair 3500X mid-tower case. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the Vengeance a7500 is rocking a Blackwell-based GPU, in this case, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti.
However, all that of hardware goodness means that the Vengeance a7500 pushes the upper boundaries of pricing for mainstream pre-built gaming desktops with an MSRP of $2,799.99.
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Motherboard
MSI Pro X870-P WiFi
Memory
Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5-6400 (2x 16GB)
Graphics
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC
Storage
Corsair MP700 Elite 1TB PCIe 5.0 SSD
Networking
5 Gbps Ethernet (Realtek 8126VB), Wi-Fi 7 (Qualcomm FastConnect 7800), Bluetooth 5.4
Top Ports
2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 3.5 mm headphone/microphone
Rear Ports
4x USB 2.0 Type-A, 1x USB 40 Gbps Type-C, 2x USB 5 Gbps Type-A, 2x USB 10 Gbps Type-A, 1x USB 20 Gbps Type-C, 3x audio jacks, 2x antenna ports
Video Outputs
3x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI
Power Supply
Corsair 850W 80+ Gold (Modular)
Cooling
Corsair Nautilus 240mm Liquid Cooling
Operating System
Windows 11 Home
Dimensions (WxDxH)
9.45 x 18.11 x 19.92 inches
Price as Configured
$2,799.99
As the young folks say, the Vengeance a7500's design is “lit” in more ways than one. Corsair's 3500X mid-tower case is staid and attractive with tempered glass for the front and left side panels. The side panels, in particular, are worth mentioning, as they feature a tool-less design. The bottom-hinged panels attach to the chassis using friction pins, allowing you to pull outward to remove and push back in to reinstall. It's simple, effective, and highly preferable to dealing with Phillips or thumb screws.
Numerous Y-shaped ventilation cutouts are located on the bottom of the chassis and on the right side panel, where there's a vertical strip of cutouts corresponding to the three stacked 120mm ARGB cooling fans. The top panel is also fully ventilated and occupied by two additional 120mm ARGB cooling fans. The final 120mm ARGB fan is on the back of the case. The top, bottom, and right side panels have removable mesh dust filters installed.
But the RGB light show doesn't end there: the two DDR5-6400 modules also incorporate RGB into their heat spreaders, the AIO liquid cooler features an RGB element, and the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC 16G graphics card has an RGB-lit Gigabyte logo. Given the expansive view inside the case due to the generous use of glass, the Vengeance a7500 is a visual treat for the eyes, whether the PC is sitting on the floor or on top of your desk.
The Vengeance a7500 measures 9.45 x 18.11 x 19.92 inches and weighs 31 pounds. For comparison, the Corsair Vengeance i7600 measures 9.45 x 19.92 x 18.11 inches, while the Alienware Area-51 is 9.12 x 22.4 x 24.04 inches.
Once you get past the visual treats, you'll notice that the top of the chassis contains a power button, reset button, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a 3.5 mm headphone/mic combo jack.
Corsair fitted our Vengeance a7500 with an MSI Pro X870-P Wi-Fi motherboard, which supports AM5 chips from AMD's Ryzen 7000, 8000, and 9000 series (our review unit had a Ryzen 7 9800X3D installed). The motherboard features a single HDMI port (for the integrated Radeon graphics), two USB-C ports (one 20 Gbps, one 40 Gbps), four USB 2.0 Type-A ports, two USB 5 Gbps Type-A ports, and two USB 10 Gbps Type-A ports. There is also a 5 GbE LAN port, three audio connectors, two ports for connecting the included antenna for the onboard Wi-Fi 7 adapter, along with clear CMOS and flash BIOS buttons.
The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC graphics card has three DisplayPort 2.1b ports and one HDMI 2.1b port.
The motherboard includes four PCIe x16 slots, with PCI_E1 supporting up to PCIe 5.0 x16 for Ryzen 9000 and Ryzen 9000 processors. PCI_E2 and PCI_E3 support up to PCIe 3.0 x1, and PCI_E4 supports PCIe 4.0 x4. There are three onboard M.2 slots, with M.2_1 supporting up to PCIe 5.0 x4 (our review unit's M.2_1 slot was populated by a Corsair MP700 Elite 1TB PCIe 5.0 SSD. There are four DDR5 memory slots on the MSI Pro X870-P Wi-Fi motherboard, two of which were filled with 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6400 modules on our review unit.
If you need to add internal storage beyond what the three M.2 slots can offer, a removable drive plate can accommodate up to two HDDs and two additional SSDs simultaneously.
The Vengeance a7500 packs some pretty impressive hardware, starting with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, which ranks as one of our best CPUs for gaming. That processor is backed by 32GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and is paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card.
We don't have a full assortment of Blackwell-equipped gaming desktops in our test database yet, but we do have the Alienware Area-51 (Core Ultra 9 285K, RTX 5090, and a far more expensive $5,759.99) for comparison. We also used the Vengeance i7600 (Core Ultra 7 265K, RTX 4070 Super) to compare Blackwell against a previous-generation GPU.
With a sticker price well north of $2,000, I expected great performance from the Vengeance a7500 and wasn't disappointed. I've been spending a lot of time recently playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and I played the game on my 240 Hz DQHD (5120 x 1440) gaming monitor. With all of the detail settings cranked up, I saw performance of around 100 to 120 frames per second (FPS).
Switching gears to our usual battery of gaming tests, I started with the Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest setting). The Vengeance a7500 commanded 261 FPS at 1080p and 89 FPS at 4K resolution. For comparison, that performance bettered the Vengeance i7600 with an RTX 4070 Super by nearly 70 FPS and 26 FPS, respectively. The Area 51 didn't quite match the Vengeance a7500 at 1080p, with only 244 FPS (likely due to the fact that the Ryzen 9800X3D is the stronger gaming CPU), but it obliterated it at 4K, delivering 169 FPS.
The Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark (Medium settings) also showed strong performance from the Vengeance a7500. The Vengeance managed over 94 FPS at 1080p and nearly 30 FPS at 4K. Of course, the Area-51 with its RTX 5090 dominated the field, with 122 FPS at 1080p, nearly doubling the a7500's 4K performance with 57 FPS.
Far Cry 6 (Ultra settings) is a CPU-intensive game, and the Vengeance a7500 showed its gaming prowess over the two Intel-based competitors assembled. At 1080p, the Vengeance a7500 and its RTX 5070 Ti took a commanding lead with 197 FPS compared to 124 FPS for the Vengeance i7600 and 126 FPS for the Area-51. However, with the resolution cranked to 4K, the Area-51 managed a win with 119 FPS compared to 105 FPS for the Vengeance a7500.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium settings) has been a thorn in the side for many of the Blackwell-equipped gaming systems we've tested, especially at 1080p. While the Area-51 couldn't complete the benchmark at 1080p when we reviewed it due to driver issues, the Vengeance a7500 achieved 174 FPS compared to just 107 FPS for the Vengeance i7600. Switching to 4K, the Area-51 flexed its mighty RTX 5090 muscle with 109 FPS compared to 67.47 FPS for the Vengeance a7500.
Our final gaming benchmark is Borderlands 3 (Badass setting), another CPU-heavy game. This time around, the Vengeance a7500 hit 226.70 FPS at 1080p and 94.26 FPS at 4K. This put the system well ahead of the Vengeance i7600 (176 FPS and 67 FPS, respectively) but well shy of the Area-51, which managed 251 FPS at 1080p and 119 FPS at 4K.
Metro Exodus remains our go-to for stress testing, and through a 15-loop marathon, the Vengeance a7500 averaged 145.96 FPS.
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D averaged 5.04 GHz during the stress test, while the CPU measured 49.36 degrees Celsius. As for the RTX 5070 Ti, its maximum GPU clock was 2,735 MHz at an average temperature of 57.75 C.
The Vengeance a7500 is a speedy performer in the productivity department, thanks to its Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, 32GB of DDR5 memory, and a speedy 1TB PCIe 5.0 SSD.
The Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark showed that the Vengeance a7500, with its Ryzen 7 9800X3D barely slid into first place with 3,247 on the single-core score. However, the two Intel-based rivals turned with more cores upped the heat on the multi-core benchmark, with the Area-51 leading the field with 21,786 compared to 18,124 for the Vengeance a7500.
Thanks to its PCIe 5.0 SSD, the Vengeance a7500 led its competitors significantly on our file transfer test (which involves transferring 25GB of mixed media files). It managed 2,659.94 Mbps, compared to 1,585.18 Mbps for the Vengeance i7600 and 1,898.26 Mbps for the Area-51.
Finally, our Handbrake benchmark saw this most significant setback for the Vengeance a7500 compared to the competition. We transcode a 4K video file to 1080p during this test, and the Vengeance a7500 completed the task in just over three minutes. However, the Vengeance i7600 and Area-51 finished in under two minutes.
Corsair ships the Vengeance a7500 with Windows 11 Home and one of its own utilities: Corsair Diagnostics. The app, as its name implies, allows you to view system information, run stress tests, and perform checkup utilities on your desktop.
The company's oft-maligned iCUE app is not installed from the factory, although I chose to install it on my own. Once installed, iCUE gives you handy readouts of critical temperatures for your CPU and GPU. The app also allowed me to control the RGB effects on the Vengeance DDR5 modules, but not the case fans or the RGB element on the AIO water cooler.
The Vengeance a7500 comes with a two-year manufacturer's warranty. That's longer than the one year you get on many prebuilt machines.
The Vengeance a7500 is available in several configurations, direct from Corsair. Our review unit features a Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6400 memory, a 1TB Corsair MP700 Elite PCIe 5.0 SSD, an MSI Pro X870-P WIFI, a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC, a Corsair 850W 80+ Gold power supply, and a Corsair Nautilus 240mm water cooler. The price of admission is $2,799.99, which is a princely sum for a gaming desktop. However, it comes nowhere close to the $5,759.99 asking price of the Alienware Area-51 and its RTX 5090.
Corsair also offers configurations with RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs and more potent CPUs, if you prefer. For example, a configuration with a Ryzen 9 9900X3D, RTX 5090, 32GB of DDR5, and 2TB SSD costs $3,999.99. If you want to go all out, a system with a Ryzen 9 9900X3D, RTX 5090, 64GB of DDR5, and 4TB of SSD storage costs a whopping $6,899.99.
If you want to branch out with a Radeon RX 9700XT processor instead of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, Best Buy offers the Vengeance a7500 for $3,199.99. Best Buy also offers a Call of Duty Warzone Edition of the Vengeance a7500 with a Radeon 9070 XT GPU, and 2TB SSD for $3,399.99. In addition, there's another Call of Duty Warzone Edition with a GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and 2TB SSD for $3,399.99.
Just for comparison, if you were to purchase all the components separately for the a7500 and put it together yourself, it would cost $2,533.89.
Corsair continues to build high-quality, high-performance gaming desktops. The Vengeance a7500 is not only a great-looking rig with its generous use of tempered glass and copious amounts of RGB fans, but it also has plenty of ventilation to keep the internals cool under load.
Corsair's use of a Ryzen 7 9800X3D proved to be the perfect match for the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards. While the RTX 5070 Ti is obviously no match for the RTX 5090, we saw games exceed 60 FPS at 4K in all the games in our test suite, with the exception of Cyberpunk 2077.
Given that this is a Corsair rig, it's no surprise that the company tossed in some of its excellent hardware as well, including its branded 850W 80+ Gold PSU, Vengeance DDR5 memory, a super quick PCIe 5.0 SSD, a Nautilus liquid cooling system, and a two-year factory warranty. When you add it all up, you have a highly capable, albeit slightly pricey, gaming desktop that can handle your current and future gaming needs.
Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
8/10
The Moto X from 2013 was one of my favorite smartphones of all time. Motorola, owned by Google back then, debuted a build-a-phone workshop that let you customize the handset's design, from changing the color on the front and back to adding different accents for the buttons. You could even throw in a signature for an extra dose of personalization.
That kind of playful nature remains elusive in the smartphone world, but there are glimpses thanks to companies like Nothing and Motorola. Case in point: the new Razr 2025 family, consisting of the Razr Ultra, Razr+, and Razr. Motorola could have taken the Samsung approach and kept the ordinary glass-slab design we're used to for its folding phones, but no. The Razr Ultra lets you choose between Alcantara, wood, leather-inspired, and satin-inspired designs. The base Razr comes in bright, punchy colors, with acetate, nylon, or leather-inspired finishes.
I have the Pantone Spring Bud Razr, a leather-inspired mint green color—my wife's eyes lit up when she saw it (and asked if she could take a bite, naturally). Even my hard-to-impress dad stoically said, “It's a nice color.” I love the FSC-certified Pantone Mountain Trail on the Razr Ultra even more, which is a real wood back that exudes class. Guess what? The original Moto X had a wood back, too. They might not be customizable, but these Razrs look great, feel great, and there's nothing that looks like 'em.
The Razr 2025 lineup is not wholly different from last year's models. Quite literally, the Razr+ 2025 ($1,000) is almost the same as the Razr+ 2024, now with the company's titanium-reinforced hinge plate for better durability. Its specs are identical, which is likely why Motorola didn't bother sending a review unit. Instead, I've been testing the Razr 2025 ($700) and the Razr Ultra ($1,300).
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Adding a third entry into the Razr lineup adds unnecessary complexity, so I'm adding a spec table here to help you make sense of these devices. Essentially, the Razr Ultra is the best of the best, with the latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, higher storage and RAM options, the biggest battery, faster charging speeds, a dedicated AI button, and even a more durable ceramic glass screen. It also has better cameras and is the only one that offers Dolby Vision video recording for richer colors in your footage. The Razr+ sits a rung below, though its battery life is its weakness since it has the smallest capacity, and the Razr remains one of the cheapest folding flip phones.
Performance is excellent, though this is more meaningful on the base Razr model, which has given me some choppy performance in prior models. You might still see some stutters here and there on the $700 phone, but it's sparse, and overall, I've been quite happy with it. The displays—external and internal—have been high notes on both phones, even if I prefer the slightly larger screens on the Razr Ultra. They get plenty bright, and the high refresh rates make everything appear fluid.
The battery capacities between the Razr Ultra and Razr aren't too different, and my results were unsurprisingly similar. These phones lasted me a full day with 25 to 30 percent remaining by bedtime with average use. If your screen time extends past five or six hours, you'll more than likely need to recharge the phone in the middle of the day (wired or wirelessly).
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
One improvement I'd like to see in future versions (which I have mentioned before) revolves around opening the phone. It might just be my short fingernails and thick thumbs, but it's a small struggle to wedge a finger into the gap one-handed and unfold the Razr. A small lip would help. Thankfully, you can make the external displays even more functional without constantly opening the phone, with new widget panels for glanceable information.
There's less of a crease on the interior display, though it's still noticeable when viewed at an angle, and you can feel it when your finger glides over, but I've never had a problem with it. The phone is tougher overall—the IP48 rating helps make it more dust resistant than before—and the hinge feels sturdy. I've dropped the Ultra twice onto my wood floors, and I don't see a scratch.
It bears repeating, but the number one benefit of a folding flip phone is that it's a fantastically tiny phone. I love that I can grip the whole thing with my palm and still interact with it, and then get the benefits of a full-size smartphone screen when I need it. I'll take this over an ultra-thin and ultra-light smartphone any day.
The cameras showcase the biggest difference between the Razr and Razr Ultra. You'll see richer details, better exposure, and nicer skin tones on the Ultra, whereas the Razr often has more noise and generally looks a smidge more processed. Low-light photos still require you to be very still, even on the Ultra, but they deliver solid photos that are sharp and colorful. The results don't match up to the quality of similarly priced phones, like the Pixel 9a or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but that's par for the course.
What's most bizarre is the camera app itself. Motorola still hasn't figured out a way to enable Night mode automatically when it detects you're shooting in low light, a staple feature on most phones. You have to manually go to the “More” tab to find it, and that's where you can drag it to your camera menu. Most people aren't going to do that. (It also still doesn't support Night mode for selfies, though it relies on flashing the screen to compensate.)
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Even stranger is that the new Group Shot feature on the Ultra, which selects the best frame so that no one is blinking in group photos, is a dedicated mode hidden in the same “More” tab. Google has a similar feature called Best Take on its Pixel phones, but it's a post-capture feature, so you can fix a photo quickly if you notice someone blinked. I'm not sure how many people will remember to switch to Group Shot mode when trying to snap a fast selfie with friends.
If you film videos a lot with your phone, the Ultra offers a big jump in video quality over the Razr. The Ultra has Dolby Vision video capture, though you need to manually enable it (again, why?). Using the Camcorder Mode, which lets you hold the phone like an old-school camcorder to record, the quality difference was noticeable between the two devices. The Ultra's footage was sharper, smoother, more color-accurate, and didn't blow out in high-contrast scenes, whereas the Razr had super-grainy clips, especially in low light.
Motorola spent a lot of time talking up the AI features in its phones during the launch. Perplexity! Gemini! Copilot! Moto AI! I have to be blunt: I did not care much for any of this. None made a meaningful difference in my life, except for Pay Attention—once enabled, it kickstarts a recording session with real-time transcription, and offers a summary after the recording is over. I like that you can enable this in “tent mode” so the screen faces you. It worked pretty well when I used it during a meeting, but it's also a standard feature now available on most high-end phones.
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Motorola's Catch Me Up AI notification summaries proved useless when half of my notifications are just people sending me Instagram Reels to watch. When you do have normal notifications, it does a decent job of summarizing everything, though I don't see how the summary is that much faster than reading the source directly. Maybe I don't get as many notifications as I thought.
Then there's Remember This, which feels a little clunky. Half the time, I can't remember what I asked it to remember (Remembrall, much?), and I have to go to a Settings menu in the Moto AI app to find my list of Memories. Why this isn't a primary tab in the app, I don't know. This feature requires a little re-wiring of how you use your phone, because asking an AI assistant to remember something is not something I've done before.
Having just reviewed the Minimal Phone, I took two pictures of it sitting on my desk with the Razr Ultra, and asked Moto AI to remember each. With the first shot, I didn't add any supplementary information, and with the second, I wrote in that it was the “Minimal Phone.” Later, when I asked Moto AI what phone I took a picture of, it said I took a picture of the Unihertz Jelly Titan (which I do not own), and then it said it didn't know what model the phone in the second picture was, even though I provided a name. So useful!
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
You'll see a lot of marketing for these AI features, but they're not the reasons to buy the Razr or Razr Ultra. Buy them if you want a small and gorgeous phone—a device with real character that's not just another glass slab.
Motorola Razr Ultra and Razr (2025)
Rating: 8/10
All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
More From WIRED
Reviews and Guides
© 2025 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site.
The classic Star Wars saga continues in your living room with this LEGO Star Wars Collectible Millennium Falcon build-and-display starship model. With Iconic details specially designed for hardcore fans, this impressive set is for Star Wars fans of all ages. You can get the Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary Collectible Model for only $67.99, 20% off its original price.
See at Amazon
This set is an absolute gem for any Star Wars enthusiast. LEGO's attention to detail in recreating the Millennium Falcon is impressive, capturing the essence of the iconic ship from A New Hope. This authentic piece of art is made for display. The buildable stand has a nameplate and a LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary brick. You will be able to display your Millennium Flacon at a dynamic angle for the perfect home decoration. It transcends the idea of a collectible; it's art.
This LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon starship measures over 5 in. (13 cm) high, 9.5 in. (24 cm) long, and 7.5 in. (19 cm) wide. Its quality, as usual for LEGO products, is outstanding. It has been a staple for decades of what quality is supposed to mean. There are no tiny mistakes, no unevenness, no stickers, no stamps, and nothing to disturb the sharpness of the final product. From the meticulously recreated interior compartments, such as the holographic chess table and sleeping quarters, to the exterior's weathered aesthetic, the Millennium Falcon feels simply alive. Its vivid colors and clear terminations are simply perfect for both collectors and people who just want to play. Not too big, not too heavy, not too fragile. It's a perfect combination of both worlds.
Treat yourself with this set from a galaxy far, far away, to your home. Whether you want to build it with a friend, partner, or your kids, it is ideal for people who enjoy immersing themselves in creative building projects to relax mindfully. Fun to build, easy to display, and with a kit that has clear instructions and the utmost quality.
Not your kind of business? Give this LEGO building set as a birthday gift to that friend who is passionate about Star Wars and its incredible world, there is no other gift like this for a hardcore Star Wars fan.
For only $68, you can get the incredible Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary Collectible Model, with all its amazing features. A unique collectible that might even increase its value over time. Head over to Amazon right now before it clears out stock.
See at Amazon
Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.
©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved.
Mode
Follow us
Mode
Follow us
Three years after it was first announced, and following two missed launch promises, with no comment from Apple on when it would actually show up, CarPlay 2 will finally be available in a matter of weeks. And now, it's called CarPlay Ultra.
Aston Martin has announced it will be the first car manufacturer to actually deliver Apple's long-awaited next-gen in-car experience, with any of its vehicles ordered in the US or Canada from today shipping with CarPlay Ultra installed as standard.
Current Aston owners will also be able to get the Ultra update from their dealerships in June, but the car must be running the marque's most recent infotainment system to make the switch, which launched back in 2023. Owners will also need an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.54 or later.
The first look at Apple CarPlay Ultra in the driving seat in Aston's DBX.
Current cars that meet this criteria include the Aston Martin DBX SUV, alongside its core sports car models—Vanquish, Vantage, and DB12. This update will also be for US and Canadian owners only for now, but a full market rollout is expected over the next 12 months.
As we saw when it was teased at WWDC in 2022, CarPlay Ultra will see Apple's ecosystem extend from the main infotainment screen to the instrument cluster, merging with the automaker's design language for a more consistent look and feel across the board.
Drivers can finally have their iPhone nav directions appear in front of them as the new CarPlay interface stretches across multiple screens.
It means that along with core car features such as Aston Martin's on-screen speedometer and tachometer dials, you can also have your Apple Music playlist or Google Maps directions in front of you as you drive. Things like tire pressure monitors and air-con controls will also at last be able to sit within the CarPlay interface.
This is all supposedly fully customizable, from the instrument cluster theme down to the color scheme, offering both car brands and drivers the ability to build and curate their own multiscreen setup for the things that matter most to them while driving.
The new software displays speed, gear selection, rpm, tire pressures, and more on the driver screen.
Of course, if you prefer physical buttons, they're still available for functions, provided the car in question has them already, of course. Siri will again be on hand when you prefer to bark commands at a voice assistant. However, how next-generation Siri will precisely work in CarPlay Ultra, as Apple's AI tech develops, remains unclear—but from launch, essentially, the tech mirrors the phone experience. That means if you have ChatGPT-powered Apple Intelligence enabled on your iPhone, the in-car UI will ask for a voice command to shunt a query to Open AI's model or stick with on-device Siri.
Conversely, in what could be seen as unfortunate timing for Apple, Google beat the news of CarPlay Ultra to the punch with the announcement of Gemini for cars just a few days ago—and we've already got more detail on how Gemini will enhance the driving experience than we have on Siri at this point.
This includes helping you craft text messages on the go, find good restaurants en route, and even brainstorm on the way to a meeting. Gemini will roll out to Android Auto cars over the next few months, likely appearing in myriad car brands well before CarPlay Ultra.
Core car controls now sit within the CarPlay Ultra experience, such as the car's HVAC system.
As for CarPlay Ultra, it had been confirmed a while ago that Aston Martin would be one of the first manufacturers to feature Apple's next-gen experience, with Porsche expected to follow. Audi, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis are also thought to be on board to take the tech. Mercedes-Benz, however, has remarked that handing over control of its cockpit head unit to someone else “was a no.”
As CarPlay fans await confirmation from more manufacturers about rollout dates for Ultra in their vehicles—not to mention finally getting to see it in action—it'll be interesting to see if Mercedes-Benz bows to consumer pressure and becomes one of them.
In your inbox: Upgrade your life with WIRED-tested gear
“Wi-Fi keeps going down”: Trump's RTO mandate is going terribly
Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack
Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence”
Uncanny Valley: An insider look at the influence of Silicon Valley
10% Off Wayfair Promo Code with sign-up
20% off Dyson Promo Code
$50 Off In-Person Tax Prep When You Switch From Your Tax Current Provider
Up to $500 off cameras at Canon
Save extra 10% Off TurboTax
Exclusive: Up To 50% Off 6 Boxes With Factor Promo Code
More From WIRED
Reviews and Guides
© 2025 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Crypto giant Coinbase has confirmed its systems have been breached and customer data, including government-issued identity documents, were stolen.
In a legally required filing with U.S. regulators, Coinbase said a hacker this week told the company that they had obtained information about customer accounts, and demanded money from the company in exchange for not publishing the stolen data.
Coinbase said the hacker “obtained this information by paying multiple contractors or employees working in support roles outside the United States to collect information from internal Coinbase systems to which they had access in order to perform their job responsibilities.” The support staff are no longer employed, the company said.
The filing said Coinbase's systems detected the malicious activity “in the previous months,” and that it has “warned customers whose information was potentially accessed in order to prevent misuse of any compromised information.”
Coinbase said it will not pay the hacker's ransom. According to a social post by CEO Brian Armstrong, the hackers demanded $20 million from the company.
The company said the hacker stole customer names, postal and email addresses, phone numbers, and the last four-digits of users' Social Security numbers. The hacker also took masked bank account numbers and some banking identifiers, as well as customers' government-issued identity documents, such as driver's licenses and passports. The stolen data also includes account balance data and transaction histories.
The company said some corporate data, such as internal documentation, was also stolen during the breach.
In a blog post, Coinbase said it was opening a new U.S.-based support hub and will strengthen its security defenses.
When reached for comment, Coinbase spokesperson Natasha LaBranche told TechCrunch that the number of affected customers is less than 1% of its 9.7 million monthly customers, per the company's latest annual report ending March 2025.
Coinbase said it expects to incur costs of around $180 million to $400 million relating to incident remediation and customer reimbursements.
Do you work at Coinbase and know more about the breach? Contact this reporter via Signal with the username: zackwhittaker.1337 or by email: zack.whittaker@techcrunch.com
Updated with more from Coinbase.
Topics
Security Editor
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters
Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI
Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference
Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
23andMe customers notified of bankruptcy and potential claims — deadline to file is July 14
The near joy of biking with Ray-Ban Meta glasses
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site.
As air pollution increases in metropolitan areas and suburbs, having the ability to breathe clean air within the home has never been more crucial. Invisible pollutants, allergens, and dust can affect your health and possibly causing a myriad of health problems long term. One of the simplest and most effective things you can do to protect yourself and your family is to purchase a good air purifier.
The EcoSelf air purifier is available on Amazon at an all-time low price of just $54, which is a staggering 73% lower than its original price of $199. This is a huge savings but it's also a good opportunity to upgrade the air quality in your home with a top-rated 5/5 product.
See at Amazon
One of the best things about the EcoSelf Air Purifier is that it can decontaminate big rooms. Because of its 360° airflow technology, it can efficiently purify an area up to 1,076 square feet which makes it ideal for bedrooms, living rooms, offices, and even open spaces. The device circulates and refreshes the air five times per hour in a typical 215 square foot room so that you're always breathing air that's as clean as possible.
What's very important when you're comparing air purifiers is the presence of a HEPA filtration system: This advanced three-stage filter can capture 99.97% of particles in the air down to 0.3 microns such as dust, pet dander, pollen, smoke, and other common household pollutants. For allergy sufferers or those who are concerned about indoor air quality, this level of filtration can be a significant difference in comfort and health on a daily basis.
You will also appreciate the fact that its quiet sleep mode operates at just 20 decibels so you can enjoy uninterrupted rest while the purifier quietly works away in the background. The seven-color night light provides a soft glow that wraps the room in a peaceful ambiance.
Performance is supplemented by the unit's brushless motor and larger filter which together improve purification performance by 50% compared to standard models. Without compromising on strength in use, the EcoSelf air purifier is energy efficient and safe for use and you can trust its long-term use. The other features, such as adjustable fan speed, timer functions, child lock feature, and filter replacement notification.
If you're looking to improve the environment in your home and maintain your health, make sure you get such an air purifier. The price point is unbeatable.
See at Amazon
Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.
©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved.
Mode
Follow us
Mode
Follow us
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would start importing iPhones manufactured in India to meet the majority of demand stateside. It seems U.S. president Donald Trump is not happy with that.
Speaking at a business summit in Doha, Trump said he met with Cook and asked him to stop building in India and instead increase production in the United States.
“I said to him, ‘Tim, you're my friend, I've treated you very good. You're coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world',” Trump said.
Trump, who has been on a tariff offensive against most of the world, said Apple would now be “upping” production in the U.S., though he didn't give a timeline or any specifics.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, Apple said that it would spend $500 billion over the next four years to expand manufacturing in the U.S. by setting up facilities in various locations, opening new units, hiring over 20,000 people, and opening a manufacturing academy.
Trump's comments come a day after India approved a $435 million Foxconn project to manufacture Apple chips in the country. The company has had ambitious plans to ramp up production in India and create alternative manufacturing units that reduce its reliance on China.
A Bloomberg report in April suggested Apple already produces 20% of its iPhones in India. At the time, the Financial Times also reported that Apple planned to import all iPhones sold in the U.S. from India by 2026.
Topics
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
Uber to introduce fixed-route shuttles in major US cities designed for commuters
Google launches new initiative to back startups building AI
Saudi prince launches AI venture as Trump, Musk, Altman, and Zuckerberg arrive for conference
Sam Altman apparently does not respect olive oil
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
23andMe customers notified of bankruptcy and potential claims — deadline to file is July 14
The near joy of biking with Ray-Ban Meta glasses
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
The company will provide AI and CPU solutions for HUMAIN AI
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Qualcomm has confirmed its long-rumored data center CPU rollout will start in collaboration with Saudi Arabia's state-backed AI cloud infrastructure project, in partnership with HUMAIN AI. In a press release, the company confirmed it has signed a memorandum of understanding with HUMAIN, a new Saudi Arabian venture backed by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The move represents a return to making data center CPUs after Qualcomm's first failed initiative. Qualcomm famously developed Centriq data center CPUs in 2017 but then canceled the project in 2019. The company later purchased the startup Nuvia, which was designing Arm-based data center CPUs. Qualcomm repurposed the tech for its Snapdragon processors for Windows machines, but speculation has continued that the company would re-enter the data center CPU market with Nuvia's tech under the hood.
Qualcomm and HUMAIN AI say they will partner in developing next-generation AI data centers, infrastructure, and cloud-to-edge services. Specifically, Qualcomm says it intends to develop and build "cutting-edge AI data centers in Saudi Arabia designed to deliver highly efficient, scalable cloud-to-edge hybrid AI inferencing solutions for local and international customers based on Qualcomm Technologies' edge and data center solutions."
Qualcomm says it will also develop and supply state-of-the-art data center CPU and AI solutions to HUMAIN's data centers and speed up the use of the infrastructure by leveraging Snapdragon and Dragonwing processors.
Qualcomm and HUMAIN say their data centers "are intended to provide both government and enterprise organizations with access to high-performance and power efficient CPU and AI cloud infrastructure and cloud-to-edge services."
As part of the agreement, Qualcomm will also establish a Qualcomm Design Center in Saudi Arabia for semiconductor technology.
Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, said Qualcomm was "pleased to be working with HUMAIN to support the realization" of its goal to become a global AI leader.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Qualcomm hinted at plans to develop server CPUs earlier this year when it hired Sailesh Kottapalli, former chief architect of Intel's Xeon server processors. Kottapalli's tenure included projects such as x86, Itanium, and multiple Xeon generations.
The news follows Nvidia's own announcement that it will send 18,000 AI GPUs to the country, which will be used to build a 500-megawatt data center. It follows the Trump administration's official scrapping of the AI Diffusion Rule, which restricted the export of AI chips to most countries.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents, and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Latest
AI
Amazon
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
Gaming
Google
Government & Policy
Hardware
Instagram
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
Space
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Newsletters
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
South Korea has once again postponed a decision on whether to approve Google's request to transfer high-precision map data on the country's geography to its international servers.
In February, Google had requested approval from the Korean National Geographic Information Institute to deploy a 1:5,000 scale map on its app in the country and to transfer that data to its servers abroad, a spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport confirmed to TechCrunch.
The government was supposed to finalize its decision within 60 days, by mid-May, but the deadline has now been moved to August 11, as they are still in discussions, the spokesperson said.
This is Google's third request to South Korea on this topic, following previous requests in 2011 and 2016. The tech giant currently uses a 1:25,000 scale map in the country that includes points of interest and satellite images, according to media reports. A 1:5,000 scale high-precision map would offer a more detailed view that would include even the narrowest streets.
When South Korean officials rejected Google's request in 2016, they said an approval would only be granted if the U.S. tech firm sets up a data center in South Korea. The country also asked Google to blur sensitive locations, like national security facilities, on its maps for security purposes.
Google has not yet said if it would set up a data center in South Korea. The company operates an array of data centers around the world, including in Asian countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Data restrictions by the government have impacted the performance of Google Maps and Apple Maps in South Korea. Foreigners and tourists often struggle to navigate with Google Maps due to the limited information and languages supported, often resorting to using local apps that do not support many foreign languages.
Local navigation apps such as Naver Map, TMaps, and Kakao Map are most popular among local users. These apps offer map data at a scale of 1:5,000, and therefore, much more information and detail. Naver Map, launched in 2002, has about 27 million monthly active users (MAUs), while Kakao Map and TMaps have around 11 million and 24 million MAUs, respectively.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Topics
Reporter, Asia
Kate Park is a reporter at TechCrunch, with a focus on technology, startups and venture capital in Asia. She previously was a financial journalist at Mergermarket covering M&A, private equity and venture capital.
Experts from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere deliver exclusive insights across a must-attend industry event that you can attend for just $292.
TikTok rolls out a new meditation feature to help you get off the app and sleep
Cognichip emerges from stealth with the goal of using generative AI to develop new chips
Google rolls out new AI and accessibility features to Android and Chrome
Host a tailored Side Event at All Stage 2025 in Boston
Bain bets on Indian domestic work startup Pronto even as rivals face criticism
Threads now lets creators add up to 5 links to profiles, track clicks
Apple finally launches next-gen ‘CarPlay Ultra' software, starting with Aston Martin
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
After telehealth startups recently lost the ability to sell exact copies of patented GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, some firms have begun turning to a different, less effective medication that has been on the market in the United States since 2010. Often considered a precursor to blockbuster products like Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, liraglutide is becoming the new darling of online clinics offering prescription weight loss and diabetes meds—despite its relative old age.
Originally sold by Novo Nordisk under the brand names Victroza and Saxenda, the drug has been available in generic form in the US since last year. Like Ozempic, liraglutide is a GLP-1 agonist that mimics a naturally occurring hormone and works by suppressing hunger cues and regulating insulin levels. But it doesn't have the same name recognition or popularity as the newer GLP-1 drugs for a very simple reason: It doesn't work as well, can cause more severe side effects, and patients have to inject it daily rather than weekly.
The FDA determined earlier this year that patented medications like Zepound and Ozempic were no longer in shortage, ending provisions that allowed online clinics to sell off-brand, compounded versions of the drugs. As clinics and manufacturers wind down sales of those compounds, many online clinics and manufacturers are embracing liraglutide. Leading telehealth company Hims added generic liraglutide to its lineup last month, joining over a dozen competitors already offering the product in compounded, generic, or name-brand forms.
Large compounding pharmacies, like Florida-based Olympia Pharmaceuticals, are already pivoting to producing the medication, expecting that demand will rise. “We've signed some pretty large contracts for liraglutide,” says chief financial officer Joshua Fritzler. “We can treat it kind of the same way we treated semaglutide and tirzepatide,” the active ingredients in Ozempic and Zepbound. Fritzler says Olympia plans to begin ramping up production this summer.
GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Zepbound have been heralded for their unparalleled success in treating obesity and type 2 diabetes. Researchers believe they also have the potential to help patients suffering from a wide variety of other conditions, from addiction to Parkinson's. After demand for GLP-1s exploded in recent years, the FDA declared that some of the name-brand versions were officially in shortage. That meant doctors could legally prescribe cheaper “compounded” versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide with the same active ingredients as the originals.
Compounding pharmacies and telehealth startups flourished selling these alternative GLP-1 products online, attracting millions of customers who couldn't afford or were unwilling to pay higher prices for the name-brand medications, which are frequently not covered by insurance. Now, the shortages for both these meds have ended. The FDA's grace period for manufacturers to stop producing and selling compounded tirzepatide is over, and the cut-off date for semaglutide is May 22. Liraglutide, though, has been in shortage since April 2023, so the compounders are free to keep making it.
Some telehealth companies are continuing to offer compounded medications they say aren't technically direct copies of patented drugs because they come in customized doses or with added vitamins. Eli Lilly has already sued some of them, alleging that these versions are illegal. Other telehealth firms and compounders are playing it safe, ceasing sales altogether. (Olympia, for example, is stopping production of semaglutide.)
Liraglutide is especially appealing for these companies, since it's the closest thing they can safely produce and sell that still qualifies as a kind of Ozempic dupe. Some are even marketing it as a substitute for other drugs. The online clinic Ageless RX, for example, calls liraglutide as “an easy transition for those switching from another GLP-1 medication.” (Ageless RX did not respond to a request for comment)
Doctors tell WIRED that prospective patients should carefully assess whether liraglutide is really an appropriate alternative for them. While many people will likely respond positively to the medication, data suggests that tirzepatide and semaglutide are superior drugs for most patients. In clinical trials and other studies, those drugs outperform liraglutide, producing substantially more weight loss while causing fewer side effects.
“It is better than nothing, but expectations should be held in check,” says Justin Ryder, a pediatric obesity expert at Northwestern University and vice chair of research in the surgery department at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. “People who are looking for profound weight loss will likely be disappointed.” Since patients often need to stay on GLP-1 medications indefinitely to maintain results, liraglutide's daily injection may also prove to be a major hurdle for long-term success.
“People should do the math,” suggests obesity medicine specialist Angela Fitch. While the liraglutide sold by online clinics may initially appear to be cheaper than newer generations of drugs, the savings might not be so clear-cut in reality. The fact that liraglutide is prescribed to be taken daily rather than weekly means larger doses may be required to trigger comparable weight loss. “It might be more affordable to take a more potent drug,” Fitch says.
In your inbox: Upgrade your life with WIRED-tested gear
“Wi-Fi keeps going down”: Trump's RTO mandate is going terribly
Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack
Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence”
Uncanny Valley: An insider look at the influence of Silicon Valley
More From WIRED
Reviews and Guides
© 2025 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
A newly described creature from the Cambrian period is putting a bizarre twist on what we thought we knew about early animal evolution. Meet Mosura fentoni—a three-eyed, clawed, and flappy-limbed predator about the size of your finger, recently identified from Canada's famed Burgess Shale.
The alien-looking animal is part of a group called radiodonts, a now-extinct lineage of arthropods best known for Anomalocaris, a three-foot-long (one-meter-long) sea terror with spiny limbs and a circular mouth full of teeth.
Like its cousins, Mosura had a similar feeding disk and paddle-like limbs for swimming. But it also had a strange surprise out back: a tail-like segment of 16 tightly packed body sections, each lined with gills. The Royal Society Open Science published the team's description of the creature today.
“As much as we learn about radiodonts, there always seems to be something new and surprising about this group around the corner,” said study lead author Joe Moysiuk, curator at the Manitoba Museum, in an email to Gizmodo. “The ‘abdomen' in Mosura is different in that its segments are small and they have only tiny flaps that would have been basically useless for propulsion.”
The researchers aren't totally sure why Mosura needed this extra breathing real estate, but it could be related to how or where it lived—maybe hanging out in low-oxygen environments in the lively Cambrian seas, or leading an especially active lifestyle.
Its unique shape, with broad swimming flaps and a slender abdomen, earned it the nickname “sea-moth” from the researchers—hence the name Mosura, a nod to the Japanese kaiju Mothra. But despite its nickname, Mosura is only distantly related to moths. Mosura is part of a much more ancient lineage of arthropods—and though the radiodonts are long-gone, their remarkable preservation in the Burgess Shale is routinely yielding new species to science.
