Business Sentiment
Sentiment Legend:
Negative < 44
Mixed 46-54
Positive > 56
Sign up here.
Reporting by Yomna Ehab, Nidal Al Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell; editing by Mark Heinrich
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
The Trump administration is removing two senior immigration enforcement officials as the White House is demanding a sharp increase in arrests of migrants in the U.S. illegally, three people familiar with the move said on Thursday.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.
Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile.
Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts.
Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
© 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved
Live Updates
• Diplomas and a court decision: Harvard University held its 2025 commencement ceremony today as a federal district judge –– in a Boston courtroom 6 miles away –– said she will order the Trump administration not to make any changes to Harvard's student visa program indefinitely.
• Federal funding at risk: The battle over international students is just one front in a broader ideological war between the White House and American colleges, with Harvard the central foe. Harvard also is suing the government over its freeze of $2.2 billion in federal money after the Ivy League school refused to take steps including eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs, banning masks at protests and enacting merit-based hiring and admissions changes.
• Foreign students under fire: The administration is giving Harvard a month to provide evidence challenging its attempt to strip the university of its ability to host international students. President Donald Trump has suggested Harvard enroll no more than “around 15%” of scholars from overseas. Some foreign students worried “immigration-related action” would unfold at graduation.
At a time when the Trump administration has moved to tighten the screws on many visa holders living in the United States, Harvard's commencement speaker said the medical community in the US relies on immigrants.
“We were recruited here because American medical schools simply don't graduate sufficient numbers of physicians to fill the country's needs,” said Dr. Abraham Verghese, a physician and bestselling author.
Verghese first immigrated to the US in 1974 and completed his medical education in India before returning to the US. He said many other foreign-born medical workers are filling critical gaps in the US.
“More than a quarter of the physicians are foreign medical graduates, and many of those foreign physicians ultimately settle in places that others might not find as desirable,” Verghese said.
The commencement ceremony for Harvard's class of 2025 has ended in an eruption of cheers and celebration from the university's graduates.
Dr. Abraham Verghese spoke about moving to a small town in Tennessee amid the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the mid 1980s, highlighting his pleasant surprise to find his dying patients well-received by their families, “given the prevailing sentiments against gay people.”
“They were cared for lovingly, to the end,” Verghese said. “Love trumps all bigotry, love trumps ideology. When it's your child, when it's your family member who's affected – all that stuff just flies out the window.”
“These brave men taught me so much about quiet and about manhood, not the caricature of manliness, the posturing that has become so fashionable lately,” he continued.
“They found that meaning, … at the end of a shortened life, did not reside in fame, power, reputation, acquisitions, good looks,” Verghese said. “Instead, they found that meaning in their lives ultimately resided in the successful relationships that they had forged in a lifetime, particularly with parents, particularly with your family.”
Dr. Abraham Verghese said he grew up in Ethiopia reading books by American authors such as Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. From those novels, he said, he came to believe America is “a nation striving to live up to the ideal expressed in its founding documents.”
Verghese said he was inspired to pursue a career in medicine after reading the novel “Of Human Bondage,” by W. Somerset Maugham.
“The idea that now in America, a book that might speak to a young reader, reveal his or her calling, could be banned from their library by a school board or government decree is beyond tragic,” he said.
“I know we will find our way back to displaying those attributes of America I've admired from afar,” Verghese said to applause, “the America that I've known and loved from over four decades of being here, and it depends on all of you.”
“You deserve to hear from a star or a Nobel Prize winner, or perhaps, God knows, from the pope himself,” Harvard keynote commencement speaker Dr. Abraham Verghese, a bestselling author and a Stanford expert on infectious diseases, told attending graduates.
“When legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country, including so many of your international students, worry about being wrongly detained and even deported, perhaps it's fitting that you hear from an immigrant like me,” he continued.
“Part of what makes America great, if I may use that phrase, is that it allows an immigrant like me to blossom,” Verghese said, nodding to President Donald Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan. “The greatness of America, the greatness of Harvard, is reflected in the fact that someone like me could be invited to speak to you.”
Dr. Abraham Verghese – the bestselling author, Stanford University professor and infectious disease expert – began his commencement address by acknowledging Harvard is facing “unprecedented” times.
“In this institution's almost four-century existence, there has probably not been more attention focused on you than in these last few months,” Verghese told the graduates assembled. “In coming to your campus, I feel very much like a medieval messenger who had to sneak through the encircling forces and slip into your besieged community.”
Verghese offered his congratulations to graduates and told them “no recent events can diminish what each of you has accomplished here.”
“A cascade of draconian government measures,” Verghese said, has sown fear in the US and across the globe.
“The outrage so many feel also must surely lead us to a new appreciation – appreciation for the rule of law and due process,” he said, to a burst of applause.
In the midst of the political controversy surrounding Harvard, a special honor for a legendary performer brought down the house. Groundbreaking Latina actor and singer Rita Moreno, 93, broke down in tears as she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree.
Moreno, who first performed on Broadway as a teenager and noted she was able to find work without a degree, was awarded the degree by Harvard provost John Manning “with hopes that the parchment we now present her will not damage her future prospects.”
Moreno was then serenaded by Harvard student Carolyn Hao with “Somewhere,” the showstopping number from “West Side Story,” a film for which Moreno won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1962. Moreno drew a standing ovation, joining with harmony on the final note.
US District Court Judge Allison Burroughs says she will order the Department of Homeland Security and State Department to not make any changes to Harvard's student visa program indefinitely.
While the Trump administration has tried to defuse the situation heading into a crucial court hearing for Harvard University's international student population, the judge is moving forward with putting in place a firm court order – a preliminary injunction – after previously stepping in on an emergency basis last week to stop the Trump administration's revocation of Harvard's student visa program.
Burroughs said, “I want to maintain the status quo,” to allow Harvard to continue hosting international students on visas at this time.
The details are still being hashed out in court.
Burroughs has told Harvard's lawyers and the Justice Department lawyers to work out an agreement to stop the revocation of the student visa program for the time being.
“It doesn't need to be draconian, but I want to make sure it's worded in such a way that nothing changes,” she said.
Harvard's lead lawyer Ian Gershengorn said he wants to make sure there are no “shenanigans” once the court order is in place.
The judge also has expressed concern that potential Harvard students abroad have been unable to get visas from some US embassies abroad since last week, according to Harvard's sworn statements.
The Justice Department has said this morning the case may be moot because of the administration's latest procedural move to delay consequence for Harvard, the judge indicated Harvard's First Amendment claims may still need to be resolved in court.
The university says it is being unfairly retaliated against. The Justice Department now says that's not true, and they will allow for additional administrative proceedings with the university over the student visa program.
As its battle with the Trump administration over funding and international students continues, the university is conferring honorary degrees on figures who have fought for equality, diversity and the environment.
Here are the 2025 recipients, who were announced on the morning of the commencement ceremony:
After the Trump administration announced plans to “aggressively revoke” Chinese student visas, Yurong “Luanna” Jiang, a graduate of the class of 2025 from China, received a standing ovation after delivering a commencement speech that urged graduates to remember their “shared humanity.”
Jiang, who is graduating from the School of International Development, began her speech by celebrating her 77 fellow graduates from 32 different countries.
“The countries I knew only as colorful shapes on a map turned into real people with laughter, dreams, and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge,” Jiang said. “Global challenges suddenly felt personal.”
Harvard's school of international development was founded on a vision, Jiang said, that “humanity rises and falls as one.”
“If we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget those who were labeled as enemies, they too are human,” she said. “In the end, we do not rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go.”
The Trump administration in court is trying to put off being under any court orders in its fight with Harvard University over student visas.
In the first few minutes of the hearing, a lawyer for the Justice Department has told the judge Harvard's moves in court for emergency help should be moot, because the Trump administration now wants to give the university 30 days to argue to them for their student visa program.
But the judge appears to be skeptical of the administration's latest procedural move.
“I don't know whether to take that as an acknowledgment procedural steps were not taken,” Judge Allison Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts said.
“Aren't we going to end up back here in essentially the same place?” the judge also asked.
Less than 6 miles away from Harvard's graduation celebrations today, US District Court Judge Allison Burroughs has gaveled in a hearing that could decide the future for Harvard's international students.
Attorneys for the university will face off against lawyers representing the Trump administration over the government's attempt to block the university from accepting any international students.
Across the river overlooking Boston Harbor, more than 50 lawyers, media and onlookers are awaiting the Harvard vs. Trump administration clash in court over student visas.
Harvard University has assembled a top-notch legal team that has arrived, expected to be led on Thursday by Ian Gershengorn, a well-established Supreme Court litigator and former acting US Solicitor General in the Obama administration, indicating the seriousness and likely substance of the hearing today on the student visa program.
Gershengorn is also notable for the firm he comes from, Jenner & Block, which was the subject of a severely limiting executive order from the Trump White House in recent weeks that was borne out of Trump's personal animus toward some lawyers.
Three courts so far have determined the restrictions Trump is placing on law firms he dislikes are unlawful, and the Trump administration's actions toward law firms and universities like Harvard are perceived as part of a similar campaign to punish powerful intellectual institutions in America that have championed diversity, globalization and the rule of law.
Harvard's battle with the federal government places it in the middle of a larger fight, a graduating senior told his classmates from the commencement stage.
“We leave a much different campus than the one we entered, with Harvard at the center of a national battle over higher education in America,” said Thor Reimann.
“Now look, our university is certainly imperfect, but I am proud to stand alongside our graduating class, our faculty and our president with the shared conviction that this ongoing project of ‘Veritas' is one worth defending,” Reimann said, referring to Harvard's motto, Latin for “Truth.”
Reimann also noted achievements of past Harvard graduates in science and medicine, saying the school benefits the whole as a country.
“All of this, our alumni achieved, not in service of themselves or ideology but in service of others in times of great national need,” they said.
READ MORE: iPhones and GPS owe their existence to US government-funded research. What's at stake with Trump cuts to university funding
Harvard President Alan Garber received warm applause from the faculty and graduating class at today's commencement celebration.
Garber, who has been the public face of Harvard's legal fight against the Trump administration, was applauded for a full minute after giving an enthusiastic “Welcome!” to the audience.
Garber was loudly applauded again after making an indirect reference to the university's legal pushback against the White House's effort to make it impossible for Harvard to accept international students.
“Members of the Class of 2025, from down the street, across the country and around the world … just as it should be,” Garber said.
Graduates, he added, should be prepared to “expand our thinking and change our minds in the process.”
“My hope for you, members of the Class of 2025, is that you stay comfortable being uncomfortable,” Garber said.
Watch the moment:
Harvard President Alan Garber received warm applause at the university's commencement ceremony as Harvard's legal fight against the Trump administration continues. Garber was loudly applauded again after making an indirect reference to the university's legal pushback against the White House's effort to make it impossible for Harvard to accept international students. #cnn #news #trump #harvarduniversity #harvard #alangarber #internationalstudent
Harvard University's commencement ceremony comes on a “day of mixed emotions,” Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology told CNN Thursday, amid the ongoing battle between the school and the Trump administration that could determine whether international students can attend the Ivy League school in the fall.
“Harvard is doing it's best and I'm doing my best to make it a day of joy and satisfaction, pride – especially to the families of the students who worked so hard for four years, families who made sacrifices to send their kids here,” Pinker told CNN's Kate Bolduan.
But hanging over the day, Pinker said, “is the knowledge that, amazingly, the American government seems to be at war with its most famous university.”
“Knowledge has no boundaries, particularly science,” Pinker said. “To do the best possible scholarship, you have to be in touch with all scholars, from all over the world.”
“There is no reason to put a wall around the United States. Sometimes the best science is done in some other country and we want to bring them here and find out what they are doing,” he said.
The commencement ceremony for Harvard's graduating class of 2025 – the 374th celebration in the school's storied history – has begun.
Harvard was bursting with activity Thursday morning as thousands packed into historic Harvard Yard for commencement – all while the school's ongoing battle with the Trump administration loomed over the day.
Beaming graduating seniors were decked out in caps and gowns as family members in suits and spring dresses swarmed to celebrate their loves ones.
Meanwhile, outside the campus' main gates, two dozen or so pro-Palestinian protesters gathered amid lines into the commencement event. Older protesters who did not appear to be students held signs reading, “Gaza must have food and water,” and “Ceasefire Now.”
A smaller group of pro-Israel counterprotesters also stood outside the gates, with some among them arguing with some of pro-Palestinian protesters. Despite the crush of people filling the streets of Cambridge, all was relatively calm leading up to commencement.
Basketball legend and social activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came out in strong defense of Harvard University and its leadership during a speech Wednesday on campus.
“When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy free speech, (Harvard President) Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures the way Rosa Parks defied the entire weight of systemic racism in 1955,” Abdul-Jabbar said, according to The Harvard Gazette, the school's official publication.
Abdul-Jabbar – who is being awarded an honorary degree Thursday by the university – was the keynote speaker at Class Day, an event for underclassmen held a day before the university's main commencement exercises.
“After seeing so many cowering billionaires, media moguls, law firms, politicians, and other universities bend their knees to an administration that is systematically strip-mining the U.S. Constitution, it is inspiring to me to see Harvard University take a stand for freedom,” said Abdul-Jabbar.
The Trump administration has thrown the lives of the university's 7,000 international students into distress and disarray, with some afraid of attending commencement this week, Harvard's director of immigration services spelled out yesterday in a new court filing.
Some US students are even reconsidering enrolling this fall because of the Trump administration's actions, Maureen Martin wrote in her sworn statement.
Harvard's faculty and administration are being “inundated with questions” from concerned students, and international students are so distressed their mental health has been affected, she wrote.
“Some are afraid to attend their own graduation ceremonies this week out of fear that some immigration-related action will be taken against them,” Martin wrote. “Some have cancelled upcoming international travel plans to conduct academic research or see their families in light of the risk that they might not be admitted back into the United States.”
Martin's declaration in court highlights the competitive disadvantage the Trump administration's recent actions against the university have caused. A judge has temporarily blocked the State Department and Department of Homeland Security from rescinding Harvard's ability to host international students.
Yet some of the damage is already done, the school says.
International students set to come to Harvard for future semesters are reconsidering, including at least one medical school and one law student, Martin added, as are at least three US students who want to study where international students also can be. Others have had trouble getting student visas to the US at embassies abroad in recent days.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
The billionaire's term as a “special government employee” is set to end, but his outsized influence remains.
Billionaire Elon Musk announced late Wednesday that he is leaving the Trump administration after spearheading a monthslong, lawless rampage through the government that hollowed out entire agencies, hurled critical functions such as the distribution of Social Security benefits into chaos, and installed many unqualified lackeys whose work will continue in the coming months and years.
Musk's announcement came just ahead of the official May 30 deadline for his departure as a special government employee. That designation allowed the world's richest man to play a key role in the Trump White House without facing Senate confirmation or the full slate of ethics rules that apply to ordinary federal officials.
“As my scheduled time as a special government employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [Donald Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X. “The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
While Musk came nowhere close to his initially stated goal of slashing $2 trillion in federal spending, his team's infiltration and efforts to gut federal agencies inflicted lasting damage, progressive lawmakers and watchdog groups said in response to news of his departure.
“DOGE is not a way of life, it's a mantra of destruction,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen. “The legacy of Elon Musk is lost livelihoods for critical government employees, hindered American education, loss of funding for scientists, and the violation of Americans' personal privacy, all in the service of corrupt tech-bro billionaire special interests.”
“The carnage is even more horrifying internationally, as Musk's chainsaw will lead to the pointless and needless deaths of likely millions of people in the developing world,” Gilbert added. “This is a legacy of carnage and corruption that will haunt us for many years to come.”
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Musk's exit a win for “the anti-corruption, anti-billionaire movement in American politics” but warned that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's “likely goal is to continue exercising corrupt influence — just from behind a curtain, as billionaires too often do.”
“We will have to keep up the pressure, scrutiny, and eventually formal oversight until we finally take back our government from Musk and the entire billionaire class,” Casar said.
Next week, the Trump White House plans to send to the Republican-controlled Congress a $9.4 billion rescission package that, if passed, would codify some of the spending cuts pursued by Musk's team. Politico reported that the package “will target NPR and PBS, as well as foreign aid agencies that have already been gutted by the Trump administration.”
The impact of DOGE-led attacks on federal agencies and Trump's withholding of hundreds of billions of dollars of congressionally approved spending will persist long after Musk's exit.
Reuters highlighted one example last week, reporting that “Head Start preschool programs for low-income U.S. children are scrambling to cope with funding cuts and delays, as they feel the squeeze of President Donald Trump's cost-cutting drive.”
“Adding to the strain,” the outlet noted, “Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency released $943 million less in congressionally approved funding for distribution through April 15 compared with the previous year.”
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 fell short of our goals in our recent fundraiser, and we must ask for your help. Will you make a one-time or monthly donation?
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 will help us continue our nonprofit movement journalism in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Please make a tax-deductible donation today.
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Follow him on Twitter: @johnsonjakep.
Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day.
Truthout fell short of our fundraising targets, and now we urgently appeal for your support. Will you start a monthly donation of a few dollars?
Defence argues photos taken by police inside Patterson's home appear to show computers and a phone that were not seized during search
Who are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia's mushroom murders trial?
The detective in charge of the investigation into the deadly beef wellington lunch served by Erin Patterson has denied police made several errors in the case, including failing to seize electronic items during a search of her house and wrongly identifying her son on CCTV footage, a court has heard.
Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to poisoning her four lunch guests – relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson – with a beef wellington served at her house in Leongatha, Victoria on 29 July 2023.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to murdering Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, and attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Simon's uncle and Heather's husband.
Lawyers for Patterson say the death cap mushroom poisoning was a tragic and terrible accident.
Det Leading Sen Const Stephen Eppingstall, the informant or officer in charge of the investigation, continued his evidence on Thursday. He is the last prosecution witness in the trial.
Under cross-examination from Colin Mandy SC, for Patterson, Eppingstall was asked to expand on several pieces of evidence already shown to the jury, including message exchanges between Patterson and Don and Gail, the exchanges Patterson shared with her friends on Facebook, CCTV purportedly showing Patterson's son attending Subway in the hours after the lunch, and images taken during the police search of her property on 5 August.
Eppingstall was shown photos taken by police inside Patterson's home which Mandy said appeared to show laptop computers and a phone that he said were not seized by police.
Mandy said a USB at the home was also not seized.
Eppingstall said a large number of items had been seized, and that police had taken everything they considered relevant. A phone allegedly used by Patterson, known as phone A, has never been recovered by police, the court has previously heard.
Mandy also had messages shown to the court between Patterson and her Facebook friends that he said provided context to other messages sent by Patterson that were already in evidence about her relationship with Simon and his parents.
The messages shown to the court on Thursday revealed the Facebook friends making comments like “what morons”, “it's pathetic”, “you are human”, “so sorry Erin it's so fucking hard” and “I went through similar with my ex in-laws, she was wonderful until we split up”.
“This was a chat where a number of the participants were talking like this, that is venting to each other about various issues in their lives,” Mandy asked Eppingstall.
“Yeah that's fair to say, sir, yes,” Eppingstall replied.
Mandy said the chat was also used for “random conversation” about pets, children, and other issues in their lives, referring to a discussion “about the fact that Kirstie Alley was dead”.
Stills taken from CCTV footage of Leongatha Subway were also shown to the court, and compared with separate images of Patterson's son, including one of him with Don, and another taken from the footage of his police interview.
Mandy suggested to Eppingstall that the CCTV footage of Subway previously shown as part of the prosecution case did not depict Patterson's son.
“I believe that's [him], but I guess that's a matter for the jury,” Eppingstall said.
When Mandy said he was “not suggesting there's not a visit to Subway”, simply that the footage did not show Patterson's son, Eppingstall said: “I've got the wrong one, is what you're saying. I don't think so, but that's a matter for you, sir.”
Eppingstall's evidence is set to continue for a fourth day on Friday.
The message coming from the Trump administration is: “Take care of yourselves — because we won't.”
The message coming from the Trump administration is: “Take care of yourselves — because we won't.”
As Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) acolytes readily admit, U.S. public health continues to deteriorate. Five years into the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. life expectancy is at best stalled while those of other industrial countries have rebounded back onto their historical trends upward.
The solution Trump administration officials are offering is to replace 125 years of — albeit underfunded — public health infrastructure with a eugenics-framed program wrapped in natural health packaging.
During his swearing-in as the new director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mehmet Oz presented this program in the terms of wartime sacrifice:
Like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Oz signaled his plans to focus on chronic disease in the U.S., saying it was “the patriotic duty of all Americans to take care of themselves.”
“Because it's important for serving in the military, but it's also important because healthy people don't consume health care resources,” he added. “The best way to reduce drug spending is to use less drugs, because you don't need them, because you're healthy, and it feels a lot better.”
The message: Take care of yourselves — because we won't.
Never mind the trillions of dollars Americans pay into a largely privatized — and very profitable — health care system, far outspending other industrial countries only to suffer worse health outcomes.
The new Trump administration is now compounding this long-standing damage by dismantling the last of the public commons.
It's cutting billions to state programs tracking disease, repealing emissions and drinking water regulations, revoking hundreds of millions in funding for life-saving research, canceling local food programs for schools and food banks, rolling back vaccinations, and shutting down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.
The administration is also truncating the bird flu response and Meals on Wheels; firing CDC's sexually transmitted infections lab team; cutting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); dismembering the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and reducing the Medicare programs Oz will supervise, as Congress weighs deep cuts to Medicaid, pricing the poorest out of health care to the public health cost of us all.
In these programs' stead, MAHA aims to place responsibility for health problems on the individual. Americans must somehow eat better and sleep more while also working more hours than their European counterparts, for stagnating pay. Americans must now “do their own research” on complex medical matters beyond the due diligence that can reasonably be expected of any adult — as if each of us can serve as our own CDC.
Nothing inspires patriotism like blaming Americans for the societal damage the political class pursues in their name.
Democratic Party politicos, largely state officials outside Washington, D.C., have objected to these rollbacks both in the press and in the courts. Many a Democratic accusation, however, also carries the ring of a confession.
Where, after all, did the Trump administration get the idea the pandemic was over and that it could strip out federal COVID-19 programs? Or that public health was a matter of “you do you” individualism? Wasn't it only three years ago that President Biden's CDC Director Rochelle Walensky took a eugenics position on the pandemic, claiming it was good news that it was largely people with underlying health conditions who were dying from COVID?
Who botched the latest bird flu response to begin with? What administration did nearly nothing around the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio? Who green-lighted over a year of Palestinian genocide, with, we recently learned, even Israeli officials surprised President Joe Biden never pressed for a ceasefire and with Secretary of State Antony Blinken approving bombing Gaza aid convoys?
There's a shared path across administrations leading to this public health moment — with whole populations at home and abroad increasingly abandoned. Any opposition movement must understand that these patterns began long before Donald Trump if it aims to fight back effectively.
The problem here is a structural crisis of capitalism and requires more than an electoral solution. The public commons no longer holds space within existing relations of private property and production. The bases of our shared society are being treated as disposable baggage, threatening the country's very existence.
Under whichever political party, public health, by definition, can never be conducted as an individualist enterprise.
Yes, each of us has choices to make and responsibilities to attend to during a pandemic or other emergency, but — as the CDC missed even before Trump — effective public health isn't merely an emergent property of many millions of individual choices. Public health requires collective decision-making. It requires action at scale — from the neighborhood level to global cooperation.
Our health is connected to people halfway across town or halfway across the world. Making sure we can mutually protect ourselves requires us to arrive at decisions together. Our society relies on this collective decision-making to protect our shared social health.
Modern employers — from the classical liberal era to neoliberalism and the now-accelerating turn toward a fascistic reorganization of government — have consistently opposed such an objective.
While some employers want the state to help keep the workforce healthy enough to be efficiently exploited on the job, other employers — and sometimes the very same ones — are perfectly willing to serve workers into the maw of occupational dangers in order to reduce expenses.
Elsewhere, employers and their proxies demand that funding for social services be redirected to industrial subsidies or tax cuts for the rich. Sick or dead employees can just be replaced from the reserve army of labor — the unemployed surviving on society's margins — or, increasingly, by AI.
Countries differ in how they approach public health programming. National programs differed in their response to COVID and bird flu. But any such program must operate at scales of organization that match the scales of the problems jurisdictions face.
So no corporation, individual, or market can defeat a pandemic. Public goods like public health and clean water require other orders of intervention. We cannot shop our way out of problems in population health, which represent far more than the mere “externalities” corporations park off their balance sheets or the influencer marketing MAHA is attempting to turn into policy.
The connections between the structure of a society and its public health practices speak directly to bedrock notions of social justice and fairness.
Our collective health arises from the daily ergonomics of the workplace and the kinds of collective decisions we make around how to organize and run our neighborhoods and rural communities.
The notion that workers and residents could govern themselves from the bottom-up seems to many commentators beyond our increasingly top-down society. History, however, is replete with examples. For instance, Maroon communities were self-governing safe havens for self-liberated formerly enslaved people, often joining with Indigenous people throughout the southern hemisphere.
Historian Mike Davis describes the origins of Chambers of Commerce as a desperate employer effort to counter Chambers of Labor, another example, which fought for worker well-being from the factory floor to the neighborhood block.
With only Chambers of Commerce left today, the top-down version is now presented and operationalized as the natural order of things. In our hyper-individualist culture, the boss/employer/owners — and Kennedy, Oz, Walensky, and other officials in recent governance — aim to shift all responsibility for health outcomes, and all the blame, onto atomized individuals.
We see similar efforts in other sectors. The framing the oil industry attempted in making everything environmental a consumer choice also underlies the COVID-19 response. We cannot consume our way out of a pandemic, however, even with the best respirators or hand sanitizers on the market.
The labor movement structurally disrupts the notion that each of us alone is enough during a widespread health crisis. Most union members working on workplace safety instantly recognize and dismiss this “blame the worker” (and the worker alone) approach.
We could all benefit from learning to assimilate that recognition as a social gut instinct. The health of the country would likely improve if the public moved away from viewing its interests and well-being in the funhouse mirror of the employers and the political candidates that the wealthiest fund.
Such a pivot would also suit U.S. public health practitioners. Many public health models accept — and operationalize — the political premises of the institutions funding them, with significant impacts on our health interventions.
A variety of public health models, for instance, show only things that a worker or consumer can do during a crisis.
A common representation of this approach comes out of Ian Mackay's adaptation of James Reason's “Swiss Cheese” model for respiratory defense. Each “slice” of an intervention has its uses and problems. Layering the different kinds of interventions covers each slice's functional holes. What masking misses, handwashing, eye protection and social distancing can likely catch.
We see in such models always the “me,” never the “we.” Every intervention is the individual's personal responsibility.
Hospital epidemiologist Saskia Popescu presents a broader version, showing what individuals can do — wear masks, get vaccinated — and what “we” can do collectively:
Yet “shared responsibilities” universalizes updating the HVAC system at your work, the downtown library or the neighborhood bar to no one in particular.
If everyone is responsible, then no one is responsible, and nothing is changed. “We,” “our,” and “shared” must always be explicitly identified. It's the boss's responsibility to provide clean air and personal protective equipment (PPE) at work, though perhaps the model is technically right in that without unions demanding clean air through bargaining or legislation, the intervention might not ever take place.
The abrupt end to federal pandemic protections guaranteed companies would stop providing paid COVID sick leave and other precautions (now including vaccination) on their own. Employers, as most people who call in sick know, hate paying people not to work.
Some employers chose a different path, if only in passing fashion. The University of Southern California (USC) adapted the Swiss cheese model to illustrate its own responsibility alongside the responsibility of individuals within that institution:
USC didn't distribute free masks, but did provide testing, tracing and HVAC upgrades to good epidemiological effect.
Which health model institutions use shapes what they see as the nature of the emergency and what they choose to do about it. The model of personal responsibility isn't entirely wrong — but it is woefully incomplete.
The most frightening model — the social Darwinism that encourages sacrificing elders or youth to the needs of the market — often went unspoken during the early pandemic (except for a shameless lieutenant governor of Texas here and there). As Oz's press conference demonstrated, the soft eugenics of early COVID is now being increasingly deployed in more explicit language.
The Swiss cheese model provides an excellent, accessible tool for grasping multilayered problems and their solutions. We now need to keep track when modelers and policy makers leave out whole blocks of slices that make the critical epidemiological difference. We cannot let the growing holes in the model be normalized.
There are other models. One of the better ones for a workplace, or even for a country or economy, comes from the American Industrial Hygiene Association's (AIHA) review of “hierarchy of controls” (HoC). Many union safety activists use this starter one from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH):
Note the engineering controls are elevated in effectiveness above PPE, in, for instance, preventing COVID infection and keeping the virus out of the workplace. It's the presence of engineering and administrative controls such as testing, sick days, bringing in outside air, and filtering the air with upgraded filters that drive the greater part of infection outcomes in the workplace:
Horizon Risk Consultancy, the consultant that adapted the NIOSH HoC for COVID here, does not, however, recommend air filters, HVAC upgrades or paid sick leave.
Here's a more comprehensive version of the COVID HoC model from Doctors in Unite, the British medical union, including changes in ergonomics, working outside or from home and wage protections:
The full array of possible COVID-specific interventions inside the body and out are gathered in one graphic, including vaccination, face masks, distancing, ventilation, remote work, and, if necessary, furlough.
We see the most effective occupational intervention is to keep the hazard outside the workplace.
Prevention through design — like building codes that design out fire risk — offers many professions, including building engineers, building inspectors and sanitation workers, opportunities to serve as public health heroes and save lives. In a prevention framework that extends beyond the individual, these are our true first responders.
The important work that firefighters, nurses, doctors and EMTs conduct should be embraced, of course, but also understood as the second and third lines of public defense. If a patient's first encounter with a professional about their heart problem is a paramedic, society failed that patient.
Public health ecologists Deborah Wallace and Rodrick Wallace argue the modeling of emergencies, however necessary, often misses when and where the emergency begins. Structural causes — including expropriation, patriarchy and white supremacy — are as much part of the emergency, a bigger picture public health movements should assimilate in the face of the present administration's efforts to censor such understanding.
This framework of prevention also puts engineers, architects, sheet metal workers and other trades in a position to design and construct buildings that inhibit the spread of airborne diseases. Preventing hospital visits saves both lives and money, but in ways that — contrary to the policies of Kennedy and Oz — place responsibility on those with the power to intervene at scale.
The entire design and construction professions, beyond essential public health measures like redesigning meat processing plants and following the new LEED certification that includes indoor air quality standards, should collaborate with unions in redesigning every workplace and all public spaces to better public health.
In other words, even the very best of the Swiss cheese models miss arguably the most critical interventions of all: the very package in which the slices come. While the diagrams show individuals, the government and even corporations, they do not show any organization of workers themselves — from unions to broader communities and how we choose to organize our society.
It is the responsibility of workers' organizations, whether in the workplace or in the greater community, to push for the implementation of these safety protections — often of stunning epidemiological impact — in a society that presently denies them as a matter of principle.
Other parts of the bigger picture are still missing. Individual buildings and workplaces successfully eliminating COVID and future outbreaks will slow, but not end, pandemics.
Ultimately, preventing most zoonotic pathogens from emerging in the first place will better position us to bring the “age of pandemics” to an end. We can protect nature from the doomsday extractivism driving disease emergence by deploying regenerative agriculture, agroecology, conservation, regional planning, land back movements, and cooperative agro-economies. We can return the locus of control around what to grow to farmers and farming communities while also integrating Indigenous knowledge.
That is, we should better integrate collective choice and mutual economics up and down scales of social organization, across sectors and over our shared landscapes.
Building on the back half of the Biden era, the Trump administration appears intent on exactly the opposite trajectory. It seems to be aiming to convince people that public health itself is the danger and removing it is a societal advance.
The resulting stops on the administration's MAHA campaign trail have been shameless in their misdirection.
In April, RFK Jr. shared with tribes in Arizona and New Mexico the administration's intention to prevent chronic disease in Native American populations. The administration, however, had just effectively ended the CDC Healthy Tribes program by mass firing program staff. The program deployed traditional medicine and foods to tackle disproportionate rates of chronic conditions, including diabetes and liver disease.
RFK Jr.'s announcement that HHS would prompt the food industry to remove synthetic dyes still left in the food system was juxtaposed with reports only a week earlier that the FDA would be ending federal-level food safety inspections and quality control programs for food testing laboratories.
The FDA had also just closed out an unpublicized investigation of a 15-state E. coli outbreak. The agency's internal report on the outbreak didn't even name the food suppliers and distributors involved, part of a broader abandonment in informing the public about outbreaks since the inauguration.
Oz's swearing-in ended in a similar if more allegorical fashion:
Television personality Mehmet Oz was sworn in as the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid on Friday, but the Oval Office ceremony ended when a girl family member fainted.
A reporter was about to ask a question when the incident occurred, and Trump looked over at what was happening. White House staffers could then be heard shouting “press out” and “get out right now.”
With an empty gesture at a diagnosis:
Trump then went over to see what happened, and could be heard saying, “She's OK.”
By that flippant assurance, found more widely in the MAHA program, a country is all well when it ends well. And by many a measure of what counts as a functioning society, the new administration signals its intent on wrapping up the project called the United States. A country without public health operating at scale can scarcely survive as such a thing — unless Americans organize together to get public health locked in as a central public tenet.
This piece was adapted from Pandemic Research for the People Dispatch #10 on collective choice and public health.
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 fell short of our goals in our recent fundraiser, and we must ask for your help. Will you make a one-time or monthly donation?
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 will help us continue our nonprofit movement journalism in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Please make a tax-deductible donation today.
Joe Sexauer is director of membership services and organizing at Racine Educators United.
Rita Valenti is a retired nurse and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the People's CDC.
Rob Wallace is an organizer with Pandemic Research for the People and author of The Fault in Our SARS.
Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day.
Truthout fell short of our fundraising targets, and now we urgently appeal for your support. Will you start a monthly donation of a few dollars?
“Making durable changes isn't always about the raw numbers,” says Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò.
“Making durable changes isn't always about the raw numbers,” says Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. In this episode of “Movement Memos,” Táíwò and host Kelly Hayes talk about protest, why large “awareness raising” events will not defeat Trump and the kind of actions and formations we need in these times.
Music by Son Monarcas & David Celeste
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 protest, coalitional politics, the Trumpian crusade against DEI, and why the right doesn't care what kind of leftist you are. We will be hearing from Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò. Olúfẹ́mi is an associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Climate and Community Institute. He is the author of Elite Capture, Reconsidering Reparations, and a contributor to Greta Thunberg's The Climate Book. Olúfẹ́mi is someone I am constantly looking to as I try to make sense of this moment and what it demands of us, and I hope you'll find his insights as helpful as I have.
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: Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, welcome to “Movement Memos.”
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò: Thanks for having me.
KH: How are you doing today?
OOT: Pretty good, all things considered. How are you doing?
KH: I am managing and muddling, which I guess is pretty okay, all things considered. I am also really grateful to be in conversation with you today.
OOT: Likewise.
KH: So, some of our listeners will obviously be familiar with your work, or might remember our last conversation, but for the unacquainted, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work?
OOT: I teach political philosophy at Georgetown. My political interests extend beyond teaching political philosophy. I'm one of the fellows at the Climate and Community Institute. I've done organizing in the past with my workers union, first in grad school, which was a UAW local, and am now one of the people organizing Georgetown's AAUP chapter. And beyond that, my interests are in the Black radical tradition, anticolonial traditions, both intellectually and otherwise.
KH: Well, I am so glad to have you back on the show, because, among other things, I have been eager to discuss your recent piece, “Why Protests Should Be Promises,” which was published in Time magazine. In the piece, you argue that protests should not only express dissent but also serve as credible threats of sustained action, such as strikes, boycotts, or other forms of collective withholding to compel systemic change. Could you talk about why this concept of a protest as a promise feels especially urgent in this moment?
OOT: I think one of the things that, obviously, veteran organizers well know, but maybe people who are newer to organizing, newer to protest culture, might reflect on is why protests work. I think we've been often given this very tidy story about past political movements, especially the civil rights movement, where there was a march and there was expression of disagreement, there was awareness spread about social injustices of various kinds. Then question mark, question mark, then change happened, and a lot of details go unremarked on, unreflected on in those question marks that we skip past.
And in general, I think we're starting to see that lack of reflection reflect itself in the organizing. It's fine if people have criticisms of this or that particular organization out there, if you have criticisms of a particular union or unions in general, or if you have criticisms of a particular church or churches in general or if you have criticisms of a particular religious organization. But the reason why these kinds of collections of people were able to succeed at being parts of social change in previous generations, in previous eras of political history, is because of what I was talking about in the article.
It was because they were able to command not just attention, not just cause awareness of political issues, but they could meaningfully mess things up for the powerful as a result of being able to organize people at scale, whether it was the bus boycotts, whether it was strike actions, whether it was withholding rent. And I think we need to think about that kind of leverage if we believe our own criticisms of the people in power.
I think a lot of people agree with the notions that the various people in power, the health care executives, the shareholders of large corporations – they don't care. They're insufficiently attentive to what's going on in our society. They're letting people become homeless, they're letting people die of preventable health care problems. And if we really internalize the view of the world that I think follows from that, then I don't think we can have an awareness-based strategy of how we get them to stop running health care or housing or anything else in the way that they're doing.
KH: I really appreciate what you've raised here about leveraging power, because I agree that we are dealing with some major, popular misunderstandings around protest. In addition to the historical simplifications you were talking about, one of my concerns is that a lot of people simply don't know what it means to build leverage. For example, after the Hands Off marches that some of us participated in, which drew millions of people into the streets, I saw some people referring hopefully to the “3.5 percent rule.” For folks who are unfamiliar, the 3.5 percent rule is a theory derived from Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth's research on nonviolent movements. The theory suggests that no government can withstand a challenge of 3.5 percent of the country's population mobilizing against it in a peak event.
Now, in addition to the fact that Chenoweth has acknowledged that there are actual historical exceptions to this theory, including recent uprisings in Bahrain, where the government withstood a mobilization of 6 percent of the country's population, Chenoweth has also stated:
The rule does not speak to leadership, strategic imagination, organizational capacity, or sustainability. Strategic leadership is required to organize a constituency, motivate their engagement, design campaigns adaptively, innovate tactics creatively, mobilize allies, respond to adversaries, sustain long-term organizational capacity, and devise alternatives to existing systems. A movement's ability to do this is probably more important than a movement's ability to quickly mobilize a large number of people, especially because today's digital organizing environment makes it easier to coordinate mass protests but not necessarily to sustain them.
Now, I know that was a long quote, but I think it's really important. Chenoweth also specifies that the movements she studied for her dataset were not reformist movements, but movements that sought maximalist outcomes, such as overthrowing governments or claiming independence. So we're talking about different contexts as well, depending on your perspective.
Alongside those caveats, there are also critiques of Chenoweth and Stephan's work that I think are worth considering. I find Andreas Malm's counterarguments particularly compelling, but even if we were to take the 3.5 percent rule, as Chenoweth has explained it at face value, we need to understand that it doesn't mean that 3.5 percent of us getting together on a Saturday afternoon and participating in permitted marches across the country and holding signs will mean that Trump has to resign. That is not a thing. And I am not saying this to devalue the big marches that people have organized because I do think they have value. I attended those protests for a reason. I believe mass marches can help us rally our collective spirits and remind people that they're not alone, and that they have the potential to be a part of something larger than themselves.
But I think trying to recreate that energy through mass marches repeatedly, whether the marches are permitted or not, is a losing proposition because you're not really amassing power. You're not, as you're saying, establishing leverage, and you're not affecting material outcomes. And over time, people get tired of doing the same thing and not seeing any results. So numbers dwindle, which feels disempowering to the people who do keep showing up. And I have seen this kind of errant approach of continuously trying to replicate moments that feel empowering or inspiring across a number of movements. And we really don't have time to get stuck in this cycle this time around.
Strategy right now is not about scheduling the next big march.
OOT: Yeah, I absolutely agree. And I would just add, if we're talking about a counterexample to the surface-level misreading that once you get a mass protest of 3 percent of the population that you get large-scale social change, we could add ourselves in the United States to that, right? The estimates of the percentage of the population that participated in the 2020 summer uprisings after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, they range from 6 percent to 10 percent of the U.S. population. So I think it's important both that we understand that the claim being made in the first place wasn't if you have a protest or a series of protests with a certain percentage of the population that you're automatically going to get social change, and then I think it's also important, the clarification that you point out about Chenoweth, what demands people were making is an important aspect of the extra details we would want to know besides the 3.5 percent magic number, what other organizational capacities the people represented in the 3.5 or whatever percent have and cultivate is something that we would want to know that gets left out of that simple story. And the more you stare at those details, the more, I think, you have to come to the conclusion that those are actually the things that matter most, more than the 3.5 percent number.
So, obviously, the more people are involved, the better, and there's a reason to keep track of how many people are involved, but we really need to focus in on what we're getting people involved to do. And it's got to be something better, deeper, and more compelling than just telling people to express displeasure with how things are going.
KH: So, in thinking about what actually makes a protest effective, I'm curious, is there a protest you've participated in that you believe was especially effective?
OOT: There's one I think about a lot in this context, just because, in a way, it's my personal best counterexample to the excessive number focus. One of the most influential, most successful protests I've ever participated in had, if I recall correctly, exactly five people involved. We were protesting the lack of all-gender restrooms on the third floor of our building, which is where the philosophy department was at UCLA. And one of my union siblings, she figured out who the decision-maker was on the facility side of things that was the immediate barrier between getting a bathroom designated as an all-gender bathroom and not.
And she organized a bunch of us to go plaster this guy's name across campus, to make signs, to have a bullhorn, and walk the right blocks of campus where the right people would notice us. And lo and behold, I think to this day, there is still an all-gender bathroom on the third floor of Dodd Hall. And all it took was knowing specifically who to pressure, how to pressure them, and getting not zero people, not one person, but enough people, which turned out to be literally five. But the context was we were all members of the workers union or most of us were. And I think the administration knew that if they dug in too hard, the next version of this confrontation might involve more than five people. It might involve things like the press and so on and so forth.
So I don't want to make it sound as though as soon as you find four other people, you can make any change to any political system. But I think the point stands that making durable changes, making specific kinds of interventions politically, isn't always about the raw numbers. Sometimes it's about picking your spots and knowing what's vulnerable, and importantly, having the ability to, when the chips are down, move large numbers.
KH: I love that. And to be honest, this question of what makes a protest effective is really dear to my heart, as a movement educator, so I am going to geek out and go on a bit of a rant here.
I usually think of protest, not in terms of permitted marches, but in terms of direct action. Every direct action is a protest, but not every protest is a direct action. A direct action is an intervention that occurs outside the status quo, so it's something we're not getting permission for. And in the school of thought I've worked with, there are four primary purposes for a direct action: To advance a strategic campaign, to mark a momentous occasion, to participate in acts of political communion, or to address the needs of our communities in ways that defy or challenge the status quo. Some direct actions represent a mashup of these intentions.
For example, here in Chicago, we have a long tradition of rallying outside juvenile detention centers around the December holidays. We sing songs and sometimes we carry lighted messages that spell out the words, “WE LOVE YOU,” and we bring messages of love and care to the young people inside those facilities, which fulfills a community need. Those young people need our love and support. And at the same time, by standing out there in the cold, and singing, and tearing up while those children wave and draw hearts in soap on their windows, we are also reaffirming our values. That's political communion. We are being reminded of who we are, and why we're in the struggle in the first place — and that's very important to our political endurance.
But we're not just organizing to comfort people who are harmed by the system or to reaffirm who we are in relation to the system, we're also trying to make material changes.
So in that vein, another action that comes to mind for me is a really simple one, in the home stretch for the fight for reparations, for victims of police torture in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel was particularly politically vulnerable very suddenly because he wound up in a mayoral runoff. We planned and executed a lot of actions during that time, but one that I think carried a lot of weight was an artful action outside his home. It was very cold, there was a lot of snow on the ground, and there were cops outside guarding his house because this was a moment of peak protest. But a group of people all sprang out of their cars and around corners at the same time. And we spelled out a message in lights outside his home and the message read, “REPARATIONS NOW.”
We got a photo with the house in the background and we turned around for a moment to face the house so Rahm could see the message. We saw lights go out inside the house, so we knew there were people there seeing it, pretending not to be home. And then we got out of there before anyone got arrested. That image, as part of the campaign, went viral on social media. It was published, and republished, and it really carried the message that this legacy of torture and the demand to address it was inescapable for Emanuel. We were literally bringing it to his doorstep.
That attention was the last thing he needed or wanted to focus on at that time. And we ultimately won that campaign. And a lot of people, who were tortured under the leadership of Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge, received reparations in the form of monetary compensation, mental health care, access to education for themselves and their families, and more. And that home stretch of direct actions was crucial to that outcome. But we're also talking about an effort that was many years in the making, a true coalitional effort between groups and individuals. And ultimately, it was won by leveraging our power and the political vulnerability of our bitch-ass mayor.
OOT: Magnificent.
KH: So let's talk about what we need to accomplish and build right now. What do you think the organizing and formations we need to get out of this mess look like?
OOT: So I think anything that can play the role of strong-arming the people in charge could potentially be the kind of organization or the kind of effort that would work. Historically, unless you're seceding from a country, then maybe you're talking about an army or a militia. I guess if folks want to do that, they can do that. But historically, we're talking about unions, workers unions, tenants unions. More recently, people have been talking about creating debtors unions. These are organizations that involve the disempowered, but don't just involve them in the way that NGOs might involve the disempowered or the way that philanthropy, that charity might involve the disempowered, that's like recipients of something that some other group of people are doing. But the point of a union is to make the disempowered powerful.
The point of a tenants union is that if the landlord has to deal with all the tenants at once, now suddenly it's not as obvious. It's not as clear who has the upper hand in that engagement. You're evening the playing field just a little bit. And the more powerful the tenant union is, the more even the playing field is. I think in principle, any group of people that's prepared to take an action, whether it's one of those kinds of organizations or some other kind, could be that kind of organization, so long as the action hits the enemy where it hurts. So the Montgomery bus boycott, not principally organized by unions, but withholding money from people that want money, that's a way to have leverage. The people boycotting Target right now, I think you could say, are doing a version of that. And I think they're putting some real pressure on Target and I think time will tell how well that works. But I think it's certainly the kind of thing that has worked historically, and it represents smart political thinking, so we need to do a lot more of that.
KH: I agree that we need union power, now more than ever. If people want to learn more about union organizing, I really recommend checking out No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey. And if people are interested in tenant organizing, I think Abolish Rent is an absolute must-read. I really agree with you that moments of mass protest should be moments where we are flexing the structured power that we are building.
I also really think this is a time for people to experiment, in terms of doing what it takes to meet community needs, from accessing the care people need to organizing community defense. There are longstanding traditions of harm reduction work that people can learn from, in terms of what it means to care for people, even when that means breaking the rules. For people who feel drawn toward that kind of work, I really recommend checking out Shira Hassan's book Saving Our Own Lives and Angela's Hume's book Deep Care. Dean Spade's book Mutual Aid is also a really important resource, if you're focused on addressing community needs.
And if people are really interested in work that involves breaking rules, I would also encourage folks to know who they are working with and make sure that you have a lot of trust, and have done some solid risk assessment, because we want people to act righteously and consent to risk in an informed way. For some people, who they can trust with information that shouldn't be public is obvious — maybe you have co-strugglers or trusted neighbors, or people you've known for years who are the only people you would do that kind of work with. That's ideal. But if you don't have that kind of long-term understanding, and you're looking to break rules, I highly recommend checking out Vision Change Win's Get in Formation Toolkit. There is a section on vetting that everyone should read, and you can also use their risk assessment toolkit to think through what you're doing, and make sure you've covered all of your bases. Because whatever we're doing, we want to look out for ourselves and each other, and move in a good way.
And speaking of how we move, and how we build with people, I have frequently quoted something you said on social media about what we prioritize in our dealings with other people. You wrote, “At some point, you should decide whether you will accept the discipline imposed by your material objectives and commitments or the discipline imposed by your resentments.” Can you talk about the distinction between the discipline imposed by our objectives and the discipline imposed by our resentments, and how you see these motivations showing up on the political landscape?
OOT: So one of the themes I've talked a lot about in the last few years, especially around the idea of elite capture and some of the discussions that get brought up in that context, is coalitional politics. I think people rightly have lots of resentments about the way that they are treated, people who are dealing with bigotry on a daily basis, dealing with disrespect on a daily basis. Part of being the kind of person that would fight for a better world is being the kind of person that doesn't just take disrespect and bigotry lying down. We should be the kind of people that object to that, whether it happens at work or in the organizing place or wherever it happens.
So at bottom, I'm deeply sympathetic to the resentment people have about misogyny or about racism or about any of the other things that we're fighting against in our organizations. But one of the places that people often take it is a suspicion, sometimes even what they take as a principled stance against certain kinds of relationships. We're not going to work politically with this kind of person or with that organization because of the kind of people that are in that org. And that is one response you can have to the well-earned, well-justified resentments that we all develop.
But there is still the question of what it is you're trying to accomplish politically and whether or not, as a matter of fact, you can do it without that org over there or without that neighbor over there or without that section of the union. And I think if we're serious about things like the 3.5 percent rule, if we're serious about things like mass politics, if we're serious about things like organizing across our workplace or our apartment building or our church congregation, we're going to find ourselves in a position where we have to choose between leaning into our assessments of who deserves our support or who deserves our scorn and resentment and who it is that we, in fact, need to work with and build with if we're going to get the job done, if we're going to challenge the richest, most well-armed organizations and people on the planet.
And I think we will find, if we ask ourselves the strategic questions that we … We need a lot of people. We certainly don't need people who are going to actively work against our interests. So there's a fine line between letting things go and letting wreckers in, but we need to be honest about where that line is. And sometimes we mobilize arguments that are designed to prevent people from entering the movement who are wreckers, and we use those arguments to defend our own wrecker-type behavior. And that is what I'm getting at with that quote. We need to be disciplined … We will be disciplined by something. We will behave, we will make choices, we will make connections or fail to make connections, and we can either let our anger do the choosing for us or we can let our goals do the choosing for us.
KH: I really appreciate what you're saying about taking mass politics seriously, and taking what we believe it takes to win seriously, because, as a jumping off point, I don't think everyone does. I think that some of the politics of disqualification, where people kind of wear ideologies and ideas as merit badges, and strut around saying, “Behold my righteous politics,” and vote people off the island all day — I think that shit's often, really, a form of surrender. It's a resignation, a shrinking down of what it means to do politics to the scale of maybe winning arguments or coming off as better than someone else. It's about having a righteous political identity rather than winning a political battle, and I think that often, the object of winning doesn't even enter into the calculus, because there's no theory or vision of that — other than maybe, at best, the bad guys will eventually crumble on their own, and personally, I can't accept that as a game plan. Even if I were to accept that as inevitable, the costs along the way are too damn high.
Dwelling in expressions of disdain, disgust, and sanctimony may get likes and reposts, because people love that shit, but it does not build power. And while people on the left model that, and some folks mistake that kind of acting out for the work of doing politics, the right is accumulating more and more actual power, and taking even greater control of our lives.
And so I think that we need to, as you say, acknowledge that we have a right to be mad about some shit, and also be disciplined about what we want to see happen. As Mariame and I wrote in Let This Radicalize You, how much discomfort is the whole world worth? That is an admonition I take seriously in my own work, and I am challenged by it all the time. And you know, anyone who has worked with me knows, I am no pushover. I will push back on some fucked up behavior, but I also approach difference more carefully and diplomatically than I would have ten years ago, because I am a better organizer now than I was ten years ago. Organizing is a craft, and I am better than I used to be at prioritizing what I want to see happen, and what I hope we're all going to do in order to survive, or have health care, or have homes, or end police violence — whatever it is, I know how to make that more important than the fact that I am not gonna like everyone in the room, and that some folks are gonna be on some bullshit.
But sometimes when I say this, people will tell me that people not experiencing social consequences for having taken bad or offensive positions doesn't help us move forward. What would you say to those folks?
OOT: If someone can tell me the story, actually, if someone can paint me the consequential picture that starts at being shunned by a few leftists on the internet or something and ending up at a real change of heart, not just on the scale of the particular individuals being shunned, but on the scale of, say, the 3.5 percent number or even larger than that, if that's the story of a massive cultural shift, I'd be receptive to that. I don't think out of hand that it's impossible that we could get to one from the other, but I don't myself see it.
I think at the end of the day, you have to make a decision about what it is that you mean when you're saying that what your politics is informed by is a political ideology like anti-imperialism or socialism, or is informed by advocacy for a particular marginalized group, a pro-women politics or pro-Black politics, something like that, is what you mean that the aesthetic in your head that you attach to those ideas you describe as pro-Black or pro-woman or pro-colonized, or something like that, or do you mean that you actually want to do something for the actual people out there in the world that correspond to those labels because those people think all sorts of things and are problematic in all sorts of ways and are excellent in all sorts of ways and have opinions that were not formed in a radical reading group, but were formed by the same propaganda and the same material oppression that formed the rest of the world.
And I think the retreat from engaging with the actual empirical things that people think and say across identity groups, across classes, across races, across genders, et cetera, and just carving out a small niche of like-minded people that you're willing to engage with is a form of surrender, as you were saying, because it's trading the actual nature of the struggle that we have in front of us with a science fictional one. We don't need to contend with the things people actually think and say out there in the world outside of the people that view the world in the way that we do. And we certainly don't need to deal with the consequences of the decisions those people make out there, except as they inform what criticisms we circulate amongst ourselves in here. But once you adopt the actual practical goal of trying to do something about the world outside of your affinity group, outside of the circle of people that think and move like you do, you necessarily have to take seriously some stuff that maybe objectively doesn't deserve to be taken seriously or maybe people that you think don't deserve to be taken seriously, but that's the job, or else we're just not doing the thing that we say we're doing.
KH: I also think we need a lot more humility. As a Native person living in the United States, I have never seen clean hands or clean money, and I have met very few people in my life who I would say did not benefit from someone else's suffering or oppression, and who did not move in ignorance or indifference to that oppression and suffering, at some point, and that includes me. I think that we had really better hope that people can be redeemed for the ways that they have been ignorant of other people's suffering, benefited from other people's suffering, and not really read into the consequences of their actions. We had all better hope that people can be redeemed, under those circumstances, because I don't really know anyone in my day-to-day life who's excluded from that.
We live in the heart of empire. There's lots of accountability to go around and there's a lot of mistakes that have been made. But I think that we really need to accept that any movement to make things better is going to be an amalgamation of flawed people operating on a really fucked-up terrain. It's going to be about trying to make things happen that need to happen.
And in that process, in the waging of struggle, what we can learn about each other, what we can learn from each other about how to maybe make some things right, that's not the pursuit of purity. It's the pursuit of solidarity and really showing up for each other in ways that are meaningful and doing the work of collective survival in ways that a lot of people clearly aren't ready for, but that I hope we are going to get ready for. Because, all of this disqualification, talking about why everybody and their brother isn't good enough to be part of the struggle — that shit does not reflect the stakes. When it comes down to it, in a struggle for collective survival, you struggle with the people who are there and who are willing to lock arms. And I think imprisoned organizers understand that better than anyone, which is why we should be learning everything we can from incarcerated and formerly incarcerated organizers right now, because those folks know what it's like to move under fascistic conditions.
And good labor organizers understand this, too, inasmuch as you have to be able to organize with people who aren't of your own choosing. And if you can't do that, then you're really not going to get a thing done at scale.
OOT: Yeah, who's in your apartment building? Who's on your cell block? You didn't pick those, but that's who you have to work with. And just to that same point about humility, I don't know, maybe some people … I actually have met some people that just seem to have, from birth, had good politics. Every now and again, I look at them like they're aliens because there's like three of them, but I am certainly not one of them. And I remember having not-so-good political opinions and habits and ways of talking. And I remember why I challenged those. And I'll tell you in not a single instance was it me just reasoning from first principles and the delightful purity of my soul out of propaganda and years of socialization into a better outlook. I happened to meet someone who told me something or led me to an experience that made me challenge some belief that I had or some fucked-up way of talking that I had or some fucked-up way of treating other people that I had.
And in my case, at least, a lot of those connections and a lot of those experiences are direct results of privileges that I had. I went to school and I got to read something that I wouldn't have gotten to read somehow else or I got to move across the country and I got to meet people that I wouldn't have met in southwestern Ohio. And I had experiences that I wouldn't have had over there. And so I think the honesty we should have about ourselves is one of the quickest routes, at least in my case, to humility, because whatever I'm getting right now, it's not because I was ordained, destined to come to the right political opinion. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to think about something.
And so if we look out at the world, at our cell block, or at our shop floor, or at our apartment building and see people who didn't luck into those particular circumstances, why have the opinion that this person is some irredeemably politically problematic person rather than holding out the hope that maybe this person just hasn't chanced into the particular conversation that you chanced into that set you on your political trajectory. And why not also hold out the hope that you could be the person that sets them on a different political trajectory than they're currently on? Your talking to them could be the conversation that leads them to think about something differently from how they had thought about it before. Why couldn't it be you? Why couldn't it be this thing that you're doing with your neighbors or with your fellow workers or with the other people that owe money to the same institution you owe money to?
KH: Yes, and also, don't be shocked if it doesn't all come together in one conversation. In my experience, people's views change over time, through ongoing dialogues, and through the experience of shared struggle. Most people aren't responsive to someone walking up to them and saying, your politics are bad, use these instead. And people who are that impressionable are still going to be that impressionable when the next persuasive person comes along with a different view. So, I think this advice of yours, to think about our own growth processes, and how we've changed in our views and beliefs, is really important too. Most of us don't arrive at better ways of doing and thinking overnight. There are people who were patient with us, and we probably really annoyed and frustrated those people at times. I know I did, and I try to remember that anytime I'm the one giving someone else room to grow. And I'm not saying it always works out, or that people will always come around to a better way of thinking or doing, but if we write each other off quickly and easily, it definitely doesn't happen.
[musical interlude]
I also want to talk a bit about language and how the Trump administration has characterized a lot of the harm it's doing. Many of the administration's attacks on workers, on public services, and on programs that people depend on have been framed as efforts to root out the influence of DEI programs. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has become code for Black people, women, accessibility, and really any acknowledgement of the existence of marginalized people. It's functionally similar to the way that right-wingers use the word “woke.” This puts us in a defensive position, but often, what we're defending isn't actually DEI, but rather, the truth of history, or the basic rights of marginalized people. We also know that DEI initiatives, as you recently wrote, often “wrapped corporate entities in a shawl of faux progressivism, donned to placate societal demands for civil rights, even while these same entities continued to oppose unionization and other efforts to meaningfully empower the workers whose diversity they were so eager to acknowledge.” So how do we navigate the demonization of DEI and defend what's actually under attack? How do we reframe this crisis in a manner that reflects the reality of the situation?
OOT: I think what's happening at the bottom is a direct assault on values, and it couldn't be clearer from the fact that the administration itself is naming DEI, naming diversity, equity, and inclusion as its enemy. Now, they're referring to it with an acronym and they're using cleverly the faux progressivism that we were just talking about, the empty association with those values that corporations developed to make it seem as though their target is this corporate perversion of the values or their target is the bad faith allusions to those values.
But you can see from the patterns of who they're firing from what they're canceling that their target just is the values. And I think this is the thing that represents an element of confusion for centrist institutions like the New York Times. If you are in essentially a valueless ideological space and you don't essentially believe in political values as an organizing feature of politics and political life, it's very hard to parse the difference between the attack on corporate DEI and the attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Those seem like the same thing from that political vantage point.
So I think what's incumbent on the rest of us is to do the opposite of this constant refrain that we need to pivot to anodyne issues like whatever the economy refers to and get out of contentious politics and just talk about potholes and jobs. But, in fact, I think there needs to be an even more full-throated defense of the values that are under attack by the Trump administration. Certainly not corporations versions of those, but the real solidarity-based versions of those thoughts and values that I think are alive and well in our movement spaces.
KH: The language that gets used to describe what's happening around us can really shape people's responses. You mentioned the New York Times, and I was especially grossed out recently by NYT reporter Eric Lipton's refusal to characterize Trump accepting a jet as a gift from a foreign state as corruption, because according to Lipton, corruption requires explicit quid pro quo. There are so many examples of the corporate press demurring or really doing the spin work you might have expected from Trump's lackeys during the first administration, but this time around, the administration doesn't feel the need to spin anything the president does. He's just off in this realm of extremity and the legacy media is doing the spin work for them. Some people call it “sanewashing,” but I think what we're really talking about is a laundering of fascist lies and a lot of preposterous behavior. Can you talk about that laundering process and what it means for our movements?
OOT: Yeah, I think my read … I don't know Eric Lipton, but I also feel like I've met a thousand versions of this guy. So just judging from that statement where there's a kind of person that just … It's the caricature of a centrist. I don't really know what I believe. I know what distance I would like to maintain between the people on the right who believe things and the people on the left who believe things. And that lack of a core set of one's own political commitments does, I think, draw you inevitably to sanewashing, because at the end of the day, you need to believe that wherever politics has ended up is somewhere near what is normal and reasonable, even if it tilts slightly to the right of your ideal version of those ideas or slightly to the left, depending on who's in office. But when the people to the right of you are fascist and you're still doing that, then absolutely, I think laundering of fascism is as good a description of any of that centrist positioning in that historical context.
I think what it means for our movements is there is a deep communications challenge, there's a deep informational challenge, that we have to take on because the institutions that are best positioned to rain alarm bells are effectively working for the other side. And I think that means we have to think seriously and strategically about what it is to develop an information architecture that is robust to the sanewashing of centrist legacy media. We have to develop other ways of not just getting information out, but getting … We have to develop ways not just of getting information out, but of sounding our own alarm bells, not just informing people, but rousing people to action.
And again, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but this is one of the functions of organizations. Not everybody in Alabama was probably tracking transit politics, but the people who were sent out the message saying what we need to do at this point in time is boycott the bus system. And so people did. Not everybody in a union is going to be equally well positioned to track what's going on in bargaining, even if you have open bargaining in your union, but you're going to have people on the committee who will be in the room and who can report back to everyone else saying, “Negotiations are breaking down. We need to authorize a strike,” something like that.
Whatever else our organizations are, they are information networks and they work best when other information networks like ideally functioning press, like people's informal communities, people's religious affiliations, people's membership in clubs, people's hangout spots are also a part of the effort to make sure people know what's going on and people are in a position to do something about bad things that are going on. And we need to think really holistically about how we can set those up in a way that's going to be compatible with resisting the machinations of the people in charge to take all of the wealth and power for themselves.
KH: I absolutely agree. And I've also seen you talk about the importance of supporting independent media, and I just want to emphasize to folks how important that infrastructure is going to be in the coming months and years. We need to fortify the cooperative and supportive networks of independent media that exist right now. The Movement Media Alliance is a very important project. And I also want to shout out the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism, which is part of our organization here at Truthout, and headed up by my good friend Maya Schenwar. The Center is currently mentoring six independent news publications, helping folks firm up their fiscal and legal structures, support their staff, connect with movement people, and explore what kind of stories and authors they should engage with during this really scary and uncertain time.
I get really frustrated when I hear about how we need a leftist Joe Rogan, or fucking whatever, when what we really need is to fortify the powerful longstanding work that people are doing, that already has a lot of reach, that has always been under-resourced, and has already helped elevate the voices and stories of our movements. The legacy media has capitulated, and the truth is its own front of struggle. There is no “saving democracy” without fighting on that front. The fabric of our shared reality is under attack. That's something that we absolutely cannot surrender. And I really need people to understand that. I am at Truthout because I believe in what we do, and I hope people will support the kind of media they believe in, and that they want to see in the world in these times.
And speaking of meaningful projects, and what we choose to engage with or support, I also want to ask about a piece you wrote for Teen Vogue called “Donald Trump and His Allies Don't Really Care What Kind of Leftist You Are.” In that piece, you wrote, “When you are recruited by people and projects to be a thing and others that want to do a thing, join the doers.” As we wrap up this conversation, can you talk about this distinction between being and doing and the kind of politics people should be wary of in these times?
OOT: Yeah. One thing that I've been through, especially as a baby leftist, was constantly flirting with these various ideological labels and groups. And I'll just use classic commie ones just as an example, but it's not something that's particular to socialism or communism. Everywhere on the left has their versions of these, these schools of thought or possible identifications that you can make. Am I a Maoist or a Trotskyist or Leninist or do I belong to this theory or that theory? And the particular kinds of sectarian squabbles that you would see come up around these would not confine themselves to reading groups about particular texts or discussions about particular segments of 20th century leftist history. People would click up around actual organizing efforts.
I just remember thinking, “Wait, so the way that we're supposed to try to confront the sheriff's department here in Los Angeles, what the fuck does that have to do with whether or not I buy so-and-so's criticism of the agricultural policy of 1930s Soviet Russia?” What is it that we're actually accomplishing by having these kinds of disagreements and trying to identify ourselves as the particular leftists of this or that tradition? And the more I organized, the more I thought about these sorts of things, the more I suspected that, for some people, the goalposts had shifted somewhere along the line and being a proper Trotskyist or a proper Nkrumaist or a proper this or that was actually the thing that they were trying to do politically rather than get the sheriff's department to stop collaborating with ICE, or rather than trying to defund the police department or rather than trying to retake over the school board.
And for some people, it was actually the other way around. Those struggles were in service of their goal of being the right leftist rather than trying to make any particular change to the world. And so it's the long way round to the discussion we were having earlier about these subtle forms of political surrender, where people stop trying to at least primarily accomplish political changes to the world, and people end up nursing resentments or nursing these kinds of ego-driven identifying goals.
And I think it's an unnecessary, unforced error that we should all do our best to try to avoid. I don't think living up to any particular historical figure or any particular subset of any political thinking is the important thing that we're doing. All of those, after all, were just ways of responding to the political problems of their times. And we should just do our version of that. Look outside, what is the thing you're going to try to get done? Who do you need to get it done? What do you need to get it done? How do you need to move to get it done? Those are the primary questions. And where that sits you next to the long history of political activism is interesting. I'm a nerd. I study philosophy for a living. I'm not uninterested in how to draw the narrative line that starts at Fanon and ends somewhere in my apartment or whatever. But it's not the thing that's important about climate change activism or anti-carceral activism or anything else that we might be doing.
KH: That really resonates. And I think these conversations around being more focused on the politics we do than the politics we wear are really important. And I think this also ties back to what we were saying about protest and direct action earlier. A lot of protests that people get really hyped about are what we would call “expressive protests.” They can be energizing. They can allow us to express ourselves and our position, and maybe feel unified in that expression. And we do need that energy. But what we also need, and what we need a lot more of, are instrumental actions — protests that apply meaningful pressure to targets and attempt to reshape our social and political environment. That involves more than raising awareness. It's about impact. The best protests are expressive and instrumental, but I want us to constantly keep coming back, in everything we do, to how effective our actions are, and what impacts we're having.
Now, with all of that said, is there anything else you would like to share with or ask of the audience today?
OOT: The one other thing that I think goes nicely with what we were saying about the leftist media landscape and, just in general, trying to build a more hospitable system for ourselves to do politics out of, to organize out of, is we should not overlook the role of literal physical spaces in that. So what that's going to look like is going to be different depending on where you're at. Maybe there's a friendly church that some of you meet at. Maybe there's a radical bookstore in your city. Maybe there's a coffee shop that is run by a workers' cooperative that is down and that collaborates with some of the activists there. But whatever the spaces, the physical spaces, maybe it's somebody's house, maybe it's somebody's apartment, but I think trying to support those places is a big force multiplier. The more you can do to keep those places thriving and to keep the workers and the comrades who support them supported and healthy and secure, the better it is for everyone in the vicinity of those spaces. And so I think one of the concrete things that we can do to support progressive leftist, whatever, movements is to support the spaces, the places, the buildings that support them.
KH: That is such a good point. And by the way, if you're someone who has a space that you can make available to movement folks, please consider doing so. I know that here in Chicago and in many cities where space is at a premium, we don't have enough of these spaces where folks can meet and gather and do the work of community building. So, yes, let's fortify and support those places where they exist, and let's open up more space to do the work we need to do together.
Olúfẹ́mi, this has been such a great conversation. I'm so grateful you could join me today. You're someone who I always learned so much from and I'm just so grateful to have had the chance to talk today.
OOT: Likewise. Thanks a lot for having me.
KH: I also 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 fell short of our goals in our recent fundraiser, and we must ask for your help. Will you make a one-time or monthly donation?
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 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.
Truthout fell short of our fundraising targets, and now we urgently appeal for your support. Will you start a monthly donation of a few dollars?
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia's Migalovo Air Base in Tver Oblast came under attack by drones overnight on May 25, the Russian independent news channel Astra reported.
Locals reported that drones were targeting the air base and that explosions occurred in the area. Tver Oblast Governor Igor Rudenya confirmed that air defense units had intercepted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the area.
Rudenya claimed that five UAVs were shot down but reported no damage or casualties. He did not mention the Migalovo airfield. Later in the night he said that three more drones were shot down in the area and that air defense was active over Tver.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify these reports.
The Migalovo military airfield is located on the outskirts of Tver, over 1,300 kilometers (807 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The facility is a base for military transport aircraft, including the Ilyushin Il-76.
Ukraine has previously targeted Russian air bases in drone attacks, aiming to undermine Moscow's ability to carry out large-scary aerial assaults against Ukrainian cities. In March, Ukrainian drones successfully hit Russia's Engels-2 air base in Saratov Oblast.
Kyiv has also launched several strikes against targets in Tver Oblast. In January and February, Ukraine struck the Andreapol oil pumping station in the region twice in two weeks. Previous targets have included ammunition depots and missile arsenals.
The latest reported attack on Tver Oblast came as Russia launched a large-scale aerial assault on Kyiv and cities across Ukraine. For the second night in a row, Moscow barraged Kyiv with drones and missiles, injuring civilians.
Explosions were reported in cities across the country as attacks continued throughout the night.
As Russia intensifies aerial attacks on Ukraine and the civilian death toll climbs, Ukraine has stepped up its drone attacks on Russian territory. The recent surge in drone strikes aims to disrupt airport operations, overwhelm air defenses, and mount pressure against the Russian population.
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?
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to resume processing applications from foreign nationals living in the United States under Biden-era humanitarian parole programs who are seeking work permits or more permanent immigration status.
The ruling says Trump exceeded authority in imposing sweeping tariffs. Plus, Elon Musk confirms government exit
Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here
Good morning.
A federal trade court has ruled Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs regime illegal, a dramatic twist that could block the president's controversial global trade policy.
The ruling by a three-judge panel at the New York-based court of international trade came after several lawsuits argued that Trump had exceeded his authority, treating trade policy as a matter of the president's whim and unleashing economic chaos around the world.
The ruling, if it stands, blows a giant hole through Trump's strategy to use steep tariffs to wring concessions from trading partners, draw manufacturing jobs back to US shores and shrink a $1.2tn goods trade deficit.
What was the ruling? Tariffs typically need to be approved by Congress but Trump has so far bypassed that requirement by claiming that the country's trade deficits amounted to a national emergency. The court's ruling said Trump's tariff orders “exceed any authority granted to the president … to regulate importation by means of tariffs”.
How are markets reacting? Global markets cheered the ruling, with the US dollar rallying along with indexes in France, Germany, Japan, and futures for the US S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes rising.
What's next? The Trump administration has already filed to appeal. White House officials attacked the court, calling it “unelected”.
Four people were killed as thousands of starving Palestinians burst into a UN warehouse in Gaza, tearing away sections of the building's metal walls in a desperate attempt to find food.
Two people were fatally crushed and two others died of gunshot wounds after people crowded into a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, health officials said. It was not immediately clear if Israeli forces, private contractors or others had opened fire.
Earlier, at least one civilian was killed and 48 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians, after the US-backed food logistics group chosen by Israel to ship food into Gaza, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), lost control of its distribution center, health officials reported.
What is the humanitarian situation after Israel's aid blockade since 2 March? Earlier this month, the IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be “acutely malnourished”, with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months.
What has the UN said about the new Israel-backed plan? The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the system, warning it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people and that it allowed Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.
Elon Musk has announced he is leaving his role in the Trump administration, a departure the White House confirmed on Wednesday evening.
It followed Musk publicly criticizing Donald Trump's tax bill, saying the plan undermined cost-cutting efforts, in comments likely to widen a rift between the two men.
Musk said he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which … undermines the work that the Doge team is doing” in a CBS interview that will air on Sunday.
What's in the bill? Extending tax cuts for individuals and corporations; ending Joe Biden's clean energy incentives; construction of a wall along the Mexican border; about $1tn in cuts to benefits, including Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) food stamps.
How is it progressing on Capitol Hill? Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act was narrowly approved last week by the House of Representatives, sending it to the Senate, where the Republican majority will probably make its own changes.
Donald Trump's plane from the government of Qatar, which he said would be turned into the new Air Force One, has arrived – but the president says it's too big to use as his personal aircraft.
A former French surgeon was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of patients, mostly aged under 15, after the biggest child abuse trial in French history.
Argentina is being used as a “testing ground” for stripping back abortion rights around the world, Amnesty International has warned.
The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said the Trump administration will “aggressively” revoke visas of Chinese students. China sent 277,398 students in the 2023-24 academic year, and international students are one of the largest sources of revenue for US colleges.
“For the first time in my life, a notional concept of global Black solidarity became concrete,” writes Nesrine Malik. Five years on? “The biggest lesson is that we don't get to choose how revolutions unfold” but also that “BLM opened up the issue of racial justice in ways that can never again be closed”.
The president of Cop30 has warned that the world is facing a new form of climate denial: a concerted attack on the idea that the economy can be reorganized to fight the climate crisis. André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, has said he believes countering this new type of denialism will be his biggest job as director of this year's UN climate summit.
Hitting a strong updraft during a test of his new equipment, Peng Yujiang was sent soaring from 3,000 meters to above 8,000 meters, nearly the height of Mount Everest. He managed to survive despite losing consciousness and enduring temperatures of -31F (-35C), eventually landing 30km from the launch site.
First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now.
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
Students cheer during Harvard University's commencement ceremonies, in Cambridge, Mass., on May 29.Charles Krupa/The Associated Press
Harvard graduates celebrated commencement on Thursday at a pivotal time for the Ivy League school, cheering speakers who stressed the importance of maintaining a diverse and international student body while standing up for the truth at a time the esteemed university is under threat by the Trump administration.
Harvard's battles with Trump over funding and restrictions on teaching and admissions presented another challenge for the thousands of graduates who had already endured their share since arriving on campus four years ago. They started college as the world was emerging from a pandemic and, in the years since, grappled with student-led protests over the war in Gaza.
Other schools face the loss of federal funding and their ability to enroll international students if they don't agree to the Trump administration's shifting demands. But Harvard, which was founded more than a century before the nation itself, has taken the lead in defying the White House in court and is paying a significant price.
The Trump administration's latest salvos include asking federal agencies to cancel about $100-million in contracts with the Ivy League school. The government already cancelled more than $2.6-billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrolment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status.
Visa interviews for international students admitted to schools nationwide were halted on Tuesday, and Trump said Wednesday that Harvard should reduce its international enrolment from 25 per cent to about 15 per cent.
Sustained by a $53-billion endowment, the nation's wealthiest university is testing whether it can be a bulwark against Trump's efforts to limit what his administration calls antisemitic activism on campus, which Harvard sees as an affront to the freedom to teach and learn nationwide.
The Trump administration has demanded that Harvard make broad leadership changes, revise its admissions policies and audit its faculty and student body to ensure the campus is home to many viewpoints.
In response to the administration's threats, Harvard has sued to block the funding freeze and persuaded a federal judge to temporarily halt the enrolment ban. During a hearing in Boston on Thursday, the judge extended her order blocking the ban on enrolling international students.
Harvard President Alan Garber, who has repeatedly defended the school's actions, didn't directly touch on the Trump administration threats when he addressed the graduates Thursday. But he did get a rousing applause when he referenced the university's global reach, noting that it is “just as it should be.”
Students walk to attend the 374th commencement exercises at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., on May 29.Brian Snyder/Reuters
Several of the graduating speakers spoke more directly about the challenges facing the school and society.
Speaking in Latin, salutatorian Aidan Robert Scully delivered a speech laced with references to Trump policies.
“I say this: ... Neither powers nor princes can change the truth and deny that diversity is our strength,” Scully said.
It was a sentiment echoed by Yurong Luanna Jiang, a Chinese graduate who studied international development. She said she grew up believing that the “world was becoming a small village” and that she would be part of the generation that would “end hunger and poverty for humankind.”
She said coming to Harvard, she found a global community that included classmates from all around the world.
“When I met my 77 classmates from 32 different countries, the countries I knew only as colourful shapes on a map turned into real people, with laughter, dreams and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge,” she said of the other students in her international development program. “Global challenges suddenly felt personal.”
Now, though, she said she wonders whether her world view is under threat.
“We're starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong – we mistakenly see them as evil,“ she said. “But it doesn't have to be this way.”
Dr. Abraham Verghese, a bestselling author and Stanford University expert on infectious diseases, opened his keynote address by saying he felt like a medieval messenger “slipping into a besieged community,” with more attention focused on the university than perhaps anytime during its history.
“No recent events can diminish what each of you have accomplished here,” Vergghese said On Wednesday, basketball Hall of Famer and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the “Class Day” speaker, and journalist Christiane Amanpour addressed graduates of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Both praised Harvard for standing up to the Trump administration, with Abdul-Jabbar specifically calling out the actions of Garber.
“When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard, to revoke their academic freedom and to destroy free speech, Dr. Alan Garber rejected the illegal and immoral pressures,” Abdul-Jabbar said to wide applause as he compared Garber's response to Rosa Parks' stand against racist segregation.
“After seeing so many cowering billionaires, media moguls, law firms, politicians and other universities bend their knee to an administration that is systematically strip-mining the U.S. Constitution, it is inspiring to me to see Harvard University take a stand for freedom,” he continued.
Earlier in the week Garber said in an interview with a university publication, that “government overreach and devastating attacks on scientific and medical research are unwarranted and unlawful, and so we have taken legal action to defend the institution.”
“We should all be concerned that colleges and universities have increasingly come under attack. But we should not dismiss the criticisms even when they are based on distortions or inaccuracies – we need to look for the underlying concerns that can be embedded in them,” said Garber, who commissioned internal reports last year on antisemitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the school.
The Trump administration has said it wants “to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment.” It cites campus protests against Israel. Like many college students around the country, Harvard students set up tents called on the university to divest from companies supporting Israel's military, which has levelled Gaza in response to attacks by Hamas.
Last year, hundreds of graduating students walked out of commencement chanting “Free, free Palestine” after weeks of campus protests. Harvard also said some protesters would not receive diplomas alongside their classmates, although it eventually allowed most to get them.
This year, the anti-war demonstrations have largely faded from view, but protesters held a silent vigil a few hours before Thursday's ceremony. Holding signs that read “Ceasefire Now” and “Not Another Bomb,” protesters stood silently along the walls of Harvard.
Harvard students and professors rallied in support of international students on May 27, just days after a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking the school's ability to enroll foreign students.
Reuters
Report an editorial error
Report a technical issue
Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.
© Copyright 2025 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.
Andrew Saunders, President and CEO
London's Canary Wharf financial district. Britain was the first country to reach a deal with the U.S. after it imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of its trading partners.Kevin Coombs/Reuters
The British government is trying to understand how its recently signed trade deal with the U.S. will be affected by a court ruling blocking most of President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Britain was the first country to reach a deal with Mr. Trump after he announced sweeping tariffs in April on dozens of U.S. trading partners, including Canada. The U.K.-U.S. agreement, although limited, was hailed as a model for other countries hoping to win similar relief from Mr. Trump.
Under the deal, announced on May 8, Mr. Trump agreed to eliminate the U.S.'s 25-per-cent tariff on imports of British steel and aluminum. The President also agreed to cut the U.S. tariff on British cars from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent, but only on 100,000 imported vehicles per year. The U.K. and U.S. also moved to improve market access for beef imports.
However, a baseline U.S. tariff of 10 per cent on imports of all other British goods remains in place. Prior to April, U.S. duties on British imports were around 3 per cent.
The U.S Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Mr. Trump exceeded his authority in introducing most of the tariffs, raising questions about the future of the U.K.-U.S. deal. The White House has vowed to appeal the decision and carry on with Mr. Trump's aggressive trade policy.
A U.S. trade court on Wednesday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the President overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from countries that sell more to the U.S. than they buy.
Reuters
British officials were hoping to speed up implementation of the recently signed trade deal during talks next week between trade officials. On Thursday, a statement issued by Downing Street said the court ruling was a matter “for the U.S. to determine domestically, and we note this is only the first stage of legal proceedings.”
The statement added: “We were the first to secure a deal with the U.S. in a move to protect jobs across key sectors, from autos to steel, and we are working to ensure that businesses can benefit from the deal as quickly as possible.”
The court decision won't affect the U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum or cars since they were imposed under different legislation. The ruling would affect the sweeping 10 per cent tariff on all other U.K. imports.
The London Stock Exchange's FTSE 100 stock index opened slightly higher on Thursday but most of the gains were erased by noon British time.
“That the gains were measured rather than blockbuster reflects a healthy level of skepticism over whether this can truly rein in the Trump administration, which has already launched an appeal against the judgment,” said Russ Mould, investment director of Manchester-based A.J. Bell.
The court ruling “clearly adds another layer of complexity and uncertainty to what Trump is doing when businesses don't know what tariffs their product would face in the U.S. That can't be good for the economy,” said David Henig, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy a Belgium-based think tank.
The European Union has also been grappling with how to respond to Mr. Trump, who has threatened to hit the EU with 50-per-cent tariffs on all exports in addition to higher duties on steel, aluminum and cars. Those import taxes have been delayed until July, but Wednesday's ruling will complicate negotiations.
EU trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic is expected to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Paris next week.
Report an editorial error
Report a technical issue
Editorial code of conduct
Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.
© Copyright 2025 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.
Andrew Saunders, President and CEO
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Ukraine will not take part in the World Judo Championships set for June in Budapest due to Belarus's participation in the competition, the Ukrainian Judo Federation announced on May 29.
The decision came after the Executive Committee of the International Judo Federation (IJF) confirmed, following an appeal from Kyiv, that Belarusian athletes are allowed to take part in all international competitions under national symbols from June 1, 2025.
Since the outbreak of Moscow's full-scale war, Ukraine has repeatedly called for a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international competitions, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ultimately, these athletes were allowed to compete only as "individual neutral athletes" in individual disciplines without using any national symbols related to their countries.
While Belarus, an ally of Russia, has not directly participated in the war, it has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory as a staging ground for its operations against Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian committee, the federation said in its response that "the IJF is committed to ensuring that sport serves as a platform for dialogue, unity, and understanding — building bridges, not walls."
The Ukrainian Judo Federation condemned the decision, saying that it contradicts "the fundamental principles of fairness, responsibility, and solidarity in the global sports movement."
"We firmly believe that allowing athletes from aggressor countries to compete under national symbols is not only a case of political blindness but also a blatant disregard for the victims of war and international law," the statement read.
As of March, 591 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed by Russia in the war, with 22 held captive and 11 missing, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.
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?
Zelenskyy says Moscow dragging out the process as Lavrov insists on another meeting; funeral for three sibling children killed by Russian cruise missile. What we know on day 1,191
Ukraine has submitted its peace terms and insisted Russia do the same before further talks, which the Kremlin has demanded take place next Monday in Turkey. “We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their memorandum,” said the Ukrainian defence minister, Rustem Umerov. “The Russian side has at least four more days before their departure to provide us with their document for review. Diplomacy must be substantive, and the next meeting must yield results.”
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said instead that a Russian team “is ready to present a memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and provide the necessary explanations during a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, 2 June”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Wednesday called for Moscow to engage in “good-faith” talks with Ukraine in a call with Lavrov.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Wednesday accused Russia of dragging out the peace process and of not wanting to halt its offensive. “They will constantly look for reasons not to end the war,” he said at a press conference in Berlin alongside the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
Vladimir Putin promised Donald Trump that Russia would produce the “memorandum” in conjunction with Ukraine when their much-vaunted phone call took place on 19 May. Donald Trump posted on Tuesday that Putin was “playing with fire” by continuing to attack Ukraine, but on Wednesday the US president's words sounded more tepid. Trump said he would determine within “about two weeks” whether Putin was serious about ending the fighting. He was “very disappointed” but rebuffed calls to impose more sanctions on Moscow: “If I think I'm close to getting a deal, I don't want to screw it up by doing that.” As Peter Beaumont writes, there has been little or no sign of a deal.
Three Ukrainian children, aged 8, 12 and 17 – siblings killed in their beds by a Russian cruise missile – lay side by side in their coffins on Wednesday as a church choir sang in Korostyshiv, about 100km (60 miles) west of Kyiv. They were surrounded by dozens of bouquets. Moscow denies targeting civilians, but abundant evidence shows otherwise. The children's father, still bearing fresh injuries, was released from the hospital to attend the funeral. He and his two surviving children sat beside the coffins.
As Zelenskyy visited Germany, the two countries announced that Berlin will help finance long-range weapons production on Ukrainian soil, Kate Connolly writes. The deal appears at least in part to be a workaround to German concerns about being labelled a “warmonger” if it provides its far-reaching Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The expectation is that Berlin will supply Ukraine with the technical components to build and maintain its own long-range weaponry, including rockets and cruise missiles, with a range of up to 2,500km.
Neither leader would detail the specific weapons that would be manufactured in Ukraine, saying it was prudent to keep the information as secretive as possible. Zelenskyy said he expected the first weapons to be ready by June 2026. Contrary to some perceptions, Germany has long supported Kyiv and is the second-biggest deliverer of weapons after the US.
On the battlefield, Zelenskyy said Russia was amassing more than 50,000 troops on the frontline around the north-east Sumy border region, where Moscow's army claims to have captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine said a heavy wave of drone attacks into Russia on Wednesday struck several of the Kremlin's weapon production sites.
Dead animals appear on shores and locals fall unwell as gallons of raw sewage flows across border
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
At California's Imperial Beach there's a reason why nobody, beyond a determined bunch of early-morning surfers, ventures into the sea.
It's the same reason local restaurants source their fish from further up the coast, and residents keep their windows shut at night, even during the sweltering West Coast summers.
The beach, a short drive south of San Diego, is being polluted by billions of gallons of raw sewage flowing across the Mexican border every year.
Its beaches have been forced to close, its air is being contaminated by pollutants hundreds of times above levels deemed safe, and locals are falling violently unwell.
The issue is now a source of tension between the US and Mexico, and The Telegraph understands that Donald Trump has given a personal commitment to tackle it as the two countries attempt to negotiate a solution.
When The Telegraph visited earlier this year, Tom Csanadi, a retired paediatrician, was looking out at the view from his home on the beachfront.
To the north he could see the curve of the coastline as it arcs towards San Diego, and directly in front of him the blue of the Pacific Ocean, with an old wooden pier stretching a quarter-mile out to sea.
Rising up on a hillside to the south, beyond the border wall, is the Mexican city of Tijuana, which even at a distance of a few miles seems to dwarf Imperial Beach.
“S--- flows downhill,” Dr Csanadi said. “And we're downhill.”
Tijuana is one of Mexico's fastest-growing cities, exploding in size since the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) came into force in the mid-1990s.
But its development was too fast for the antiquated and neglected sewage systems on either side of a border, which were overwhelmed by the demands of a population that now numbers more than 2.3 million and is climbing ever higher.
Instead, up to 80 million gallons of its waste is flooding into the Pacific Ocean and the cross-border Tijuana River every day.
The river used to disappear during the dry months, from around June to September. But these days it is kept flowing by a cocktail of raw sewage and industrial chemicals, bearing viruses, bacteria and parasites into the US.
Imperial Beach is bearing the brunt of it, and has become what some locals refer to as “Mexico's toilet”.
Dr Csanadi and his wife, Marvel Harrison, thought they had staked out their own share of paradise when they bought an undeveloped plot on the beachfront 10 years ago.
Over time, it became a family home for them and their children – along with a pet chicken roaming outdoors called Daphne – and at the back of their minds, they thought they would be there for the rest of their lives.
They don't think that any more.
In the years since moving in, Dr Harrison, a psychologist, has developed a condition similar to asthma that has left her with a chronic cough and means she has to use an inhaler. There are some days when she can't walk on the beach because of the strain it puts on her lungs.
“We're a small town with a global problem,” she said, taking sips from a large mug of tea in her kitchen between barely-suppressed coughs.
As for Dr Csanadi, he has developed an E coli infection that is resistant to antibiotics and regularly comes down with sinus issues.
Accounts of chronic illness are common throughout Imperial Beach, where residents report cases of migraines, respiratory conditions, stomach problems, fatigue, skin infections and nausea.
Authorities say hundreds of Navy Seals, training at the base a short distance up the coast, have developed gastrointestinal issues from contact with contaminated ocean water.
The dead animals that regularly wash up shows the wildlife isn't immune either. A group of bottlenose dolphins found on a beach one summer were killed by sepsis caused by bacteria transmitted via urine or faeces, researchers at State Diego State University found.
Most of Imperial Beach's population stays out of the sea, where access has been restricted for around three years. Warning signs instructing swimmers to stay away are planted in the sand every 20 feet or so.
But people are falling ill anyway because the pollution is spreading through the air from the churn of the diseased river and crashing waves of the Pacific.
Every night, somewhere between midnight and 2am, the city is enveloped by a strong smell. It can happen during the day as well, albeit less commonly, leaving locals prisoners in their own homes.
Nobody can quite agree what the odour is: some compare it to rotten eggs, while others say it has a bitter chemical tang.
To TJ Jackson, who lives along the beachfront, it simply “smells like Tijuana”.
The stench is the result of hydrogen sulphide emanating from the Tijuana River, according to Benjamin Rico, a PhD student studying the pollution at the University of California San Diego.
Typically, hydrogen sulphide levels are below one part per billion (ppb), and California has set a safe limit for children and pregnant women at 7.3ppb.
But Mr Rico shared research with The Telegraph showing hydrogen sulphide levels taken from one neighbourhood in Imperial Beach reached up to 4,500ppb. And it is just one of potentially thousands of pollutants being given off by the river, and spread over the rest of the county.
At one pollution hotspot on Saturn Boulevard identified by Mr Rico, the sulphur smell is overpowering.
Water pours out of a concrete pipe into an estuary, churning untreated sewage, chemicals and metals. Many of the nearby trees, their branches dipping low towards the water, are withered and black.
The area was deserted, with the exception of a young boy who cycled past with a T-shirt clamped over his mouth and nose.
Paloma Aguirre, the mayor of Imperial Beach, hit out at the response from Gavin Newsom, the California governor.
“He has not done enough,” she said. “And it borderlines on gross negligence that he is actively refusing to help us, despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that we are really being harmed here.
“He hasn't done more than send a letter to [former US president Joe] Biden asking for more funding.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Newsom said Ms Aguirre's frustration was “misdirected” because sewage infrastructure was “under federal and international jurisdiction”.
She said the California governor had been a “strong advocate” for Imperial Beach, and last year “secured critical funding and support to address cross-border pollution from the Tijuana River while holding authorities accountable to expedited timelines”.
“We call on the Trump Administration to continue to fund repairs and complete infrastructure to protect public health and safety and end this environmental crisis once and for all,” she added.
So far, locals are quietly optimistic about Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who visited Imperial Beach in April and declared the sewage crisis was “top of mind” for Mr Trump.
Mr Trump's administration submitted its plan to Mexico earlier this month, and the two governments are in the midst of thrashing out a deal that is expected to be concluded within weeks to upgrade sewage treatment facilities.
“We're literally going line by line on past agreements, and pressure testing everything to see what can be completed faster,” a US government source said.
“If it says five years, could it be done in two years? Could it be done in 100 days?”
To date, Mexico is said not to have rejected any of Washington's proposals, and negotiations have been spurred along by both Mr Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, who are “committed to solving this problem”.
But the move comes too late for some Imperial Beach residents who have packed up and moved away, worn down by what they feel is years' worth of neglect from the government.
Among their number is Serge Dedina, Ms Aguirre's predecessor as mayor, who suffered sinus, ear and stomach infections and whose son required urgent care when he fell violently ill after swimming in the sewage-infested waters.
Ms Aguirre, however, plans to stick around and see what happens next to Imperial Beach.
“I can't leave – I'm the mayor,” she said. “I go down with the ship. That's my responsibility.”
The Mexican government has been approached for comment.
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Russia has concentrated a sufficient amount of forces in Kursk Oblast to potentially launch an attack on Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said on May 29.
The statement comes amid warnings of a new possible Russian offensive this summer as U.S.-mediated peace efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire deal.
Russia has become increasingly active in Sumy Oblast after mostly pushing out Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast. Ukrainian authorities recently confirmed that Russian forces captured four Sumy Oblast villages close to the border: Novenke, Zhuravka, Veselivka, and Basivka.
Speaking on national television, Demchenko said Russia began amassing forces when it attempted to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine launched its operation in August 2024.
Russia continues to maintain a force in Kursk Oblast, and Ukraine periodically detects a "certain change in the number of both soldiers and equipment in this area," the spokesperson said.
Russia "has enough forces there (in Kursk Oblast) to carry out operations against our border and attempt to attack the territory of Ukraine," he continued.
The remarks came days after President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is accumulating 50,000 troops near Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, seeking to create a 10-kilometer buffer zone in the area.
According to Kyiv, Russia planned to launch an offensive into Sumy Oblast already back in 2024, but the plan was disrupted by Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast. Moscow has repeatedly indicated plans to create a buffer zone between Ukraine and Russia in the area.
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?
MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The process of militarizing Europe has begun, but it will require significant financial investment, tough political decisions, and some compromises, according to Prokhor Tebin, director of the Center for Military-Economic Studies at the Institute for World Military Economy and Strategy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
In an interview with TASS, Tebin emphasized that modernizing Europe's defense-industrial complex and establishing a unified market for defense products will not be easy. "Such efforts will demand difficult and often controversial political choices," he noted, commenting on the EU Council's recent decision to create a 150-billion-euro fund - Security Action for Europe (SAFE) - aimed at enhancing the bloc's military capabilities.
Tebin explained that the SAFE mechanism is intended to foster greater coordination in both demand and supply within the European arms market. This includes launching joint programs for procurement and maintenance of weapons, military, and special equipment (WMSE), as well as consolidating suppliers through mergers and acquisitions, which could lead to the weakening of competition. However, he pointed out that European nations are actively protecting their domestic industries, striving to preserve jobs and technological advancements.
The expert highlighted the current challenges faced by European WMSE manufacturers, including limited production capacity, surging demand, and uncertainty about the longevity of this demand. Expanding production necessitates scaling up the entire supply chain - a difficult feat within the EU's existing framework. Consequently, many European defense firms are compelled to source raw materials, components, and parts from abroad. For instance, Rheinmetall, a leading European ammunition producer, has formed a strategic partnership with India's Reliance Defense to boost its ammunition manufacturing capabilities.
Tebin emphasized that overcoming these hurdles requires sustained financial investment and a consistent long-term policy approach. "Without these, the EU's defense industry will remain disjointed and overly reliant on exports, caught in fierce intra-European competition, and unable to fully meet the needs of member states," he warned. Moreover, he cautioned that military spending - whether funded through borrowing, tax hikes, or reductions in other public sectors - will largely continue to be driven by defense contractors from outside Europe, such as those in the United States and South Korea.
Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of bank fraud, tax evasion, and other financial crimes three years ago, were released from federal custody on Wednesday after President Donald Trump signed pardons for the couple.
Todd Chrisley was released from a minimum-security prison camp in Pensacola, and Julie Chrisley left a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, according to Shannen Sharpe, a spokesperson for the couple's attorney at Litson PLLC.
Washington says proposal has been submitted to Hamas that has been ‘backed and supported' by Israel
The White House said discussions on US special envoy Steve Witkoff's new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza are “ongoing”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing with reporters, said Witkoff and Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that had been “backed and supported” by Israel.
“Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,” she said.
I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home.
The UN has criticised Israel's announcement that it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing the decision as moving “in the wrong direction”.
“We stand against any and all” expansion of the settlements, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday.
He repeated calls by UN secretary general, António Guterres, for Israel to “cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory ... they're an obstacle to peace and economic and social development.”
Israel's security cabinet voted last week in favour of a motion reportedly put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law.
A Hamas official said the group is studying the latest Israeli-backed US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel's response “in essence means the continuation of killing and famine,” Bassem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, told multiple outlets on Thursday.
The proposal “does not meet any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine,” he said, adding:
Nonetheless, the movement's leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility.
The White House said Thursday that Israel had accepted Donald Trump's proposal for a Gaza ceasefire.
In a statement on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said:
“I can confirm that special envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas, that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas.”
“I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home… I can confirm that special envoy [Steve] Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas, that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas.”
Earlier, Hamas said that it was examining a new deal proposed by Witkoff.
Speaking to reporters, state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said:
“We are unaware of Hamas accepting it, but we do believe that it has some significant promise… So there is some optimism – some important optimism.”
The Israeli army said that it has intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Israeli army said:
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted.”
The missile interception comes two days after Israeli forces said it intercepted a missile and another projectile fire from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo's refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.
A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.
Casson, ambassador to Egypt from 2014 to 2018, said:
Egypt pretends to be a friend of the UK and is dependent on British visitors to keep its economy afloat. We have to demonstrate that that is not compatible with abusing our citizens and blocking our embassy.
He added that the Foreign Office had worked its way through “the normal diplomatic playbook” to secure his release, but this “only revealed Egypt fobbing us off and trying to push us around”.
We reported earlier that Israel ordered the evacuation of the Al-Awda hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry.
According to a statement from the hospital:
Israeli occupation forces are currently carrying out a forced evacuation of patients and medical staff from inside Al-Awda Hospital in Tel al-Zaatar – the only hospital that was still operating in the northern Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Thursday, the hospital said there were “still 97 people inside the hospital, including 13 patients and injured individuals, and 84 medical staff members,” Agence-France-Presse reported.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said efforts were “ongoing to evacuate patients and medical staff” from the hospital. It said:
The facility is currently overwhelmed with injuries and critically low on supplies … Ongoing hostilities over the past two weeks have damaged the hospital, disrupted access, and created panic, deterring people from seeking care.
Here's more on the new ceasefire proposal presented by the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, which the White House said has been “backed and supported” by Israel.
A Palestinian official familiar with the mediation efforts told Reuters:
Discussions are continuing with the mediators and Hamas hasn't handed its response yet.
A separate report from Haaretz cites a foreign source as saying that the two parties are “not even close to reaching an understanding, as of now.”
The White House's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, did not comment on reports that Donald Trump is poised to make an announcement on the deal. She told reporters:
If there is an announcement to be made, it will come from the White House - the president, myself, or special envoy Witkoff.
Italy has offered to treat a Palestinian child who survived an Israeli strike in Gaza in which nine of his siblings were killed.
Adam Al-Najjar,11, is in serious condition in Nasser hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, after the strike last week.
His mother, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, is a paediatric specialist at al-Tahrir hospital within the Nasser medical complex who was treating victims of ongoing Israeli attacks when she received the bodies of nine of her children killed by a strike in Khan Younis. The eldest of her children was 12.
Graeme Groom, a British surgeon working in the hospital, told the Guardian he had operated on her surviving son, Adam. “It is unimaginable,” he said.
The father [al-Najjar's husband] is a physician here at Nasser hospital. We've asked about him and he has no political or military connections … it is a particularly sad day.
The child's uncle, Ali Al-Najjar, told Italy's la Repubblica newspaper that he has burns on his body, head injuries, a broken left hand and is not able to walk, and that Nasser hospital is ill-equipped to treat him. He said:
He needs to be taken away immediately, to a real hospital, outside of the Gaza Strip. I beg the Italian government to do something, take him, Italians save him.
A statement from the Italian foreign ministry on Thursday, reported by Reuters, reads:
The Italian government has expressed its willingness to transfer the seriously injured boy to Italy.
The White House said discussions on US special envoy Steve Witkoff's new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza are “ongoing”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing with reporters, said Witkoff and Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that had been “backed and supported” by Israel.
“Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,” she said.
I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home.
We reported earlier that an Israeli airstrike on a house in central Gaza killed 22 people, according to hospital officials.
Among those killed were nine women and children, AP reported, citing hospital records.
The airstrike hit a family home in Bureij, an urban refugee camp in central Gaza, hospital officials said.
Strikes in northern Gaza late Wednesday and early Thursday hit a house, killing eight people, including two women and three children, and a car in Gaza City, killing four, local hospitals said.
Donald Trump is expected to announce details of a Gaza ceasefire agreement within hours, Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya is reporting, citing sources.
Here's more on the latest ceasefire and hostage release deal, presented by Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, that Israel has reportedly accepted and Hamas is currently studying.
The new proposal does not delineate where Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would have to redeploy once it comes into effect, the Times of Israel is reporting, citing a senior Israeli official.
Hamas has demanded that Israeli forces eventually be completely withdrawn from the Gaza Strip.
According to the official, the deal does not dictate “the manner in which aid would be distributed within the framework of a ceasefire.”
The outlet cites another Israeli official saying that the UN would resume providing aid during a ceasefire, instead of the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Axios has meanwhile reported that Hamas is not happy with Witkoff's proposal and thinks it has shifted in Israel's favour.
The new proposal does not include a clear US guarantee that a temporary ceasefire will lead to a permanent ceasefire, a source told the outlet.
Hospital officials say an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza killed 22 people, including nine women and children.
This is according to a report from AP and we will bring you more as we get it.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US president Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.
Hamas says it has received US special envoy Steve Witkoff's new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza from mediators. The statement from the militant group says the proposal is now being studied.
Israel has authorised 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, its defence minister has said.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel's decision a “dangerous escalation”, accusing the government of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”.
An Israeli strike hit the south of Lebanon, killing one man on Thursday. Israel says its attack, which violated a ceasefire agreement, struck a member of the Hezbollah militant group. Lebanon's health ministry says an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, killing one man.
The United States' new envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel in remarks to Saudi channel Al Arabiya on Thursday.
Israel has ordered the evacuation of the Al Awda hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the strip's health ministry says. The ministry urged the international community to protect Gaza's health system and uphold international humanitarian law.
At least 64 people have been killed since the early hours of this morning by Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Strip's health ministry says. This means the death toll in Gaza has reached 54,249, the majority of whom were women and children, since the war began in 2023.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has strongly criticised Israel on Thursday, condemning its attacks on the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment of the civilian population.”
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation through an area known as the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip.