Beyond its sci-fi looks, Mosura is also offering rare glimpses of internal anatomy from half a billion years ago. Some of the 61 fossils of the creature studied show preserved nerve tissue, eye structures, a digestive tract, and even reflective patches representing an open circulatory system—essentially a heart pumping blood into internal cavities called lacunae. Those same features, previously mysterious in other fossils, are evident in the team's Mosura specimens.
The fossils, mostly collected by the Royal Ontario Museum over the last 50 years, came from Yoho and Kootenay National Parks—part of the Burgess Shale region. The region was part of the ancient seafloor and is known for its exceptional preservation of the soft-bodied organisms that called the seafloor home.
Moysiuk has recently unearthed a couple of other creatures from the Cambrian Explosion, including Titanokorys gainesi in 2021 and Cambroraster falcatus, named for the Millennium Falcon, in 2019.
“So many science fiction creatures have been inspired by living organisms,” Moysiuk said. “It seems only natural that scientists should take some inspiration in return.”
“There are loads of other possible inspirations for species names, but I do think there's a lot of potential with the ‘Tremors' franchise,” Moysiuk added. “The giant worms in that series are supposed to be relicts of the Precambrian, and although that makes no sense scientifically, it could make for a fun reference.”
You heard it here first: As long as the creatures getting discovered keep looking as alien as Moysiuk's recent finds, no science fiction franchise is safe from becoming scientific nomenclature.
ArthropodsCambrian explosionfossils
Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
Please select your desired newsletters and submit your email to upgrade your inbox.
Fossilized footprints from Australia are forcing paleontologists to rethink the tetrapod family tree.
CT scans, UV light, and careful prep work uncovered feathers that may have given the ancient dinosaur liftoff.
The paleontological treasure sat in a fossil collection in Brazil, unnoticed.
More than half of the world's scientifically useful T. rexes are in the hands of private or commercial owners, and not accessible to scientists, according to research.
A digital investigation reveals how AI can latch on to technical terminology, despite it being complete nonsense.
Scientists have debated where Prototaxites belong in the tree of life for over a century, but now a new study suggests it might represent a whole new branch.
We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.
©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC. All rights reserved.
Mode
Follow us
Mode
Follow us
An international study led by Paolo Fiorina from Boston Children's Hospital and in collaboration with researchers from University of Milan highlights the beneficial effect of inhibiting the death receptor TMEM219 to restore mucosal healing in inflammatory bowel diseases. Findings were published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Fiorina and colleagues demonstrated that the pharmacological blockade of TMEM219 signal through a recombinant protein based on the extracellular portion of the TMEM219 receptor is able to preserve self-renewal ability of intestinal stem cells in inflammatory bowel disease, protect intestinal stem cells from cell death induced by TMEM219 activation, and prevent colitis development in mouse models. These results were confirmed by the selective genetic inhibition of TMEM219 on intestinal stem cells LGR5 in vivo which allowed for the preservation of mucosal regeneration and healing in inflammatory bowel disease. This may thus represent a new mechanism of disease in which TMEM219 overactivation induces intestinal stem cell death and prevents mucosal renewal during inflammation.
This new signaling is able to control the fate of intestinal stem cells and modulate their survival. The study shows how this new mechanism of disease, which is overactive in the intestine during inflammation, is able to control mucosal self-renewal, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease. The dysregulation of this axis in patients with IBD and non-responding to therapy or with active disease suggests that TMEM219 signaling may prevent mucosal healing and therefore exerts a detrimental effect that aggravates the disease condition."
Paolo Fiorina, Associate Scientist at Boston Children's Hospital Nephrology Division and Lecturer at Harvard Medical School
Previous studies conducted by the same group of researchers had highlighted the importance of the IGFBP3 / TMEM219 signaling in the context of diabetes, particularly on insulin-producing beta cells. This study goes further and identifies the TMEM219 signals as a novel mechanism of disease in colitis.
"The possibility of re-establishing self-renewal abilities of intestinal stem cells and promote mucosal healing during colitis is of extraordinary importance for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, especially in those not responding to current therapy in whom the disease is relapsing frequently, and surgery is at the end required," says Fiorina.
Boston Children's Hospital
D'Addio, F., et al. (2025). TMEM219 signaling promotes intestinal stem cell death and exacerbates colitis. Journal of Clinical Investigation. doi.org/10.1172/jci185783.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
May 15, 2025
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to telisotuzumab vedotin-tllv (Emrelis, AbbVie) for locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with high c-Met protein overexpression after prior systemic therapy.
The FDA also approved the VENTANA MET (SP44) RxDx Assay (Roche Diagnostics) as a companion diagnostic to detect high c-Met protein overexpression, defined as 50% or more of tumor cells with 3+ staining.
The antibody-drug conjugate consists of a c-Met–directed antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate.
Telisotuzumab vedotin-tllv “is the first and only treatment approved for previously treated advanced NSCLC patients with high c-Met protein overexpression who often face poor prognosis and have limited treatment options,” AbbVie said in a press release.
C-Met is a cell surface protein that is overexpressed in approximately 25% of patients with advanced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) wild-type, nonsquamous NSCLC, driving tumor progression. Roughly half of overexpressors have high c-Met expression.
Approval was based on the phase 2 LUMINOSITY trial in 84 patients with EGFR wild-type, nonsquamous NSCLC and high c-Met protein overexpression. Patients received telisotuzumab vedotin-tllv as monotherapy in the second or third-line setting.
The overall response rate was 35%, and the median duration of response was 7.2 months.
The most common adverse reactions, in 20% or more of study participants, were peripheral neuropathy, fatigue, decreased appetite, and peripheral edema. The most common grade 3 or 4 laboratory abnormalities, in 2% of more of participants, were decreased lymphocytes, increased glucose, increased alanine aminotransferase, increased gamma glutamyl transferase, decreased phosphorus, decreased sodium, decreased hemoglobin, and decreased calcium.
The recommended telisotuzumab vedotin-tllv dose is 1.9 mg/kg intravenously up to a maximum of 190 mg for patients who weigh 100 kg or more every 2 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
The treatment is being further evaluated in the phase 3 trial TeliMET, AbbVie noted in the press release.
M. Alexander Otto is a physician assistant with a master's degree in medical science and a journalism degree from Newhouse. He is an award-winning medical journalist who worked for several major news outlets before joining Medscape. Alex is also an MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow. Email: aotto@mdedge.com
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.
A recent study published in Life Metabolism has uncovered a surprising new player in the body's ability to regulate blood sugar after eating. Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Namur found that an enzyme called hyaluronidase-1 (HYAL1) plays a crucial role in suppressing excessive glucose production in the liver, particularly after meals. This discovery could open new doors for treating metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes, where blood sugar control is impaired.
The study focused on hyaluronan (HA), a sugar molecule that naturally surges in the bloodstream after eating. While HA is known for its roles in tissue structure and inflammation, this research reveals its unexpected connection to glucose metabolism. The team discovered that HYAL1, which breaks down HA in the liver, helps shut down gluconeogenesis—the process by which the liver produces glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. Normally, gluconeogenesis is suppressed after meals to prevent blood sugar spikes, but in diabetes, it remains overactive.
Using genetically modified mice, the researchers found that deleting the Hyal1 gene led to higher glucose production, especially in mice fed a high-fat diet. Conversely, boosting HYAL1 levels in the liver improved glucose tolerance and reduced gluconeogenesis, even in insulin-resistant animals.
Digging deeper, the team uncovered the mechanism: HYAL1's breakdown of HA redirects cellular Uridine diphosphate N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), reducing a key modification (O-GlcNAcylation) on mitochondrial proteins that are key in energy metabolism. This lowers ATP production, making it harder for the liver to sustain glucose synthesis. Importantly, this regulation remains functional even in insulin-resistant conditions, making it an attractive target for therapies.
While more research is needed to quantify the contribution of this pathway, the study provides a fresh perspective on how the body fine-tunes glucose metabolism beyond the classic insulin-glucagon system. With diabetes affecting millions worldwide, this research highlights an overlooked yet vital piece of the metabolic puzzle that could lead to new strategies for managing diabetes, such as enhancing HYAL1 activity or manipulating HA levels after meals.
Frontiers Journals
Chen, X., et al. (2025). Hyaluronidase-1 mediates postprandial suppression of hepatic gluconeogenesis. Life Metabolism. doi.org/10.1093/lifemeta/loaf016.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
A new study uncovers how working at 35,000 feet may disrupt DNA repair and immune function in flight attendants, offering fresh insights into the health risks faced by cabin crews and the urgent need for stronger protections.
Study: Suppressed DNA repair capacity in flight attendants after air travel. Image Credit: Feruzbek / Shutterstock.com
An increased cancer risk and compromised reproductive health among flight attendants (FAs) could be due to impaired genomic stability and altered immune responses linked to their air travel. A recent study in the journal Scientific Reports investigates whether alterations in DNA damage and repair in FAs are related to flight travel.
FAs experience strong radiological and toxin exposure from cosmic radiation and cabin air. These workers are also exposed to many biological, physical, and psychosocial stressors through difficult interactions with passengers or quick turnaround times between flights.
As compared to the general population, epidemiological studies have reported that FAs are at a greater risk of developing breast and skin cancer, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and experiencing adverse reproductive outcomes. However, the underlying mechanisms associated with this increased cancer risk and other health issues in FAs remain unclear.
Previous studies have reported that environmental and occupational exposure to DNA-damaging agents can lead to transcriptional stress, cell death, genomic instability, stress, and senescence. Occupational hazards may also increase the risk of DNA damage by inducing inflammatory responses that produce endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS).
In humans, many DNA repair mechanisms, such as mismatch repair (MMR), base excision repair (BER), non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), homologous recombination (HR), and nucleotide excision repair (NER), are inherently present to protect the native genome from DNA-damaging agents. However, a defective DNA repair system increases the risk of several diseases, particularly cancer.
This preliminary investigation hypothesized that altered DNA repair and immune responses are the potential underlying mechanisms responsible for increased cancer risk in FAs. To test this hypothesis, the effect of air travel on DNA damage and repair responses in FAs was assessed.
Blood samples from FAs were collected before flight (BF) and after flight (AF). DNA repair capacity (DRC) for DNA repair pathways, including NHEJ, BER, NER, MMR, and HR, was assessed using functional high-throughput, fluorescence multiplex-based host cell reactivation (FM-HCR) assays. FA blood samples were analyzed using an unprecedented method of DNA repair based on host cell reactivation technology in resting lymphocytes.
Blood samples for BF measurements were collected five to 12 hours before flight departure from Boston Logan International Airport, and blood samples for AF assessments were collected within 1.5 hours of landing at the same airport. The duration between departure and return varied between 27 hours and 10 days, depending on each individual's flight schedule.
This pilot study included a small sample of nine FAs, three of whom were male and six females between 24 and 64 years of age, were included in the research. All study participants were White and non-smokers, whereas five individuals were considered overweight. The employment duration as an FA ranged from two to 41 years.
Employment duration and age were associated with chronic mutagenic exposure and disease risks. Differential blood cell counts indicated the impact of flight travel on the immune system.
There was no significant difference in the blood cell count landscape between the BF and AF samples. However, lymphocyte counts were significantly higher in AF samples, suggesting an inflammatory response associated with flight travel-related exposures.
Higher basophil counts were also observed in AF blood samples; while a statistically significant increasing trend was noted in a subgroup of FAs (after excluding two individuals with notably high counts), the trend did not reach statistical significance when all nine participants were included due to high variability. Likewise, no statistically significant difference in the average basal DNA damage was observed between BF and AF samples.
DNA repair kinetics were measured in response to secondary exposure to a DNA-damaging agent. A statistically insignificant trend towards a marginal increase in the time needed to repair initial genomic DNA damage was observed in AF samples compared to BF samples using the CometChip assay. Thus, increased DNA damage could be due to impaired DNA repair, particularly linked to impaired single-strand breaks (SSBs) repair by BER processing, which may arise from oxidative DNA damage.
Although most ionizing radiation (IR)-induced DNA damage was repaired within one hour, considerable heterogeneity in repair kinetics data was observed. The paper detailed that while some individuals' after-flight samples showed slower repair kinetics compared to their before-flight samples, others showed more rapid kinetics, highlighting inter-individual differences and varied responses to air travel.
Although no significant difference in transfection efficiency between BF and AF samples was observed, the FM-HCR analysis identified alterations in DRC in some pathways in AF and BF samples. As compared to the BF samples, a significant reduction in the repair of oxidative DNA damage and IR-induced plasmid damage was observed in the AF samples.
The findings from this pilot investigation, which involved a small number of participants, indicated alterations in blood cell count, decreased activity in repairing oxidative and IR-induced genomic lesions, and heterogeneity in repair kinetics in AF samples of FAs as compared to their BF samples. These observations suggest a potential mechanistic link where flight-related exposures might simultaneously promote inflammatory processes that increase oxidative DNA damage while also suppressing the DNA repair mechanisms that protect against such damage, contributing to genomic instability. These results should be interpreted with caution, given the study's scale.
This initial study serves as the foundation for future large-scale studies on in-flight crew, which are needed to confirm these preliminary findings and may support the development of informative policies to protect FAs from unnecessary health risks.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Written by
Priyom holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Madras, India. She is an active researcher and an experienced science writer. Priyom has also co-authored several original research articles that have been published in reputed peer-reviewed journals. She is also an avid reader and an amateur photographer.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
APA
Bose, Priyom. (2025, May 14). Air travel disrupts DNA repair in flight crew, raising cancer concerns. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 15, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250514/Air-travel-disrupts-DNA-repair-in-flight-crew-raising-cancer-concerns.aspx.
MLA
Bose, Priyom. "Air travel disrupts DNA repair in flight crew, raising cancer concerns". News-Medical. 15 May 2025.
A new clinical study reveals that daily black tea kombucha can promote healthier gut bacteria, especially in people with obesity, by reducing harmful microbes and supporting beneficial ones.
Homemade black tea kombucha. Image Credit: Ildi Papp / Shutterstock. Study: Regular Consumption of Black Tea Kombucha Modulates the Gut Microbiota in Individuals with and without Obesity
In a recent study in The Journal of Nutrition, researchers investigated the intestinal health impacts of regular black tea kombucha. The study was carried out over eight weeks and comprised initially 46 participants, with 23 participants assigned to each of two categories: normal weight or obese. Ultimately, 38 participants completed the study. Study outcomes were measured by comparing participants' stool, urine, and blood samples between baseline (0 weeks) and completion (8 weeks of intervention).
Study findings revealed that the kombucha contains 145 phenolic compounds (flavonoids = 81%, phenolic acids = 19%) and contributes to the growth of beneficial gut bacteria across both cohorts. The obesity groups derived the most benefit, with regular kombucha consumption resulting in the growth of the butyrate producer Subdoligranulum and declines in obesity-associated genera like Ruminococcus and Dorea. Changes in gut fungal composition were also observed after the kombucha intervention, with an increase in the abundance of certain fungi like Saccharomyces, though overall fungal alpha-diversity did not generally increase across all groups and was noted to be higher at baseline in the obese group before potentially decreasing or changing by the end of the intervention.
Obesity is a growing global health concern, afflicting more than 1 billion people today, and estimates expect this prevalence to increase further in the coming years. Decades of research have revealed environmental, genetic, physiological, and behavioral influences in the manifestation and progression of obesity, but the mechanisms underpinning these interactions remain poorly understood. A growing body of literature highlights the close relationship between gut microbiome health and optimal lipid outcomes, with dysbiosis of the former often triggering obesity in the host.
Diet's impacts on gut health and obesity cannot be understated. Recent research suggests that what we eat can modulate our weight and determine the composition and structure of the microorganisms inhabiting our guts. Kombucha, a fermented beverage produced when a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) is grown on tea infusions, has received increasing scientific and media attention given its dietary health benefits.
These benefits are especially relevant in gut microbial research, where animal models have repeatedly validated the modulatory effects of the phenol-rich beverage on the gut microbiome. Unfortunately, no studies have yet confirmed these findings in humans.
The present study aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating the long-term (eight weeks) impacts of consistent black-tea kombucha consumption on gut microbial health and assessing how these impacts differ between participants with and without obesity. The study measured gut microbiota changes, short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content, and intestinal permeability of all participants at study enrolment and intervention termination. It's important to note that this study used a pre-post intervention design without a parallel control group that did not consume kombucha.
Prospective participants were recruited through institutional emails and social media advertisements and were required to undergo questionnaire-based screening before study enrolment. Participants between the ages of 18 and 45, with a body mass index (BMI) value of at least 18.5 kg/m2, and devoid of a medical history of chronic diseases (except obesity) were enrolled.
Excluded were those who consumed kombucha (at least once a week over the past month); regularly used anti-inflammatory drugs, corticoids, or drugs that affect lipid or glucose metabolism; used antioxidant or vitamin supplements; took antibiotics 3 months before the study; had infectious or allergic episodes in the last month; were on weight loss diets; did not present a stable weight over the 3 months before the study (±3 kg); had an aversion to kombucha; had alcohol intake greater than 105 g of ethanol/week for women and 210 g for men; smokers; and pregnant and lactating women.
All participants were subjected to a baseline evaluation, which included collecting demographic data, medical records, laboratory examinations, and biological samples (blood, stools, and urine).
The study intervention involved the distribution of laboratory-prepared black tea kombucha (200 mL) for daily consumption. Simultaneous food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were maintained to ensure that participants did not significantly alter their routine diets and physical activity levels.
Researchers used a combination of titration, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS), and Folin–Ciocalteu colorimetric assays to characterize the composition of their black-tea kombucha. Microbiological characterization (serial dilution approach), intestinal permeability (lactulose and mannitol), and biomarker identification (ELISAs) helped elucidate the impacts of consistent kombucha consumption on the gut.
Of the 193 online respondents, 62 were screened, of which 46 participants (25 female) were enrolled after having met all inclusion criteria. Participants were equally divided between the ‘normal weight' (mean BMI = 21.64 kg/m2) and ‘obese' (mean BMI = 34.47 kg/m2) cohorts (n = 23 each). Laboratory-generated black-tea kombucha presented with a low pH (increased acidity) and a residual slightly sweet taste (sugar added for fermentation).
The IPAQ results showed that, at baseline, 61.1% of participants were active, 16.7% were very active, 5.6% were irregularly active A, and 16.7% were irregularly active B. After 8 weeks of kombucha consumption, physical activity patterns remained mostly unchanged, with only 3 participants showing a shift, 2 in the normal weight group and 1 in the obese group.
UPLC-MS-based characterization of the kombucha revealed it to be a rich source of phenolic compounds (n = 145), including flavonoids (81%) and phenolic acids (19%). Quercetin 3-O-rutinoside was found to be the most abundant phenol in the beverage. Frequent kombucha consumption was found to promote the growth of commensal Bacteroidota and Akkermanciaceae bacteria, with bacterial growth strongest in obese participants.
Obese participants also benefited from an increase in Subdoligranulum (butyrate producer) populations and significant reductions in Ruminococcus and Dorea (obesity-associated) genera. Encouragingly, Ruminococcus and Dorea levels, which were significantly higher in the obese cohort compared to normal-weight participants, were reduced in the obese participants to normal baseline levels by intervention termination. However, the study did not find significant differences in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations (acetate, butyrate, and propionate) in the stool samples of participants in either group, before or after the 8-week kombucha consumption. Similarly, markers of intestinal permeability, such as the lactulose to mannitol ratio in urine and plasma zonulin concentrations, did not show significant changes between or within groups after the intervention.
Relative abundance of major phyla (top 10) (A), families (top 10) (B), and genera (top 10) (C) in normal weight and obese groups at baseline (T0) and after 8 wk of regular consumption of black tea kombucha (T8).
The present study establishes the beneficial gut microbial effects of frequent kombucha consumption, particularly in obese or overweight individuals who experience greater benefits than their normal-weight counterparts in terms of bacterial modulation. Kombucha was observed to be a rich source of beneficial phenols (n = 145), some of which have known anti-obesity benefits. While the intervention led to these positive shifts in gut bacteria and fungal composition, it's noteworthy that direct measures of short-chain fatty acid production in stool and markers of intestinal permeability did not significantly change within the 8-week study period. Future research with a control group and potentially longer intervention durations would be beneficial to confirm these findings and explore potential clinical impacts.
Regular kombucha consumption positively influenced gut microbiota in both normal and obese groups, with more pronounced effects in the obese group, suggesting that it may be especially beneficial for those individuals.
Posted in: Men's Health News | Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News | Women's Health 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.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
APA
Francisco de Souza, Hugo. (2025, May 14). Black tea kombucha reduces harmful gut microbes linked to obesity. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 15, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250514/Black-tea-kombucha-reduces-harmful-gut-microbes-linked-to-obesity.aspx.
MLA
Francisco de Souza, Hugo. "Black tea kombucha reduces harmful gut microbes linked to obesity". News-Medical. 15 May 2025.
How cancer patients relying on daratumumab feel physically before starting the therapy can predict how long they will live and how well they will respond to the anti- multiple myeloma (MM) drug, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Haematology.
The study analyzed data from 1,804 patients enrolled in three large-scale clinical trials-MAIA, POLLUX, and CASTOR. Across these trials, the median patient age was 66 years, and 44% were female. About half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive daratumumab-containing therapy, while the other half received standard treatments without daratumumab.
Patients were asked, before starting treatment, to complete a standardized questionnaire assessing their ability to carry out everyday tasks. This patient-reported measure of physical function was then used to examine whether it could predict survival and response to daratumumab-based therapy.
The responses revealed that patients with lower scores benefited more from daratumumab, lived longer, and had a lower risk of disease progression. This is the first study to demonstrate that patient-reported physical function at treatment initiation can predict which patients derive the greatest survival benefit from daratumumab, a monoclonal antibody widely used in the treatment of multiple myeloma."
Dr. Ahmad Abuhelwa, lead author, University of Sharjah
The study offers a simple, low-cost way to improve treatment decisions, particularly for older or frail patients. "How well cancer patients can perform daily tasks like walking or getting dressed-is a powerful predictor of survival outcomes and treatment benefit in people with multiple myeloma receiving daratumumab-based therapies." Dr. Abuhelwa went on.
The study found that patients who reported having more difficulty with everyday physical activities experienced the greatest benefit from daratumumab treatment. In this low physical function group, daratumumab reduced the risk of death from any cause by 47% (hazard ratio 0.53 [95% CI: 0.40–0.70], P < 0.001) and the risk of cancer progression by 66% (hazard ratio 0.34 [0.22–0.53], P < 0.001) compared to those not receiving daratumumab. A hazard ratio (HR) below 1 means the treatment group had a lower risk; for example, an HR of 0.53 corresponds to a 47% lower risk of death.
In contrast, patients who reported being physically well before treatment-the high physical function group-had less benefit. Their risk of death was reduced by only 14%, which was not statistically significant (HR 0.86 [0.62–1.19], P = 0.364) compared to those not receiving daratumumab. They did, however, experience a 47% reduction in the risk of cancer progression (HR 0.53 [0.42–0.67], P = 0.034), showing that while daratumumab was still effective in this group, the magnitude of benefit was smaller (47%) than that seen in patients with low physical function (66%).
These results held true regardless of the patient's age, sex, weight, cancer stage, doctor-assessed health score (ECOG), or number of other health problems. Interestingly, the commonly used doctor rating of a patient's general health (ECOG) did not help predict who would benefit more - but the patients' own reports of their physical function did.
"Physical function is a predictive and prognostic marker that complements ECOG-PS, supporting its use in informing therapy decisions for daratumumab-based treatments," the authors write.
Doctors often use the ECOG Performance Status – a scale from 0 (fully active) to 5 (dead) – to determine how well a patient is functioning. But the study, according to Dr. Abuhelwa, found that many patients classified as "fully active" by ECOG reported significant physical challenges themselves.
"Patient-reported scores gave a more accurate and sensitive prediction of survival and treatment effect. This highlights a critical gap-ECOG alone may not capture the full picture. We need to start listening to patients."
The authors draw two major conclusions from their extensive analysis.
In the first, they found that patients who reported lower physical function at treatment initiation received the greatest survival benefit from daratumumab. In the second, the analysis found that patients with higher physical function showed a less pronounced treatment benefit.
"These findings were independent of traditional doctor-assessed tools, such as ECOG performance status. In fact, patient-reported scores outperformed ECOG in predicting survival outcomes. Importantly, daratumumab did not lead to more serious side effects in patients with low physical function," Dr. Abuhelwa points out. "Bottom line: What patients say about their physical limitations-right at the start of therapy-provides critical, actionable insights to guide cancer treatment decisions."
Patients with multiple myeloma are often treated with complex therapies like daratumumab – a life-prolonging monoclonal antibody that can also carry risks. Multiple myeloma is becoming an increasing global burden. In 2022, there were an estimated 188,000 new cases and 121,000 deaths worldwide. By 2045, incidence and mortality are expected to rise by 71% and 79% respectively. In the United States alone, the American Cancer Society projects approximately 36,110 new cases and 12,030 deaths from multiple myeloma in 2025.
On the importance of the study, co-author Dr. Ashley Hopkins, Associate Professor at Flinders University in Australia, said, "This is a timely and significant contribution. It highlights how patient-centered data can meaningfully guide complex treatment decisions in oncology. The study serves as a strong reminder to health professionals to seriously consider what cancer patients say about their physical function before initiating treatment."
Prof. Humaid Al-Shamsi, a co-author from the UAE's Burjeel Cancer Institute, added, "This study highlights the growing importance of patient-centered care in oncology. By listening closely to how patients feel at the start of treatment, we can better personalize therapies and improve outcomes – especially for those who are older or more physically vulnerable. It's a step forward in making cancer care more precise, compassionate, and effective."
The authors suggest their study could have wide-reaching implications. In it, they call on clinicians to incorporate patient-reported physical function into treatment planning; urge policymakers to promote the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials and routine care; and encourage drug developers to consider PROs when designing future cancer studies.
However, they maintained that further research and prospective studies were warranted to confirm the identified treatment benefits and explore whether they would extend to other contemporary multiple myeloma treatment regimens.
Said Dr. Abuhelwa, "With further validation, patient-reported outcomes could become an essential part of personalized treatment strategies, ultimately improving both survival and quality of life for people living with multiple myeloma."
The research is the outcome of collaboration between scientists from H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center (USA), Flinders University (Australia), the University of North Carolina (USA), and the Burjeel Cancer Institute in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
University of Sharjah
Abuhelwa, A. Y., et al. (2025). Predictive and Prognostic Significance of Patient‐Reported Outcomes for Survival and Adverse Events in Daratumumab‐Treated Multiple Myeloma. European Journal of Haematology. doi.org/10.1111/ejh.14410.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
To help neurologists, clinicians and families understand the current evidence for a new gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy called delandistrogene moxeparvovec, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued an Evidence in Focus article, published May 14, 2025, online in Neurology®.
AAN Evidence in Focus articles highlight the strength of the current evidence for new therapies for neurological conditions. Their purpose is not to provide recommendations for practice, but rather to provide an overview of the available data and a framework to support care. This article reviews evidence available for the efficacy and safety of delandistrogene moxeparvovec.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which primarily affects those of male sex, is an inherited genetic condition that causes muscle weakness. Symptoms usually appear between the ages of two and four and become more severe over time. People with this disease are missing a protein called dystrophin that helps maintain muscle health.
Delandistrogene moxeparvovec is a one-time gene therapy infusion approved by the Food and Drug Administration in June 2024 for use in those age four and older. The therapy uses a disabled virus to inject a miniaturized version of the gene that makes a small form of dystrophin into the muscle cells.
"While the prognosis for individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy has improved in recent decades thanks to corticosteroids and supportive care, significant functional limitations persist for those affected by the condition," said author Maryam Oskoui, MD, of McGill University in Quebec, Canada, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. "Recent advances in genetic therapies for this disease have brought hope to many, with several gene replacement therapies currently being evaluated in clinical trials, and one-delandistrogene moxeparvovec-already approved by the FDA. This Evidence in Focus article offers a timely and objective overview of the existing data and explores key clinical considerations surrounding the use of delandistrogene moxeparvovec. However, it is important to acknowledge that evidence supporting its potential effectiveness and safety remains limited."
The Evidence in Focus article states that both Class I studies of delandistrogene moxeparvovec failed to meet their primary outcome measures related to motor function, a person's ability to control movements.
Research showed the therapy may possibly slow the decline of other measures of motor function by a small amount. However, the article states it is difficult to know how much of this benefit is due to the gene therapy and how much may additionally be influenced by the high dose steroid medications that are taken with the therapy.
The article highlights that neurologists and other clinicians treating people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy should be aware of the limitations of this treatment and the need to monitor and counsel patients for side effects including muscle inflammation and related muscle pain and weakness, heart inflammation, low blood platelet count, liver injury and possible death.
Based on the current research, it has yet to be determined whether the therapy will extend a person's life or improve their quality of life. The therapy does not cure Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Those considering this gene therapy should ask their doctor if insurance will pay for the treatment. The one-time infusion costs $3.2 million, not including other costs related to the infusion in the hospital and the close follow-up required.
"Additional clinical studies that closely follow people receiving this treatment are essential to determine the short- and long-term effectiveness of delandistrogene moxeparvovec and to inform the understanding of the benefits and risks of this therapy across a person's lifetime," said author James J. Dowling, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
The article was developed with financial support from the American Academy of Neurology.
American Academy of Neurology
Oskoui, M., et al. (2025) Delandistrogene Moxeparvovec Gene Therapy in Individuals With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: Evidence in Focus Report of the AAN Guidelines Subcommittee. Neurology. doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000213604.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
While it may seem intuitive that people would die without life-saving medications, Penn and Harvard researchers have connected losing a federally funded prescription drug assistance program and an increase in mortality. The program, called the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), helps 14.2 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom are older Americans, afford their medications. Nationally, 12.5 million people who are eligible for and enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid ("dual eligibles") automatically qualify for the LIS, which is worth about $6,200/year.
The study, published today in New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, reveals that losing Medicaid coverage-and with it, the LIS-was associated with significant increases in mortality among low-income Medicare beneficiaries.
When Medicare beneficiaries lose Medicaid, which happens to more than 900,000 people each year, they also risk losing the LIS and therefore, being able to afford the medicines they need."
Eric T. Roberts, PhD, lead author, associate professor of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Senior Fellow
The study included nearly 1 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries whose Medicaid coverage ended. Due to program rules, the exact month people lose Medicaid impacts when they are removed from the LIS.
The researchers compared two groups: individuals who lost Medicaid from January to June who were removed from LIS by the following January (7–12 months later), and those who lost Medicaid from July to December lost LIS the next January (13–18 months later). This allowed the team to compare mortality rates during the period when some had lost LIS and others had not.
Mortality was 4 percent higher among individuals who lost the LIS earlier than those who retained it for a longer period. Over the study period, more than 2,900 people died. The risks were even greater among subgroups of people who had greater clinical needs and on more expensive medications. For example, mortality was 22 percent higher among people using HIV antiretroviral therapy.
The researchers found that over one half of individuals who lost Medicaid regained it within one year, suggesting that many were dropped from Medicaid despite remaining eligible.
"These findings show that helping low-income Medicare beneficiaries who are eligible for Medicaid stay enrolled and retain the LIS can save lives since it preserves access to essential medications," said senior author José F. Figueroa, MD, MPH, an associate professor of health policy and management at Harvard Chan School.
The authors note that recent increases in Medicaid coverage losses among older adults raise concerns about potential losses of the LIS. Added Roberts, "As policymakers consider major changes to the Medicaid program, preserving Medicaid coverage for older adults is critical to ensuring that they keep the LIS."
Support for this work comes from the National Institute on Aging (R01AG076437; R01AG081151; RF1AG088640; T32AG000037), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS029453), and Arnold Venture.
University of Pennsylvania
Roberts, E. T., et al. (2025) Loss of Subsidized Drug Coverage and Mortality among Medicare Beneficiaries. New England Journal of Medicine. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa2414435.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Healthcare News
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
Mindfulness-based therapy can offer significant relief for individuals who are still depressed after receiving treatment, according to a new clinical trial.
Researchers hope their findings, published in Lancet Psychiatry, could provide a new treatment pathway for people with depression who have not benefitted from previous treatment. The study was led by a researcher from the University of Surrey, sponsored by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) differs from other psychological therapies by using intensive training in mindfulness meditation to help people develop skills to respond more adaptively to negative mood and stress, in addition to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) principles which seek to change negative thought patterns.
The new study found that MBCT significantly improved depression symptoms compared to continued treatment as usual. The average effect was in the small-to-moderate range and comparable to treatment with antidepressants. Crucially, the study also concludes that providing MBCT as an alternative to usual treatment was cost-effective, at less than £100 per person, and could save the National Health Service (NHS) money by changing the way people use services.
The UK NHS Talking Therapies programme is the world's largest and most advanced publicly funded psychological therapies service, treating around 670,000 people each year, of which almost half have depression as their primary complaint. About 50 per cent of those individuals still have some degree of depression when their care ends. This rate is comparable to the wider picture in the treatment of depression, which for many patients is a recurring condition.
Among them is Mary Ryan, a patient adviser and co-author who has worked with the research team from the start. The retired GP and palliative care doctor has experienced many episodes of severe depression throughout her adult life, and was first in contact with mental health services when she was 17 years old. She said: "For most people with severe depression, it's more than a condition – it's a recurring part of their life story. Up to now, people have often been told that they've reached the end of the road for psychological treatment, that there are no other options for them. The findings of this trial are hugely important because we're telling this group of people that they still matter – that there's something else we can try that may work for them."
The study involved more than 200 patients who had received NHS talking therapies, but still had depression. They were recruited across 20 NHS trial sites. The three lead sites were: Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust, Devon Partnership Foundation Trust and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
One group of participants received eight weekly group-based MBCT sessions delivered by videoconferences, aimed to develop mindfulness skills and guide participants on how to respond more effectively to difficult emotions. The other group received treatment as usual. Six months after treatment, patients who had received MBCT had larger improvements in depression symptom scores on average, than those who had received treatment as usual.
We know there's a gap in services for people with depression who haven't got better through NHS Talking Therapies. These people often don't qualify for further specialist mental health care, and so are left with no further options. We've shown that offering MBCT to this group can be effective and cost-efficient to deliver, and we hope this will lead to it being implemented widely. We need investment in this and other areas where there are gaps in service, to ultimately save the NHS money."
Barney Dunn, Study Co-Author, Professor, University of Exeter
Study co-author Barbara Barret, Professor of Health Economics a King's College London, who analysed cost-effectiveness in the trial, said: "We are highly encouraged by our findings, which reveal that MBCT treatment offers a powerful dual benefit for this group: superior patient outcomes coupled with notable cost savings for the NHS."
Clara Strauss, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sussex, said: "For vulnerable people with depression, MBCT is particularly helpful for a number of reasons. It helps people to recognise negative, self-critical thoughts as thoughts, rather than as facts and so helps to lessen their emotional impact. It helps people to be more accepting of their difficult experiences and to be kinder to themselves. MBCT also helps people to avoid getting stuck in unhelpful, repeated cycles of negative thinking. Encouragingly, our trial shows MBCT can even work for people where other forms of talking therapy have had little effect."
Professor Kevin Munro, Director of NIHR's Research for Patient Benefit Programme, said: "This NIHR-funded study shows that mindfulness-based therapy has the potential to benefit patients with difficult-to-treat depression, as well as the NHS and the wider economy. It's a great example of practical research that could quickly help improve people's quality of life."
The study is titled 'Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy versus treatment as usual after non-remission with NHS Talking Therapies high-intensity psychological therapy for depression: a UK-based clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness randomised, controlled, superiority trial', and is published in Lancet Psychiatry. The research was led by Professor Thorsten Barnhofer from the University of Surrey and conducted in collaboration with Exeter Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Exeter.
University of Exeter
Barnhofer, T., et al. (2025). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy versus treatment as usual after non-remission with NHS Talking Therapies high-intensity psychological therapy for depression: a UK-based clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness randomised, controlled, superiority trial. The Lancet Psychiatry. doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(25)00105-1.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
Neuroscientists at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre (SWC) at UCL have discovered that the brain uses a dual system for learning through trial and error. This is the first time a second learning system has been identified, which could help explain how habits are formed and provide a scientific basis for new strategies to address conditions related to habitual learning, such as addictions and compulsions. Published today in Nature, the study in mice could also have implications for developing therapeutics for Parkinson's.
Essentially, we have found a mechanism that we think is responsible for habits. Once you have developed a preference for a certain action, then you can bypass your value-based system and just rely on your default policy of what you've done in the past. This might then allow you to free up cognitive resources to make value-based decisions about something else."
Dr. Marcus Stephenson-Jones, Group Leader at SWC and lead author of the study
The researchers uncovered a dopamine signal in the brain that acts as a different kind of teaching signal to the one previously known. Dopamine signals in the brain were already understood to form reward prediction errors (RPE), where they signal to the animal whether an actual outcome is better or worse than expected. In this new study, the scientists discovered that, in parallel to RPE, there is an additional dopamine signal, called action prediction error (APE), which updates how often an action is performed. These two teaching signals give animals two different ways of learning to make a choice, learning to choose either the most valuable option or the most frequent option.
"Imagine going to your local sandwich shop. The first time you go, you might take your time choosing a sandwich and, depending on which you pick, you may or may not like it. But if you go back to the shop on many occasions, you no longer spend time wondering which sandwich to select and instead start picking one you like by default. We think it is the APE dopamine signal in the brain that is allowing you to store this default policy," explained Dr Stephenson-Jones.
The newly discovered learning system provides a much simpler way of storing information than having to directly compare the value of different options. This might free up the brain to multi-task. For example, once you have learned to drive, you can also hold a conversation with someone during your journey. While your default system is doing all the repetitive tasks to drive the car, your value-based system can decide what to talk about.
Previous research discovered the dopamine neurons needed for learning reside in three areas of the midbrain: the ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra pars compacta, and substantia nigra pars lateralis. While some studies showed that these neurons were involved in coding for reward, earlier research found that half of these neurons code for movement, but the reason remained a mystery.
RPE neurons project to all areas of the striatum apart from one, called the tail of the striatum. Whereas the movement-specific neurons project to all areas apart from the nucleus accumbens. This means that the nucleus accumbens exclusively signals reward, and the tail of the striatum exclusively signals movement.
By investigating the tail of the striatum, the team were able to isolate the movement neurons and discover their function. To test this, the researchers used an auditory discrimination task in mice, which was originally developed by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Co first authors, Dr Francesca Greenstreet, Dr Hernando Martinez Vergara and Dr Yvonne Johansson, used a genetically encoded dopamine sensor, which showed that dopamine release in this area was not related to reward, but it was related to movement.
"When we lesioned the tail of the striatum, we found a very characteristic pattern. We observed that lesioned mice and control mice initially learn in the same way, but once they get to about 60-70% performance, i.e. when they develop a preference (for example, for a high tone go left, for a low tone, go right), then the control mice rapidly learn and develop expert performance, whereas the lesioned mice only continue to learn in a linear fashion. This is because the lesioned mice can only use RPE, whereas the control mice have two learning systems, RPE and APE, which contribute to the choice," explained Dr Stephenson Jones.
To further understand this, the team silenced the tail of striatum in expert mice and found that this had a catastrophic effect on their performance in the task. This showed that while in early learning animals form a preference using the value-based system based on RPE, in late learning they switch to exclusively use APE in the tail of striatum to store these stable associations and drive their choice. The team also used extensive computational modelling, led by Dr Claudia Clopath, to understand how the two systems, RPE and APE, learn together.
These findings hint at why it is so hard to break bad habits and why replacing an action with something else may be the best strategy. If you replace an action consistently enough, such as chewing on nicotine gum instead of smoking, the APE system may be able to take over and form a new habit on top of the other one.
"Now that we know this second learning system exists in the brain, we have a scientific basis for developing new strategies to break bad habits. Up until now, most research on addictions and compulsions has focused on the nucleus accumbens. Our research has opened up a new place to look in the brain for potential therapeutic targets," commented Dr Stephenson Jones.