STAVROPOL, May 29. /TASS/. Two men were killed in an explosion in Stavropol; one of them was Zaur Gurtsiev, a veteran of the special military operation and a participant in the regional "Time of Heroes" personnel program. A criminal case has been launched.
TASS has gathered key details about the incident.
- The explosion took place in Stavropol near a multifamily building at Chekhov Street 85/19.
- As a result, two men were killed.
- One of them was identified as Zaur Alexandrovich Gurtsiev, a veteran of the special military operation and participant in the "Time of Heroes" local staff program, governor Vladimir Vladimirov announced on his Telegram channel.
- According to preliminary reports, the building suffered no external damage, though several cars parked nearby were damaged.
- All city emergency services are currently operating at the site.
- A criminal case has been opened under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code (murder of two persons by generally dangerous means) and Part 1 of Article 222.1 (illegal acquisition and storage of explosive devices).
- A prosecutor's audit of the incident has also been initiated.
- Law enforcement officers have sealed off part of the road and the area adjacent to the apartment building.
- Criminalists are examining the scene and the victims' bodies.
- According to eyewitnesses, one of the victims resided in the building near which the incident occurred.
- Law enforcement officials suspect it might have been a terrorist attack, Vladimirov noted.
Stand behind Ukrainian independent journalism when it's needed most. Help
us reach
20,000 members.
Telegram and Elon Musk's xAI will enter a one-year partnership, integrating the Grok chatbot into the messaging app, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced on May 28.
Musk, the world's richest man who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, commented that "no deal has been signed," prompting Durov to clarify that the deal has been agreed in "principle" with "formalities pending."
"This summer, Telegram users will gain access to the best AI technology on the market," Durov said.
"Elon Musk and I have agreed to a one-year partnership to bring xAI's chatbot Grok to our billion+ users and integrate it across all Telegram apps."
The announcement comes as Musk announces his exit from his role in the Trump administration to focus on his business ventures, many of which saw their profits drop in the past few months.
Musk founded xAI in 2023, and earlier this year, another of his ventures, X Corp., which operates the X social platform, acquired the AI company. Grok is xAI's flagship project and has already been integrated into X.
Musk's takeover of X saw the social platform, formerly known as Twitter, become the leading source of disinformation, EU officials said. The Grok chatbot also faced scrutiny recently after posting unprompted comments on the topic of so-called "white genocide" in South Africa, Musk's home country.
Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, currently resides in Dubai and holds Russian, Emirati, and French citizenship. He is under investigation in France for criminal activity on his messaging app.
Durov has claimed he is a pariah and has been effectively exiled from Russia, but it was reported last year that he had visited Russia over 60 times since leaving the country, according to Kremlingram, a Ukrainian group that campaigns against the use of Telegram in Ukraine.
Telegram remains one of the most popular social media platforms among Ukrainians. A September 2023 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicated that 44% of Ukrainians use Telegram to receive information and news.
Ukrainian officials have warned about security risks associated with using Telegram, leading to restrictions on its use by civil servants and politicians.
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?
An illegal immigrant who allegedly threatened to kill President Donald Trump before self-deporting to Mexico has been arrested, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who denounced rhetoric from left-leaning media and politicians for fueling such incidents.
Follow:
If you go to Japan, there's a chance you might meet someone with an unusual name – such as “Nike,” “Pikachu” or “Pudding.”
While still a minority, these names have grown in popularity over recent decades as parents reject traditional Japanese names for something more unique.
But the practice has also drawn criticism – mainly that it's confusing for hospitals, schools and authorities who don't know how to pronounce them.
Now the government is cracking down on these so-called “kirakira” names, which means sparkly or shiny. New rules came into effect on Monday that will limit parents from giving their babies names pronounced in unconventional ways.
The news was met with mixed reactions; some social media users argued that kirakira names are an expression of individualism, that they're fairly harmless and don't warrant government regulation.
“They're not children of the nation, right? They're children of their parents,” one person wrote on X after the announcement.
Many more, however, welcomed the change – lamenting that children with unusual names might face harassment, or at the very least complications in administrative tasks like registrations or banking.
“Why do certain people put kirakira names on their kids? It just causes those kids to be bullied,” one X user wrote. Another joked sarcastically: “Please stop restricting kirakira names. Seeing a child's name reveals the intelligence of their parents, which is helpful.”
Japan uses three writing systems – Kanji, which is based on Chinese characters, and two other phonetic systems. Names are typically written in Kanji, and this is where the trouble comes in.
Because these Chinese characters were mixed with the existing Japanese language, each Kanji character can be pronounced multiple ways – some with ten or more ways. You decipher the “right” pronunciation based on context clues and the other characters in a sentence or phrase.
Related article
Why 1.2 billion people share the same 100 surnames in China
In kirakira names, which became more popular from the 1980s onward, parents often choose a name based on the phonetic sound – wanting their child's name to sound like “Pikachu,” for instance – and pick similar-sounding Kanji characters.
The problem is that those characters might not usually be pronounced that way – making it hard, or impossible, for a teacher or nurse to decipher how to properly say a child's name just by looking at its written Kanji form.
Some have drawn parallels to how American parents have, increasingly in the past decade, chosen unusual spellings for common names – such as Ashleigh instead of Ashley, or Catelynn instead of Caitlin.
The Japanese government's new rules aim to limit this by mandating that only widely accepted pronunciations of kanji characters will be allowed.
Parents will need to include the phonetic readings of their baby names in the registry – and if local officials see that the phonetic sound of a name doesn't match how its characters are typically pronounced, they may reject the name or request additional paperwork.
This is not the first time strict naming rules have sparked debate in Japan.
Japan still legally requires married couples to share the same surname, unlike most other major economies that have done away with the tradition. Normally, wives take their husband's name, since same-sex marriages aren't legal in Japan.
A movement to change the rules around surnames has been brewing, led by women's rights advocates and those trying to preserve the diversity of Japanese surnames in a nation where a handful of names are becoming increasingly common.
First names have afforded more room for experimentation – at least, until the latest rules came in.
More and more people have been given unusual names in the last 40 years, according to a 2022 study that analyzed baby names published in local newsletters over the last few decades.
Related article
Japanese people could all be called Sato by 2531, study warns. But they'd need to get married first
The trend suggests a shift toward seeking “uniqueness and independence” in Japan, the study said – also seen in changes to other parts of Japanese life during that time like family structures and societal values.
Girls in particular saw an increase in kirakira names, it added – perhaps suggesting that parents had a stronger “hope for their daughters to become unique and independent than for their sons.”
Japan isn't the only country that has seen an upward trend in unusual baby names. A 2016 study found that American parents picked more unusual names between 2004 and 2015, pointing to the culture's “increasing individualism.”
In China, too, rapid economic growth and upward mobility have meant people today value individualism and autonomy more than previous generations, according to a 2018 study – reflected in the steady rise of parents choosing unique characters in their babies' names.
Like in Japan, the study found that Chinese girls were more likely to have unusual names than boys – perhaps reflecting different “parental expectations.”
But it's also common for countries to have rules in place for what names are acceptable. In the US, this is often state-by-state; names in California can only use the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language, which briefly posed a problem when Elon Musk and Grimes named their baby “X Æ A-12.” They eventually changed the name – very slightly – to “X Æ A-Xii.”
In Germany, authorities may strike down a baby name if they find it offensive or potentially harmful to the child's best interests. For example, they've previously barred parents from using “Borussia,” a reference to a soccer team, or “Gastritis,” arguing that the names would “jeopardize the welfare of the child,” according to the official Frankfurt city administration.
Meanwhile New Zealand also maintains strict rules that include bans on references to titles, meaning names like “King” and “Prince” are routinely rejected.
Soyon Nishioka 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.
An Argentine court on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of seven health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona, the latest dramatic twist in a trial that has captivated the nation and the soccer world for more than two months. (AP/ Victor R. Caivano, Cristian Kovadloff and Gustavo Garello)
Judge Julieta Makintach arrives at court for a hearing in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer star Diego Maradona, in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Jana Maradona, daughter of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, arrives at court for a hearing in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in his death, in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Veronica Ojeda, former partner of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, leaves a cafe during a break in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in his death, in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Gianinna Maradona, daughter of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, arrives at court for a hearing in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in his death, in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Lee esta historia en español.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of seven health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona, the latest soap-operatic turn in the trial that has tranfixed the soccer world.
The judges ruled there would be a new trial, without specifying when.
The pivot comes after one of the three judges overseeing the trial stepped down over criticism surrounding her participation in a forthcoming documentary series about the case, “Divine Justice,” which spanned from the aftermath of Maradona's death, as scandals and suspicions of foul play began to emerge, to the start of the trial.
In calling for the judge, Julieta Makintach, to be recused, the prosecutor on Tuesday presented the trailer for her documentary — a one-and-a-half-minute teaser that intercuts archival footage of Maradona scoring iconic goals with shots of Makintach strutting through the corridors of the Buenos Aires courthouse in high heels and a short skirt as a string soundtrack heightens suspense.
The prosecutor asked judges to investigate allegations that Makintach had violated judicial ethics in allowing a camera crew inside the courthouse to film her overseeing closed-door hearings for the reality TV-style series.
As the claims snowballed into a national scandal, Makintach on Tuesday said that she had “no choice” but to resign from the case.
The judges decided on Thursday to retry the entire case, effectively turning the clock back on all proceedings since March 11, when the trial began amid intense media scrutiny and called dozens of distraught witnesses to testify over 21 hearings.
“Judge Makintach did not act impartially. Her conduct caused harm to both the plaintiffs and the defense,” Judge Maximiliano Savarino said in declaring the mistrial. “The only person responsible is the recused judge.”
He added: “This is an unpleasant decision.”
At the courthouse, two of the soccer star's daughters, Gianinna and Dalma Maradona, began to weep.
The decision threw into doubt the timeline of the trial, which was initially expected to last until July. Thursday's ruling said that a higher court would select the three new judges by lottery “within a reasonable period of time.”
The case accuses Maradona's medical team of failing to provide adequate care for the soccer star in weeks leading up to his sudden death on November 25, 2020. Maradona died at age 60 from cardiac arrest while recovering from surgery for a blood clot on the brain at a rented home outside Buenos Aires.
Although the case largely hinges on medical technicalities, the biweekly testimonies have also become tabloid fodder — like much in Maradona's life, which included long spates of drug and alcohol abuse.
Experts have taken the stand to allege that Maradona agonized for 12 hours before his death while his sisters and daughters have tearfully accused his medics of leaving him alone in squalor when he should have been hospitalized.
The defendants, who deny all accusations, were charged with culpable homicide, a crime similar to involuntary manslaughter in that it implies the accused were aware of the risk caused by their reckless conduct and ignored it.
They include Leopoldo Luque, Maradona's primary physician at the time of his death, as well as his psychologist, psychiatrist, medical coordinator and nurses.
The crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. The defendants say Maradona was a difficult patient who did not allow himself to be treated.
Maradona, who famously led Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup, is regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time. His rags-to-riches story resonated with his fellow Argentines and he is widely revered as a national hero.
___
Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Fans leave as Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident after a car collided with pedestrians near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Scooters lie on the site where a 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city's Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, May 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A fan scarf lies near the site where a 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city's Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, May 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Liverpool players celebrate with the trophy on an open-top bus during the Liverpool FC Premier League victory parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade, in Liverpool, England, Monday May 26, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — A driver who injured nearly 80 people when his car rammed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team's Premier League championship was charged Thursday with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and six other serious counts, a prosecutor said.
Paul Doyle, 53, was also charged with dangerous driving and five other counts alleging different variations of causing or attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
The charges involve six victims, including two children.
The injured ranged in age from 9 to 78, with at least 50 people treated at hospitals. Seven people remained in the hospital Thursday in stable condition.
Hammond said the investigation was at an early stage as police review a huge volume of evidence, including videos and eyewitness statements.
“It is important to ensure that every victim gets the justice they deserve,” Hammond said.
The city had been celebrating Liverpool's record-tying 20th title when the driver turned down a street full of fans and joy quickly turned to tragedy.
“We know that Monday's shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool, and the entire country, on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of Liverpool FC supporters,” Hammond said.
Doyle remained in custody and faces his first court hearing Friday in Liverpool Magistrates' Court.
Police had previously said they believed Doyle dodged a road block by tailing an ambulance responding to a report of a person in cardiac arrest.
Video that circulated on social media showed scenes of horror as the car struck and tossed a person in the air who was draped in a Liverpool flag and then swerved into a sea of people packed on the side of the road.
At least four people, including a child, were rescued from beneath the vehicle when it came to a halt.
Merseyside Police said the driver was believed to have acted alone and they did not suspect terrorism.
They did not disclose an alleged motive for the act.
“I fully understand how this incident has left us all shocked and saddened, and I know many will continue to have concerns and questions,” Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said during a short news conference. “Our detectives are working tirelessly, with diligence and professionalism to seek the answer to all of those questions.”
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.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on the judicial system's handling of executive power cases, controversy surrounding alleged MS-13 Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's deportation, the Luigi Mangione case and chatter about President Trump seeking a third term.
FIRST ON FOX— The Justice Department on Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the result of what it argues is a biased system and one that "invariably and demonstrably" favors nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.
The letter, sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ABA President William R. Bay, was previewed exclusively to Fox News. It marks the latest escalation in a protracted legal fight that Republicans have waged against the nation's largest association of legal workers.
"For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees," Bondi said in the letter. "In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA."
TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference regarding immigration enforcement at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The Department of Justice said in the letter that it will no longer grant the ABA the "special treatment" and first access it has received, revoking decades of precedent where the ABA interviewed and vetted potential members of the incoming DOJ team.
"Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so."
It also ended an Office of Legal Policy that directed judicial nominees to provide waivers allowing the ABA access to non-public information for nominees, including bar records.
TRUMP ADMIN WORKING TO FLY BACK GUATEMALAN MIGRANT ERRONEOUSLY DEPORTED FROM US
The Department of Justice's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer)
"Nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA," Bondi said.
The Trump administration's decision to excise the ABA from the judicial nomination process comes after several Republican senators on the Senate committee tasked with vetting judicial nominees told the ABA in a letter earlier this year that they planned to ignore its rating system.
The ABA, established in the late 1800s, has grown into a sprawling organization that touts a membership of over 400,000 legal workers.
But it has sparked criticism from Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, previously blasted the ABA as a "radical left-wing advocacy group."
President Donald Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi (L) arrive to speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
He and others on the panel previously took aim at the group for embracing so-called "woke initiatives," including its heavy use of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI efforts, in many facets of its work.
This is not the first time Republican administrations have broken with the ABA. The George W. Bush administration ended the practice of giving the ABA a first look at nominees, and Trump also did so in his first presidential term.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the American Bar Association for comment.
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.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
A train transports freight on a common carrier line near Price, Utah, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah Thursday in a ruling that scales back a key environmental law and could speed development projects around the country.
The 8-0 decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project, which is aimed at quadrupling oil production in the remote area of sandstone and sagebrush.
Environmental groups said the decision would have sweeping impacts on National Environmental Policy Act reviews. The Trump administration has already said it's speeding up that process after the president vowed to boost U.S. oil and gas development.
A pumpjack dips its head to extract oil in a basin north of Helper, Utah, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred to the decision as a “course correction” in an opinion fully joined by four conservative colleagues. “Congress did not design NEPA for judges to hamstring new infrastructure and construction projects,” he wrote. The three liberals agreed the Utah project should get its approval, but they would have taken a narrower path.
The case centers on the Uinta Basin Railway, a proposed 88-mile (142-kilometer) expansion that would connect oil and gas producers to the broader rail network and allow them to access larger markets.
The justices reversed a lower court decision and restored a critical approval from federal regulators on the Surface Transportation Board.
Construction, though, does not appear to be imminent. Project leaders must obtain several permits and secure necessary financing with private-sector partners before they can break ground, said Uinta Basin Railway spokesperson Melissa Cano.
Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Environmental groups and a Colorado county had argued that regulators must consider a broad range of potential impacts when they consider new development, such as increased wildfire risk, the effect of additional crude oil production from the area and increased refining in Gulf Coast states.
The justices, though, found that regulators were right to consider the direct effects of the project, rather than the wider upstream and downstream impact. Kavanaugh wrote that courts should defer to regulators on “where to draw the line” on what factors to take into account. “The goal of the law is to inform agency decision making, not to paralyze it,” he said.
The court's conservative majority court has taken steps to curtail the power of federal regulators in other cases, however, including striking down the decades-old Chevron doctrine that made it easier for the federal government to set a wide range of regulations.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a concurrence that the court could have simply cleared the way for the railway approval by saying that regulators did not need to consider increased fossil fuel production tied to the project.
Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case after facing calls to step aside over ties to Philip Anschutz, a Colorado billionaire whose ownership of oil wells in the area means he could benefit if the project goes through. Gorsuch, as a lawyer in private practice, had represented Anschutz.
The ruling comes after President Donald Trump's vow to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from former President Joe Biden's focus on climate change. The administration announced last month it's speeding up environmental reviews of projects required under the same law at the center of the Utah case, compressing a process that typically takes a year or more into just weeks.
“The court's decision gives agencies a green light to ignore the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their decisions and avoid confronting them,” said Sambhav Sankar, senior vice president of programs at Earthjustice.
Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said opponents would continue to fight the Utah project. “This disastrous decision to undermine our nation's bedrock environmental law means our air and water will be more polluted, the climate and extinction crises will intensify, and people will be less healthy,” she said.
Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, said the ruling affirms a “balanced approach” to environmental oversight. He praised the railroad expansion as a critical infrastructure project that will help “restore America's energy independence” and help the state's rural economy.
James Coleman, a professor at University of Minnesota Law School, said the ruling is an “important corrective” that would have judges deferring to federal regulators rather than requiring them to consider upstream and downstream effects of energy transportation projects.
The project's public partner also applauded the ruling. “It represents a turning point for rural Utah — bringing safer, sustainable, more efficient transportation options, and opening new doors for investment and economic stability,” said Keith Heaton, director of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition.
___
Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
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.
An Alaska Airlines flight made a hard landing at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California during a torrential downpour caused by Tropical Storm Hilary. (Credit: Abhinav Amineni)
Nearly two years after passengers screamed while sparks flew down a runway during the landing of an Alaska Airlines flight, the cause has been revealed.
A final report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released on Tuesday points to "incorrect" maintenance work.
The flight, which departed from Seattle, Washington, made a hard touchdown in Santa Ana, Calif., during Tropical Storm Hilary after the left main landing gear collapsed on touchdown.
Video recorded by a passenger captured the plane slamming into the ground at high speed. Sparks were seen flying as the plane appeared to drag its left wing along the tarmac.
ALASKA AIRLINES PASSENGERS SCREAM AS PLANE MAKES HARD LANDING AMID TROPICAL STORM HILARY: 'SPARKS OUTSIDE'
NTSB issued the final report for its investigation into a 2023 Alaska Airlines landing that landed with a collapsed left main landing gear at John Wayne-Orange County Airport in Santa Ana, California. (@NTSB_Newsroom/X)
Investigators revealed that the incident was caused by a "fatigue crack" of a metal trunnion pin, which is part of the left landing gear. The fracture formed from excessive grinding during a 2018 maintenance overhaul, which introduced heat damage to the metal. While the crack was initially not visible, it grew over time and ultimately "caused the pin to fracture during landing," the NTSB report said.
"Results of this examination and previous NTSB investigations demonstrate that even relatively mild heat exposure from grinding and/or machining during overhaul can lead to cracking, which can lead to fatigue crack growth and failed landing gear components, as occurred in this accident," the report stated.
DELTA PLANE'S LANDING GEAR COLLAPSED DURING TORONTO CRASH-LANDING, INVESTIGATORS SAY
Firefighters with the Orange County Fire Authority helped passengers deplane Alaska Airlines Flight 1288 on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. (Orange County Fire Authority)
The report added that the pin had endured more than 4,000 landing cycles since undergoing the 2018 maintenance work. The crack itself had likely been present for approximately 800 landing cycles, the NTSB found.
Although the aircraft sustained substantial damage from the hard landing, all 112 passengers and crew members were able to deplane safely and without injury.
Alaska Airlines Flight 1288 was forced to make a hard landing at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, amid Tropical Storm Hilary. (Orange County Fire Authority)
Alaska Airlines previously said, "our focus is taking care of our guests who were on board, including retrieving their checked bags."
"We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate their patience during this situation."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
Bonny Chu is a Digital Production Assistant at Fox News Digital.
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.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Fans leave as Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident after a car collided with pedestrians near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Scooters lie on the site where a 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city's Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, May 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
A fan scarf lies near the site where a 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city's Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, May 27, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Liverpool players celebrate with the trophy on an open-top bus during the Liverpool FC Premier League victory parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)
Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade, in Liverpool, England, Monday May 26, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — A driver who injured nearly 80 people when his car rammed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team's Premier League championship was charged Thursday with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and six other serious counts, a prosecutor said.
Paul Doyle, 53, was also charged with dangerous driving and five other counts alleging different variations of causing or attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
The charges involve six victims, including two children.
The injured ranged in age from 9 to 78, with at least 50 people treated at hospitals. Seven people remained in the hospital Thursday in stable condition.
Hammond said the investigation was at an early stage as police review a huge volume of evidence, including videos and eyewitness statements.
“It is important to ensure that every victim gets the justice they deserve,” Hammond said.
The city had been celebrating Liverpool's record-tying 20th title when the driver turned down a street full of fans and joy quickly turned to tragedy.
“We know that Monday's shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool, and the entire country, on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of Liverpool FC supporters,” Hammond said.
Doyle remained in custody and faces his first court hearing Friday in Liverpool Magistrates' Court.
Police had previously said they believed Doyle dodged a road block by tailing an ambulance responding to a report of a person in cardiac arrest.
Video that circulated on social media showed scenes of horror as the car struck and tossed a person in the air who was draped in a Liverpool flag and then swerved into a sea of people packed on the side of the road.
At least four people, including a child, were rescued from beneath the vehicle when it came to a halt.
Merseyside Police said the driver was believed to have acted alone and they did not suspect terrorism.
They did not disclose an alleged motive for the act.
“I fully understand how this incident has left us all shocked and saddened, and I know many will continue to have concerns and questions,” Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said during a short news conference. “Our detectives are working tirelessly, with diligence and professionalism to seek the answer to all of those questions.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Veronica Ojeda, former partner of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, leaves a cafe during a break in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in his death, in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Judge Julieta Makintach arrives at court for a hearing in the trial of health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer star Diego Maradona, in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine court on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of seven health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona, the latest dramatic twist in a trial that has captivated the nation and the soccer world for more than two months.
The whiplash decision comes after one of the three judges overseeing the trial stepped down over criticism surrounding her participation in a forthcoming documentary about the case.
Her controversial withdrawal compelled the court to either appoint a new judge in her place or to retry the entire case from scratch.
On Thursday, the judges decided the latter, effectively turning the clock back on all proceedings in the case that accuses Maradona's medical team of failing to provide adequate care for the soccer star in his final days.
The judges ruled there would be a new trial, without specifying when.
Julieta Makintach said that she had “no choice” but to resign from the case on Tuesday after the prosecutor showed a teaser-trailer for a documentary, Divine Justice, which traces the aftermath of Maradona's death at the age of 60 to the start of the trail, clearly featuring Makintach as a main protagonist.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain.
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.
Police in Germantown, Maryland looking for would-be thieves who crashed into a grocery store before a robbery attempt.
A chilling discovery made over Memorial Day weekend in the quiet town of Davidsonville, Maryland, a short ride from the state's upscale Eastern Shore, has confounded the community.
On the night of May 24, Anne Arundel County Police and fire crews responded to a vehicle fire in the parking lot of 600 West Central Avenue in the tiny town, according to a press release.
Davidsonville is located 25 miles east of Washington, D.C., in the Annapolis area.
A street that runs through historic Davidsonville, Maryland. (Google Maps)
POLICE TAKE DOWN STABBING, ARSON SUSPECT AT MARYLAND'S NATIONAL HARBOR
After extinguishing the engulfed vehicle, police say they found human remains inside. They are treating the death as "suspicious" and working to identify the victim as well as the cause of the vehicle fire.
The human remains were sent to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.
View of boats anchored in Spa Creek in the historic colonial city of Annapolis, Maryland, not far from Davidsonville. (Getty Images )
MARYLAND FUNERAL HOME MASS SHOOTING LEAVES AT LEAST 1 DEAD, 9 INJURED
Anne Arundel County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy told WJZ News that police are investigating people who were in the area of the business around the time of the car fire, and those who frequented the store. He also asked the public to come forward with information.
"Certainly, any surveillance footage would be part of the investigation as well, or anything we can gather to assist our case right now," he said.
The Anne Arundel County Police Department is investigating the Davidsonville death. (Anne Arundel County Police Department)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to Anne Arundel County Police.
Peter D'Abrosca joined Fox News Digital in 2025 after four years as a politics reporter at The Tennessee Star.
He grew up in Rhode Island and is a graduate of Elon University.
Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.
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.
When animal cruelty trumps capitalism.
by Eric Levitz
Conservatives want the government to dictate what you can and cannot eat. Or so Republican policymaking increasingly suggests.
Earlier this month, Montana and Nebraska became the latest US states to ban lab-grown meat (also known as “cellular meat” or “cultivated meat”). Unlike plant-based meat substitutes like the Impossible Burger, lab-grown meat consists of actual animal tissue, but made without slaughtering animals. Instead, scientists take a sample of animal cells and feed them amino acids, salts, vitamins, and other nutrients until they grow into edible beef, pork, or poultry.
This technology isn't yet commercially viable. You can't buy cellular meat at a grocery store. And if you could, a serving might cost you the bulk of your savings.
A newsletter analyzing how the meat and dairy industries impact everything around us.
Nevertheless, self-styled champions of free enterprise in Nebraska, Montana, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Wyoming have all sought to stymy the manufacture and sale of cellular meat within their borders.
Although these bans are of little immediate consequence, they're nevertheless alarming and unconscionable. Industrial agriculture as currently practiced entails the torture of billions of sentient beings. And when forced to choose between tolerating such cruelty and forfeiting cheap bacon, nearly everyone picks the former.
Lab-grown meat faces many scientific and economic hurdles to viability. But it is nevertheless our best hope for eliminating torture from our food system. And the right's push for prohibiting the technology is fueled by little more than paranoia, greed, and cultural grievance.
Human beings generally love the taste of flesh, and not without reason. Meat is highly nutrient-dense, providing protein and essential amino acids, as well as vitamins and minerals that can be challenging to assemble from plant-based foods. The slaughter and consumption of animals has also been a central feature of human cultures, from the Paleolithic to the present day.
Of course, for much of our species' history, meat was scarce. Raising livestock requires more resources than cultivating wheat or rice, which has long rendered highly carnivorous diets unattainable for ordinary people. As soon as humans can afford to eat meat regularly, however, most do so: Around the world, meat consumption rises almost linearly with increases in national income.
This relationship may break down some in the wealthiest nations. Past a certain level of affluence, people seem to give more weight to environmental and medical arguments against heavy meat consumption — Germany, for example, has managed to modestly decrease its per capita meat consumption over the last decade. But even in extremely rich societies, moral or environmental arguments against meat consumption haven't made a significant dent on people's dietary choices.
According to Gallup's polling, in 1999, 6 percent of Americans identified as vegetarians. By 2023, that figure had fallen to 4 percent (while an additional 1 percent of Americans identified as vegans). And other empirical research, such as studies of shoppers' grocery purchases, comports with Gallup's findings.
In other words, despite massive increases in the quantity and quality of plant-based meat alternatives — and enormous amounts of animal rights advocacy and activism — the carnivorous share of the US public has stayed more or less constant over the past quarter-century.
It therefore seems implausible that moral suasion alone will ever drastically swell the ranks of America's vegetarians. Which is too bad, since the moral arguments against modern animal agriculture are incredibly strong. And it requires little philosophical sophistication to recognize as much.
Most Americans think that it is wrong to torture a dog for months and then kill it. Granted, I don't have hard data for that claim (for some reason, Gallup and Pew have not seen fit to poll that proposition). But it seems like a reasonable assumption, given the public's hostility to dog-fighting rings and other forms of canine abuse.
Yet the reasons why we typically consider dogs to be beings of moral worth — their capacity for bonding with humans and other members of their species, intelligence, distinct personalities, empathy, and vulnerability to suffering — also apply to pigs, among other animals raised for slaughter. Yet we tolerate the systematic torture of tens of millions of pigs each year. Male piglets are routinely castrated without anesthesia. Most sows, or female breeding pigs, meanwhile, spend their entire lives in cages so small that they cannot stretch their legs or turn around.
The scale of cruelty in meat cultivation is greater than it needs to be. But there is an inescapable trade-off between productivity and humanity in industrial agriculture. Pig farmers don't keep sows in tiny cages because they are sadists. Rather, they do so because the less space an individual sow takes up, the more you can breed in a given amount of square footage. Minimizing the resource-intensity of meat production — and therefore its cost to consumers — generally means deprioritizing the welfare of animals.
At present, there is just no getting around the conflict between our collective appetite for meat and our common moral intuition that torturing animals by the billions is wrong. Some people resolve this tension by irrationally denying the cognitive and emotional similarity of house pets and many farmed animals. Others simply choose to become vegetarians or vegans. Many, like myself, uneasily accept that we are not prepared to fully live up to our values in this domain (while seeking to mitigate our moral culpability by citing our difficulty digesting beans and soy, or the scarcity of vegan restaurants in our area, or our family traditions, or how good carnitas tacos taste).
Maybe, eventually, my vegan colleagues will persuade me to stop eating animals and start worshipping seitan. But such conversions are unlikely to ever happen at scale. Thus, the only way to reconcile humanity's taste for meat with its sympathy for intelligent life is to decouple animals' flesh from their sentience. And lab-grown meat is our best hope for doing that.
Yet some conservatives see less promise than peril in cellular meat. The movement to ban the technology partly reflects crass material interests. Already alarmed by competition from plant-based milks, which now make up more than 10 percent of overall milk sales, some livestock interests have sought to nip lab-grown meat in the bud. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his state's ban into law last year, he was flanked by cattle ranchers.
But the GOP's push to ban cellular meat isn't merely about deference to moneyed interests. If conservatives' position were solely dictated by Big Ag, they might actually support the technology. Although some farmers oppose the technology, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the Meat Institute have both objected to prohibitions on its sale. Meanwhile, JBS Foods, the world's largest meat processor, has itself invested in lab-grown beef.
Some Republican politicians say they're motivated by safety concerns. But such objections are either ill-informed or disingenuous. To make it to market, lab-grown meat must withstand the same FDA scrutiny as the factory-farmed variety.
Ironically, what some Republicans seem to fear about lab-grown meat is precisely that it could render mass animal torture unnecessary, and therefore, verboten. As DeSantis explained when he announced his cellular meat ban last May, “Florida is fighting back against the global elite's plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals.”
The idea here is that an international cabal of billionaire progressives wants to outlaw traditional meat and make Americans eat insects and poor simulacrums of beef instead (in arguing this, DeSantis was riffing on a popular right-wing conspiracy theory about the World Economic Forum's tyrannical machinations).
Other Republican opponents of cellular meat express similar concerns. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, himself a major pork producer, described his state's prohibition as an effort to “battle fringe ideas and groups to defend our way of life.”
DeSantis's conspiratorial version of this argument is patently irrational. The World Economic Forum is not trying to make you eat bugs, so as to establish a global dictatorship. But the notion that lab-grown meat could eventually lead to bans on factory-farmed animal products is less unhinged.
After all, progressives in some states and cities have banned plastic straws, despite the objective inferiority of paper ones. And the moral case for infinitesimally reducing plastic production isn't anywhere near as strong as that for ending the mass torture of animals. So, you might reason, why wouldn't the left forbid real hamburgers the second that a petri dish produces a pale facsimile of a quarter-pounder?
While not entirely groundless, this fear is nevertheless misguided.
Plastic straws are not as integral to American life as tasty meats. As noted above, roughly 95 percent of Americans eat meat. No municipal, state or federal government could ever end access to high-quality hot dogs, ribs, or chicken fingers and survive the next election.
The only scenario in which lab-grown meats could fully displace farmed ones is if the former comprehensively outcompetes the latter in the marketplace. If cellular meat ever becomes both tastier and cheaper than conventional alternatives — across every cut and kind of animal protein — then it could plausibly drive factory farmers into ruin. And in a world where almost no one eats pork derived from tortured sows, it's conceivable that the government could ban such torture. In so doing, however, it would only be ratifying the market's verdict.
It's worth emphasizing how far-fetched that scenario is. Labs are making some progress on approximating ground beef and chicken nuggets. But manufacturing a rack of ribs or chicken wings remains wholly the stuff of science fiction. In any case, creating one serving of chicken nuggets at gargantuan cost in a lab and producing such nuggets at a global scale and competitive price are radically different propositions. And many scientists contend that cellular meat will never achieve such viability, due to the inherent constraints of thermodynamics and cell metabolism. If they are right, then conservatives have nothing to worry about.
But if those skeptical scientists are underestimating humanity's capacity for agricultural innovation (as some have done in the past), then the consequences could be downright utopian.
Right now, the process for converting energy into animal tissue is riddled with inefficiency, environmental harms, and cruelty. We grow corn and soybeans to capture energy from the sun, then convert those crops into feed, then fatten animals on that feed for weeks, months, or years before slaughtering them. If labs found a commercially viable way to directly convert electricity into chicken wings, steaks, and bacon, we could radically reduce the resource intensity and cost of meat production. At the same time, we would free up the roughly 660 million acres of American land currently devoted to pasture and grazing — a third of the continental US — for housing, parks, or commerce, while eliminating a large share of global carbon emissions. And of course, such a technological revolution would allow carnivorous animal lovers to live our values, without forfeiting our favorite dishes.
Biology or economics may ultimately block the path to such a utopian food system. But we must not let cultural grievance prevent us from finding out if that world is possible.
A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here!
Explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.
The mass killing of tiny creatures, explained.
One company dominated the competition: Impossible Foods.
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration has moved to roll back food safety measures, endanger slaughterhouse workers, and more.
Some of your feelings about meat are just in your head.
It's the most invisible — and the hardest to solve.
Eating more meat won't make America healthy again.
© 2025 Vox Media, LLC. 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' Alexandria Hoff provides details on a federal court's ruling that blocks President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. Fox News contributor Hugh Hewitt weighs in and discusses the decision to 'aggressively' pull Chinese student visas.
The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the authority of judges to block infrastructure projects due to environmental concerns.
The justices handed down the lone decision Thursday morning, slightly curbing judicial authority at a time when President Donald Trump's administration is loudly complaining about alleged judicial overreach. The case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, relates to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the requirement for environmental impact statements (EIS) in infrastructure projects supported by the federal government.
"NEPA does not allow courts, ‘under the guise of judicial review' of agency compliance with NEPA, to delay or block agency projects based on the environmental effects of other projects separate from the project at hand," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the opinion of the court.
"Courts should afford substantial deference and should not micromanage those agency choices so long as they fall within a broad zone of reasonableness," the opinion continued.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ASKS SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW EL SALVADOR DEPORTATION FLIGHT CASE
The U.S. Supreme Court is shown at dusk on June 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Kavanaugh went on to state that agencies should not be expected to consider the environmental impact of any project aside from the one they are currently working on, "even if" the environmental impacts "might extend outside the geographical territory of the project or materialize later in time."
"The fact that the project might foreseeably lead to the construction or increased use of a separate project does not mean the agency must consider that separate project's environmental effects," the court ruled.
Thursday's decision was an 8-0 ruling, with Justice Neil Gorsuch taking no part in the consideration of the case. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett joined with Kavanaugh's opinion.
Posing for a group phot are, bottom row, from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, and top row, from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Supreme Court building, on Oct. 7, 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a separate concurring opinion, onto which joined Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Trump, having a history in major construction projects, has repeatedly complained about environmental impact statements and the roadblocks they can cause.
NUMBER OF INJUNCTIONS HALTING TRUMP POLICIES TROUNCES PREDECESSORS BY DOUBLE
Republicans have also widely criticized what they see as judicial overreach in federal judges unilaterally blocking major aspects of Trump's agenda.
"Universal injunctions are an unconstitutional abuse of judicial power," Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital earlier this month.
"Just this past week, a D.C. district judge issued a universal injunction blocking the president's executive order requiring voter ID or proof-of-citizenship prior to voting in national election," he continued. "Judges are not policymakers."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Supreme Court is considering the wide use of universal injunctions in a separate case that will be handed down in the coming weeks.
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 all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox
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.
Supporters Far-right Confederation party's presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen in Saturday,Warsaw, Poland, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
This combination of photos shows Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, left, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 2022 and Karol Nawrocki in Szeligi near Warsaw, Poland, on March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
Far-right Confederation party's presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen speaks to supporters in Saturday,Warsaw, Poland, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Karol Nawrocki, front, the conservative candidate heading into the second round of Poland's presidential election, meets with union members in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The liberal presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski, front left, waves as he and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, front right, take part in a march one week ahead of a decisive presidential election in Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's presidential election has come down to a stark ideological choice: a liberal pro-European mayor versus a staunch nationalist conservative. They are polling so close that the outcome is impossible to predict in the run-off round on Sunday.
It's not just a domestic affair. President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind the nationalist candidate, Karol Nawrocki, and dangled the prospect of closer military ties if Poles choose him over liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.
This combination of photos shows Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, left, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 2022 and Karol Nawrocki in Szeligi near Warsaw, Poland, on March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)
Trump met with Nawrocki earlier this month at the White House and sent his Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to a meeting of the conservative pressure group CPAC in Poland, where she offered a strong endorsement.
Noem even dangled the prospect of closer U.S.-Polish military ties in the event of a Nawrocki win — with the implied warning that a Trzaskowski victory could jeopardize Poland's security.
Hungary's autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who maintains close Kremlin ties, also gave his support to Nawrocki at a CPAC meeting in Budapest on Thursday.
Karol Nawrocki, front, the conservative candidate heading into the second round of Poland's presidential election, meets with union members in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
At stake is not only Poland's domestic course but also the international standing of a key European Union and NATO member on the alliance's eastern flank, in a region gripped by anxiety over Russia's war in Ukraine.
Sunday's vote will either empower Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a pro-EU reformer, with a presidential ally who can advance his rule-of-law agenda — or saddle him with a rival who could veto legislation and block government initiatives.
Trzaskowski's supporters argue that a pro-European leader would enhance Poland's global standing during a time of war in Europe. Nawrocki's backers believe only conservative rule can safeguard national sovereignty and traditional Christian values, and they say Trump's support would greatly enhance Poland's security.
But the candidate who may ultimately decide the outcome is one who won't appear on the runoff ballot.
Sławomir Mentzen, a 38-year-old far-right politician and beer producer from the central city of Torun, finished third in the first round of voting on May 18, with nearly 15% of the vote. Though eliminated, his supporters — often young, anti-establishment, and deeply skeptical of both Brussels and Poland's political establishment — have become the most sought-after constituency in the country.
Both remaining candidates have gone out of their way to court Mentzen and his base. In recent days, each man traveled to the north-central Polish town of Torun, famous for being the birthplace of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, to appear on Mentzen's YouTube channel, where he has built a following with a mix of libertarian economics, nationalist rhetoric, and anti-EU invective.
His influence highlights a broader shift in Polish politics, where the far right — once considered a fringe force — is increasingly shaping the national agenda. It's also part of a larger trend of hard-right parties gaining traction across Europe.
Far-right Confederation party's presidential candidate Sławomir Mentzen speaks to supporters in Saturday,Warsaw, Poland, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Piotr Buras, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations' Warsaw office, says Poland is part of a larger pattern in which voters turn to populist forces amid rapid social change. But he also cites local factors, such as disillusionment with Tusk's coalition.
That coalition, which spans the ideological spectrum, has struggled to agree on key issues, including liberalizing the abortion law — a campaign promise. Meanwhile, outgoing conservative President Andrzej Duda has blocked parts of Tusk's agenda. Observers say the coalition's voters must be highly mobilized on Sunday to defeat Nawrocki.
The liberal presidential candidate Rafal Trzaskowski, front left, waves as he and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, front right, take part in a march one week ahead of a decisive presidential election in Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Many votes in the first round went to protest candidates. Among voters aged 18–29, over 35% backed Mentzen, and nearly 20% supported a left-wing candidate, Adrian Zandberg, according to exit polls.
In addition, an extreme right-wing antisemite, Grzegorz Braun, won more than 6% of the votes overall.
Buras believes right-wing protest candidates are more appealing today than those on the left because they promise to restore a lost past, while the left promises a better future that many see as unattainable.
“The world is changing, society is changing very fast, much faster than anytime in the past,” Buras said. “People are worried and they vote for those who say we can go back to the glorious past.”
Since the first round, Mentzen — co-leader of the Confederation party — has presented both candidates with an eight-point list of demands: no new taxes; defense of cash payments; expanded gun rights; and opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine, among others.
Nawrocki, who appeared on Mentzen's show on June 22, signed on to all eight points — including the controversial Ukraine stance — breaking with his Law and Justice party's longstanding support for Kyiv's integration with the West.
Trzaskowski appeared two days later. He said he could agree with some points, like fiscal restraint, but rejected others. He strongly defended LGBTQ+ rights and reaffirmed that Ukraine should eventually join NATO, once the war ends, calling it key to Poland's own security.
The YouTube interviews have dominated the political conversation, underscoring how Mentzen, a TikTok-savvy outsider, has upended traditional campaigning.
The exchange between Trzaskowski and Mentzen on Saturday was occasionally tense, especially over LGBTQ+ rights, but remained civil and substantive.
In many ways it overshadowed a traditional televised debate the day before. The substance of that debate did not seem to change the trajectory of the campaign. The thing Poles discussed most was a brief moment when Nawrocki inserted something into his mouth which he later said was a tobacco pouch. Some have questioned if he is fit to be president if he couldn't get through a two-hour debate without taking a hit of tobacco.
After the sometimes sharp exchanges, Mentzen sat down for a beer with Trzaskowski and others in the pub he owns.
The informal gathering was documented by Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, who was there as well. He posted a video on social media Saturday evening showing the group with the words: “For a Poland that unites, not divides.”
The video quickly went viral, with commentators speculating about whether it was a spontaneous gesture or a calculated political move.
It was also one more example, if more were needed, of how far-right forces in Europe are slowly becoming accepted.
For Mentzen, the moment was also awkward. The man who made his name skewering the political elite appeared cozy with establishment figures. Critics on the hard right lashed out, revealing fractures in the movement he helped popularize.
After dangling the promises of an endorsement for days, Mentzen on Wednesday afternoon said he wouldn't offer one to either candidate. “Vote as your conscience tells you,” he told his supporters.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
A train transports freight on a common carrier line near Price, Utah, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court backed a multibillion-dollar oil railroad expansion in Utah Thursday in a ruling that scales back a key environmental law for projects around the country.
The 8-0 decision comes after an appeal to the high court from backers of the project, which is aimed at quadrupling oil production in the remote area of sandstone and sagebrush.
Environmental groups said the decision would have sweeping impacts on National Environmental Policy Act reviews. The Trump administration has already said it's speeding up that process after the president vowed to boost U.S. oil and gas development.
A pumpjack dips its head to extract oil in a basin north of Helper, Utah, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
The case centers on the Uinta Basin Railway, a proposed 88-mile (142-kilometer) expansion that would connect oil and gas producers to the broader rail network and allow them to access larger markets. Supporters have argued that streamlining environmental reviews would speed up development.
The justices reversed a lower court decision and restored a critical approval from federal regulators on the Surface Transportation Board. The project could still face additional legal and regulatory hurdles.
Environmental groups and a Colorado county had argued that regulators must consider a broad range of potential impacts when they consider new development, such as increased wildfire risk, the effect of additional crude oil production from the area and increased refining in Gulf Coast states.
The justices, though, found that regulators were right to consider the direct effects of the project, rather than the wider upstream and downstream impact. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that courts should defer to regulators on “where to draw the line” on what factors to take into account. Four other conservative justices joined his opinion.
Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“Simply stated, NEPA is a procedural cross-check, not a substantive roadblock,” he wrote of the policy act reviews. “The goal of the law is to inform agency decision making, not to paralyze it.”
The court's conservative majority court has taken steps to curtail the power of federal regulators in other cases, including striking down the decades-old Chevron doctrine that made it easier for the federal government to set a wide range of regulations.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the outcome, but with a narrower legal reasoning. In a decision joined by her two liberal colleagues, she said the court could have simply cleared the way for the railway approval by finding the board didn't need to take into account any harm caused by the oil that might eventually be carried on the railway.
Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case after facing calls to step aside over ties to Philip Anschutz, a Colorado billionaire whose ownership of oil wells in the area means he could benefit if the project goes through. Gorsuch, as a lawyer in private practice, had represented Anschutz.
The ruling comes after President Donald Trump's vow to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from former President Joe Biden's focus on climate change. The administration announced last month it's speeding up environmental reviews of projects required under the same law at the center of the Utah case, compressing a process that typically takes a year or more into just weeks.
“The court's decision gives agencies a green light to ignore the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their decisions and avoid confronting them,” said Sambhav Sankar, senior vice president of programs at Earthjustice.
Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said opponents would continue to fight the Utah project. “This disastrous decision to undermine our nation's bedrock environmental law means our air and water will be more polluted, the climate and extinction crises will intensify, and people will be less healthy,” she said.
The project's public partner applauded the ruling. “It represents a turning point for rural Utah — bringing safer, sustainable, more efficient transportation options, and opening new doors for investment and economic stability,” said Keith Heaton, director of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition.
___
Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this story.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Markets
Hot Stocks
Fear & Greed Index
Latest Market News
Hot Stocks
Follow:
Behind the monumental court ruling that blocked most of US President Donald Trump's tariffs is a small wine company run by a father-and-daughter duo.
VOS Selections – a small, New York-based wine company – was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit which prompted a three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade to strike down Trump's sweeping global tariffs on Wednesday.
Related article
Tariffs, and Trump's entire economic agenda, were just thrown into chaos
The decision found Trump overstepped his authority by invoking emergency economic powers to impose sweeping tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico and other US trading partners.
VOS founder Victor Schwartz never intended to be at the forefront of the resistance to US government policy.
“Put it this way: when I started VOS 40 years ago I had no idea that I was signing up for something like this, getting involved in a lawsuit against the executive branch of the United States,” Schwartz, who runs the business alongside his daughter Chloe, told CNN.
“I just wanted to bring in these delicious wines from interesting appellations across the world and sell those wines to a like-minded community.”
Schwartz was in the middle of cooking a pasta dinner Wednesday when he received an email from his lawyers telling him they had won. His first reaction? Disbelief. Then, his phone started ringing off the hook with media requests and messages of congratulations.
The Trump administration immediately launched an appeal against the ruling, which could make it all the way to the Supreme Court. If it survives the challenge, the ruling would put an end to almost all of Trump's tariffs, and cut into his leverage when negotiating trade deals with other countries. Tariffs on autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum will continue because they were enacted under a different law.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement that “it is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.”
The Trump administration's tariffs have been particularly painful for small businesses, which have had to weather surging prices and constantly shifting trade policies without the level of cash flow that larger companies can dip into.
Schwartz said his business, which imports wine, sake and spirits from small-batch producers in countries including France, Lebanon and Japan, was hurt by Trump's tariffs during the president's first term.
“We're not a big company. We can't just ride out the storm,” Schwartz said.
This time around, when Trump announced unprecedented global tariffs on almost all US trading partners, Schwartz knew he had to fight back.
“Something like this is a complete monkey wrench in your business,” he said, describing the tariffs as an “existential threat.”
Related article
Elon Musk says his time in the Trump administration has ‘come to an end'
Schwartz was put in touch with lawyers at the libertarian advocacy group Liberty Justice Center, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of VOS and four other small businesses, including a women's cycling apparel company and an online fishing tackle shop.
After some reflection and discussion with his family, Schwartz agreed to be the lead plaintiff in the case, the outcome of which will have implications for consumers and businesses around the world.
Jeffrey Schwab, lead attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins “this is a very important case,” not just because of its economic impact, but “because of the tremendous power grab that the administration is claiming here.”
Schwartz said he is confident in his lawsuit and plans to see it all the way through to the Supreme Court, if necessary. He said the latest ruling is a win for small businesses everywhere.
“We knocked back the tariffs. It's going to change the whole game plan,” he said, clearly elated.
As one would expect, Schwartz plans to celebrate with a nice bottle of wine.
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. All times are ET. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Fair value provided by IndexArb.com. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.
© 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.
Audrey Campos poses for The Associated Press while hosting a Loteria game night at Jackie O's Cocktail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Audrey Campos, left, laughs with Jay Solis, 42, during a Loteria game night at Jackie O's Cocktail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Audrey Campos speaks during a Loteria game night at Jackie O's Cocktail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Audrey Campos announces the Loteria card La Dama during a Loteria game night at Jackie O's Cocktail Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. see lower social acceptance for transgender people than those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, a new Pew Research Center poll found.
Pew found that about 6 in 10 LGBTQ+ adults said there is “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of social acceptance in the U.S. for gay and lesbian people. Only about 1 in 10 said the same for nonbinary and transgender people — and about half said there was “not much” or no acceptance at all for transgender people.
Giovonni Santiago, a 39-year-old transgender man and Air Force veteran who lives in Northeast Ohio and was not a participant in the survey, said he feels that acceptance for transgender people has declined in the last few years – roughly in step with the rise of state laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, regulating which school and public bathrooms transgender people can use and which sports they can play.
He said he's seen acceptance get worse nationally, following the lead of some places that were early adopters of restrictions.
“They were like the anomaly for ignorance and in hatred, especially towards trans people,” Santiago said. “But now we see that it's just kind of sweeping the nation, unfortunately.”
Still, Santiago said he doesn't fear for his own personal safety — a contrast with most transgender people, who said they have feared for their safety at some point.
“I guess I don't feel it as much because I live a life that most people don't know that I'm trans unless I specifically tell them,” said Santiago, who runs a nonprofit dedicated to supporting transgender youth.
The survey of 3,959 LGBTQ+ adults was conducted in January, after President Donald Trump was elected but just before he returned to office and set into motion a series of policies that question the existence of transgender people.
On his first day, Trump signed an executive order calling on the government to recognize people as male or female based on the “biological truth” of their future cells at conception, rather than accept scientific evidence that gender is a spectrum. Since then, he's begun ousting transgender service members from the military, and tried to bar transgender women and girls from sports competitions for females and block federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under 19, among other orders.
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted in May found that about half of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling transgender issues, with a range of views on specific actions.
According to the Pew poll, about two-thirds of LGBTQ+ adults said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationally 10 years ago boosted acceptance of same-sex couples “a lot more” or “somewhat more.” The Supreme Court is expected to rule in coming weeks on a major case regarding transgender people — deciding whether Tennessee can enforce a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Transgender people are less likely than gay or lesbian adults to say they're accepted by all their family members. The majority of LGBTQ+ said their siblings and friends accepted them, though the rates were slightly higher among gay or lesbian people. About half of gay and lesbian people said their parents did, compared with about one-third of transgender people. Only about 1 in 10 transgender people reported feeling accepted by their extended family, compared with about 3 in 10 gay or lesbian people.
Transgender people are more likely than gay, lesbian or bisexual people to say they feel “extremely” or “very” connected to a broader LGBTQ+ community and to say that all or most of their friends are also LGBTQ+.