This research also has potential implications for Parkinson's, which is known to be caused by the death of midbrain dopamine neurons, specifically in substantia nigra pars compacta. The type of cells that have been shown to die are movement-related dopamine neurons, which may be responsible for coding APE. This may explain why people with Parkinson's experience deficits in doing habitual behaviours such as walking, however they do not experience deficits in more flexible behaviours such as ice skating.
"Suddenly, we now have a theory for paradoxical movement in Parkinson's. The movement related neurons that die are the ones that drive habitual behaviour. And so, movement that uses the habitual system is compromised, but movement that uses your value-based flexible system is fine. This gives us a new place to look in the brain and a new way of thinking about Parkinson's," concluded Dr Stephenson-Jones.
The research team is now testing whether APE is really needed for habits. They are also exploring what exactly is being learned in each system and how the two work together. This research was funded by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship (ALTF 827-2018), a Swedish Research Council International Postdoc Grant (2020-06365), the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre Core Grant from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Wellcome (219627/Z/19/Z), the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre PhD Programme, and a European Research Council grant (Starting #557533).
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
Greenstreet, F., et al. (2025). Dopaminergic action prediction errors serve as a value-free teaching signal. Nature. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09008-9.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
While GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide help with weight loss, new research shows users often fall short on vital nutrients, spotlighting the urgent need for tailored dietary guidance.
Study: Investigating nutrient intake during use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist: a cross-sectional study.
In a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, researchers examined nutrient intake when using a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA). Obesity prevalence has doubled since 1990, with one in eight individuals being obese worldwide. Recent pharmaceutical interventions, especially GLP-1RAs, have advanced treatment for glycemic control and obesity. Notably, GLP-1RAs slow the transit time of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and suppress appetite, which could displace nutrient intake and result in mineral and vitamin deficiencies.
Besides, side effects could interfere with food preferences, leading to suboptimal intake of specific foods. As such, optimal health outcomes with GLP-1RA require a multifaceted approach beyond pharmacological interventions, encompassing lifestyle modifications like diet and exercise. However, limited or no medical nutrition therapy (MNT) guidelines are provided to healthcare providers and patients regarding adequate nutrient intake during GLP-1RA use.
The present study compared the nutrient intakes of GLP-1RA users to dietary reference intakes (DRI). Between September and October 2024, adults aged ≥ 18 years or older who had used a GLP-1RA for at least a month were recruited. Individuals enrolled in other nutrition programs or receiving meal plans were excluded. Self-reported questionnaires for anthropometrics, demographics, dietary habits, and GLP-1RA usage were administered.
Participants were asked about the education they received from healthcare providers during prescription and the level of satisfaction with that information. They were also asked about GLP-RA use, including the specific drug, reasons for use, duration, side effects, and expected period of future use. Participants self-reported general dietary habits, including changes in food preferences since the start of GLP-1RA therapy. Participants also self-reported their daily servings of MyPlate food groups.
Additionally, participants completed a three-day food record using the 2024 version of the Automated Self-Administered Dietary Assessment Tool, which was used to calculate each individual's average intake. The team calculated 95% confidence intervals for each nutrient from the three-day food record relative to their respective daily values based on the DRI.
In total, 99 individuals were recruited and invited to complete the three-day food record. Of these, only 82 completed a food record, and only 70 completed all three days. The final analytic sample included 69 participants (55 females and 14 males), as one subject with incomplete survey responses was excluded. All participants were currently using a GLP-1RA, with semaglutide and tirzepatide being the most common.
Most participants (39.1%) had been using GLP-1RA for over a year. Notably, 48% of participants planned to take GLP-1RA indefinitely. Further, a majority of the sample (82.6%) was White/Caucasian, and 80% of participants reported that GLP-1RA use resulted in greater weight loss than conventional programs. The most common side effects were nausea, diarrhea, and fatigue.
Approximately one in five subjects (19.3%) reported no side effects. The mean calorie intake was 1,748 kcal/day for the overall sample, 1,700 kcal/day for females, and 1,933 kcal/day for males. This overall average calorie intake, the paper notes, exceeds expert recommendations for individuals on GLP-1RAs (typically 1,200–1,500 kcal/day for females and 1,500–1,800 kcal/day for males). Participants consumed significantly more fat (% of total calories), saturated fat, linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, selenium, sodium, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B12 than the DRI.
By contrast, the intake of carbohydrates (both in grams per day and as a percentage of total calories), fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, choline, and vitamins A, C, D, E, and K was significantly less than the DRI. Protein intake as a percentage of total calories remained within the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR). However, the study highlighted a critical nuance: when assessed on a grams per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg/day) basis, average protein intake was insufficient to meet the higher needs (1.2–2.0 g/kg/day) recommended during weight loss.
Frequency count categorized three-day average nutrient intake of GLP-1RA participants compared to dietary reference intake.
This shortfall is particularly concerning because adequate protein is crucial to preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss, a factor critical for long-term metabolic health and weight management; only 43% of participants met the lower end of this g/kg/day recommendation. By intake frequency, vitamin D, potassium, choline, magnesium, and iron had the largest deficits compared to the DRI.
The paper noted that continued poor intake of such essential micronutrients could lead to detrimental long-term health outcomes, including impacts on cardiovascular health and bone density.
There were no significant differences in dietary intake based on participants' ethnicity, GLP-1RA usage duration, and education. Most participants consumed one to two servings of fruit, grains, dairy, and vegetables and three to four servings of protein per day. Participants under-consumed servings of fruit, grains, dairy, and vegetables compared to MyPlate recommendations.
The study also revealed a potential knowledge gap, as participants often overestimated their fruit and vegetable intake in self-reports compared to their detailed food records, suggesting a need for better dietary education on portion sizes. Furthermore, the paper indicated that standard MyPlate guidance, typically based on a 2,000-calorie diet, may not be tailored for the lower caloric needs or specific nutritional challenges of individuals on GLP-1RA therapy.
Taken together, the overall nutrient intake of participants using a GLP-1RA did not meet MyPlate guidelines or DRI. Participants consumed excess sodium, saturated fat, and calories. Notably, participants consumed inadequate calories from carbohydrates, adequate calories from protein as a percentage of total calories (though critically insufficient in g/kg/day for muscle preservation), and excess calories from fat.
The authors acknowledged certain study limitations and emphasized that these findings underscore the need for patient-centered nutritional guidance, potentially involving Registered Dietitian Nutritionists, to optimize health outcomes and address identified dietary education gaps. Overall, these results may be used for preliminary MNT guidance for this population, and the researchers call for future large-scale studies to confirm these findings and develop more specific nutritional protocols that account for the unique needs of GLP-1RA users.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News | Pharmaceutical News
Written by
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.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
APA
Sai Lomte, Tarun. (2025, May 14). GLP-1 weight loss drugs leave users low on key nutrients, study finds. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 15, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250514/GLP-1-weight-loss-drugs-leave-users-low-on-key-nutrients-study-finds.aspx.
MLA
Sai Lomte, Tarun. "GLP-1 weight loss drugs leave users low on key nutrients, study finds". News-Medical. 15 May 2025.
Tissues consist of a heterogenous mixture of different cell types, complicating our understanding of their biological functions and studies of disease. Now, a multi-institutional team led by The University of Osaka has developed and provided proof-of-concept of a new technology to visualize the distribution of components within a single cell, paving the way for a much greater understanding of disease in complex biological samples.
t-SPESI (tapping-mode scanning probe electrospray ionization) is a technique that allows analysis of the spatial layout of molecules in a sample. Multiple micro-samples of different regions of a cell are taken and transferred for analysis by a technique called mass spectrometry, which can determine the exact chemical components in that region. "We have developed a new t-SPESI unit that allows us to visualize the microscopy sample in multiple modes," explains lead author Yoichi Otsuka. "We can also directly observe the sampling process as the micro-samples are taken for mass spectrometry analysis."
By modifying their previously developed t-SPESI technology, the team enabled the analytical unit to be positioned above an inverted fluorescence microscope. This allows observation of the sampling process, as well as direct observation of the sample itself. The sample can be imaged in various modes, allowing the detection of any fluorescently tagged target molecules, determination of the distribution of features on the cell surface, and imaging of the locations of the chemical components of the cell.
This technology can visualize the distribution of intracellular lipids, fatty compounds that play key roles in metabolic processes. Abnormal distributions and functions of lipids are known to be linked to disease.
When we applied our technology to model cells, we were able to observe the lipids within each individual cell using mass spectrometry imaging, directly visualize the cell by fluorescence microscopy, and also determine the surface shape of the cell."
Michisato Toyoda, senior author
They were also able to detect distinctions between different types of cells with different cellular compositions. "This allows an understanding of the multidimensional molecular information of individual cells within a sample of diseased tissue," says Otsuka.
This exciting new technology will have a great impact on our ability to understand the processes underlying the development of disease in complex biological samples, allowing us to understand the complex mixtures and interactions of cells present in tissue samples. This will contribute to the development of advanced therapies and diagnostic techniques for a wide variety of diseases.
The University of Osaka
Otsuka, Y., et al. (2025). Single-cell mass spectrometry imaging of lipids in HeLa cells via tapping-mode scanning probe electrospray ionization. Communications Chemistry. doi.org/10.1038/s42004-025-01521-2.
Posted in: Cell Biology | Device / Technology News | Histology & Microscopy
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
New research by ESMT Berlin and the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) shows that private equity (PE) acquisitions lead to substantial operational efficiency gains in hospitals, challenging common public concerns. The study reveals that hospitals acquired by PE firms significantly reduce costs and administrative staff without increasing closure rates or harming patient care.
The paper "Private Equity in the Hospital Industry" is co-authored by Merih Sevilir (ESMT and Halle Institute for Economic Research), Janet Gao (McDonough School of Business, Georgetown), and Yongseok Kim (Freeman School of Business, Tulane). Drawing on data from more than 1,200 hospital acquisitions in the United States between 2001 and 2018, the researchers provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of how PE ownership affects hospital survival, employment, pricing, and patient outcomes.
The study finds that hospitals acquired by PE firms do not experience higher closure rates. Instead, they demonstrate improved operational profitability while sustaining essential medical staff levels over the long term. Cost-cutting efforts are largely concentrated in administrative roles, especially at hospitals that were formerly non-profit institutions. In these hospitals, the number of administrative staff declined by 33 percent over the long term. This highlights how private equity drives restructuring in sectors historically insulated from investor oversight and market pressures.
"Our study shows that private equity firms do not dismantle hospitals, as is often feared. Instead, they streamline administrative structures while protecting core medical staff and services. This nuanced approach boosts efficiency without compromising patient care," said Merih Sevilir, professor of finance at ESMT and head of the Department of Laws, Regulations, and Factor Markets at the Halle Institute. Drawing on proprietary insurance claims data, the research finds no evidence of increased inpatient prices or a shift toward treating younger, wealthier, or healthier patients. It also detects no changes in patient demographics or health outcomes, such as mortality or readmission rates. The only notable negative impact is a decline in patient satisfaction, potentially linked to reductions in administrative staff who support non-clinical services.
Overall, the findings suggest that private equity involvement can act as a catalyst for improving efficiency in healthcare without sacrificing medical quality, particularly through the reduction of excess administrative costs in nonprofit hospitals and the introduction of more effective operational oversight.
The study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Financial Economics, a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing theoretical and empirical research in financial economics.
ESMT Berlin
Posted in: Medical Research News | Healthcare News
Cancel reply to comment
Lohit Khera
In this interview, industry expert Dr. Lohit Khera discusses the evolving role of microRNA in research, diagnostics, and precision medicine, highlighting the latest innovations in RNA extraction and analysis
Emily Lee and Boris Lazarov
Learn how experts are advancing benzodiazepine analysis and detection using insights from the lab.
Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin
In this interview, Sir Prof. Cato T. Laurencin, the 2025 Coulter Lecturer, discusses how he is addressing today's medical challenges using the technology of the future.
News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance
with these terms and conditions.
Please note that medical information found
on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship
between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide.
Last Updated: Thursday 15 May 2025
News-Medical.net - An AZoNetwork Site
Owned and operated by AZoNetwork, © 2000-2025
Your AI Powered Scientific Assistant
Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net.
To start a conversation, please log into your AZoProfile account first, or create a new account.
Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content.
A few things you need to know before we start. Please read and accept to continue.
Please check the box above to proceed.
Great. Ask your question.
Azthena may occasionally provide inaccurate responses.
Read the full terms.
Terms
While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or
authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for
medical information you must always consult a medical
professional before acting on any information provided.
Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with
OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their
privacy principles.
Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential
information.
Read the full Terms & Conditions.
Provide Feedback
Reports from Argentina suggest that Pochettino's team is among the candidates to face the Albiceleste in November.
The road to next summer's World Cup continues, and for the United States, the journey is particularly complex.
Mauricio Pochettino's squad have already qualified one of the host nations. Over the next 12 months, the USMNT is tasked with finding high-quality opponents to sharpen its preparation ahead of the tournament.
Recently, US Soccer announced that the USMNT will face South Korea and Japan in a pair of friendlies during the September international window. These matchups will serve as valuable tests for Pochettino's team as it gears up to host the World Cup.
Our September slate is set! Become an Insider for early access on tickets » https://t.co/i8njUnrI4X pic.twitter.com/AlQHXje6mT
Reports from Argentina suggest that the world champions, led by Lionel Scaloni, are planning international friendlies for October and November. According to journalist Gastón Edul, Argentina could face the USMNT, in a friendly in Qatar. However, the fixture has yet to be officially confirmed.
The USMNT is set to close out the year by facing strong rivals. With Japan and South Korea locked in for September, the team is aiming to host friendly matches in the United States in October while potentially embarking on an international tour in November. These fixtures would provide crucial tests for Pochettino and his squad as they fine-tune their form with just a year to go before the World Cup.
In 2025, the USMNT will have several international windows, along with the traditional January training camp—an essential period for fine-tuning preparations. This camp will be particularly crucial for Pochettino as he begins shaping his final roster for the 2026 World Cup.
Get your game on! Whether you're into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.
Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.
Complete your personal details to comment
Your opinion will be published with first and last names
Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez have a clause in their contracts that will reportedly ensure their stay at Real Madrid for the Club World Cup.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Sign up for the latest news, match updates, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox every Monday.
A group of leading lawyers has submitted an official complaint to Fifa, alleging the governing body has failed to follow its own human rights rules in relation to the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia. The 30-page complaint has been filed via Fifa's official grievance mechanism and calls for immediate action in five areas.
The complaint has been authored by Fifa's former anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth, the Swiss lawyer Stefan Wehrenberg and the British barrister Rodney Dixon, who submitted a report to Fifa a year ago warning of the risks of awarding the tournament to the Gulf state.
The complaint argues that the bidding process “failed to ensure that human rights standards were met” and says: “Fifa's decision to approve Saudi Arabia as the next host country now places Fifa, in accordance with its own policy, under an obligation to ensure that internationally recognised human rights are upheld in Saudi Arabia.
“To date there is no evidence that such steps have been initiated, let alone that Fifa has any intention of doing so. This complaint highlights these failings so that they can be rectified without delay.”
The five areas outlined relate to freedom of expression and association; arbitrary arrests, mistreatment and the death penalty; judicial independence; migrants' rights and women's rights.
“Fifa must develop a concrete and transparent action plan in collaboration with the Saudi authorities, rather than relying on the host state to act unilaterally,” the complaint says. “This plan must incorporate minimum requirements … ensure their immediate implementation and establish robust mechanisms for ongoing monitoring. To date, no such steps have been initiated by Fifa.”
This week Fifa faced criticism and demands for action over the treatment of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Reports by Human Rights Watch and FairSquare highlighted the risks faced by those involved in the vast development projects commissioned by the Saudi regime under the direction of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The reports said workers continued to face severe risks to life and criticised the lack of transparency surrounding the deaths of migrant workers.
In response to Human Rights Watch, Fifa wrote a letter stating: “Fifa seeks to play its part in ensuring strong protections for workers employed by third parties in the construction of Fifa World Cup sites. This work involves a close collaboration with its Saudi counterparts and engagements with relevant international labour organisations … we are convinced that measures implemented … can set a new standard for worker protection.”
Sign up to Football Daily
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football
after newsletter promotion
Fifa has been approached for comment.
The Norwegian has been starved of service this season, but has done his best in a team that have fallen way below their usual standards
Erling Haaland has scored at 20 of the 23 English grounds he has played at. The Manchester City striker probably doesn't lose much sleep over the fact he is yet to find the net at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium, although he has unfinished business at the other two.
Haaland has failed to score in three attempts at Anfield, although it is his record at Wembley Stadium which must cause him the most anguish. The Norwegian has played four times at the home of football without scoring, though he will have a fifth opportunity to open his tally under the arch in Saturday's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.
Or at least, he should. Haaland only returned to action last weekend after six weeks out with an ankle injury and Pep Guardiola admitted after the forward's underwhelming performance in the goalless draw at Southampton that the Norwegian's place in his starting line up at Wembley was not guaranteed. "I'll have one week to think about it. I don't know. The truth is, it's been five weeks off," Guardiola said. "He's a big man and needs maybe a little bit more time."
Haaland's return to the pitch at St Mary's also coincided with City's five-match winning streak in all competitions coming to a halt, as the result and performance gave more fuel to the argument that City are a stronger side when the Norwegian is not on the field. There are some statistics to back up the claim, too: City have averaged 2.2 goals this season per match without their superstar striker compared to two goals per game when Haaland has started. The same was true last season, when City scored an average of 2.6 goals per game when Haaland was out with a fractured foot, but 2.5 goals when he played.
City were also unbeaten during his recent seven-game absence, winning six times. Meanwhile, 12 of their 14 defeats in all competitions this season have come while Haaland was playing.
But as the saying goes, there are lies, goddamn lies and statistics. Haaland simply has to start the final, and it is up to his under-performing team-mates to step up and provide him with the service he needs to fire City to FA Cup glory.
By Emilio Abad
Updated on May 15, 2025 11:41AM EDT
Argentina enter the next round of CONMEBOL qualifiers in a comfortable position, having become one of the first national teams to officially qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, their upcoming matches against Colombia and Chile could reshape the path for other nations still battling for qualification. Adding to the anticipation is the return of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi.
Lionel Scaloni and the Argentine soccer Association (AFA) made the call-up official via their social media platforms, releasing the full squad list for June's World Cup qualifiers. As the qualification stage nears its end, the squad begins to resemble the final group likely headed to North America in 2026.
One of the biggest headlines is the return of Messi, who missed the previous international window due to injury. The captain sat out Argentina's matches against Brazil and Uruguay but is now fit and ready to rejoin his teammates.
Even without Messi, Argentina showed no signs of slowing down. The team demonstrated both strength and maturity, proving the national program is in capable hands with its blend of World Cup veterans and rising stars. Scaloni's squad continues to dominate with a balance of experience and youthful energy—arguably making it the most complete national team in the world today.
🇦🇷📋 Here's the preliminary international squad selected for the next two matches of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 against Chile and Colombia!
Argentina will face Chile on June 5 in an away fixture at the Estadio Julio Martínez Prádanos. Kickoff is scheduled for 9:00 PM ET. In their second match of the window, Argentina will host Colombia on June 10 at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. That match is set to begin at 5:00 PM ET.
see also
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni picks between Messi and Maradona, names the world's 3 best players without including Leo
With the FIFA Club World Cup approaching and some players facing suspensions in other competitions, Scaloni opted to include all expected participants. Ten players from overseas—Nahuel Molina, Nicolás Otamendi, Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández, Messi, Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez, Giovani Lo Celso, Nico González, and Ángel Correa—were all named in the soccer squad.
Although this is technically a preliminary list, Scaloni took the opportunity to bring back several players who had been left out in recent windows due to injuries or form. The most notable returns are Valentín Barco, Valentín Castellanos, and Nicolás Domínguez.
Valentín Barco, the former Boca Juniors fullback, had fallen off the radar after an underwhelming start with Brighton in the Premier League. However, his current form with Strasbourg in France's Ligue 1 has earned him another look. Despite the presence of veteran Nicolás Tagliafico at left back, Barco is back in Argentina national team to contend for minutes.
Valentín Castellanos also makes his return. The Lazio striker missed the March qualifiers due to injury, but now healthy and in solid form, he rejoins the group. Despite heavy competition at striker—namely Lautaro Martínez and Julián Álvarez—Castellanos may still find opportunities to contribute against Colombia or Chile.
see also
Beckham slams Minnesota United for mocking Instagram post after 4–1 win over Messi's Inter Miami
The third notable return is Nicolás Domínguez. A member of Argentina's 2021 Copa América-winning squad, the former Vélez midfielder has been out of the national team picture for some time. But strong performances this season with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League have earned the 26-year-old a well-deserved recall.
Emilio Abad is a bilingual journalism student in his final year at Universidad de Especialidad Espíritu Santo. He joined the Bolavip US team in 2024, bringing with him a deep passion for international soccer and basketball. Emilio has gained valuable experience as a news anchor on a university program and completed an internship at Radio Forever in Guayaquil. He has also covered Liga Pro events in Ecuador, highlighting his expertise in sports reporting. His work in these roles has allowed him to develop a strong foundation in journalism.
Bolavip, like Futbol Sites, is a company owned by Better Collective. All rights reserved.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is headed to Los Angeles next month with plenty of matches set to take center stage at one of the world's most iconic venues.
Set to be held at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., the opening match for the venue is a doozy on June 15 when Paris Saint-Germain takes on Atlético de Madrid.
The other teams set to play in Los Angeles include CF Monterrey, FC Internazionale Milano, Botafogo, CA River Plate and Urawa Red Diamonds.
Soccer fans looking to witness a part of the action have plenty of options available as tickets are now available.
Here's how to buy 2025 FIFA Club World Cup tickets in Los Angeles.
Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you make a purchase through our links, we may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
The 12th man will have a new assignment as the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is headed to the Emerald City for group stage action.
Set to be held at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash., the opening match for the venue is June 15 when Botafogo takes on the home team, the Seattle Sounders FC.
The Sounders are one of two teams representing the United States in the tournament alongside Inter Miami, and will play all three matches in Seattle.
The other teams set to play in Seattle includes CA River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Atlético de Madrid, FC Internazionale Milano and Paris Saint-Germain.
Soccer fans looking to witness a part of the action have plenty of options available as tickets are now available.
Here's how to buy 2025 FIFA Club World Cup tickets in Seattle.
Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you make a purchase through our links, we may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, GOAL takes a look at the top 50 players currently in the USMNT player pool
With the World Cup just more than a year away, the time for expanding the U.S. men's national team player pool is nearly over. Mauricio Pochettino is still learning about the players at his disposal, yes, but in the very near future, the USMNT boss will have to narrow his list a core group to build towards 2026.
We've seen players rapidly rise and, on the flip side, we've seen a bad run of form cost players World Cup spots. Things change relatively quickly, particularly on the fringes, which means that, right now, everyone in the player pool will believe they have a legitimate chance at making the World Cup roster.
Any ranking of the U.S. pool could change quickly. The arrival of a top dual-national could add a new starter to the mix. A rapid rise from a young star, such as, say, DeAndre Yedlin back in 2014, could lead to a late surge. But with the Gold Cup kicking off next month and the World Cup starting in June 2026, Pochettino will be in decision-making mode.
Who are the top 50 players in that player pool? Which players will Pochettino be evaluating over the next year? GOAL takes a look.
Manage your account
...
Fifa are failing to follow their own human rights rules by holding the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, a group of leading lawyers have alleged.
The group, which includes Fifa's former anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth, have filed a 30-page complaint via Fifa's official grievance portal and called for action in five key areas.
Ahead of 2034, they have outlined the need to address freedom of expression and association; arbitrary arrests, mistreatment and the death penalty; judicial independence; migrants' rights; and women's rights.
It is also argued that the bidding process in which Saudi Arabia emerged victorious from “failed to ensure that human rights standards were met”.
“Fifa's decision to approve Saudi Arabia as the next host country now places Fifa, in accordance with its own policy, under an obligation to ensure that internationally recognised human rights are upheld in Saudi Arabia,” the complaint read.
“To date there is no evidence that such steps have been initiated, let alone that Fifa has any intention of doing so. This complaint highlights these failings so that they can be rectified without delay.”
Also at the heart of the complaint was British barrister Rodney Dixon, who submitted a report warning Fifa of the risks of awarding such a mega-event to the Saudis a year ago.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as the globe's leading sportswashing machine in the last decade, utilising major sporting events to launder a reputation tarnished by human rights abuses.
While there is a belief that awarding sporting showcases to nations like Saudi Arabia will spark social development, it's often the case that the opposite is true as they have no incentive to stray from their way of operating.
As such, the complaint also emphasises the need for Fifa to push Saudi Arabia to address key issues, with their no expectation that the Gulf state will alter by themselves.
“Fifa must develop a concrete and transparent action plan in collaboration with the Saudi authorities, rather than relying on the host state to act unilaterally,” the complaint adds. “To date, no such steps have been initiated by Fifa.”
States of Play by Miguel Delaney delves into how sportswashing took over football - the book can be ordered here
To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders
Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications
Home> Football> Football News
Ben McCrum
FIFA have announced their decision on potentially banning a country from the 2026 World Cup in an official statement.
In just over a year, the 2026 World Cup will get underway across Canada, Mexico and the United States, with 48 countries from across six confederations set to compete for the biggest trophy in football.
Only seven countries have qualified for the tournament so far, with all three host nations, New Zealand, Japan, Iran and Argentina, all confirmed participants.
Qualification for the remaining 41 spots will continue to take place in the coming months, with the final lineup set to be decided by the end of March 2026.
Advert
But before the lineup is finalised, FIFA have announced their decision to lift the suspension of Congo-Brazzaville, handing them a chance of qualifying for the tournament next summer.
The African nation had a sanction imposed in February because of third-party interference in the affairs of Fecofoot, the country's football association.
Because of this, Congo's 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Tanzania and Zambia, which were scheduled to be held in March, were postponed.
Advert
But FIFA are now satisfied that several conditions required to lift the suspension have been met and released an official statement confirming the decision.
It read: "The Bureau of the FIFA Council decided on 14 May 2025 to lift the suspension that was imposed on the Congolese Football Association (FECOFOOT) on 6 February 2025.
"The decision was taken after the conditions requested by the Bureau to lift the suspension of FECOFOOT had been met, including the return of full control of the FECOFOOT headquarters, the Ignié Technical Centre, and the association's other facilities to the FECOFOOT Executive Committee led by Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas and his administration."
Advert
It is yet to be announced when Congo's postponed fixtures will be played, but with them currently sitting bottom of their qualifying group for the World Cup, it remains unlikely that they will feature in next year's competition.
The final four games of their group campaign are scheduled to take place in September and October, with African play-offs then due to be played in November.
Topics: FIFA, Football
Ben is a sports journalist who specialises in football and MMA.
He has written for publications such as Manchester Evening News, WiganToday, Manchester World and beIN Sports. Throughout his career he has interviewed top athletes in MMA including Tom Aspinall and Michael Bisping.
@benmcc14
Advert
Advert
Advert
We get the impression that, for multiple and largely sound reasons, nobody has really been paying much attention to the fact there's a Club World Cup straight after this season ends and that it doesn't look anything like previous attempts at Club World Cups.
We get it. Mention of a tournament so transparently designed as a FIFA cashgrab and scheduled so inconveniently is generally greeted with sighs and eyerolls and grumbles about the clowns being clowns again before a renewed focus on the actual proper football that is happening now.
There's also undeniably something in the fact that England's representatives are Chelsea and Man City. These are huge clubs, obviously, but they still don't and probably never will attract the attention, column inches and bandwidth occupied by Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal.
We're pretty sure if two of those latter three were involved we'd all be hearing a lot more about the Club World Cup. As it is, Liverpool are still just about the only way the tournament has gained any kind of wider cut-through in this country thanks to Real Madrid's attempts to get turncoat traitor Trent Alexander-Arnold to sign before the tournament.
But there's another reason to think the Club World Cup is still a hugely significant event for Arsenal and Liverpool. Because it is one that surely hands them a massive advantage in next season's title race.
Where previous Club World Cups – even the infamous 2000 event that forced Man United to duck out of the FA Cup – have been fairly brief mid-season affairs with just a handful of games between a handful of continental champions in which the European champions face at most one meaningfully challenging match, this is a full-scale, full-size major summer tournament.
They've even given it the format the actual World Cup should have, just to rub all our noses in it.
But this makes it a nightmare for Pep Guardiola. Sure, it's a potentially lucrative one for Man City themselves with £100m on offer for the winner. But Pep could surely do without it clogging up the entire first half of the summer during what is a crucial rebuild phase that really could decide the club's direction over the next five years.
We all kind of slept on it at the time, but with the tournament just round the corner it seems obvious now that a big part of City's decision to go big and go early on their regeneration in January was at least as much to do with this World Cup being on the horizon as it was writing off a lost season.
Those January deals they got over the line should certainly help, because City are going to have precious little time this summer to integrate new players they bring in now. A potential seven-game post-season leaves their pre-season almost non-existent.
It's not like coping with a summer that contains a major month-long tournament is a new challenge for a Premier League manager; but the specifics of this certainly are. Guardiola himself gets no rest, for one thing, having looked for large parts of this season like he could really do with it, while unlike a Euros or World Cup, this is a huge summer tournament that doesn't affect the preparation of any of City's major rivals.
Guardiola does at least retain control of his players for this tournament, but that benefit is surely significantly outweighed by the fact Arsenal and Liverpool don't have to worry about it at all.
Even on City's own website, in a puff piece unconvincingly proclaiming the club's delight and excitement about the upcoming summer adventure in the USA, Guardiola is, well, guarded. Guardedola if you will. Or won't, up to you.
In a piece where City themselves puff away about ‘a heightened sense of anticipation and excitement' around ‘a spectacular and memorable showcase of the very best of the beautiful game' Guardiola is clearly having none of it.
City's word-salad assessment that ‘from the manager's perspective the opportunity to view and experience first-hand varied football philosophies and cultures serves as the very essence of what football can bring to the world' doesn't quite ring true with his own words.
Literally the first quote from the great man – in a puff piece about how great this all is, remember – is this:
We will see how we finish the season and see how we arrive in that tournament together and then we will see what happens.
Not quite getting into the spirit there, Pep, old boy. Did you not get the memo? This is an opportunity to view and experience first hand varied football philosophies and cultures. It is the very essence of what football can bring to the world, i.e. money to Manchester City and FIFA and other huge clubs with no concern at all about player welfare because they're not really important, are they?
It all feels like a tournament that's going to sneak up on us all. It's only a month away and nobody cares. Once it's actually happening, and with around a third of the games – including half the knockout matches – live on Channel 5, people are going to tune in and take at least half an interest because what else are you going to do in June and July? Get into cricket? Or tennis? Or, heaven help us all, golf? Behave.
But the true impact of the tournament may only truly be known deep into next season when a summer of effort that has not been required of City's rivals could take its toll.
The same is also true of Chelsea, but they'll probably just buy 20 new players on eight-year contracts next week to get them through the tournament before sending 17 of them back out on loan.
© Planet Sport Limited 2025 • All Rights Reserved
Real Madrid are now in talks to sign a player Manchester United sold in 2024 for just £5m.
Ineos‘ transfer business in the opening year of their time at the helm of Manchester United has largely been considered successful.
Additions such as Leny Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui have proven to be excellent pick-ups for United already, while Patrick Dorgu, Ayden Heaven, and Matthijs de Ligt are all promising to end up success stories.
On the departure front, United sold Mason Greenwood for £25m, which could yet yield further financial income, given the sell-on clause in place and interest across Europe.
There could be some money arriving with Maxi Oyedele wanted by clubs in Europe with a £5m release clause and United's sell-on clause, according to Fabrizio Romano.
🚨 Maxi Oyedele will not join Shakhtar Donetsk despite approaches as there are more European clubs keen on signing former Man Utd player.Understand #MUFC will receive 40% of the future sale for €6m release clause available this summer included into his Legia Warsaw deal. pic.twitter.com/5BkxLLBa5c
Now, another player sold last summer is wanted, and it is by none other than Real Madrid.
Former United starlet Alvaro Fernandez could be on the move again this summer.
It was just last summer that United sold Fernandez to Benfica for just £5m, with the Portuguese side slapping a £42m release clause onto him. Since then, he's gone from strength to strength for Benfica at left-back, making it frustrating that Erik ten Hag refused to give Fernandez a chance.
Now, United in Focus has spoken with transfer expert Graeme Bailey to learn that Fernandez is now the subject of Real Madrid's interest as they look to hand Xabi Alonso a strong team.
“We understand that Real Madrid have opened talks with Benfica over a deal for Alvaro Fernandez. They have almost finalised terms for Dean Huijsen, and now they have moved for Alvaro. They want both players in before the CWC.
“Alvaro has enjoyed a sensational season for Benfica, and analytically speaking, he ranks as one of the best in Europe.
“Real are now talking terms with Benfica, but we know there is only so much they can ask for. United included a buy-back in the deal of around £15 million, and if they asked for too much more, Real would just do a deal with United.
“That, though, is not how Real are doing it as they are progressing with Benfica.
“We are informed that Alvaro is hugely excited about the prospect of joining Real. United did have some interest in signing him prior to bringing in Patrick Dorgu, but I am told the player was never looking to move back to Old Trafford.”
This would see Fernandez re-join his boyhood club, from where he departed in 2020, instead joining United, where he envisioned his breakthrough, only to not get the chance.
In Spain, Marca has also discussed this interest, admitting Madrid's main concern is United, but if Fernandez has no intention of returning to Old Trafford, this means very little.
Selling Fernandez last summer raised eyebrows around the fanbase, with knowledge that he had the potential to be a superstar in the future. However, with his chance unlikely to ever come under Ten Hag, selling was the right move, and now it might pay off.
Due to United including a 50% profit sell-on clause for Fernandez, this could be a transfer that helps ease the PSR concerns at Carrington, without Ineos having to do any work.
If Alvaro leaves for at least £30m, United will pocket around £12.5m of this amount, which would be a huge help for the financial problems currently impacting the club.
So the decision would have greatly paid off for Ineos, and it would surely tempt them to do more deals like this in the coming transfer window.
ByIan Nicholas Quillen
ByIan Nicholas Quillen,
Contributor.
When the news became official that LAFC would face Club America on May 31 in a playoff for Club Leon's vacated 2025 Club World Cup berth, the easy comparison to draw was to England's EFL Championship Playoff Final, dubbed the richest game in soccer because of the financial benefit that comes simply from qualifying for the Premier League.
Both involve teams that didn't win their competitions outright. Both matches will come later this month. And both could have an enormous financial benefit.
Here's a closer look at how the details of the two enormous fixtures stack up.
The Blades and the Black Cats both have histories dating back to the 1800s and 13 major domestic honors between them. But only one of them has come since the end of World War II, when Sunderland won the 1972-73 FA Cup.
But both teams clearly have the potential to become valuable commodities again if they could survive and become stable in the Premier League. Sunderland averaged more than 40,000 fans this season at home matches, the most in the EFL Championship. Sheffield United was fourth with an average just north of 28,000.
In terms of profile, it's hard to do better than this fixture when it comes to clubs in the Concacaf region.
Club America is arguably the most historic club anywhere in North America, the all-time winningest side in Liga MX and also the most valuable club in Mexico according to a recent analysis from Sportico.
The Black-and-Gold of LAFC are far newer, having joined MLS only in 2018, but have also won three major domestic titles since 2022 and currently Sportico's most valuable club on the continent.
According to an analysis from the BBC, the winner of the playoff final on May 24 will receive a guaranteed minimum of $290 million in additional funds that they did not have access to while playing in the EFL Championship. A large share of that sum comes from the exponnentially increased TV revenue they'll receive to from the Premier League's new domestic TV contract, which is worth about $2.2 billion annually for the next four seasons.
Every participating club in the Club World Cup from Concacaf will be given a $9.5 million appearance fee, with the potential to win significantly more money if they advance deep in the tournament. Given the elite quality of the opposition in that tournament, the realistic ceiling for Club America or LAFC would probably be a trip to the round of 16, which would net the club a total of just above $21 million. The mathematical ceiling is just shy of $100 million if somehow a Concacaf club won the whole tournament.
As far as international soccer venues go, it doesn't get much bigger, although the location will be a bit of a hike for Sunderland supporters' in particular traveling from England's Northeast. Even so, with nearly two weeks to sell tickets after the semifinals were completed, there's every reason to believe the crowd will approach the 85,000 capacity that is often reached for this occasion. Objectively, Sunderland and Sheffield United are two of the bigger clubs to play in the fixture since the promotion playoff format began in the late 1980s.
It might seem strange to play this match at the home ground of one of the two competing sides. But 1: it's Concacaf. And 2: it's probably as close as you'll get to a neutral venue that is also a sellout. LAFC is very well supported in Los Angeles, regularly selling out its venue of more than 20,000 seats for league games. And Club America is at worst the second-most popular Liga MX team, including in LA where there is an enormous Mexican expat population.
Chelsea might be tempted to sell Djordje Petrovic before the Club World Cup with the goalkeeper attracting a lot of interest according to reports.
The Blues are once again gearing up for another busy summer and could fund their business by selling as many as seven or eight players.
Chelsea face a critical summer with the club looking to sign a striker, centre back and right footed attacker to strengthen Enzo Maresca's squad.
Whilst incomings are important, Chelsea also have a number of players who are now surplus to requirements, and others who are attracting interest.
Fans would love to see a new goalkeeper signed with Robert Sanchez not popular amongst supporters, and no keeper has made more errors leading to goals in the Premier League than the Spaniard this season.
Petrovic has impressed for Strasbourg this season. (Image: Philippe Lecoeur/FEP/Icon Sport via Getty Images)
Filip Jorgensen hasn't had a lot of chances to show what he can do, but in the opportunities he's had it's arguable the Dane hasn't made the most of them.
However, Petrovic is expected to challenge for the number one shirt after excelling on loan at Strasbourg, with the Ligue 1 outfit on course to qualify for European football.
Liam Rosenior has labelled the Serb world class, but his performances haven't gone unnoticed and Petrovic has recently been linked with a shock move to Leeds.
Journalist Nizaar Kinsella has now provided an update on the 25-year-old as cited on X.com and reported Petrovic is attracting interest from within the Premier League and Europe, and the Blues might be tempted to sell before the Club World Cup starts next month.
It's been reported the Blues aren't currently considering signing a new keeper and the club are set to conduct a summer review of the position before taking a final decision.
Despite that Chelsea have still been linked with keepers, most notably Borussia Dortmund's Gregor Kobel, who the Blues have reportedly held conversations with.
Dortmund are believed to want up to €60m, whilst Chelsea have also ben linked with the likes of Mike Maignan and Aaron Ramsdale.
Welcome to our Live Comments section, where new comments will appear automatically
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Comment
Name *
Email *
Notify me of follow-up comments by email.
Notify me of new posts by email.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is set to be historic with the United States, Canada, and Mexico co-hosting the tournament. Following Argentina's penalty shootout win over France in the 2022 World Cup, the excitement for the upcoming event is high.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2026 World Cup
Three nations are set to host the tournament together, for the first time in history. The 2026 World Cup will played across 16 cities in North America.
United States: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle
Canada: Toronto, Vancouver
Mexico: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has expanded the number of teams from 32 to 48 teams and a total of 104 matches will be played. The teams will be divided into 12 groups of four, with the top two teams from each group, plus the eight best third-placed teams, advancing to the knockout rounds.
The 2026 World Cup will begin on Thursday, June 11, 2026, and the final is scheduled for Sunday, July 19, 2026.
Start date: June 11, 2026
End date: June 27, 2026
Format: 12 groups
Round of 32: June 28 – July 3, 2026
Round of 16: July 4 – July 7, 2026
Quarterfinals: July 9 – July 11, 2026
Semifinals: July 14 – 15, 2026
Bronze Final (3rd Place Match): July 18, 2026
Final: July 19, 2026
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are on sale in the US, with options ranging from budget-friendly to ultra-premium. Prices vary widely, with some packages costing as much as £55,000 ( ₹62,39,266) for the most exclusive experiences at MetLife Stadium.
Notably, as of now, FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets are not yet available for purchase in India. General ticket sales are expected to start in late 2025.
Here's how to secure your tickets and the official purchasing options available.
To purchase tickets, visit FIFA's official Ticketing Portal. Create an account by providing a password and other details.
Official ticket options
FIFA offers four main ways to purchase tickets, each catering to different preferences:
Team-specific tickets: Buying specific national team's tickets through provided they qualify. These are typically available during Phase 1, except for hospitality packages.
Stadium-specific tickets: Choose a specific stadium and receive tickets for all matches played there, regardless of the teams.
Individual match tickets: Select a specific match to attend. In Phase 1, teams are unknown, but after the tournament draw the matchups will be declared.
Hospitality Packages: These premium packages include access to exclusive amenities like pitch-side lounges, private suites, and shared lounges.
With the USA, Canada, and Mexico automatically qualified as hosts, the remaining 45 spots will be finalized through regional qualification tournaments.
Catch all the Sports News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Download the Mint app and read premium stories
Log in to our website to save your bookmarks. It'll just take a moment.
The Qatari Emir presents President Trump with a soccer ball, representing the FIFA World Cup coming from Qatar to North America.
LIVE | Trump's last leg of Middle East tour in UAE, more investment announcements expected
'Sooner the deal is reached…': Marco Rubio says Russia-Ukraine conflict can be solved diplomatically
Trump confirms F-55 development, F-22 super upgrade; Boeing touts F-47 fighter jet progress
'US doesn't want to make ‘nuclear dust' in Iran': Trump claims breakthrough in Tehran nuke talks
‘Don't build in India': Trump's firm message to Apple CEO Tim Cook to ‘Make in US'
Our app has got more for you!
Browse Quick Reads
Access ET Print Edition
Use Night Mode
INSTALL ET APP
The Italian kept his monster winning streak going with a ruthless victory over Casper Ruud in Rome on Thursday.ByJohn BerkokPublished May 15, 2025 copy_link
Published May 15, 2025
Jannik Sinner put on a show in front of a packed home crowd in Rome on Thursday night, storming past Casper Ruud, 6-0, 6-1, to reach the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.And with that win, his 25th in a row, he joined a legendary list.The No. 1-ranked Italian is just the fifth man this century to record a winning streak of 25 or more tour-level matches in a row, after Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.MEN TO WIN 25+ MATCHES IN A ROW THIS CENTURY (tour-level):Federer: 4 times [streak lengths: 41, 35, 26, 25]Nadal: 2 times [streak lengths: 32, 26]Djokovic: 4 times [streak lengths: 43, 29, 28, 28]Murray: 1 time [streak length: 28]Sinner: 1 time [streak length: 25 and counting]Sinner's last loss came to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October, and since then his 25-match winning streak includes six wins en route to the title in Shanghai, five wins en route to the title at the ATP Finals, three wins at the Davis Cup Finals, seven wins en route to the Australian Open title and now four wins so far in Rome.
And with that win, his 25th in a row, he joined a legendary list.The No. 1-ranked Italian is just the fifth man this century to record a winning streak of 25 or more tour-level matches in a row, after Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.MEN TO WIN 25+ MATCHES IN A ROW THIS CENTURY (tour-level):Federer: 4 times [streak lengths: 41, 35, 26, 25]Nadal: 2 times [streak lengths: 32, 26]Djokovic: 4 times [streak lengths: 43, 29, 28, 28]Murray: 1 time [streak length: 28]Sinner: 1 time [streak length: 25 and counting]Sinner's last loss came to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October, and since then his 25-match winning streak includes six wins en route to the title in Shanghai, five wins en route to the title at the ATP Finals, three wins at the Davis Cup Finals, seven wins en route to the Australian Open title and now four wins so far in Rome.
The No. 1-ranked Italian is just the fifth man this century to record a winning streak of 25 or more tour-level matches in a row, after Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.MEN TO WIN 25+ MATCHES IN A ROW THIS CENTURY (tour-level):Federer: 4 times [streak lengths: 41, 35, 26, 25]Nadal: 2 times [streak lengths: 32, 26]Djokovic: 4 times [streak lengths: 43, 29, 28, 28]Murray: 1 time [streak length: 28]Sinner: 1 time [streak length: 25 and counting]Sinner's last loss came to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October, and since then his 25-match winning streak includes six wins en route to the title in Shanghai, five wins en route to the title at the ATP Finals, three wins at the Davis Cup Finals, seven wins en route to the Australian Open title and now four wins so far in Rome.
MEN TO WIN 25+ MATCHES IN A ROW THIS CENTURY (tour-level):Federer: 4 times [streak lengths: 41, 35, 26, 25]Nadal: 2 times [streak lengths: 32, 26]Djokovic: 4 times [streak lengths: 43, 29, 28, 28]Murray: 1 time [streak length: 28]Sinner: 1 time [streak length: 25 and counting]Sinner's last loss came to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October, and since then his 25-match winning streak includes six wins en route to the title in Shanghai, five wins en route to the title at the ATP Finals, three wins at the Davis Cup Finals, seven wins en route to the Australian Open title and now four wins so far in Rome.
Sinner's last loss came to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final last October, and since then his 25-match winning streak includes six wins en route to the title in Shanghai, five wins en route to the title at the ATP Finals, three wins at the Davis Cup Finals, seven wins en route to the Australian Open title and now four wins so far in Rome.
Sinner is now through to the semifinals of his home Masters 1000 event in Rome for the first time.© AFP or licensors
© AFP or licensors
Sinner had never lost a set to Ruud in their three previous meetings, but this was the first time they were playing on clay, and Ruud was at the top of his game, winning his last nine matches in a row to win Madrid—his biggest title—and reach the quarterfinals in Rome.But none of that mattered as an on-fire Sinner won the first eight games in a row for a 6-0, 2-0 lead before Ruud finally held to get on the board, 2-1, after which the Italian won another four games in a row to completely run away with it after just 63 minutes.Sinner finished the match with more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 22 to 10, with the most damage coming from his forehand wing (13 winners to 6 unforced errors).He won 55 points in the match to Ruud's 22."I was feeling great on court today, I think we all saw that," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the match. "My goal in this tournament was trying to understand where my level is, and it's raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that. It doesn't really matter the result, but what I felt today was very, very positive signs for me."Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
But none of that mattered as an on-fire Sinner won the first eight games in a row for a 6-0, 2-0 lead before Ruud finally held to get on the board, 2-1, after which the Italian won another four games in a row to completely run away with it after just 63 minutes.Sinner finished the match with more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 22 to 10, with the most damage coming from his forehand wing (13 winners to 6 unforced errors).He won 55 points in the match to Ruud's 22."I was feeling great on court today, I think we all saw that," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the match. "My goal in this tournament was trying to understand where my level is, and it's raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that. It doesn't really matter the result, but what I felt today was very, very positive signs for me."Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
Sinner finished the match with more than twice as many winners as unforced errors, 22 to 10, with the most damage coming from his forehand wing (13 winners to 6 unforced errors).He won 55 points in the match to Ruud's 22."I was feeling great on court today, I think we all saw that," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the match. "My goal in this tournament was trying to understand where my level is, and it's raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that. It doesn't really matter the result, but what I felt today was very, very positive signs for me."Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
He won 55 points in the match to Ruud's 22."I was feeling great on court today, I think we all saw that," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the match. "My goal in this tournament was trying to understand where my level is, and it's raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that. It doesn't really matter the result, but what I felt today was very, very positive signs for me."Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
"I was feeling great on court today, I think we all saw that," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the match. "My goal in this tournament was trying to understand where my level is, and it's raised day by day, so I'm very happy about that. It doesn't really matter the result, but what I felt today was very, very positive signs for me."Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
"Everything can change in one day—one performance doesn't tell everything of my shape now—but I'm very happy."I think today everything worked very, very well."
"I think today everything worked very, very well."
He's on the board‼️😅Ruud reacts to grabbing his first game vs Sinner in the #IBI25 QF 🙌 pic.twitter.com/n8CW5KtbUw
Awaiting Sinner in the semifinals will be American Tommy Paul, who defeated Hubert Hurkacz in his quarterfinal match, 7-6 (4), 6-3.Sinner leads Paul in their head-to-head, 3-1, and 1-0 on clay—though that clay-court meeting could have gone either way, with the Italian prevailing in Madrid in 2022, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3.Paul's win came in the pair's only grass-court meeting, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in Eastbourne in 2022.
Sinner leads Paul in their head-to-head, 3-1, and 1-0 on clay—though that clay-court meeting could have gone either way, with the Italian prevailing in Madrid in 2022, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3.Paul's win came in the pair's only grass-court meeting, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in Eastbourne in 2022.
Paul's win came in the pair's only grass-court meeting, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in Eastbourne in 2022.
What did we just witness from Jannik Sinner?
It may just have been the most complete, brutal, frightening and clinical performance ever seen at the Rome Masters and possibly even in all of tennis.
Experienced Sky Sports Tennis commentator described Sinner's opening few games in his 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Casper Ruud as ‘the best start to a match I've ever seen by any player” and it was hard to disagree with that assessment.
This was unplayable, flawless tennis from a player who seems to have used his time away from the sport to go to the next level and there is no doubt that this display will be remembered as one of the most complete seen in the modern era of the sport.
Sinner's demolition of world No 7 Ruud was so complete that when the battered victim of the Italian finally won a game in the second set, he raised his arms as if he were an amateur trying to win a point or two against a professional.
Yet this is a player who won his first ATP 1000 title in Madrid earlier this month and has been a finalist at the French Open on two occasions.
This is an opponent who will be one of Sinner's big rivals when we get to Roland Garros and the second major of this tennis year later this month and on the evidence of this performance, there will only be one winner in Paris.
Jannik Sinner opens up about friendship with Jack Draper – ‘We are humble'
Dan Evans lambasts Jannik Sinner's Rome return: ‘Pretty convenient'
From the moment these two started trading blows in an Italian Open quarter-final that will have sent shockwaves through the men's locker room, it was clear that Sinner was on a different level.
The weight of his shot, the depth he could keep with every blow, the thud of his serve and the complete nature of this display confirmed that Sinner is now the firm favourite to win his first French Open title because if he plays like this at Roland Garros, no one will get near him.
This looks like a player being propelled by something special and it may be that the extra ingredient driving him to what is undoubtedly the best performance in a single match of this tennis season so far is frustration.
The three months Sinner spent on the sidelines could have taken the edge off his sharpness, but it seems the break has added fuel to his fire as he targets a perfect tennis year.
Sinner has now extended his winning record against Ruud to 4-0 and he explained that his experience of beating the Norwegian in the past game gave him inspiration to reach new heights in this meeting.
“Every one of us has one or two opponents where we struggle a bit more. I tried to replicate what I've done in the past today on a different surface,” said Sinner.
“I was hitting the ball very well. These conditions, playing at night against Casper, are a bit better in my point of view because he can't make the ball bounce as much.
“Everything went my favour today. Some net cords. Some lines. The match can change very quickly… if I didn't serve well at 2-1, we're even again. Could've been a game changer. I'm happy with how I handled the situation.”
This was as complete a performance as Sinner has ever delivered on a clay court against one of the grittiest players currently competing on this surface.
It banished any doubts about Sinner's form after his lay off and if he continues to play at this level, the prospect of the Italian hero winning all four Grand Slam titles will begin to loom large.
READ NEXT: Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek facing a rankings collapse – French Open picks
Jannik Sinner produced a flawless display to beat Casper Ruud 6-0, 6-1.
The French Open is a little over a week away and here are some early musings over the early favourites.
Carlos Moya has named his four favourites to win the French Open.
Rome organisers have come under fire for a controversial scheduling decision that could benefit Jannik Sinner.
© Planet Sport Limited 2025 • All Rights Reserved
Nick Kyrgios is a polarising figure within the tennis community, but few can deny the talent he boasts.
That is why, despite what controversy he might be stirring up off the court, many will cherish his inevitable return to it.
His absence during the clay court season has been notable, and with the French Open just around the corner, his presence at that Grand Slam seemed slim.
However, he has recently made a statement to the contrary.
Chatting to The Canberra Times, the Aussie revealed: ‘The French Open was never really on the cards, but after the stuff with Max Purcell, Jordan was looking for a partner and he asked me if I wanted to play.
‘We played at the French Open before, so it'll be good to get out there and play with another fellow Aussie and have a bit of fun.'
Nick Kyrgios then continued: 'I'm excited to get out there and play. We put a lot of work in – myself, Will [Maher], and the team. I feel good. Me and James [Frawley] have been on the court pretty much every single day. I'm hitting the ball well, it's just a matter of playing matches.
‘With this part of my career I'm excited to travel the world and do some fun things whilst I'm out there.'
Partnering with Jordan Thompson will see him keep good company, as his compatriot is a finalist at Wimbledon and a winner of the US Open in doubles format.
We have not seen much of Kyrgios this year, in what many hoped would be his first full year back on tour.
However, it was always going to be unlikely that the 30-year-old flew back into action, especially given all the physical turmoil his body has suffered in recent years.
Confirmed by the entry list that Nick Kyrgios will play doubles at the French Open with Jordan Thompson.Will be his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2017. https://t.co/EXcYvSiTtI
These debilitating injury troubles first began after his stunning 2022, where he reached the Wimbledon final and followed it up with a run to the quarters at the US Open.
2023 then saw a plethora of setbacks, with his ankle, knee and foot all causing him problems.
Plotting a comeback for the 2024 grass season, he instead was forced into punditry duties as surgery was required on his wrist. Even as recently as March has he remained scuppered by that particular ailment, alongside an abdominal injury sustained in January.
And yet, despite that, Kyrgios beat Mackenzie McDonald in what was his first win in over two years.
However, with plans to return to Roland Garros, and further confirmation of his entry into Stuttgart, a grass-court tournament, it seems Kyrgios is happy to bypass the clay-court season to hopefully put his injury turmoil behind him.
The 2025 French Open is just a few weeks away, as players finish up their preparations ahead of the year's second Grand Slam.
Several players will head to Roland Garros with title ambitions, having enjoyed strong starts to their clay seasons.
2024 French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz won the Monte-Carlo Masters and reached the final of the Barcelona Open, producing his best tennis of the year on clay.
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti has been a revelation on clay in 2025, remarkably reaching the semi-finals of all three Masters 1000 events on the surface, and will likely be dangerous when he takes to the court in Paris.
Musetti's countryman has only played three matches on clay since returning from his suspension, but world number one Jannik Sinner will still head to the French Open as one of the favorites.
It's another name, however, that Roger Federer's former coach is picking to win the title, as he continues to rack up wins on the red stuff.
Appearing on the Tennis Channel Live podcast, Paul Annacone named the player he thinks will pick up the title in Paris.
“Casper Ruud has been playing with so much confidence these days,” he said.
“It's great to hear him talk about his health and well-being, he talked very candidly about having to get things better in that hamster wheel, as he talked about, which is life on tour.
“Right now he has that balance, has that confidence, we know he has got the tennis game, and we know on the red stuff he is so difficult to beat.
“How about today, facing no breakpoints? Using the big forehand to dictate from everywhere on the court. A terrific athlete. Really sound. I think he has sured up the backhand side of the court.”
Ruud was impressively solid during his fourth-round Italian Open win over Jaume Munar, advancing to the quarterfinals in straight sets.
With that in mind, Annacone confidently made his pick for the French Open.
“Jim Courier, I am telling you right now that is the man who is winning the French Open,” said Annacone.
“I am calling it right now.”
Ruud has enjoyed real success at Roland Garros over the past three years, reaching two finals and one semi-final.
There's no shame in losing to two of the greatest players of all time in Grand Slam finals, and despite failing to win a set in either final, it shouldn't be overlooked how Ruud performed against Novak Djokovic in 2023.
The Norwegian pushed Djokovic to a tiebreaker in set one and came close to snatching the third set, before losing in the final for the second year in a row.
No player has won more matches at the French Open since 2022 than Ruud, who has picked up 16 victories at the event.
He'll travel to Paris as one of the pre-tournament favorites, but will first want to finish up his clay Masters 1000 campaign with a title in Rome.
Earlier this month, Ruud beat Jack Draper to win his maiden Masters 1000 title at the Madrid Open.
Backing that run up, Ruud has won his opening three matches at the Italian Open to extend his ATP Tour winning streak to nine.
Playing some of the best tennis of his career, Ruud would likely have been considered the favorite for his quarterfinal match against any other opponent.
Unfortunately for the Norwegian, he'll take on Sinner in the last eight, a man who has won his previous 24 matches, a run that extends back to last October.
Sinner's latest win over Francisco Cerundolo was his most impressive since returning from suspension, taking down the Argentine in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3.
The Italian has also beaten Ruud in each of their three previous meetings, a statistic he could well look to for confidence ahead of their quarterfinal match.
Only time will tell who will come out on top when Annacone's French Open favorite takes on Sinner in the Italian Open quarterfinal on Thursday, May 15.
Zheng broke Sabalenka's winning streak in Rome.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat at the hands of reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen at the 2025 Italian Open on Wednesday. The 22-year-old Chinese sensation produced one of the best performances of her season thus far to oust Sabalenka 6-4 6-3. During the loss, Sabalenka lost her cool at a rogue heckler on Centre Court.
This happened to be the seventh meeting between Sabalenka and Qinwen – the latter of the two had never beaten her three-time Grand Slam winning opponent before. Sabalenka's biggest win against Qinwen was in the final of the 2024 Australian Open. On Wednesday however, the World No. 8 pulled off an upset of epic proportions to marginally improve the head to head record to 1-6.
READ MORE: Coco Gauff vs. Zheng Qinwen Head to Head Record, Prediction and Betting Odds for WTA Italian Open 2025
Sabalenka entered the Internazionali BNL d'Italia as the top seed. She was on a 9-match winning run and looked set to win her first trophy at the Italian capital. Unfortunately, it was an off-colour evening for the Belarusian, who looked fatigued and out of ideas to counter Zheng's strong groundstrokes. The Chinese No. 1 believes that the surface and her acknowledgement that Sabalenka is just another normal player benefited her.
After losing the opener, Sabalenka was broken again in the very first game of the second set. This was when a moment of frustration resulted in a code violation for the defending US Open champion. Just as Qinwen was about to serve at 30-0, someone from the crowd yelled, “Come on Aryna – play tennis!” Sabalenka was having none of it, and made sure to dish out a fitting reply.
Aryna Sabalenka responds to someone who shouted out in the crowd during her match against Qinwen Zheng in Rome“Come on Aryna, play tennis”Aryna: “Shut the f*** up” 💀💀 pic.twitter.com/zWNKpyzcXP
“Shut the f**k up,” said the 27-year-old. A code violation and warning for verbal obscenity was quick to follow as Sabalenka's words were loud and clear on Campo Centrale. While the Belarusian attempted a fight back, it was not her day. She failed to convert any of the break points that she generated during the course of the encounter.
READ ALSO: Jannik Sinner vs. Casper Ruud Head to Head Record, Prediction and Betting Odds for ATP Italian Open 2025
Sabalenka will now head to Roland Garros, where she will fight for the title as the top seed. With defending champion Iga Swiatek looking out of form and dropping crucial ranking points, this might be the best opportunity for the World No. 1 to dethrone the queen of Paris. The 2025 Roland Garros begins on May 25.
A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The PlayOffs, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.
My message to the readers is don't be shy to express yourself - regardless of whether it's playing, talking or writing about sport. And if you're a fan Roger Federer, Lionel Messi and/or Stephen Curry - I'm your guy.
Get the biggest stories delivered straight to you - for free!
By signing up, you consent to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, nad to receive marketing and account-related emails from The Playoffs. You can subscribe at any time.
For over 10 years, The Playoffs has been a go-to source for sports and sports betting enthusiasts.
Our mission: To help bettors make the best choices with in-depth analysis, reliable data, and passionate expertise.
Our motto: Share our passion for sports and betting. At The Playoffs, we live and breathe sports. Every day, our editorial teams work to deliver the most accurate and relevant information so you can place bets with confidence—and most importantly, enjoy the experience.
Gambling can be fun and exciting, but it's essential to keep it responsible. Set limits on your time and spending, never chase your losses, and understand that betting is a form of entertainment—not a way to earn money. If gambling stops being enjoyable or starts affecting your life negatively, don't hesitate to seek support or take advantage of self-exclusion tools provided by betting platforms. Remember, responsible betting is the key to a safe and enjoyable gaming experience.
DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
COPYRIGHT © 2025 - THE PLAYOFFS - SHARE THE PASSION FOR SPORTS AND BETTING
After being dethroned as defending champion, Zverev dubbed the balls used in Rome as 'a joke' as he lamented his struggles in hitting through Musetti.ByTENNIS.comPublished May 15, 2025 copy_link
Published May 15, 2025
At his final event ahead of a 10th consecutive Roland Garros appearance, Alexander Zverev fell to Lorenzo Musetti in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia quarterfinals after seeing four set points go wasted.The in-form Italian prevailed, 7-6 (1), 6-4, to line up a Monte Carlo final rematch with Carlos Alcaraz. Afterwards, the defending champion downplayed what his opponent produced in Rome on Wednesday evening.“I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents,” the No. 2 seed stated in the mixed zone. “For my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day, I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today.”
The in-form Italian prevailed, 7-6 (1), 6-4, to line up a Monte Carlo final rematch with Carlos Alcaraz. Afterwards, the defending champion downplayed what his opponent produced in Rome on Wednesday evening.“I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents,” the No. 2 seed stated in the mixed zone. “For my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day, I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today.”
“I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents,” the No. 2 seed stated in the mixed zone. “For my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day, I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today.”
A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)
As the final statsheet would show, Zverev contributed 36 unforced errors to Musetti's 22—yet the German was matched into the winners department at 20. If anyone's playing defense here, it may just be Zverev.Musetti has now reached the semifinals at all three ATP Masters 1000 events on clay this spring with four Top 10 wins, while Zverev combined to go 5-3 across the board and hasn't posted a completed Top 10 victory this year. Beyond his assessment of Musetti, Zverev felt another element at the Foro Italico contributed to a performance that left him uninspired.“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time, he asserted.“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days.”
Musetti has now reached the semifinals at all three ATP Masters 1000 events on clay this spring with four Top 10 wins, while Zverev combined to go 5-3 across the board and hasn't posted a completed Top 10 victory this year. Beyond his assessment of Musetti, Zverev felt another element at the Foro Italico contributed to a performance that left him uninspired.“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time, he asserted.“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days.”
“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time, he asserted.“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days.”
Last year's Roland Garros finalist will take a 34-9 career record and four successive trips to the semifinals or better into Paris.© AFP or licensors
© AFP or licensors
Last month, Zverev triumphed over Ben Shelton to nab the 500-level title on home soil in Munich. But the lack of a notable result on the 1000 stage, combined with Alcaraz's efforts, will see the Hamburg native bumped down to world No. 3 going into the Paris major. The Spaniard denied Zverev a maiden major last June over five sets to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires.“I have to move forward and I have to plan myself [for] Paris and do the best that I can there,” wrapped the 28-year-old.Roland Garros has proven to be Zverev's most promising major of the four, with a 34-9 record and four successive trips to the semifinals or better.
“I have to move forward and I have to plan myself [for] Paris and do the best that I can there,” wrapped the 28-year-old.Roland Garros has proven to be Zverev's most promising major of the four, with a 34-9 record and four successive trips to the semifinals or better.
Roland Garros has proven to be Zverev's most promising major of the four, with a 34-9 record and four successive trips to the semifinals or better.
Tennis star Harmony Tan has expressed her disappointment at being excluded from the 2025 French Open. And the WTA contender feels especially slighted, given that numerous players ranked lower than her have been issued invites.
A little more than three years have passed since Tan's sensational victory over Serena Williams during the first round of Wimbledon 2022. The Parisian claimed victory in a gripping 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(7) result, which preceded Williams' retirement from tennis just a few months later.
Tan, 27, advanced to best Sara Sorribes Torbo and local favorite Katie Boulter in the following two rounds of that tournament. However, her remarkable Wimbledon run then came unstuck against American Amanda Anisimova.
Despite not securing a Grand Slam win since that event, world No. 244 Tan took to Instagram to voice her discontent at being overlooked for a wildcard entry to Roland Garros. And the omission is that much more hurtful given it's her home Grand Slam.
"No Roland Garros for me this year," she posted on Instagram (via the Daily Express). "A bitter taste, a feeling of injustice regarding the federation's decision not to grant me a wild card for the qualifiers.
"Especially after all the efforts of recent months and the good results. This week, I'm 244th in the world ahead of the nine players who received a wild card for the qualifiers. And yet... nothing.
"Yes, I'm 27. Yes, I'm no longer a 'young promise'. But I've proved that I can compete in Grand Slams. I've had my ups and downs, and I'm still fighting."
Tan has participated in the French Open nine times to date. Out of those attempts, she has only made it past the first round on one occasion, with five of her attempts ending in qualifying losses.
Of those nine wildcards invited to the women's qualifying draw, four are aged between 15 and 16 years old. Those girls are Ksenia Efremova (world No. 629), Eleejah Inisan (No. 976), Cindy Langlais (unranked), and Daphnée Mpetshi-Perricard (No. 1158).
Given that each sits considerably below Tan in the WTA pecking order, one can understand her frustration. Not to mention her suspicion that certain talents of a certain age demographic may have received preferential treatment.
The 13-year WTA tour player was visibly upset about being excluded from Roland Garros this time around. Yet she concluded her message on an optimistic note, expressing her determination to continue competing.
"Now I'm going to move on, keep smiling as usual and get back on the court with the same strength," she declared. "Because at the end of the day, tennis remains a game. And I love playing."
Tan's disappointment is likely intensified after she recently clinched her 11th ITF title at the W50 Yecla in Spain. This victory was her first in more than a year, but the elation was short-lived due to the snub by event organizers in her own country.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
Tennis star Harmony Tan has described her disappointment after not receiving an invite to the 2025 French Open. However, she also feels the treatment is unjust given there are others who will be in the field despite being below her in the WTA rankings.
Tan's most famous moment as a tennis player to date came at Wimbledon 2022 when she beat Serena Williams in a three-set epic. Paris-born Tan triumphed 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(7) in their first-round encounter, and Serena retired a few months later. She went on to defeat Sara Sorribes Torbo in the second round before taking out home favourite Katie Boulter in the third. However, her Wimbledon dream, and by far her best performance at a major tournament, then came to an end against Amanda Anisimova.
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
The world No.244 hasn't won a Grand Slam match in the almost three-year span since that tournament. Nonetheless, Tan took to social media to describe how upset she was not to receive an entry to Roland Garros, her home major.
"No Roland Garros for me this year," she wrote on Instagram. "A bitter taste, a feeling of injustice regarding the federation's decision not to grant me a wild card for the qualifiers.
"Especially after all the efforts of recent months and the good results. This week, I'm 244th in the world ahead of the nine players who received a wild card for the qualifiers. And yet... nothing.
"Yes, I'm 27. Yes, I'm no longer a 'young promise'. But I've proved that I can compete in Grand Slams. I've had my ups and downs, and I'm still fighting."
A post shared by Harmony Tan (@tanharmony)
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Tan has competed in the French Open on nine occasions to date. Of those, she has progressed beyond the first round just once, with five of her appearances ending in qualifying defeats.
The 13-year WTA veteran was clearly devastated to be left out of the running at Roland Garros altogether. However, she ended her post on a more positive note and said she was unwilling to give up the fight in her sport.
"Now I'm going to move on, keep smiling as usual and get back on the court with the same strength," she added. "Because at the end of the day, tennis remains a game. And I love playing."
Tan's rejection will feel that much more hurtful after she recently won her 11th ITF title at the W50 Yecla in Spain. It marked her first title in a little more than one year, but her joy has proved short-lived after being rebuffed by organisers in her home nation.
TODAY'S PAPER
Thursday, 15th May 2025See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.
CONNECT WITH US
Daily Express uses notifications to keep you updated
The 30-year-old has had a torrid time with foot, knee and wrist injuries following his surprise run to the 2022 Wimbledon final and has played only four singles matches this year, winning once at the Miami Open in March.
Kyrgios was not expected to compete on Parisian clay having last played at Roland Garros in a second-round loss eight years ago but said he had changed his mind with Thompson's regular doubles partner Max Purcell serving a doping ban.
"The French Open was never really on the cards," Kyrgios told The Canberra Times. "But after the stuff with Max Purcell, Jordan was looking for a partner and he asked me if I wanted to play.
"We've played at the French Open before, so it'll be good to get out there and play with another fellow Aussie and have a bit of fun."
While a Grand Slam singles title has eluded him, Kyrgios did capture the 2022 doubles crown at the Australian Open partnering countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis.
He's a major draw on and off the court at Grand Slams with his natural talent and unapologetic personality, which has also landed him in controversies in the past.
Despite question marks about his long-term future in the game, Kyrgios is expected to resume his singles career during the grasscourt swing next month ahead of Wimbledon.
The French Open begins on May 25.
TV presenter Clare Balding has said she is “delighted” to announce her debut novel Pastures New.
The 54-year-old's book will tell the story of Alex, a journalist who has “perfected the art of dodging responsibility” until an unexpected letter turns her life upside down, when it is published by HarperCollins on September 12.
Speaking about the book, Balding said: “It has taken a few years and a lot of angst to produce Pastures New, my first novel, but I'm so delighted that HarperCollins will be publishing it this autumn.
“In writing it, I've tried to honestly represent the complicated relationship between family members, the way love can pop up in the most surprising places, the beauty of our landscape and the kindness of small communities.
“This is Alex's story – one of finding meaning in life and finding a group of people that help her feel she belongs.”
The book will see Alex inherit a crumbling sheep farm in Wales as she sets out to uncover the truth behind her mysterious inheritance.
Balding, who has presented coverage of the Olympic Games and Wimbledon tennis tournament for the BBC, published her autobiography, My Animals And Other Family, in September 2012, while a second non-fiction book, Walking Home: My Family And Other Ramblings, was published in September 2014.
Lynne Drew, general fiction publisher at HarperCollins, said: “I've been a fan of Clare's voice ever since reading her funny, honest and brilliant memoir, and the minute we started working together on Pastures New I rejoiced that she had brought that same astute and entertaining storytelling to her fiction debut.
“Her characters shine off the page, and this warm and witty read full of honesty and heart will utterly delight her many fans.”
Balding herself grew up in the Hampshire countryside as the daughter of racehorse trainer Peter Hastings-Bass, and has gone on to present the BBC's Sports Personality Of The Year and Channel 4's coverage of the Crufts dog show.
Jack Draper has become Britain's leading tennis talent and is now hunting for Grand Slam glory ahead of the upcoming French Open. The 23-year-old turned professional in 2018 and quickly demonstrated his potential by reaching the boys' singles final at Wimbledon that same year. His career has been on an upward trajectory ever since.
Draper burst onto the wider scene last year when he secured his first ATP Tour title at the Stuttgart Open, triumphing over Matteo Berrettini in a gruelling final. This victory in Germany was followed by a significant win over Alcaraz at the Queen's Club Championships, highlighting his skill on grass courts. His remarkable performance at the US Open led him to the semi-finals, making him the first British male to achieve this feat since Andy Murray in 2012. He concluded the year with an ATP 500 title in Vienna, propelling him into the top 15 rankings.
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Draper's success has carried over into 2025. He clinched his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, defeating Holger Rune in the final, which propelled him to a career-high ATP ranking of No.5. Express Sport takes a look into Draper's personal life...
Draper's net worth has seen a significant increase in recent years, reaching as high as £6million, according to BBN Times. The 23-year-old's swift ascent in the sport has been propelled by major victories on the court and a growing array of endorsement deals.
To date, Draper has amassed over £5m in career prize money. His standout performances in 2024, particularly his semi-final run at the US Open and his ATP 500 title win in Vienna, were pivotal moments in an exceptional season.
This momentum continued into 2025 with a landmark victory at the Indian Wells Masters. Away from the court, Draper has become a desirable figure for leading brands. He currently has endorsement deals with Nike, Dunlop, and Vodafone, which are believed to collectively add up to £637,000 to his annual income.
These commercial partnerships have further bolstered his financial status and underscore his increasing appeal as one of Britain's most marketable young athletes. With his potent left-handed game, mental fortitude, and ongoing progress, Draper has emerged as a prominent figure in British tennis.
Draper has made it clear that his primary focus is on his burgeoning tennis career, leaving little time for romantic pursuits. Despite his rising fame, Draper has expressed a preference for authentic relationships over dating apps.
Draper opened up in a recent interview, revealing: "I've been fortunate to forge a few genuinely strong connections with people. For me, what matters most is someone with ambition, their own purpose in life, who is kind, non-judgmental, and upholds strong values."
He also clarified that his current focus is on improving his tennis skills, acknowledging the complexities of personal relationships amidst his gruelling travel regime.
Persistent rumours have swirled around Draper's love life, including alleged romantic ties to Emma Raducanu. Yet, the duo have remained steadfast in affirming a platonic friendship.
Gossip has recently emerged about Draper's closeness with American influencer KT Lordahl, who was spotted attending several games at the 2024 US Open. Lordahl's presence at each match and social media posts ignited speculation among fans and media alike.
Despite having over a million followers on Instagram, the links to Draper are unconfirmed as he opts for discretion concerning his private affairs.
In another significant step in his personal life, Draper has opted to move house, sharing quarters with his long-time mate and fellow tennis professional Paul Jubb.
Draper and Jubb are housemates in south west London. Draper, who has recently flown the nest from his Surrey family home, is now living with Jubb, his old pal from their junior tennis days.
This new living arrangement heralds an exciting new phase for Draper as he gets to grips with the challenges of owning a house. In a candid chat, he joked: "I'm enjoying being able to wash my own clothes. There's been the odd shrinking disaster, but we're back on track."
Jubb, 25, hailing from Kingston upon Hull, boasts an impressive success rate in ATP Challenger and ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour finals: a formidable nine wins to just two defeats.
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
A local lad from York, Jubb bagged the coveted 2019 NCAA singles championship and soared to a career-high ATP rank of No. 180 in 2024.
Alongside multiple ITF accolades and an ATP Challenger victory, he has also taken top players to the brink at Grand Slam events, signalling his considerable promise on the pro tour.
Similarly to Draper, Jubb is expected to leave his mark on the tennis world in the years ahead.
As the offspring of Roger Draper, Jack comes from a sporting pedigree; his father made notable contributions as chief executive of Sport England from 2003 to 2006, stewarding the Lawn Tennis Association between 2006 and 2013, and later taking the reins at professional rugby league club Warrington Wolves from 2015 to 2017.
During his tenure at the LTA, Draper Sr introduced a new initiative called 'Blueprint, a Strategy for British Tennis', with the goal of transforming the sport's governing body into a more efficient organisation.
The 55 year old played a pivotal role in boosting British Tennis memberships by an astonishing 500 per cent, and was instrumental in launching mini tennis programmes to encourage more people to take up the sport.
Since 2018, Draper Sr has held the position of global business advisor for Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
This story first appeared on Wales Online
TODAY'S PAPER
Thursday, 15th May 2025See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.
CONNECT WITH US
Daily Express uses notifications to keep you updated
Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 12, 2025 Britain's Emma Raducanu in action during her round of 16 match against Coco Gauff of the U.S. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Young tennis sensation Emma Raducanu has set the record straight on her coaching situation ahead of Wimbledon, leaving fans and critics alike buzzing with anticipation. The 22-year-old starlet has confirmed that she will be continuing her partnership with coach Mark Petchey throughout the upcoming grass season, with Petchey fully committed to his coaching role and ready to prioritize their collaboration over his other commitments, as reported by The Telegraph.
Raducanu's decision to work with Petchey, a former top-ranked British male tennis player, has been a game-changer for the US Open champion. She has expressed admiration for Petchey's coaching philosophy, which focuses on strategic play and repetition of drills and patterns rather than solely technical adjustments. This shift in training approach has already started to shape Raducanu's game, as she revealed during a recent interview in Rome.
The young tennis prodigy emphasized the importance of feeling comfortable with her support team, a criterion that Petchey easily meets due to their pre-existing relationship. Raducanu's choice to stick with Petchey for the grass-court season has put an end to speculations about potential coaching changes, reaffirming her trust in the 54-year-old coach.
With Raducanu fully embracing Petchey's coaching style and committing to their partnership, all eyes are now on the dynamic duo as they gear up for a promising run at Wimbledon. Stay tuned as this powerhouse pair takes the tennis world by storm with their unwavering dedication and synchronized game plan.
Clara Tauson's Dramatic Confrontation at Rome Open Sends Shockwaves Through Tennis World In a jaw-dropping turn of events at the Rome Open, Clara Tauson, the world No. 23,...
Japanese Tennis Star Exposes Shocking Racism Incident in Rome In a shocking revelation, Yoshihito Nishioka, the Japanese tennis sensation, opened up about a disturbing incident of racism he...
Tennis fans are in for a treat as Nick Kyrgios gears up for his highly anticipated return to the sport after a three-month break. The 30-year-old Australian, once...
Elena Rybakina Shakes Things Up with Bold Move After Recent Setbacks Struggling to find her rhythm during the clay season, Elena Rybakina has taken matters into her own...
Struggling Swiatek Faces Uphill Battle at French Open As the tennis world gears up for the French Open, all eyes are on Iga Swiatek and her recent struggles...
© 2025 M Sports - Premium news & magazine M Sports.
Login to your account below
Remember Me
Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.
© 2025 M Sports - Premium news & magazine M Sports.
There was no praise for Lorenzo Musetti from Alexander Zverev after their Italian Open quarter-final with the latter quite uncomplimentary about his rival's game while the tournament balls also came under fire from the German.
Musetti won his third match in a row against the second seed as he came back from an early break in the first set to win 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 and end Zverev's title defence in Rome.
The Italian, who has reached the semi-final of all three ATP Masters 1000 clay-court events this year, now leads Zverev 3-1 in their head-to-head rivalry.
When asked if Musetti changed his usual style of play during the clash at Foro Italico, Zverev was far from complimentary about his opponent.
“I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defence. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents,” the second seed said.
“Today was difficult for me to hit winners. It was very slow, very, very heavy. The balls were getting very big. Even though I had my chances, I was up three set points, four set points in the first set on my serve. Usually I should win that set and then we'll see.
“Yeah, like I said, it was difficult.”
Next in for some criticism were the balls that are being used at the tournament.
“Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we've had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time,” Zverev said.
“They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich. Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It's very difficult to hit winners here. It's just how it is these days.
“Of course, for me, for my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day I'm still somebody that tries to play aggressive. I'm still somebody that tries to serve very fast. That's how it is. It's difficult to get free points today.”
Carlos Alcaraz clinches huge rankings boost as Jack Draper falls short of key milestone
5 men with the best win rate against top 5 players: Carlos Alcaraz 2nd, Novak Djokovic 5th
Zverev has endured an impressive ATP Masters 1000 season so far as he lost in the second round in Indian Wells, the round of 16 in Miami, the second round in Monte Carlo, the fourth round in Madrid and now the quarter-final in Rome.
As a result, he will drop to No 3 in the ATP Rankings after the Italian Open and that means he will be seeded third at the French Open.
"Greatness does not make excuses they excuse opponents."
"I'm really shocked, honestly, to see some of these names on here."
Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas also feature on the elite list.
Alexander Zverev has claimed Novak Djokovic's tennis ability is still "above everyone else's."