Some elements of the experience are similar. About one-third of transgender and lesbian or gay adults said they first felt they might be LGBTQ+ by the time they were 10 and most did by age 13. About half waited until they were at least 18 to first tell someone.
Aubrey Campos, 41, runs a taco truck near a hub of LGBTQ+ bars in Fort Worth, Texas, and also serves as a community organizer. She says her parents were supportive when she came out as transgender at about age 12. But the younger trans people she works with often have very different experiences — including some who were kicked out of their homes.
“Now the times are a little bit dark,” she said. “This is a time that we to come together and make it brighter and make it known that we aren't going to just disappear.”
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.
Former Biden Transportation Secy. Pete Buttigieg speaks with reporters after headlining a town hall with veterans in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which sparked more 2028 speculation.
It has been just over four months since President Donald Trump returned to power in the White House, and the very early moves in the 2028 presidential race are already underway by some Democrats with likely national ambitions.
This upcoming weekend, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was the Democrats' 2024 vice presidential nominee, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who says he is not laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run, will make separate appearances in South Carolina, the state the Democratic National Committee anointed to hold the lead-off primary in their 2024 nominating calendar.
Two weeks later, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who ran for the White House in 2020, will headline a major Democratic state party dinner in New Hampshire, which for a century has held the first presidential primary.
Two weeks ago, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who later served as Transportation secretary in former President Joe Biden's administration, headlined a town hall with veterans and military families in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg headlines a veterans' town hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 13, 2025. Buttigieg's appearance sparked speculation he may make another presidential run in 2028. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
Iowa's caucuses for half a century kicked off both major political parties' presidential nominating calendars until the DNC demoted the Hawkeye State on their 2024 schedule.
Another potential contender, two-term Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, late last month, gave the keynote address at a major state party fundraising gala in New Hampshire.
Also making noise is two-term Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who said recently he would consider running for president if he felt he could successfully unite the country.
WHAT BERNIE SANDERS SAID IN A FOX NEWS DIGITAL INTERVIEW
Additionally, progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York grabbed plenty of attention the past couple of months, co-headlining a slew of large rallies across the country with longtime progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, which sparked plenty of 2028 speculation.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders participate in a stop on the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour at the Dignity Health Arena Theater in Bakersfield, California, on April 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci)
The Democratic Party has been in the political wilderness since last November's election setbacks, when Republicans won back control of the White House and the Senate and defended their fragile House majority. Republicans additionally made gains among Black and Hispanic voters as well as younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party's base.
Since Trump's return to power, an increasingly angry and energized base of Democrats has been pushing for party leaders to take a stronger stand in pushing back against the president's sweeping and controversial agenda during the opening months of his second administration.
EFFORT BY DEMOCRATS TO STOP THE SLIDE RIDICULED
Democrats are not only looking ahead to next year's midterms, when they hope to make ballot box gains, but also to the next presidential race.
"There was a sense of hopelessness earlier this year among Democrats, as Trump came in with his wrecking ball, and it seemed like there was nothing but futile opposition to him," longtime Democratic strategist Chris Moyer told Fox News. "So thinking about a presidential race with potential candidates is a way to get some hope back and look towards a future that doesn't include Trump."
Moyer, a veteran of a handful of Democratic presidential campaigns, said the race is "wide open, and it won't be long before we see clear maneuvering from a litany of candidates."
The results of the 2026 midterm elections will have a major impact on the shape of the next White House race.
For now, however, here are 20 Democrats considered potential presidential contenders to watch on the road to 2028.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Leading Women Defined Summit at the Ritz-Carlton on Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Dana Point, California. (Juliana Yamada /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
After lying low when the Biden administration came to a close, former Vice President Kamala Harris has picked up the political pace of late, including headlining a recent major DNC fundraiser in New York City, with another in San Francisco next week.
Among her campaign options that she is weighing is a 2026 run for the open governor's seat in her home state of California and another bid in 2028 for the White House.
A source in the former vice president's political orbit confirmed to Fox News Digital two months ago that Harris had told allies she would decide by the end of summer on whether to launch a 2026 gubernatorial campaign.
Harris served as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and represented the Golden State in the U.S. Senate before joining Biden's 2020 ticket and winning that election as vice president.
Additionally, Harris would be considered the clear frontrunner for governor in heavily blue California in the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.
However, early polling in the 2028 Democratic nomination race indicates that Harris would be the frontrunner, thanks in part to her name recognition within her party.
While there are plenty of voices within the party who would like to move on from the Biden/Harris era following Trump's sweeping victory, and there is little history of Democrats yearning for past defeated presidential nominees, Trump has re-written the rules when it comes to defeated White House contenders making another run.
Potential buyers' remorse of a second Trump administration could boost the 60-year-old Harris in the years to come.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a rally in Nampa, Idaho. (Fox News )
The progressive "rock star" and best-known lawmaker among the so-called "Squad" of diverse House Democrats in October turned 35, the minimum age to run for president.
Some Democrats argue that a riveting messenger with star power is needed as the party's next nominee, and Ocasio-Cortez is guaranteed to grab plenty of attention if she ultimately decides to run.
There is also speculation the four-term federal lawmaker from New York City may primary challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York when he is up for re-election in 2028.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with voters during a stop at a highway rest area in Hooksett, New Hampshire, on July 8, 2024. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a top surrogate for Biden during the president's re-election bid. With the blessing of the White House, the two-term California governor debated then-Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year on Fox News.
Newsom's travels on behalf of Biden brought him to New Hampshire and South Carolina, two crucial early voting states on the Democratic Party's nominating calendar.
After Harris, his friend and fellow Californian, replaced Biden atop the Democrats' 2024 ticket, the governor, after a pause, continued his efforts to keep Trump from returning to the White House.
While Newsom and California's Democrat-dominated legislature took action to "Trump-proof" the Golden State, the governor has also worked with Trump on key matters, including January's wildfires that devastated parts of metropolitan Los Angeles.
Newsom also appears to have moderated on some issues and invited well-known Trump allies Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his weekly podcast.
The 57-year-old Newsom, who is term-limited, completes his duties in Sacramento at the end of next year, right around the time the 2028 presidential election will start to heat up.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024 in Chicago. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has become a leading voice in the Democrats' opposition to Trump and has taken steps to Trump-proof his solidly blue state.
"You come for my people, you come through me," Pritzker told reporters of his efforts to protect Illinois.
Pritzker was also a high-profile surrogate on behalf of Biden and then Harris during the 2024 cycle. Those efforts brought Pritzker to Nevada, a general election battleground state and an early-voting Democratic presidential primary state, and New Hampshire.
Additionally, the governor's recent trip to New Hampshire sparked more 2028 buzz.
However, before he makes any decision about 2028, the 60-year-old governor must decide whether he will run in 2026 for a third term steering Illinois.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigns on behalf of then-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a house party in Durham, New Hampshire, on July 25, 2024. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)
Two-term Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer grabbed plenty of attention and became a Democratic Party rising star in 2020 when she feuded with Trump over COVID-19 federal assistance and survived a foiled kidnapping attempt.
Trump, at the time, called her "that woman from Michigan."
Along with Newsom and Pritzker, Whitmer's name was floated as a possible replacement for Biden following his disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June, before the president endorsed Harris, and the party instantly coalesced around the vice president.
Whitmer was a leading surrogate for Biden and then for Harris and made a big impression on Democratic activists during a stop this summer in New Hampshire on behalf of Harris.
However, Whitmer was criticized by some in her party for appearing to cozy up to Trump during a White House visit earlier this spring.
The 53-year-old governor is term-limited and will leave office after the end of next year.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during a campaign event in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
Gov. Josh Shapiro, the 51-year-old first-term governor of Pennsylvania, was on Harris' short-list for vice presidential nominee.
Even though the vice president named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Shapiro remained a top surrogate on behalf of his party's 2024 national ticket.
However, his two-day swing in New Hampshire during the final full week ahead of Election Day did raise some eyebrows and 2028 speculation.
After Harris lost battleground Pennsylvania to Trump, there was plenty of talk within the party that Harris had made the wrong choice for her running mate.
Shapiro, who has a track record of taking on the first Trump administration as Pennsylvania attorney general, is expected to play a similar role with Trump back in the White House.
The governor will be up for re-election in 2026.
Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland speaks with the New Hampshire delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is considered by many to be another Democratic Party rising star.
The 46-year-old Army veteran, who is also a Rhodes Scholar and CEO of the charitable organization the Robin Hood Foundation during the coronavirus pandemic, was elected two years ago.
Even though Moore said in a recent interview on "The View" that he is "not running" in 2028, speculation persists, fueled in part because of his upcoming stop in South Carolina.
Moore will be up for re-election in 2026.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks on day three of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 21, 2024. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who surpassed expectations during his 2020 Democratic presidential nomination run, was a very active surrogate on behalf of Biden and later Harris, during the 2024 cycle.
He helped raise a lot of money for the Democratic Party ticket, including heading a top-dollar fundraiser in New Hampshire.
The 43-year-old former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and former naval officer who served in the war in Afghanistan, is considered one of the party's biggest and brightest stars. He was known as a top communicator for the administration, including making frequent appearances on Fox News.
Fueling buzz about a potential 2028 presidential run, Buttigieg passed on a 2026 Senate bid in his adopted home state of Michigan and made a high-profile stop in Iowa earlier this month.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, 47, who was elected governor in 2019 and then re-elected in 2023 in red-state Kentucky, was on Harris' longer list for potential running mates.
Beshear made plenty of new friends and contacts as he ventured to New Hampshire last year to headline the state Democratic Party's annual fall fundraising gala.
He served as Kentucky's attorney general before running for governor.
Beshear said in a recent interview with local station WDRB that "if you'd asked me a couple years ago if this is something I'd consider, I probably wouldn't have. But I don't want to leave a broken country to my kids. And so, if I'm somebody that can bring this nation together, hopefully find some common ground, it's something I'll consider."
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., speaks with Fox News Digital following a campaign rally in Tifton, Georgia, on Nov. 29, 2022. (Brandon Gillespie/Fox News)
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, 55, is a major player in Washington as the Democratic minority in the Senate fights back against the second Trump administration.
Warnock, who won Senate elections in 2020 and 2022 in battleground Georgia, served as senior pastor at the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.
He is up for re-election to the Senate in 2028.
In this image provided by Senate Television, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. speaks on the Senate floor on Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025. (Senate Television via AP)
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, is considered one of the party's most talented orators.
Thanks to his 2020 run, Booker made plenty of friends and allies in such early states as New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Booker made headlines earlier this year by delivering a record-breaking 25-hour and 5-minute marathon speech from the floor of the Senate. The speech protested the sweeping and controversial moves so far by Trump during his second administration, as well as the operations of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
The 56-year-old senator is up for re-election in 2026.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut speaks at the National Safer Communities Summit at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut, on Friday, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Since the November election, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut has been very vocal about the steps Democrats need to take to win back working-class voters.
First elected to the House in 2006 and later to the Senate in 2012, the 51-year-old Murphy cruised to re-election this year by nearly 20 points, which means he would not have to decide between a re-election bid and a White House run in 2028.
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota attends a congressional hearing on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 65, who once served as county attorney in Minnesota's most populous county, is now in her fourth term in the Senate.
Klobuchar ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and came in a strong third in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.
The senator has not ruled out making another run for the White House in 2028.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California is interviewed by Fox News Digital at Yale University on April 15, 2025 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)
Rep. Ro Khanna, 48, was a tireless surrogate on behalf of Biden and then Harris.
He has been a regular visitor to New Hampshire in the past couple of years, including a high-profile debate last year against then-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Khanna has grabbed plenty of attention so far this year as he has held town halls in Republican-controlled congressional districts and targeted Vice President JD Vance with events in the vice president's home state of Ohio and at Yale Law School, where both politicians earned their legal degrees.
Stephen A. Smith on the "ESPN NBA Countdown" live set at Intuit Dome on Oct. 23, 2024. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
The 57-year-old sports TV personality, sports radio host, sports journalist, and actor has generated a ton of buzz this year as he has mulled a White House run and has even grabbed Trump's attention.
Mark Cuban spoke at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Another potential contender with plenty of star power is Mark Cuban.
The 66-year-old billionaire business mogul and part-owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks was a high-profile surrogate for Harris during her presidential election campaign.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper speaks in support of then-presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris at the Hendrick Center For Automotive Excellence on Aug. 16, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, 67, who in January finished up his eighth and final year as governor, took his name out of the Harris running mate speculation early in the process last summer.
Cooper served 16 years as North Carolina's attorney general before winning election as governor.
The former governor is being heavily recruited by Democrats to try and flip a GOP-held Senate seat in North Carolina in next year's midterms.
Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks on Aug. 9, 2023 in Belen, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, 65, is halfway through her second term steering New Mexico.
The governor, a former member of Congress, was a high-profile and busy surrogate on behalf of Harris during the final weeks of the 2024 campaign.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally at Tucson High Magnet School on Nov. 2, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The 61-year-old Minnesota governor, who served as Harris' running mate, has two years remaining in his second term in office.
While the vice presidential nominee's energy and enthusiasm on the campaign trail this year impressed plenty of Democratic strategists, the final results of the election will make any potential future national run for Tim Walz difficult.
Walz has said he is not thinking of 2028, but he has been very busy so far this year heading events across the country, and an upcoming stop in South Carolina is fueling more White House buzz.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel speaks during his visit to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' F-35 fighter jet final assembly and inspection plant in Toyoyama, Aichi prefecture, western Japan, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (U.S. Embassy via AP)
The 65-year-old Rahm Emanuel, who served the past four years as ambassador to Japan during the Biden administration, has a jam-packed resume.
Emanuel, a veteran of former President Bill Clinton's administration in the 1990s, went on to serve in Congress and steered the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during its very successful 2006 cycle. He later served as Obama's chief of staff before winning the 2011 election and 2015 re-election as Chicago mayor.
Emanuel, who late last year mulled making a bid for Democratic National Committee chair, has seen his name floated in recent months as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
Then-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo attends a meeting of Japanese and South Korean trade ministers at the Commerce Department in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2024. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)
The 54-year-old Gina Raimondo, a former two-term Rhode Island governor, made history as the first woman to steer the nation's smallest state.
Raimondo, who served as Commerce secretary in Biden's cabinet, said "yes" when recently asked by veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod if she was considering a 2028 White House run.
Honorable Mentions: Two other names that also keep coming up in the Democrats 2028 conversation are Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Sen. Ruben Gallego of battleground Arizona.
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.
Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin discusses President Donald Trump's removal of national security advisor Mike Waltz and the threat of Iran to U.S. national security on ‘America Reports.'
As the White House trims over 100 aides from its National Security Council staff, some former officials and analysts are asking if the smaller team can meet the demands of a fast-moving and dangerous global security environment.
Roughly half of the NSC's 350-person team will depart in what the White House is calling a "right-sizing" of a historically bureaucratic body composed largely of career diplomats – many of whom are seen as out of step with the president's agenda.
Aides originally on loan from agencies like the State Department and the Pentagon are being sent back to their home departments. Political appointees placed on administrative leave have been told the White House will find other roles for them elsewhere in the administration.
Some former NSC officials told Fox News Digital it's too early to tell whether the overhaul will result in a more efficient agency – or one ill-equipped to deliver timely intelligence for national security decisions.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO OVERHAUL NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, WEEKS AFTER WALTZ'S DEPARTURE
Sec. Marco Rubio, now acting national security advisor, oversaw over 100 staff cuts to the National Security Council. (Julien De Rosa/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Privately, national security sources questioned whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is currently serving as interim national security advisor, might be paring back the agency to avoid internal power struggles once he returns to his original post.
Michael Allen, a former senior director at the NSC, said the staffing changes reflect President Donald Trump's desire for direct control over key decisions.
"I think he wants people to bring decisions to him earlier than previous presidents," Allen told Fox News Digital.
The NSC has charted rocky waters since it lost national security advisor Mike Waltz following the inadvertently publicized Signal chat. His deputy, Alex Wong, also recently departed the agency, and other aides who had a large impact on the administration's early foreign policy decisions were pushed out in Friday's restructuring.
Eric Trager, the senior director for Middle East issues who traveled with envoy Steve Witkoff for some of his Iran negotiations, is out. So is Andrew Peek, senior director for Europe and Eurasia, who helped coordinate the approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Additionally, the restructuring will move Andy Barker, national security advisor to Vice President JD Vance, and Robert Gabriel, assistant to the president for policy, into roles serving as deputy national security advisors.
The NSC has faced rocky waters since it lost national security advisor Mike Waltz following the inadvertently publicized Signal chat. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
"This happens naturally on NSCs, the kind of stasis we saw in the Biden administration is highly untypical," said Victoria Coates, former deputy national security advisor to Trump.
She noted that President Ronald Reagan had six national security advisors over two terms as president, in addition to two acting NSAs.
"For the president, he has legitimate concerns about the NSC from the first term, given what happened, and then, you know, there's no sugar-coating it: the situation with Signalgate was a problem for NSA Waltz," Coates went on. "The president is taking actions to get the NSC into a condition that he would have complete confidence in it."
With a slimmer NSC, the president is expected to lean more heavily on Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for his daily intelligence briefings.
"One thing that makes this administration unique is that it's the president himself and a small circle of advisors who truly matter and make decisions," said Brian Katulis, a former NSC official and fellow at the Middle East Institute. "They just don't see the need for ongoing interagency meetings like in previous administrations."
Katulis added that the biggest risk isn't necessarily a lack of intelligence – but a lack of coordination.
"Rather than gaps in intel or knowledge, what I'd worry more about is whether different agencies are singing from the same sheet of music," he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on Friday's cuts and their intent.
ONE-MAN CABINET: MARCO RUBIO WENT FROM RIVAL TO TRUMP'S POINT MAN, BUT CAN HE HANDLE IT
Others argue that the NSC has become bloated and is in need of a reset.
"The NSC under Democratic presidents grows to 300, 400 people," said former Trump NSC official Alex Gray. "It becomes its own department."
"When I was there, we took it down to about 110 people doing policy – and it could probably go down another 50 and still be effective," he said.
"Do you want an NSC that formulates and directs policy, or one that gives the president advice, lets him decide, and then implements it? You don't need hundreds of people to do that."
But the NSC is the primary agency tasked with making sure other agencies are in line with the president's agenda.
"Rather than preparing options for him, they should take his direction and implement it," said Coates. But, she added, "if you take it down too far, it's not going to have the manpower to implement those directions from the White House into the departments and agencies which are always bigger and better funded than the NSC."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"How many heads do you have to bash together to get them to do what the president wants them to do? Our experience was in the first term that we needed a fair amount of heft on our end to get them to do stuff they didn't want to do, like designate the IRGC as an FTO, for example," Coates added.
Even with a leaner staff, the NSC remains responsible for managing critical global challenges – from Iran nuclear talks and the war in Ukraine to military competition with China.
That puts added pressure on Rubio, who will bear the blame if any crucial intelligence slips through the cracks.
"The big issue is the national security advisor needs to make sure the president has all the information he needs to make a decision," Allen said.
Fox News' Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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 correspondent Molly Line has the latest on the halting of the student visa program due to alleged antisemitism on campus on 'Special Report.'
The Trump administration is targeting international students with student visas and permanent residents who hold a green card as part of its immigration crackdown.
And while green card holders may legally remain in the U.S. indefinitely, work in the country, and are protected by U.S. laws, the Trump administration has made clear that the demographic is not off limits from its mass-deportation agenda.
Can the federal government deport those who are green card holders and are here in the U.S. legally?
Yes. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, green card holders are only protected if they "do not commit any actions that would make you removable under immigration law."
Green card holders are "required to obey all laws of the United States and localities," file taxes annually, register for the draft if the green card holder is a male between the ages of 18 and 25, and are also "expected to support the democratic form of government," per U.S. Citizenship and Immigraion Services.
Should a green card holder violate certain provisions included in the Immigration and Nationality Act, they could face deportation.
LAWYERS FOR COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST MAHMOUD KHALIL BLAST RUBIO EVIDENCE LETTER: 'TWO PAGES, THAT'S IT'
People display signs during the May Day march and rally led by Immigrant Connexión Empowerment, Community Response Network and LULAC Oklahoma Chapter, from lower Scissortail Park to the Love's Travel Stop Stage in the upper park, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Doug Hoke/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Reasons a green card holder could be deported include the termination of conditional permanent resident status, knowingly helping someone enter the U.S. illegally, committing crimes including rape, murder or fraud, according to Berardi Immigration Law, a business immigration law firm that handles work permits and green cards for international employees working in the U.S.
Other reasons also include committing an aggravated felony, being convicted of drug or firearms crimes, and engaging in criminal activity that jeopardizes public safety or national security issues, per Berardi Immigration Law.
Furthermore, those who face convictions for these crimes may only face deportation after an immigration judge hears their case, according to Penn State Law School.
A green card allows an individual already in the U.S. who is not an American citizen to remain in the country, while a student visa allows those outside the U.S. to study in the country for a specific amount of time at an academic institution.
Eligibility for a green card is possible through several avenues, including being an immediate family member of a U.S. citizen like a spouse or parent, finding employment here in the U.S., or qualifying as a refugee or someone seeking asylum.
TRUMP COLLEGE CRACKDOWN: LIST OF STUDENTS DETAINED AMID ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUSES
The possibility of deporting green card holders attracted increased scrutiny after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, pictured here, in March. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The possibility of deporting green card holders attracted increased scrutiny after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil in March. Khalil, who is a Palestinian raised in Syria and a permanent U.S. resident with a green card who first came to the U.S. on a student visa in 2022, played a major role in the protests against Israel while at Columbia University as a graduate student.
The Department of Homeland Security said Khalil was arrested to protect U.S. national security, and claimed that Khalil "led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization."
Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time any Hamas supporters in the U.S. would suffer similar fates and have their green cards pulled, and face deportation.
Likewise, President Donald Trump said in a social media post in March following Khalil's arrest that it was "the first arrest of many to come."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
But Democrats claim the Trump administration is out of line and the arrest was an assault on freedom of speech. Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats said Khalil's arrest amounted to "straight up authoritarianism" in a post on X in March.
An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled in April that the Trump administration was at liberty to deport Khalil, claiming she didn't have the authority to challenge the Trump administration's assessment that Khalil posed a national security threat.
But Khalil, who is currently stuck at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, has yet to see whether he will face deportation. Another federal judge in New York has blocked the Trump administration from removing Khalil from the U.S. while his case plays out in court.
Separately, the Trump administration is also eyeing ways to beef up vetting for those entering the U.S. on student visas — particularly for those who've publicly supported Palestine, like Khalil.
For example, the State Department is also bracing itself to ramp up social media screening for those applying for student visas. The State Department announced Tuesday that it is temporarily suspending new student and exchange visitor visa interviews as it evaluates enhanced social media screenings for the application process.
CONGRESS 'ENTITLED' TO 'REGULATING THE CONDUCT' OF VISA HOLDERS, EXPERT SAYS AMID DEPORTATION PUSH
Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of State on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press)
Rubio told lawmakers May 20 that he expects that the State Department has already pulled thousands of visas since January following Trump's inauguration. That's up from the 300 the administration had revoked as of late March.
Rubio also said that his agency would continue to pull student visas, stating that a visa is not a right, it's a "privilege."
"I don't know the latest count, but we probably have more to do," Rubio told lawmakers on the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign affairs. "We're going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities."
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
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.
You may not know about it either, but the program helps keep people — and animals — in good health.
by Benji Jones
Nearly two decades ago, scientists made an alarming discovery in upstate New York: Bats, the world's only flying mammal, were becoming infected with a new, deadly fungal disease that, in some cases, could wipe out an entire colony in a matter of months.
Since then, the disease — later called white-nose syndrome — has spread across much of the country, utterly decimating North American bats that hibernate in caves and killing over 90 percent of three bat species. According to some scientists, WNS has caused “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America.”
These declines have clear consequences for human populations — for you, even if you don't like bats or visit caves.
Bats eat insect pests, such as moths and beetles. And as they decline, farmers need to spray more pesticides. Scientists have linked the loss of bats in the US to an increase in insecticide use on farmland and, remarkably, to a rise in infant deaths. Insecticide chemicals are known to harm the health of newborns.
The only reason we know any of this is because of a somewhat obscure government program in the US Geological Survey (USGS), an agency nested within the Interior Department. That program, known as the Ecosystems Mission Area, is the biological research division of Interior. Among other functions, it monitors environmental contaminants, the spread of invasive species, and the health of the nation's wildlife, including bees, birds, and bats.
The Ecosystems Mission Area, which has around 1,200 employees, produces the premier science revealing how animals and ecosystems that Americans rely on are changing and what we can do to keep them intact — or risk our own health and economy.
This program is now at an imminent risk of disappearing.
Are you a current or former federal employee with knowledge about the Trump administration's attacks on wildlife protections? Reach out to Vox environmental correspondent Benji Jones on Signal at benji.90 or at benji.jones@vox.com or at benjijones@protonmail.com.
The Trump administration has asked Congress to slash USGS funding by $564 million in its preliminary 2026 budget request. And while the proposal doesn't specify cuts to Ecosystems Mission Area, an email obtained by Vox indicates that his administration had proposed eliminating funding for the program. (The email was originally reported by Science.) Such cuts are also in line with Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's conservative policy roadmap, which calls for the government to “abolish” Interior's Biological Research Division, an outdated name for the Ecosystems Mission Area.
USGS has requested that the White House maintain at least some funding for the program, according to a current senior Interior Department employee with knowledge of the Ecosystems Mission Area. Whether or not Trump officials heed that request will be made clear when the White House releases a more detailed budget proposal in the coming days. The employee spoke to Vox on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the press.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is also reportedly trying to fire government employees in the Ecosystems Mission Area, though a federal judge has so far blocked those efforts.
Eliminating biological research is not good. In fact, it's very bad.
For a decade now, EMA's North American Bat Monitoring Program, or NABat, has been gathering and analyzing data on bats and the threats they face. NABat produces research using data from hundreds of partner organizations showing not only how white-nose syndrome is spreading — which scientists are using to develop and deploy vaccines — but also how bats are affected by wind turbines, another known threat.
Energy companies can and do use this research to develop safer technologies and avoid delays caused by wildlife regulations, such as the Endangered Species Act.
The irony, another Interior Department employee told me, is that NABat makes wildlife management more efficient. It also helps reveal where declines are occurring before they become severe, potentially helping avoid the need to grant certain species federal protection — something the Trump administration would seem to want. The employee, who's familiar with Interior's bat-monitoring efforts, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration.
“If they want to create efficiencies in the government, they should ask us,” yet another Interior employee told Vox. “The damage that can be done by one administration takes decades to rebuild.”
In response to a request for comment, an Interior Department spokesperson told Vox that “USGS remains committed to its congressional mandate as the science arm of the Department of the Interior.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment. In a Senate appropriations hearing last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum refused to commit to maintaining funding for EMA.
“There's no question that they don't know what EMA does,” said the senior Interior employee.
Ultimately, it's not clear why the administration has targeted Interior's biological research. EMA does, however, do climate science, such as studying how plants and animals are responding to rising temperatures. That's apparently a no-go for the Trump administration. It also gathers information that sometimes indicates that certain species need federal protections, which come with regulations (also a no-go for President Donald Trump's agenda).
What's especially frustrating for environmental advocates is that NABat, now 10 years old, is starting to hit its stride.
“We should be celebrating the 10-year anniversary of this very successful program that started from scratch and built this robust, vibrant community of people all collecting data,” said Winifred Frick, the chief scientist at Bat Conservation International, an environmental group. “We have 10 years of momentum, and so to cut it off now sort of wastes all that investment. That feels like a tremendous loss.”
Meanwhile, the cost of maintaining the program is less than 1 percent of Interior's overall budget.
The government's wildlife monitoring programs are “jewels of the country,” said Hollis Woodard, an associate professor of entomology at University of California Riverside who works with USGS on bee monitoring. “These birds and bats perform services for us that are important for our day-to-day lives. Literally everything I value, including food, comes down to keeping an eye on these populations. The idea that we're just going to wipe them out is just terrifying.”
Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins.
This is what happens when you put a clownfish in hot water.
Ganaderos han matado jaguares desde hace mucho tiempo. Ahora ganan miles de dólares salvándolos.
Ranchers in Mexico once commonly killed jaguars. Now they're earning thousands of dollars to help save them.
Dozens of countries have promised to end deforestation. They're failing.
The administration's attack on nature, explained by a dancing chicken.
What most of us get wrong about animal instincts.
© 2025 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Follow:
The United States will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday in a major escalation of tensions with Beijing, and another blow to American higher education institutions.
The plan was met with strong opposition from China, which said on Thursday it had lodged a formal protest with the US over what it called a “politically motivated and discriminatory” move.
The revocations will target Chinese students including “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio said.
“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong,” he said, noting that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security would work together on the visa revocations.
The surprise announcement risks disrupting ongoing efforts by the US and China to de-escalate tensions, coming just weeks after both sides declared a 90-day truce over punishing tariffs on each other's goods, and deepens the spiraling confrontation between President Donald Trump and the nation's top universities.
Rubio's comments follow a series of extraordinary steps by the Trump administration to deter foreign students from studying in the US – from ordering embassies to pause new student visa appointments to revoking Harvard University's ability to enroll international students. (A federal judge later halted the Harvard ban.)
The latest move is set to spark consternation and outrage in China, the country of origin for almost a quarter of international students in US higher education. It's also likely to deepen anxiety across American universities, where Chinese and other international students are a significant source of revenue.
There are signs that Beijing has been caught off guard by the announcement. For much of Thursday, China's state-controlled media remained largely silent on the news that will significantly impact the fate of hundreds of thousands of Chinese students.
That changed when official comment eventually came from Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, who accused the US of using ideology and national security as a “pretext” for the move.
“This politically motivated and discriminatory move exposes the lie of America's long-touted claim of being ‘free and open,' and will only further damage the United States' international image and national credibility,” Mao said in a regular news conference.
She added that it would harm the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students and disrupts people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Fear and anger is already spreading among Chinese students studying in the US.
Candy, a statistics student at the University of Michigan, who did not want to give her full name, said she feared her visa would be canceled before she graduates.
“Ending up with only a high school diploma is something I dread,” she said from China, where she's visiting family. “I pray to make it through my undergraduate study safely and smoothly.”
“When I first heard the news, I wanted to curse Trump.”
For decades, American universities have attracted some of China's brightest minds. Seen as a path to a prestigious education and better career opportunities, US colleges have drawn Chinese students from middle-class families as well as the political and business elites. Many Chinese officials have sent their children to American schools, including leader Xi Jinping, whose daughter Xi Mingze studied at Harvard under a pseudonym.
Some top Chinese officials have been educated in the US themselves. Liu He, Xi's former economic tsar, obtained a MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in the 1990s; Wang Huning, the Chinese Communist Party's ideology guru, was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa in the 1980s.
“Many of China's officials, entrepreneurs, and scientists — especially those who played key roles during the era of reform and opening-up — received their training in the US,” said Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a non-government think tank in Beijing.
“When they returned to China, they brought back not only professional knowledge and credentials, but also a deep respect and admiration for America as an open and inclusive society,” he said.
Related article
China says Trump Harvard ban will ‘tarnish' US image as students caught in crosshairs
Student exchanges have been a key constant in the ebb and flow of US-China relations — ties that are now increasingly defined by growing geopolitical rivalry that has fueled an ongoing trade and tech war.
China was the top source of international students in the US for 15 straight years until it was surpassed by India just last year, according to figures from Open Doors, a State Department-backed database tracking international student enrollment.
After decades of growth, the number of Chinese students in the US reached a peak of over 372,000 in the 2019-2020 school year, before declining to more than 270,000 in the 2023-2024 year – a drop that coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic but also increasing friction between the two governments.
The number of American students in China is much smaller, plunging from more than 10,000 to the low hundreds during the pandemic. In the 2023-2024 academic year, an estimated 800 American students were enrolled in China, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in China.
Even as relations plummeted, Chinese officials have repeatedly underscored the important role of people-to-people exchanges in stabilizing fractured ties.
During a visit to San Francisco in November 2023, Xi said China was ready to invite 50,000 American students to China over the next five years. In June last year, the Chinese leader again called for more exchanges between Chinese and American universities to boost mutual understanding.
Now, the Trump administration's move to revoke Chinese student visas risks further undermining an already fragile bilateral relationship, said Wang, the researcher who recently graduated from a master's program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
“Despite numerous challenges in bilateral relations, student exchanges remain one of the few genuine and impactful areas of engagement between the two countries,” he said. “The fact that an announcement like this comes at a time when mutual trust between China and the US is at a historic low is, in my view, quite saddening.”
On Tuesday the US State Department instructed American embassies and consulates worldwide to pause new student visa appointments as it moves to expand “social media screening and vetting” to all applicants of student visas.
The following day a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said the country is following the development, and urged the US to “protect the lawful and legitimate rights and interests of all international students, including those from China.”
Rubio's statement on Wednesday did not specify what are the “critical fields,” but there has been long-standing concern in Washington about Chinese academics accessing sensitive and military-applicable American technology.
To crack down on the perceived threat of Chinese students conducting espionage on US soil, Trump introduced a ban during his first term that effectively prevented graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from Chinese universities believed to be linked to the military from gaining visas to the US.
His first administration also launched the now defunct China Initiative, a national security program intended to thwart China's intelligence activities in the US, including those aimed at stealing emerging technology from research universities.
The program, which drew comparisons to the anti-Communism “red scare” of the 1950s, was cancelled by the Biden administration after facing widespread blowback for what was seen as overreach and complaints that it fueled suspicion and bias against innocent Chinese Americans.
It's also unclear how US officials will define students “with connections to the Chinese Communist Party” which is ubiquitous across China and boasts 99 million members. As a result, many Chinese students could have parents or relatives who are party members or work in the vast state-owned sector.
“If you count in all the friends and relatives, it wouldn't be farfetched to say that almost everyone is somehow linked to the Communist Party in China,” Wang said.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN's Cynthia Chan and Simone McCarthy contributed to this report.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
The Trump administration has faced legal roadblocks that have complicated everything from the president's immigration agenda to his efforts to fire officials appointed by his predecessor in the executive branch, leading to the Justice Department pleading with the Supreme Court for help frequently since the start of President Donald Trump's second term.
The first plea from the Trump administration to the Supreme Court came in February, but since then an avalanche of lower court decisions has prompted the DOJ to seek a slew of orders and hearings from the nation's highest court. The high court's term will end in just over a month, but in the second half of that term, the justices have been inundated with requests from the Trump Justice Department seeking relief from judges that Trump and his allies say are overstepping their constitutional authority.
The high court has been the most responsive to challenges regarding Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act on the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. While the high court has not ruled on the merits of Trump's invocation of the law earlier this year, it has made several orders related to the lawsuits challenging the legislation's usage.
The first challenge to make its way to the high court in April led to the justices ruling that migrants subject to deportation must be given notice and allowed time to challenge their expulsion under the AEA.
Later in April, the high court blocked the deportations of a group of Venezuelans in North Texas through a late-night order, after multiple lower courts had not yet paused the deportations. The speed with which the Supreme Court issued the order blocking the deportations led to a blistering dissent from Justice Samuel Alito, who claimed his colleagues “hastily and prematurely granted unprecedented emergency relief.”
In May, the high court again paused the deportations of a group of Venezuelan nationals in the Lone Star State, sending the case back to the appeals court for a review of the merits of the case.
The question of the legality of Trump's use of the 1798 law, previously used primarily during wartime, is likely to make its way back to the Supreme Court, as lower courts consider whether Trump properly invoked the statute allowing for the speedy removal of foreign nationals.
The Supreme Court added arguments over the Trump administration's executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship late in the term, hearing oral arguments in May as part of its final arguments day for the 2024 term.
The high court consolidated multiple cases and heard arguments earlier this month in a case which could have ramifications for both the executive order changing the longstanding interpretation of constitutional language regarding citizenship and for district courts' ability to grant nationwide injunctions. The case was brought up to the Supreme Court after nationwide injunctions at lower court levels blocked the president's order.
The justices appeared uncertain in the oral arguments about how to remedy the sweeping use by district judges of nationwide injunctions, which could have a significant impact on the high court's emergency docket. The matter of nationwide injunctions took up more of the arguments than the question of revoking birthright citizenship itself.
Other major orders issued on the emergency docket by the Supreme Court in recent months have stemmed from the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the executive branch.
The high court, via its emergency docket, has paved the way for Trump to fire, at least for now, Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board, and has temporarily shielded the Department of Government Efficiency from being subject to discovery in a lawsuit about whether it is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
BARRETT SPARKS ETHICS DEBATE AFTER SKIPPING CATHOLIC SCHOOL CASE
As the Trump administration continues to face losses and setbacks at the lower courts, the Justice Department will almost certainly continue petitioning the Supreme Court for action through its emergency docket.
The latest emergency application from Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to permit the deportations of eight convicted criminal illegal immigrants to South Sudan after a lower court halted the removals.
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.
President Donald Trump criticized CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella's question about experts claiming he "chickens out" on tariff threats.
President Donald Trump ripped a reporter in the Oval Office Wednesday for asking a "nasty question" about his tariff deals.
"Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the TACO trade. They're saying, ‘Trump Always Chickens Out' - on your tariff threats. And that's why markets are higher this week. What's your response to that?" CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella asked during a brief gaggle.
"Oh, isn't that nice. ‘Chicken out.' I've never heard that," Trump responded. "You mean because I reduced China from 145% that I set down to 100 and then down to another number? I said, ‘You have to open your whole country.'"
TRUMP RIPS ABC REPORTER FOR ASKING ABOUT ACCEPTING JET FROM QATAR, SAYS SHE SHOULD BE 'EMBARRASSED'
President Donald Trump responded to a reporter's question about people claiming that he "chickens out" of his own tariff threats. (Fox News)
He went on, "And because I gave the European Union a 50% tariff? And they called up, and they said, ‘Please, let's meet right now.' And I said, ‘Okay, I'll give you until June.' I actually asked them, I said, 'What's the date?' Because they weren't willing to meet. And after I did what I did, they said, ‘We'll meet anytime you want.' And we have an end date of July 9. You call that chickening out? Because we have $14 trillion now invested, committed to investing when Biden didn't have practically anything."
Trump contrasted the situation with the Biden administration, saying the U.S. was "stone-cold dead" six months ago.
"We had a dead country. We had a country people didn't think was going to survive. And you ask a nasty question like that? It's called negotiation," Trump said.
Trump said lowering the number was part of an ongoing "negotiation" with China and attacked the question.
"Don't ever say what you said. That's a nasty question. To me, that's the nastiest question," Trump said before calling another reporter.
Casella later reported on the event while appearing on CNBC's "The Exchange."
"He did not like this question, I can tell you," Casella said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Trump defended rescinding tariffs on the European Union and China as part of "negotiations." (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
She also joked that the "nasty" jab was a "badge of honor" of sorts.
After announcing several widespread tariffs in April, the Trump administration announced a pause on all tariffs except China until July to negotiate better deals.
Earlier this month, Trump agreed to a temporary reduction of China's tariff rates from 145% to approximately 30% as negotiations continued.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
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.
• Court stalls tariffs: A federal court has blocked President Donald Trump's global tariffs, ruling that he overstepped his authority to impose them. The administration immediately appealed the ruling, leaving the situation uncertain for consumers, companies and Trump's economic agenda.
• Crackdown on China: The US will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced, in a major escalation of tensions with Beijing and another blow to American education institutions. Separately, the administration effectively cut off some US companies from selling certain goods to China, including software used to design semiconductors.
• Musk exits: Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was granted special government employee status to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, said this evening that his time in the administration has come “to an end.”
Our live coverage of Donald Trump's presidency has ended. Get the latest here.
China has reiterated its position that there are “no winners” in a trade war after a US court blocked the bulk of US President Donald Trump's tariffs.
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said at a news conference on Thursday that “there are no winners in a tariff or trade war,” adding that “protectionism harms everyone's interests and ultimately goes against the will of the people.”
Perhaps Trump's greatest grudge in his trade war has been with China. In recent weeks, he has hiked overall levies on Chinese goods into the United States to 145%, before recently slashing that figure down to 30% for 90 days following talks with Beijing.
In the United Kingdom, a government spokesperson cautioned in a Thursday statement that the ruling marked “only the first stage of legal proceedings” and that it was a matter “for the United States to determine domestically.” (The Trump administration immediately appealed the court ruling on Wednesday night.)
Earlier this month, the UK scored the first framework for a trade deal with the US, which included some key carve-outs such as an agreement to lower tariffs on some imports of British cars.
European stock markets rose Thursday morning following a decision by a US court that blocked the bulk of President Donald Trump's tariffs.
The region's benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.2% by 4.37 a.m. ET. Germany's DAX index was trading up 0.2% by late-morning local time, while France's CAC index was up 0.5%.
Brent crude, the world's oil benchmark, was also up 1.2% Thursday morning to trade at nearly $66 a barrel.
Some context: On Trump's “Liberation Day” in early April, the president said he would impose a punishing 20% levy on all goods imports from the European Union. Trump dramatically upped the ante last week, vowing to slap a 50% tariff on the bloc, only to announce days later a delay to that duty until July 9 — the date the rest of his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” were due to come into effect.
The EU has spent the past few weeks trying to negotiate a trade deal with Washington to avoid the tariffs and threatened to impose its own on US goods if a deal cannot be struck.
Countries around the Asia-Pacific region are cautiously waiting to see how the legal battle over President Donald Trump's tariffs plays out, with the administration now appealing a court ruling that had blocked most global tariffs.
Australia's trade minister Don Farrell said the government would study the ruling “closely,” noting that “they may be subject to further legal processes through the courts.”
“The Albanese Government has been consistent in the view that these tariffs on Australian imports into the US are unjustified,” Farrell said in a statement. “We will continue to engage and strongly advocate for the removal of tariffs.”
As with almost all other US allies, Australia was not spared from Trump's tariffs, something Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously criticized as “against the spirit of our two nations' enduring friendship.”
Other countries in the region struck a more neutral tone. New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement it was aware of the ruling, but added: “We need to wait for more details before commenting further.”
Similarly, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference that Tokyo would “carefully examine the details of the ruling and its implications and respond appropriately.”
The court ruling to block most of President Donald Trump's tariffs is likely to slow negotiations between the US and its major trading partners, analysts told CNN.
It is too early to predict whether tariffs will ultimately be rolled back, given that the Trump administration has appealed the decision.
But analysts said the trend of countries diversifying away from the US will continue.
“The court ruling may offer a reprieve for US trade partners, but there's still a huge amount of global anxiety stemming from the unpredictability and instability generated by Trump's trade policies,” said Joe Mazur, senior analyst at Trivium China, a research and advisory firm.
Investors' positive reaction to the ruling, which sent Asian shares and US equity futures higher, is also likely to be short-lived. Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank, said the uncertainties ahead could render the rally unsustainable.
Experts said the court ruling is also going to delay negotiations between the US and its trade partners, which began after Trump threatened aggressive “reciprocal” tariffs, before pausing them for 90 days in April.
“Most countries will probably drag the negotiation and see how the situation plays out,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. “However, it does not mean Trump is not able to find bargaining chips through other means, such as sector-specific tariffs.”
China, too, is not in the clear. Other trade restrictions may still be on the horizon, Ng added.
In the meantime, Chinese exporters will try to “front-load as many goods as possible” to take advantage of the tariff injunction, he said.
And countries will continue reducing their dependence on the US and deepen ties with other partners, said William Yang, senior analyst for East Asia at the International Crisis Group, which analyzes policy.
Seen as a path to a prestigious education and better career opportunities, US colleges have drawn Chinese students from middle-class families as well as the political and business elites for decades.
Many Chinese officials have sent their children to American schools, including leader Xi Jinping, whose daughter Xi Mingze studied at Harvard under a pseudonym.
Some top Chinese officials have been educated in the US themselves. Liu He, Xi's former economic tsar, obtained a MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in the 1990s; Wang Huning, the Chinese Communist Party's ideology guru, was a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa in the 1980s.
Student exchanges have been a key constant in the ebb and flow of US-China relations — ties that are now increasingly defined by growing geopolitical rivalry that has fueled a trade and tech war.
China was the top source of international students in the US for 15 straight years until it was surpassed by India just last year, according to figures from Open Doors, a State Department-backed database tracking international enrollment.
The number of American students in China is much smaller, plunging from more than 10,000 to the low hundreds during the pandemic.
Even as relations plummeted, Chinese officials have repeatedly underscored the important role of people-to-people exchanges in stabilizing fractured ties.
During a visit to San Francisco in November 2023, Xi said China was ready to invite 50,000 American students to China over the next five years. In June last year, the Chinese leader again called for more exchanges between Chinese and American universities to boost mutual understanding.
The US State Department is reviewing all Harvard University-affiliated visa holders, not just students, three senior State Department officials told CNN on Wednesday.
The move is a notable escalation of the Trump administration's feud with the Ivy League university. The administration previously moved to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll international students, but the attempt has been halted by a federal judge. Harvard argued revocation of its certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was “clear retaliation” for its refusal of the government's ideologically rooted policy demands. On Tuesday, the administration directed federal agencies to cancel all remaining federal contracts with the university — totaling about $100 million.
The officials did not say why the review was being conducted.
The recent moves come as the Trump administration takes steps that could deter international students from studying at universities in the US.
The State Department announced several other moves this week targeting students who wish to come to the US. On Tuesday, the agency paused all new student and exchange visa appointments as it prepares to expand social media vetting for applicants. It is unclear what the expanded social media vetting will entail. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.”
Read the full story.
A federal court's ruling against Donald Trump's authority to levy some of his most sweeping tariffs may have also dealt a serious blow to the president's entire economic agenda.
Trump's core economic policy has been his tariffs, but the administration has described its aggressive trade actions as just one leg of a three-legged stool. Built on tariffs, spending cuts and tax cuts, Trump's economic agenda relies on all three components to stand.
The three-legged economic stool just lost a leg, at least for now. Without trade, Trump's whole economic policy plan could come crashing down.
Historic tariffs have persuaded dozens of US trading partners to come to the table to make deals with Trump. In theory, those trade deals could open up foreign markets to more US goods, benefitting US manufacturers and farmers.
Revenue from Trump's tariffs, meanwhile, could, at least in part, help pay for Trump and congressional Republicans' massively expensive tax cuts, that could boost economic growth and add certainty to the markets by raising the debt ceiling. Trump's deregulation and spending cuts, particularly via the Department of Government Efficiency, could also reduce the government's costs and negate some of the impact of the tax cuts on the surging federal debt.
Because of its fragile construction, Trump's plan to usher in a new economic Golden Age has plenty of naysayers, including most mainstream economists, who argue that the administration lacks the discipline, authority and political support to make it happen. The on-again, off-again trade policy, legal battles over DOGE and intraparty standoffs on the “Big, Beautiful Bill” serve as evidence.
Read the full analysis.
Asia-Pacific markets were in the green following a US court decision that blocked President Donald Trump's global tariff assault.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.68% in the morning session, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.73%. China's Shanghai Composite Index grew 0.66%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.46% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.34%.
Asian markets appeared to be breathing a sigh of relief at a brief reprieve in the trade war, although the Trump administration immediately appealed the court ruling.
Some context: Many Asian economies were among the hardest hit by Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs announced in early April, including levies of 24% on Japan, 25% for South Korea and 32% on Taiwan. Even though Trump soon after implemented a 90-day pause, a 10% broad-based levy remained, as well as sector-specific tariffs.
But the court ruling on Wednesday has halted that 10% universal tariff on most goods coming into the US, as well as the remaining 30% tariffs on China, which had negotiated down from an initial three-digit levy rate under a trade truce reached earlier this month.
Just hours after a US federal court blocked President Donald Trump from imposing most of his tariffs, Hong Kong's financial secretary appeared to praise the move.
Asked how countries and companies will react to the court ruling, with uncertainty swirling as the Trump administration appeals, Paul Chan said the decision would “at least bring President Trump to reason,” Reuters reported.
Although Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous Chinese city long known as an international trade hub, it has been caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war.
It previously had a special trading status with the US that allowed for lower tariffs and a separate customs process from mainland China — but Trump revoked this status in 2020 as Beijing cracked down on dissent in the city and imposed a sweeping national security law.
In April, the Hong Kong government announced its postal service would stop handling packages coming from or going to the US, citing Trump's decision to eliminate the de minimis exception for items posted from the city to the US — which applies to international shipments worth $800 or less.
The Trump administration has immediately appealed a decision blocking most of President Donald Trump's tariffs, leaving the situation uncertain for consumers and businesses and potentially prolonging the battle over whether the import duties will stand — and possibly reshape the global economy.
The notice of appeal came after a federal court ruled that Trump overstepped his authority to impose sweeping tariffs that have raised the cost of imports for everyone from giant businesses to everyday Americans.
Read more details here about the ruling
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was granted special government employee status to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, said this evening that his time in the Trump administration has come “to an end.”
During his time helming DOGE, Musk oversaw major cuts to the federal workforce as part of the Trump administration's efforts to reduce federal spending.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk said in a post on X, the social media platform he owns. “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
Musk's post comes after he raised concerns about President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, saying in an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that he believes it would raise the US budget deficit and undercut efforts by DOGE.
Separately, a White House official said Musk will begin the offboarding process tonight, which essentially includes paperwork.
This post has been updated with comment from a White House official.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins contributed to this post.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai, reacting to a court's blocking of President Donald Trump's global tariffs, said in a statement that “it is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.”
Here's the full statement:
“Foreign countries' nonreciprocal treatment of the Unites States has fueled America's historic and persistent trade deficits. These deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base – facts that the court did not dispute. It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.”
Remember: A three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade, a relatively low-profile court in Manhattan, stopped Trump's global tariffs that he imposed citing emergency economic powers, including the “Liberation Day” tariffs he announced on April 2. It also prevents Trump from enforcing his tariffs placed earlier this year against China, Mexico and Canada, designed to combat fentanyl coming into the United States.
US Immigration officials are working on flying back a Guatemalan migrant who says he was wrongly deported to Mexico, according to new court filings, in what appears to mark the first time the Trump administration has made plans to bring back a migrant after a judge ordered the administration to facilitate their return.
Pheonix-based immigration officials are “currently working with ICE Air to bring O.C.G. back to the United States on an Air Charter Operations (ACO) flight return leg,” the Justice Department said in the court filing today, referring to the pseudonym the migrant is using in the case.
US District Judge Brian Murphy, who sits in Boston, ordered O.C.G.'s return last week. The case that Murphy is overseeing concerns the deportation of migrants to “third countries,” or nations that are not their home country.
After entering the US and being deported a first time, the Guatemalan man reentered United States again in 2024, at which point he sought asylum, having suffered “multiple violent attacks” in Guatemala, according to court documents.
On his way to the US during the second trip, O.C.G. said, he was raped and held for ransom in Mexico –– a detail he made known to an immigration judge during immigration proceedings. In 2025, a judge ruled he should not be sent back to his native country, the documents read.
Two days after the judge ruled he should not be removed to Guatemala, the government deported him to Mexico, according to Murphy's order. O.C.G. had claimed in the case that he had not been given the opportunity before his deportation to communicate his fear of being sent to Mexico and that his pleas before his removal to speak to an attorney were rejected.
CNN's Karina Tsui contributed to this report.
The Trump administration will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today in another blow to international students and higher education institutions across the United States.
The top US diplomat said the State Department would work with the Department of Homeland Security on the revocations, which will target Chinese students “including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”
“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong,” he said.