© Planet Sport Limited 2025 • All Rights Reserved
New Delhi: Italy's Jannik Sinner, the number one-ranked tennis star, who had an off day in the ongoing Italian Open on Wednesday, went to the Vatican City and met Pope Leo XIV.Sinner, his parents Johann and Siglinde, his manager Alex Vittur and a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation, including president Angelo Binaghi, were among those present during the meeting with Pope Leo XIV. During his audience, the 23-year-old presented Pope Leo XIV, who was elected just six days ago, with one of his racquets. In a video posted by Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Instagram, Pope Leo XIV asked Sinner about his Tuesday night victory against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, to which the Italian replied, "Yes, we managed."After Sinner presented his racket, Pope Leo XIV shared a laugh with Sinner. "Could I play at Wimbledon?" he asked.Last Thursday, the Vatican conclave chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, Vatican News said. The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
Sinner, his parents Johann and Siglinde, his manager Alex Vittur and a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation, including president Angelo Binaghi, were among those present during the meeting with Pope Leo XIV. During his audience, the 23-year-old presented Pope Leo XIV, who was elected just six days ago, with one of his racquets. In a video posted by Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Instagram, Pope Leo XIV asked Sinner about his Tuesday night victory against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, to which the Italian replied, "Yes, we managed."After Sinner presented his racket, Pope Leo XIV shared a laugh with Sinner. "Could I play at Wimbledon?" he asked.Last Thursday, the Vatican conclave chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, Vatican News said. The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
During his audience, the 23-year-old presented Pope Leo XIV, who was elected just six days ago, with one of his racquets. In a video posted by Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Instagram, Pope Leo XIV asked Sinner about his Tuesday night victory against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, to which the Italian replied, "Yes, we managed."After Sinner presented his racket, Pope Leo XIV shared a laugh with Sinner. "Could I play at Wimbledon?" he asked.Last Thursday, the Vatican conclave chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, Vatican News said. The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
After Sinner presented his racket, Pope Leo XIV shared a laugh with Sinner. "Could I play at Wimbledon?" he asked.Last Thursday, the Vatican conclave chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, Vatican News said. The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
Last Thursday, the Vatican conclave chose a new Pope, Robert Prevost, the first American Pope, Vatican News said. The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel and elected 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American to lead the Catholic Church.Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the St. Peter's balcony that overlooks the St Peter's square and announced, "Habemus Papam!" - "We have a pope."Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
Meanwhile, Sinner will be keen on continuing his scorching form in the Italian Open when he squares off against Casper Ruud in the quarter-final clash on Thursday. He secured a spot in the last eight with a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Cerundolo."He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
"He's a very tough competitor, it's a great challenge for me. Especially now trying to get used to so many difficult situations on the court. I just tried to stay there mentally, trying to play every point. But I'm very happy because I felt like I raised my level. Game wise, I felt a little bit better. It was very heavy conditions, and it was a long day. The crowd helped me, so I'm happy to go through," Sinner said after the win, as quoted from ATP.
Italy's Jasmine Paolini and American Peyton Stearns will play in the other women's semifinal.ByAssociated PressPublished May 14, 2025 copy_link
Published May 14, 2025
ROME (AP) — Zheng Qinwen earned her first victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to set up an Italian Open semifinal match against Coco Gauff.The 22-year-old Zheng, the Olympic champion from China, had lost all six previous matches against Sabalenka. The eighth-ranked Zheng saved all five break points she faced and broke Sabalenka's serve three times to reach the last four.Rome is the last big warmup before the French Open starts on May 25.Carlos Alcaraz beat Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals. He saved six of the eight break points he faced.The third-ranked Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Madrid tournament due to an upper right leg problem that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final, moved well on the court, often took to the net and used his trademark drop shots and groundstrokes to the best effect.
The 22-year-old Zheng, the Olympic champion from China, had lost all six previous matches against Sabalenka. The eighth-ranked Zheng saved all five break points she faced and broke Sabalenka's serve three times to reach the last four.Rome is the last big warmup before the French Open starts on May 25.Carlos Alcaraz beat Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals. He saved six of the eight break points he faced.The third-ranked Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Madrid tournament due to an upper right leg problem that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final, moved well on the court, often took to the net and used his trademark drop shots and groundstrokes to the best effect.
Rome is the last big warmup before the French Open starts on May 25.Carlos Alcaraz beat Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals. He saved six of the eight break points he faced.The third-ranked Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Madrid tournament due to an upper right leg problem that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final, moved well on the court, often took to the net and used his trademark drop shots and groundstrokes to the best effect.
Carlos Alcaraz beat Jack Draper 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals. He saved six of the eight break points he faced.The third-ranked Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Madrid tournament due to an upper right leg problem that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final, moved well on the court, often took to the net and used his trademark drop shots and groundstrokes to the best effect.
The third-ranked Alcaraz, who withdrew from the Madrid tournament due to an upper right leg problem that bothered him during the Barcelona Open final, moved well on the court, often took to the net and used his trademark drop shots and groundstrokes to the best effect.
A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who also had a left leg injury, had lost to Draper in their most recent meeting in the semifinals at Indian Wells, California, in March.Alcaraz rallied from 2-4 to claim the first set. A turning point then came in the eighth game of the second set, when Draped looked like he could force a decider. That game lasted almost 10 minutes and Alcaraz saved two break points before coming out on top. Alcaraz broke at love in the next game and sealed the match."The most important thing that I did today was not thinking about the shots at all," Alcaraz said. "Not thinking about the fact that I was down, just trying to do the things that make me happy. On court I just tried to be aggressive, play good shots, drop shots, go to the net. That's what I like to do on the court, and I think that made the difference today."Alacaraz's next opponent will be Lorenzo Musetti, who beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Alcaraz rallied from 2-4 to claim the first set. A turning point then came in the eighth game of the second set, when Draped looked like he could force a decider. That game lasted almost 10 minutes and Alcaraz saved two break points before coming out on top. Alcaraz broke at love in the next game and sealed the match."The most important thing that I did today was not thinking about the shots at all," Alcaraz said. "Not thinking about the fact that I was down, just trying to do the things that make me happy. On court I just tried to be aggressive, play good shots, drop shots, go to the net. That's what I like to do on the court, and I think that made the difference today."Alacaraz's next opponent will be Lorenzo Musetti, who beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-6 (1), 6-4.
"The most important thing that I did today was not thinking about the shots at all," Alcaraz said. "Not thinking about the fact that I was down, just trying to do the things that make me happy. On court I just tried to be aggressive, play good shots, drop shots, go to the net. That's what I like to do on the court, and I think that made the difference today."Alacaraz's next opponent will be Lorenzo Musetti, who beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Alacaraz's next opponent will be Lorenzo Musetti, who beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 7-6 (1), 6-4.
A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)
Gauff extended her unbeaten streak against Mirra Andreeva to also advance to the last four at the clay-court tournament. She played aggressively throughout in a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win.Both players hit high-quality shots in the tiebreaker, including Andreeva's superb drop shot just behind the net from a tight angle that allowed her to level at 5-5 before Gauff won the last two points to seal the match.Gauff has won all four of her matches against the 18-year-old Andreeva, having also beaten her at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2023, and two weeks ago in Madrid.Jasmine Paolini and Peyton Stearns face off in the other semifinal.
Both players hit high-quality shots in the tiebreaker, including Andreeva's superb drop shot just behind the net from a tight angle that allowed her to level at 5-5 before Gauff won the last two points to seal the match.Gauff has won all four of her matches against the 18-year-old Andreeva, having also beaten her at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2023, and two weeks ago in Madrid.Jasmine Paolini and Peyton Stearns face off in the other semifinal.
Gauff has won all four of her matches against the 18-year-old Andreeva, having also beaten her at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2023, and two weeks ago in Madrid.Jasmine Paolini and Peyton Stearns face off in the other semifinal.
Jasmine Paolini and Peyton Stearns face off in the other semifinal.
A post shared by Tennis (@tennischannel)
Also Wednesday, top-ranked Jannik Sinner visited the new pope, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, during an off day for Sinner. Leo XIV, the first American pope, is an avid tennis player.The pope and Sinner posed for photos in front of the Davis Cup trophy that Sinner helped Italy win for the second consecutive time last year.Sinner has a quarterfinal match Thursday in his first tournament back after a three-month ban for doping that was judged to be an accidental contamination. He will next face freshly-crowned Madrid champion Casper Ruud, who beat Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-4.
The pope and Sinner posed for photos in front of the Davis Cup trophy that Sinner helped Italy win for the second consecutive time last year.Sinner has a quarterfinal match Thursday in his first tournament back after a three-month ban for doping that was judged to be an accidental contamination. He will next face freshly-crowned Madrid champion Casper Ruud, who beat Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-4.
Sinner has a quarterfinal match Thursday in his first tournament back after a three-month ban for doping that was judged to be an accidental contamination. He will next face freshly-crowned Madrid champion Casper Ruud, who beat Jaume Munar 6-3, 6-4.
News
WEEKEND WARM-UP: Who are the favourites as the European season kicks off in Imola?
EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX – Read the all-new digital race programme here
PADDOCK INSIDER: Colapinto's back in F1 action with Alpine – and the Argentinian racer means business
FIA Thursday press conference – Emilia-Romagna
Hamilton gets set for ‘very special' first Ferrari home race as he shares ‘dream I'm working towards'
Lando Norris believes that he and McLaren could be in for a “tough weekend” at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with the Briton insisting that the squad's commanding performance last time out in Miami was a “nice surprise”.
After a strong start to the campaign for the reigning Teams' Champions, the papaya outfit put in one of their strongest displays yet at the Miami International Autodrome as Oscar Piastri led home Norris in a 1-2 result.
READ MORE: Piastri downplays McLaren's chances of repeating Miami dominance as he previews ‘incredibly different' Imola challenge
Such was the pace of the MCL39 that Piastri crossed the line a whopping 37 seconds clear of Mercedes' George Russell in third, strengthening his lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship in the process, while McLaren now have a sizeable 105-point advantage over the Silver Arrows in the Teams' standings.
Despite this, Norris is anticipating that the squad will have less of an edge over their competitors for Round 7 on the calendar at Imola, a track that the Briton has previously scored three podium finishes at.
Piastri and Norris brought home a dominant 1-2 for McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix
When asked on Thursday's media day if he was expecting a repeat of McLaren's Miami dominance this weekend, Norris initially joked: “I hope so! That'll be lovely, make my life easier.
“No, I think Miami just went very, very well. I think our pace was probably a little bit of a surprise, just how strong we were on Sunday, but a nice surprise.
READ MORE: ‘To already be at this pace is very impressive' – Verstappen and Norris heap praise on Antonelli after rookie's Miami display
“I expect it to probably return a little bit more back to how it's been, which is us having a small advantage but still being tight with our main competition. We're still expecting a tough weekend, it's just a good surprise if things go better than that.”
While he proved victorious in the Sprint last time out in Miami, Norris was unable to add a second Grand Prix win of the season to his name, with his last triumph on a Sunday coming at the season-opening race in Australia.
McLaren dominance in Miami 'a nice surprise' - Norris not expecting same advantage around Imola
Piastri, meanwhile, claimed a fourth consecutive P1 result – but Norris is not concerned by this, instead praising the team work between himself and the Australian as they continue to learn from one another each weekend.
“It's a good thing,” Norris said of Piastri's run of victories. “It's obviously not a dream scenario, but Oscar is doing a very good job and I can't fault him for that. But that's his thing, and I've got to focus on myself and keep focusing on what I can do better.
NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
“I know there are things I'm working on to improve and to raise my level and to make sure I win some more races, so it's a good thing. We're learning from each other every weekend, it's what makes us really strong.
"I push Oscar a lot, Oscar pushes me a lot, and we end up being a very strong team. For me it's a good thing. There's pros and cons, I guess, but I'm happy about it.”
Don't miss your chance to experience the picturesque Imola circuit...
NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
BETTING GUIDE: Who are the favourites as F1 moves on to Imola?
F1 FANTASY: Strategist Selection – What's the best line-up for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix?
BEHIND THE SCENES: How the upcoming ‘F1' movie plays into the sport's great underdog tradition
GREATEST RACES #25: The ‘best race' of Gilles Villeneuve's life – 1981 Spanish Grand Prix
Antonelli explains approach to ‘emotionally and mentally draining' Imola home race as he reflects on handwritten note from Hamilton
Design your own F1 circuit and win race tickets with new AWS online experience
‘I'm from the land of slow food and fast cars' – Chef Massimo Bottura on taking over Ferrari's famous Ristorante Cavallino
FIA Thursday press conference – Emilia-Romagna
BEYOND THE GRID: Mario Andretti on his 1978 title, what made certain F1 champions so special and celebrating F1 75
© 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited
News
WEEKEND WARM-UP: Who are the favourites as the European season kicks off in Imola?
Norris expecting ‘tough weekend' at Imola as he suggests strong McLaren performance in Miami was a ‘nice surprise'
EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX – Read the all-new digital race programme here
PADDOCK INSIDER: Colapinto's back in F1 action with Alpine – and the Argentinian racer means business
FIA Thursday press conference – Emilia-Romagna
Lewis Hamilton has admitted that it will be “very special” to experience his first Formula 1 event as a Ferrari driver on the team's home soil, while stressing that he is trying to take a “business as usual” approach to proceedings at Imola.
This weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is one of two home races for the famous Italian marque on the 2025 calendar, with a round at Monza to follow in September, and thus marks another ‘first' in Hamilton's Ferrari journey.
LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the build-up ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend
After walking through the paddock gates on Thursday, and having been greeted by the dedicated Tifosi around the track, Hamilton spoke to the media and shared how he is feeling heading into the weekend.
“I just feel like I'm at another race, but it's obviously a very special race for us as a team,” said the seven-time World Champion. “I guess it'll be different once I'm on track in the red car on the homeland of the team.
Enormity of Ferrari home debut hasn't hit 'business-as-usual' Hamilton yet
“It'll probably become more of a realisation through the weekend, but I'm coming to work – work as usual, business as usual – and I'm just super focused, so I've not had time to think about it.
“Of course, when I see the Tifosi, when I see people in the crowds, it probably will become more of a realisation that they're actually looking at me this time as opposed to me out in a different car.”
READ MORE: Piastri downplays McLaren's chances of repeating Miami dominance as he previews ‘incredibly different' Imola challenge
Hamilton approaches the Imola round after a mixed start to life at Ferrari, with his results ranging from Sprint victories to Q2 exits – the SF-25 proving to be a difficult car for the Briton and team mate Charles Leclerc to tame.
Asked about his chances at Ferrari's home track, and what victory would feel like, the Briton added: “I have no idea; I don't know what to expect. That's obviously what we're working towards, but it's not something I expect this weekend.
It has been a mixed start to the season for the seven-time champion and the team
“If you've seen our past races, the positions we've been in, we start the weekend really optimistic and then [there's] the realisation of our true pace. I don't know what the pace is going to be like this weekend.
“I'm hoping we're able to extract more from the car, and that's what we've been working towards this past two weeks. To get a good result, to get finally on the podium for Ferrari, that would be a first for me.
NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
“To look down and see the team, who for my whole career I've always watched… whether I'm on the podium or from the side watching on TV, you can see the passion and how much it means to not only the people in the team, but also to the Tifosi... that's what I dream about, what I'm working towards.”
Ferrari sit fourth in the Teams' Championship standings after the first six Grands Prix of the campaign, 152 points away from leaders McLaren, while Hamilton holds P7 in the Drivers' battle, two spots behind Leclerc.
Don't miss your chance to experience the picturesque Imola circuit...
NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
BETTING GUIDE: Who are the favourites as F1 moves on to Imola?
F1 FANTASY: Strategist Selection – What's the best line-up for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix?
BEHIND THE SCENES: How the upcoming ‘F1' movie plays into the sport's great underdog tradition
GREATEST RACES #25: The ‘best race' of Gilles Villeneuve's life – 1981 Spanish Grand Prix
Blockbuster music acts announced for 2025 Singapore Grand Prix
BEHIND THE SCENES: How the upcoming ‘F1' movie plays into the sport's great underdog tradition
Piastri downplays McLaren's chances of repeating Miami dominance as he previews ‘incredibly different' Imola challenge
FIA Thursday press conference – Emilia-Romagna
‘I'm from the land of slow food and fast cars' – Chef Massimo Bottura on taking over Ferrari's famous Ristorante Cavallino
© 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited
Live Blog
Special Contributor
Norris expecting ‘tough weekend' at Imola as he suggests strong McLaren performance in Miami was a ‘nice surprise'
EMILIA-ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX – Read the all-new digital race programme here
PADDOCK INSIDER: Colapinto's back in F1 action with Alpine – and the Argentinian racer means business
FIA Thursday press conference – Emilia-Romagna
Hamilton gets set for ‘very special' first Ferrari home race as he shares ‘dream I'm working towards'
BEHIND THE SCENES: How the upcoming ‘F1' movie plays into the sport's great underdog tradition
BEYOND THE GRID: Mario Andretti on his 1978 title, what made certain F1 champions so special and celebrating F1 75
Hamilton gets set for ‘very special' first Ferrari home race as he shares ‘dream I'm working towards'
Antonelli explains approach to ‘emotionally and mentally draining' Imola home race as he reflects on handwritten note from Hamilton
What is the weather forecast for the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix?
© 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited
By Nellie Andreeva
Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV
EXCLUSIVE: Five-time Emmy winner Michael J. Fox is returning to acting with a major guest-starring role on the upcoming third season of Apple TV+'s hit comedy series Shrinking, toplined by Jason Segel and Harrison Ford.
Details around the role are being kept under wraps but it may be connected to the character arc of Ford's therapist Paul Rhoades. It was revealed at the end of Season 1 that Paul has Parkinson's, a disease Fox has been battling for three and a half decades.
This marks a reunion for Fox and Shrinking co-creator/executive producer Bill Lawrence. Fox headlined Lawrence's first series as a creator, Spin City, for four seasons before leaving when his symptoms became more serious. The ABC comedy landed Fox his fifth Emmy award; he had won four for Family Ties.
Related Stories
Casting
Jude Law & Andrew Garfield To Play Siegfried & Roy In Limited Series Ordered By Apple TV+
Casting
Lily Collias, Joe Anders & Malia Pyles Round Out Main Cast Of Apple's 'Cape Fear' TV Series
Since then, Fox was the star of The Michael J. Fox Show and has recurred on such series as The Good Wife, Lawrence's Scrubs, Rescue Me and Boston Legal, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Designated Survivor, earning him eight more Emmy nominations. This marks his first acting role since reprising his Good Wife character on spinoff The Good Fight in 2020.
Watch on Deadline
It also marks Fox's return to Apple following their partnership on the award-winning documentary STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Co-created by Jason Segel, Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking follows grieving therapist Jimmy (Segel) who starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he finds himself making huge, tumultuous changes to people's lives … including his own. In addition to Segel and Ford, Shrinking stars Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell and Ted McGinley.
Fox joins fellow Shrinking Season 3 cast additions Jeff Daniels, who will guest star as Jimmy's father, Sherry Cola and Isabella Gomez.
The Emmy and SAG Award-nominated Shrinking is produced for Apple TV+ by Warner Bros. Television, where Lawrence and Goldstein are under overall deals, and Lawrence's Doozer Productions. Lawrence, Segel, Goldstein, Neil Goldman, James Ponsoldt, Jeff Ingold, Liza Katzer, Randall Winston, Rachna Fruchbom and Brian Gallivan serve as executive producers on Season 2. Ashley Nicole Black and Bill Posley join as executive producers on Season 3.
Fox recently received an honorary Academy Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2000, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, which has become the leading Parkinson's organization in the world, with over $2.5 billion raised to date for better treatments and a pathway to the cure. Fox, who is also the author of four bestselling books, is repped by UTA.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Maika Monroe is replacing Margaret Qualley in an adaptation of the novel thriller “Victorian Psycho.”
Qualley parted ways with “Victorian Psycho” mere weeks before filming was set to start in February. A24, which also boarded the project in its early days of development, has also quietly exited the feature and hasn't been attached for a while, a source confirmed to IndieWire. With Monroe attached, “Victorian Psycho” will again be shopped at the Cannes market.
Qualley would've reunited with “Sanctuary” director Zachary Wigon, who is still attached to direct, as is co-star Thomasin McKenzie. Production was going to start in February 2025 in Dublin, Ireland. A representative confirmed to IndieWire that Qualley had a sudden scheduling conflict and had to exit the project. It's now set to begin filming in August.
Related Stories Mel Gibson's ‘Passion of the Christ' Follow-Up Lands at Lionsgate Logging Trucks, Swimming Pools, and Bathtubs, Oh My! We Fact-Checked Our Favorite ‘Final Destination' Deaths
“Victorian Psycho” is set in 1858 and story centers on Winifred Notty, a governess hiding her psychopathic tendencies as she works at a remote gothic manor. The logline teases: “But as the woman takes care of her charges, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder, too late mind you, if their new governess is serving up a spoonful of sugar with a little arsenic on the side.” Virginia Feito wrote the novel and also wrote the screenplay.
The “Longlegs” actress is reuniting with producer Dan Kagan on the project, who also produced both her films “Longlegs” and “Azrael.”
As the film is no longer at A24, it is a sales title now, and IndieWire understands the film already has multiple offers; Anton is fully financing the film and is repping international rights, with U.S. rights co-represented by Anton, UTA Independent Film Group, and CAA Media Finance. Sébastien Raybaud is producing in association with Anonymous Content. Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros, and Virginia Feito will executive produce.
“Maika's intense screen presence has resonated with me over and over again throughout her history of complex performances,” director Wigon said in a press statement. “I'm absolutely thrilled for her to bring her unique style of psychological portraiture to the fascinatingly bizarre Winifred Notty.”
Qualley told IndieWire in late January 2025 that she was undergoing extensive prep work to play a governess who is taking care of children in a remote gothic manor while hiding her psychopathic tendencies.
“I've never done a British accent before, so that's terrifying,” Qualley said at the time. “I've been working on the accent, and my poor husband, I've limited our movies to only British accent movies. I read this book on the Victorian life and it was really interesting. It's just kind of amazing how much we've evolved in such a short time period.”
She added, “And I've been wearing a corset around the house to get comfortable with that. It's actually not as bad as you think if it fits well, and it's kind of fun. I'm just trying to get used to moving a little bit differently.”
As for the scheduling conflict, it is unclear which project made Qualley drop out of “Victorian Psycho.” Qualley has a full slate of films in the works including Ethan Coen's “Honey Don't!” She also recently appeared in Richard Linklater's Lorenz Hart biopic “Blue Moon,” which debuted at Berlin.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By Andreas Wiseman
Executive Editor, International & Strategy
Longlegs and It Follows star Maika Monroe has replaced Margaret Qualley in psychological horror-thriller, Victorian Psycho, we can reveal, with Anton continuing to sell at the Cannes market.
Monroe takes on the lead role of the young, eccentric governess Winifred Notty, who in 1858 arrives at the remote gothic manor known as Ensor House. Her responsibilities include teaching the children table manners and educating them about their family's history, all whilst hiding her psychopathic tendencies. As Winifred assimilates into life at Ensor House, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder if there is something amiss about their new governess.
Related Stories
News
U.S. Buyer Aura Entertainment Makes Dave Bautista Action Movie 'Trap House' First Release, Plans Theatrical Launch In November -- Cannes Market
Festivals
Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews
As previously announced, Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) is also cast. Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary) directs from a script by author Virginia Feito (Mrs. March), based on her novel of the same name. Production is being lined up to begin in August of this year.
Watch on Deadline
As we revealed late last year, A24 had boarded the project for domestic. However, we can reveal today that the company exited soon after Qualley left some months ago and before Monroe came aboard. No reason was given to us for the departures. We understand Anton has been in talks with other domestic buyers and has already pre-sold the film to multiple international markets. Additional casting is in process. These are the slings and arrows of independent finance and this is a buzzy project that has already withstood the exit of Qualley not long before the intended March shoot and is now pushing forward with another in-demand lead actress and with another domestic buyer likely aboard soon. Kudos to the producers for weathering the storm.
Pic is produced by Dan Kagan (Longlegs) under his Traffic. banner as well as Sébastien Raybaud (Greenland: Migration) for Anton and Wigon, in association with Anonymous Content. Nick Shumaker, Bard Dorros and Virginia Feito will executive produce. This will be the third collaboration between Monroe and Kagan following Significant Other and Longlegs.
Anton is fully financing the film and is representing international rights. U.S. rights are co-represented by Anton, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance.
Director Wigon said: “Maika's intense screen presence has resonated with me over and over again throughout her history of complex performances. I'm absolutely thrilled for her to bring her unique style of psychological portraiture to the fascinatingly bizarre Winifred Notty.”
Monroe most recently starred opposite Nicolas Cage in last year's psychological horror hit Longlegs. She has become well-established in the horror genre following her performance in hit It Follows which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Additional credits, which both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, include the cult thriller The Guest and Chloe Okunu's directorial debut Watcher. She is due to start production in the lead role in Reminders of Him, Universal's adaptation of the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover.
Monroe is repped by Entertainment 360, WME, and Felker Toczek.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By Nellie Andreeva
Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV
EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Firestarter) has landed the lead opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, which has a pilot order at Hulu. Armstrong will play the new slayer in the untitled Buffyverse project, which Gellar executive produces in addition to reprising her signature role as Buffy Summers.
Oscar winner Chloé Zhao is directing the pilot, written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. No additional information has been provided about the project, referred to as the next chapter in the Buffyverse, which comes from 20th Television and Searchlight TV. The character played by Armstrong is described in casting materials as an introverted high-school student.
Related Stories
News
2025 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
News
Glen Powell-Starrer 'Chad Powers' Sets Hulu Premiere Date
There is some symbolism in Armstong's casting as Geller's spiritual successor — the actresses' names, Ryan Kiera Armstrong and Sarah Michelle Gellar, share the same cadence. But it was Armstong's acting chops that won her the role, Gellar said.
Watch on Deadline
“From the moment I saw Ryan's audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side,” she said. “To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room”
Gellar also recorded a video of her breaking the news to 15-year-old Armstrong that she got the part. (You can watch it below.)
“I'm so honored, thank you for trusting me,” elated Armstrong said through tears when Gellar welcomed her to new Sunnydale. She was then joined by her father, Canadian actor-producer Dean Armstrong.
Lilla and Nora Zuckerman used some Buffy terminology to praise Armstrong.
“We are so overjoyed to have found this generation's slayer in Ryan Kiera Armstrong, she absolutely blew us away — there is no question in our mind that she is the chosen one,” they said.
Nora and Lilla Zuckerman executive produce the pilot alongside Gellar, Zhao via her Book of Shadows banner as well as the original series' executive producers Gail Berman of the Jackal Group and Fran Kuzui & Kaz Kuzui via Suite B. Also executive producing the pilot is Dolly Parton whose company Sandollar was producer on the original. Buffy the Vampire Slayer studio 20th Television produces with Disney sibling Searchlight TV, where Zhao is under a first-look deal.
Canadian-born Armstrong has been busy since her breakout role at age 8 in the feature The Art of Racing In the Rain opposite Amanda Seyfried. Following parts in IT: Part Two, The Tomorrow War, The Glorias and Black Widow, she played the lead in the 2022 Firestarter, the co-lead opposite Nicolas Cage in The Wold Way and a main role in WIldflower.
On TV, she started off with a major recurring role on Netflix's Anne with an E. Armstrong first got on 20th TV radar when the studio cast her as part of the main ensemble of FX's American Horror Story: Red Tide. She has worked for Disney ever since with a starring role opposite Jude Law on Disney+'s Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and recurring opposite Ethan Hawke on FX's upcoming The Lowdown. Armstrong is repped by Linden Entertainment and Innovative Artists.
A post shared by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar)
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Hallelujah. Mel Gibson‘s follow-up to “The Passion of the Christ,” titled “The Resurrection of the Christ,” has found a home at Lionsgate.
Gibson and producer Bruce Davey on behalf of their Icon Productions banner selected Lionsgate as its studio partner on “Resurrection,” which is filming now and reunites Gibson with the studio after he most recently directed the Mark Wahlberg thriller “Flight Risk” for the studio. Lionsgate also owns the Icon library, which includes the rights to the 2004 hit “Passion of the Christ.”
No release plans were announced for the film.
Popular on IndieWire
Jim Caviezel is returning to reprise his role as Jesus for the next chapter in the Biblical epic. And until last year, “The Passion of the Christ” remained the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time domestically. It opened to $83 million and made $370 million in North America, as well as $610 million globally, all off a $30 million production budget.
Related Stories Logging Trucks, Swimming Pools, and Bathtubs, Oh My! We Fact-Checked Our Favorite ‘Final Destination' Deaths ‘Dossier 137' Review: Léa Drucker Carries an Ambling Police Procedural About Institutional Corruption
“For many, many people across the globe, ‘The Resurrection of the Christ' is the most anticipated theatrical event in a generation. It is also an awe-inspiring and spectacularly epic theatrical film that is going to leave moviegoers worldwide breathless,” Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said in a statement. “Mel is one of the greatest directors of our time, and this project is both deeply personal to him and the perfect showcase for his talents as a filmmaker. My relationship with Mel and Bruce dates back 30 years, and I am thrilled to be partnering with them once again on this landmark event for audiences.”
“Lionsgate's brave, innovative spirit and nimble, can-do attitude have inspired me for a long time, and I couldn't think of a more perfect distributor for ‘The Resurrection of the Christ,'” added Gibson. “I've enjoyed working with Adam and the team several times over recent years. I know the clever ingenuity, passion, and ambition the entire team commits to their projects and I'm confident they will bring everything they can to the release of this movie.”
Lauren Bixby, John Biondo, and Grace Clements oversaw the deal on behalf of the studio. Bruce Davey and Vicki Christianson of Icon, Jim Osborne of IAG, and attorney Joel VanderKloot oversaw on behalf of the filmmakers.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHRIST – coming soon. pic.twitter.com/DXARSRjull
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By Mike Fleming Jr
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Film
Mel Gibson has found a studio partner for The Resurrection of the Christ, the long awaited follow-up to the 2004 smash hit The Passion of the Christ. Lionsgate will join Gibson and Brucey Davey's Icon Productions to mount a follow to the movie which long held the mark as the biggest domestic grossing R-rated film of all time.
The announcement Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Mel Gibson.
No details about the film, but I expect most of the cast to return. That includes Jim Cavaziel, who played Jesus Christ in the original –SPOILER ALERT — who was killed and rose from the dead in the first film. Also expected back are such cast members as Monica Bellucci, who played Magdalen, and whoever in the cast figures into the script that Gibson co-wrote to direct. Production will begin late summer.
Related Stories
News
Mel Gibson, Trump "Special Ambassador", & Italian Producer Andrea Iervolino Propose U.S.-Italy Co-Production Treaty
News
Mel Gibson's Gun Rights Restored Following Justice Department Attorney's Firing
The Passion of the Christ debuted to an opening weekend of $83 million on its way to taking in $370 million in North American theaters and more than $610 million globally off a $30 million production budget.
Watch on Deadline
The deal continues Gibson's long association with Lionsgate, where he made his two most recent films: the Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge and the thriller Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg. The studio is also the distributor for the Icon library, including The Passion of the Christ.
“For many, many people across the globe, The Resurrection of the Christ is the most anticipated theatrical event in a generation. It is also an awe-inspiring and spectacularly epic theatrical film that is going to leave moviegoers worldwide breathless,” said Fogelson. “Mel is one of the greatest directors of our time, and this project is both deeply personal to him and the perfect showcase for his talents as a filmmaker. My relationship with Mel and Bruce dates back 30 years, and I am thrilled to be partnering with them once again on this landmark event for audiences.”
“Lionsgate's brave, innovative spirit and nimble, can-do attitude have inspired me for a long time, and I couldn't think of a more perfect distributor for The Resurrection of the Christ,” added Gibson. “I've enjoyed working with Adam and the team several times over recent years. I know the clever ingenuity, passion, and ambition the entire team commits to their projects and I'm confident they will bring everything they can to the release of this movie.”
Lauren Bixby, John Biondo, and Grace Clements oversaw the deal on behalf of the studio. Bruce Davey and Vicki Christianson of Icon, Jim Osborne of IAG, and attorney Joel VanderKloot oversaw on behalf of the filmmakers.
Gibson is repped by Independent Artist Group.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Every generation gets their own raucous college comedy, and whether yours is “Animal House” (1978) or “Van Wilder” (2002), “School Daze” (1988) or “22 Jump Street” (2014), “Legally Blonde” (2001) or “Everybody Wants Some!” (released 2016 but set in 1980), you'll recognize plenty of each in Benito Skinner‘s Amazon Prime Video series, “Overcompensating.”
Although it's unclear what generation the 31-year-old Skinner is meant to be representing when his modern-day freshmen profuse their love for decade-old pop culture like “Glee” (2009-2015), the “Twilight” films (2008-2012), and Nicki Minaj's 2011 banger, “Super Bass” — while still selling their souls for to see Charli XCX (an executive producer on the series) — the first season's emphasis on universal elements, like hormone-induced comic hysteria and early-adult edification, prove endearing enough to overcome nagging failures of overfamiliarity and nostalgic imprecision.
Popular on IndieWire
Related Stories How a Thank-You Note Transformed Mara Brock Akil's Career | ‘What No One Tells You' ‘Dossier 137' Review: Léa Drucker Carries an Ambling Police Procedural About Institutional Corruption
At his Idaho high school, Benny (Skinner) is the golden boy: star quarterback on the football team, class valedictorian, and Homecoming king. But behind the jocular smile of an American idol lies a secret: Benny is gay, and he's beyond terrified to admit it. He's tried being with girls — really, really tried — and it just didn't click. He's only managed to maintain his heteronormative bonafides by lying through his shiny white teeth.
One may think college would give Benny a chance to start over. At Yates University, he's hundreds of miles (or more) from his hometown, his old friends, and his demanding dad (Kyle MacLachlan); surely here, at a bastion for liberal youth, he can be himself without fear of judgment.
Well, not quite. On the first day of school, Benny runs into a welcome table run by an LGBTQ society greeting prospective members, but the mere presence of a few assertive bros is enough to send him scurrying back to the safety of his false facade. He tosses a football with a little extra zip. He hands out back slaps and head nods. He compliments an attractive woman who asks him to take her picture. From there, Benny can't help but double down, using the same macho tricks he honed in high school to gain favor in college.
“Overcompensating” isn't just Benny's story. Instead, it frames the fear of being judged, labeled, or otherwise othered as a universal experience. Everyone is scared to admit something about themselves to others, whether it's about their sexuality, hobbies, career, or, well, anything really. For Benny, coming out could mean losing relationships new and old. He's risking his friends and family, his safety and security, his past and his future all at once. It's not fair to compare his secret with someone who simply doesn't want to be deemed uncool by the popular kids, but that's just one more reason why you can't compare people's feelings: They're uniquely powerful to the person living with them.
So when Carmen (Wally Baram), another freshman, tries too hard to fit in with her hard-partying roommate Hailee (Holmes), or plays up her sexless relationship with Benny to prove to everyone she's found an enviable boyfriend, her fear of being called out as a fake is palpable. Carmen's concerns over not finding any friends (or, worse still, getting stuck with the same kind of asshole she dated in high school) aren't as intense or overwhelming as Benny's terror of being outed, but they're just as relatable.
“Overcompensating” evokes the anxiety of those early college days (or high school or grade school) with speed and ferocity, and its humor fits the same description. Jokes fly in from every angle at a steady clip. Crass references, cringe comedy, pop culture gags, casual nudity, clever one-liners — they all find their place as “Overcompensating” bombards the audience with opportunities to laugh at and with its struggling central duo. The first episode splices in short flashbacks to fill in Benny and Carmen's backstories while swiftly moving through a first day on campus spent clinging on to anyone who might like them and listening to anyone who's already found their people.
For Benny, that person is Peter (Adam DiMarco), an idolized senior and undisputed king of the bros. Peter has a floppy baseball cap to “go” with any outfit. He's got a paper-thin mustache and a shrub of chin hair to match. He howls and barks at his frat brothers, and he ogles women without even bothering to hide it. That Peter is also dating Benny's sister, Grace (Mary Beth Barone), is what makes him particularly influential to our freshman protagonist. Peter is happy to help out his de facto lil bro, which means he's eager to train Benny to be just like him — even though Benny, the real Benny, is nothing like Peter.
“Overcompensating” lends impressive depth to its antagonist, reveling in Peter's boisterous highs as often as it sits patiently in his unexpected lows. Some of the sharpest laughs come from skewering prototypical bros (brototypicals?), including James Van Der Beek's short but savage cameo as a cherished frat alumnus and a recurring bit where one oafish dude inevitably, voluntarily, and inexplicably announces he has to go take a shit. By the time Benny's reached his breaking point with these boorish yet lovable jokers, it's equally clear why he craves their camaraderie and why he can't stand being around them.
Skinner, who wrote or co-wrote nearly every episode, makes for a convincing straight man (forgive the pun); most of the humor plays off his emotional and physical discomfort, awkward comments, and general embarrassment, but he also holds his own when Benny lets down his guard, sharing genuine levity with Carmen and hard truths with himself. Holmes is a consistent source of unapologetic audacity, there's a strong supporting cast of young performers, and veteran actors come through in key dramatic moments. (Connie Britton is always perfect, and Lukas Gage makes the most of a long-hyped yet short-lived appearance late in the season.)
“Overcompensating” tilts too far from its comic roots in its closing episodes, and it could have mined more from sourcing Benny's extreme anguish over coming out. But then again, it still could.
The series sets itself up for more seasons, so leaving its lead plenty to discover in the years ahead may be for the best. All in all, it's far from a remarkable comedy, but it's certainly a sound one. And with so few like it hitting theaters these days, “Overcompensating” may still end up being some young viewer's formative college story — that is, if they didn't see “Dear White People,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Gen V,” “Felicity,” “Grown-ish,” “Greek, “Undeclared,” or any of the others.
“Overcompensating” premieres Thursday, May 15 on Amazon Prime Video. All eight episodes of the first season will be released at once.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Few contemporary movies have left audiences with images quite as visceral as the one that opens “Final Destination 2,” one that has been making drivers avoid logging trucks on the freeway since 2003.
The franchise, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year ahead of the latest installment, this week's “Final Destination Bloodlines,” is also responsible for such indelible scenes as 1. becoming a bag of bones during a gymnastics routine (“Final Destination 5”), 2. being liquefied by a swimming pool drain pump (“The Final Destination”), 3. and reinforcing all manner of phobias about planes (“Final Destination”), 4. suspension bridges (“Final Destination 5”), 5. and rollercoasters (“Final Destination 3”). “Bloodlines” doesn't disappoint in this arena (though several of its most spectacular kills are bafflingly spoiled in its trailers), with a particularly gnarly scene involving an MRI machine.
Related Stories ‘Two Prosecutors' Review: Sergei Loznitsa Makes a Striking Return to Fiction Filmmaking in Chilling Fable Set Across Stalin's Purges Maika Monroe Replaces Margaret Qualley in ‘Victorian Psycho' from ‘Sanctuary' Director Zachary Wigon
The series banks on the premise that Death is a supernatural force coming for us all and we cannot mess with the order of it. But, said J.J. Makaro, stunt coordinator on the first, third, and fifth films, that doesn't mean that the creators and craftspeople behind the films ever wanted to disobey the hard-and-fast laws of physics.
Popular on IndieWire
“I was lucky to do the first one in the franchise, because we came up with what rules to make and the logic we would follow,” he told IndieWire during a recent interview. “Everything had to happen properly in the physical world. Water couldn't defy gravity, or if a rope was to come loose, it had to do something that would actually happen physically. … We were grounded, physically, [in] how things should move.”
That said, they weren't exactly doing physical calculations on set. “It was all trial and error. We came up with all the different processes for a death to work, then tested them to see what would physically happen in each of these situations,” he said. “There wasn't a lot of math involved. In retrospect, you can calculate it.”
And that's exactly what we did.
IndieWire spoke to Thomas Plunkett, PhD candidate in astrophysics at the University of Tasmania, Australia, who confirmed that, unfortunately for those aforementioned phobias, these are all plausible ways to die. We picked our favorite kills from each of the first five entries, along with added commentary from some of the crew who worked behind the scenes to ensure that these graphic deaths didn't actually kill anyone.
The scene that has stuck with me after all these years is Tod's (Chad Donella) clothesline strangulation in the bathroom, perhaps because it's one of the franchise's more understated deaths, and one that could easily occur in the slippery location. “It was all about trying to make it practical and believable. We weren't trying to make something spectacular out of the action. It [spoke] for itself,” Makaro said.
“The physics behind it is that, when you have an object that decelerates really quickly, like when Tod has slipped over and gets caught in the wire, rapidly coming to a stop, there's a big force being applied to his neck and vertebrae,” said Plunkett. “Depending on how big that drop is and how quickly you come to a stop, you can sever the spinal cord.”
One might posit that Tod should be able to stand up to reduce the force of the cord on his neck, however the tub is wet from a previous shower, not to mention the presence of soap and product residue, preventing his bare feet from gaining purchase.
“The way I would explain the wire going around the neck is that you have to conserve momentum,” Plunkett continued. “Momentum is the mass of an object by its velocity, and there's something called angular momentum, which is a rotational version. When that wire is coming off and he has the end bit wrapping around, that's the wire trying to conserve its energy as it spins around.”
There's also the question of the height of the clothesline. Unless you're really tall, most tend to be above head height. In “Final Destination,” this is where camera angles play a part. Notice how Tod interacting with the clothesline is always shot from below, allowing it to be positioned at a height that would allow the stunt person to “fall” onto it at neck height, as confirmed to IndieWire by Makaro.
You didn't think we were going to do a physics breakdown of “Final Destination” and not talk about the logging scene, did you?
“Whilst the logs would initially travel forward after falling from the truck as they are at that point moving at the same speed as the truck, they would slow down fairly quickly from friction with the road which I expect to be quite high due to the wood being very brittle on the surface,” said Plunkett.
The police car being the first victim is likely because it's traveling at the same speed forward, while the logs have slowed down. “This is a concept called ‘relative motion', which makes it appear like the log is traveling backwards relative to the police car,” he added.
Where reality and movie magic diverge, though, is in the nature of the car accidents, specifically the explosions. “You need vaporized fuel and a bunch of oxygen, but when you're in a crash you probably sever your fuel lines and the fuel is still a liquid. It's more likely to catch on fire,” he said.
There's also the matter of how long it takes everyone to stop. Granted, it's a wet road — owing to production designer Michael S. Bolton needing to soak down the tarmac to prevent skid marks, he told IndieWire — but it seems as though everyone's brakes are failing.
“For a dry road at a speed of 62 miles per hour, the average stopping distance — distance traveled from the time when noticing and applying breaks to coming to a stop — is 321.5 feet. However, when conditions are icy or wet, this can increase to greater than 393.7 feet,” said Plunkett.
We could have focused on some of the more spectacular death scenes in “Final Destination 3,” such as the roller coaster, the train crash, or even the tanning beds, but Erin's (Alexz Johnson) death by nail gun in the hardware store is “simple, clean, very effective and very scary,” according to Makaro, who said they loaded up the scene with a lot of “eye candy” that would swerve the viewer from picking who was really next on Death's list until the very last moment.
There's a reason why construction workers wear hardhats and thick gloves and boots around nail guns: “the typical human bone can withstand roughly 2,000 – 4,000 newtons of force before breaking. For a typical nail gun, we have a pressure of roughly 69,0000 newtons per square meter in the compressor. This can result in nails being projected at velocities of around 100 – 150 miles per second,” said Plunkett.
The skull is much thinner than bones in other parts of the body, so it shouldn't take much force for the nail gun to puncture it. But could the nails travel through the back and front of Erin's skull and impale her hand, which she reflexively if futilely raises to protect her face? “Nail guns [could] easily puncture through the skull and, depending on the exact pressure in the compressor, could travel through the brain and hand,” said Plunkett.
There's also a reason why nail guns have two safety mechanisms in place, at the front where the nail comes out and at the trigger, where the user applies pressure. Both have to be engaged at the same time in order for the nail to come out. So how would Erin get shot with the nail gun if there was no pressure on the trigger?
Makaro said there's a well-known, if dangerous practice on construction sites of workers securing down the trigger so that they can quickly and easily lay down a large number of nails. “But that's a piece of exposition that gets in the way,” he said. “We didn't justify the trigger being pulled on camera, we had justified it ourselves that it could happen.”
I'm not going to mince words, unlike Hunt's (Nick Zano) insides, which become mincemeat when they are sucked out through his anus via a swimming pool drain pipe, splattering unsuspecting swimmers with his viscera, amongst other things: this has happened!
“Maybe not completely liquefying, but there have been documented cases of people having their intestines pulled out,” said Plunkett. “The pump is sucking out the air and other things, so it's creating a region of low pressure, and then you've got the pool itself and the human body, which are two places of high pressure, they're going to flow to that area of low pressure. If there's enough of a pressure difference between the two, you can have intestines and other things sucked out.”
Suspension bridges like Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, which was used for this scene, work by utilizing a large number of wires, all connecting to a metal membrane that supports the weight of the bridge by distributing it across those same wires.
“When an engineer makes that kind of bridge, they're going to put redundancies in place, so if there are one or two that snap incidentally, the rest of the weight will be redistributed across the remaining wires and tension,” said Plunkett. The bridge's particular predicament in “Final Destination 5” is, in many ways, a comedy of errors, with a lot of elements, all failing at once (thanks, Death!).
Two elements that Plunkett pointed out as being physically questionable are Isaac (P.J. Byrne) falling fast from the bathroom at the back of the bus to press up against the front windshield while the vehicle was already in freefall (Plunkett deduced that they'd be traveling at roughly the same rate), and Olivia (Jacquline MacInnes Wood) being crushed by the car falling on her in the water (she'd already be dead by the impact of the 200-foot fall, according to Plunkett). Makaro countered that, because the water was in motion, it would cushion her fall, which Plunkett acknowledged, though he stands by his calculation.
As we approach the sixth installment in one of modern horror's most enduring franchises, what tends to stays with audiences the most is that we're all just one wrong turn/misstep/unheeded warning away from Death's design coming for us. No, it might not be the goriest or the scariest, but it's that realism that makes “Final Destination” stick with us.
“The very best thing about ‘Final Destination' is having the director come to me and say, ‘I want to do this and I want it to be believable,'” Makaro added.
A Warner Bros. Pictures release, “Final Destination Bloodlines” is in theaters Friday, May 16.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
This is a film about questions. It's about the official business of asking them, the new ones that instantly supplant answered ones and the squashed ones that poison all chances of social equality. An answer that German-French director Dominik Moll is happy to supply, however, is in response to Inspector Stéphanie Bertrand (Léa Drucker) as she talks to her teenage son. “Why does everyone hate the police?,” she asks as he looks at her from bed, ashamed of her profession.
“Dossier 137” is a dramatization of a specific case of police brutality that took place in Paris in 2018, during what is known as the Yellow Vests protests. Although it takes some time to show its hand, by the end “ACAB” would work as its tagline — well, “MCAB” with its leading lady as the reason to change the word “all” to “most.”
Related Stories Logging Trucks, Swimming Pools, and Bathtubs, Oh My! We Fact-Checked Our Favorite ‘Final Destination' Deaths ‘Left-Handed Girl' Review: Sean Baker Edits and Co-Writes ‘Tangerine' Producer Shih-Ching Tsou's Kaleidoscopic Solo Directing Debut
Stéphanie Bertrand works in Paris for the IGPN (L'inspection générale de la police nationale). As internal affairs, she — as an antagonistic rival says — “investigates colleagues rather than criminals.” This makes her about as popular as a water cannon at a paddling pool party. Nonetheless, the film sides with her. Her arc is to emerge as the good apple, the exception to the rule, even as her own integrity is called into question for daring to see humanity in those outside of her profession.
Popular on IndieWire
The film lifts its inciting event wholesale from a real event on December 1, 2018 in which the yellow vests — a grassroots collective from across the political spectrum — came out to protest a hike in fuel tax by then French President, Emmanuel Macron. That night saw riots, fires, mass injuries, and arrests. Moll uses mixed media to add texture to a story that would otherwise unfold exclusively in rooms full of folders, whiteboards and tables. Accounts of the night itself are told through the rectangular records of an iPhone with footage of the fictional characters mixed with real archival material.
This does not feel like a gimmick so much as a way of having direct access to characters that we would otherwise only see after they have been beaten down by state violence. To see them heading to protest — young, bright and optimistic — is Moll's way of showing solidarity. Other sources of visual data are used to put us inside the digital spaces that Stéphanie inhabits. CCTV camera footage and Google Maps are tools that help her and her two IGPN colleagues to put together what happened at a specific incident.
We meet Stéphanie in 2019 as she is working a caseload arising from December 1. There's a lot to get through as many of her colleagues used the charged atmosphere as an opportunity to vent their violent urges. “After 15 years clean, I snapped,” says one policeman who threw a rock at protestors. Unlike those who come later, he is honest and contrite. It's a relatively simple business for Stéphanie to refer the case on to the prosecutor for judgement.
Next up is a distraught woman named Joëlle (Sandra Columbo) whose son Guillaume is in hospital with a fractured skull as the result of being shot in the head with a riot gun. She wants to know who did this to him. Joëlle hails from St. Dizier, the suburb where Stéphanie grew up and where her parents still live. This recognition unlocks a previously untapped personal motivation.
The great Léa Drucker (last seen in Cannes having an affair with a 17-year-old in Catherine Breillat's “Last Summer”) is — this year — proving that she can play restrained and responsible adults. In Laura Wandel's Critic's Week opener, “Adam's Sake” she is a pediatric nurse dealing with a case of possible parental abuse. As Stéphanie, she convinces as a focused and intelligent professional with an easy charm that papers over the script's disinterest in her inner life.
We are afforded access to her domestic spaces, bearing witness to loosely sketched relational dynamics with both her parents and her son. Despite a consuming job, she has time for everyone. There is a ludicrously charming scene featuring the rescue of a dirty kitten that Stéphanie washes clean in the sink guided by an online tutorial. The symbolism is obvious. She cares for the vulnerable. There are few edges to her character. Save for a final monologue that spells out a point-of-view already evident in her performance, she is poise itself, saying and doing exactly what is needed.
There is an edge allowed in one of a handful of stand-out scenes. While hunting for a video recording of Guillaume's shooting, Stéphanie interviews a maid that she suspects is holding something back. Like many a maverick cop before her, the usually by-the-book, Stéphanie follows the maid — through the metro, on a dark path through a park — until she can have the conversation that she seeks. The maid, Alicia, is played by the great Guslagie Malanda, star of Alice Diop's courtroom drama/cri du coeur on ambivalent motherhood “Saint Omer.” Her simmering screen presence, filled with raw mistrust reveals — by contrast — the thin atmosphere in the majority of the scenes.
The screenplay, by Moll and Gilles Marchand, prioritizes verbalizing the step-by-step realization of who shot Guillaume and leans on expositional dialogue to move things along. This makes sense in a line of work where exposition is the name of the game and there is a dogged thoroughness and a precision with terminology that suits the subject matter.
Still, the moments when Moll lets the images reveal as much as the dialogue are the ones that linger. The contrast between two slight female IGPN officers and one large brawny male officer makes menacingly real the power play underlying an interview. Indeed the relative smallness of the IGPN's stature tees up one final question, asked of Stéphanie by someone brutally denied an answer: “You did your job very well, but what use is your job?”
“Dossier 137” premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
Want to stay up to date on IndieWire's film reviews and critical thoughts? Subscribe here to our newly launched newsletter, In Review by David Ehrlich, in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the best new reviews and streaming picks along with some exclusive musings — all only available to subscribers.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
After her breakthrough on TLC's Toddlers & Tiaras at the age of five, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson dealt with cameras following her and her family for the next decade. The fiesty pageant princess became the focus of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, and then multiple spin-offs followed, which focused on her mother, Mama June's, drastic weight loss and addiction. Now, at 19, Thompson is following her own path and studying to become a nurse.
As her Lifetime biopic, I Was Honey Boo Boo, is about to be released, Thompson is looking back at the ups and downs of her life, including her sister's death. She's also taking an honest look at her mom's extreme weight loss when she was a young girl, and how that damaged her self-esteem.
A post shared by alana thompson 🫶🏽 (@honeybooboo)
“I feel like Mama's physical transformation, it didn't take as much of a toll on my life as, like, now looking back, as I realize, just because, like I said, I was young,” Thompson told People. “But now I'm looking back and I'm like, ‘That was crazy.' That was a dramatic change, and I didn't know how to even think of my mom. My mom went from being 300 lbs. to 100 lbs, it looked like. And it was kind of scary.”
“As a young girl, I think that, like, took a big toll on body image for me,” she went on. “Just because my mama was a bigger girl, and her having to get surgery and shrink down to this one size. Like, I thought in my head, ‘Oh, am I going to have to do that one day, because I'm a bigger girl? Like, am I going to have to, like, be in this perfect picture and get surgery so I'm like this skinny little model? It definitely did take a toll on my self-image, for sure.”
Thompson may finally realize the impression her mom's transformation from a size 24 to a size four had on her young self, but some of her initial comments showed her confusion. “I have a new mom,” Thompson told ABC News then. “Well, it's not like a new mom, it's just she has a new body … It's like they cut off her head and then put it on another body.”
There were also signs that it was negatively affecting how she felt about her own body. When Thompson was 16, having weight loss surgery was already heavy on her mind. In an interview with ET in 2022, she admitted that she was considering getting a suture-sculpt endoscopic sleeve to reduce her weight from 275 pounds to 150 pounds.
“I just wanna make sure that this is actually something I wanna do before I just go and do it,” Alana said. “I wanna make sure that it's, like, not something that's, like, gonna kill me. And I just wanna make sure it's something I actually wanna do before I go and do it.” The teenager admitted that she knew diet and exercise could get her results, but felt that “the surgery would be, like, probably the easiest way to just, like, lose it fast.”
Previous
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Mark Ruffalo is getting his “Mare of Easttown” moment. Four years after creator Brad Ingelsby wowed with Emmy-winning series “Mare of Easttown,” the showrunner is back at HBO with another crime drama series: “Task,” led by Ruffalo.
The official synopsis reads: “Set in the working class suburbs of Philadelphia, an FBI agent (Ruffalo) heads a Task Force to put an end to a string of violent robberies led by an unsuspecting family man (Tom Pelphrey).” The ensemble includes Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Sam Keeley, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver, Raúl Castillo, Silvia Dionicio, Phoebe Fox, and Martha Plimpton.
“Task” will debut its seven episodes weekly. Ingelsby is the creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer, with Ruffalo also executive producing along with Mark Roybal and Paul Lee for wiip, David Crockett, and Ron Schmidt. The co-executive producers are Nicole Jordan-Webber and Jeremy Yaches for Public Record. Jeremiah Zagar and Salli Richardson-Whitfield both direct and executive produce.
Related Stories ‘Overcompensating' Review: Benito Skinner's Basic College Comedy Works Well Enough Where It Counts ‘The Fairly OddParents' Creator Butch Hartman Launches Faith-Based Animation Studio for Kids
As for a return to “Mare of Easttown,” Ingelsby teased to IndieWire in 2021 that he and lead star Kate Winslet were in talks with HBO at the time. “We are all interested in trying it,” he said of a possible sequel, “but we are aware of how hard it is. […] The question is, ‘What's a deserving second chapter?'”
Popular on IndieWire
Winslet later said that she was hesitant to reprise the “frighteningly hard” role again due to its emotional toll offscreen as well. “It was all so good and it was way more success and prominent as a piece of television than I think any of us could have anticipated or hoped for, and we all feel enormously proud of what we were able to do. I feel so proud of all of the actors,” she said in 2022. “My god, it was really tough. So the question is, do you quit while you're ahead? Do you hold your head high and say, ‘Look at what we did, I'm so proud of that' and just walk away? Or do we go for it again?”
“Task” will premiere on HBO Max this September. Check out the teaser below.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The "What Was That" singer also opened up about her eating disorder in a new interview.
By
Hannah Dailey
In the lead-up to her new album Virgin, Lorde has started to slowly open up about her broadening gender identity with the world. But before she was ready to do that, she confided in one of her new friends: Chappell Roan.
In a Rolling Stone cover story published Thursday (May 15), the New Zealand native revealed that she and the “Pink Pony Club” singer have gotten quite close over the past year, and that one of the things they've discussed is Lorde's changing relationship with gender. When asked how she identifies now, the “Royals” artist told the publication, “[Chappell Roan] asked me this … She was like, ‘So, are you nonbinary now?'”
“I was like, ‘I'm a woman except for the days when I'm a man,'” Lorde continued. “I know that's not a very satisfying answer, but there's a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.”
Trending on Billboard
The musician also explained that she still identifies as a cisgender woman who uses “she” and “her” pronouns. But the complexities of her newfound gender fluidity informed much of the June-slated Virgin, the opening track of which Rolling Stone reveals finds her declaring, “Some days I'm a woman/ Some days I'm a man.”
Even so, Lorde added that she doesn't think her gender expression is “radical” compared to what most transgender and nonbinary people face on a daily basis. In the United States in particular, the rights of LGBTQ people have been under constant threat for years, something Roan — a longtime advocate for the community and a queer-identifying artist herself — has spoken out about many times.
“I see these incredibly brave young people, and it's complicated,” Lorde said. “Making the expression privately is one thing, but I want to make very clear that I'm not trying to take any space from anyone who has more on the line than me. Because I'm, comparatively, in a very safe place as a wealthy, cis, white woman.”
The star's embrasure of her new gender expression is one of several personal transformations that has occurred since she last dropped an album, 2021's Solar Power, four years ago. In addition to breaking up with Universal Music executive Justin Warren after about eight years together — “It was so painful, as they are, but there was real dignity to it,” she told the publication of the split — Lorde also recovered from an eating disorder, something she's also been increasingly open about in the weeks ahead of Virgin‘s June 27 release.
“I felt so hungry and so weak,” she recalled of being obsessed with calories and protein intakes around the time Solar Power came out, specifically the day it dropped. “I was on TV [that] morning, and I didn't eat because I wanted my tummy to be small in the dress. It was just this sucking of a life force or something.”
See Lorde on the cover of Rolling Stone below.
A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone)
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
After 'Oppenheimer,' the big-screen company designed new cameras and production tech to allow Nolan to shoot in Imax, on film, end-to-end in his upcoming epic, and not just for select sequences.
By
Scott Roxborough
Europe Bureau Chief
Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey, the Oppenheimer director's epic take on the classic Greek myth, will shoot entirely on Imax film cameras, a first for a commercial feature.
Nolan is a fan of the big-screen format, which he's used on Dunkirk, Interstellar, the Dark Knight movies and Tenet, as well as extensively on Oppenheimer. But shooting an entire feature film on the famously big, loud and unwieldy Imax film cameras (unlike the lighter, quieter digital Imax cameras, used in recent films such as Thunderbolts* and the upcoming Superman) was unworkable.
Related Stories
Movies
Cannes: Jasmila Zbanic Planning 'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Follow-Up, 'The Missing Part'
Movies
Ryan Werner, Veteran Awards and Marketing Guru, Joins Neon as President of Global Cinema
Until now.
After the success of Oppenheimer, which earned more than $190 million on Imax screens, some 20 percent of its total gross, Nolan challenged the company to improve its cameras, to make them lighter and quieter, and to solve issues with scanning and processing the cameras' 70 mm film stock, to allow him to easily watch dailies as he shot.
“Chris called me up and said If you can figure out how to solve the problems, will make [Odyssey] 100 percent in Imax. And that's what we're doing,” said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond, speaking at the company's annual press lunch in Cannes on Thursday. “He forced us to rethink that side of our business, our film recorders, our film cameras.”
The new Imax cameras are reportedly 30 percent quieter — so those infamous muffled dialogue scenes in Nolan films could be a thing of the past — and substantially lighter. Gelfond said new film scanning and processing techniques will allow a faster turnaround for dailies.
The new film cameras are reserved for Nolan for now, but after he wraps The Odyssey, Imax will begin renting them out to other directors.
There should be plenty of demand. Gelfond talked up the “record number” of films releasing in 2025 that shot at least some scenes with Imax cameras or “filmed for Imax” using Imax-approved cameras, including Ryan Coogler's Sinners, Tom Cruise-starrer Mission: Impossible – the Final Reckoning, which had its Imax debut in Cannes on Wednesday night, and Joseph Kosinski's upcoming racing movie Formula One, starring Brad Pitt.
Narnia, Greta Gerwig's upcoming fantasy film, will be shot for Imax, though Gelford said it was not yet clear in the Barbie director would be using Imax cameras for some of the scenes. Netflix has signed a global deal with Imax, giving them a 28-day exclusive theatrical window for Narnia before the film is released on the streamer.
Gelfond also announced the production of Patrouille de France, the first-ever foreign-language Imax documentary. A co-production between Federation Studios and Imago Production, the feature doc chronicles a year in the life of the Patrouille de France, the legendary aerobatics team of the French Air and Space Force — from the selection process and intense training to its signature elite aerial displays. The project follows on Imax's success with The Blue Angels, Paul Crowder's documentary, produced with Amazon MGM Studios, on the Blue Angels pilots of the United States Navy's flight demonstration squad.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
By Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione
The 28-day theatrical window for Greta Gerwig‘s Netflix movie Narnia isn't expected to hurt its Imax ticket sales, according to the large-format exhibitor's CEO Rich Gelfond.
Quite often distributors like to keep audiences in the dark on movie Premium VOD and streaming release dates in advance so that such intel doesn't impact a movie's potential box office.
In what is arguably a first for Imax, Gerwig's feature take of C.S. Lewis' classic is getting an exclusive two-week global run in the format across 1,000 auditoriums in 90 countries beginning November 26, 2026, with a streaming debut to follow on Netflix on Christmas Day.
“Imax is so differentiated from the streaming experience,” said Gelfond on Wednesday at a Cannes luncheon and press conference. “I don't think we're concerned that the streaming window is going to cannibalize.”
Watch on Deadline
“We're quite confident that won't matter,” he added regarding the big difference between Imax moviegoers' demands and those of Netflix subscribers.
“[Netflix is] in a different business and that is selling subscriptions. In structuring the deal, we tried to accommodate how to meet their needs and how to meet our needs,” said Gelfond.
“PVOD at 17 days hasn't really hurt the Imax box office,” Gelfond added. “I don't think people think those are competitive things.”
In regards to the box office prospects for a two-week Imax run of a movie that's primed to get a big studio awards push, it's anybody's guess. Netflix's limited release of Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery earned $15 million in its first week back in 2022, while Imax's global run of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer minted a massive $100M (that was further propped by a 2D campaign from Universal).
While Imax is committed to a two-week run of Narnia, “we have the option to extend the run,” says Gelfond.
He added today that Gerwig is still mulling whether to shoot Narnia with Imax cameras.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Sheridan, who has been building a massive television empire for Paramount since the late 2010s, is back in the movie business thanks for a unique deal being finalized now.
By
Borys Kit
Senior Film Writer
It may have taken the slow route of almost a decade, but Taylor Sheridan's action thriller F.A.S.T. is finally on the, um, fast track.
In a deal involving high-level talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, Sheridan has navigated a feature package that includes Brendon Sklenar, the star of the multi-hyphenate's hit 1923, and that series' main director and renowned cinematographer Ben Richardson, to land at Warners.
And how fast is F.A.S.T. moving? Warners has set an April 23, 2027 theatrical release date.
Related Stories
TV
Streaming Ratings: 'The Pitt' Hits High Mark With Season Finale
Movies
Dwayne Johnson, Joe Ballarini Get 'Ripped' for 20th Century Studios (Exclusive)
Sklenar, who also starred in last year's It Ends with Us and the recent suspense movie Drop, will headline the action thriller with Richardson, who worked on The Fault in Our Stars and Beasts of the Southern Wild as DP, making his feature directorial debut. David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford of Heyday Films will produce the project with Sheridan and Jenny Wood of Bosque Ranch Productions in negotiations to join them.
“The breadth of Taylor Sheridan's body of work is simply astounding and unparalleled in sheer excellence and consistent quality and we could not be more honored to be making this film with him,” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group's Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement. “With the hugely talent director Ben Richardson behind the camera and the exceptional producing talents of Heyday Films and Bosque Ranch, we are thrilled to have such an incredible creative team bringing F.A.S.T. to the big screen.”
The coming together of the F.A.S.T. deal in one way encapsulates the shifting vagaries of the theatrical and streaming movie business. And it also exposes the tricky nature of navigating inter-studio relations.
F.A.S.T. concerns a former special forces commando, down on his luck after he returns Stateside, who is tapped by the DEA to lead a black op strike team against CIA-protected drug dealers in his town.
Sheridan wrote the script in the mid-2010s, when he was an established feature scribe with movies such as Sicario and Hell or High Water Under his belt. Warners, then owned by Time Warner, picked it up in 2018, with Sheridan initially signaling he wanted to direct and Chris Pratt circling to star. Gavin O'Connor later came on board as director in 2019, but by then, the studio was owned by AT&T, which didn't see a financial upside of releasing a movie with the budget in the $60 million to $70 million range theatrically. It was also, however, thought as too expensive to make as a streaming movie for its then-launching streaming service HBO Max. This was against a backdrop of a pandemic that was savaging the moviegoing experience and a streaming war that had gripped studios with the hallucinatory idea that streaming was the only future coming. Warners thus put F.A.S.T. into turnaround (only to have Amazon briefly flirt with it).
Now, a project that was once a Warners theatrical feature with a Marvel star that almost morphed into streaming feature, was reacquired by Warners, now part of Warner Bros. Discovery and back in the theatrical game.
But studios and movie releasing aren't the only things that have changed. Sheridan's lot in Hollywood has changed plenty as well. He created modern western Yellowstone for the Paramount Network in 2018, and it quickly became the most watched series on cable — a title it hasn't relinquished. Soon, Yellowstone spinoffs such as 1883 and 1923 sprouted on Paramount+, becoming a major draw for the service. Sheridan grew to one of the biggest showrunners in Hollywood, scorching his brand on Paramount+ with shows Tulsa King, Lioness, and Landman, among others.
“Taylor at this stage is Paramount+,” says one insider.
The showrunner also has a strict exclusive deal with Paramount, which initially made moving forward on F.A.S.T. with Sheridan a non-starter — Until WBD head David Zaslav made it a priority. Sources say that dealmaking is still being finalized to give Sheridan a carve out from his Paramount pact to render screenwriting and producorial duties.
That wrinkle is making the setting of a budget for F.A.S.T. a tricky proposition, as Warners wants to settle Sheridan's producorial involvement first, according to sources. It will likely be considerably less than the $65 million or so from over a decade ago, when it was initially judged to be too high for a theatrical release.
F.A.S.T. will be overseen by Warner Bros. Pictures president of production Jesse Ehrman and exec vp of production Kevin McCormick.
Sheridan is repped by CAA, LBI Entertainment, and Meyer & Downs. Sklenar is repped by WME, Neon Kite, and Goodman Genow while Richardson is repped by CAA.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
'MasterCrash' will teach you the 15 rules of writing parody, as honed by Zucker, his brother Jerry Zucker and their friend Jim Abrahams. Here are a few free ones.
By
Tony Maglio
If you can't join ‘em, spoof ‘em.
That's what David Zucker has made a career out of, and it's what he is still doing with new instructional-video web series, MasterCrash, a play on MasterClass. In the first episode of MasterCrash, coming out in July, Zucker (Airplane! The Naked Gun! movies) will teach viewers his 15 rules of writing parody. The writer/director's motivation isn't (solely) money or fame, nor is it really about teaching a new generation of comedy writers. It is, to some degree at least, about revenge.
Related Stories
Movies
Liam Neeson's 'Naked Gun' Reboot Reveals First Trailer -- With an O.J. Simpson Joke
Movies
Jim Abrahams, 'Airplane!,' 'Naked Gun' and 'Hot Shots!' Master of Mirth, Dies at 80
“My manager, about three years ago, tried to enter me in MasterClass,” Zucker told The Hollywood Reporter. He was rejected. (MasterClass did not respond to requests for comment.)
Related Video
Zucker is used to rejection these days. His script with Pat Proft (Hot Shots!) for Naked Gun 4!, which they titled Naked: Impossible!, was passed over in favor of giving Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) a shot at the franchise. Zucker has seen the trailer for the Fuzzy Door-produced (and Paramount Pictures-distributed) version, and he's…not a fan.
“Everybody thinks that they can do it, do spoof,” Zucker told THR, but “it's really, really specific.”
Seth MacFarlane didn't ask Zucker to be a part of his banner's Naked Gun — at least, not until after the script was locked, per Zucker. At that point Zucker says he was offered sort of an honorary producer credit (not wholly unlike MacFarlane's); he passed.
A spokesperson for Seth MacFarlane did not immediately respond a request for comment.
The new Naked Gun trailer alone “violates at least five” of the 15 rules, Zucker said, starting with “the rule of logic” when a little girl is later revealed to be Liam Neeson, our new Frank Drebin, in a mask.
The 15 rules started in 1972, when the Zuckers (David and his brother Jerry) and Jim Abrahams (who is since deceased) first previewed their live sketch-comedy show Kentucky Fried Theater on Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. A friend of Abrahams' from college, also a writer, attended an early performance. He liked it, but had some feedback: “Never do a joke on a joke.” It became their first rule — and their first brush with structure.
The trio “had a good instinct for comedy,” Zucker said, “but it was more anything goes.”
What “joke on a joke” means is this: If something silly is going on in the background of a scene, don't have the person in the foreground “also being clowny,” Zucker explained.
In the OG The Naked Gun!, after a villain rides a giant military bomb directly into a fireworks shop, Leslie Nielsen, the original Frank Drebin (and father of Liam Neeson in the new story) deadpans: “Nothing to see here, please disperse.” The joke, of course, is that what is going on behind Drebin is quite literally the biggest possible spectacle.
The scene is not just an example of “joke on a joke,” it is an illustration of why the Zuckers and Abrahams wanted straight actors — like Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves — to play out their comedy.
“They could be serious in the foreground, or just be serious and say funny things like, ‘Don't call me Shirley,'” Zucker said. “And that invented this: this style of humor.”
“They didn't have to get it,” Zucker added, though some got it better than others.
Nielsen did, though it took a minute, Zucker recalled. After a not-so-great first table read on Airplane! (“Leslie was putting some kind of spin on it”), Zucker sent Nielsen home with a VHS tape of Zero Hour, the very serious, very old film on which Airplane! is primarily based.
We said, “Leslie, watch this, play this character,” Zucker recalled.
Nielsen was a quick study. He played the doctor role so straight and so well, the Zuckers and Abrahams made Nielsen the lead in their Police Squad! and its Naked Gun! movies. He played those so well, other directors began to get cast Nielsen in their comedies.
“They were thinking that, ‘Oh, this guy is funny.'” Zucker said. “It's a fine line. Yes, Leslie's funny, but he's really a really fine, consummate actor.”
Stack was another one who got that the joke is not making jokes. Bridges … not so much.
“Lloyd, he just thought he had to act like he was in a comedy,” Zucker said.
“‘Forget you're in a comedy. Your acting can be no different than it would be if were doing Sea Hunt,'” Zucker recalled telling Bridges, “or, you know, any of the dozens and dozens of roles that he had done before.”
(We can get you two more rules, free of charge. MasterCrash will be a paid course, though the price and specific launch timing is TBD.)
Like: “Jerry Lewis,” the shorthand for another one of their rules. It backs up what we've talking about: Zucker doesn't cast naturally funny people, like Lewis, Adam Sandler (his example) or Chevy Chase (ours). It's a compliment to those comic actors — it just doesn't happen to complement Zucker's style.
“All the comedy has to come from behind the camera, you know, from the director and from the script,” Zucker said. “Of course, we work very hard on the script, and we go through draft after draft— the actors just have to play it straight.”
And then there's “never cut to a reaction.” Listen up directors, camera operators, editors and even location scouts.
“Reactions are great, but you don't want to cut to them,” Zucker said. “It dilutes the joke by 50 percent.”
Case in point: in The Naked Gun!, George Kennedy as Nielsen's police captain reports back on the status of fellow Detective Nordberg, played by O.J. Simpson. Nordberg got pretty messed up throughout the movie.
“The doctors give Nordberg a 50/50 chance to live — but there's only a 10 percent chance of that,” Capt. Ed Hocken (Kennedy) says in the film.
“You see Leslie in the background look at— he does the reaction,” Zucker said. “But to cut to that [would ruin the joke].”
Kennedy and Nielsen went back to the same well later, when the film's big baddie Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban) meets his fate. Ludwig takes a dart to the neck, falls several stories to the concrete, gets run over by a bus, then flattened by a steamroller and finally trampled by the USC marching band.
Watching on from above, an emotional Kennedy says to Drebin, “My father went the same way.”
“And Leslie is right next to him, and he looks at him,” Zucker said.
The perfect ending to the perfect spoof movie — and now you know how they did it.
“It's not like we're born geniuses. We worked at it and we developed it and we learned it. We taught it to ourselves,” Zucker said, “and we go over each one in the course.”
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
By Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione
Coming away from the $100 million global success of Oppenheimer in Imax (in a total global haul of $975.8M), Christopher Nolan made a challenge to Imax boss Rich Gelfond.
“A year before Chris started filming The Odyssey, he called me and said he wanted to make a whole film shot with Imax cameras,” said Gelfond, speaking during a Imax lunch and press conference Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival.
“That couldn't be done for a lot of reasons,” he added. Some of the complications to shooting on Imax film included reloading stock, galley sounds and the timely re-watching of dailies.
“There were lots of issues,” said Gelfond when it came to shooting an entire movie in Imax, but Nolan told him, “‘I'm going to give you a challenge. If you can figure out how to solve these problems, I'm going to make Odyssey 100% film with film with Imax cameras,' and we've solved his problems. So, this will be the first film ever, at least filmed 100%, with Imax cameras.”
Watch on Deadline
The movie that comes to the closest to being entirely shot in Imax was Nolan's seven-time Oscar winner Oppenheimer.
The Odyssey is Nolan's second movie with Universal since his departure from Warner Bros after making 2020's Tenet. The pic based on Homer's epic follows Odysseus in his perilous journey home after the Trojan War, showcasing his encounters with Polyphemus, the Sirens, Circe, and finishing with his reunion with his wife Penelope. The pic opens July 17, 2026; that mid-July frame has been a good-luck charm for Nolan, where he's launched Dunkirk, The Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, Oppenheimer and Inception.
Matt Damon stars as Odysseus. The pic also stars Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong'o and John Leguizamo.
Most recently, Ryan Coogler's Sinners repped the first release shot with Imax film cameras (not digital) since Oppenheimer, and the last until next year's The Odyssey. Sinners is getting rereleased in 70MM Imax this week, and we hear sales are incredible. The Imax global run is north of $31M on Sinners. Beamed Gelfond today: “Chris forced us to rethink how we operated our film side of our business in different ways, so we have a program now to train new projectionists, and we're putting more parts around the world, and we're working harder at developing spare parts, and we're looking at ancillary things like film recorders and film scanners. You know, it's not just a camera thing. It kind of was a challenge to look at our business in a different way. And I'm glad he gave us that challenge.”
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
After weeks of reports that Kelly Clarkson wants to leave her daily talk show in the dust, NBC has announced the Grammy winner and former coach on “The Voice” will host a new primetime series, due to premiere in August 2025.
On May 14, Variety reported that NBC greenlit the new show starring Clarkson, which will turn a popular feature on her talk show called “Songs & Stories” into a limited series. In each of the four episodes, Clarkson will interview different music superstars: Teddy Swims, Lizzo, the Jonas Brothers, and Gloria Estefan.
Clarkson will not only host but executive produce her “Songs & Stories” show, according to Variety. The weekly episodes will air on August 19, August 26, September 2, and September 9 at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
When Clarkson has hosted “Songs & Stories” themed episodes of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” which airs on over 200 stations across the U.S., she's had in-depth discussions about music with R&B singer Babyface, country stars Miranda Lambert and Garth Brooks, 90s icon Alanis Morisssette, and pop superstar Pink. Clarkson also performed duets with some of them.
The “Breakaway” singer's primetime show will follow a similar format, according to Variety. The outlet reported that NBC's logline for the “Songs & Stories” series says each episode is “a front-row pass for Kelly Clarkson to engage with some of her favorite celebrities and examine both their music and personal lives. The specials are a forum where iconic voices meet heartfelt storytelling through unfiltered conversation and sung in an intimate, unplugged setting.”
It's not clear if NBC and Clarkson hope to continue “Songs & Stories” after its initial four-episode run.
Clarkson's limited primetime series is an interesting development amid questions about her future on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
In early April, Page Six reported that Clarkson wanted to leave the NBC show, which moved from Los Angeles to New York in 2023. The singer was eager for a fresh start for herself and her kids — daughter River and son Remy — following her drawn-out divorce from their dad, Brandon Blackstock, per People.
But after multiple unexplained absences from her daily talk show in March, with a rotation of celebrities filling in, an insider told Page Six that the single mom was finding her work schedule “grueling” and keeping her away from quality time with her kids.
On May 9, while performing in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Clarkson lamented to the audience that her concerts were few and far between because of her taping schedule, the outlet reported.
“We haven't done a show in a while, y'all, 'cause I have a talk show. It's like a whole other job,” she told the crowd.
In December, Deadline reported that “The Kelly Clarkson Show” had been renewed for a seventh season, “to take her up to the end of 2026.”
Meanwhile, Clarkson will return to her old stomping grounds at “The Voice” for the May 20 season finale, to perform her new single, “Where Have U Been?” She was a coach on the show from seasons 14 through 21, and returned for season 23.
Previous
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Cinetic Marketing founder Ryan Werner is the newest addition at Neon, now joining the 2025 Best Picture-winning studio as the President of Global Cinema.
In that newly created position, Werner will focus full-time on theatrical distribution and work closely with Neon's senior leadership to bolster marketing campaigns and release strategies.
Meanwhile, Courtney Ott has now been appointed head of Cinetic Marketing, having served at the company since 2016, most recently as Senior Vice President. Before Cinetic, Ott had been Director of PR and Marketing at the Film Society of Lincoln Center for six years.
“Ryan's taste, passion, and instincts for cinema are boundless,” Neon CEO/Founder Tom Quinn said. “Together, combined with Ryan's extensive knowledge, wealth of relationships and envious track record, we look forward to continue growing Neon as a premiere home for groundbreaking cinema. To say we're thrilled about working with Ryan would be the understatement of the year.”
Related Stories Mel Gibson's ‘Passion of the Christ' Follow-Up Lands at Lionsgate Logging Trucks, Swimming Pools, and Bathtubs, Oh My! We Fact-Checked Our Favorite ‘Final Destination' Deaths
Werner said of the announcement, “I'm incredibly excited about the opportunity to collaborate with Tom and the exceptional team at Neon. I deeply admire everything they have accomplished. This is a very special opportunity to create something with some of the most talented people working in film. I am honestly thrilled by the prospect of it.“
Popular on IndieWire
Werner added, speaking of his time at Cinetic and his replacement, Ott: “I have felt like the luckiest person in the world getting to create Cinetic Marketing with an incredible team of film lovers. We have been together for the vast majority of my time here. We created this to support filmmakers and in the process have been surrounded by some of the most creative and brilliant people on both sides of the camera. It's bittersweet to leave the team and the work we did behind, but they will be in the extremely capable hands of my long-term collaborator and friend Courtney Ott. There's nothing she can't do and I am excited to see what comes next.”
Werner founded Cinetic in 2014. Since its inception, Cinetic has worked on a slew of Oscar-winning projects, including five Best Pictures, 10 Best Documentaries, seven Best International Features, and three Best Animated Features. Much like Neon, Cinetic has also been a staple at Cannes, and has represented the last 10 Palme d'Or winners, collaborating with the studio on the most recent five.
“Ryan has been an incredible leader, collaborator, and friend over the years, and I am so proud of the work we have done together. I have no doubt that we will continue to find ways to collaborate in the future,” said Ott. “I am honored to be continuing to work alongside an incredible team at Cinetic Marketing, and to keep building on what Ryan started many years ago. The passion and inspiration for supporting filmmakers will continue to be our priority.”
Outside of Cinetic, Werner co-created Sideshow with Jonathan Sehring and the team at Janus Films to release features such as “Drive My Car,” “Flow,” “EO,” “All That Breathes,” and “All We Imagine As Light.”