More than 275,000 students from China studied in the US in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to a report from the Institute for International Education (IIE) and the State Department. China sent the second most students from abroad of any country, trailing behind only India.
US institutions rely on international students for tuition and many students participate in research and innovation work.
The move comes a day after the State Department ordered a pause on all new student visa appointments worldwide as it prepares for expanded social media vetting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov amid growing frustration from President Donald Trump toward President Vladimir Putin.
According to a State Department readout, Rubio “reiterated President Trump's calls for constructive, good faith dialogue with Ukraine as the only path to ending this war.”
He also “welcomed Russia and Ukraine's exchange of ‘1,000-for-1,000' prisoners over the weekend,” it said.
Trump said today he would “know in about two weeks” whether Russia is serious about trying to end the war. Moscow has yet to put forward a promised framework of its terms for a ceasefire.
Russia also said today that another round of talks with Ukraine will be held in Istanbul next week.
The Justice Department is investigating whether a California law violates students' rights by allowing transgender student athletes to play on girls' sports teams.
Investigators are probing California's School Success and Opportunity Act — which prohibits public schools from blocking transgender students who to participate in school sports — on whether or not it violates Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal aid, the DOJ said in a statement today.
Newly disclosed letters sent to the state's attorney general and the superintendent of public instruction, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District, comes one day after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over a transgender athlete's participation in an upcoming sporting event.
It's the latest move against public schools by Trump and the Justice Department, who have repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from educational institutions whose rules run afoul of the administration's priorities.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Harmeet Dhillon, who runs the department's Civil Rights division, said in a statement. “This Division will aggressively defend women's hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”
At the same time, the DOJ also filed a statement of interest in a federal lawsuit brought on behalf of high school girls who argue that they should not have to compete with transgender athletes.
The lawsuit, which alleges that Maine is violating Title IX, is the latest action in a public feud between the governor of Maine, Janet Mills, and the federal government.
A 20-year-old Venezuelan man who was enrolled in a New York City high school that caters to older migrant students is in ICE detention. This makes him one of the first known students in a US public school system to be targeted by Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
The student, identified by his attorneys only as Dylan in the interest of “keeping his family and community safe,” entered the United States in April 2024 with his mother and two siblings, his attorneys said.
He was detained last Wednesday at a Manhattan court where a judge dismissed his immigration proceedings making the young man vulnerable to detention and possible removal from the US.
“We don't know the exact intent of the government lawyers in asking for the dismissal of Dylan's case, but that it appears to be part of a larger policy that we are seeing across the country to dismiss in order to put someone in expedited removal,” said a spokesperson for the New York Legal Assistance Group, or NYLAG, which represents Dylan.
The spokesperson said their client entered the United States with permission to petition for asylum and that his detention “robs him of the opportunity to seek that relief with the full protections offered to him under the law.”
The Department of Homeland Security referred to Dylan as an “illegal alien,” in a social media post yesterday, and insisted he entered the US illegally.
CNN has reached out to US Customs and Border Protection for comment.
Katie Miller, a top adviser and spokesperson for the Department of Government Efficiency at the White House, has left her position and is now working with Elon Musk, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Miller is working “full time” for Musk, one of the sources said. Another said she has been helping arrange Musk's interviews that are unrelated to his time in government. This week Musk has given interviews to the Washington Post, CBS News and Ars Technica connected to SpaceX's Starship launch.
Like several other White House advisers including Musk himself, Miller was a “Special Government Employee” which allows private sector figures to simultaneously work for the federal government but with restrictions on how many days per year can be spent on government work although that time can be extended.
Miller, who is married to Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, did not respond to a request for comment sent to her White House email, which still appears to be functioning. A separate White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNN's Kristen Holmes and Alayna Treene contributed reporting to this post.
The Trump administration has effectively cut off some American companies from selling goods to China, a Commerce Department spokesperson told CNN today.
The spokesperson said the department is “reviewing exports of strategic significance to China. In some cases, Commerce has suspended existing export licenses or imposed additional license requirements while the review is pending.”
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
The 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary begins in Budapest on Thursday.
While organizers claim it will celebrate the “Age of Patriots,” the conference's main effect will be to lend powerful political cover to Communist China's favored European collaborator, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Prominent American conservative commentators are attending the conservative conference.
American conservatives find legitimate appeal in Orbán's focus on strong families, strong borders, and his skepticism of the European Union bureaucracy. But any American patriot should also judge very skeptically a leader who has sold out his country's sovereignty in supplication to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in utterly groveling service to the Chinese Communist Party.
The facts are clear: Orbán's government has embraced vast amounts of Chinese investment, Chinese spying tools, and CCP-directed universities. In return for this Communist gold, Hungary acts as President Xi Jinping's primary servant in the EU. That service is priceless to Xi in that it greatly disrupts EU efforts to impose consequences on Beijing for its endemic espionage, vast export dumping, threats to EU politicians and member states, imperial ambitions in the Pacific, and its grotesque human rights abuses. So devoted is Orbán to Xi that he has even granted the Chinese intelligence services free rein to conduct aggressive surveillance operations on his soil, including against Americans.
CPAC doesn't appear to care much about this dynamic. Indeed, there is a very striking incongruence between what CPAC says about China at its events in Washington and what CPAC says about China at its events in Budapest. A CPAC panel event in Washington last year declared that the United States should guide its policy toward Beijing on a simple basis: “We Win, They Lose.” In contrast, CPAC will feature major addresses from Xi's top collaborators in Orbán's government.
Orbán will deliver the keynote address. As they listen, American conservatives should remember that while the prime minister pretends to be a friend to President Donald Trump, he perpetually undermines Trump's effort to check the aggression of America's greatest adversary. Orbán's pretense of American friendship represents an art form of hypocrisy. He says that China, not the U.S., “determines the course of world economic and world political processes.” Another major CPAC Budapest appearance will come via Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
Last year, Szijjártó publicly adopted the exact opposite approach to that of the Trump administration when he pledged to Beijing that he would “enhance cooperation efficiency, oppose protectionism and insist on resolving trade frictions through dialogue and consultation.” If this seems like shameless deference to Beijing's agenda, that's because it's supposed to be. As Szijjártó puts it, “We don't see China as a risk, but as a country with which cooperation offers us immense opportunities.”
NATO'S TROUBLING NEW ADDICTION TO DEFENSE SPENDING GIMMICKS
Explaining why CPAC Budapest 2025 matters, Miklós Szánthó, the head of the Hungarian government-aligned Center for Fundamental Rights, stated that “citizens defending their homeland cannot afford complacency. We have no choice but to resist — because Hungary is our homeland.” This must be news to the CCP. After all, Xi and his apparatchiks must surely revel in the ease with which Orbán has sold out his homeland to Beijing.
CPAC Budapest attendees will discuss nationalism and traditional values this week. But Xi will be enjoying himself the most. While their generous attendance honorariums might make them feel good, these Americans are lending cover to a primary ally of their nation's greatest adversary, one that is preparing to kill tens of thousands of Americans in a defining battle in the Pacific.
Five former aides to President Joe Biden are facing the threat of subpoena ahead of a Thursday evening deadline to comply with a widening autopen investigation launched by House Republicans.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is leading the investigation into whether Biden personally approved controversial last-minute executive actions, especially a series of preemptive pardons, using a mechanical signature device known as an autopen.
His delegation of authority has fueled GOP claims that unelected officials effectively ran the presidency behind the scenes amid new claims of a White House cover-up into Biden's mental acuity.
“The American people deserve to know who was calling the shots,” Comer said last week, adding that his committee stands ready to escalate if cooperation isn't forthcoming.
While the autopen has long been legal, Republicans argue it becomes constitutionally questionable if the president didn't authorize its use personally. A Biden spokesperson has previously pushed back on reporting about his mental acuity, telling the press that “evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.”
Five former Biden White House officials tapped for congressional interviews have made initial contact with the committee via their lawyers since the chairman sent his letters on May 22, a source familiar with the panel's work told the Washington Examiner on Thursday. The source added that the committee will be in discussion with the group about transcribed interview dates.
“We expect all witnesses to fully comply with the Committee's investigation. The Committee will issue subpoenas if necessary,” the source said.
Anthony Bernal – A longtime aide to Jill Biden and a top figure in the East Wing, Bernal's rise to power made him one of the most influential staffers in the White House, according to Original Sin, the book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that alleged the cover-up.
Colleagues dubbed him the “leader of the loyalty police” for enforcing allegiance to the Biden family. GOP investigators believe Bernal may have exercised decision-making powers reserved for the president, especially amid mounting concerns over Biden's health.
Annie Tomasini – As Oval Office operations director, Tomasini was among Biden's closest aides and gatekeepers.
Her pandemic-era proximity to the president, and her control over document routing, has placed her under scrutiny over whether she coordinated or facilitated autopen use without Biden's direct involvement.
Neera Tanden – As Biden's former domestic policy adviser, Tanden was involved in shaping executive actions and clemency policy.
House investigators want to know whether she played a role in directing or endorsing actions the president may not have authorized himself.
Ashley Williams – A deputy to Tomasini, Williams was involved in scheduling and document preparation in the West Wing.
Her proximity to internal processes makes her a key figure in understanding how executive orders and pardons were reviewed, finalized, and signed, and whether she was “running interference” for Biden to “minimize signs of how age has taken a toll” on the former president, according to a letter sent by the committee.
Dr. Kevin O'Connor – Biden's longtime physician, O'Connor is being asked to explain his February 2024 memo declaring the president “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” even as internal reports and a subsequent cancer diagnosis have fueled Republican claims of a cover-up.
The committee is also investigating his personal and financial ties to the Biden family.
The committee's investigation is focused on the 32 clemency warrants issued using an autopen out of 57 total pardons and commutations during Biden's presidency. Many were signed in bulk between Jan. 16 and Jan. 19, just before Donald Trump's inauguration, raising questions about whether Biden approved them or whether aides acted without explicit direction.
Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel at the Oversight Project, a former division of the Heritage Foundation that has been investigating Biden's autopen usage for months, previously told the Washington Examiner the implications have major implications for the office of the president.
“The Constitution vests the power of pardon in one person and one person only — the President of the United States,” he said. “If it's autopenned, it opens up a whole can of worms. Did the president authorize this? Was there a written authorization? Who controlled the autopen?”
Brosnan also said those who received preemptive pardons, including Hunter and James Biden, should be considered for testimony. “They're certainly eligible to be deposed in this situation, and they cannot assert the Fifth Amendment for these pardons,” he added.
Though not yet subpoenaed, other former Biden insiders have been floated as possible witnesses:
Ron Klain, who served as Biden's chief of staff from 2021 to 2023, oversaw internal policy coordination and likely had insight into the president's capabilities and awareness after he briefly returned to his side for his 2024 election debate preparation last June.Mike Donilon, Biden's senior adviser and longtime confidant, shaped the president's public messaging and may have known about the inner circle's handling of key decisions.Anita Dunn, another senior adviser, worked closely with both Joe and Jill Biden and has been mentioned in media reports as a central player in managing Biden's appearances and communication strategy.Bob Bauer, Biden's personal attorney and former White House counsel, may have reviewed the legal processes behind the pardons, particularly those issued preemptively.Karine Jean-Pierre, as press secretary, may have knowledge of how Biden's health and executive actions were portrayed publicly and discussed internally.Jill Biden, the first lady, has been described as a “chief denier” of the president's decline and a key voice in pushing for his reelection, raising questions about her influence on internal decision-making.Hunter Biden, whose sweeping 11-year pardon is among the most controversial, is likely to draw scrutiny over the circumstances of its issuance.
DAVID SACKS ALLEGES ELIZABETH WARREN CONTROLLED BIDEN'S AUTOPEN
For now, the focus remains on the five officials contacted earlier this month. If they do not confirm cooperation by Thursday evening, Comer and his staff are prepared to escalate.
“We're continuing our investigation to expose the truth,” Comer said earlier this month. “Now that Biden's top enablers can no longer hide behind the power of the presidency, we're moving forward.”
Follow:
A one-two punch from the United States risks shattering the already fragile trade war truce between Washington and Beijing, with Chinese tech companies and students both dealt shock blows by the Trump administration Wednesday night.
Viewed from within China, things had been looking up after the world's two largest economies agreed to dramatically roll back steep tariffs – a conciliatory step in a trade war that had threatened the entire global trading system.
Factories started whirring again. Long-delayed shipping containers began leaving Chinese ports, destined for the US. Chinese media celebrated the agreement as a national victory, while top officials adopted an upbeat tone in describing cooperation between the two superpower rivals.
But the two jabs from Washington on Wednesday will have far-reaching effects across China, angering families and authorities alike. They also throw into question the future of US-China trade talks; the temporary truce only lasts 90 days, and the clock is ticking to reach a longer-term agreement.
The first hit came in a Financial Times report on Wednesday that said moves by US President Donald Trump had effectively cut off some American companies from selling software used to design semiconductors to China.
A Siemens spokesperson later told CNN that the US government on Friday informed the industry about new export controls on chip designing software to China and Chinese military end users globally.
These small chips - which power our smartphones, computers, automobiles and home appliances - have been at the fore of the US-China tech battle in recent years. The Biden administration had blocked China from accessing US-made semiconductors, and earlier this month, Washington warned companies against using AI chips made by Chinese tech giant Huawei.
The obstacles were infuriating for Beijing, especially since it has poured tens of billions of dollars into its semiconductor industry, aiming to boost production at home and become less reliant on the US and other countries.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US, declined to comment on the reported chip software move but accused the US of “overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export controls, and maliciously blocking and suppressing China” in a statement to CNN.
But it was the second blow from the White House that landed right in the living rooms of Chinese families, with US State Secretary Marco Rubio saying the US will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students” – especially those in critical fields or with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
It's hard to overstate the impact. There were more than 270,000 Chinese students in the US in 2024, and even more before the pandemic. While some hail from China's political and business elites, many also come from middle-class families.
The path to the US is attractive, but arduous. Chinese families save for years and spend exorbitant amounts of money to send their kids abroad, with students attending cram schools or hiring tutors to polish their applications. Rubio's announcement jeopardizes all of that – with students now facing potential deportation in the middle of their hard-won education.
Related article
Trump administration will ‘aggressively revoke' Chinese student visas in major escalation with Beijing
Given China is a one-party state that reaches deep into nearly every aspect of society, it can be difficult or impossible for many students to disprove any claims that they're connected to the Communist Party – especially if the State Department defines that term loosely.
A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said on Thursday it “strongly opposes” the move, accusing the US of “unjustly” revoking visas “under the pretext of ideology and national security.”
Candy, a statistics student at the University of Michigan, who did not want to give her full name, said she feared her visa would be canceled before she graduates.
“Ending up with only a high school diploma is something I dread,” she said from China, where she's visiting family. “I pray to make it through my undergraduate study safely and smoothly.”
“When I first heard the news, I wanted to curse Trump.”
While the visa threat comes as a shock, some argue the targeting of students may in fact be a boon to China in the end.
The number of Chinese students in the US had been declining in recent years, partly because of significant shifts in both policy and public perception. Experts say many Chinese students and families now worry about safety, racism and discrimination, and immigration difficulties in the US – especially as more competitive higher education options open in other countries, including in China itself.
Trump's crackdown could see more Chinese scholars, including some of the brightest minds in their fields, return to their home country – or choose to stay in the first place, rejecting a US education for a Chinese degree instead.
And these researchers – including key leaders in technological fields – could be the key to China catching up with, or surpassing the US – the very thing many Trump officials are trying to prevent.
Wednesday did bring one bit of good news for China; a federal court blocked Trump from imposing most of his global tariffs, including the current 30% tariffs on China. But the administration immediately appealed the decision, leaving the status of those tariffs – and the trade war – up in the air.
CNN's Cynthia Chan contributed to this report
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Markets
Hot Stocks
Fear & Greed Index
Latest Market News
Hot Stocks
Follow:
The Trump administration has effectively cut off some American companies from selling software used to design semiconductors to China, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
Impacted companies include Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA, according to the FT's reporting, which cited people familiar with the matter. CNN was not immediately able to confirm that. Cadence and Synopsys didn't return requests for comment. The New York Times subsequently reported on Wednesday that sales to China of jet engine technology and certain chemicals were also halted.
The Commerce Department told CNN on Wednesday it is “reviewing exports of strategic significance to China.”
“In some cases, Commerce has suspended existing export licenses or imposed additional license requirements while the review is pending,” a spokesperson told CNN. However, they didn't respond to CNN's inquiry regarding which companies that included.
A Siemens spokesperson told CNN that the US government on Friday informed the industry about new export controls on chip designing software to China and Chinese military end users globally.
Siemens “will continue to work with our customers globally to mitigate the impact of these new restrictions while operating in compliance with applicable national export control regimes,” the spokesperson said.
The move could be the latest blow in an ongoing trade war between the world's two biggest economies. While that trade war is ostensibly on pause while the US and China continue to negotiate a trade deal, the Commerce Department's actions underscore the acrimony between the two nations and the challenges in keeping the peace.
The pause came after Chinese government officials and Trump administration officials met in Geneva earlier this month. The US lowered tariffs on products from China to a minimum of 30% from 145%. Meanwhile, China lowered tariffs on American goods to a minimum of 10% from 125%.
The truce is set to expire in August and is intended to give both countries more time to negotiate a potentially longer-term trade deal. However, either country could raise tariff rates again and throw the relationship back into turmoil.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US, declined to comment on the Commerce Department's latest actions. However, he said in a statement provided to CNN that “China firmly opposes the US's overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export controls, and maliciously blocking and suppressing China.”
“China will keep a close eye on relevant developments, and take resolute measures to firmly defend the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies,” he added.
This story has been updated with additional context and developments.
CNN's Yong Xiong contributed to this report.
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. All times are ET. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Fair value provided by IndexArb.com. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.
© 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.
Andreas Tompros tours his avocado farm, Ridgecrest Avocados, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Andreas Tompros holds ripe avocados grown at his avocado farm, Ridgecrest Avocados, in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Andreas Tompros looks out at his avocado farm, Ridgecrest Avocados, in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Avocados grow at Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Andreas Tompros tours Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
SOMIS, Calif. (AP) — Andreas Tompros lost his home and at least a third of his avocado orchard to a wildfire last year, but the 47-year-old grower is not worried about his farm making a comeback.
While California farmers often rattle off a list of challenges they face including high labor costs, water restrictions and overseas competition, many avocado growers say they have a good thing going. A key reason may come as a surprise to some — Mexican imports.
When the United States lifted its ban on Mexican avocados in 1997, California growers worried at first that the imported fruit would displace their production.
But the steady flow of avocados has wound up helping, not hurting, their sales by allowing for a year-round supply to markets and restaurants that has fomented demand, farmers say. Before the influx, most American consumers considered avocados to be specialty items — and when they came into season in California, industry officials had to work to rev up widespread interest in order to sell them.
But not anymore.
Avocado consumption has been booming in the United States over the past two decades. The amount of fruit available per person tripled to more than 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) between 2000 and 2021, federal statistics show. Avocado toast and guacamole are regular offerings not just in culinary hubs like NYC but at cafes around the Midwest and the South.
Andreas Tompros holds ripe avocados grown at his avocado farm, Ridgecrest Avocados, in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
On a steep, sun-soaked hillside northwest of Los Angeles, Tompros is replanting nearly 300 avocado trees with the belief that Americans' hunger for the fruit — and his orchard — will continue to grow.
“It will come back, and I believe it will become better than it was,” Tompros, who previously ran a software company in Hollywood, said of the orchard he took over five years ago in the tiny community of Somis.
Avocado demand has also been buoyed by consumers' growing interest in healthy fats, said Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board.
A 2000 U.S. law created the board that collected 2.5 cents for every pound (0.5 kilograms) of avocados imported or produced in the United States. The board used the money to market avocados and conduct nutritional research, an effort that has been widely credited with making the fruit ubiquitous in supermarkets and on restaurant menus.
“It's been really wildly successful. It generates way more money than most of these other industry boards do,” said Richard Sexton, distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis. “When you look at the growth rate in avocado consumption relative to all fruits, the difference in growth rate is dramatic.”
Andreas Tompros looks out at his avocado farm, Ridgecrest Avocados, in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Escobedo said about 60% of U.S. households currently buy avocados, and about half of these are responsible for the overwhelming majority of consumption, which means there's still room for the market to grow — especially in the Northeast, where the fruit is less common.
“There is a lot of opportunity for certain groups of people to increase their purchasing of avocados,” Escobedo said.
While the Trump administration has threatened tariffs on a spate of Mexican goods, avocados have so far been spared. California growers said they want Mexican avocados to keep flowing into the country, though they also want robust U.S. inspections of the imports to keep out pests to protect their crop.
“If you are going to farm in California, avocados are about the best deal right now,” said Ken Melban, president of the California Avocado Commission.
Avocados grow at Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California farmers grow about 10% of the avocados eaten in the United States, Melban said, and account for nearly all of the country's domestic avocado production. The fruit is largely grown in California from April through September, and Mexican imports arrive year-round to meet nationwide demand, which exceeds what the state's farmers grow, he said.
In Southern California's Ventura County, many growers have shifted to avocados since lemon prices were walloped by cheaper imports from Argentina. As recently planted trees start bearing fruit in a few years, the region's avocado production is likely to rise, said Korinne Bell, agricultural commissioner for the county northwest of Los Angeles.
Avocado trees do not come without risks in a region prone to wildfires.
Still, demand for the trees has jumped due to interest from lemon growers — and since the November 2024 fire charred Ventura County avocado orchards, said Rob Brokaw, whose family-owned nursery has supplied avocado trees to California growers for 70 years.
“Right now we are sold out essentially for this year,” Brokaw said. “And we're mostly sold out for 2026.”
Andreas Tompros tours Ridgecrest Avocados in Somis, Calif., on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Tompros debated whether to plant the more fire-resistant lemon trees or another crop after the fire ripped through Somis, but he decided to replant due to the soaring demand for Super Bowl guacamole and avocado toast.
“It's the super food, and it's still growing in popularity,” Tompros said.
He's taking precautions to not plant the trees too close to what will eventually be his rebuilt home, because the dried-out leaves that help nourish the orchard's soil can also fuel blazes.
It may take a few years, but Tompros hopes it won't be too long before his newly planted trees bear fruit that he can sell to a local packinghouse or in seasonal gift boxes with citrus and passionfruit that he ships directly to customers.
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.
Mike Gallagher, a former congressman, discusses a new report detailing more information on the timeline and origins of the COVID-19 pandemic on ‘America Reports'
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino stated Wednesday evening that the bureau is examining issues related to the origin of COVID-19, though he did not confirm the existence of a formal investigation into a cover-up.
Bongino made the remarks in a post on X amid growing media attention on a newly identified COVID-19 strain.
"As we read and process reports of a new COVID strain emerging, I want you to know that we are actively investigating, in multiple field offices, the cover-up of the origin of the COVID virus, along with associated matters requiring our attention," Bongino wrote. "The American people deserve answers."
FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR BONGINO: ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINALS AND CHILD PREDATORS ARE NEXT IN ONGOING CRACKDOWN
Laboratory technicians wearing personal protective equipment work on samples to be tested for COVID-19 in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province Aug. 5, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
He did not identify specific individuals or entities under scrutiny. The FBI has not issued an official news release on the matter, and the scope of the review remains unclear.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Bongino's comment represents one of the most direct public statements by a senior FBI official regarding the agency's continued interest in the pandemic's origin and the surrounding circumstances.
In 2023, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency assessed with moderate confidence that COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China. Chinese authorities have consistently denied such claims, calling them politically motivated and unsubstantiated.
FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR DAN BONGINO: JAMES COMEY 'BROUGHT SHAME TO THE FBI AGAIN' WITH '86 47' POST
Dan Bongino on the set of "FOX & Friends" at Fox News Channel Studios June 18, 2019, in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Bongino's post follows the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, provisionally identified by researchers as NB.1.8.1, which has appeared in several U.S. states. Federal health authorities have not designated it as a variant of concern.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has continued its inquiry into whether early public health messaging downplayed the lab leak theory for diplomatic or political reasons.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a former White House health advisor, has repeatedly denied any effort to conceal information, calling those allegations "entirely false."
DOJ INVESTIGATING ANDREW CUOMO FOR ALLEGEDLY LYING ABOUT COVID DECISIONS, SOURCE CONFIRMS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is sworn-in before testifying to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic June 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Bongino has increasingly used social media to communicate bureau updates directly to the public.
A former NYPD officer and Secret Service agent, Bongino was appointed deputy director earlier this year by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Jasmine is a writer at Fox News Digital and a military spouse based in New Orleans. Stories can be sent to jasmine.baehr@fox.com
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.
If this decision stands on appeal, it's a big loss for Trump that will make it difficult for his trade war to continue.
by Ian Millhiser
A federal court ruled on Wednesday evening that the massive tariffs President Donald Trump imposed shortly after beginning his second term are illegal.
The US Court of International Trade's decision in two consolidated cases — known as V.O.S. Selections v. United States and Oregon v. Department of Homeland Security — is quite broad. It argues that the Constitution places fairly strict limits on Congress's ability to empower the president to impose tariffs in the first place — limits that Trump surpassed — and it reads several federal trade laws to place rigid constraints on Trump's ability to continue his trade war.
Get the latest developments on the US Supreme Court from senior correspondent Ian Millhiser.
The decision may not be final; it can be appealed up to the Supreme Court. But if higher courts embrace the trade court's reasoning, Trump most likely will not be able to reimpose the sweeping kind of tariffs at issue in the V.O.S. Selections case, although he might still be able to impose more modest tariffs that are more limited in scope and duration.
The three-judge panel that decided V.O.S. Selections unanimously agreed that the Trump's tariffs, as they stand now, are illegal in an unsigned opinion. The panel included judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Trump himself.
Trump primarily relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) when he imposed his tariffs. That statute permits the president to “regulate…transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest,” but this power “may only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared.”
The trade court's first significant holding is that, although a federal appeals court has held that this power to “regulate” foreign transactions sometimes permits the president to impose tariffs, this statute cannot be read to give Trump “unlimited tariff authority.” That is, the IEEPA does not give Trump the power he claims to impose tariffs of any amount, upon any nation, for any duration.
Significantly, the trade court, based in New York City, concludes that the statute cannot be read to give Trump unchecked authority over tariffs because, if Congress had intended to give Trump that power, then the statute would violate the Constitution's separation of powers because Congress cannot simply give away its full authority over tariffs to the president.
Among other things, the court points to a line of Supreme Court decisions establishing that Congress may only delegate authority to the president if it lays “down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to fix such [tariff] rates is directed to conform.” So, if the president's authority over tariffs is as broad as Trump claims, the statute is unconstitutional because it does not provide sufficient instructions on when or how that authority may be used.
The court's second significant holding arises out of Trump's claim that the tariffs are needed to address the nation's trade deficit — the fact that Americans buy more goods from foreign nations than we export. But, as the trade court explains, there is a separate federal law — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — which governs the president's power to impose tariffs in response to trade deficits.
This statute only permits the president to impose tariff rates of 15 percent or lower, and those tariffs may only remain in effect for 150 days. The trade court concludes that Trump may only rely on his authority under Section 122 if he wants to impose tariffs to respond to trade deficits. So, while he could potentially reimpose some tariffs under this law, they would expire after five months.
The court's third significant holding arises out of IEEPA's language stating that any tariffs imposed under this statute must “deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat.” Trump justified some of his tariffs by claiming that they will help deter the importation of illegal drugs into the United States, but the trade court concludes that these tariffs don't actually do anything to “deal with” the threat of drug trafficking — and thus they are illegal.
As the trade court argues, the tariffs do not directly prevent any illegal drugs from entering the United States. Trump's lawyers argued that the tariffs will help reduce illegal drug trafficking because other nations will crack down on drug dealers in order to be rid of the tariffs, but the court rejects the argument that the tariffs can be justified because they pressure other nations to shift their domestic policies.
“[H]owever sound this might be as a diplomatic strategy, it does not comfortably meet the statutory definition of ‘deal[ing] with' the cited emergency,” the court argues, adding that “it is hard to conceive of any IEEPA power that could not be justified on the same ground of ‘pressure.'”
Finally, the court ends its opinion by permanently enjoining the tariffs on a nationwide basis.
The Supreme Court is currently debating whether to limit lower courts' power to issue such nationwide orders, but the trade court makes a strong argument that it is constitutionally required to block the tariffs throughout the country: As the V.O.S. Selections opinion notes, the Constitution provides that “all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” So, if these tariffs cannot lawfully be imposed on one person, the same rule must apply to all persons.
The trade court is the first federal court to rule on whether these tariffs are legal, but it is unlikely to be the last. This court's decisions ordinarily appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and then to the Supreme Court. And Trump is all but certain to ask higher courts to lift the trade court's injunction.
These higher courts could potentially reveal fairly soon whether they think the tariffs are legal. In an order accompanying the trade court's decision, the court announces that “within 10 calendar days necessary administrative orders to effectuate the permanent injunction shall issue.” So, if no higher court steps in, Trump's tariffs will cease to exist very soon.
Of course, Trump will no doubt seek a stay of the trade court's decision from the Federal Circuit and, if the Federal Circuit rules against him, the Supreme Court. That means that, depending on how the Federal Circuit rules, the Supreme Court may have to decide whether to reinstate the tariffs within weeks.
So, while higher courts will need to weigh in before we know if the tariffs will survive, we may know what the justices think about Trump's tariffs very soon.
Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day, compiled by news editor Sean Collins.
The real cost of forcing foreign students away from elite universities like Harvard.
In his latest move, Trump is attacking the people who have helped bail out American higher education.
Donald Trump is on a white-collar pardon spree.
The left's attachment to thinking of politics in “material” terms is causing it to misread the moment.
The HHS secretary is tampering with vaccine recommendations.
The new political divide splitting young Americans in half.
© 2025 Vox Media, LLC. 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.
Greg Raiff, CEO of Elevate Aviation Group, explained the FAA's outdated system and why Newark Liberty International Airport is experiencing blackouts in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
A man on board an American Airlines flight from Connecticut to Chicago Tuesday night faces charges after he allegedly forced a flight attendant to the floor and attempted to drag the flight attendant up the aisle while acting erratically, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In a news release, the DOJ said 24-year-old Julius Jordan Priester, of Wichita, Kansas, was arrested and charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
Priester was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 3359, which departed from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, at about 9:30 p.m., en route to Chicago.
Court documents filed Wednesday allege that, during the flight, Priester stood up, began to take his shirt off and ran toward the back of the plane, yelling, "Help me!"
WOMAN SUES AMERICAN AIRLINES AFTER ALLEGED SEXUAL ASSAULT ON PLANE, CITES PATTERN OF IN-FLIGHT ATTACKS
An American Airlines plane returned to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut after a passenger allegedly attacked a flight attendant Tuesday night. (iStock)
Priester then allegedly grabbed a flight attendant who was seated, and he shouted, "You're coming with me," before forcefully taking the victim to the ground.
The DOJ alleges that after taking the flight attendant to the ground, he attempted to drag the victim up the aisle.
Passengers intervened, and Priester was returned to his seat, where the DOJ said he continued to act erratically and spoke incoherent sentences.
COUPLE ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY THROWING COFFEE AT AIRLINE EMPLOYEES, FORCING WAY ONTO CANCUN FLIGHT
The captain of the flight declared an emergency, and the flight returned to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. (iStock)
The captain of the flight declared an emergency, and flight data from FlightAware.com shows the plane turned around over the Finger Lakes region of New York before heading back to Bradley Airport, where it landed just before 11 p.m.
Once the plane returned to the gate, Priester was removed from the aircraft by Connecticut State Police and taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
American Airlines told Fox News Digital it does not tolerate violence on its flights.
AIRLINE PASSENGER CHARGED FOR ALLEGEDLY THREATENING PILOT, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: 'I WILL REALLY BREAK YOUR JAW!'
Julius Jordan Priester appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford, Conn. (iStock)
"On May 27, American Eagle Flight 3359, operated by Envoy, with service from Hartford (BDL) to Chicago (ORD), returned to BDL due to a disruptive customer," the airline said. "We do not tolerate violence, and we thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their assistance."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On Wednesday, Priester appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford, Connecticut. Priester was ordered detained pending a bond hearing scheduled for Friday.
The FBI is investigating with assistance from the Connecticut State Police.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to Greg.Wehner@Fox.com and on Twitter @GregWehner.
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.
Starbase, Texas, has notified some residents that they might "lose the right to continue using" their property as they do today, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.
The town, home to Elon Musk's SpaceX, is considering a new zoning ordinance and city-wide map.
The notice, sent to property owners in a proposed "Mixed Use District," would allow for "residential, office, retail, and small-scale service uses."
Starbase plans to host a public hearing on Monday, June 23, 2025, about the proposed new zoning and map for the town. The notice was signed by Kent Myers, a city administrator for Starbase and radiation test specialist at SpaceX according to his LinkedIn profile.
Representatives for Starbase and SpaceX did not respond to requests for further information on Thursday.
A "type-C municipal corporation," Starbase was officially formed earlier this month after Musk's aerospace and defense contractor prevailed in a local election. It is now run by officials who are SpaceX employees and former employees.
As of early this year, the population of Starbase stood around 500 people, with around 260 directly employed by SpaceX, the Texas Tribune reported. Most other residents of Starbase are relatives of SpaceX employees.
The company town includes the launch facility where SpaceX conducts test flights of its massive Starship rocket, and company-owned land covering a 1.6 square-mile area.
Starbase is holding its first city commission meeting on Thursday, two days after SpaceX conducted its ninth test flight of the massive Starship rocket from the Texas coast facility.
The rocket exploded during the test flight, marking a catastrophic loss and a third-consecutive setback for the aerospace and defense contractor. Following the incident, Musk, who also leads Tesla, focused on data and lessons to be learned from the explosions.
The FAA said there had been "no reports of public injury or damage to public property" on Wednesday.
The Starship system was developed to transport people and equipment around Earth, and to the Moon, and Musk envisions the rocket someday being used to colonize Mars.
Musk's rocket maker has taken in more than $20 billion in government contracts since 2008, and is poised to take in several billion dollars annually for years to come.
Establishing Starbase as a company town helps SpaceX attain nearly unfettered permission to build, test or launch from its industrial complex on the Texas Gulf Coast.
The town is still trying to win the ability to close a main road and beaches for launch activity during the week without seeking municipal or other authority.
Here's the text of the zoning memo sent to Starbase residents:
May 21, 2025
Dear Starbase Property Owner/Property Occupant,
Notice is hereby given that the City Commission for the City of Starbase will conduct a Public Hearing on Monday, June 23, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., at the City of Starbase temporary city hall located at 39046 LBJ Boulevard, Brownsville, TX 78521, to hear public comments, consider and act upon the adoption of a Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and city wide Zoning Map.
Our goal is to ensure that the zoning plan reflects the City's vision for balanced growth, protecting critical economic drivers, ensuring public safety, and preserving green spaces. You are receiving this notice because you own the above listed property that will be located in the "Mixed Use District" and will be impacted if the zoning ordinance is approved.
The Mixed Use District allows for a blend of residential, office, retail, and small-scale service uses. A proposed zoning map is enclosed with this notice. You may view the draft zoning ordinance on the City's website 72 hours prior to the above listed public hearing.
The City is required by Texas law to notify you of the following: THE CITY OF STARBASE IS HOLDING A HEARING THAT WILL DETERMINE WHETHER YOU MAY LOSE THE RIGHT TO CONTINUE USING YOUR PROPERTY FOR ITS CURRENT USE, PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. The foregoing notice is required by Texas Local Government Code section 211.006(a-1). The proposed zoning ordinance is based on current and existing uses.
Please contact City Administrator Kent Myers [email address redacted] with any questions or written comments. Your written comments must be submitted by 3:00 pm on June 22, 2025. Public comments may also be given at the above listed public hearing.
Best Wishes,
Kent Myers
City Administrator, City of Starbase
[addresses redacted]
cityofstarbase-texas.com
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
Watch Daily: Monday - Friday, 3 PM ET
In this video
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
TUNE IN: The 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 list will be revealed Tuesday, June 10 at 6am ET
Meta and Anduril, the defense-tech startup founded by Palmer Luckey, announced Thursday that they've formed a partnership to create virtual and augmented reality devices intended for use by the U.S. army.
The partnership represents a major step by Meta to supply cutting-edge technology to the government in addition to working once again with Luckey, who sold his Oculus VR startup to the social media company for $2 billion in 2014.
Luckey and Meta had an acrimonious split, with the Anduril founder telling CNBC in 2019 that he "got fired" from the company formerly known as Facebook "for no reason at all," suggesting that a $10,000 donation to a pro-Donald Trump group ahead of the 2016 U.S. election could have contributed to the decision.
With Trump winning the U.S. presidency in November for the second time, Zuckerberg and other tech executives have since courted favor with the White House by making sweeping policy changes like relaxing content-moderation guidelines.
Meta has also been pitching its open-source Llama family of AI models to government agencies and in November said it would make the those tools available to government units "working on defense and national security applications, and private sector partners supporting their work."
"Meta has spent the last decade building AI and AR to enable the computing platform of the future," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. "We're proud to partner with Anduril to help bring these technologies to the American service members that protect our interests at home and abroad."
In February, Anduril and Microsoft said that the defense tech startup would take over the enterprise giant's AR headset program with the U.S. army.
Meta and Anduril have placed a joint bid on an Army contract for VR devices that is worth up to $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The two companies are working on EagleEye, a system that carries sensors that enhance soldiers' hearing and vision, according to the report. Meta and Anduril will move forward on their partnership whether or not they win the Army contract, per the Journal.
The two companies pitched their partnership as helping the U.S. maintain a "technical edge" while aiding national security and saving the military "billions of dollars by utilizing high-performance components and technology originally built for commercial use."
"I am glad to be working with Meta once again." Luckey said in a statement. "Of all the areas where dual-use technology can make a difference for America, this is the one I am most excited about."
Anduril also announced in December that it partnered with OpenAI on an artificial-intelligence initiative related to "national security missions."
WATCH: Nvidia has a lot of opportunities still in front of them.
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
Amazon's devices unit has a new team tasked with inventing "breakthrough" consumer products that's being led by a former Microsoft executive who helped create the Xbox.
The ZeroOne team is spread across Seattle, San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, and is focused on both hardware and software projects, according to job postings from the past month. The name is a nod to its mission of developing emerging product ideas from conception to launch, or "zero to one."
Amazon has a checkered history in hardware, with hits including the Kindle e-reader, Echo smart speaker and Fire streaming sticks, as well as flops like the Fire Phone, Halo fitness tracker and Glow kids teleconferencing device.
Many of the products emerged from Lab126, Amazon's hardware research and development unit, which is based in Silicon Valley.
The new group is being led by J Allard, who spent 19 years at Microsoft, most recently as technology chief of consumer products, a role he left in 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was a key architect of the Xbox game console, as well as the Zune, a failed iPod competitor.
Allard joined Amazon in September, and the company confirmed at the time that he would be part of the devices and services team under Panos Panay, who left Microsoft for Amazon in 2023 to lead the group.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed Allard oversees ZeroOne but declined to comment further on the group's work.
The job postings provide few specific details about what ZeroOne is building, though one listing references working on "conceiving, designing, and bringing to market computer vision techniques for a new smart-home product."
Another post for a senior customer insights manager in San Francisco says the job entails owning "the methodology and execution of concept testing and early feedback for ZeroOne programs."
"You'll be part of a team that embraces design thinking, rapid experimentation, and building to learn," the description says. "If you're excited about working in small, nimble teams to create entirely new product categories and thrive in the ambiguity of breakthrough innovation, we want to talk to you."
Amazon has pulled in staffers from other business units that have experience developing innovative technologies, including its Alexa voice assistant, Luna cloud gaming service and Halo sleep tracker, according to Linkedin profiles of ZeroOne employees. The head of a projection mapping startup called Lightform that Amazon acquired is helping lead the group.
While Amazon is expanding this particular corner of its devices group, the company is scaling back other areas of the sprawling devices and services division.
Earlier this month, Amazon laid off about 100 of the group's employees. The job cuts included staffers working on Alexa and Amazon Kids, which develops services for children, as well as Lab126, according to public filings and people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named due to confidentiality. More than 50 employees were laid off at Amazon's Lab126 facilities in Sunnyvale, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filings in California.
Amazon said the job cuts affected a fraction of a percent of the devices and services organization, which has tens of thousands of employees.
WATCH: Amazon reportedly folding foldable phone
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
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 ruling would reduce the effective US tariff rate to below 6% from a high of almost 27% last month.
President Donald Trump's appetite for new tariffs remains undeterred, even after a pair of court decisions hit his signature duties with their most devastating blow yet.
White House officials quickly signaled Thursday that Trump will aggressively pursue legal challenges and, if they fail, move forward with many of the same levies through other authorities.
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
A chat with JPMorgan Asset Management's cult analyst.
Listen to Odd Lots on Apple PodcastsListen to Odd Lots on SpotifySubscribe to the newsletter
Michael Cembalest has been an investment analyst for almost 40 years and his research notes have drawn a cult following on Wall Street. He's known for going super deep into a wide range of topics, like energy and healthcare. And lately he's been writing a lot about AI, with a particular interest in figuring out whether all the investment in data centers and compute will translate into actual profits. On this episode, we talk to the chair of market and investment strategy for JPMorgan Asset Management about why AI is the market "bet of the century," why the dominance of US big tech can't be overstated, and why he's pessimistic about the outlook for small modular nuclear reactors.Odd Lots Live is returning to New York City on June 26. Get your tickets here!
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
Sign up today for the new CNBC Sport Newsletter
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
The New York Times on Thursday struck a deal with Amazon allowing it to use the storied news organization's content across its artificial intelligence platforms.
The multi-year deal "will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences," the Times said in a release. The agreement also includes content from the newspaper's other properties like NYT Cooking and The Athletic.
"This will include real-time display of summaries and short excerpts of Times content within Amazon products and services, such as Alexa, and training Amazon's proprietary foundation models," the Times said.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
The Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI in 2023 for copyright infringement, accusing the companies of abusing the newspaper's intellectual property to train large language models.
Both Microsoft and OpenAI sought unsuccessfully to have the case thrown out. Other news publications have joined the Times in suing Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright violations, including the New York Daily News and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
A growing number of news outlets have opted to strike licensing deals with tech companies rather than pursue litigation.
Amazon has launched a flurry of generative AI products over the past several months as it looks to keep up with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Google and others.
Amazon announced Alexa+, a new version of its decade-plus old voice assistant embedded with generative AI in February. Other products include its own set of Nova models, Trainium chips, a shopping chatbot, and a marketplace for third-party models called Bedrock.
WATCH: Amazon reportedly exploring foldable phone
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
A train enters the United States over a rail bridge on the US-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas.
Senior White House officials on Thursday downplayed the implications of a court ruling that blocked a swath of President Donald Trump's tariff measures, and expressed confidence about an appeal.
“If anybody thinks this caught the administration by surprise, think again,” Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Bloomberg Television. “Nothing's really changed.”
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
Just weeks after US President Donald Trump declared a “total reset” with China following a trade truce in Geneva, tensions are rising again between the world's biggest economies.
Trump's administration on Wednesday announced it would start revoking Chinese student visas, while also introducing new restrictions on the sales of chip design software and reportedly some jet engine parts to China. That came shortly after it sought to block Huawei Technologies Co. from selling advanced AI chips anywhere in the world, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing.
Sign up today for the new CNBC Sport Newsletter
Major League Baseball will make a strategic investment in the newly launched Athletes Unlimited Softball League, the league announced Thursday.
The deal marks MLB's first comprehensive partnership with a women's pro sports league and comes as women's sports see rapid growth in everything from television viewership to team valuations.
Terms of the deal were not provided.
As part of the agreement, MLB will help raise the visibility of the AUSL and its athletes through its sales, marketing, broadcast and social media platforms. The baseball league will also make a significant financial investment toward league operational costs and key growth initiatives as it starts its inaugural season this year.
"During this extraordinarily exciting time for women's sports, we want softball to thrive. MLB is committed to help build a sustainable and impactful league that drives fandom, serves the softball community, and benefits all female athletes," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
Athletes Unlimited co-founder and CEO Jon Patricof, who also owns and operates pro volleyball and basketball leagues, said the partnership will boost professional women's softball, a sport that has seen major growth in recent years.
"The sport is growing at the grassroots level, the college level and it will be back in the Olympics in 2028" in Los Angeles, Patricof said. "It's kind of a giant among pro women's sports right now."
MLB said it will also air select AUSL games on MLB Network and MLB.TV.
Last February, ESPN signed a deal with Athletes Unlimited to broadcast at least 30 softball games across its networks. It has reason to believe the sport is attracting a big audience: More than 2 million viewers tuned in for the NCAA Division I Women's College World Series finals in 2024, a 24% increase over the previous year, ESPN said.
AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng called the deal with MLB a watershed moment for women's sports and softball.
"MLB's investment will supercharge our efforts to build the sustainable professional league this sport has long deserved, and sends a powerful message about the value of female athletes and the importance of creating professional opportunities for them," she said.
The AUSL will kick off its debut season on June 7 and feature four teams each playing in a 24-game campaign, followed by an All-Star Cup. The games will take place in 12 different cities this year and then transition to a city-based league in 2026.
The league is planning to expand from four to six teams next season in 2026.
"Together, we're going to reach new fans and inspire the next generation of softball players," said Ng.
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
Clearlake Capital Group is testing just how far it can go to prevent opportunistic investors from scooping up the debt of a troubled portfolio company.
The private equity firm has expanded the so-called disqualified lender list for container manufacturer Pretium Packaging to almost 100 names in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Typically such lists, which allow borrowers to block certain parties from purchasing their loans, range from a handful of shops to a few dozen, market watchers say.
In this article
Best Buy on Thursday missed quarterly revenue expectations and cut its full-year sales and profit guidance as higher tariffs increase the costs of many consumer electronics that it sells.
For its fiscal 2026, the retailer said it now expects $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion of revenue, down from its previous range of $41.4 billion to $42.2 billion. It said it expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $6.15 to $6.30, which compares with prior guidance of $6.20 to $6.60.
Best Buy already increased prices on some items to blunt the costs from tariffs, with changes taking effect by mid-May, CEO Corie Barry said on a call with reporters. She called price hikes "the very last resort" after the company takes other steps to offset higher expenses. But she declined to specify which items are affected, citing competitive reasons.
First-quarter earnings reports have highlighted just how disruptive President Donald Trump's ever-evolving trade policy has been to many U.S. companies that rely on a global supply chain. Best Buy joins other companies like Abercrombie & Fitch and Macy's in cutting its profit outlook this week due to tariffs. Other businesses, such as E.l.f. Beauty, have declined to provide full-year guidance because of the levies.
On the call with reporters, Barry referred to the latest development that may change the backdrop once again: a federal trade court striking down many of Trump's tariffs late Wednesday. And she said that ruling reinforces that the company has to stay nimble.
"If you look back over the last, let's call it four months, the variety of points where there has been a change in approach to global trade, they are myriad," she said. "And so what I really tried to work with the team on is to not actually overreact to any given moment in time, but instead to stay maniacally focused on our customers and ensure we are bringing the right assortment price and promotionality to them, whatever the backdrop."
Here's how the consumer electronics company did compared with what Wall Street was expecting for the company's fiscal first quarter, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Shares of Best Buy fell more than 9% in morning trading.
Best Buy's net income in the three-month period that ended May 3 declined about 18% to $202 million, or 95 cents per share, from $246 million, or $1.13 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time expenses, including restructuring charges for its Best Buy Health business, the company reported earnings of $1.15 per share.
First-quarter revenue dropped from $8.85 billion in the year-ago period.
Comparable sales, defined by Best Buy as revenue from online sales and stores open at least 14 months, dropped 0.7% year over year. In the U.S., comparable sales also fell 0.7% year over year as shoppers bought fewer home theaters, appliances and drones than a year ago. The company said weakness in those categories was partially offset by growth in the computing, mobile phone and tablet categories.
Best Buy is a closely watched name when it comes to the impact of tariffs since it sells iPhones, TVs, laptops, kitchen appliances and many other consumer electronics that tend to be made in China or other parts of Asia. That's why Barry said on a March earnings call that the retailer would likely have to raise prices because of the duties.
However, Barry said on a separate earnings call Thursday that Best Buy's mix of imports has changed in recent months. China continues to be a major source of merchandise, but the country now accounts for 30% to 35% of its merchandise compared with the 55% metric that it shared in March.
About 25% of its merchandise comes from U.S. or Mexico, which do not have tariffs due to domestic production or exemptions, she said. The remaining roughly 40% comes from other areas, including Vietnam, India, South Korea and Taiwan, which are subject to a 10% tariff.
The U.S. currently has an up to 30% tariff on imports from China, while goods compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt from the Trump administration's 25% duty on Mexico. It is unclear now how those rates will change after the federal trade court's ruling on Wednesday.
Barry on the Thursday earnings call outlined ways that Best Buy is adjusting to current tariffs, while acknowledging the backdrop could change after the court ruling. The vast majority of what the retailer sells — about 97% or 98% of its merchandise — is imported by vendors rather than directly by the company.
Best Buy has encouraged vendors to manufacture in multiple countries, negotiated lower costs and adjusted the mix of merchandise that it carries, she said.
On the earnings call, Barry pointed to Best Buy's strategic priorities for the year that will help the company increase profits and control costs. She said the company aims to improve the customer experience to better connect its digital and in-store businesses, launch and grow its third-party marketplace and advertising businesses, and drive efficiency "to fund strategic investments and offset pressures."
She also called out new product launches that could drive excitement and purchases. For example, she said, there's strong demand for the Nintendo Switch 2 video game console that will debut early this summer. Barry said Best Buy is tapping into that by offering preorders and opening its doors at midnight on June 5 to allow customers to pick up their consoles or get a new game right away.
Smartphone sales have been a bright spot for Best Buy, too. Barry said Verizon and AT&T have both bulked up staffing at Best Buy stores. She said phone sales and activations have risen, and the company posted comparable sales growth for mobile phones for the first time in three years.
As of Wednesday's close, shares of Best Buy are down nearly 17% so far this year. That trails behind the roughly flat performance of the S&P 500 year to date. Best Buy closed at $71.52 on Wednesday, bringing the company's market value to $15.14 billion.
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
Source: Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said China has stopped selling drones to Kyiv and other European nations while continuing shipments to Russia.
“Chinese Mavic is open for Russians but is closed for Ukrainians,” Zelenskiy told a group of reporters on Tuesday. “There are production lines on Russian territory where there are Chinese representatives,” he added.
In this article
United Airlines has a new friend in Queens.
The airline plans to return to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport again, this time through a new partnership with JetBlue Airways.
The partnership, called Blue Sky, will allow the airlines to sell seats on each other's sites and let JetBlue customers earn frequent flyer miles on United and vice versa. It also includes reciprocal loyalty benefits like priority boarding and roomier seats for travelers with elite status. The deal is subject to regulatory review, the airlines said.
Some aspects of the partnership, which the carriers announced Thursday, will begin as early as the fall, though the airlines didn't provide exact timing. They also did not provide financial details of the deal.
JetBlue's leaders have long said they need a partnership to better compete against larger airlines like United and their shared rival Delta Air Lines, the most profitable U.S. carrier.