Neon most recently swept the Academy Awards with Sean Baker's “Anora.” The studio's upcoming releases include Osgood Perkins' “Keeper” (the studio now has a first look deal with auteur Perkins), and Cannes 2025 titles such as Joachim Trier's “Sentimental Value,” Julia Ducournau's “Alpha,” Raoul Peck's “Orwell: 2+2=5,” and Michael Angelo Covino's “Splitsville.” The distributor also announced the acquisition of Cristian Mungiu's English-language film debut “Fjord” starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” director Mungiu already has one Palme d'Or to his name, joining the ranks of Neon's growing list of auteurs.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By
Daniel Kreps
Joe Don Baker, the prolific character actor who appeared in Seventies classics like Walking Tall and Junior Bonner and a trio of James Bond movies, has died at the age of 89.
The actor's May 7 death was revealed in a Legacy.com obituary (via the Hollywood Reporter) that was posted by his “small but very close circle of friends who will miss him eternally.” No cause of death was provided.
The Groesbeck, Texas-born Baker was a college athlete before joining the U.S. Army, after which he moved to New York and studied at the Actor's Studio. Baker's career began with bit parts in movies and television (including an uncredited role in Cool Hand Luke) before landing a supporting role alongside Steve McQueen in the 1972 Western Junior Bonner.
The following year, Baker starred on the opposite side of the law in two of his most noteworthy roles: As real-life wrestler-turned-sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall and a sadistic mob hitman out to get Walter Matthau in the neo-noir Charley Varrick.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Often playing tough-talking lawmen or villains, the following decade saw Baker appear in films like 1984's The Natural, 1985's Fletch, and 1988's Criminal Law.
Baker also notably appeared in three James Bond films, albeit as two different characters on both sides of the law: After first portraying the villainous arms dealer Brad Whitaker in the Timothy Dalton-starring The Living Daylights in 1987, the actor returned to the 007 universe in both 1995's GoldenEye and 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies as Pierce Brosnan's CIA associate Jack Wade.
Trending Stories
Lorde: ‘I'm an Intense Bitch'
Scarlett Johansson: ‘Life Has Humbled' Bill Murray Since 2022 Misconduct Allegation
Billie Eilish Says Met Gala Images of Her Are Fake: ‘That's AI'
Bruce Springsteen Calls Donald Trump ‘Incompetent and Treasonous' at 2025 Tour Kickoff
The actor would later go on to appear in films like Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear, Congo, Mars Attacks!, Joe Dirt, Reality Bites (playing the father of Winona Ryder's character), and The Dukes of Hazzard. Baker's last big-screen role was in the 2012 film Mud, where he played the father of Matthew McConaughey's titular character. Baker retired from acting following that role, his Legacy obituary noted.
“As we say goodbye to Joe Don, we hold onto the memories and the love he shared with us,” his friends wrote. “Though he may no longer be with us in body, his spirit will always remain, a guiding light in the lives he touched. Rest in peace, Joe Don. You will be dearly missed but never forgotten.”
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
By
Alan Sepinwall
At an orientation meeting on his first day of college, Benny is told, “You can be whoever you want to be here!” This is exactly what Benny wants — if only he can figure out who he wants to be. In high school, he was the star of the football team and the golden boy of his small Idaho town. But he was also deep in the closet — so deep that even in college, he can't fully admit to himself that he's gay.
This is the central tension of Overcompensating, the appealing new Prime Video comedy, created by and starring Benito Skinner as Benny. The eight-episode first season chronicles Benny's first semester at the fictional Yates College, where he tries everything possible to convince the world — and himself — that he's straight. He attempts to sleep with lonely fellow freshman Carmen (Wally Baram). He pledges a secret campus society led by Peter (Adam DiMarco), the narcissistic boyfriend of his older sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone), where it seems like half the initiation rituals are simultaneously penis-related and involve the phrase “No homo!” He goes out of his way to avoid Miles (Rish Shah), a cute boy on whom he develops an instant crush.
But he's bad at all of this. He can't get an erection with Carmen. His attempt at straight-guy braggadocio — ”I'm definitely gonna fuck some vagina tonight!” — is as stilted as it is gross. He can't resist joining a film class just to be around Miles. And he's convinced that every openly queer student — particularly George (Owen Thiele), who mans the counter at the campus store — can easily see the truth about him that he doesn't want to acknowledge.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Like a lot of first-year comedies, Overcompensating starts out loud and broad. One of the first scenes has Benny's father (Kyle MacLachlan) getting hit in the crotch by a frisbee while he and Benny's mom (Connie Britton) are moving their son into his dorm. But like the good first-year comedies, it gets better as soon as it starts to relax and get to know the characters, as well as understanding the strengths of the actors playing them. By the time we get to a later episode where Benny and Carmen are simultaneously vomiting and suffering from explosive diarrhea, respectively, the gross-out humor actually feels earned because of how well Skinner and the other writers have established the two as complicated, likable people.
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
In fact, the series, co-produced by A24, is often at its best when it leans into its most sincere, even soapy side, and looks at how Benny isn't the only one at school trying to act like someone he's not. Carmen is still grieving the loss of her old brother. Grace struggles to realize her entire life has become subordinate to Peter, and that he's an obnoxious loser who doesn't remotely deserve her. And even Peter turns out to have more depth than it seems at first.
Charli XCX oversees the music, and also plays herself in an episode. Other notable guests include James VanDerBeek as basically the Wooderson of the secret society, Las Culturistas hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang as a gay couple Benny meets when he begins experimenting with apps, and Megan Fox as herself. Or more specifically, Fox plays a fantasy version of herself on the poster Benny keeps on his dorm room wall as part of his hetero cosplay, who periodically comes to life to help him talk through his problems.
All the big names are fun, though the show's best and most consistent source of laughs is Carmen's roommate Hailee (played by the actor and comedian Holmes), a larger-than-life blonde who would seem like a vapid caricature if she didn't have periodic moments of extreme insight, and if her more superficial moments weren't so strange. (In one episode, she tries to go viral by smearing yellow paint on her mouth and inviting Blake Lively to do the “Speak Up Bitch Challenge,” but has no idea what cause it's for, other than spreading awareness about “silence.”)
Related Content
Charli XCX Releasing ‘Party 4 U' Video to Celebrate Fifth Anniversary of ‘How I'm Feeling Now'
Watch Rosé Take on Charli XCX's Apple Dance at Brooklyn Show
Lorde Explains How Charli XCX's 'Brat' Gave Her 'a Kick' to Finish New Album 'Virgin'
Turnstile Go All Ari Aster in the Pit in Double Video for ‘Seein' Stars' and ‘Birds'
Most of the cast is in their late twenties or early thirties (Skinner is 31), and there's no real effort to make them look younger. But there's also a long tradition of college and high school shows starring grown-ass adults, and the actors are charming enough to make it not really matter. (You just have to ignore that the pop-culture references tend to be much more millennial than Gen Z.) Baram is a writer (Shrinking, What We Do in the Shadows) with no real acting experience, but she and Skinner have excellent chemistry, and the show is smart about not letting Carmen be Benny's unwitting beard for too long.
Trending Stories
Lorde: ‘I'm an Intense Bitch'
Scarlett Johansson: ‘Life Has Humbled' Bill Murray Since 2022 Misconduct Allegation
Billie Eilish Says Met Gala Images of Her Are Fake: ‘That's AI'
Bruce Springsteen Calls Donald Trump ‘Incompetent and Treasonous' at 2025 Tour Kickoff
Skinner based the show on his own life. He has a huge audience on TikTok and Instagram, where he came to fame during the pandemic as Benny Drama, and where more than a million followers apiece now watch the comic sketches he writes and performs. The track record of social media stars translating their success to television isn't great — sometimes because their material just doesn't work at greater length, sometimes because their audience doesn't care much about traditional television, while TV viewers don't know who they are. Overcompensating is good enough to have a shot at bucking that trend — I'd never heard of Skinner before this, and wound up enjoying it a lot after a few episodes — and certainly has plenty of backing from more mainstream stars. (Jonah Hill is another producer, though he doesn't appear onscreen.) With any luck, it will stick around long enough for Benny to tell the world who he really is.
All eight episodes of Overcompensating begin streaming May 15 on Prime Video. I've seen the whole season.
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
By Denise Petski
Senior Managing Editor
Nickelodeon has announced the nominees for the 2025 Kids' Choice Awards, honoring favorites from across the worlds of film, television sports and more. Leading the pack with four noms each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar and Selena Gomez. They're followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson and Jelly Roll, with three nominations each. Musical performances will be announced at a later date.
First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani, and Florence Pugh, among others.
Related Stories
News
'Blues Clues' Alum Steve Burns Says Show Paid Less Than "Every Waiter I Ever Knew"
Cancellations and Renewals
'Rock Paper Scissors' Gets 2-Season Renewal At Nickelodeon
Grammy-winning, multiplatinum recording artist Tyla is set to host this summer's awards, airing live on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. The awards will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.
Watch on Deadline
NIck promises this year's show will feature “star-studded collaborations, legendary skateboarding stunts, the latest in music with high-energy dancing; and Nickelodeon's signature orange blimp trophy and epic slimings.”
Beginning today, fans can cast their votes across 35 categories on the official Kids' Choice Awards website, KidsChoiceAwards.com.
The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2025 nominees are:
TELEVISION:
FAVORITE KIDS TV SHOW
Ayla & The Mirrors
Bunk'd
The Really Loud House
The Thundermans: Undercover
Tyler Perry's Young Dylan
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place
FAVORITE MALE TV STAR (KIDS)
David Henrie (Justin Russo, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place)
Dylan Gilmer (Young Dylan, Tyler Perry's Young Dylan)
Hero Hunter (Charlie Wilson, Tyler Perry's Young Dylan)
Israel Johnson (Noah Lambert, Bunk'd)
Jack Griffo (Max Thunderman, The Thundermans: Undercover)
Trevor Tordjman (Parker Preston, Bunk'd)
FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR (KIDS)
Celina Smith (Rebecca Wilson, Tyler Perry's Young Dylan)
Janice LeAnn Brown (Billie, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place)
Kira Kosarin (Phoebe Thunderman, The Thundermans: Undercover)
Mallory James Mahoney (Destiny Baker, Bunk'd)
Maya Le Clark (Chloe Thunderman, The Thundermans: Undercover)
Miranda May (Lou Hockhauser, Bunk'd)
FAVORITE FAMILY TV SHOW
Abbott Elementary
Cobra Kai
Goosebumps: The Vanishing
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
XO, Kitty
FAVORITE MALE TV STAR (FAMILY)
Damon Wayans Jr. (Damon, Poppa's House)
David Schwimmer (Anthony Brewer, Goosebumps: The Vanishing)
George Lopez (George, Lopez vs Lopez)
Jude Law (Jod Na Nawood, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew)
Sam McCarthy (Devin Brewer, Goosebumps: The Vanishing)
Xolo Maridueña (Miguel Diaz, Cobra Kai)
FAVORITE FEMALE TV STAR (FAMILY)
Anna Cathcart (Kitty, XO, Kitty)
Janelle James (Ava Coleman, Abbott Elementary)
Jayden Bartels (Cece Brewer, Goosebumps: The Vanishing)
Peyton List (Tory Nichols, Cobra Kai)
Reba McEntire (Bobbie, Happy's Place)
Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Fern, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew)
FAVORITE REALITY TV SHOW
American Idol
American Ninja Warrior
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Got Talent
MasterChef Junior
The Masked Singer
FAVORITE CARTOON
Dragon Ball DAIMA
Monster High
SpongeBob SquarePants
Teen Titans Go!
The Loud House
The Simpsons
FILM:
FAVORITE MOVIE
A Minecraft Movie
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Captain America: Brave New World
Descendants: The Rise of Red
Paddington in Peru
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
THUNDERBOLTS*
Wicked
FAVORITE MOVIE ACTOR
Chris Evans (Jack O'Malley, Red One)
Chris Pratt (Keats, The Electric State)
Dwayne Johnson (Callum Drift, Red One)
Jack Black (Steve, A Minecraft Movie)
Jason Momoa (Garrett Garrison, A Minecraft Movie)
Jim Carrey (Dr. Robotnik, Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
FAVORITE MOVIE ACTRESS
Ariana Grande (Glinda, Wicked)
Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba, Wicked)
Emma Myers (Natalie, A Minecraft Movie)
Jenna Ortega (Astrid Deetz, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)
Millie Bobby Brown (Michelle Greene, The Electric State)
Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)
FAVORITE ANIMATED MOVIE
Despicable Me 4
Dog Man
Inside Out 2
Moana 2
Mufasa: The Lion King
Plankton: The Movie
The Wild Robot
Transformers One
FAVORITE MALE ANIMATED VOICE FROM A MOVIE
Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
Chris Hemsworth (Orion Pax, Transformers One)
Dwayne Johnson (Maui, Moana 2)
Keanu Reeves (Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
Steve Carell (Gru, Despicable Me 4)
Will Ferrell (Maxime Le Mal, Despicable Me 4)
FAVORITE FEMALE ANIMATED VOICE FROM A MOVIE
Amy Poehler (Joy, Inside Out 2)
Auli'i Cravalho (Moana, Moana 2)
Kristen Wiig (Lucy, Despicable Me 4)
Lupita Nyong'o (Roz, The Wild Robot)
Maya Hawke (Anxiety, Inside Out 2)
Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1, Transformers One)
FAVORITE VILLAIN
Frankie Grande (Frankini, Henry Danger: The Movie)
Harrison Ford (President Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk, Captain America: Brave New World)
Jeff Goldblum (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wicked)
Jim Carrey (Dr. Robotnik, Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)
Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible, Wicked)
Rita Ora (Queen of Hearts, Descendants: The Rise of Red)
FAVORITE BUTT-KICKER
Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America, Captain America: Brave New World)
Emma Myers (Natalie, A Minecraft Movie)
Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova, THUNDERBOLTS*)
Jace Norman (Henry Hart, Henry Danger: The Movie)
Jack Black (Steve, A Minecraft Movie)
Kylie Cantrall (Princess Red, Descendants: The Rise of Red)
Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes, THUNDERBOLTS*)
MUSIC:
FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Cardi B
Katy Perry
Lady Gaga
Selena Gomez
SZA
Taylor Swift
FAVORITE MALE ARTIST
Bad Bunny
Bruno Mars
Drake
Jelly Roll
Kendrick Lamar
Post Malone
The Weeknd
Travis Scott
FAVORITE MUSIC GROUP
blink-182
Coldplay
Imagine Dragons
Jonas Brothers
Linkin Park
Stray Kids
TWICE
FAVORITE SONG
“Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga
“Cry For Me” – The Weeknd
“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” – Taylor Swift
“squabble up” – Kendrick Lamar
“Taste” – Sabrina Carpenter
“Wildflower” – Billie Eilish
FAVORITE MUSIC COLLABORATION
“APT.” – ROSÉ and Bruno Mars
“Call Me When You Break Up” – Selena Gomez, benny blanco with Gracie Abrams
“Die With A Smile” – Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
“luther” – Kendrick Lamar and SZA
“Please Please Please” – Sabrina Carpenter (ft. Dolly Parton)
“Show Me Love” – WizTheMc, bees & honey and Tyla
“Slow Motion” – Marshmello and Jonas Brothers
FAVORITE FEMALE BREAKOUT ARTIST
Addison Rae
Chappell Roan
Doechii
GloRilla
JENNIE
LISA
ROSÉ
Sabrina Carpenter
FAVORITE MALE BREAKOUT ARTIST
Alex Warren
Benson Boone
d4vd
Djo
Leon Thomas
Myles Smith
Shaboozey
Zach Bryan
FAVORITE ALBUM
“Beautifully Broken” – Jelly Roll
“F-1 Trillion” – Post Malone
“GNX” – Kendrick Lamar
“Hurry Up Tomorrow” – The Weeknd
“I Said I Love You First” – Selena Gomez, benny blanco
“Mayhem” – Lady Gaga
“Short n' Sweet” – Sabrina Carpenter
“Wicked: The Soundtrack”
FAVORITE GLOBAL MUSIC STAR
Africa: Tyla
Asia: Stray Kids
Australia: The Kid LAROI
Europe: David Guetta
Latin America: Shakira
North America: Bruno Mars
UK: Ed Sheeran
FAVORITE SONG FROM A MOVIE
“Can I Get A Chee Hoo?” – Dwayne Johnson (Moana 2)
“Defying Gravity” – Cynthia Erivo (ft. Ariana Grande) (Wicked)
“Higher Love” – DESI TRILL (ft. DJ Khaled, Cardi B, Natania, Subhi) (Smurfs)
“I Always Wanted A Brother” – Braelyn Rankins, Theo Somolu, Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Mufasa: The Lion King)
“I Feel Alive” – Jack Black (A Minecraft Movie)
“Kiss the Sky” – Maren Morris (The Wild Robot)
“Popular” – Ariana Grande (Wicked)
“Run It” – Jelly Roll (Sonic the Hedgehog 3)
FAVORITE VIRAL SONG
“Apple” – Charli xcx
“Bluest Flame” – Selena Gomez, benny blanco
“Diet Pepsi” – Addison Rae
“Messy” – Lola Young
“Ordinary” – Alex Warren
“Pink Pony Club” – Chappell Roan
“Sports car” – Tate McRae
“That's So True” – Gracie Abrams
OTHER CATEGORIES:
FAVORITE FEMALE SPORTS STAR
Alex Morgan
Angel Reese
Caitlin Clark
Coco Gauff
Jordan Chiles
Naomi Osaka
Sha'Carri Richardson
Simone Biles
FAVORITE MALE SPORTS STAR
Jalen Hurts
Jayson Tatum
LeBron James
Lionel Messi
Patrick Mahomes
Shohei Ohtani
Stephen Curry
Travis Kelce
FAVORITE MALE CREATOR
Adam Rose
Dhar Mann
Keith Lee
Mark Rober
MrBeast
SeanDoesMagic
FAVORITE FEMALE CREATOR
Brooke Monk
Charli D'Amelio
Emma Chamberlain
Lexi Rivera
Salish Matter
Sofie Dossi
FAVORITE GAMER
Aphmau
IBella
IShowSpeed
Kai Cenat
Ninja
Pokimane
Unspeakable
FAN FAVORITE KIDS CREATOR
A for Adley
Danny Go!
Kids Diana Show
Ms. Rachel
Ryan Kaji/Ryan's World
Toys and Colors
FAVORITE PODCAST
American Girl: The Smart Girl's Podcast
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Avatar: Braving the Elements
Baby, This is Keke Palmer
LOL Podcast
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Super Great Kids' Stories
The Nikki & Brie Show
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME
Fortnite
Just Dance 2025 Edition
Madden NFL 25
Minecraft
Roblox
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
"It's not lost on me that Tony Gilroy has literally written me into Star Wars history," says the star, who formed a close bond with Stellan Skarsgård during production.
By
Brian Davids
Writer
[This story contains spoilers for Andor season two.]
When Andor creator Tony Gilroy cast Elizabeth Dulau in early 2021, he knew he was getting a talented actor who had just graduated London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). But he soon realized that he actually hired a budding star who was worthy of significantly more screen time in season two. “By the time we finished season one, everyone on our whole show was just in awe [of Elizabeth]. We don't have a moment of bad film on her,” Gilroy recently told The Hollywood Reporter.
Related Stories
TV
'Andor' Creator Explains Why Andy Serkis and Cassian's Sister Never Returned
TV
'Andor' Creator Tony Gilroy on Series Finale's Biggest Moves and 'Rogue One' Links
In season one, Dulau's character, Kleya Marki, was considered to be the “sorcerer's apprentice” to Stellan Skarsgård's Luthen Rael, who was a part-time antiquities dealer and a full-time shadowy leader of the emerging Rebellion. However, season two has now revealed their relationship's profoundly tragic origin story. Luthen was once an Imperial Sargeant, and during a genocidal raid on adolescent Kleya's homeplanet, he suffered a crisis of conscience mid-attack, before noticing that a young girl he would eventually name Kleya had stowed away on his ship. From there, they formed a duo, becoming the surrogate father and daughter of the Rebellion.
Popular on THR
In hindsight, Dulau can't help but laugh at the beginnings of her on-screen partnership with Skarsgård.
“My agent said, ‘The only note [from your Andor callback] was you seemed a little bit nervous. So they want to see you again. Walk in that room with as much confidence as you can; walk in that room like you are the dog's bollocks,'” Dulau tells THR, quoting her rep's words. “Then she said, ‘Also, you'll be reading at Pinewood Studios opposite Stellan Skarsgård, but don't let that make you nervous.' I think I just burst out laughing because that's insane. It was just an unbelievable thing to hear.”
Like many heavy hitters do, Skarsgård made a point to disarm Dulau before they first read together as Luthen and Kleya. So whatever anxiety she had about their differing statuses was moot by the time they actually started filming together. Fast forward to season two, Dulau had one particularly fateful scene in the back of her mind the entire production, and it's the seismic moment from writer Tom Bissell's tenth episode, “Make It Stop,” in which Kleya has to end Luthen's life. Denise Gough's Dedra Meero finally cracked the case involving Luthen and Kleya's Axis network, and while she was briefly distracted mid-arrest, Luthen attempted to end his life to protect the Rebellion's many remaining secrets from the Empire's information extraction apparatus.
Knowing that Meero was able to keep Luthen on life support, Kleya sprung into action and infiltrated the hospital that admitted him. That's when Dulau essentially became the star of her own spy-action movie, as Kleya blew up a spaceport as a diversion and killed numerous Stormtroopers in a surgical manner. As soon as Kleya gained access to Luthen's hospital room, she immediately closed the window, sealing the room from any adjacent sunlight. This act was a nod to Luthen's season one monologue about how he's turned his mind into a “sunless space” and sacrificed everything for a “sunrise” he'll never see. Kleya then pulled the plug on her adoptive father's life, fulfilling Luthen's own prophecy in the process.
“[That monologue] has always been there in the background,” Dulau says. “I was super nervous because it felt like the entire filming process was leading up to that day. I always had it in the back of my mind, and I deliberately tried not to overthink it. When I looked at Stellan lying there on this hospital bed, I really felt heartbroken for what Kleya was about to do.”
Prior to Luthen's capture, he was able to pass off key pieces of intelligence to Kleya in regard to the Empire's top-secret development of the Death Star. Kleya then delivered the intel to Cassian when he arrived to rescue her, post-hospital mission, and transport her to Yavin. It's a fitting end to their relationship considering Kleya once ordered Cassian's death due to his knowledge of Luthen. Overall, Kleya is now one of several dominos that led to Luke Skywalker's destruction of the Death Star in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).
“It's not lost on me that Tony Gilroy has literally written me into Star Wars history that dates back to the ‘70s. My mom and dad queued up at midnight to watch A New Hope,” Dulau shares. “And knowing that they're going to see my small part in that chain of events that leads to those stories, I'm just so grateful that Tony would hand me that domino. I really didn't want to fuck it up. I really wanted to do justice to this opportunity that he's given me.”
Below, during a recent spoiler conversation with THR, Dulau (pronounced d'low à la y'know) also discusses Kleya's off-screen future and why she doesn't mind being an “unsung hero” of the Rebellion.
***
Andor creator Tony Gilroy made it sound like you went straight from RADA to the set of Andor season one. Was it actually that direct of a route?
Well, I walked off stage at RADA straight into the pandemic. We were literally four performances into a production of The Importance of Being Earnest; I was playing Lady Bracknell. Our artistic director said, “Tonight will be the final performance.” So we all had a big old cry, and we did the show before we all disappeared. We thought we'd be back in three weeks, but of course, we weren't. The audition for Andor then came around in November of 2020, so I spent those six months [in between] not really sure what to do.
You then discover that you're going to be working almost exclusively with Stellan Skarsgård. How intimidated were you in those early days?
I had my recall just before Christmas, the day before another lockdown. We then came back in January [2021], and my agent said, “The feedback from the recall was that they really liked you. They thought you were great. The only note was you seemed a little bit nervous. So they want to see you again, and they just want to make sure that you'll be able to handle yourself. So walk in that room with as much confidence as you can; walk in that room like you are the dog's bollocks.” Then she said, “Also, you'll be reading at Pinewood Studios opposite Stellan Skarsgård, but don't let that make you nervous.” (Laughs.) I think I just burst out laughing because that's insane. It was just an unbelievable thing to hear.
But, because of Covid and all the restrictions, we had to wait for Stellan to be allowed to fly into the country. So there were still a few weeks in between to prep, and I prepped like hell. I learned all my lines upside down, back to front, sideways. I then met Stellan for ten minutes before that final audition, and we chatted over coffee. Stellan has this wonderful magic about him. You just forget that he's the legend Stellan Skarsgård. He really makes you feel at ease, and after just those ten minutes with him, I really felt like I was walking in the room with a friend, with someone who had my back and was there for me. And he was that way, continuously, throughout the next three years. I was intimidated by the scale of this production and how new it all felt, but I've never felt intimidated by Stellan. He always felt like my pal who's got my back.
When did you learn that you were in store for a huge promotion in season two?
It was in the summer before season one came out in September 2022. It was just before it came out because we knew that we were going to start shooting that November [2022]. Tony called me that summer to tell me everything that happened for Kleya this season, and I was just completely speechless. The arc he's created for me this season is just mind-blowing, and I'm so grateful to him. I love it when I'm scared of a job. I love it when the challenge is so immense and it's like, “Oh my God, can I do that?” Deep down, I always know that I can, but it's still scary.
An argument could be made that Kleya is the main character of the final three-episode block. Even when she is off screen, she's the focal point of both the Rebellion and the Empire. Did your jaw hit the floor when you read 210 for the first time and you realized you were leading your own spy movie?
Yeah, Tony first told me how that would end, and I was shocked. And reading it, I just felt enormously grateful to him for writing such an interesting role. I felt really supported by this giant, Tony Gilroy, in that moment. She's just such a compelling character, and at this point in my career, when I just graduated not too long ago, it means the world that he had that much faith in me to write an arc like this.
We finally learned her backstory as to how she met Luthen. He was a sergeant for the Empire, and while his unit was raiding Kleya's village, she stowed away on his ship amid his moral panic attack. How did that backstory compare to what you imagined throughout season one?
I deliberately tried not to imagine anything, and it was really hard because that's the opposite of how I like to work. I come from a theater background where you have the whole play. So you can allow your imagination to run riot about their lives beforehand, and not being able to do that on season one felt very strange. So I just went with everything that Tony had [originally] told me. He told me that Kleya would die for Luthen, and that she is entirely and utterly committed to this man. So I just took that and ran with it, and I tried not to get too caught up in the why, because I was hoping it would be answered later down the line. And I'm really glad I did that, because if I had tried to imagine some kind of backstory for her, then I might have made choices in season one that would've made my life more difficult on season two. So I really left her backstory and my imagination totally blank during season one. I just waited for it to be given to me for season two, and what a treat it was.
Younger Luthen and Kleya were a lot like the Joel and Ellie of Star Wars.
(Laughs.) I see the comparison [to The Last of Us], but I think it's darker. That story obviously has its darkness as well, but Luthen and Kleya, my heart breaks when I think about them. The love that grows between them is incidental. Neither of them want to acknowledge the fact or admit to themselves that they've come to love one another because of that day 16 or 17 years ago. Luthen came to Kleya's people, and he had a hand in destroying them all. That day can never be erased. It can never be forgotten. They can't just forgive and forget that; it's too huge an event. So that darkness stays with them in a way that makes their story quite unique. I remember Tony referencing Paper Moon when talking about their relationship, but it's also different from Paper Moon. It's just so much darker. What Luthen did to her people all those years ago, or what he contributed to, is horrifying. So that can never go anywhere, but their love grows incidentally around it.
She has to Mission: Impossible her way through a hospital in order to put an end to comatose Luthen's life, and it's a very emotional moment involving the father and daughter of the Rebellion. What was your state of mind on the day?
Well, I was super nervous because it felt like the entire filming process was leading up to that day. I always had it in the back of my mind, and I deliberately tried not to overthink it. I remember just doing a lot of deep breathing to try to stay calm. The thing with scenes that have the potential to be really emotional is you have to stay relaxed to allow them to come through. Nerves can really lock you up. So I did a lot of deep breathing, and I suppose I just tried to not put too much pressure on myself because I'm very good at that. I tried to just reassure myself that whatever work I do on this day is going to be good enough because it has to be. So I tried to just be super kind myself, which helped keep me relaxed. It helped me really commit to the imagined circumstances, and when I looked at Stellan lying there on this hospital bed, I really felt heartbroken for what Kleya was about to do.
As soon as she closed the window to his hospital room, I thought of Luthen's big season-one monologue about his “sunless” mind and the “sunrise” he'll never get to see due to all that he's sacrificed for the Rebellion. And so it's just so fittingly tragic that she has to pull the plug on him in a sterile room with artificial lighting. Did the script make reference to that famous speech? Or did everybody infer that callback on their own?
The script didn't overtly pay reference to that monologue, but it has always been there in the background. When fans watched that monologue in season one, I feel like they knew that he's not going to make it. It's dramatic irony.
Or a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Yeah, totally. The script was really beautiful, actually. There was very little on the page, and it gave a lot of space for me to fill in the blanks. The very last words were something like “a moment to pay our respects for this man,” and I think you feel that in the scene because he's this huge figure within the Rebellion. So the audience deserves that moment to say goodbye to him.
There's an amusing moment prior to all that. Kleya disguises herself as a nurse who's escorting an alien in a wheelchair, and the alien mumbles something in the elevator to which Kleya humorously responds, “What?” Was that scripted?
(Laughs.) That was [director] Alonso [Ruizpalacios] having fun. That was actually a really hard moment to shoot. There was a puppeteer underneath the alien on this wheelchair, and she couldn't see what she was doing because she was completely hidden. So Alonso would have to give her notes about what to do, and he was really getting into it. Bearing in mind, I'm going up this elevator to kill my best friend, so I have to look completely serious. But Alonso was off to the side, going, “Granny's looking around, granny's enjoying the elevator ride and granny's having a lovely time.” He was saying all that to get the right attitude from the alien, and I just burst out laughing. There weren't many times where I corpsed on that set, but that was one time. So I had to really get it together again, and that scene was just so at odds with how I was trying to feel in the moment.
Cassian eventually rescues Kleya from the safe house and takes her to Yavin. When he first arrives at the door, Kleya says, “It would be you, wouldn't it?” Is that a comment on the fact that she once ordered his death in 107? Or is it more connected to 209's conversation about Cassian wanting to quit after he extracts Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly)?
I actually always imagined it as something slightly different. There's a moment in [209] when Luthen says to Cassian, “You [always] appeared when I needed you.” And he finds it to be a slightly strange thing. I wonder if Luthen is the kind of character who has a curiosity around things like the Force and those more fantasy elements that we see in Star Wars. So I always imagined that Luthen had said something like that to Kleya [off screen]: “There's something special about Cassian. He always really comes through for us in the end, even though he's reluctant.” So that's what I had in my mind when Kleya sees him at the door: “Oh, of course, it's Cassian that's here after Luthen has said all this to me about him. Of course, he's the one that pulls through in the end, again.”
The final shot of Kleya at sunrise alludes to this, but do you think she eventually found belonging at Yavin?
Is Kleya the kind of character that's ever able to do that? This is the question. I'd love for her to have that, but that would be an entirely new concept in and of itself for Kleya. She's never had a sense of home, belonging, safety and friendship. These would be very new concepts for her, and I'd be intrigued to see if that's something she's even able to do.
Beyond that, have you imagined what else Kleya might be up to during the events of Rogue One and Star Wars: A New Hope?
I'm going to watch Rogue One after Andor is all aired. I've deliberately avoided it because it felt too soon, somehow. I really want to indulge in being able to watch the end of this series that's been such a huge part of my life and see how it all fits in. But imagining what Kleya is doing off screen during those Rogue One and A New Hope years, oh my gosh. It's a huge question, isn't it? So I don't know, and I certainly wouldn't want to come up with the answer to that. A brilliant writer would do a much better job.
It must be pretty surreal to know how much influence your character has on the future Star Wars stories, some of which have been around for four-plus decades. She was one of several dominos that led to Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star.
Oh my God, it is completely mind-blowing. It's not lost on me. It's not lost on me that Tony Gilroy has literally written me into Star Wars history that dates back to the ‘70s. My mom and dad queued up at midnight to watch A New Hope. And knowing that they're going to see my small part — or, as you say, a domino — in that chain of events that leads to those stories, I'm just so grateful that Tony would hand me that domino. I felt like that when we were shooting it. I really didn't want to fuck it up. I really wanted to do justice to this opportunity that he's given me, and I didn't want to let him down. I didn't want to let Stellan down. I didn't want to let myself down. The history that Tony has written me into is huge, and I really wanted to honor that. I also didn't want to let the fans down. I know how much it means to them, and they've been so wonderful.
Each block of episodes in season two has an unseen year in between, and Diego Luna/Adria Arjona told me that they'd love to come back to tell the story between season one and season two where their characters fell back in love. Is there a particular unseen year that you'd love to come back and tell?
The year between 209 and 210 is very interesting. Mon Mothma is now the official figurehead of the Rebellion on Yavin, and Luthen and Kleya feel left out in the cold. So I'd be really interested to see how that happened, and I think it would be really quite painful. There's a connection between Mon, Kleya and Luthen. They've known each other for years by this point, and they've come to trust each other. Mon is someone that Kleya has come to really respect. The speech she makes at the Senate and everything that she throws away to become the leader of the Rebel Alliance, I always played it as something that Kleya really respects. So, to then feel cast out by her and the other leaders on Yavin, that's a very painful thing that happened for her and Luthen. That would be interesting to explore.
Andor is ultimately about the unsung heroes of the Rebellion. Luthen and Kleya paved the way for the Rebel Alliance, and there are only a few characters who refuse to let their foundational work be forgotten. Granted, Luthen and Kleya hadn't been created yet at the time of these future yet preceding stories, but it can still be said that they didn't get the long-term recognition they deserved as the father and daughter of the Rebellion.
Yeah, it is sad, but they didn't get into this for credit. They operate in the shadows. That's who they are. That's another thing that Luthen's speech is all about. He and Kleya have completely come to terms with the fact that to achieve the “greater good,” they sometimes have to do things that are morally ambiguous. They're willing to stray into those moral gray areas in order to find the light again, and because they're willing to go to those places, I don't think they would even feel comfortable getting any credit. They're certainly not in it for that. God, if someone was to try to give Kleya a medal one day, I really don't know that she would accept it. It's not her vibe.
Many decades from now, when you're swaying back and forth in a rocking chair and your loved ones are gathered around you, what day on Andor will you tell them about first?
Oh God, I'm going to cry. The most fun I had on set was the shot when Kleya shoots these two Stormtroopers on the top floor of the hospital. They rigged pyrotechnics to come out the back of them. So I pulled the trigger on a blaster, and it actually had an effect. There were sparks flying everywhere. I could fully invest in this imagined reality that I'm shooting these bad guys. So I think I'd tell them about that and these three consecutive night shoots in Valencia [Spain]. These were the scenes at the party in 206 where Kleya is getting the bug out of the exhibit. There were hundreds of extras on that set, and everyone was dressed in space haute couture. Aliens were serving cocktails, and droids were zipping about. So that is a memory I'll never forget. Those scenes really made me feel like I was in Star Wars. It was completely magical to be in a galaxy far, far away
***Andor season two is now streaming on Disney+.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Get the scoops first! Breaking news and interviews on comics, sci-fi, horror and more
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
The actress described panicking about sending her kid to school in fuzzy manacles.
By
Gil Kaufman
By now you're certainly seen video of the nightly ritual at Sabrina Carpenter shows on the singer's Short n' Sweet tour where she “arrests” someone from the audience. Back in March, during a stop at the O2 Arena in London, she once again looked around for a guest that was “too hot” in order to slap some fuzzy pink handcuffs on them.
On March 9, she nabbed Salma Hayek Pinault, greeting the House of Gucci star by saying, “Oh my goodness. Who is this woman in the front? I need some of that. For real. Wow, you are so gorgeous […] It's crazy 'cause I just met you, but I'm already in love with you, and I feel like we're kind of destined. I'm getting hot because you're here.”
Trending on Billboard
On Wednesday night (May 14) Hayek dropped by the Tonight Show to talk about her first Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, and, of course, her pop citizen's arrest. “I love her!” Hayek said of the singer. “My first arrest, not too bad,” Hayek added after host Jimmy Fallon held up an image of the actress and Carpenter leaning their heads together while each holding a furry handcuff, both women decked out in Short n' Sweet tour gear.
“This is the thing, I kind of loved it,” Hayek said about getting the cuffs slapped on her. “Except that afterwards my daughter put it on and we couldn't get them off! [She] had to go to school and we couldn't get them off.” Panicked, Hayek said she “started smacking” the pretend cuffs to break them open, eventually liberating her daughter from the prop. “I just did not want to explain to the school… I handcuffed her on top of it!” Hayek said.
Hayek also participated in a bit in which she and Fallon got face-to-face with some scary-looking bugs and talked about posing for the SI cover while showing Fallon some inside modeling secrets.
Watch Hayek talk about her arrest on The Tonight Show below.
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Laufey has announced a new album, A Matter of Time. The Icelandic Chinese singer and composer's follow-up to 2023's Bewitched arrives August 22 (via Vingolf/AWAL). Aaron Dessner produced the LP alongside Spencer Stewart. “Tough Luck,” which leads the album, is “a fiery song about love gone wrong,” Laufey said in press materials. “I wanted to reveal an angrier side of myself—a side that this unfortunate relationship brought out in me.” Listen to that below.
Of the album, Laufey added, “People expect a pretty facade of girly clothes, fantastical stories, and romantic music. This time, I was interested in seeing how I could draw out the most flawed parts of myself and look at them directly in the mirror.” Check out her tour dates with various orchestras below.
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Laufey:
05-27 Mexico City, Mexico - The Teatro Metropólitan05-31 São Paolo, Brazil - Popload Festival07-30 Norfolk, VA - Virginia Arts Festival at Chartway Arena*07-31 Norfolk, VA - Virginia Arts Festival at Chartway Arena*08-02 Chautauqua, NY - Chautauqua Institution†08-03 Chautauqua, NY - Chautauqua Institution†08-07 Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center‡08-09 Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center§
* with The Virginia Symphony Orchestra† with The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra‡ with The Cleveland Orchestra§ with The Philadelphia Orchestra
More From Pitchfork
Events
© 2025 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
CN Entertainment
"Sometimes when my videos go viral, I have an anxiety attack. I don't read comments anymore. It's liberating," Lizzo said.
By
Jessica Lynch
On the latest episode of Therapuss, Lizzo joined host Jake Shane for a deeply personal and often hilarious conversation about her upcoming album Love in Real Life, her complex relationship with fame, and the viral moment that launched her 2017 single “Truth Hurts” to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Explore
Explore
Lizzo
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“The sync changed my f—ing life,” Lizzo recalled of the track's inclusion in the 2019 Netflix rom-com Someone Great. “I dropped ‘Truth Hurts' in 2017. I think they put it in Someone Great in 2018 or 2019. I was like, ‘Okay, cool.' That s— went so crazy — it launched ‘Truth Hurts' to the No. 1 song. A song that had been out for three years. From that one sync.”
Trending on Billboard
Related
Styles P Says He & Jim Jones 'Ain't in the Same League' When Asked About Verzuz Battle
05/14/2025
The hit marked her first Billboard Hot 100 entry and eventually became the longest-running solo No. 1 by a female rapper.
Elsewhere in the episode, Lizzo spoke about writing music from pain, particularly her song “Soulmate.” “I was crying in the studio when I wrote it,” she said. “When I sing this song in a year, this will be me. I will believe these words, but b—-, I did not believe these words when I was writing it.”
As for her new project Love in Real Life, Lizzo described it as “a diary of October 2023 to November 2024.” She added, “There's not one album that wasn't directly impacting my personal life… This time I wrote a song that doesn't have a happy ending.”
She also addressed the emotional toll of viral fame. “All viral aint good viral. The internet don't know that they think all viral is good viral. It's not.” Jake added, “It's like all press is good press, it's like no.”
Lizzo added, “Sometimes when my videos going viral, I have an anxiety attack… And I'll be like ‘oh f—, what did I do wrong. I did something wrong, because I don't read comments anymore.”
Noting it had been “two years” since she had read social media comments, she continued, “I never scrolled through my comments because that's hell, but I saw TikTok comments got so mean. You know when I really stopped after the very backhanded compliments trend.”
The Therapuss interview also touched on Lizzo's decision to stop using dating apps (“I got kicked off Hinge for impersonating a celebrity — it was me”) and the heartbreak of disappointing a fan during a meet-and-greet while exhausted on tour. “That was my first time realizing: Oh wow, there can be misconceptions and you're not in control of it.”
Lizzo's Love in Real Life is expected later this year.
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By
David Fear
Eight movies. Five directors. Three dozen character actors. Two dozen exotic locales, each one of them the perfect background for globetrotting espionage. A dozen action set pieces. A half dozen peeled-off masks. One best-of-show brawl set in a public bathroom. Numerous car chases, motorcycle chases, helicopter chases, explosions, collateral-damage relationships, and falls and near-falls from both modest and great heights. Too many running scenes to count. So, so many running scenes.
For nearly 30 years, the Mission: Impossible franchise has managed to take the bare-bone elements of spy thrillers, summer blockbusters and the classic screen trifecta of thrills, spills and chills, and supersize them for maximum adrenaline fixes. And despite all the number-crunching above, it really boils down to a single man. Tom Cruise took on the role of Ethan Hunt — Impossible Mission Force (IMF) MVP, rogue agent, master of disguise, savior of the geopolitical status quo, ill-advised air traveler — back in 1996 as just another gig in between playing literary bloodsuckers and “show me the money” sad sacks. In 2025, he exits the film series having claimed the title of the last superhuman movie star alive, an industry unto himself. Cruise used these M:I movies to prove he was willing to risk life and limb in the name of entertaining you. Take him out of the equation, and all you'd have are expensive looking Bond-lite flicks based on an old TV show.
All good things must come to an end, and while the guy with the need for speed isn't going gently into the night just yet — coming soon: Tom Cruise in Literal Outer Space — he's ready to retire the brand on a high note. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning wears its swan-song vibe on its sleeve, right down to the title. But it's not going out without a victory lap. Or two. Or 22.
Kicking off with the first of several montages devoted to the series' highlights, villains, femme fatales, former girlfriends, shoot-outs, showdowns, past cast members, potential extinction-event MacGuffins and the kinds of stunts that have made Cruise an insurance-liability nightmare, this capstone is as much about honoring the past as it is ensuring a world under constant threat has a future. You may be tempted to rewatch the septet of entries that preceded this long goodbye (with the emphasis on long; despite clocking in at a shade under three hours, it often feels like its running time exceeds the combined length of all the previous M:I films). Don't worry. The movie itself provides refresher supercuts before the opening credits' signature fuse starts burning, all the better to catch you up so it can cut to the actual chases.
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time
Specifically, Final Reckoning wants to remind you about everything that happened when we last saw Hunt keeping things from descending into chaos, i.e. 2023's Dead Reckoning — Part One. (That one was also directed by Christoper McQuarrie, who's settled into become the franchise's resident shot caller.) So there's this sentient AI program called “The Entity.” It wants out to wipe out humanity, has inspired a death cult willing to do its bidding, pumps out nonstop misinformation, and “wants us scared and divided” so it can render good people helpless. In other words, the Entity has a bright future in politics and is likely the No. 1 contender for becoming the GOP's Presidential candidate in 2028.
Per fictional screen POTUS Angela Bassett's introductory monologue, the deus ex machina sunk the Russian sub that it called home and infiltrated cyberspace. Now the program is determined to seize all of the major nuclear arsenals of the world and bid Homo sapiens farewell. The key to preventing that is, well, a key. Luckily, Ethan has the key. What he doesn't have is drive containing the Entity's source code, which is still on that sub at the bottom of the Bering Sea. Nor does he have “the poison pill” that will end this digital reign of terror. That belongs to Gabriel (Esai Morales), the film's flesh-and-blood nemesis named after the biblical angel heralding a new age. Hunt's mission: Find the source code, find Gabriel, keep it from the U.S. government — because no one should have that much power at their beck and call — and try to avoid situations that will get him killed in the process. That last order will naturally be the toughest one to follow.
Related Content
Cannes Honors David Lynch in ‘Emotional' Tribute With Visionary's Son in Attendance
Tom Cruise Says He Hopes to Do a Musical: ‘My Goals Are Endless'
'Caught by the Tides' Is a Masterpiece 20 Years in the Making
‘Top Gun: Maverick' Writer's Cousin Says He Wrote ‘Key Scenes' in New Lawsuit
The usual suspects, in the form of old IMF comrades Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg), are around to help. So is master pickpocket/major love interest Grace (Haley Atwell) and ex-henchperson-turned-ally Paris (Pom Klementieff). Pain-in-the-ass federal agents Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) also show up, as does a host of other recurring and recognizable mugs: Henry Czerny, Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer, Holt McCallany. A deep-cut character from the original M:I becomes a huge mover and shaker in the back half here. Easter eggs are everywhere. This is a series that loves making famous faces scowl while delivering long reams of Exposition: Inevitable dialogue almost as much as it loves indulging Cruise's death wishes, and Final Reckoning falls in line with that overall operative. You should never underestimate the power of Angela Bassett being allowed to go full sound-and-fury on pages of dialogue. As for the new faces, the movie does double duty in proving that Tramell Tillman's smooth-operator act from Severance can translate beautifully from TV to motion pictures, and that the off-the-charts screen presence Katy O'Brian displayed in Love Lies Bleeding was no one-off fluke.
But who are we kidding here? They're all bit players supporting the name above the title. This is nothing if not the Tom Cruise Daredevil Show, blown up to staggering IMAX levels of grandeur. You're paying to see the 62-year-old star go to ridiculous lengths to demonstrate what he'll do to still make 21st century blockbusters feel like events. Ethan Hunt must save the world. Cruise has a higher purpose: He wants to save the movies. And if that means jumping out of planes, holding his breath underwater for dangerous amounts of time, climbing the sides of cliffs and/or careening off mountains on motorcycles, Mr. A-List will do it. Most of the set pieces are callbacks to the series' history of putting Cruise in peril and demonstrating his ability to stay in extraordinary fighting shape. The lung-bursting plunge into deep sea waters is reminiscent of the dive in 2015's Rogue Nation. A torture sequence brings to mind Mission: Impossible III (2006), which morphs into an Atwell-aided melée similar to two-by-two fights involving Vanessa Kirby and Rebecca Ferguson in previous entries.
Trending Stories
Scarlett Johansson: ‘Life Has Humbled' Bill Murray Since 2022 Misconduct Allegation
Lorde: ‘I'm an Intense Bitch'
Billie Eilish Says Met Gala Images of Her Are Fake: ‘That's AI'
Bruce Springsteen Calls Donald Trump ‘Incompetent and Treasonous' at 2025 Tour Kick-Off
All of these are mere amuse-bouches in preparation for the main course, in which Hunt manages to stowaway on a biplane, commandeer it, then jump onto a second biplane and hang on to the wing while swooping up to 8000 feet. Cruise, naturally, performed the stunt himself. Unlike the previous Mission: Impossible‘s various, vertigo-inducing showstoppers, this one is left for the last act, and it's worth the wait. Not even the endless crowing about this daredevil feat in the marketing campaign leading up to the Cannes Film Festival premiere (and the movie's release on May 23rd) can suck the exhilaration and sense of awe of watching this extended jaunt through the wild blue yonder. For all of the bleeding-edge tech paranoia and state-of-the-art thrillmongering on display in three decades worth of M:I thrillers, it takes an aerial dogfight that might have graced a movie 100 years ago to leave you breathless. That's entertainment! Somewhere, stunt pilot Dick Grace is slow-clapping Cruise right now.
“It's all been leading up to this,” characters keep repeating ad nauseam, and you get the feeling that, having now delivered one big try-to-top-that gesture, Cruise can let Hunt rest and bask in the glory of a mission well-accomplished. He's in his sixties now, and though the gent is in incredible shape by any standard — see: a fight scene that plays out with Cruise wearing nothing but athletic briefs — not even Xenu can stop him from aging. He's determined to keep the franchise from self-destructing. Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning feels like a conclusion to 30 years worth of proving that yes, you still can conjure up a certain vintage strain of Hollywood magic. It also feels like the end of an era. We will still get “Tom Cruise movies.” Just not like this, not from a movie star of his magnitude, assuming they can even manufacture another singular figure like him in the age of perpetual, cut-rate content. But hey, anything's possible.
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
By
Charisma Madarang
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it plans to eliminate and postpone rules aimed at reducing “forever chemicals” contaminating drinking water across the country.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A), exposure to PFAS — a class of highly toxic, long-lasting compounds also known as “forever chemicals” — has been linked to cancer, decreased fertility in women, developmental effects in children, immune system issues, interference with the body's natural hormones, and more. At least 45 percent of America's tap water is estimated to have one or more types of PFAS.
Last year, former President Joe Biden set first-ever limits on PFAS, requiring water utilities to begin bringing down contamination levels of six types of PFAS chemicals — while setting a strict limit of four parts per trillion for two of those chemicals, PFOA and PFOS.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Despite the plethora of research warning against the dangers of forever chemicals in water, the E.P.A. said that while it will uphold the limits for those two types of PFAS, it will extend a deadline requiring water utilities to meet those limits to 2031. The E.P.A. also said it plans to eliminate and reconsider the limits for the other four chemicals — PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and PFBS — listed.“We are on a path to uphold the agency's nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water,” Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, said in a statement. “At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance. This will support water systems across the country, including small systems in rural communities, as they work to address these contaminants.”
President Donald Trump and his allies have escalated attacks on clean water protections. Through E.P.A. deregulations and cuts, Supreme Court rulings, executive orders, and bills in Congress, Trump and conservatives are systematically eroding rules aimed at providing Americans with clean, healthy water.
In March, Zeldin said he would look to significantly reduce a significant portion of the waterways, such as wetlands, rivers, and streams, that are protected under the Clean Water Act, a 1972 law that regulates the discharge of pollutants in water.
Trending Stories
Scarlett Johansson: ‘Life Has Humbled' Bill Murray Since 2022 Misconduct Allegation
Bruce Springsteen Calls Donald Trump ‘Incompetent and Treasonous' at 2025 Tour Kick-Off
Billie Eilish Says Met Gala Images of Her Are Fake: 'That's AI'
Inside the ‘Andor' Finale's Big Reveal
Trump's Office of Management and Budget separately withdrew a proposed EPA rule in January to set limits on the discharge of forever chemicals in wastewater. The president's administration did so based on Trump's executive order on Day One freezing all regulations in progress pending review.
“This agenda to deregulate, this agenda to gut the federal government, to dismantle the federal government, eliminate core functions of our government, remove these protections, it's just an ideology,” Mary Grant, Public Water for All Campaign Director at the nonprofit Food and Water Watch, previously told Rolling Stone. “And they're acting on it without without care for how it impacts people, for how it impacts our access to safe water.”
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
Snoop's 21st studio album is here.
By
Michael Saponara
Snoop Dogg's longevity, work ethic and versatility can't be matched by many — if any — in the hip-hop realm. The Death Row legend returned on Thursday (May 14) with his 21st studio album, Iz It a Crime?
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
Pharrell
Sexyy Red
Snoop Dogg
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The project boasts 21 tracks with features from stars like Pharrell Williams, Sexyy Red, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Bereal, Jane Handcock, October London and more. The title track from the LP fittingly samples Sade's “Is It a Crime.”
Related
Styles P Says He & Jim Jones 'Ain't in the Same League' When Asked About Verzuz Battle
05/14/2025
Snoop stopped by The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (May 14) where he detailed how he's still feeling inspired to drop music at a high level even over 30 years into his Hall-of-Fame career.
Trending on Billboard
“I'm an MC and I love to rap and I love to make music, and people love my voice and they love when I make great records,” Snoop said. “When I don't make great records, people let me know that as well.”
The Long Beach native continued: “I hear all of that and it makes me say to myself, ‘I should treat myself like a musician and not like a rapper.' If you a musician, you can make music until you die, but when you're a rapper they try to put a cap on you.”
Snoop Dogg also previewed an accompanying movie for Iz It a Crime? during a private screening in NYC on Tuesday (May 13), but it's unclear when exactly the film will arrive.
It's been a busy six months for the 53-year-old mogul. He reunited with Dr. Dre for Missionary in December, as the joint album debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200.
The Death Row gospel label compilation, Altar Call, which arrived in April and was dedicated to Snoop's late mother, also saw contributions from The Doggfather.
Stream Iz It a Crime? below.
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2025 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
The Detroit Lions are eager to get Aidan Hutchinson back into action after he was limited to just five games last season.
What was shaping up to be an elite season for the defender ended abruptly when he suffered a season-ending leg injury in the Lions' fifth game of the season. He immediately began rehabbing in an effort to be active should the team make the Super Bowl, but the Lions ultimately came up short.
Now, Hutchinson is getting back in the swing of things ahead of the start of organized team activities. Even though the team has yet to put on the pads and is focused on drill work, Hutchinson is already making a statement with his performance.
"He's out there and he's the most energetic guy on the field," said defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard. "He's ready to make the call out the huddle today. I went over to individual (workouts) and I said, 'Hutch, you know how I know you're back?' He's like, 'How?' I said, 'Because you're touching that ground when you run that hoop.' That's his little thing he does like he's some supernatural cat, which he is."
Hutchinson and Sheppard have built a strong relationship in working together for the last three season, and the new defensive coordinator is excited to work even closer with him throughout the 2025 campaign.
"The relationship me and Hutch have is unbelieveable," Sheppard explained. "The relationship he has with his peers, with his teammates, you would not know he is the caliber player he is with the way he carries himself. The way he works, his attention to detail in meetings, the way he helps people, the way he wants to be pushed and coached hard. ... He's a guy that's all in and I'm elated to have him with us out there on the grass."
He has been photographed out on the field as part of team workouts, and new Lions defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers has been impressed with what he's seen to this point.
"Actually, (he's looking) really good. Sitting here, just imagining what this guy went through, what he worked on to get back in case they made it to the end last year," Rodgers said. "And then to see where he is right now, this guy's a trooper."
It remains uncertain how active Hutchinson will be during OTAs, and the team won't have a mandatory minicamp. However, it appears as though he's growing closer to full-speed.
Hutchinson logged 7.5 sacks last season in his five games, including four against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2. If he can return to peak form following the injury, he will be among the game's best at his position and a dominant weapon for the Lions.
Detroit will likely take some precautions in his workload to ensure full health for Week 1, but it appears as though the team is confident in his ability to return to form in 2025.
"The thing is, once we know for sure where he is and everything, that will dictate itself," Rogers explained. "Our thing is, we will do everything to make sure he's ready to go Week 1."
feed
Sports journalist who has covered the Detroit Lions the past three NFL seasons. Christian brings expert analysis, insights and an ability to fairly assess how the team is performing in a tough NFC North division.
© 2025 ABG-SI LLC - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC. - All Rights Reserved. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates, licensees and related brands. All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.
11:56 EDT 15 May 2025, updated
12:15 EDT 15 May 2025
By
CHRISTINE RENDON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Celebrity psychic medium Tyler Henry has revealed he has successfully undergone brain surgery.
The reality star, 29, had most of a 'colloid tumor' removed from his brain and will now be on bedrest for a month.
The star announced the operation on Wednesday with a photo of him in his hospital bed, which appeared to have been taken after the surgery.
A bandage was on his head as he snuggled into his pillow with a smile.
'Brain surgery was a success! Great prognosis, incredible staff, and I feel so thankful to be surrounded by my family. I'll be on bedrest for a month and look forward to getting back to doing readings.
'For those of you who connect with me virtually, not much should change as far as private reading giveaways and group readings, right now I'm just on the mend. For those curious, I had a colloid tumor near the center of my brain and thankfully most of it has been removed! (The tumor, not my brain… that is.)
'This isn't my first rodeo with this and I have so much to be thankful for - I'll see ya'll very soon with lots of thought-provoking subjects and of course, readings. Thank you all so much for your support.'
Tyler previously underwent an emergency brain surgery at age 18 following the discovery of a congenital cyst.
The cyst, which is benign, needs to be regularly drained when it grows too large as it would be too risky to remove completely, according to The Cut.
'I have wondered if it relates to my ability at all,' he told the publication last year.
The Hollywood Medium With Tyler Henry star also endured a collapsed lung in 2019 and has congenital blebs on his lungs that he needs to keep an eye on.
He suspects his health has been impacted by his work as a psychic medium.
'It's the biggest question I have: Why, if this is something of a gift, does it come at a cost?' he told the outlet.
Opening up about the brain cyst on Instagram, Tyler posted a photo of him giving a reading as a teenager just before the health scare came to light.
'This photo was taken a month after my 18th birthday in the backyard of my childhood home,' he wrote on Instagram in 2023. 'I was doing readings on camera in my small town of Hanford, CA. Only a week later an MRI revealed a congenital brain cyst that lead to emergency surgery after weeks of headaches. A mass I was born with was only now causing a life-threatening situation as my adult life was just beginning.
'Despite all that, this project allowed for one of my most exciting moments as an early medium - reading an entire diner full of strangers, as well as delivering messages in my teenage haunts of China Alley (later featured on @lifeafterdeathnetflix).
'This experience taught me early on the importance of timing and trust. Without the inevitable brain surgery that ensued, I don't think I would of had such a firsthand awareness of the fragility of life. It was an intimate reminder for me of the fine line dividing this realm and the next.'
The surgery revelation comes just a week after Tyler - who worked with the Kardashians in 2015 - tied the knot with his longtime beau Clint Godwin.
The lovebirds appeared to go about tying the knot the simple way, opting to head to their local Beverly Hills courthouse.
Henry shared a single photo of their pair with his 1.2 million followers and wrote, 'Today, we are married! Life with you is an endless sleepover with my best friend and life's just getting started.'
He added in the heartfelt note: 'I knew when we met nearly a decade ago that you would be the one, and that conviction only grew stronger with every day. Best premonition ever!'
An engagement was never announced, but Henry told E! News in 2019 that he'd likely be the one to propose.
The newlyweds' love story began in 2016, when Tyler gave Clint a reading.
'He had seen me on [Keeping Up With the Kardashians]. He messaged me and said that he'd be interested in a reading,' the star opened up to GLAAD in 2022.
The E! personality added, 'I knew the second I saw him that I had something that I needed to share with him regarding his grandfather, who had died.'
He explained, 'His grandfather had recently taken his own life. As I connected with him, I relayed exactly why that decision was made. Immediately, I found myself a part of his family, being immersed in what they were going through.'
Tyler shares bits of his life with his now-husband on social media regularly.
On Valentine's Day he posted a photo of the two in wet suits at the beach, adding a thoughtful message.
'We've grown up together and there's no one else I'd rather grow through time with. Whether I'm 29 or 92, this love will always be my guiding force, a reprieve from all of life's heaviness. That's what @clintxgodwin is for me,' he said.
And in March he uploaded another picture of the pair, adding, 'It's @clintxgodwin's birthday! Hurtling toward 30 isn't so bad with coconut cake and good company.'
Scientists say that hiding secret messages using AI chatbots could lead to a world of iron-clad encryption.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Scientists have found a way to turn ChatGPT and other AI chatbots into carriers of encrypted messages that are invisible to cybersecurity systems.
The new technique — which seamlessly places ciphers inside human-like fake messages — offers an alternative method for secure communication “in scenarios where conventional encryption mechanisms are easily detected or restricted,” according to a statement from the researchers who devised it.
The breakthrough functions as a digital version of invisible ink, with the true message only visible to those who have a password or a private key. It was designed to address the proliferation of hacks and backdoors into encrypted communications systems.
But as the researchers highlight, the new encryption framework has as much power to do bad as it does good. They published their findings April 11 to the preprint database arXiv, so it has not yet been peer-reviewed.
"This research is very exciting but like every technical framework, the ethics come into the picture about the (mis)use of the system which we need to check where the framework can be applied," study coauthor Mayank Raikwar, a researcher of networks and distributed systems at the University of Oslo in Norway, told Live Science in an email.
Related: Quantum computers will be a dream come true for hackers, risking everything from military secrets to bank information. Can we stop them?
To build their new encryption technique, the researchers created a system called EmbedderLLM, which uses an algorithm to insert secret messages into specific areas of AI-generated text, like treasure laid along a path. The system makes the AI-generated text appear to be created by a human and the researchers say it's undetectable by existing decryption methods. The recipient of the message then uses another algorithm that acts as a treasure map to reveal where the letters are hidden, revealing the message.
Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Users can send messages made by EmbedderLLM through any texting platform — from video game chat platforms to WhatsApp and everything in between.
"The idea of using LLMs for cryptography is technically feasible, but it depends heavily on the type of cryptography," Yumin Xia, chief technology officer at Galxe, a blockchain company that uses established cryptography methods, told Live Science in an email. "While much will depend on the details, this is certainly very possible based on the types of cryptography currently available."
The method's biggest security fault comes at the beginning of a message: the exchange of a secure password to encode and decode future messages. The system can work using symmetric LLM cryptography (requiring the sender and receiver to have a unique secret code) and public-key LLM cryptography (where only the receiver has a private key).
Once this key is exchanged, EmbedderLLM uses cryptography that is secure from any pre- or post-quantum decryption, making the encryption method long-lasting and resilient against future advances in quantum computing and powerful decryption systems, the researchers wrote in the study.
The researchers envision journalists and citizens using this technology to circumvent the speech restrictions imposed by repressive regimes.
—Future quantum computers will be no match for 'space encryption' that uses light to beam data around — with the 1st satellite launching in 2025
—Scientists create world's 1st chip that can protect data in the age of quantum computing attacks
—Scientists discover simpler way to achieve Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance' thanks to AI breakthrough — bringing quantum internet closer to reality
"We need to find the important applications of the framework," Raikwar said. "For citizens under oppression it provides a safer way to communicate critical information without detection."
It will also enable journalists and activists to communicate discreetly in regions with aggressive surveillance of the press, he added.
Yet despite the impressive advance, experts say that implementation of LLM cryptography in the wild remains a way off.
"While some countries have implemented certain restrictions, the framework's long-term relevance will ultimately depend on real-world demand and adoption," Xia said. "Right now, the paper is an interesting experiment for a hypothetical use case."
Lisa D Sparks is a freelance journalist for Live Science and an experienced editor and marketing professional with a background in journalism, content marketing, strategic development, project management, and process automation. She specializes in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and electric vehicles (EVs) and battery technology, while she also holds expertise in the trends including semiconductors and data centers.
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Palmetto Publishing Announces The Release of THE ROYAL SANGUINE: ISLE OF MIST
The Royal Sanguine: Isle of Mist
cover
Samara, up to the challenge, decides to stay-despite the wishes of her mother and the secrets starting to swirl around her family name. It's not long before the island's strange goings-on-like the bi-weekly blood drive, the dense, ever-present fog, and the rumors of her late grandmother practicing witchcraft-show Samara a taste of what she'll face for the next 12 months.
As days pass and Samara finds her place on the island, she explores beyond the fabled Hell's Gate, unraveling the true nature of the island's mist and the incredible secret it hides.
Now she must decide: Will she stay and claim her heritage? And . . . could she even leave if she wanted to?
Fans of the Vampire Chronicles and Discovery of Witches will delight in The Royal Sanguine: Isle of Mist that promises darkness, fun, and a coming-of-age story tailor-made for LGBTQ+ audiences.
The Royal Sanguine: Isle of Mist is available for purchase online at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. For more information about the author, please visit any of her social media platforms
Instagram: @sianolena
Twitter: @LenaSiano
About the Author:
Lena Siano grew up in the small town of Cosmopolis, Washington. For those wondering, yes, this is a real place. Coming from an Italian family on her mother's side and an English family on her father's, her family is the most essential thing in her life. Miss. Siano's late grandmother, Lena, was not just her everything; she was the guiding light in her life, and her absence is deeply felt. She is also an avid collector of old coins and movie memorabilia.
Media Contact: Lena Siano, [email protected]
Available for interviews: Author, Lena Siano
Attachment
The Royal Sanguine: Isle of Mist
CONTACT: Leah Joseph
Palmetto Publishing
[email protected]
The controversy began after President Prabowo Subianto said that Bill Gates was developing a tuberculosis vaccine to be tested in Indonesia
“[Indonesia] received a grant of 2.5 trillion rupiah (US$151 million) and Indonesia will be the testing ground for Bill Gates' TB vaccine. There's no such thing as a free lunch,” said one social media user.
“Why does Bill Gates want to test the TB vaccine in our homeland, why doesn't he test it in his homeland?” asked another. “Why don't other countries want their people to be used as guinea pigs? Only poor countries are targeted?” asked a third.
Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disease that causes poor feeding in infancy but later triggers insatiable hunger.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Disease name: Prader-Willi syndrome
Affected populations: This genetic, multisystem disorder affects an estimated 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 10,000 people worldwide. Most cases of the syndrome occur sporadically, meaning the genetic changes behind the condition appear randomly in early development rather than being passed down through generations. Only in rare cases is the genetic trigger inherited.
The syndrome affects males and females at equal rates, as well as people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Approximately 10,000 to 20,000 people in the United States have Prader-Willi syndrome.
Causes: The syndrome occurs when specific genes on chromosome 15 lose their function, either because they are missing or because they've been turned off. The portion of chromosome 15 that's affected in Prader-Willi syndrome is called 15q11.2-q13, and it's also known as the Prader-Willi syndrome/Angelman syndrome (PWS/AS) region.
Human cells typically carry 46 chromosomes, including 22 pairs of non-sex chromosomes, numbered 1 through 22, and one pair of sex chromosomes. Each parent contributes one-half of each pair of non-sex chromosomes — so one copy of chromosome 15 comes from the mother and another comes from the father, for example. Because cells carry two copies, every gene on each chromosome does not need to be active. Through a process called "genetic imprinting," certain genes on either the mother's or the father's copy get switched off.
Prader-Willi syndrome affects the paternal copy of chromosome 15, and in most cases — around 60% or 70% — the PWS/AS region is randomly deleted during development. Meanwhile, the maternal PWS/AS region is switched off in everyone. Thus, the deletion leaves people without a working set of those genes.
For about 30% to 40% of people with the syndrome, they inherit two copies of the maternal chromosome 15, so they're missing the paternal copy altogether.
Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
More rarely, a person carries the paternal chromosome 15 but the relevant genes do not work properly. This happens due to either a small genetic mutation — a "microdeletion" — or changes in epigenetics, which are modifications to DNA that don't change its code but can turn a gene on or off. Even more rarely, the syndrome may be triggered by translocation, in which a portion of chromosome 15 breaks off and then reattaches to a different chromosome.
Symptoms: Prader-Willi syndrome affects many parts of the body, and its symptoms can vary from person to person. Many of the genetic changes that underlie the syndrome are thought to affect the hypothalamus, a key hormone-making region of the brain that helps control many basic bodily functions, including body temperature, hunger and sleep.
Hypotonia, or low muscle tone, is seen in nearly all infants with the syndrome, making them feel "floppy" when held. There can be signs of this symptom before birth, in that the fetus will not move as much as expected or will end up in unusual positions. After birth, hypotonia can contribute to the baby having a poor sucking reflex, which hinders feeding and weight gain in early life. Developmental delays are also common.
Infants can also have distinctive features, such as almond-shaped eyes; a thin upper lip; a downturned mouth; and a long, narrow head. Many patients have short stature, in part due to growth hormone deficiency. A percentage of people with the syndrome lose a gene called OCA2, which is involved in making pigment in the skin and hair. These individuals have very fair skin and light-colored hair.
Later in childhood, around age 2 to 8, children's appetite often increases dramatically, and these individuals tend to not feel full after meals. This can subsequently lead to hyperphagia, or excessive eating, which can result in obesity and related complications, such as type 2 diabetes, heart issues and gastrointestinal problems. It's thought that this voracious drive to eat is triggered by issues with the hormones that normally regulate appetite, as well as by differences in brain areas involved with processing rewarding stimuli (like food).
Additional symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome include cognitive impairment, ranging from mild to moderate; genital underdevelopment; sleep problems; nearsightedness; and underactive thyroid.
With adequate treatment and support, people with Prader-Willi syndrome can live into their 70s. But complications such as diabetes and heart failure can limit their lifespan if these conditions are not adequately controlled, and they can cause death by a person's 40s.
Treatments: There is no cure for Prader-Willi syndrome. Treatments vary depending which symptoms a person has, when those symptoms began and how severe they are.
To help patients feed in infancy, doctors may recommend high-calorie formula and special feeding methods, including tube feeding. Replacing missing hormones — with testosterone, estrogen or growth hormone, for example — can help offset symptoms related to low hormone levels. Growth hormone therapy was approved as a Prader-Willi syndrome treatment by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000, and it's been shown to help boost muscle tone and growth while lowering body fat.
—This rare disease causes people to move uncontrollably and unintentionally self-harm
—What is hantavirus? The rare but deadly respiratory illness spread by rodents
—This rare bacterial infection triggers pus-filled sores in the lungs and brain
Physical, behavioral, occupational and speech therapies can help with motor skills, intellectual disabilities, and speech and language development. Medications might be recommended to help with sleep issues or psychiatric disorders that can be associated with the syndrome, such as psychosis.
The FDA also approved the first-ever treatment for hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome in 2025. It's approved for patients ages 4 and older. The exact mechanism of this drug is unknown, but it's thought to help decrease the production of certain hunger-triggering signals from the hypothalamus.
Especially in childhood, patients with Prader-Willi syndrome should be kept on carefully controlled diets and eating schedules, the Mayo Clinic advises. Dietitians can help advise patients and their families on what to include in a healthy diet and whether supplemental vitamins or minerals might be necessary.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
Nicoletta Lanese is the health channel editor at Live Science and was previously a news editor and staff writer at the site. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz and degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida. Her work has appeared in The Scientist, Science News, the Mercury News, Mongabay and Stanford Medicine Magazine, among other outlets. Based in NYC, she also remains heavily involved in dance and performs in local choreographers' work.
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
A well-respected family in the UK was recently awarded compensation of $100,000 by a restaurant that had publicly accused them of leaving without settling the bill.
In July of last year, Peter and Ann McGirr, along with their children Peter Jr and Carol, visited The Horse & Jockey Inn in the Peak District, England. It was a pretty uneventful affair; the family ordered ribeye and gammon steaks and washed them down with ales and lagers before leaving for their home in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Only shortly after their departure, The Horse & Jockey Facebook page posted a video of the McGirrs' allegedly leaving the establishment without paying the £150 ($200) bill. The family was soon making national headlines for allegedly dining and dashing, which negatively impacted their otherwise great reputation, so they found themselves with no choice but to sue the inn to clear their name.
Photo: UY VO/Unsplash
As it turns out, The Horse & Jockey Inn had jumped the gun when it posted CCTV footage of the McGirrs on their Facebook page and accused them of skipping the bill. The family had actually paid by card, but one or more members of the staff had forgotten to put it through the till. Despite the inn's attempts to apologize for their mistake and convince the family to drop their lawsuit, they were in for much more than they had bargained for. The owner's attempts to appease the McGirrs with an apology, free meals, and a complimentary stay at the inn fell on deaf ears.
“A lot of ordinary people might have accepted this. But given the McGirrs' wealth and excellent reputation, that was never going to happen with them,” a source told Daily Mail. “Their reputation received such a battering they were left with little choice other than to take legal action to restore their name.”
“They are very well known and respected in the Omagh area and are one of the wealthiest families around here,” the source added. “Everybody was very shocked when these allegations were first made because the McGirrs are not short of a pound or two. It was a very difficult time for the family because they knew all along that they were innocent.”
The family turned out to be the owners of McGirr Engineering, an internationally known company specializing in the manufacturing of construction block machines worth £2 million with cash reserves estimated at £1.3 million. They weren't the type of people to skip a £150 bill for a meal, but the serious and defamatory accusations made by The Horse & Jockey Inn caused significant damage to the reputation of the family. As a result, they had to sue.
In the end, The Horse & Jockey Inn ended up settling for £75,000 ($100,000) before any evidence could be presented in court, and also apologized for the distress they called the McGirrs. In hindsight, maybe they should have just taken the £150 loss.
00:23 EDT 15 May 2025, updated 00:23 EDT 15 May 2025 By CHRIS MELORE, ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
An Army veteran and former border patrol agent has revealed shocking and unexplained sightings taking place at the US southern border.
Bob Thompson, who spent 14 years with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is now showing the world a never-before-seen UFO spotted near Arizona.
The unidentified object, called 'The Cigar,' was recorded by a CBP reconnaissance plane in early 2020, capturing the mysterious craft flying at a high rate of speed.
Thompson told NewsNation's Ross Coulthart that the UFO had a short, cylindrical body with no visible wings or propellers. Moreover, CBP cameras didn't even see a visible heat trail from an engine, so its method of propulsion is still a mystery.
Thompson said he has spoken to more than 100 CBP agents who have witnessed strange and unidentified objects flying along the US border.
While coordinating the airspace along the southern border, Thompson added that he's also seen all sorts of different UFO designs invading US territory.
'I've seen orbs that were off in the distance. I've seen crafts that were cigar-shaped, I've seen triangles,' the whistleblower said.
Although many of these accounts are being dismissed as drones, likely flown by drug cartels trying to sneak into the US, Thompson claimed that there's more going on that just illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
'No one likes to talk about it freely. I think it's just still a taboo subject,' Thompson said on Reality Check with Ross Coulthart.
The never-before-seen video was taken just months after another UFO sighting involving a strange craft that had the shape of a rubber duck.
That November 2019 sighting took place as CBP was following a group who crossed the US border illegally in Arizona's Buenos Aires National Wildlife Area.
Similar to the cigar UFO, which had no visible heat trail, the rubber duck UFO's thermal signature did not match any known planes or drones.
The cigar video was taken near the same wildlife preserve and Thompson admitted that the US border patrol still has no idea what the object was.
The whistleblower added that the cigar-shaped object could have been a new missile being tested, but there's simply no way to know for sure without a full investigation.
Despite the Office of the Director of National Intelligence mandating that incidents like this be collected and investigated, Coulthart noted that there's been 'a deafening silence' about recent UFO cases.
Thompson noted that unexplained aircraft aren't the only thing being seen along the border. CBP agents have also spotted terrifying 'portals' opening into the sky.
'I got told that they witnessed a portal opening up in the sky and there were pictures of it on a camera that I was able to see,' Thompson revealed.
The veteran CBP officer added that agents knew these weren't glowing orbs or some other type of UFO and actually witnessed the portals as they were opening up out of thin air.
Thompson's claims are just the latest unexplained accounts coming out of Arizona, where Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents show several Air Force pilots have encountered 'swarms' of UFOs in recent years.
On January 19, 2025, an unidentified object actually struck an F-16 Viper fighter jet, damaging the canopy and forcing the $63 million aircraft to land.
So far, the FAA hasn't found any conclusive evidence that the object was extraterrestrial.
Luis Elizondo, a former government intelligence officer who became a UFO whistleblower, recently led a congressional hearing on UFO sightings and government disclosure. He told NewsNation that Arizona has become a UFO hotspot.
'A lot of people reporting a lot of things out of Arizona, particularly on the border,' Elizondo disclosed.
Aside from Thompson's report of portals opening up over Arizona, government authorities have been quick to dismiss the UFO claims as drone sightings.
Trump Administration border czar Tom Homan has said that many of these sightings are likely high-tech drones carrying drugs over the US border or spying on US military bases in the area.
News FeedCommentsDonate to J-Wire
Australia, NZ and worldwide Jewish news that matters
United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet says he plans to quit politics in 2028 at the end of his first term, but not before launching a tirade that has drawn national condemnation for glorifying neo-Nazis and endorsing Kanye West's antisemitic track ‘Heil Hitler'.
“I have no desire to become a career politician,” Babet told The Australian. “I don't want to become one of those swamp creatures, one of those swamp dwellers. I want to do my one term, and I want to go.” Babet is the only federal senator representing the United Australia Party (UAP).
The announcement followed an expletive-laden video posted on Instagram, where Babet called ‘Heil Hitler' his “favourite song of the week” and declared he would “rather hang out with neo-Nazis than mentally ill leftists.”
The track, released by West (now known as Ye), includes Nazi imagery and samples of Adolf Hitler's speeches. Although removed from Spotify and Apple Music, it remains widely available on social media platforms and has already been viewed more than 8.5 million times.
Senator Ralph Babet (Facebook)
In his video, Babet said, “All I said was it was a good song, right? I like Kanye West. He's a great artist … If someone else doesn't like what he puts out, don't buy it. Don't listen to it. But don't you f..king dare tell me what I can and can't listen to.”
Rejecting accusations of antisemitism, he said, “If they're going to try and associate me with being a Nazi, a brown immigrant from Africa, that's f..king bullshit. You know it. I know it.”
Asked later what he would say to Jewish Australians offended by his post, Babet again refused to apologise, saying, “I can listen to whatever music I like. If they want to be offended because Kanye West released a song, don't download the song … But don't tell me as a grown man what I can and can't listen to.” He added, “I think it's a good song and I'm going to be buying his album. Does that make me a Nazi? No, I'm not a Nazi. I just like his music.”
Babet intensified the controversy in a separate Instagram post in which he said he would “rather hang out with members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network than with the baby-killing, murdering, leftists.”
When questioned by The Australian, he insisted the comment was “tongue in cheek” but added, “There's also truth to that.” He then acknowledged that “they want to f..king deport me … because I'm brown,” concluding, “I wouldn't hang out with them, and they wouldn't hang out with me, either.”
He also described progressive Australians as “Greens voters that are mentally ill” and accused them of wanting to “tear down the family,” “do gender mutilating surgery on children,” and “put kids on puberty blockers.”
From Babet's Instagram
Babet's recent remarks are consistent with a long pattern of inflammatory conduct. In November 2024, he was formally censured by the Senate after using racist, homophobic and ableist slurs in a tweet, including the N-word and the words “phaggot” and “retarded.”
Earlier that year, he was criticised for posting a misleading video clip from a Senate estimates hearing, which gave the false impression that government officials could not answer questions about excess mortality. The video prompted threats against public servants, and a Senate committee found that Babet had breached broadcast standards.
In February 2024, Babet was photographed alongside known neo-Nazi Nathan Bull, who was performing a Nazi salute while Babet gave a thumbs-up. The image was posted to social media by Bull with the caption “Heil Ralph Babet, Heil our people.” Babet later claimed he did not know the man or notice the gesture. He has also been accused of spreading disinformation, including the false claim that children were 51 times more likely to die from COVID-19 vaccines than the virus itself.
The senator's remarks have triggered furious condemnation from Australian Jewish leaders, who accused him of glorifying Hitler and antisemitism. Jeremy Leibler, President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, described Babet's “unhinged comments” as “offensive and un-Australian,” stating, “There is absolutely nothing ‘tongue in cheek' about a sitting MP endorsing neo-Nazis, glorifying anti-Semitism, and using slurs to attack minorities; it's a dog whistle.”
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said Babet was “trying to position himself as a martyr for free speech merely standing up for the right to listen to the music of his choice. No one denied this right. No one sought to edit his playlist. Perhaps the better question is who was he trying to impress in making these observations about his taste in music. These sorts of stunts might get clicks and maybe votes in the US, but our politics and politicians should be better than that.”
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, called the incident a “public meltdown of moral responsibility,” and said, “When a federal parliamentarian publicly declares that a track titled ‘Heil Hitler' is his favourite of the week, alarm bells shouldn't be ringing, they should be deafening.
Hitler is not a meme or a punchline. His name stands for genocide, mass murder, gas chambers. It is carved into the bones of six million Jews and millions more victims. And now, a senator is casually promoting that name like it's just another track in a playlist.”
Tags: Kanye west, Senator Ralph Babet, UAP
Comments received without a full name will not be consideredEmail addresses are NEVER published! All comments are moderated. J-Wire will publish considered comments by people who provide a real name and email address. Comments that are abusive, rude, defamatory or which contain offensive language will not be published
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
read more...
read more...
read more...
read more...
read more...
More Dates for Your Diary
Copyright © 2025 -- All Rights Reserved J-Wire -- Contact -- Privacy Policy
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
Type your email…
Subscribe
Continue reading