United CEO Scott Kirby told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday that in addition to the JFK access, the airlines together will have the largest presence in Boston and that United will be able to extend its reach in Florida and the Caribbean, where JetBlue has a robust network. In turn, JetBlue loyalists will get access to United's globe-spanning destinations.
"It makes each airline more competitive," Kirby said.
The new partnership stops short of the flight coordination that JetBlue had in its former alliance in the Northeast with American Airlines, which was struck down by a federal court on antitrust grounds two years ago. Last year, a judge blocked JetBlue's plan to buy struggling budget carrier Spirit.
"This collaboration with United is a bold step forward for the industry — one that brings together twocustomer-focused airlines to deliver more choices for travelers and value across our networks," JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said in a news release.
United left JFK in 2015, and Kirby has called that a mistake because moving transcontinental flights to Newark, New Jersey, allowed American to win over some corporate clients. It briefly returned in 2021, thanks to a Covid-era lull in traffic at the airport, where capacity is normally tightly controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration.
United left JFK again in 2022 because it wasn't able to secure longer-term slots there.
Kirby has repeatedly said he wants the airline to return to JFK. The carrier has struggled in recent weeks with air traffic staffing shortages and congestion at its Newark hub.
Under the new agreement, United will be able to fly up to seven daily round-trip flights at congested Kennedy Airport, giving it more breadth in the New York City area, though the new operation will still be dwarfed by United's main hub in the area at Newark Liberty International Airport.
United's JFK flights will begin in 2027 at the earliest, the carriers said. JetBlue, meanwhile, will get eight flights at Newark. United didn't say which routes it plans to operate at JFK, though its last foray was for service to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
They airlines called the swap a "net neutral exchange."
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
Senate Republicans will soon debate trillions of tax breaks approved by House lawmakers, including a bigger deduction for small business owners, contractors, freelancers and gig economy workers.
Enacted via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the Section 199A deduction for qualified business income, or QBI, is currently worth up to 20% of eligible revenue, with some limitations.
Without action from Congress, the QBI deduction will expire after 2025. But the House Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" would make the provision permanent and expand the maximum tax break to 23% starting in 2026.
More from Personal Finance:What the House GOP budget bill means for your money'Maycember' is almost over — here's how to recover financiallyCourt order challenges Trump's plan to move student loans to SBA
The QBI deduction applies to so-called pass-through businesses, which report profits or losses on individual tax returns.
This includes partnerships and S-corporations, along with some trusts and estates. Sole proprietors, such as freelance, contract and gig economy workers, also qualify.
For 2025, the tax break starts to phase-out when taxable income reaches $197,300 for single filers and $394,600 for married taxpayers filing jointly. The deduction can be reduced or eliminated completely, depending on your earnings and type of business (more on that below).
For tax year 2022, the most recent data available, there were roughly 25.6 million QBI deduction claims, up from 18.7 million in 2018, the first year of the tax break, according to IRS data.
However, the deduction has been controversial because "most of the benefits flow to taxpayers with a lot of income," said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy with the Tax Foundation's Center for Federal Tax Policy.
"These are not taxpayers who work a W-2 job and earn a salary," she said. "They're business owners who receive business profits on their individual tax returns."
Currently, certain white-collar professionals — doctors, lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and others — known as a "specified service trade or business," or SSTB, can't claim the QBI deduction once income exceeds certain limits.
There's also an income phase-out for non-SSTB businesses, but that doesn't go to zero.
The House bill would change the phase-out calculation, which could provide a bigger tax break for certain SSTB owners, said certified financial planner and enrolled agent Ben Henry-Moreland, senior financial planning nerd for advisor platform Kitces.com, who analyzed the bill last week.
If enacted, the higher 23% deduction could offer "some [tax] benefit" for all income levels, but the phaseout changes would primarily benefit higher-income SSTB owners, he said.
The House proposed QBI deduction changes would be "more generous and more valuable to higher-income people, especially those in certain industries including lawyers and lobbyists," Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of the Tax Law Center at New York University Law, wrote in early 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
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
Over the past five years, Carta has faced a string of gender discrimination complaints, departures of high-level female employees, and lawsuits with its former CTO Jerry Talton in the Southern District of New York.
Now, a resignation letter from Gurpreet "Preeti" Kaur, a former female Carta executive, has been made public in court — and in it, she said CEO Henry Ward spoke to her "with a disdain he would not show to my male peers" and has a "pattern of humiliating certain women."
Kaur has disavowed the email entirely to Business Insider, with both herself and Carta saying it was written by Talton's lawyers when she was in an "emotional" state. Talton, in turn, alleged in court that Carta "worked hard" to get Kaur to rescind it.
Kaur, who worked as Carta's vice president of Engineering from 2018 to 2022, sent the letter in October 2022. It was unsealed on May 1 of this year as part of the ongoing legal battle between Carta and Talton, who accused Carta of whistleblower retaliation and defamation.
Kaur emailed the detailed, two-page letter to Carta's CEO, general counsel, chief people officer, and Talton himself. In the letter, Kaur alleged that Ward made her feel "vulnerable and smaller" at a dinner with him, ignored a potential promotion, and used the word "ceremonial" to describe part of her role.
The October 2022 letter was part of evidence for Talton's claims that Carta had a culture of gender discrimination. Kaur told BI that while the dinner with Ward did happen, she misperceived Ward's comments. She praised Ward's leadership and her time at Carta.
"I just wanted to clarify, I was emotional and there was a lot going on at the company with exec turnover and whatnot," Kaur said, adding, "Misunderstandings happen."
Carta, which encouraged BI to speak with Kaur, said in a statement, "Ms. Kaur was initially persuaded by Talton to send the resignation letter during a time she testified was 'emotional and difficult.'"
"Talton's attempt to connect her resignation with his termination to draw conclusions about culture at Carta is a gross distortion of the facts," Carta added.
Talton declined to comment.
Carta, a startup that helps companies manage employee equity and shares, has raised more than $1 billion from Silicon Valley VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Over the years, it has faced numerous complaints and lawsuits, many of which focused on CEO Ward and his conduct.
Kaur's letter attributes her resignation to a humiliating dinner with Ward in October 2022, during which he made comments that "convinced" her she could no longer stay.
Kaur loved working at Carta and admired Ward, the email says. She wanted to help the company during a turbulent period marked by economic uncertainty, the departure of chief product officer Heidi Johnson, and its CTO, Talton, being placed on leave. A few months later, Carta sued Talton and accused him of secretly recording meetings, sparking the current legal battle.
The email says Ward made Kaur feel "vulnerable and smaller," and he showed no interest in her contributions or ideas and sidestepped a conversation about promoting her to senior vice president. Instead, per the email, Ward called her an already "ceremonial" SVP, a comment she found "shocking" since someone else at Carta had received that exact promotion.
The email also said Ward asked her whether her coworkers were "any good" and repeatedly asked what Talton would say about them, instead of seeking her opinions.
"Talking to me as if I am a poor substitute for a man he has put on leave is not appropriate," the email says.
Ward's questions made her "extremely uncomfortable," Kaur says in the email. The dinner became such a "cross-examination" that waiters kept returning to check on her because she hadn't touched her food, the email says.
Kaur also said Ward accused Johnson and Talton of being "disloyal" and predicted they would bring Carta's internal problems to The New York Times, which had profiled Carta's issues in a 2020 investigation.
In her view, the dinner conversation showed Ward had a "pattern of humiliating certain women."
"Now I cannot see a future here any longer, so I must resign," the email ends.
In counterclaims in the Southern District of New York court, Talton alleged that Carta pressured Kaur to rescind the email, writing that CEO Ward and Carta's then-Chief People Officer Paige Bailey "worked hard to get Kaur to rescind it, even going so far as to draft an 'apology' email for her."
Carta denied that, telling BI in a statement that it has "already denied that self-serving characterization" from Talton in court. Carta and Ward also denied Talton's counterclaims in a legal filing in April.
In 2023, BI reported that Kaur was one of three top executives at Carta who had internally filed gender discrimination complaints. At the time, Kaur also denied her departure was due to such issues.
That same year, the company settled a lawsuit brought by former vice president of marketing Emily Kramer alleging gender discrimination and illegal retaliation. Johnson submitted a gender discrimination complaint to Carta's board, and Carta sued her to prevent the release of damaging records in a case that was also settled.
Earlier this year, Carta settled a sexual harassment case filed by a female ex-sales manager against its chief revenue officer Jeff Perry, who strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at crollet@insider.com or Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.
Jump to
Portless, a logistics startup that helps brands to offer quick shipping, has raised $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Commerce Ventures.
FJ Labs, eGateway Capital, Red Swan Ventures, and Ground Up Ventures also contributed to the round.
Portless offers Western brands the chance to use a shipping and fulfillment model made popular by Shein.
Shein grew to dominate the fast-fashion world by responding quickly to changing style trends and shipping packages on planes going directly to customers from warehouses in China. Products cross borders in a matter of days rather than months. For years, Shein did this using the de minimis provision, which allows for the duty-free import of packages valued at less than $800.
Portless emulates this model by shipping from its fulfillment center in Shenzhen, China, near where many of its customers manufacture their goods. For a while, it also used the de minimis exemption.
However, on May 2, the Trump administration ended de minimis shipping as part of its tariff program. That meant many companies had to pivot.
Portless' founder and CEO, Izzy Rosenzweig, told Business Insider that the company had been preparing for the end of de minimis since last September. It raised its Series A with the understanding that de minimis would be ending.
Rosenzweig said that with tariffs disrupting global supply chains, Portless' pitch is resonating with many brands. By fulfilling orders outside the US, the company can help brands defer their duty payments until an order crosses the border on its way to a customer. Portless uses an informal entry process called Type 11 to import the goods to the US. It pays duties on behalf of its brand customers, who then pay Portless back later.
"There isn't a company in the US that isn't looking for a new way of doing things," Rosenzweig said. "We're getting buried in inbound."
Businesses impacted by tariffs and the end of de minimis have also explored other strategies, like storing inventory in bonded warehouses and foreign trade zones, to defer their duty payments and lessen the hit on their balance sheets.
Portless typically works with mid-market brands earning between $5 million and $150 million in annual revenue. Rosenzweig said brands of that size benefit the most from having better access to cash, which Portless helps with by fulfilling small orders by plane instead of tying up large amounts of inventory on shipping containers.
"In our model, it is like a live supply chain," he said. "You're reacting immediately to the demand."
Its customers include home wellness device brand Canopy, kids' clothing brand Andy & Evan, and apparel brand SA Fishing.
Before creating Portless, Rosenzweig founded an online marketplace called Browze that sourced products directly from factories in China. In his 10 years running the company, he saw firsthand how complicated global supply chains are.
He said Portless plans to use the funding to expand into new markets. It has a new fulfillment center in Vietnam and plans to open another in India by the end of the third quarter.
The company also plans to build more services to help brands improve their supply chain. It plans to introduce the ability to book quality control inspections through its customer portal within the next two months.
"While today Portless is fundamentally changing cash flow with a new supply chain model, we want to simplify supply chain," Rosenzweig said. "A lot of things will change in our model, like small-batch manufacturing, and we'll be rolling out services."
Commerce Ventures partner Matt Nichols said the firm led Portless' Series A because it believes "that the 'direct-ship-from-manufacturer' model will be the future for much of retail."
He said that they invested with the assumption that the de minimis loophole would go away.
"We were able to get comfortable by talking to many of Portless' customers and finding out that the tax advantage was not the reason they decided to choose Portless," he said. "They were all focused on aligning production volumes with actual demand, and this was the best model to facilitate that."
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at mstone@businessinsider.com or Signal at @mlstone.04. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.
Jump to
U.S. President Donald Trump could still find a work-around after suffering a major blow to a core part of his economic agenda.
The U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday ruled that the president had overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose sweeping tariffs on numerous countries.
The New York-based court ordered a permanent halt to most of Trump's tariffs and further barred their future modification. A panel of three judges gave the White House 10 days to complete the formal process of stopping the tariffs. The Trump administration swiftly appealed the ruling.
Goldman Sachs economists said the White House has a few tools at its disposal that could ensure the court ruling is only a temporary problem.
"This ruling represents a setback for the administration's tariff plans and increases uncertainty but might not change the final outcome for most major US trading partners," Goldman Sachs economists said in a research note.
"For now, we expect the Trump administration will find other ways to impose tariffs," they added.
The Wall Street bank said the ruling blocks the 10% baseline tariff imposed by Trump on most imports, as well as the additional duties on China, Canada and Mexico – but not sectoral levies, such as those imposed on steel, aluminum and autos.
The Trump administration nevertheless has other legal means of imposing tariffs, Goldman says, flagging Section 122 of U.S. trade law, Section 301 investigations and Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930.
Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 does not require a formal investigation and could therefore be one of the swiftest ways to get around the court roadblock.
"The administration could quickly replace the 10% across-the-board tariff with a similar tariff of up to 15% under Sec. 122," analysts at Goldman said. They noted, however, that such a move would only last for up to 150 days after which law requires congressional action.
Trump could also swiftly launch Section 301 investigations on key U.S. trading partners, laying the bureaucratic groundwork for tariffs — although Goldman said that this process will likely take several weeks at a minimum.
Section 232 tariffs, which are already in place for steel, aluminum and auto imports, could also be broadened to other sectors. This trade law allows the president to take action against threats to national security.
Section 338, meanwhile, allows the president to impose levies of up to 50% on imports from countries that discriminate against the U.S. Goldman noted that this particular measure has not been used before.
Michelle Schulz, founder and managing partner at Schulz Trade Law PLLC, echoed the possibility that the Trump administration would seek work-arounds, including looking at ways the White House has imposed tariffs in the past.
"We have had section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods even under the previous administration, which were pretty harsh. So I can imagine that the administration will look at these provisions again and see if they can use 232, or 301, or some other mechanism where, whereby they can enforce the tariffs," she told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday.
Schulz also pointed to the fact that such tariffs require investigations.
"I think that's the difference here. All of the tariffs that we're talking about today with IEEPA were issued under executive order and pretty much just by the executive branch," she said. "When you look at these other sections, you're going to have the involvement of the Commerce Department and other agencies investigating whether there really has been damage" to justify tariff action.
Schulz added that such investigations could take months.
CNBC has reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
James Ransdell, partner at the law firm Cassidy Levy Kent, said the court opinion marks the first of many other cases still pending — and the first substantive opinion out of federal court "to really address the meat of the plaintiffs challenge."
Ransdell said the speed of the Trump administration's appeal was "very unusual" and suggests the government could be working through the night to prepare its motion for an emergency stay of the order.
He added that it was "certainly a possibility" that the Supreme Court could end up having the last say.
"There is not a lot of precedent on this particular statute and on similar actions by the president, so there might be an interest that the Supreme Court has in taking this up," Ransdell told CNBC's "The China Connection" on Thursday.
Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, said Trump had a "very good" level of understanding of how to play the courts to get what he wants in terms of playing for time.
"The first thing he will probably do is an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court … wanting to get a ruling from them that basically says you can keep these tariffs in place while the appeals process runs through," Blitz said Thursday.
"This king-like executive order was always going to, at some point, going to run into the courts. … The difference between being a monarchy and being a constitutional democracy is the legal system," he added.
Equity markets around the world broadly rose on Thursday as investors reacted to the legal ruling. Asia-Pacific markets ended the day mostly higher and U.S. futures jumped.
Market reaction in Europe was more muted, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up a mere 0.3% by early afternoon London time. The euro was last seen trading at $1.1285, little changed for the session after paring earlier losses.
Jordan Rochester, head of FICC strategy at Mizuho EMEA, said in a note that the limited market reaction was "because Trump still has various options to raise tariffs."
"Things are more complicated but the end goal for Trump remains the same. In politics when there is a will, there is a way," he said.
The U.S. dollar rose slightly against major rivals, with the U.S. dollar index up 0.07%. So far this year, the dollar index has tumbled close to 8% amid continued market turmoil.
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
Mark Quinn is the senior director of AI operations for Pearl, an AI search platform for professional services. In a prior role at a startup, the arrival of OpenAI's GPT-4 meant artificial intelligence could do the work of a team he was building. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
In my last job, I was at a startup. Before that, I was leading engineering operations at Waymo. It was a 3,000-person organization, a rocket ship all its own. In other words, my career was fairly well established and going well by most indications. So, when the startup came along, it was about this bigger swing and this even bigger opportunity, potentially, to help this company unlock what they were going after.
My main role in that was to lead what was the primary human-in-the-loop operation responsible for supervising and curating the AI.
When I joined, it was already a 500-person strong organization, and I was hired to ramp it to thousands. By all indications, we were doing the job really well. Then GPT-4 came out. After playing with it for just a couple of months, we realized that the bulk of the operation that I was scaling, really the entirety of it, was no longer needed. The technology had simply outpaced itself and the human in the loop.
I then spent my last few months there ramping that operation down and setting up a couple of other AI-related agents to help with things like quality technical writing. Once that was in place, my skills simply weren't needed there.
It was not a super fun moment, and it was very, very bumpy. We had hundreds of people doing this work globally, so we had to figure out how to ramp down those contracts as gracefully as possible to allow these folks to have time to hopefully get into other roles.
On my team of about 10 people, only one person stayed on.
In my career, I'd gone from a place where companies like Waymo, Apple, and Amazon were coming to hire me to being out of a job and unable to get the attention of any company.
This moment is making it such that these great companies now have way more capability and people than they may need. So, you've got a lot of great people that are now having to find their next play, but the next plays are dramatically changing.
When I was hired at the startup, I spent the next four months with my team working tirelessly on basically solving this case and figuring out the right staffing and management model. Then GPT-4 came out, and when I gave it the case, it was an epiphanal moment. It spit out the exact answer — the perfect answer — in 30 seconds, including what we thought were very clever adaptations that had taken us a week to identify.
It not only gave us the answer but also the methods. I just sat there with my jaw in my hand. That was the moment that I thought to myself, "Info workers beware."
After we began to wind down the operation, I started looking around to figure out what my next play would be. I spent about five months conducting my job search the wrong way and getting nowhere.
I remember this moment sitting there, again, with my jaw in my hand, wondering, "What am I doing wrong?"
It came out of that moment of almost desperation, saying, "I've asked everybody else. AI, what do you got?" It came back with more nuance and appreciation than I ever could have imagined. That's when I moved into collaboration mode with AI.
One example was with Google's NotebookLM. When it came out, people had fun with the idea of putting their résumés into it and creating a podcast. I actually found incredible utility in doing that. It's interesting to drop your résumé and your LinkedIn profile into NotebookLM and see what AI makes of your career. What does it call out as the highlights?
When I did this, I realized that there were great things about my background and experiences that I wasn't telling people because I didn't see or appreciate them, but this podcast called them out.
Before using AI, I wrote a nice cover letter, updated my résumé, and started looking around on LinkedIn and applying. I was using my network, casting the line. I wasn't just in a corner quietly hoping something would come to me, but it was the traditional approach of, "Here's the résumé that I made for every job. Here's a cover letter with a few tweaks." I was essentially cold applying and trying to hit people up on LinkedIn.
Most people have probably heard that you should tailor your résumé, cover letter, or communications for a role. But that's hard when you're in the grind and just trying to get a job. You've already applied to a bunch, and you're tired and don't want to stare at the same words again and again. This is where AI is extremely helpful.
I also created what I called JobHunt GPT. Now I've turned it into CareerBuddy GPT, but JobHunt GPT was what came out of all this exploration. In my case, it was a custom GPT that understood my background, where I was trying to go, and the history of the jobs I'd applied for. So, I was able to go to it and say, "Hey, here's a new job. Can you assess my candidacy for this?"
The first thing I get is an objective review of how I mesh up against a role. Then, I can say, "Alright, pick apart my résumé. What do I need to adjust?" It can generate the updated résumé, focusing on the things that are important for the role. And it can write the cover letter and identify the key people for me to reach out to. It's essentially like lead analysis and lead development.
My advice to anybody else would be, don't wait five months to figure out the right way to do it. The world has changed. This applies to anything, but especially if you're looking for a job, you have to leverage the most powerful tool available, which is AI.
Do you have a story to share about your job hunt? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.
Jump to
The "first buddy" is standing down.
Elon Musk said Wednesday he plans to leave the Trump administration, ending his time at the White House DOGE office focused on cutting spending and reshaping the federal government.
The announcement came a day after Musk criticized President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" for undermining the White House DOGE team's work and adding to the deficit. The billionaire has also signaled he plans to focus more of his efforts on his companies and that he plans to reduce his political spending.
"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," Musk wrote in a post on X on Wednesday. "The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."
A White House official confirmed that Musk's offboarding was beginning.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO previously said he would be stepping back from his government work in May. Musk was designated a "special government employee." Federal law stipulates that those with this title cannot serve for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.
The tech titan had been closely involved in the White House DOGE office's efforts to cut government spending and eliminate fraud and waste.
Musk has also recently said he spent "too much time" on politics this year and that he plans to cut back his political spending. The billionaire spent at least $277 million supporting Trump and the GOP in the 2024 election.
Musk said in an X post on Saturday that he was back to "spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms," to the relief of Tesla investors.
Tesla's share price has been on the rise since his announcement in April that he'd be stepping back from his White House work. The company had been targeted by boycotts and protests over its CEO's work with the White House DOGE office.
Jump to
GameStop (GME) shares dropped nearly another 6% on Thursday as investors continued to sell the news of the company's disclosure of its initial bitcoin acquisitons.
The company on Wednesday morning said it had acquired 4,710 bitcoin — a long-awaited move tied to its crypto treasury strategy revealed in March. At that time, the company initiated a $1.3 billion capital raise to help fund BTC purchases.
The stock plunged shortly after alongside a steep drop in broader markets on the Trump Liberation Day tariff announcements. Shares, though, bottomed along with markets mid-month and rose more than 60% in the weeks leading up to the Wednesday announcement.
The decline since — now nearing 20% — could be little more than investors selling the news after the big run higher or could be investor exhaustion with corporate bitcoin treasury strategies, which seemingly have been coming at the rate of one or more per day for several weeks.
In addition, GameStop's acquisition of "just" roughly $500 million of bitcoin (the dates and prices of the buys weren't disclosed) could be a disappointment given the company's $1.3 billion capital raise, not to mention several billion dollars in free cash that was already on the balance sheet. With a market cap of $14 billion, the company's bitcoin purchase was relatively modest.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
Helene is a New York-based markets reporter at CoinDesk, covering the latest news from Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and updates on crypto markets. She is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.
“AI Boost” indicates a generative text tool, typically an AI chatbot, contributed to the article. In each and every case, the article was edited, fact-checked and published by a human. Read more about CoinDesk's AI Policy.
About
Contact
OpenSea, a trading platform for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), officially introduced its OpenSea2 (OS2) upgrade to the wider public after a period in beta.
The revamped product now features token trading across 19 blockchains as it continues to pivot from NFTs to the wider crypto market.
“OS2 is the foundation for the next generation of OpenSea,” said Devin Finzer, co-founder and CEO of OpenSea, said in a statement. “We've rebuilt the platform from the ground up to become the best destination for everything on-chain, from NFTs to tokens, across chains and communities.”
The company also announced a revamp of its rewards system that recognizes on-chain activity with so-called XP points. The system, called Voyages, issues XP to users who complete basic activities like sharing a gallery, completing an on-chain swap or buying an NFT.
“Voyages are a clear step toward a more intentional kind of engagement on OpenSea,” said Finzer. “It's about encouraging people to explore the full range of what the platform can do across chains, assets, and experiences.”
Users will eventually be able to use accrued XP to claims the highly anticipated airdrop of SEA, which will be the native OpenSea token.
OpenSea's chief marketing officer, Adam Hollander, said in a blog post that he "reads comments every day" in regards to when the token will be released, but insists that the OpenSea Foundation will issue the token in a token generation event (TGE) only once a series of releases are rolled out.
"As someone who's spent the last four years trading in the trenches right next to you, I know what it's like to want a $SEA airdrop," Hollander said. "But I also know that this isn't just another TGE — it's the TGE. And getting it right won't just be a W for the Foundation and OpenSea but for our entire space."
The company has not set a date for when the token will be released.
Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.
About
Contact
ByZennon Kapron
ByZennon Kapron,
Contributor.
Ethereum's 2015 debut introduced a programmable layer that transformed blockchains from static ledgers into bustling, decentralized marketplaces for everything from art to arbitrage. A little over two years later, Cardano entered the fray with an “academic-first” approach that promised to fix what Ethereum was still figuring out. In 2025, these two platforms anchor many “Which crypto should I buy?” debates, yet they are built on markedly different blueprints.
This article unpacks those blueprints. We'll explore histories, consensus mechanics, token economics, staking and real-world deployments, then explore the technical elements so investors can decide which network, if either, fits their portfolio.
Ethereum's white paper was published in late 2013, and the network went live on July 30, 2015. Its founding mission was bold: to become a “world computer” that would let anyone deploy self-executing smart contracts without third-party involvement. That vision has delivered a thriving decentralised finance (DeFi) market, a multibillion-dollar NFT industry and a developer community that dwarfs any other blockchain.
Two headline upgrades reshaped that trajectory. EIP-1559 (August 2021) introduced fee-burning, partially offsetting new ETH issuance. Then the Merge (September 15, 2022) swapped energy-intensive proof-of-work mining for proof-of-stake (PoS), cutting the network's electricity footprint by roughly 99.95%.
Ethereum still dominates smart-contract activity, but the network's popularity may be its curse: base-layer transactions remain comparatively slow and expensive despite a constellation of Layer-2 rollups racing to ease the bottlenecks. A spring-2025 Pectra upgrade has lowered costs and raised the validator cap, yet daily fees still spike during on-chain frenzies.
Cardano went live on September 29, 2017, spearheaded by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson and engineering firm IOHK (now Input Output Global). It brands itself as the first peer-reviewed blockchain: every protocol change is vetted through a typically very academic discussion before being implemented. That deliberate pace frustrates critics, but advocates insist it reduces the “move fast and break things” risk that haunts crypto.
The project's roadmap unfolds in named eras: Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho and Voltaire, each unlocking features such as staking, smart contracts and on-chain governance. Cardano's core pitch is a secure, scalable backbone for identity, supply-chain and financial applications, especially in emerging markets. For example, Ethiopia's Ministry of Education is rolling out blockchain-verified academic credentials for five million students via Atala PRISM.
Both networks secure themselves with proof-of-stake, but they implement it very differently. Understanding those mechanics is important as consensus shapes energy use, decentralization incentives and long-term economics.
Ethereum's Beacon Chain coordinates ~1 million validators who each post 32 ETH (≈$82k at recent prices) as collateral. Validators win block-proposing rights roughly every twelve seconds; correct behaviour earns ETH, while downtime or malicious activity can trigger “slashing” penalties. Average yields hover around 3%-4% annualised, slightly higher if nodes capture maximal extractable value (MEV) via MEV-Boost.
PoS reduced ETH issuance roughly 90%, yet ETH recently flipped to marginally inflationary after the March 2025 Dencun fork pushed transactions to cheaper Layer-2s, lowering base-layer fee burns. Supply is now just above 120.4 million ETH.
Cardano's Ouroboros is the first PoS algorithm with formal security proofs. Time is sliced into five-day epochs, each subdivided into slots that slot leaders (chosen proportionally to stake) fill with transactions. Because stake pools can accept delegation without bonding periods, anyone can earn ADA in minutes using a mobile wallet; no 32-coin hurdle like ETH exists. Rewards adjust over time and currently sit around 1.7% – 2% on major exchanges, though independent pools sometimes top 4%.
Ethereum set the standard for smart contracts with Turing-complete Solidity contracts that now secure ~$63 billion in total value locked (TVL). A rich toolbox including ERC-20 tokens, composable DeFi “money legos,” decentralized autonomous organisations and NFT standards has attracted developers despite high gas fees.
Cardano followed later; the Alonzo hard fork (September 2021) introduced Plutus smart contracts written in Haskell-inspired PlutusCore and Marlowe, domain-specific languages for financial agreements. Uptake was slow, hampered by technology gaps, but 2024's Aiken compiler and Hydra scaling heads lowered entry barriers. Cardano smart contracts run off-chain during the validation process. This design improves determinism and enhances security, but it also limits real-time (synchronous) interactions between decentralized applications, a deliberate trade-off in the platform's architecture.
In practice Ethereum still hosts the lion's share of DeFi liquidity, yet Cardano's ecosystem is growing, helped by recently launched stablecoins, on-chain order books like Minswap, and identity-driven dApps targeting African small and medium-sized enterprises.
Both platforms issue native coins, ETH and ADA, to compensate validators and fund development, but they differ on hard caps and monetary policy.
Ethereum intentionally avoided a fixed ceiling to provide a perpetual security budget. Pre-Merge emissions ran ~4.3% annually; post-Merge, emissions dropped under 1%, and base-fee burning has occasionally pushed net issuance negative. With fees migrating to Layer-2s, the pendulum has swung back to mild inflation, a design choice that keeps validator rewards competitive.
ADA is hard-capped at 45 billion coins, of which ~35 billion circulate today. A treasury releases new ADA each epoch, tapering gradually until emissions cease circa 2060, after which on-chain transaction fees will pay for security and governance. The absolute cap mirrors Bitcoin and gives holders a clear dilution schedule.
For retail investors, the hurdle of 32 ETH to run an Ethereum validator means most users join validation pools or liquid-staking tokens like stETH, which add smart-contract risk and, in some jurisdictions, securities-law ambiguity. Unstaking is now permissionless but subject to a queue; exits can take hours in calm periods or days when many validators leave simultaneously. Gas fees average $2-5 but spike into double digits when demand is high, such as during the recent meme-coin mania.
Cardano, by contrast, lets holders delegate in a few clicks with no lock-ups and zero slashing. Transaction fees are predictable, roughly 0.17 ADA plus 0.1 ADA per kilobyte, and rarely breach $0.30 even at network peaks, thanks to larger block sizes and lower demand. The trade-off is lower absolute yield and a younger DeFi stack, which means slower capital gains versus ETH may erode staking rewards.
Ethereum has become the default settlement layer for stablecoins ($100 billion+ in circulation), derivatives, lending markets and high-profile NFT collections. Fortune 500 giants, from Visa to Starbucks, pilot loyalty, carbon and supply-chain tokens on Ethereum or its Layer-2 cohorts. That critical mass has attracted talent, but also regulatory scrutiny.
Cardano's use-case map focuses on social-impact projects, including, as mentioned above, verifiable diplomas in Ethiopia, land-registry proofs in Georgia, agricultural supply chains in Tanzania and tokenized micro-loans for farmers in Kenya. Although these projects are smaller in monetary value, they align with Cardano's objective of banking the unbanked, and have the potential to expand if regulators in emerging markets adopt blockchain technology.
If you want exposure to the broadest developer mind-share, second-largest crypto market cap and a bet on Layer-2 scaling economics, Ethereum fits. It is, however, more correlated with speculative buzz: fee spikes, regulatory headlines and Layer-2 token dilution can whipsaw returns.
Cardano appeals to long-term investors comfortable with slower iteration and emerging-market narratives. Its capped supply and non-custodial staking with instant liquidity reduce some risk, but lower dApp activity means fewer fee burns to prop long-term security once the treasury depletes — an open-ended governance problem.
Bottom Line
Ethereum and Cardano share a PoS basis yet diverge on philosophy: Ethereum prizes rapid composability and market capture; Cardano values formal verification and methodical rollout. That contrast shows in consensus mechanics, supply curves, fee dynamics and developer cultures. Investors needn't pick a single winner; diversification across ecosystems can hedge regulatory or technical shocks, but understanding how each chain pays validators, processes transactions and drives demand is important before allocating capital.
As the crypto market continues to develop, watch whether Ethereum's Layer-2 thesis lowers barriers fast enough to fend off faster base-layers, and whether Cardano can convert academic credentials into mainstream traction beyond Africa.
Both are smart-contract blockchains, but Ethereum prioritizes first-mover composability and remains fee-burn, open-ended supply. Cardano emphasizes peer-reviewed upgrades, a 45 billion-coin cap and the Ouroboros PoS algorithm.
Ethereum hosts the largest dApp ecosystem and developer tooling; Cardano's Plutus contracts are catching up but still lag in total value locked and library support.
Yes. ETH requires 32 coins for solo validation or participation via pools; ADA can be delegated in any amount with no lock-up, though yields differ.
Ethereum powers DeFi, stablecoins and NFTs globally. Cardano focuses on identity, supply-chain tracking, and financial inclusion projects in emerging markets.
Why this Bitcoin-Friendly Lawmaker Carries a US Debt Clock in His Pocket
$106,721.00
$2,646.56
$2.28
$679.16
$168.53
$0.999792
$0.219383
$0.735163
$0.276302
$2,644.56
$106,593.00
$3.56
$3,184.54
$32.13
$15.34
$22.77
$0.282538
$3.39
$9.07
$0.00001413
$411.33
$0.180586
$95.09
$0.999786
$2,650.14
$4.48
$2,821.86
$339.54
$5.23
$1.00
$0.00001372
$0.999154
$0.710853
$106,640.00
$31.39
$6.73
$254.98
$421.36
$2.82
$5.27
$202.95
$51.89
$1.00
$1.17
$0.096235
$0.909106
$5.31
$35.19
$18.38
$0.097891
$20.12
$12.05
$0.701203
$1.053
$0.869521
$0.02631833
$4.31
$0.377943
$0.999605
$4.73
$1.33
$0.227481
$106,412.00
$0.407791
$4.42
$2.79
$0.212931
$0.57717
$2.56
$112.95
$0.995915
$2,647.31
$4.58
$178.17
$0.00001942
$2.23
$11.31
$0.440129
$14.07
$0.7493
$2,766.56
$1.001
$0.82713
$3,011.04
$1.24
$1.24
$0.01809592
$4.21
$0.218528
$0.617181
$0.734737
$1.074
$0.107161
$0.062857
$1.088
$106,592.00
$0.998661
$0.74104
$2,819.36
$0.00009946
$1,664.74
$218.21
$678.38
$106,691.00
$2,780.17
$54.42
$2.67
$0.999581
$1.00
$2.95
$187.49
$0.01897487
$0.847436
$0.01714227
$107,304.00
$0.921056
$2,772.00
$3,320.32
$3,330.96
$13.85
$0.77935
$23.38
$0.200587
$0.130829
$0.01178709
$0.300233
$0.552057
$0.00000072
$35.91
$4.35
$106,161.00
$0.999551
$0.113529
$3.58
$0.624172
$111.22
$1.84
$0.064593
$0.997417
$0.394179
$2.02
$1.84
$0.01762054
$1.10
$2,649.84
$0.581411
$2,649.84
$2.11
$0.304237
$0.712853
$0.218913
$0.21318
$2,752.25
$2,824.41
$2.18
$106,622.00
$2,650.90
$0.00503478
$1.64
$0.00618288
$0.997894
$1.10
$0.421616
$17.44
$106,661.00
$0.619071
$7.28
$0.153274
$0.574904
$6.52
$0.999807
$0.050347
$2.83
$0.420727
$0.0078965
$0.063193
$0.684581
$0.096822
$1.36
$0.087149
$0.00000113
$0.00002175
$0.00000043
$103,793.00
$0.169422
$0.164296
$32.31
$0.387141
$0.42298
$2,645.62
$0.04296564
$1.089
$1.006
$36.50
$2,808.99
$1.42
$0.00741244
$0.387001
$0.999745
$1.001
$42.37
$1.41
$0.999982
$0.01960519
$0.0044615
$0.383553
$0.00401791
$2,915.93
$136.13
$0.618272
$106,698.00
$0.146466
$32.26
$0.00510003
$2,890.05
$0.836942
$0.03492054
$0.227379
$0.76027
$106,538.00
$0.00006164
$2.79
$2,646.26
$0.237686
$0.00368972
$19.94
$0.322056
$2,649.42
$0.337286
$2,862.10
$0.00000155
$182.69
$0.999005
$22.75
$0.997832
$0.999959
$0.668239
$0.274624
$0.740798
$0.241789
$17.90
$2.62
$23.40
$3.15
$0.999711
$0.00276562
$187.95
$3,301.07
When it comes to stockpiling Bitcoin, U.S. states aren't just racing against each other, according to New Hampshire Rep. Keith Ammon (R). He believes that they are also competing against the federal government, which will be forced to print money to limit the impact of ballooning U.S. debt.
In an interview with Decrypt, Ammon said that states should be closely tracking the amount of money that the federal government has borrowed to keep Washington humming. On Thursday, that sum totalled roughly $37 trillion, according to the U.S. Debt Clock.
Ammon carries a small device in his pocket displaying that metric, which updates by the millisecond, growing by the thousands.
“The state is tied to this debt because we are tied to the U.S. dollar,” he said. “The only way out of this debt is for the federal government to print more money [and] devalue the currency, so that this debt isn't worth as much over time. That's what every government does.”
Earlier this month, New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to sign a bill into law enabling it to start accumulating Bitcoin. A day later, Arizona passed a similar initiative. Texas could also be on the precipice of establishing its own strategic Bitcoin reserve, yet several states have rejected Bitcoin-related bills since the White House began moving in that direction.
“That's a big state,” Ammon, who first became a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2014. “I just think it would snowball from there.”
Ammon is among lawmakers that increasingly view the U.S. debt levels as unsustainable. Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott recently opposed U.S. President Donalds Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill this week, namely because it does not do enough to reign in massive deficits.
Ammon proposed his Bitcoin bill as a way to shield the Granite State from a constant decline in the dollar's purchasing power. Fiscal policy is largely a national issue, but Ammon has seen the impact of poor management firsthand, down to the county level.
“Every budget is blown out because the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has eroded 25% in the last four years,” he said. “If a state is going to survive, it's got to figure out how to navigate that.”
That doesn't mean New Hampshire is going all in on Bitcoin with its pension plans and trusts. Ammon's bill empowers the state's treasurer, charged with overseeing revenue and finances, to allocate a small percentage of resources to Bitcoin that's constantly rebalanced. Taking on too much risk could affect the state's overall credit rating, he added.
“If you go off like Yosemite Sam, putting everything into Bitcoin, that rating is going to drop, and then your cost to borrow money is going to go way up,” he said. “You want to have a little bit of risk, but not so much.”
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.
Some crypto insiders have mixed feelings about the White House and Treasury embracing digital cash invented to escape government oversight.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that boosted the spirits of cryptocurrency investors — and created a digital money mystery.
Trump directed the treasury secretary to create two national stockpiles of crypto assets, putting digital currencies alongside gold, foreign currencies and other assets in the U.S. reserve.
The assets are to include crypto seized by federal agencies in criminal or civil proceedings. But the government has not disclosed how much bitcoin, or which other crypto coins, it holds.
New data on what crypto cash the U.S. government has seized may now provide some answers. It suggests the crypto reserves will together hold more than $21 billion in cryptocurrency.
Trump ordered the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which Trump described as “a virtual Fort Knox for digital gold,” and a separate U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile to hold other cryptocurrencies. The stockpile will be funded with whatever crypto assets the Treasury holds other than bitcoin, leaving the stockpile's composition to be largely determined by a mixture of chance and criminal conduct.
That unconventional method for selecting government financial holdings had the benefit of making the reserves cost-neutral for the taxpayer. It also provided a way to estimate what exactly might go into the two pools before results are released from an official accounting of U.S. crypto holdings that is underway.
Because government seizures are disclosed in court documents, news releases and other sources, crypto-tracking firms can use those notices to monitor which digital assets the U.S. government holds.
Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, reviewed cryptocurrency wallets that appear to be associated with the U.S. government for The Washington Post. The company estimated how much bitcoin it holds, and the other crypto tokens in its top 20 digital holdings as of May 13, by tracking transactions involving those wallets.
The United States' top 20 crypto holdings according to Chainalysis are worth about $20.9 billion as of 3 p.m. Eastern on May 28, with $20.4 billion in bitcoin and about $493 million in other digital assets. It has been scooped up from crimes such as stolen funds, scams and sales on dark net markets.
Those estimates put the U.S. government's top crypto holdings at less than the approximately $25 billion worth of oil held in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Their value is nearly double the Fed's listing for U.S. gold holdings, although that figure uses outdated pricing and would be over $850 billion at current prices.
The Treasury declined to comment on U.S. government crypto holdings.
Before Trump's order established the crypto reserves, the U.S. government had not had a cohesive plan for handling its digital assets, said Eric Jardine, cybercrimes research lead at Chainalysis. It had regularly off-loaded pieces of its digital holdings through asset sales and restitution to crime victims, he said, apparently in part because crypto wasn't an asset it was considered strategic.
The crypto tokens headed for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile according to the Chainalysis list include ethereum, the world's second-largest digital asset, and a string of other crypto tokens with punier name recognition.
They include derivatives of bitcoin and ethereum that mirror those cryptocurrencies' prices, several stable coins designed to be pegged in value to the U.S. dollar, and 10 tokens tied to specific companies, including the cryptocurrency exchanges FTX, which imploded in 2022 after defrauding customers, and Binance.
The 20 tokens on the list are generally those with the largest market capitalizations in the $1.3 trillion crypto industry. Trump's March 2 Truth Social post that announced his intention to establish the reserves said they would include XRP, Solana and Cardano, causing their prices to jump, but none feature in Chainalysis's estimate of the top 20 tokens held by the government.
Trump's order said creating the reserves would centralize disparate government crypto caches and that “there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.” Economists have warned that national reserves of cryptocurrency are likely to benefit only existing investors in the coins selected for inclusion, who could reap profits if the U.S. government's endorsement causes prices to increase.
There is broad support for the digital reserves from the crypto industry, which Trump has embraced. Lawsuits and investigations into crypto firms by federal regulators have melted away since his return to office. Last week, the president dined with top investors of a meme coin named after him that generates profits for Trump and his family.
Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, a crypto infrastructure company, said in an interview that the bitcoin reserve provides the industry a reputational boost, signaling the U.S. government considers crypto a safe-haven asset, like gold, currencies and government bonds.
Nazarov was not aware his company's own crypto token, LINK, appears to have a good shot at landing in the Digital Asset Stockpile until The Washington Post informed him. He called the coin's potential inclusion “a generally positive thing.”
Chainalysis estimates the government holds about $1.5 million worth of the token, which has a market capitalization of over $10 billion, placing it among the top 20 crypto tokens by value.
Not everyone in the crypto community favors the U.S. government anointing cryptocurrency as a strategic national asset.
“The original spirit” of crypto, Vitalik Buterin, a co-founder of ethereum, said in a March interview with The Washington Post, “is about counterbalancing power,” including government and corporate power.
Bitcoin, the first widely adopted cryptocurrency, was created during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, amid deep skepticism about traditional finance. Buterin is excited about the idea of governments embracing certain aspects of crypto technology. But the movement becoming too closely associated to “one particular government team or even a particular corporate team,” he said, could violate crypto's original mission of decentralization and openness.
Austin Campbell, a professor at New York University's business school and a principal at crypto advisory firm Zero Knowledge, sees hypocrisy in crypto enthusiasts cheering the government's strategic reserves. The bitcoin community in particular “has historically been about freedom from sovereign interference,” he said.
Campbell argues the U.S. government could put seized crypto coins — and its gold — to better use, by filling in some of the national debt or reducing spending. He would not oppose a crypto reserve, he said, if the United States were running a budget surplus.
Trump's use of an executive order bypassed congressional debate on crypto reserves but state lawmakers attempting to establish similar reserves have gotten mixed results.
New Hampshire and Arizona's governors this month signed bills paving the way for state crypto reserves.
Other states — including Florida, Oklahoma and Wyoming — have rejected or postponed similar bills. One common concern has been that cryptocurrencies are more volatile than many conventional financial assets.
A 2024 Pew Research Center report found that 17 percent of Americans have invested in, traded or used crypto. Among Americans ages 18 to 29, the figure was 29 percent. Some younger investors even consider highly speculative meme coins to be their generation's best shot at the American Dream.
One challenge to consumer adoption of crypto has been the need to invent tools and services to make it easy to manage digital assets. Owning crypto depends on a private cryptographic key a few dozen characters long — making it easy to transfer funds but also to lose them or get scammed.
Some crypto enthusiasts and institutions store bitcoin in special devices not connected to the internet, to stop hacks. The U.S. government has lost some of its seized crypto dating back to the takedown of the Silk Road dark net marketplace in 2013.
“The government has built better and better processes of managing crypto assets over time, but there have still been some mistakes,” Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin said in an interview this month.
The Department of Justice announced in July 2024 that it had awarded a five-year contract to Coinbase, a leading crypto exchange, to provide crypto custody and trading services for its cryptocurrency assets. The company declined to comment further on the U.S. crypto reserves.
Levin predicts there will now be “a greater level of sophistication” applied to managing and securing the government's reserves.
Ekta Mourya
FXStreet
Bitcoin (BTC) failed to rally after repeated bullish announcements at the Bitcoin Conference 2025. BTC price is declining slightly on Thursday, trading above $107,100 at the time of writing. While Bitcoin traders were unimpressed by the recent market updates, Ethereum (ETH) price climbed to its highest level since February 2025 before retreating.
Experts believe there is a structural rotation in the current market cycle and Ethereum could rally higher. Traders are watching the psychologically important $3,000 target for ETH.
Bitcoin Conference 2025 in Las Vegas brought together BTC believers, holders, maximalists and some of the biggest names supporting BTC, including US Vice President JD Vance and former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes. Bitcoin traders were visibly unimpressed with the bullish statements and assurances, as headlines have been recycled several times since January 2025 with little action to show for it.
BTC trades at $107,100 at the time of writing. While BTC trades less than 5% away from its all-time high at $111,980, technical indicators on the daily timeframe flash mixed signals.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) flashes red histogram bars under the neutral line, implying an underlying bearish momentum in Bitcoin price trend. Relative Strength Index (RSI) reads 62 and is sloping upward, supporting a likelihood of gains in Bitcoin price.
A key support level is $102,314, the upper boundary of a Fair Value Gap (FVG) on the BTC/USDT daily price chart.
BTC/USDT daily price chart | Source: TradingView
Despite bullish headlines, there's no significant rally in Bitcoin, while Ethereum, Ethereum-based tokens like staking and Layer 2 tokens and AI tokens rallied in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
Ethereum rallied to $2,788 on Thursday, marking its highest level since February 2025, before retreating to the $2,640 level at the time of writing. The ETH/BTC pair climbed 6% from its local lows with the rally and Jag Kooner, Head of Derivatives at Bitfinex, says that the gain in the pair was not retail-driven.
Kooner said:
“The SBET Ethereum Treasury announcement is a key catalyst. The ETH/BTC reversal signals a shift in dominance—early-stage moves that often precede broader altcoin outperformance. The fact that this strength is happening alongside, not after, BTC price acceleration makes it especially bullish: capital isn't exiting Bitcoin, it's compounding across L1s. This is the beginning of what might become Phase 3 of the crypto bull cycle, where BTC strength stabilizes, ETH accelerates, and capital spreads out across selective altcoins.”
Derivatives data from Coinglass shows the long/short ratio on derivatives exchanges like Binance and OKX exceeds 1, meaning more traders are taking long positions than short. Derivatives traders are betting on an increase in the Ethereum price.
Ryan Lee, Chief Analyst at Bitget Research, told FXStreet:
“Whales have accumulated 1.4 million ETH since April, reducing exchange supply and applying upward pressure. Ethereum could target $3,000–$3,400 in the near term after its break above $2,700. The momentum will depend on volume trends, macro conditions, and continued institutional support.”
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.
If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.
FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.
The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.
If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.
FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.
The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.
Solana's uptrend is generally steady, rising slightly to trade at $172 at the time of writing on Thursday. Interest in the smart contracts token continues to grow despite the recent delay in approving the related SOL spot Exchange Traded Fund.
Bitcoin edges up slightly but remains between the $106,000 support level and the $110,000 resistance level. Sentiment in crypto markets improves after a US court ruled Trump tariffs are unlawful.
Pepe is up over 6% at press time on Thursday after US President Donald Trump shared a post on Truth Social with the frog mascot in the background, igniting new hype and hinting at a potential breakout from a consolidation range for bullish follow-through.
Bitcoin price increases slightly to trade above $108,000 on Thursday after dipping over the last two days. Crypto markets turn risk-positive after a US court blocked US President Donald Trump from imposing tariffs.
Bitcoin price stabilizes around $111,000 on Friday after reaching a new all-time high of $111,900 this week. Corporate accumulation, institutional demand, signs of easing regulations and fiscal woes in the US have fueled BTC's rally.
SPONSORED Discover the top brokers for trading EUR/USD in 2025. Our list features brokers with competitive spreads, fast execution, and powerful platforms. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, find the right partner to navigate the dynamic Forex market.
©2025 "FXStreet" All Rights Reserved
Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.
Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.
Opinions expressed at FXStreet are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXStreet or its management. FXStreet has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and omissions may occur. Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXStreet, its employees, clients or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXStreet will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.
Michigan has become the latest U.S. state to push digital asset regulations, with four new bills landing in the State Senate to promote BTC mining and ban the looming digital dollar.
With House Bill 4510, the Great Lakes State seeks to pave the way for the state treasurer to invest in digital assets. Introduced by Bill Schuette, the Republican State Rep. for the 95th district, the new bill amends the state's retirement system investment laws to allow investment in digital assets. However, it limits investment to assets that have averaged a market cap of at least $250 billion over the past calendar year.
The bill also outlines that the state can only hold digital assets as exchange-traded products issued by registered companies. This stipulation comes at a time when spot ETFs have exploded in the U.S. and now hold over $50 billion in assets.
Michigan's Bureau of Investment, which the state treasurer oversees, held $165 billion by the end of 2024, most of which is from the public retirement systems.
Michigan joins dozens of states racing to implement digital asset reserves in response to a similar push at the federal level by President Donald Trump. In February, two State Senators introduced a bill allowing the Michigan state government to establish a BTC reserve. It limited the investment to 10% of the assets, which would be around $17 billion by the latest figures.
Michigan bans the digital dollar
In the second proposed bill, House Bill 4511, the state seeks to ban the digital dollar, again aligning with Trump's position against the proposed sovereign digital currency.
The bill “prohibits the advocacy or support through certain actions by certain state governmental officers and entities of a central bank digital currency by the United States government.”
Introduced by Republican Rep. Bryan Posthumus, the bill mirrors dozens of others across the U.S. that have sought to halt any prospective digital dollar at the state level. The earliest opposition came from Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis led anti-CBDC campaigns years before Trump's election.
While several states have advanced bills resisting the digital dollar, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is unlikely to see the light of day under the Trump presidency. Upon retaking office earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the Fed from launching a CBDC, which he argued “threatens the stability of the financial system.”
Beyond the CBDC, the same bill also prohibits Michigan from banning digital assets or denying licenses to holders. The state must also not prohibit the operation of blockchain nodes or participation in staking.
The other two bills, House Bill 4512 and House Bill 4513, focus on block reward mining. The first will permit the revival of abandoned oil and gas wells to mine BTC, and the second will expand the tax laws to accommodate income from such mining activities. The miners would shoulder the costs of well restoration, with the State's Supervisor of Wells having jurisdiction over the sector.
The block reward mining bills come amid a rise in anti-mining campaigns across the U.S. and beyond by local communities. In dozens of ongoing lawsuits, these communities have accused miners of noise pollution, which they say is pushing them away from their homes.
Russia pushes miners to the north amid power shortages
Meanwhile, in Russia, the Ministry of Energy plans to push BTC miners to the northern regions as it navigates power shortages in the more densely populated eastern and southern regions.
In an interview with state-owned news agency TASS, Deputy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak revealed that the government intends to incentivize miners to relocate to the north. Russia's north is the least populated region, with harsh weather—especially its severe winters—mostly to blame. However, the region also has the most abundant natural resources, including oil and gas.
“[The north] is where we can think about something with miners, put them there and consider the possibility of a network tariff. But this is not a benefit as such, but a different principle of tariff formation,” the minister stated.
In particular, the ministry intends to relocate the miners to power grid centers whose capacity was previously used to mine oil.
Repurposing unused or excess electricity to mine digital assets is becoming common globally. The U.S., Pakistan, Japan and Germany are among the countries that have announced new initiatives to leverage the surplus capacity to mine BTC.
Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies
title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=">
As the first media outlet to report on blockchain-powered applications, we provide early adopters, developers, and visionary leaders with access to emerging technological landscapes, including wallets and games. CoinGeek presents a unique perspective on blockchain, AI, and Web3, emphasizing the BSV blockchain's robust enterprise utility and unbounded scalability, as described by Satoshi Nakamoto in his 2008 Bitcoin white paper.
Michigan has become the latest U.S. state to push digital asset regulations, with four new bills landing in the State Senate to promote BTC mining and ban the looming digital dollar.
With House Bill 4510, the Great Lakes State seeks to pave the way for the state treasurer to invest in digital assets. Introduced by Bill Schuette, the Republican State Rep. for the 95th district, the new bill amends the state's retirement system investment laws to allow investment in digital assets. However, it limits investment to assets that have averaged a market cap of at least $250 billion over the past calendar year.
The bill also outlines that the state can only hold digital assets as exchange-traded products issued by registered companies. This stipulation comes at a time when spot ETFs have exploded in the U.S. and now hold over $50 billion in assets.
Michigan's Bureau of Investment, which the state treasurer oversees, held $165 billion by the end of 2024, most of which is from the public retirement systems.
Michigan joins dozens of states racing to implement digital asset reserves in response to a similar push at the federal level by President Donald Trump. In February, two State Senators introduced a bill allowing the Michigan state government to establish a BTC reserve. It limited the investment to 10% of the assets, which would be around $17 billion by the latest figures.
Michigan bans the digital dollar
In the second proposed bill, House Bill 4511, the state seeks to ban the digital dollar, again aligning with Trump's position against the proposed sovereign digital currency.
The bill “prohibits the advocacy or support through certain actions by certain state governmental officers and entities of a central bank digital currency by the United States government.”
Introduced by Republican Rep. Bryan Posthumus, the bill mirrors dozens of others across the U.S. that have sought to halt any prospective digital dollar at the state level. The earliest opposition came from Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis led anti-CBDC campaigns years before Trump's election.
While several states have advanced bills resisting the digital dollar, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) is unlikely to see the light of day under the Trump presidency. Upon retaking office earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting the Fed from launching a CBDC, which he argued “threatens the stability of the financial system.”
Beyond the CBDC, the same bill also prohibits Michigan from banning digital assets or denying licenses to holders. The state must also not prohibit the operation of blockchain nodes or participation in staking.
The other two bills, House Bill 4512 and House Bill 4513, focus on block reward mining. The first will permit the revival of abandoned oil and gas wells to mine BTC, and the second will expand the tax laws to accommodate income from such mining activities. The miners would shoulder the costs of well restoration, with the State's Supervisor of Wells having jurisdiction over the sector.
The block reward mining bills come amid a rise in anti-mining campaigns across the U.S. and beyond by local communities. In dozens of ongoing lawsuits, these communities have accused miners of noise pollution, which they say is pushing them away from their homes.
Russia pushes miners to the north amid power shortages
Meanwhile, in Russia, the Ministry of Energy plans to push BTC miners to the northern regions as it navigates power shortages in the more densely populated eastern and southern regions.
In an interview with state-owned news agency TASS, Deputy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak revealed that the government intends to incentivize miners to relocate to the north. Russia's north is the least populated region, with harsh weather—especially its severe winters—mostly to blame. However, the region also has the most abundant natural resources, including oil and gas.
“[The north] is where we can think about something with miners, put them there and consider the possibility of a network tariff. But this is not a benefit as such, but a different principle of tariff formation,” the minister stated.
In particular, the ministry intends to relocate the miners to power grid centers whose capacity was previously used to mine oil.
Repurposing unused or excess electricity to mine digital assets is becoming common globally. The U.S., Pakistan, Japan and Germany are among the countries that have announced new initiatives to leverage the surplus capacity to mine BTC.
Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies
title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen=">
As the first media outlet to report on blockchain-powered applications, we provide early adopters, developers, and visionary leaders with access to emerging technological landscapes, including wallets and games. CoinGeek presents a unique perspective on blockchain, AI, and Web3, emphasizing the BSV blockchain's robust enterprise utility and unbounded scalability, as described by Satoshi Nakamoto in his 2008 Bitcoin white paper.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced plans to build “CryptoCity,” aiming to establish a regulatory sandbox for digital assets.
Kazakhstan plans to launch “CryptoCity,” a pilot zone where cryptocurrencies can be used to pay for goods and services, the country's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said. according to a May 29 announcement on the official website of President .
Speaking at the Astana International Forum 2025, Tokayev said the pilot zone will be used to explore cryptocurrency adoption within a regulated sandbox environment.
“We are planning to create a pioneering pilot zone called CryptoCity where cryptocurrencies might be used for purchasing goods, services, and even beyond,” he said in his remarks, a transcript of which was published on the president's official website.
Several crypto-related announcements have recently emerged from Kazakhstan. Kanysh Tuleushin, the country's first vice minister of digital development, this month said Kazakhstan has the potential to become a leading crypto hub in Central Asia if regulatory restrictions are eased. In 2024, Kazakhstan launched a pilot project with its central bank digital currency, which reportedly reduced value-added tax refund wait times.
Related: WEF backs ‘Sandbox-first approach' for DeFi adoption
A May 29 report by local news outlet Tengri News cited Kazakhstan's Minister of Digital Development Zhaslan Madiyev saying “the government and regulators are currently working together to determine the most suitable location.” One city is already under serious consideration.
“Of course, the most promising place for CryptoCity is the new city of Alatau – it's the President's initiative,“ he said.
Alatau is a settlement relatively close to the south-eastern border of Kazakhstan. It was established in 1957 as an unnamed settlement for scientific institutions and their workers and houses the Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Kazakhstan National Nuclear Center, with an experimental nuclear reactor and cyclotron, and the Physics and Technology Institute.
In addition to serving as Kazakhstan's research hub, Alatau hosts a special economic zone known as Innovation Technology Park. Consequently, regulators may feel that adding another one to the mix is a natural step that could result in synergies that might attract additional capital. Madiyev shed light on how ubiquitous crypto would be in the area:
Related: Indonesia to implement regulatory sandbox for crypto assets
Madiyev expressed his hope that the project would attract developers, programmers and IT specialists to Kazakhstan, thereby boosting local economic growth.
While noting that the focus is on working on the regulatory framework, “the city itself is already under development,” he said, noting that “CryptoCity implies free circulation of cryptocurrency, crypto-friendly legislation and crypto as a legitimate means of payment.”
“These conditions need to be reflected in the law,“ he added.
Magazine: They solved crypto's janky UX problem — you just haven't noticed yet
Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, fintech, and iGaming industries. To support the free use of our website and sustain our editorial operations, some of the links published on our site may be affiliate links. This means we may receive a commission if you click through and take action—such as signing up for a service or making a purchase. These commissions come at no additional cost to you. Our affiliate relationships help us maintain an open-access platform, but they do not influence our editorial decisions. All news, reviews, and analysis are produced with journalistic independence and integrity. Thank you for supporting responsible and accessible reporting.
New York, May 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — XBIT DEX Exchange has officially announced the implementation of the Ethereum-based Pectra protocol upgrade. This technological advancement is expected to revolutionize the cryptocurrency trading ecosystem by significantly enhancing transaction speed, reducing fees, and strengthening security and privacy, thereby offering users an unprecedented trading experience.
Twitter: @XBITDEX
Pectra Protocol Upgrade: Technological Innovation
The Pectra protocol upgrade introduces several core technical improvements to XBIT. By adopting a Multi-Dimensional Consensus Algorithm, XBIT significantly increases transaction throughput and confirmation efficiency without compromising on decentralization. Moreover, the Pectra upgrade enhances the flexibility of smart contract execution, supporting a wide range of assets and cross-chain transactions, greatly improving the platform's scalability and user experience.
Twitter: @XBITDEX
Reshaping the Cryptocurrency Trading Ecosystem
XBIT's Pectra upgrade is set to reshape the current cryptocurrency trading landscape. While centralized exchanges (CEXs) face challenges such as high fees, privacy breaches, and security risks, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), despite offering higher security, often lag in transaction speed and liquidity. XBIT breaks this bottleneck through the Pectra protocol, dramatically increasing transaction speed, reducing fees, and enhancing cross-chain capabilities. The upgraded XBIT will enable users to trade across multiple chains more efficiently, driving the growth of the DEX market share.
About XBIT Decentralized Exchange
XBIT DEX is a decentralized trading platform developed and managed by a globally leading blockchain technology team. It is dedicated to providing users with a secure and transparent trading environment. Utilizing smart contract technology, the platform ensures trustless and secure transactions, supporting a wide array of tokens including ERC-20 tokens, Bitcoin, stablecoins, and NFTs. With its cross-chain trading capability and innovative liquidity mechanisms, XBIT offers diverse trading options and enhances overall market liquidity. The XBIT team comprises experienced blockchain experts, crypto developers, and fintech professionals with extensive backgrounds in both traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry.
XBIT Project Background
The XBIT project was initiated by a group of tech experts and industry leaders focused on blockchain innovation, aiming to fundamentally transform the crypto trading ecosystem through decentralization. Team members include professionals from top global tech firms and financial institutions, possessing deep expertise in blockchain technology and market operations. The project's goal is to build a secure, transparent, and efficient decentralized trading platform, driving the growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem through technological innovation and community-driven governance.
XBIT Core Services
-Cryptocurrency Spot Trading
Supports 150+ mainstream and emerging meme coins (e.g., BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, DOGE, SHIB, PEPE), with a low slippage environment (slippage rate < 0.5%).
Uses an Automated Market Maker (AMM) model, allowing users to freely create liquidity pools and earn fee shares.
-Smart Contract-Based Trading
Trades are executed automatically on-chain via smart contracts. Users can conduct asset transfers and settlements directly through crypto wallets (e.g., BOSS Wallet).
-Community-Driven Ecosystem
Includes a meme coin governance module, where users holding the platform token XSOL can vote on critical decisions such as token listings and fee allocations.
-Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Services
Offers staking, quantitative funds, cross-chain asset bridges, and leveraged trading. Annual yields can reach up to 150%.
Twitter: @XBITDEX
Looking Ahead: XBIT's Vision
XBIT's vision is to drive the global decentralization of cryptocurrency trading, offering users a freer, safer, and lower-cost trading environment. The Pectra protocol upgrade marks a major step toward achieving this goal. Moving forward, XBIT will continue to enhance its platform scalability through technological innovation and community governance, further promoting the healthy development of the DeFi ecosystem.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release is not a solicitation for investment, nor is it intended as investment advice, financial advice, or trading advice. It is strongly recommended you practice due diligence, including consultation with a professional financial advisor, before investing in or trading cryptocurrency and securities.
Shelly Low
xbit (at) xbitdex.com
Select market data provided by ICE Data services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.© 2025 TradingView, Inc.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser.
Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently convened a public roundtable, Tokenization – Moving Assets Onchain: Where TradFi and DeFi Meet, the fourth in a five-part series hosted by its Crypto Task Force. The May 12 roundtable included representatives from traditional financial institutions, exchanges, asset managers, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, and legal and policy experts to examine the current state of asset tokenization and identify potential regulatory, technological, and operational implications of transitioning traditional financial assets onto blockchain-based platforms.
The Tokenization Roundtable is the fourth roundtable in the series Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity. The roundtables reflect the Staff's continued interest in understanding how crypto asset technologies interact with existing securities laws and signal growing momentum toward formal rulemaking and interpretive guidance in this area.
The panelists broadly agreed that tokenization has the potential to transform capital markets while also underscoring the need for regulatory clarity, technical standards, and appropriate safeguards to ensure market integrity and investor protection.
Across the discussion, a consistent theme emerged: tokenization is best understood as a technology-enabled process, not a new type of asset. At its core, tokenization refers to placing real-world financial instruments (such as equities, bonds, or fund interests) onto a blockchain, enabling programmable ownership and related transaction features.
Some compared this transformation to the evolution from certificated shares to electronic records, with the leap to tokenization offering the prospect of additional features such as the ability to incorporate automated compliance, real-time settlement, and improved transparency and inclusion for investors.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins gave the keynote address, highlighting the energy behind moving from traditional “off-chain” databases to blockchain-based “on-chain” ledger systems. Chairman Atkins stated that migration to on-chain securities has the potential to remodel aspects of the securities market, enabling new ways of issuing, trading, owning, and using securities, such as using smart contracts for transparent dividend distribution or enhancing capital formation by transforming illiquid assets into liquid investment opportunities. He noted this technology holds promise for novel use cases not currently contemplated by the SEC's legacy rules.
Chairman Atkins stated his objective is to develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that consists of clear rules for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to deter illegal activity. He outlined the SEC's goals and the challenges it faces with respect to three areas of focus for crypto asset policy:
1. Issuance
The SEC intends to establish clear and sensible guidelines for distributions of crypto assets that qualify as securities or are subject to an investment contract. Challenges currently exist with satisfying disclosure requirements and determining if a crypto asset is a security. Chairman Atkins criticized past approaches, described as “head in the sand” and “regulation through enforcement,” which did not adapt disclosure requirements for this new technology.
The SEC is now pursuing a new course, with Staff recently issuing statements on disclosure obligations and clarifying that certain distributions and assets do not implicate federal securities laws. However, existing registration exemptions and safe harbors may not be fit for purpose, making SEC action—beyond Staff pronouncements—vital and necessary. The Staff is considering whether additional guidance, exemptions, and safe harbors are needed to create pathways for crypto asset issuances in the United States.
2. Custody
The SEC supports providing registrants with greater optionality in determining how to custody crypto assets. The recent rescission of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 is viewed as removing a significant impediment to the custody of crypto assets, however, further clarity is needed on which types of custodians qualify as “qualified custodians” and on reasonable exceptions for common crypto practices.
Updates to custody rules may be necessary to allow advisers and funds to engage in self-custody under certain circumstances. The “special purpose broker-dealer” framework may need to be repealed and replaced with a more rational regime, and clarity is needed on applying customer protection and net capital rules to crypto custody by broker-dealers.
3. Trading
Chairman Atkins favors allowing registrants to trade a broader variety of products, responding to market demand. This could include enabling “super apps” or “pairs trading” between securities and non-securities. Staff have been asked to explore modernizing the Alternative Trading System regulatory regime and whether guidance or rulemaking is needed for listing and trading crypto assets on national securities exchanges.
In addition to outlining the three areas of focus for the SEC's regulation of crypto assets going forward, Chairman Atkins proposed exploring whether conditional exemptive relief would be appropriate for registrants and nonregistrants bringing new products and services to market that may not currently be compatible with existing rules. Chairman Atkins stated the goal is to coordinate the SEC's efforts with the administration and the US Congress to make the United States the global leader of crypto asset markets.
Before the panel discussions began, the SEC commissioners provided insight into challenges and objectives they believe the Staff and the panelists should take into consideration when discussing the regulation and facilitation of tokenization.
SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw expressed concerns and potential shortcomings of tokenization and its ability to increase market efficiency. She expressed significant doubts about the ability of tokenization to speed up settlement due to issues with scaling, and also suggested that the delay created by the current T+1 settlement cycle is a feature and not a bug, providing for more stable markets in times of stress.
She explained that the current system facilitates netting, which drastically reduces the volume requiring final settlement, which is key to handling high trading volumes, market stability, and facilitating liquidity. She called for extreme regulatory caution and reiterated the importance of protecting traditional markets, noting that it is estimated that less than 5% of US households are involved in crypto and therefore any changes to financial market regulations must not be detrimental to the TradFi markets that most Americans depend on.
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda noted that the new technologies related to tokenization could benefit investors by enhancing liquidity for otherwise relatively illiquid assets, reducing delays associated with intermediation, and decreasing transactional costs. Tokenization also has the potential to simplify or streamline certain compliance functions through smart contracts for on-chain assets.
These potential improvements are tied to key characteristics of blockchain technology such as its transparent ledger and decentralized nature. Commissioner Uyeda stated that when considering the implications of new technologies the Commission should focus on designing a framework that includes critical safeguards rather than trying to address every possible investment permutation and scenario.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce listed the potential benefits that tokenization may have on securities markets, including increased operational efficiency, transactional transparency, liquidity, and accessibility; faster settlement (potentially near-instant and simultaneous on the same network); and greater investor opportunity. Tokenized securities can be used as collateral and a means of settlement for other crypto assets on-chain. Commissioner Peirce expressed the need for legal clarity for tokenization to reach its full potential.
She noted several issues that create uncertainty, including whether a crypto network can serve as the master securityholder file for Exchange Act transfer agent rules, confusion regarding a broker-dealer's ability to custody tokenized traditional securities due to the special purpose broker-dealer statement, and a proposed Advisers Act custody rule amendment that could preclude tokenized traditional securities on public, permissionless networks from an exception to the qualified custodian requirement. She concluded that, absent a compelling factual and legal reason, the SEC should treat tokenized securities the same as traditionally issued securities.
The first panel of the Tokenization Roundtable featured a diverse panel of experts from leading financial institutions from the crypto asset industry. The discussion addressed terminology used by the crypto industry, exploring opportunities and challenges presented by current regulatory infrastructure and existing law, and offered practical advice from the industry to the SEC on how to best move forward.
Key Discussions
Opportunities in Tokenization and Blockchain: Panelists discussed the potential of tokenization to enhance shareholder communication, improve proxy and dividend distributions, and increase operational efficiencies. Tokenization was generally described as a way to de-risk markets by shortening settlement cycles and present a pathway toward 24/7 global capital markets.
Regulatory and Infrastructure Challenges: The panel highlighted the desire for a regulatory sandbox to encourage innovation and stressed the importance of regulatory interoperability among different tokenization platforms. They emphasized the need for a clear crypto asset taxonomy and, accordingly, to adjust rules and regulations to fit the evolving financial landscape.
Investor Protections and Compliance: Improved investor protections and compliance capabilities were examined, and panelists discussed how to ensure that only eligible investors could engage with tokenized securities. The role of smart contracts in automating compliance and reducing costs was also highlighted by the panel.
Evolution of Financial Markets: The panelists reflected on the evolution of financial markets from paper to digital and the role of fintech in providing trading and market surveillance capabilities. They discussed how tokenization could ease congestion within the traditional market system and improve collateral management.
Future of Capital Markets: The discussion included the potential for tokenized securities to democratize access to investing and the role of digital assets in providing real-time market efficiencies. The panelists explored the idea of tokenized stable value yield funds and their benefits for institutional investors.
Practical Advice for the SEC
Regulatory Framework: The panelists advised the SEC to consider a regulatory framework that supports innovation while remaining focused on investor protection. They suggested using exemptive and no-action relief to address market-driven issues and emphasized the importance of a common regulatory framework to facilitate capital formation.
Intermediary Evolution: The panel discussed the role of intermediaries in the evolving financial landscape, with a focus on how intermediaries would need to adapt to these new technologies. The panelists highlighted the importance of choice in intermediary interactions and the potential for automated market making without intermediaries.
Regulatory Innovation Programs: The panel again discussed the use of regulatory sandboxes to test new technologies and better inform legislation, and emphasized the need for a practical sandbox environment that focuses on how test runs can directly inform regulatory rules.
The panel concluded with a call for the traditional financial industry to embrace new technologies and for the SEC to adopt regulatory frameworks that support innovation while maintaining investor trust and market acceptance. The panelists stressed the importance of not allowing outdated regulations to hinder the progress of new players in the financial markets.
The second panel of the Tokenization Roundtable, The Future of Tokenization, showcased a multidisciplinary panel of experts, including academics, legal scholars, digital asset platform leaders, and investors. The discussion explored the evolving landscape of tokenization, examining future use cases and potential regulatory considerations for the SEC as it navigates the evolving digital asset space.
Identified Benefits: Efficiency, Inclusion, and Market Modernization
The panelists identified several key benefits that tokenization could bring to capital markets, centered around operational efficiency, broader market access, and structural innovation:
Regulatory Considerations and Challenges
While the technological promise of tokenization was widely acknowledged, the panelists also highlighted several regulatory and legal uncertainties that need to be addressed to foster broader adoption:
The panel concluded with diverging perspectives on how the SEC should navigate the complexities of tokenization and blockchain regulation. Some panelists suggested convening a meeting of experts from various fields to collaborate and address these challenges, while others advocated for the SEC to establish its own set of guiding principles.
The discussion also highlighted the difficulties the SEC faces in attempting to regulate technologies and entities that currently fall outside its existing framework as well as certain technological issues that remain unresolved by mathematicians, such as the interoperability of blockchain systems. These challenges underscore the need for a flexible and thoughtful approach to regulation that balances innovation with market integrity.
The Tokenization Roundtable reflects the SEC's ongoing efforts to engage with industry stakeholders and explore the integration of emerging technologies into the regulatory landscape. As tokenization continues to evolve, market participants should monitor regulator developments and assess the implications for their operations and compliance obligations. The SEC's Crypto Task Force will hold its fifth and final roundtable, DeFi and the American Spirit, on June 9, 2025.
If you have any questions or would like more information on the issues discussed in this LawFlash, please contact any of the following:
The TOI Business Desk is a vigilant and dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant business news from around the world to readers of The Times of India. The primary focus of the TOI Business Desk is to keep a watchful eye on the global business landscape, covering a wide spectrum of industries, markets, economic trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact businesses and economies. With a mission to provide valuable insights and updates, the desk ensures that TOI readers are well-informed about the ever-changing and dynamic world of commerce and can navigate the complexities of the business world.Read More
10 most fun and interesting books to read with children this summer vacation
10 common gardening practices that will put your plants at risk
Wildlife found only in the Himalayas
Keerthy Suresh shines in stunning new saree & chic looks
10 ways to add nutrient-rich kiwi to daily breakfast
How to make protein and fiber-rich Beetroot Paneer Besan Cheela
10 exotic animals you can spot in Northeast India
10 most dangerous insects that are more harmful than wild animals
Shiny Doshi's trendy 10 outfits for Summer vacay
10 must-try Himachali dishes this summer season
Determine the monthly installment amount for a loan
Estimate the returns on investments made through SIPs
Find out maturity amount and interest earned on PPF
Check maturity amount and interest earned on an FD
Estimate the pension amount and corpus accumulated under NPS
A Mutual Fund Calculator helps estimate the future value of investments
OKX chief commercial officer Lennix Lai says the exchange is focused on building compliant services in the US and Singapore, among other markets
“The entire fintech sector, plus the traditional finance sector, plus the asset management side, including the government, are starting to have some kind of footprint in crypto,” Lai said. “We see a whole different set of industry players starting to build something related to crypto.”
The report, titled “The Future of Blockchain Applications: Reshaping Global Industries”, was released on Thursday. It aims to project how blockchain adoption will evolve over the next 25 years, but also anticipates explosive growth in the next few years in an ecosystem now worth US$2.6 trillion.
For now, finance remains the most practical use case. OKX has sought to expand in traditional finance through partnerships, most notably with Standard Chartered, allowing clients to use cryptocurrencies and tokenised money-market funds as collateral.
The report predicts that eventually “the distinction between ‘crypto banks' or ‘neo banks' versus traditional banks will largely disappear”. But OKX has no plans to encroach on traditional banks' territory.
© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
TronWeekly
Crypto World News
May 29, 2025 by Vaigha Varghese
The Tron price prediction is heating up as TRX shows signs of renewed momentum. With more DeFi projects and NFT platforms choosing to build on the Tron network, analysts say the coin could surge toward the $1.50 mark.
Tron's low fees and fast transactions make it attractive for developers and users alike, especially in emerging markets. If adoption continues to grow at this pace, TRX may finally break past its long-standing resistance and reach new highs in the coming months.
Early May brought a major milestone for Tron. USDT's supply topped $150 billion, and the altcoin now holds nearly half of that at 48.57%, overtaking Ethereum. That shift has caught the attention of traders.
Tron currently trades at around $0.27 after a modest 1% daily uptick and a 12% monthly gain. Analysts view this gradual increase as a sign of growing trust in the network.
Source: TradingView
One of the key factors for Tron's rapid rise is its new partnership with Rumble Cloud. This alliance strengthens the network by moving it away from traditional cloud services and onto a more sovereign, decentralized setup. By using Rumble's cloud tech, Tron adds another layer of resilience to its infrastructure.
Tether also recently minted $2 billion worth of USDT on Tron, reinforcing its role in stablecoin transactions. However, it's not just about volume. Tron is gaining ground in DeFi and NFTs, attracting developers and users who seek faster and more cost-effective tools.
If adoption keeps rising, Tron has a real shot at hitting $1.50 sooner than expected.
Fresh figures from Token Terminal show Tron is now handling over $611 billion in monthly USDT transactions and more than 65 million transfers. Also, USDT supply on the Tron network has ballooned to roughly $77.7 billion. These numbers point to a platform that's growing fast in the stablecoin market.
Source: Token Terminal
TRX is drawing stronger interest from traders who are beginning to pay attention to the network's real usage. Meanwhile, Ethereum's hold is slipping after its brief USDT surge, making room for Tron's steady advance.
Practical factors, including low fees, high transaction speeds, and a growing user base, are fueling Tron's rise. However, it's the network's consistency that's setting it apart in a space that moves quickly.
Experts watching the shift say Tron's stablecoin dominance could be just the start. If growth keeps tracking this way, TRX may head higher than many expect.
Tron's network strength and TRX's steady rise have many watching closely. Nonetheless, Remittix is taking a different approach by offering a way for users to send cryptocurrency as fiat directly to bank accounts. Whether it's paying bills or sending money abroad, the platform supports over 100 cryptos and more than 30 fiat currencies.
At its core is RTX, the native token now in presale at $0.0781. An audited wallet system secures the RTX token and offers staking rewards ranging from 4% to 8% annually. That setup appeals to users looking for both utility and long-term value.
Remittix stands out by doing what most projects promise but rarely deliver bridging digital assets with everyday financial needs. This kind of traction puts RTX in serious contender territory.
Remittix is addressing real problems with a functional crypto-to-fiat system and growing rapidly. Over $15.4 million has been raised and a $250,000 giveaway is live for early holders. With strong utility and early traction, now's the time to get in.
Discover the future of PayFi with Remittix by checking out their presale here:
Website: https://remittix.io/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/remittix
Filed Under: News, Press Release
Copyright © 2025 · Tron Weekly. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Tron Weekly is an independent crypto news site that adheres to the strict journalism policy anchored on transparency, trust, and objectivity, we have no affiliation with the TRON Foundation, its founder Justin Sun or any other cryptocurrency firm.
This month, four altcoins are standing out from the crowd, each offering a unique angle on the future of blockchain. These projects draw serious attention, whether through real-world asset tokenization, privacy protection, lightning-fast DeFi infrastructure, or scalable Ethereum alternatives. But only one is making waves for offering the kind of asymmetric upside that can redefine a portfolio in weeks, not years.
If there's one project capturing the imagination of early investors right now, it's Rexas Finance (RXS). The project has already delivered a 566% return from its presale floor of $0.03 to its current price of $0.20, and momentum shows no signs of slowing. With over $48.6 million raised and over 92% of tokens sold, the clock is ticking toward its highly anticipated launch on June 19, 2025, at $0.25. But the appeal goes far beyond presale hype. Rexas is positioning itself to dominate one of the largest untapped crypto markets: real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Tokenizing real-world assets like property, commodities, and art, Rexas enables fractional ownership for sectors once dominated by the super-rich.. This model removes traditional barriers like high capital requirements and illiquidity, making blue-chip assets accessible to anyone. The numbers speak volumes: the RWA sector is projected to reach $16 trillion by 2030, and Rexas is positioning itself as a major on-ramp to that market. Its growing ecosystem includes tools like the Rexas Token Builder, AI-powered smart contract auditing, and a Launchpad designed to bring tokenized assets to market quickly and securely. For investors looking for a project with real utility, explosive growth potential, and a product already in motion, Rexas Finance stands out as the rare opportunity where both vision and execution are aligned. If demand holds post-launch, analysts believe RXS could climb into double-digit territory, offering the kind of returns early Solana or Avalanche investors enjoyed just a few years ago.
While newer projects chase hype and headlines, Monero (XMR) continues to do what it does best: offer ironclad privacy in a digital world trending toward surveillance. With governments increasingly scrutinizing blockchain transactions and centralized exchanges clamping down on withdrawals, Monero's use case has never been more relevant. More than just a “dark web” currency, Monero offers legitimate, secure, and censorship-resistant transactions. It's trusted by privacy advocates, developers, and users who demand true financial sovereignty. Despite lacking flashy marketing campaigns, Monero's consistent demand and loyal community keep it on savvy investors' radar, especially during geopolitical tension or regulatory uncertainty.
Designed from the ground up for high-speed decentralized finance, SEI is building a layer-one blockchain where sub-second finality isn't a bonus, it's the baseline. As DeFi platforms demand faster transaction times and greater scalability, SEI is emerging as a foundational infrastructure solution. Explicitly optimized for orderbook-based trading and complex financial apps, SEI allows decentralized protocols to match the performance of centralized exchanges. Projects building on SEI are already proving that speed and decentralization coexist—a rare combination that could make SEI essential to the next wave of DeFi growth. With crypto moving from speculative playground to real financial infrastructure, SEI offers a rare case of a Layer 1 that solves a real problem.
If you want Ethereum's security without Ethereum's gas fees, Polygon (MATIC) remains the clear choice. As one of the most established Layer 2 ecosystems, Polygon is leveraging zkEVM technology, expanding enterprise partnerships, and staying tightly integrated with Ethereum development. Polygon's modular structure means developers can create purpose-built blockchains that remain interoperable with the broader Ethereum ecosystem. From tokenized assets to NFTs and stablecoins, Polygon continues to deliver speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency—all without compromising decentralization. In May 2025, Polygon sees growing interest from institutional players exploring real-world applications, further validating its staying power as a cornerstone of Web3 infrastructure.
While Monero, SEI, and Polygon each offer powerful value propositions, Rexas Finance (RXS) stands in a league of its own this May. With a revolutionary approach to real-world asset tokenization, an explosive presale trajectory, and a clear roadmap into a trillion-dollar market, RXS combines utility with unmatched upside.
For more information about Rexas Finance (RXS) visit the links below:
Website: https://rexas.com
Win $1 Million Giveaway: https://bit.ly/Rexas1M
Whitepaper: https://rexas.com/rexas-whitepaper.pdf
Twitter/X: https://x.com/rexasfinance
Telegram: https://t.me/rexasfinance
Disclaimer: This content is provided by a sponsor. FinanceFeeds does not independently verify the legitimacy, credibility, claims, or financial viability of the information or description of services mentioned. As such, we bear no responsibility for any potential risks, inaccuracies, or misleading representations related to the content. This post does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation and should not be treated as such. We strongly advise seeking independent financial guidance from a qualified and regulated professional before engaging in any investment or financial activities. Please review our full disclaimer for more details.
Subscribe
Unit No: BA857 DMCC Business Centre Level No 1 Jewellery & Gemplex 3 Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
International House, 10 Admirals Way, London, England, E14 9XL.
While regulators in Europe and the US debate crypto's future, young Africans are already using blockchain to solve pressing challenges from unstable currencies to internet access.
While blockchain headlines in the West often focus on speculation and regulation, in Africa, it's a different story, one rooted in necessity, innovation and grassroots adoption.
The latest episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast explores this ground-up revolution with Kevin Imani, head of StarkWare's Africa Venture Studio, who shares how communities across the continent are using blockchain to tackle real-world problems in finance, energy and connectivity.
“Young students were using blockchain before it was mainstream,” Imani explained. From Kenya to Nigeria, local needs, not hype, drove early adoption.
In many cases, it was students receiving digital currencies from abroad or freelancers getting paid in dollars and struggling to convert funds into local currency. With limited banking infrastructure or trust in government institutions, decentralized alternatives offered a lifeline.
Imani highlighted how centralized systems like Kenya's E-Mpesa changed access to finance, but still fall short for international payments or off-ramping digital assets.
Related: Blockchain.com expands in Africa as local crypto rules take shape
“You have to start becoming a trader almost,” he said, describing the convoluted process of converting stablecoins or crypto earnings into usable local funds. This trust gap has fueled peer-to-peer crypto usage.
Even before regulators or startups built formal infrastructure, communities had already found use cases for blockchain.
Beyond finance, African innovators are tapping blockchain to address energy insecurity. In rural Zambia, excess power from a mini hydro station could go to waste. Instead, residents can now use that surplus to mine Bitcoin, for example, generating revenue and creating a sustainable power loop. “It's self-sustaining and reduces waste,” Imani said.
Connectivity is another frontier. In areas where traditional internet providers fall short, decentralized WiFi hotspot networks are emerging. With blockchain, community members can share bandwidth and be compensated instantly and transparently. “You don't need a middleman. It's fair and trackable,” he said.
Still, mainstream adoption remains cautious. Governments like those in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are in “standby mode,” focused more on consumer protection than full-scale implementation. But Imani remains optimistic:
To hear the full conversation on The Clear Crypto Podcast, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph's Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don't forget to check out Cointelegraph's full lineup of other shows!
Magazine: ZK-proofs are bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin — BitcoinOS and Starknet
Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, fintech, and iGaming industries. To support the free use of our website and sustain our editorial operations, some of the links published on our site may be affiliate links. This means we may receive a commission if you click through and take action—such as signing up for a service or making a purchase. These commissions come at no additional cost to you. Our affiliate relationships help us maintain an open-access platform, but they do not influence our editorial decisions. All news, reviews, and analysis are produced with journalistic independence and integrity. Thank you for supporting responsible and accessible reporting.
Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you have an active subscription, please enter your details to log in. If you would like subscribe to Police Professional, please click here.
If your force, organisation or institution has a group subscription and you have not yet registered your details on the site, please click here.
Username or Email Address
Password
Remember Me
To get the most from our network, tell us a little about your interests. Job and news alerts can be sent according to your interest and other users will be able to see your selection. You can skip this section and sign up in your account at a later date.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) over “serious shortcomings” in its storage and handling of CCTV footage.
It comes after the force was “unable to recover” two hours missing CCTV footage while a person was held in custody for 48 hours in February 2021.
GMP's Professional Standards Directorate (PSD) later submitted an internal request to retain this information beyond the typical 90-day period. When responding to a subsequent related subject access request, the force later realised two hours of the footage was missing.
GMP states that, despite all attempts, it is unable to recover the missing two hours of footage. This led GMP to self-report a personal data breach to the ICO on September 5, 2023.
The ICO's investigation assessed GMP's compliance with data protection laws related to the storage of CCTV footage. The ICO has ruled that GMP has failed to provide the complainant with their personal data, both without undue delay and by the end of the applicable period of one month, and failed to ensure that the appropriate technical or organisational measures were in place to protect the accidental loss of the CCTV data it was processing.
The ICO's investigation found two key failings in GMP's data protection practices:
Sally Anne Poole, head of Investigations at the ICO, said: “CCTV footage, particularly of a person at their most vulnerable, can contain highly sensitive personal data and must be properly protected. It is vital that authorities like police forces have the strictest measures in place to protect personal data to maintain public trust.
“It is clear in this case that GMP failed its obligation to keep the complainant's personal data safe and demonstrated serious shortcomings in how it handles CCTV footage. Data protection is not an afterthought; it is a core responsibility. In this case, we see the potential consequences when this responsibility is not properly adhered to.
“Police forces and public bodies across the country can learn from failures like this and ensure they have the right systems and oversight in place to prevent these mistakes from happening again. Public trust depends on it.”
In the time since the incident, GMP has taken remedial action, including:
The ICO said there is an ongoing investigation into the wider case by the Independent Office of Police Conduct.
Copyright ©
2025 Police Professional
Oops, something went wrong
Signing Day Sports (SGN) announced the signing of a definitive business combination agreement to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding membership interest of One Blockchain, which will operate a crypto mining, AI and HPC data hosting company with plans for 200MW in total power capacity from facilities in South Carolina and Texas. The proposed transaction was previously announced on April 14, 2025 following the signing of a non-binding letter of intent. The transaction will be effected through a holding company structure, whereby Signing Day Sports and One Blockchain will become subsidiaries of BlockchAIn Digital Infrastructure. The transaction between One Blockchain and Signing Day Sports is expected to result in the combined company being traded on the NYSE American. Signing Day Sports will not be required to make any cash payment to One Blockchain or its securityholders in connection with the transaction. One Blockchain will continue to operate under blockchAIn DI's management team led by Chairman and CEO Jerry Tang. In 2024, blockchAIn Digital Infrastructure generated audited revenue of approximately $26.8M and net income of approximately $5.7M. The business combination will be effectuated through a holding company structure, whereby Signing Day Sports and One Blockchain will become subsidiaries of PubCo through merger transactions. Under the BCA, the consideration to be paid at closing to the securityholders of One Blockchain will be comprised of PubCo common shares with a value of approximately $215M, subject to an exchange ratio and other certain adjustments, at an implied diluted value per share for PubCo of $5.12. Upon the closing of the business combination, the stock held by the stockholders of Signing Day Sports immediately before the closing of the transaction will be converted into the right to receive approximately 8.5% of the outstanding common stock of the combined company, and the equity securities of One Blockchain held by One Blockchain's equity securityholders immediately before the closing of the transaction will be converted into the right to receive approximately 91.5% of the outstanding common shares of the combined company before fees and commissions to third parties. The board of directors of PubCo post-transaction will be comprised of no less than five and no greater than seven directors. At least one director will be designated by Signing Day Sports, and One Blockchain will designate the remaining directors. The BCA also includes an earnout, in which additional PubCo shares equaling 11.628% of the total number of shares of PubCo issued to One Blockchain's securityholders at closing will be issued to such former One Blockchain securityholders. The Earnout Shares will be issued if PubCo achieves or exceeds net income plus interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $25M for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026. The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the signing of the BCA. The proposed transaction is expected to close late in the second half of 2025, subject to satisfying certain customary closing conditions, including the receipt of approvals from Signing Day Sports' shareholders and the listing of PubCo registered common shares on the NYSE American. The Business Combination Agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants made by Signing Day Sports and One Blockchain, including covenants that both parties use their commercially reasonably efforts to cause the transactions contemplated by the agreement to be completed, regarding obtaining the requisite approval of Signing Day Sports' shareholders, regarding indemnification of directors and officers, and regarding Signing Day Sports' and One Blockchain's conduct of their respective businesses between the date of signing of the BCA and the closing. The BCA also contains certain termination rights for both Signing Day Sports and One Blockchain. The Signing Day Sports board of directors has recommended to Signing Day Sports shareholders that they vote to approve the BCA and the transaction. Signing Day Sports also received a fairness opinion in connection with the transaction.
Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions
Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter
Published first on TheFly – the ultimate source for real-time, market-moving breaking financial news. Try Now>>
See today's best-performing stocks on TipRanks >>
Read More on SGN:
Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue
Signing Day Sports Awards Executive Bonuses
Signing Day Sports Celebrates Successful Army Bowl Series
Signing Day Sports Announces Intent to Acquire Blockchain Firm
Signing Day Sports signs LOI to acquire blockchAIn Digital Infrastructure
Signing Day Sports Reports 100% Revenue Growth
BUY/SELL GOLD & SILVER
All Metal Quotes
Featuring views and opinions written by market professionals, not staff journalists.
Bitcoin Stalls, But Macro Trend Strengthens
Bitcoin remains locked in a tight range around $107,000, consolidating just below resistance. Though momentum feels slow, BTC continues to close above the daily TBO Cloud. Each day spent above that cloud contributes to the curling upward of the TBO Slow line, reinforcing a growing bullish macro trend. Traders eager for an immediate breakout must remember past patterns—patience is often rewarded in extended bullish setups.
Ethereum Shows Outperformance and Bullish Structure
Ethereum has taken the spotlight over the last several days, outperforming BTC in both price action and technical structure. The weekly RSI is pushing toward 70, an important threshold that would confirm long-term bullish momentum. Despite some weakness in ETH/BTC volume, the real test will be whether it can break above the 0.236 Fibonacci level. On a broader timeframe, ETH/BTC remains below the weekly TBO Cloud, keeping it technically in “strong bearish” territory.
Bitcoin Dominance Slips, Giving Altcoins Room to Breathe
BTC.D has fallen back into the daily TBO Cloud, signaling a return to bearish consolidation. This shift is allowing altcoins to stage short-term recoveries, especially as Top 10 Dominance lags and OTHERS.D continues to look increasingly strong. A second TBO Close Short on the 4-hour chart for OTHERS.D, printed above support, supports a short-term bullish thesis for ALTs—assuming BTC doesn't suddenly steal back market attention.
ETH Dominance Breaks Out of Long-Term Resistance
ETH.D has made a notable move above the daily TBO Cloud for the first time since June 2024. This breakout is significant given its prolonged bearish structure and reinforces Ethereum's leadership role in the current altcoin cycle. The development could mark a longer period of ETH-driven altcoin strength if BTC remains steady.
TOTAL Market Cap Chart Holds Steady at Resistance
The TOTAL crypto market cap chart has yet to challenge the long-term overhead resistance from January but continues to print a strong setup. Two recent TBO Breakouts remain in play. The weekly view is even more encouraging, with price far above the TBO Cloud, RSI above 70, OBV trending higher, and weekly volume approaching its moving average line.
OTHERS Market Cap Faces Resistance, But Volume Supports Upside
OTHERS is testing a new resistance trendline but has already pierced it once, suggesting bullish momentum is brewing. While the weekly chart lacks confirmation with a sub-60 RSI and a fight to stay above the weekly TBO Cloud, increasing volume and rising OBV are notable bullish developments. Traders should watch for continued momentum, especially if BTC stays steady.
Volatility Drops, Opening Opportunity
BVOL7D has dropped back into its Bounce Zone, typically signaling reduced volatility. This is generally a good sign for altcoins, which tend to flourish in periods of relative BTC calm. If BVOL7D remains low, the market could be primed for broader participation in the next move.
Altcoins Mixed: Strength from UNI, APT, and TON
XRP and SOL continue to show weakness on their daily charts, while TON saw a notable pump following a partnership announcement between Telegram and xAI. XMR suffered a -13% drop, likely due to market manipulation, but remains within range. UNI is showing strength alongside ETH, and APT is once again above resistance, which needs to hold for further upside. A variety of altcoins—including TIA—are printing TBO Close Short clusters on the 4h, a common precursor to short-term bounces.
Keep a Plan in Place—More Room Left in the Bull Market
Even with resistance stalling major moves in BTC, the broader crypto market remains strong. SPX6900 has hit a local high and is moving toward historical resistance, another signal of bullish strength. Traders are advised to take profits selectively and resist the urge to fully exit positions too early. With 4–5 months of the bull market potentially remaining and many altcoins yet to make substantial moves, the opportunity window is still wide open.
For in-depth strategy and tools, visit The Complete Cryptocurrency Investor by Mastering Assets.
We appreciate your feedback
|
Your Privacy Choices
© 2025 Kitco Metals Inc.
XRP's on-chain profitability suggests investor confidence despite recent price dip and SEC case developments.
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
More than 90% of XRP's supply is currently profitable, even though the token's price has remained relatively flat for the past three months.
Data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment reveals that most of XRP's circulating supply was acquired at lower price points than its current market value.
This level of profitability places XRP ahead of several major altcoins. For comparison, only 71.5% of Ethereum, 77.9% of Dogecoin, 71.0% of Cardano, and 80.5% of Chainlink holdings are in profit.
However, XRP trails only Bitcoin, which leads with 98.4% of its circulating supply in the green.
Analysts at Santiment explained that this profitability metric is often used to assess investor sentiment. According to them, a higher percentage of profitable wallets can lead to near-term sell pressure as holders take profits.
But when most investors are at a loss, markets often show signs of fear or undervaluation, which can attract new buyers and long-term capital.
Still, despite a recent 6% dip in XRP's price this week, the strong on-chain profitability could indicate a foundation for a potential rebound.
Market analysts suggest developments beyond price charts could catalyze XRP's next growth phase.
Ripple's drawn-out case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has essentially resolved, lifting a significant overhang from the token.
However, progress on that front recently slowed because Judge Analisa Torres denied a joint motion due to procedural issues.
Nevertheless, the broader market sentiment on the XRP remains largely positive because the token has drawn notable attention.
For context, Nasdaq-listed VivoPower has revealed plans to establish a $121 million XRP-backed treasury. This development marks a first for a US-listed public company and reinforces the belief in XRP.
In addition, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is experiencing rapid expansion within its ecosystem, as evidenced by its adoption by major institutions.
This month, the Dubai Land Department tapped the blockchain network to power a real estate tokenization project.
At the same time, new stablecoin products have also launched on the network, expanding its utility across fintech and traditional financial institutions.
Moreover, the institutional appetite for XRP-related trading products is rising.
This is evidenced by the fact that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) recently introduced XRP futures products, and the US SEC is currently considering multiple filings for a spot XRP ETF.
Together, these developments suggest growing institutional confidence and a broader push toward XRP adoption, which could bolster its price.
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
Also known as "Akiba," Liam Wright is the Editor-in-Chief at CryptoSlate and host of the SlateCast. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.
Daily digest of top crypto stories and market insights. Never miss out.
CryptoSlate's latest report dives deep into the boom-bust trajectory of NFTs: from their euphoric peak and inscription speculation, through the subsequent collapse in activity and value, to the current search for stability and meaning in the aftermath.
Disclaimer: Our writers' opinions are solely their own and do not reflect the opinion of CryptoSlate. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice, nor does CryptoSlate endorse any project that may be mentioned or linked to in this article. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article. Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.
NFKings introduces ONA protocol to tokenize real world assets through secure NFTs, transforming digital interactions across web2 and web3
The XRP Ledger is a decentralized cryptographic ledger powered by a network of peer-to-peer servers.
Bitcoin, a decentralized currency that defies the sway of central banks or administrators, transacts electronically, circumventing intermediaries via a peer-to-peer network.
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that enables the creation of smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps).
Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in December 2013 as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer.
Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts on the blockchain to real-world data.
Disclaimer: By using this website, you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. CryptoSlate has no affiliation or relationship with any coin, business, project or event unless explicitly stated otherwise. CryptoSlate is only an informational website that provides news about coins, blockchain companies, blockchain products and blockchain events. None of the information you read on CryptoSlate should be taken as investment advice. Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity. Please do your own diligence before making any investment decisions. CryptoSlate is not accountable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss incurred, alleged or otherwise, in connection to the use or reliance of any content you read on the site.
© 2025 CryptoSlate. All rights reserved. Disclaimers | Terms | Privacy | Cookie Settings
Please add "[email protected]" to your email whitelist.
Stay connected via
Korea may be the first battleground in a global struggle between central banks and private stablecoins for control of digital payments, as the Bank of Korea (BOK) governor makes unprecedented visits to major banks to promote CBDC, tokenized deposit alternatives over private stablecoin initiatives.
The Korea Times reported that Governor Rhee Chang-yong personally visited the country's six largest banks to discuss wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) projects, in what it described as an “unprecedented move.” The intervention comes as Korea's largest banks announced plans to create a joint stablecoin just weeks after joining a central bank pilot project for tokenized deposits, setting up a potential race between public and private digital currency initiatives.
This competition in Korea could serve as a template for similar challenges worldwide, as central banks race to maintain monetary control in an increasingly digital financial landscape.
To appreciate the significance of these discussions, it's important to note three key differences between stablecoins and most tokenized deposits. One is that stablecoins are fully backed, resulting in so-called “narrow banking”, which impedes the availability of credit available in the economy compared to fractional reserve banking. Another relates to central bank involvement. In some jurisdictions, despite stablecoins being used for payments, they are not always under the central bank's supervision, potentially impeding their ability to influence monetary policy. Finally, most tokenized deposit projects use permissioned blockchains, whereas stablecoins are on permissionless blockchains which have significant audiences and developer bases and are more open for creating applications.
The Governor spent 30 minutes last week at the headquarters of each major bank – KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH NongHyup, and Industrial Bank of Korea – for one-on-one meetings with the CEO, with wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) projects being a focus of the discussions.
Governor Rhee outlined the long-term benefits of participating in two central bank projects and agreed to shoulder one-third of the costs of Project Hangang, the domestic tokenized deposit initiative. This financial incentive came as the banks – except for Hana Bank – had announced plans for their joint stablecoin just weeks after the Hangang pilot's commencement in April.
The central bank is currently involved in two major CBDC-related projects, both involving wholesale CBDC for institutional use. One is Project Agorá for cross-border payments organized by the BIS and involving seven central banks and more than 40 institutions. The other is Project Hangang, a domestic project in which wCBDC supports tokenized deposits that consumers can use for blockchain-based payments, with trials involving the major banks plus 100,000 consumers.
Following the individual meetings, on Monday there was a joint meeting at the central bank that included the bank CEOs and Timothy Adams, the CEO of the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The IIF coordinates the cross-border CBDC Project Agorá. Stablecoins and deposit tokens were also discussed at the meeting.
The Governor has previously expressed concerns about the potential for stablecoins issued by companies like Visa to threaten monetary sovereignty. However, in a separate report by Korea's News1, the central bank appears to be making a strategic accommodation, with Deputy Governor Lee Jong-ryeol saying it was considering allowing deposit tokens on public blockchains.
“We are considering a direction in which it (deposit tokens) will coexist within the entire digital currency system in conjunction with stablecoins issued by the private sector,” said Mr Lee, while reiterating monetary sovereignty concerns about global stablecoins.
This potential shift toward allowing deposit tokens on public blockchains could bridge the gap between the controlled environment of CBDC projects and the open ecosystem that makes stablecoins attractive to developers and users.
Project Hangang already supports different types of tokenized deposits. There are those backed by bank deposits, with the wCBDC used for interbank settlement. But it also envisages an e-money style deposit token that is fully backed by wCBDC. For tokens used on third-party platforms such as for the settlement of securities transactions, it envisages using a variation of the e-money style tokens.
The country is in the process of working on stablecoin legislation, with the BOK vying to have a central role in their supervision.
Korea's experience represents more than a domestic policy debate. The unprecedented nature of the Governor's bank visits suggests the urgency central banks feel in the transition to digital currencies. As other jurisdictions grapple with similar tensions between innovation and control, Korea's approach of combining direct engagement, financial incentives, and strategic accommodation could become a playbook for central banks worldwide seeking to maintain their role in an evolving digital payments landscape.
Copyright © 2018 - 2025 Ledger Insights Ltd.
Korea may be the first battleground in a global struggle between central banks and private stablecoins for control of digital payments, as the Bank of Korea (BOK) governor makes unprecedented visits to major banks to promote CBDC, tokenized deposit alternatives over private stablecoin initiatives.
The Korea Times reported that Governor Rhee Chang-yong personally visited the country's six largest banks to discuss wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) projects, in what it described as an “unprecedented move.” The intervention comes as Korea's largest banks announced plans to create a joint stablecoin just weeks after joining a central bank pilot project for tokenized deposits, setting up a potential race between public and private digital currency initiatives.
This competition in Korea could serve as a template for similar challenges worldwide, as central banks race to maintain monetary control in an increasingly digital financial landscape.
To appreciate the significance of these discussions, it's important to note three key differences between stablecoins and most tokenized deposits. One is that stablecoins are fully backed, resulting in so-called “narrow banking”, which impedes the availability of credit available in the economy compared to fractional reserve banking. Another relates to central bank involvement. In some jurisdictions, despite stablecoins being used for payments, they are not always under the central bank's supervision, potentially impeding their ability to influence monetary policy. Finally, most tokenized deposit projects use permissioned blockchains, whereas stablecoins are on permissionless blockchains which have significant audiences and developer bases and are more open for creating applications.
The Governor spent 30 minutes last week at the headquarters of each major bank – KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH NongHyup, and Industrial Bank of Korea – for one-on-one meetings with the CEO, with wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) projects being a focus of the discussions.
Governor Rhee outlined the long-term benefits of participating in two central bank projects and agreed to shoulder one-third of the costs of Project Hangang, the domestic tokenized deposit initiative. This financial incentive came as the banks – except for Hana Bank – had announced plans for their joint stablecoin just weeks after the Hangang pilot's commencement in April.
The central bank is currently involved in two major CBDC-related projects, both involving wholesale CBDC for institutional use. One is Project Agorá for cross-border payments organized by the BIS and involving seven central banks and more than 40 institutions. The other is Project Hangang, a domestic project in which wCBDC supports tokenized deposits that consumers can use for blockchain-based payments, with trials involving the major banks plus 100,000 consumers.
Following the individual meetings, on Monday there was a joint meeting at the central bank that included the bank CEOs and Timothy Adams, the CEO of the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The IIF coordinates the cross-border CBDC Project Agorá. Stablecoins and deposit tokens were also discussed at the meeting.
The Governor has previously expressed concerns about the potential for stablecoins issued by companies like Visa to threaten monetary sovereignty. However, in a separate report by Korea's News1, the central bank appears to be making a strategic accommodation, with Deputy Governor Lee Jong-ryeol saying it was considering allowing deposit tokens on public blockchains.
“We are considering a direction in which it (deposit tokens) will coexist within the entire digital currency system in conjunction with stablecoins issued by the private sector,” said Mr Lee, while reiterating monetary sovereignty concerns about global stablecoins.
This potential shift toward allowing deposit tokens on public blockchains could bridge the gap between the controlled environment of CBDC projects and the open ecosystem that makes stablecoins attractive to developers and users.
Project Hangang already supports different types of tokenized deposits. There are those backed by bank deposits, with the wCBDC used for interbank settlement. But it also envisages an e-money style deposit token that is fully backed by wCBDC. For tokens used on third-party platforms such as for the settlement of securities transactions, it envisages using a variation of the e-money style tokens.
The country is in the process of working on stablecoin legislation, with the BOK vying to have a central role in their supervision.
Korea's experience represents more than a domestic policy debate. The unprecedented nature of the Governor's bank visits suggests the urgency central banks feel in the transition to digital currencies. As other jurisdictions grapple with similar tensions between innovation and control, Korea's approach of combining direct engagement, financial incentives, and strategic accommodation could become a playbook for central banks worldwide seeking to maintain their role in an evolving digital payments landscape.
Copyright © 2018 - 2025 Ledger Insights Ltd.
New Read to Earn quest available!
Home » News » Finance News
NFTs, those authentic digital assets, no longer shine like they did in 2021. Despite recent peaks in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, enthusiasm has largely faded. Once celebrated by celebrities and collectors, their market is collapsing. The situation is alarming, as revealed by DappRadar: volumes are free-falling, NFT loans have dropped dramatically, and activity is experiencing massive decline. Yet, the emergence of real-world assets tokenized (RWA) brings new hope, offering prospects for stabilization and revival for this crypto industry in full transformation.
The NFT market is undergoing a deep crisis, showing a 63% drop in the first quarter of 2025, and NFT loans are no exception. According to DappRadar, the total loan volume fell from one billion dollars in January 2024 to 50 million in May 2025, a drop of 97%. Activity follows the same trend: the number of borrowers decreased by 90%, lenders by 78%. Sara Gherghelas, analyst at DappRadar, states:
2025 has not yet brought sufficient catalysts to revive NFT loans.
The average loan size dropped by 71%, falling from 22,000 dollars in 2022 to 4,000 dollars in May 2025. The average loan duration also decreased, from 40 to 31 days. These developments reflect a more frequent use of short-term loans, a sign of a more cautious approach in the crypto world.
On the side of collections used as collateral, Pudgy Penguins dominate with 40% of loans, followed by Azuki and BAYC. On the rapidly growing GONDI platform, CryptoPunks and art NFTs attract attention. This trend marks a shift towards assets considered more stable and culturally relevant.
In short, the crypto community seems to be moving away from speculative models toward a more reasoned approach. However, without major innovation, the sector risks stagnation.
Real-world assets (RWA), or tokenized tangible assets, could reverse the trend. These NFTs linked to tangible assets, such as real estate or financial instruments, bring stability and trust. According to DappRadar, they represent one of the few catalysts capable of reviving the NFT loan market. Sara Gherghelas explains:
NFTs backed by real assets could unlock more stable and trustworthy collateral sources.
These innovations allow overcoming the limits of purely digital NFTs, which are often too volatile. By integrating RWAs, the crypto world can create hybrid financial products offering security and liquidity. This evolution also opens the door for broader adoption by traditional investors.
Protocols are beginning to explore these possibilities by developing smart infrastructures. For example, under-collateralized loans, credit scores, and artificial intelligence are being considered to enhance user experience. Thus, tokenization of real assets stands as a fundamental lever for the future of decentralized finance.
NFT loans allow holders of unique tokens to obtain liquidity without selling their assets. These loans can be peer-to-peer through NFT platforms or peer-to-protocol directly with smart contracts. A notable example is using a NFT representing a luxury watch as collateral, enabling a $35,000 loan in DeFi.
The appeal of NFT loans lies in the absence of traditional credit checks, opening the door to greater inclusion in the crypto realm. However, NFT volatility and regulatory uncertainty pose major risks. In case of default, the NFT is transferred to the lender, who may liquidate or keep it.
Fractionalization of NFTs further enriches this market by making expensive assets accessible to a broader community. Combined with RWAs, this technology offers a new dimension to decentralized finance.
A few key figures summarize the current situation:
This transformation shows the crypto industry is restructuring, seeking more solidity and maturity.
NFTs backed by real-world assets (RWA) and NFT bonds open new investment horizons, according to Cointribune. These innovations could give the NFT market a second life, combining utility, security, and broader access within the crypto community.
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
Stablecoins are not just a tech innovation, but an increasingly vital pillar of US fiscal stability, argues GlobalData analyst Blandina Hanna Szalay
Among the first US Presidential orders was banning the Federal Reserve's (Fed) digital dollar creation in January 2025 to keep the Central Bank from entering the organically developing digital currencies space. The move signalled a clear break from state-issued digital currencies and an ideological shift toward market-driven innovation.
By May, Bitcoin hit another all-time high above $111,000 and the country's top banks—JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo—announced a joint stablecoin initiative, showing a 180-degree shift from the Democrat-era cryptocurrency sentiment. Not only does this mark a reputational pivot for institutions that once distanced themselves from crypto, but it also underscores how regulatory tailwinds can rapidly reshape institutional strategy.
The gold standard of business intelligence.
Find out more
Across the Atlantic, the European Central Bank (ECB) set up new groups to explore digital euro use cases in its most-recent push. Yet, the share of euro-backed stablecoins remains under 1% of the total supply dominated by USD-backed coins (99%+); highlighting the disproportionate influence of US monetary infrastructure on global digital finance. This imbalance has emerged as a silent yet powerful driver of USD demand, especially important at a time when appetite for the dollar is weakening globally amid growing trade wars.
The largest US incumbents moving into the crypto space via a stablecoin initiative was anticipated following the most-recent advancement of the GENIUS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins) Act in the Senate. Years of restrictive regulation on crypto assets has left traditional banks with no choice but to campaign against the industry, which is arguably the biggest competitive threat to traditional finance and its institutions yet. The four banks' joint stablecoin announcement now signals a systemic shift, as the GENIUS Act is set to bring long-awaited federal oversight to the stablecoin market in the form of consumer protection and national security measures. The timing suggests a strategic play of US banks aligning with federal efforts to regulate stablecoins in an attempt to steer it in their favour.
Meanwhile, Europe's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulation proved too restrictive for by far the largest stablecoin Tether to comply, which is now unavailable on European exchanges. Though, the biggest demand for Tether's services is concentrated in emerging markets out of necessity for fast, cheap, and reliable transfers.
With that said, the ECB's two, new ‘Pioneers' and ‘Visionaries' workstreams are currently looking for and testing potential functionalities and use cases for the digital euro that aims to launch by the end of the year. The scope of these trials suggests that beyond consumer payments, the ECB is considering applications in programmable finance, automated tax collection, and cross-border trade—all areas where it seeks to reduce its dependence on US-based infrastructure.
Don't let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
So far, the trajectory of private vs government-issued digital currencies shows strong correlation with national interests and its regulatory backing, which is expected to continue shaping stablecoins' and Central Bank Digital Currencies' (CBDCs) regional development paths moving forward. The ECB is unlikely to relax MiCA rules as it recently named the digital euro one of the three structural economic policy priorities, amid their ongoing push for payments independence from US providers. On the other hand, creating a supportive regulatory environment for stablecoins aligns with the Fed's monetary interests too; given that stablecoin issuers are set to become the largest US Treasury securities holders globally by 2030 as foreign government demand drops. This makes stablecoins not just a tech innovation, but an increasingly vital pillar of US fiscal stability.
Blandina Hanna Szalay is an analyst, banking & payments, at GlobalData
The gold standard of business intelligence.
Find out more
Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.
Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights.
Retail Banker In Brief
Retail Banker International : Focus (monthly)
Thematic Take (monthly)
I consent to Verdict Media Limited collecting my details provided via this form in accordance with Privacy Policy
View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network.
The leading site for news and procurement in the Retail Banker International
Powered by
© Verdict Media Limited 2025
May 29, 2025
4 min read
These Climbers Summited Mount Everest in Record Time. Did Inhaling Xenon Help?
British climbers recently reached the top of Mount Everest in record time. They inhaled xenon gas before the trip. But was that the decisive factor?
By Stephanie Pappas edited by Jeanna Bryner
Part of the Himalayan mountains, Mount Everest is considered the highest point on Earth, reaching a height of more than 8.8 kilometers.
Feng Wei Photography/Getty Images
Last week a quartet of British climbers made it to the top of Mount Everest—and spent less than a week on the total round trip from London. That's weeks fewer than it usually takes to acclimate to the high elevation, scale the world's highest peak and head home.
Their guide, speaking to the New York Times, credited their accomplishment to a secret advantage: prior to the trip, the climbers inhaled xenon gas, which may have made their acclimatization to the low-oxygen environment of Everest easier. But experts on the medical uses of xenon are uncertain that it was a decisive factor.
“Maybe there is something there. We just don't know,” says Andrew Subudhi, a professor of human physiology and nutrition at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, who studies human performance in low-oxygen environments. “From the scientific evidence, I can't see anything that is definitive or even proof-of-concept yet.”
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.
Xenon is a noble gas—colorless, odorless, inert. But it does affect the body. It's been used as an anesthetic on occasion since the 1950s, says Robert Dickinson, a senior lecturer in medicine at Imperial College London. Dickinson has long studied another intriguing aspect of xenon: the gas has shown neuroprotective effects after a brain injury such as a stroke or a traumatic blow to the head. This protective quality has been demonstrated in many animal studies and a handful of small human trials, Dickinson says.
Both the anesthetic and potential neuroprotective effects occur because xenon can bind to brain receptors called N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Activating these receptors has an excitatory effect on neurons, but xenon tamps down NMDA activity. After a brain injury, NMDA receptors can become overexcited, causing further cell death, so quieting these receptors might prevent additional damage.
Those are xenon's best-studied effects on human health. But the gas has also piqued interest in the sports medicine world because it can increase the production of erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that is known to stimulate the bone marrow to increase its production of red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen, which is, of course, in short supply on the icy slopes of Mount Everest.
Before attempting Everest's summit, climbers must hang out in Kathmandu, Nepal, and then Everest Base Camp for weeks, lest they fall prey to altitude sickness, which is marked by fatigue, headache, nausea and confusion. In serious cases, the lungs fill with fluid or the brain swells, which can quickly lead to death. The air at Everest Base Camp contains about half the oxygen as is present at sea level, and the air at the summit contains a mere 33 percent.
Xenon, a noble gas, is getting attention in the sports medicine world for its potential to increase the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells.
Phil Degginger/Alamy Stock Photo
Xenon's potential to increase the production of red blood cells, thus increasing the blood's ability carry oxygen, raises the question of whether it might provide a performance boost or prevent altitude sickness in the athletes climbing the world's highest peaks. The problem is: no one really knows if the EPO boost provided by xenon is enough to make a real difference in how someone handles a high elevation. Davide Cattano, an anesthesiologist at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, did some of the animal research that has shown that xenon increases a blood factor called hypoxia-inducible factor 1–alpha (HIF-1α), which in turn can increase EPO. He's skeptical that the recent Everest climbers saw much benefit. “The level of HIF that you're inducing does not justify this superhuman capability,” Cattano says.
One 2019 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology tested 12 runners who were randomly assigned to inhale air that contained 70 percent xenon or a sham gas for two minutes each day for several weeks before they ran three kilometers. The runners who inhaled xenon saw an increase in EPO in their blood, but they didn't show any improvement in fitness or athletic performance, as measured by their running speed and their heart rate and respiration during exercise.
Even dosing people with EPO directly with injections may not prevent altitude sickness or improve performance at high elevation, Subudhi says. In a study that is currently in review for publication in a scientific journal, he and his colleagues tested EPO injections on a small group of mountain-climbing athletes, and these subjects didn't see any benefits. It's possible a different dose or a longer course of treatment might make a difference, Subudhi says, but “my enthusiasm for chasing that is much less when I didn't see anybody have a measurable benefit.”
It is possible xenon improved the climbers' oxygen-carrying capacity by boosting their EPO, experts say. It's also possible the anesthetic and analgesic effects of the gas ameliorated the climbers' aches and pains or the fatigue from altitude, Cattano speculates. Just the act of breathing a heavy gas like xenon might also result in some change to lung capacity, he says, even if the EPO effect is small.
But the athletes also did something else: they slept in hypoxic tents for weeks before traveling to the mountain. These tents create a low-oxygen environment, which definitely increases EPO and red blood cell production. This preacclimatization, plus the climbers' intensive training regime, may have done the trick. Whether the xenon added any benefit on top of the hypoxic tents is unclear, Dickinson says.
Xenon is expensive, which has limited its use as an anesthetic and in athletics. But more people will probably shell out for the gas, given that the baseline cost of climbing Mount Everest is so expensive and the stakes are so high, Subudhi says.
“People are literally fighting for their lives at high altitudes, and if you're doing things that may give you a small chance of improving your rate of success, yeah, it might be worth it to some people,” he says. “Not everybody is going to sit there and make a completely scientific decision about their life.”
Stephanie Pappas is a freelance science journalist based in Denver, Colo.
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
(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.
Modelling liver disease requires in vitro systems that replicate disease progression1,2. Current tissue-derived organoids fail to reproduce the complex cellular composition and tissue architecture observed in vivo3. Here, we describe a multicellular organoid system composed of adult hepatocytes, cholangiocytes and mesenchymal cells that recapitulates the architecture of the liver periportal region and, when manipulated, models aspects of cholestatic injury and biliary fibrosis. We first generate reproducible hepatocyte organoids with functional bile canaliculi network that retain morphological features of in vivo tissue. By combining these with cholangiocytes and portal fibroblasts, we generate assembloids that mimic the cellular interactions of the periportal region. Assembloids are functional, consistently draining bile from bile canaliculi into the bile duct. Strikingly, manipulating the relative number of portal mesenchymal cells is sufficient to induce a fibrotic-like state, independently of an immune compartment. By generating chimeric assembloids of mutant and wild-type cells, or after gene knockdown, we show proof-of-concept that our system is amenable to investigating gene function and cell-autonomous mechanisms. Taken together, we demonstrate that liver assembloids represent a suitable in vitro system to study bile canaliculi formation, bile drainage, and how different cell types contribute to cholestatic disease and biliary fibrosis, in an all-in-one model.
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
Julien Delpierre
Present address: Institut Curie, Département de Génétique et Biologie du Développement, Paris, France
David Beers
Present address: Department of Mathematics, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA
Anna M. Dowbaj
Present address: Center for Organoid Systems, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Marino Zerial
Present address: Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
These authors contributed equally: Anna M. Dowbaj, Aleksandra Sljukic
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
Anna M. Dowbaj, Aleksandra Sljukic, Armin Niksic, Cedric Landerer, Julien Delpierre, Haochen Yang, Aparajita Lahree, Ariane C. Kühn, Sarah Seifert, Heather A. Harrington, Marino Zerial & Meritxell Huch
Center for Systems Biology (CSBD), Dresden, Germany
Cedric Landerer, Haochen Yang, Heather A. Harrington, Marino Zerial & Meritxell Huch
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Haochen Yang, David Beers, Helen M. Byrne & Heather A. Harrington
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Haochen Yang & Helen M. Byrne
Faculty of Mathematics, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Heather A. Harrington
Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Heather A. Harrington & Meritxell Huch
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
Meritxell Huch.
Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Figure 2, Supplementary Table 7 and Supplementary References.
Cytokine array raw data. Cytokine array blots from 2 biological replicates, presented as raw scans of the signal, and overlay with the blot brightfield image. Images are annotated for the sample name. Supernatants from monocultures of CholOrg, or HepOrg or Msc cells or from assembloids from homeostatic or fibrotic-like conditions were analysed.
Supplementary Table 1.1-1.7.
bulk RNA sequencing TPM values. TPM values from bulk RNA sequencing for each gene were used for heatmaps in Extended Data Figure 3b (HM-Wnt HepOrg vs freshly isolated hepatocytes); Extended Data Figure 5a (HM-Wnt and MM media HepOrg vs freshly isolated hepatocytes); Extended Data Figure 10a (7 days or 2.5 weeks homeostasis and fibrotic-like assembloids).
GSEA comparing cells from homeostasis-like assembloids. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of hepatocytes, cholangiocytes and portal mesenchyme; Related to Extended Data Figure 7k-m. Databases used are GO_Biological_Process_2023 (GO_BP), GO_Cellular_Component_2023 (GO_CC) and GO_Molecular_Function_2023 (GO_MF).
LIANA Inferred cell-cell interactions. 4_1: Interactions from fibrosis-like assembloids and the bile duct ligation (BDL) and CCl4 models from Yang et al., 2021; Related to Figure 4d, Top 100 significant interactions from all models; 4_2: Interactions from fibrosis-like and homeostasis assembloids; Related to Extended Data Figure 12a; Top 30 significant interactions from all models.
GSEA comparing fibrosis-like versus homeostasis assembloids. Related to Figure 4e; GSEA Homeostasis and Fibrosis-like Assembloids using KEGG, reactome and MSigDB_Hallmarks databases; Related to Extended Data Figure 10e-g; GSEA of cells from fibrosis-like versus homeostasis assembloids for hepatocytes (e), cholangiocytes (f), and mesenchyme (g).
Differential gene expression (DGE) between HepOrg and freshly isolated hepatocytes. Differential gene expression for comparison of HepOrg in HM-Wnt or MM media cultured at passage 2 for 1 week or 2 weeks, compared to freshly isolated hepatocytes.
Bubbly/grape-like shaped HepOrg metabolise 5-CFDA. Maximum intensity projection of a live cell imaging of a bubbly-shaped HepOrg at passage 2. HepOrg was treated with 5-CFDA (pseudo-coloured Royal LUT). Scale bar, 50 µm.
Ball-shaped HepOrg cannot metabolise 5-CFDA. Maximum intensity projection of a live cell imaging of a ball-shaped HepOrg at passage 2. HepOrg was treated with 5-CFDA (pseudo-coloured Royal LUT). Scale bar, 50 µm.
HepOrg transport CLF, CMFDA and fluorescent Phosphatidylcholine (PC). Maximum intensity projection of a live cell imaging of a bubbly-shaped HepOrg in MM media at passage 2, showing functional update and transport of CLF (Video 3), CMFDA (Video 4) and fluorescent PC (Video 5). Dyes are visualised with pseudo-coloured Royal LUT). Scale bar, 50 µm.
HepOrg transport CLF, CMFDA and fluorescent Phosphatidylcholine (PC). Maximum intensity projection of a live cell imaging of a bubbly-shaped HepOrg in MM media at passage 2, showing functional update and transport of CLF (Video 3), CMFDA (Video 4) and fluorescent PC (Video 5). Dyes are visualised with pseudo-coloured Royal LUT). Scale bar, 50 µm.
HepOrg transport CLF, CMFDA and fluorescent Phosphatidylcholine (PC). Maximum intensity projection of a live cell imaging of a bubbly-shaped HepOrg in MM media at passage 2, showing functional update and transport of CLF (Video 3), CMFDA (Video 4) and fluorescent PC (Video 5). Dyes are visualised with pseudo-coloured Royal LUT). Scale bar, 50 µm.
Periportal assembloid formation. Maximum intensity projection of assembloid formation 2 days after seeding. Time in hours. Nuclei are depicted in white (SPY620), mesenchyme cells in green (Pdgfra-H2BGF), cholangiocytes in magenta (nuc-tdTomato). Brightfield is also shown. Assembloids can still recruit cells after being formed. Scale bar, 100 µm. Related to Extended Data Figure 7d.
Periportal assembloid formation. Maximum intensity projection of assembloid formation 2 days after seeding. Time in hours. Nuclei are depicted in white (SPY620), mesenchyme cells in green (Pdgfra-H2BGF), cholangiocytes in magenta (nuc-tdTomato). Brightfield is also shown. Assembloids can still recruit cells after being formed. Scale bar, 100 µm. Related to Extended Data Figure 7d.
Representative 3D-reconstruction showing the connection between bile canaliculi-bile duct in liver tissue. Animation of a 3D reconstruction of the interface of bile canaliculi-bile duct in mouse liver tissue. Example 1. Reconstruction was generated from multiphoton image showing a continuous lumen of bile canaliculi (CD13, green) entering bile duct (PCK, magenta). Hepatocytes, which connect their bile canaliculi to the bile duct lumen are visualised in different colours (red, yellow, cyan). Related to Fig. 3j.
Representative 3D-reconstruction showing the connection between bile canaliculi-bile duct in a periportal liver assembloid. Animation of a 3D reconstruction showing interface of bile canaliculi-bile duct in a mouse periportal assembloid. Example 1. Reconstruction was generated from high-resolution Airyscan 3D image showing a continuous lumen of bile canaliculi (ZO-1, green) entering bile duct (KRT19, magenta). Hepatocytes, which connect their bile canaliculi to the bile duct lumen are visualised in different colours (red, yellow). Related to Fig. 3j.
Representative 3D-reconstruction showing the connection between bile canaliculi-bile duct in liver tissue. Animation of a 3D reconstruction of the interface of bile canaliculi-bile duct in mouse liver tissue. Example 2. Reconstruction was generated from multiphoton image showing a continuous lumen of bile canaliculi (CD13, green) entering bile duct (PCK, magenta). Hepatocytes, which connect their bile canaliculi to the bile duct lumen are visualised in different colours (red, yellow, cyan). Related to Fig. 9b.
Representative 3D-reconstruction showing the connection between bile canaliculi-bile duct in a periportal liver assembloid Animation of a 3D reconstruction showing interface of bile canaliculi-bile duct in a mouse periportal assembloid. Example 2. Reconstruction was generated from confocal image showing a continuous lumen of bile canaliculi (CD13, green) entering bile duct (nuc-tdTomato, magenta). Hepatocytes, which connect their bile canaliculi to the bile duct lumen are visualised in different colours (red, yellow, cyan). Related to Fig. 9b.
Periportal assembloids transport bile acid analogue from bile canaliculi to bile duct lumens. Live imaging of the uptake and flow of the bile acid analogue cholyl-L-lysyl-fluorescein (CLF, pseudo-colour range) in assembloids shows functional transport of bile salts from bile canaliculi into the lumen of the bile duct lined by cholangiocytes (magenta). Time in minutes. Scale bar, 100 µm. Related to Fig. 3l (video 12) and Related to Extended Data Fig. 9h (video 13).
Periportal assembloids transport bile acid analogue from bile canaliculi to bile duct lumens. Live imaging of the uptake and flow of the bile acid analogue cholyl-L-lysyl-fluorescein (CLF, pseudo-colour range) in assembloids shows functional transport of bile salts from bile canaliculi into the lumen of the bile duct lined by cholangiocytes (magenta). Time in minutes. Scale bar, 100 µm. Related to Fig. 3l (video 12) and Related to Extended Data Fig. 9h (video 13).
Structures with aberrant cholangiocyte ratio and non-physiological BC-BD connection do not transport bile acid analogue. Live imaging of the uptake and flow of the bile acid analogue cholyl-L-lysyl-fluorescein (CLF, pseudo-colour range). CLF uptake is not observed in structures with aberrant architecture where cholangiocytes are not embedded in the organoid (mem-tdTomato, magenta). Nuclei are shown in white (SPY620). Time in minutes. Scale bar, 50 µm. Related to Fig. 9i.
Fibrotic-like assembloids show disruption of cell integrity. Maximum intensity projection of a 3D assembloid showing big bursts of cell-free DNA signal, imaging from 2 days after seeding. Time in hours. Nuclei are depicted in white (stained with SPY620), mesenchyme cells in green (nuc-GFP, Pdgfra-H2BGF) and cholangiocytes in magenta (nuc-tdTomato). Brightfield is also shown. Scale bar, 100 µm.
Fibrotic-like assembloids show no functional bile duct-bile canaliculi connection. Live imaging of the bile acid analogue cholyl-L-lysyl-fluorescein (CLF, pseudo-colour range) in fibrotic-like assembloids is not observed. Cholangiocytes (nuc-tdTomato, magenta) and mesenchyme (nuc-GFP, green), and brightfield are also shown. Time in minutes. Scale bar, 50 µm.
Reprints and permissions
Dowbaj, A.M., Sljukic, A., Niksic, A. et al. Mouse liver assembloids model periportal architecture and biliary fibrosis.
Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09183-9
Download citation
Received: 01 October 2023
Accepted: 21 May 2025
Published: 29 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09183-9
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 Reviews Microbiology
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
Pseudomonas aeruginosa has long served as a model organism in microbiology, particularly for studies on gene expression, quorum sensing, antibiotic resistance, virulence and biofilm formation. Its genetic tractability has advanced the understanding of complex regulatory networks and experimental evolution. The versatility of this bacterium stems from its genomic variability, metabolic flexibility and phenotypic diversity, enabling it to thrive in diverse environments, both as a harmless saprophyte and an opportunistic human pathogen. P. aeruginosa can cause acute and chronic human infections, particularly in patients with underlying immune deficiencies. Its intrinsic antibiotic tolerance and resistance, together with its ability to produce multiple virulence factors while rapidly adapting to infection conditions, pose a major clinical challenge. In this Review, we explore key features contributing to the ecological and pathogenic versatility of P. aeruginosa. We examine the molecular mechanisms and ecological and evolutionary implications of quorum sensing and biofilm formation. We explore the virulence strategies and in vivo fitness determinants, as well as the evolutionary dynamics and global epidemiology of P. aeruginosa, with a focus on antimicrobial resistance. Finally, we discuss emerging strategies to control P. aeruginosa infections and address outstanding questions in the field.
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
Gessard, C. Classics in infectious diseases. On the blue and green coloration that appears on bandages. By Carle Gessard (1850–1925). Rev. Infect. Dis. 6, S775–S776 (1984).
Article
Google Scholar
Crone, S. et al. The environmental occurrence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. APMIS 128, 220–231 (2020). In this study, the authors reevaluate the ubiquitous presence of P. aeruginosa, which is generally rare in pristine environments but shows a higher prevalence in areas impacted by human activities.
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Micek, S. T. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infection: importance of appropriate initial antimicrobial treatment. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49, 1306–1311 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Newman, J. N., Floyd, R. V. & Fothergill, J. L. Invasion and diversity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa urinary tract infections. J. Med. Microbiol. 71, 001458 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Gitter, A., Mena, K. D., Mendez, K. S., Wu, F. & Gerba, C. P. Eye infection risks from Pseudomonas aeruginosa via hand soap and eye drops. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 90, e0211923 (2024).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Turner, K. H., Everett, J., Trivedi, U., Rumbaugh, K. P. & Whiteley, M. Requirements for Pseudomonas aeruginosa acute burn and chronic surgical wound infection. PLoS Genet. 10, e1004518 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rossi, E. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa adaptation and evolution in patients with cystic fibrosis. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 19, 331–342 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Martinez-Solano, L., Macia, M. D., Fajardo, A., Oliver, A. & Martinez, J. L. Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Clin. Infect. Dis. 47, 1526–1533 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Fernandez-Barat, L. et al. Intensive care unit-acquired pneumonia due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa with and without multidrug resistance. J. Infect. 74, 142–152 (2017).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Cao, P. et al. A Pseudomonas aeruginosa small RNA regulates chronic and acute infection. Nature 618, 358–364 (2023). In this study, the authors identify the oxygen-responsive small RNA SicX as the chronic-to-acute switch in P. aeruginosa during mammalian infection.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States. CDC https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/biggest-threats.html (2019).
Magiorakos, A. P. et al. Multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and pandrug-resistant bacteria: an international expert proposal for interim standard definitions for acquired resistance. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 18, 268–281 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Woodford, N., Turton, J. F. & Livermore, D. M. Multiresistant Gram-negative bacteria: the role of high-risk clones in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 35, 736–755 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Stover, C. K. et al. Complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, an opportunistic pathogen. Nature 406, 959–964 (2000).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Taylor, P. K., Van Kessel, A. T. M., Colavita, A., Hancock, R. E. W. & Mah, T. F. A novel small RNA is important for biofilm formation and pathogenicity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS ONE 12, e0182582 (2017).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Gomez-Lozano, M., Marvig, R. L., Molin, S. & Long, K. S. Genome-wide identification of novel small RNAs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Environ. Microbiol. 14, 2006–2016 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wurtzel, O. et al. The single-nucleotide resolution transcriptome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa grown in body temperature. PLoS Pathog. 8, e1002945 (2012).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Green, S. K., Schroth, M. N., Cho, J. J., Kominos, S. K. & Vitanza-jack, V. B. Agricultural plants and soil as a reservoir for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl. Microbiol. 28, 987–991 (1974).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Khan, N. H. et al. Isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from open ocean and comparison with freshwater, clinical, and animal isolates. Microb. Ecol. 53, 173–186 (2007).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Haritash, A. K. & Kaushik, C. P. Biodegradation aspects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): a review. J. Hazard. Mater. 169, 1–15 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rybtke, M., Hultqvist, L. D., Givskov, M. & Tolker-Nielsen, T. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm infections: community structure, antimicrobial tolerance and immune response. J. Mol. Biol. 427, 3628–3645 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Favero, M. S., Carson, L. A., Bond, W. W. & Petersen, N. J. Pseudomonas aeruginosa: growth in distilled water from hospitals. Science 173, 836–838 (1971).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ringen, L. M. & Drake, C. H. A study of the incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from various natural sources. J. Bacteriol. 64, 841–845 (1952).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Botzenhart, K. & Döring, G. in Pseudomonas aeruginosa as an Opportunistic Pathogen (eds Campa, M., Bendinelli, M. & Friedman, H.) 1–18 (Springer, 1993).
Qin, S. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa: pathogenesis, virulence factors, antibiotic resistance, interaction with host, technology advances and emerging therapeutics. Signal. Transduct. Target. Ther. 7, 199 (2022). Here, the authors present a comprehensive review of the virulence factors of P. aeruginosa.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sikdar, R. & Elias, M. H. Evidence for complex interplay between quorum sensing and antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiol. Spectr. 10, e0126922 (2022).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Shrout, J. D. et al. The impact of quorum sensing and swarming motility on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation is nutritionally conditional. Mol. Microbiol. 62, 1264–1277 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
West, S. A., Winzer, K., Gardner, A. & Diggle, S. P. Quorum sensing and the confusion about diffusion. Trends Microbiol. 20, 586–594 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Whiteley, M., Diggle, S. P. & Greenberg, E. P. Progress in and promise of bacterial quorum sensing research. Nature 551, 313–320 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wagner, V. E., Bushnell, D., Passador, L., Brooks, A. I. & Iglewski, B. H. Microarray analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing regulons: effects of growth phase and environment. J. Bacteriol. 185, 2080–2095 (2003).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Whiteley, M., Lee, K. M. & Greenberg, E. P. Identification of genes controlled by quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 13904–13909 (1999).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Schuster, M., Lostroh, C. P., Ogi, T. & Greenberg, E. P. Identification, timing, and signal specificity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-controlled genes: a transcriptome analysis. J. Bacteriol. 185, 2066–2079 (2003).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Letizia, M. et al. PqsE expands and differentially modulates the RhlR quorum sensing regulon in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiol. Spectr. 10, e0096122 (2022).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rampioni, G. et al. Unravelling the genome-wide contributions of specific 2-alkyl-4-quinolones and PqsE to quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS Pathog. 12, e1006029 (2016).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Schuster, M. & Greenberg, E. P. A network of networks: quorum-sensing gene regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 296, 73–81 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Borgert, S. R. et al. Moonlighting chaperone activity of the enzyme PqsE contributes to RhlR-controlled virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Nat. Commun. 13, 7402 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Taylor, I. R. et al. Inhibitor mimetic mutations in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PqsE enzyme reveal a protein–protein interaction with the quorum-sensing receptor RhlR that is vital for virulence factor production. ACS Chem. Biol. 16, 740–752 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Pearson, J. P., Feldman, M., Iglewski, B. H. & Prince, A. Pseudomonas aeruginosa cell-to-cell signaling is required for virulence in a model of acute pulmonary infection. Infect. Immun. 68, 4331–4334 (2000).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, K. P., Griswold, J. A., Iglewski, B. H. & Hamood, A. N. Contribution of quorum sensing to the virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in burn wound infections. Infect. Immun. 67, 5854–5862 (1999).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rampioni, G. et al. Transcriptomic analysis reveals a global alkyl-quinolone-independent regulatory role for PqsE in facilitating the environmental adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to plant and animal hosts. Environ. Microbiol. 12, 1659–1673 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Latifi, A., Foglino, M., Tanaka, K., Williams, P. & Lazdunski, A. A hierarchical quorum-sensing cascade in Pseudomonas aeruginosa links the transcriptional activators LasR and RhIR (VsmR) to expression of the stationary-phase sigma factor RpoS. Mol. Microbiol. 21, 1137–1146 (1996).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
McGrath, S., Wade, D. S. & Pesci, E. C. Dueling quorum sensing systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa control the production of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS). FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 230, 27–34 (2004).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wade, D. S. et al. Regulation of Pseudomonas quinolone signal synthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Bacteriol. 187, 4372–4380 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
McKnight, S. L., Iglewski, B. H. & Pesci, E. C. The Pseudomonas quinolone signal regulates rhl quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Bacteriol. 182, 2702–2708 (2000).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Feltner, J. B. et al. LasR variant cystic fibrosis isolates reveal an adaptable quorum-sensing hierarchy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. mBio 7, e01513–e01516 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kostylev, M. et al. Evolution of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing hierarchy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 7027–7032 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Cruz, R. L. et al. RhlR-regulated acyl-homoserine lactone quorum sensing in a cystic fibrosis isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. mBio 11, e00532–20 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Dekimpe, V. & Deziel, E. Revisiting the quorum-sensing hierarchy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: the transcriptional regulator RhlR regulates LasR-specific factors. Microbiology 155, 712–723 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Oshri, R. D., Zrihen, K. S., Shner, I., Omer Bendori, S. & Eldar, A. Selection for increased quorum-sensing cooperation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa through the shut-down of a drug resistance pump. ISME J. 12, 2458–2469 (2018).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
O'Loughlin, C. T. et al. A quorum-sensing inhibitor blocks Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence and biofilm formation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 17981–17986 (2013).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
O'Connor, K., Zhao, C. Y., Mei, M. & Diggle, S. P. Frequency of quorum-sensing mutations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from different environments. Microbiology 168, 001265 (2022).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Trottier, M. C. et al. The end of the reign of a “master regulator”? A defect in function of the LasR quorum sensing regulator is a common feature of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. mBio 15, e0237623 (2024).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Groleau, M. C., Taillefer, H., Vincent, A. T., Constant, P. & Deziel, E. Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates defective in function of the LasR quorum sensing regulator are frequent in diverse environmental niches. Environ. Microbiol. 24, 1062–1075 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Vanderwoude, J. et al. The evolution of virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa during chronic wound infection. Proc. Biol. Sci. 287, 20202272 (2020).
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Azimi, S., Klementiev, A. D., Whiteley, M. & Diggle, S. P. Bacterial quorum sensing during infection. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 74, 201–219 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Diggle, S. P., Griffin, A. S., Campbell, G. S. & West, S. A. Cooperation and conflict in quorum-sensing bacterial populations. Nature 450, 411–414 (2007). This study experimentally demonstrates that quorum sensing in P. aeruginosa can be exploited by non-cooperative individuals, with kin selection mitigating this issue.
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhao, K. et al. Evolution of lasR mutants in polymorphic Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations facilitates chronic infection of the lung. Nat. Commun. 14, 5976 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sandoz, K. M., Mitzimberg, S. M. & Schuster, M. Social cheating in Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 15876–15881 (2007).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, K. P. et al. Quorum sensing and the social evolution of bacterial virulence. Curr. Biol. 19, 341–345 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
D'Argenio, D. A. et al. Growth phenotypes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasR mutants adapted to the airways of cystic fibrosis patients. Mol. Microbiol. 64, 512–533 (2007).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hoffman, L. R. et al. Nutrient availability as a mechanism for selection of antibiotic tolerant Pseudomonas aeruginosa within the CF airway. PLoS Pathog. 6, e1000712 (2010).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Barth, A. L. & Pitt, T. L. The high amino-acid content of sputum from cystic fibrosis patients promotes growth of auxotrophic Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Med. Microbiol. 45, 110–119 (1996).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Clay, M. E. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasR mutant fitness in microoxia is supported by an Anr-regulated oxygen-binding hemerythrin. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 3167–3173 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Azimi, S. et al. Allelic polymorphism shapes community function in evolving Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations. ISME J. 14, 1929–1942 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hoffman, L. R. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa lasR mutants are associated with cystic fibrosis lung disease progression. J. Cyst. Fibros. 8, 66–70 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chugani, S. A. et al. QscR, a modulator of quorum-sensing signal synthesis and virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 98, 2752–2757 (2001).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Ding, F. et al. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa orphan quorum sensing signal receptor QscR regulates global quorum sensing gene expression by activating a single linked operon. mBio https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01274-18 (2018).
Smith, P. & Schuster, M. Antiactivators prevent self-sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2201242119 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rattray, J. B. et al. Bacterial quorum sensing allows graded and bimodal cellular responses to variations in population density. mBio 13, e0074522 (2022).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Mellini, M. et al. RsaL-driven negative regulation promotes heterogeneity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing. mBio 14, e0203923 (2023).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Bondi, R. et al. The multi-output incoherent feedforward loop constituted by the transcriptional regulators LasR and RsaL confers robustness to a subset of quorum sensing genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Mol. Biosyst. 13, 1080–1089 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ackermann, M. A functional perspective on phenotypic heterogeneity in microorganisms. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 13, 497–508 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Sindeldecker, D. & Stoodley, P. The many antibiotic resistance and tolerance strategies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Biofilm 3, 100056 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Ciofu, O., Moser, C., Jensen, P. O. & Hoiby, N. Tolerance and resistance of microbial biofilms. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 20, 621–635 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Franklin, M. J., Nivens, D. E., Weadge, J. T. & Howell, P. L. Biosynthesis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa extracellular polysaccharides, alginate, Pel, and Psl. Front. Microbiol. 2, 167 (2011).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Colvin, K. M. et al. The Pel and Psl polysaccharides provide Pseudomonas aeruginosa structural redundancy within the biofilm matrix. Environ. Microbiol. 14, 1913–1928 (2012).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Martin, D. W. et al. Mechanism of conversion to mucoidy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infecting cystic fibrosis patients. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 90, 8377–8381 (1993).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hentzer, M. et al. Alginate overproduction affects Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm structure and function. J. Bacteriol. 183, 5395–5401 (2001).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Colvin, K. M. et al. The Pel polysaccharide can serve a structural and protective role in the biofilm matrix of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS Pathog. 7, e1001264 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Le Mauff, F. et al. The Pel polysaccharide is predominantly composed of a dimeric repeat of alpha-1,4 linked galactosamine and N-acetylgalactosamine. Commun. Biol. 5, 502 (2022).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Murakami, K. et al. Role of psl genes in antibiotic tolerance of adherent Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 61, e02587–16 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jennings, L. K. et al. Pel is a cationic exopolysaccharide that cross-links extracellular DNA in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm matrix. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 11353–11358 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wang, S. et al. The exopolysaccharide Psl–eDNA interaction enables the formation of a biofilm skeleton in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Environ. Microbiol. Rep. 7, 330–340 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Whitchurch, C. B., Tolker-Nielsen, T., Ragas, P. C. & Mattick, J. S. Extracellular DNA required for bacterial biofilm formation. Science 295, 1487 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Turnbull, L. et al. Explosive cell lysis as a mechanism for the biogenesis of bacterial membrane vesicles and biofilms. Nat. Commun. 7, 11220 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Nazeer, R. R., Wang, M. & Welch, M. More than just a gel: the extracellular matrixome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Front. Mol. Biosci. 10, 1307857 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Couto, N., Schooling, S. R., Dutcher, J. R. & Barber, J. Proteome profiles of outer membrane vesicles and extracellular matrix of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. J. Proteome Res. 14, 4207–4222 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Diggle, S. P. et al. The galactophilic lectin, LecA, contributes to biofilm development in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Environ. Microbiol. 8, 1095–1104 (2006).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Passos da Silva, D. et al. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectin LecB binds to the exopolysaccharide Psl and stabilizes the biofilm matrix. Nat. Commun. 10, 2183 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Reichhardt, C. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm matrix protein CdrA has similarities to other fibrillar adhesin proteins. J. Bacteriol. 205, e0001923 (2023).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ha, D. G. & O'Toole, G. A. c-di-GMP and its effects on biofilm formation and dispersion: a Pseudomonas aeruginosa review. Microbiol. Spectr. 3, MB-0003–MB-2014 (2015).
Article
Google Scholar
Zheng, X. et al. The surface interface and swimming motility influence surface-sensing responses in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 121, e2411981121 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, K. P. & Bjarnsholt, T. Microbial primer: in vivo biofilm. Microbiology 169, 001407 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bjarnsholt, T. et al. The in vivo biofilm. Trends Microbiol. 21, 466–474 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Klausen, M., Aaes-Jorgensen, A., Molin, S. & Tolker-Nielsen, T. Involvement of bacterial migration in the development of complex multicellular structures in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Mol. Microbiol. 50, 61–68 (2003).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Nickel, J. C., Downey, J. A. & Costerton, J. W. Ultrastructural study of microbiologic colonization of urinary catheters. Urology 34, 284–291 (1989).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Costerton, J. W. et al. New methods for the detection of orthopedic and other biofilm infections. FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 61, 133–140 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Azimi, S. et al. O-specific antigen-dependent surface hydrophobicity mediates aggregate assembly type in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. mBio 12, e0086021 (2021).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Secor, P. R., Michaels, L. A., Bublitz, D. C., Jennings, L. K. & Singh, P. K. The depletion mechanism actuates bacterial aggregation by exopolysaccharides and determines species distribution and composition in bacterial aggregates. Front. Cell Infect. Microbiol. 12, 869736 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Secor, P. R., Michaels, L. A., Ratjen, A., Jennings, L. K. & Singh, P. K. Entropically driven aggregation of bacteria by host polymers promotes antibiotic tolerance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 10780–10785 (2018).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Bjarnsholt, T. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms in the respiratory tract of cystic fibrosis patients. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 44, 547–558 (2009).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Homøe, P., Bjarnsholt, T., Wessman, M., Sørensen, H. C. & Johansen, H. K. Morphological evidence of biofilm formation in Greenlanders with chronic suppurative otitis media. Eur. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol. 266, 1533–1538 (2009).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kirketerp-Moller, K. et al. Distribution, organization, and ecology of bacteria in chronic wounds. J. Clin. Microbiol. 46, 2717–2722 (2008).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kragh, K. N., Tolker-Nielsen, T. & Lichtenberg, M. The non-attached biofilm aggregate. Commun. Biol. 6, 898 (2023).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kolpen, M. et al. Bacterial biofilms predominate in both acute and chronic human lung infections. Thorax 77, 1015–1022 (2022).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Jennings, L. K. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregates in cystic fibrosis sputum produce exopolysaccharides that likely impede current therapies. Cell Rep. 34, 108782 (2021). This study demonstrates that the morphology of P. aeruginosa biofilm aggregate in cystic fibrosis sputum is consistent with a polysaccharide-dependent aggregation mechanism.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rossy, T. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pili actively induce mucus contraction to form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways. PLoS Biol. 21, e3002209 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, K. P. & Whiteley, M. Towards improved biofilm models. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01086-2 (2024).
Liao, C., Huang, X., Wang, Q., Yao, D. & Lu, W. Virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antivirulence strategies to combat its drug resistance. Front. Cell Infect. Microbiol. 12, 926758 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hauser, A. R. The type III secretion system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: infection by injection. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 7, 654–665 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Yahr, T. L., Goranson, J. & Frank, D. W. Exoenzyme S of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is secreted by a type III pathway. Mol. Microbiol. 22, 991–1003 (1996).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Liu, P. V. The roles of various fractions of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in its pathogenesis. 3. Identity of the lethal toxins produced in vitro and in vivo. J. Infect. Dis. 116, 481–489 (1966).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Michalska, M. & Wolf, P. Pseudomonas exotoxin A: optimized by evolution for effective killing. Front. Microbiol. 6, 963 (2015).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Armstrong, S., Yates, S. P. & Merrill, A. R. Insight into the catalytic mechanism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin A. Studies of toxin interaction with eukaryotic elongation factor-2. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 46669–46675 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Jorgensen, R. et al. Exotoxin A–eEF2 complex structure indicates ADP ribosylation by ribosome mimicry. Nature 436, 979–984 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ochsner, U. A., Johnson, Z., Lamont, I. L., Cunliffe, H. E. & Vasil, M. L. Exotoxin A production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa requires the iron-regulated pvdS gene encoding an alternative sigma factor. Mol. Microbiol. 21, 1019–1028 (1996).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Farajnia, S. et al. Protective efficacy of recombinant exotoxin A-flagellin fusion protein against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Can. J. Microbiol. 61, 60–64 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Galdino, A. C. M., Branquinha, M. H., Santos, A. L. S. & Viganor, L. in Pathophysiological Aspects of Proteases (eds Chakraborti, S. & Dhalla, N. S.) 381–397 (Springer, 2017).
Soberon-Chavez, G., Lepine, F. & Deziel, E. Production of rhamnolipids by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 68, 718–725 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Hall, S. et al. Cellular effects of pyocyanin, a secreted virulence factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Toxins 8, 236 (2016).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Allen, L. et al. Pyocyanin production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces neutrophil apoptosis and impairs neutrophil-mediated host defenses in vivo. J. Immunol. 174, 3643–3649 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Gallagher, L. A. & Manoil, C. Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 kills Caenorhabditis elegans by cyanide poisoning. J. Bacteriol. 183, 6207–6214 (2001).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Zuhra, K. & Szabo, C. The two faces of cyanide: an environmental toxin and a potential novel mammalian gasotransmitter. FEBS J. 289, 2481–2515 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Cornelis, P. & Dingemans, J. Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts its iron uptake strategies in function of the type of infections. Front. Cell Infect. Microbiol. 3, 75 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lamont, I. L., Beare, P. A., Ochsner, U., Vasil, A. I. & Vasil, M. L. Siderophore-mediated signaling regulates virulence factor production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 99, 7072–7077 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Janet-Maitre, M. et al. Genome-wide screen in human plasma identifies multifaceted complement evasion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS Pathog. 19, e1011023 (2023). This genome-wide screen in human plasma identifies novel factors that contribute to P. aeruginosa's multifaceted evasion of complement-mediated killing.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Turner, K. H., Wessel, A. K., Palmer, G. C., Murray, J. L. & Whiteley, M. Essential genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis sputum. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 4110–4115 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Vincent, J. L. et al. Prevalence and outcomes of infection among patients in intensive care units in 2017. JAMA 323, 1478–1487 (2020).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Pham, T. M. et al. Routes of transmission of VIM-positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the adult intensive care unit — analysis of 9 years of surveillance at a university hospital using a mathematical model. Antimicrob. Resist. Infect. Control 11, 55 (2022).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Garvey, M. I., Bradley, C. W., Tracey, J. & Oppenheim, B. Continued transmission of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from a wash hand basin tap in a critical care unit. J. Hosp. Infect. 94, 8–12 (2016).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Costa, D. et al. Nosocomial outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa associated with a drinking water fountain. J. Hosp. Infect. 91, 271–274 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Jones, A. M. et al. Spread of a multiresistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an adult cystic fibrosis clinic. Lancet 358, 557–558 (2001).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Milczewska, J. et al. Clinical outcomes for cystic fibrosis patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa cross-infections. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 55, 161–168 (2020).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Doring, G. et al. Generation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa aerosols during handwashing from contaminated sink drains, transmission to hands of hospital personnel, and its prevention by use of a new heating device. Zentralbl. Hyg. Umweltmed. 191, 494–505 (1991).
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Saitou, K., Furuhata, K., Kawakami, Y. & Fukuyama, M. Biofilm formation abilities and disinfectant-resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from cockroaches captured in hospitals. Biocontrol Sci. 14, 65–68 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Okuda, J. et al. Translocation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the intestinal tract is mediated by the binding of ExoS to an Na,K-ATPase regulator, FXYD3. Infect. Immun. 78, 4511–4522 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Pirnay, J. P. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa population structure revisited. PLoS ONE 4, e7740 (2009).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Curran, B., Jonas, D., Grundmann, H., Pitt, T. & Dowson, C. G. Development of a multilocus sequence typing scheme for the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42, 5644–5649 (2004).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Botelho, J., Grosso, F. & Peixe, L. Antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa — mechanisms, epidemiology and evolution. Drug Resist. Updat. 44, 100640 (2019).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Oliver, A., Mulet, X., Lopez-Causape, C. & Juan, C. The increasing threat of Pseudomonas aeruginosa high-risk clones. Drug Resist. Updat. 21-22, 41–59 (2015).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Winstanley, C. et al. Newly introduced genomic prophage islands are critical determinants of in vivo competitiveness in the liverpool epidemic strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Genome Res. 19, 12–23 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lee, C. et al. Why? — Successful Pseudomonas aeruginosa clones with a focus on clone C. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 44, 740–762 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Fischer, S., Dethlefsen, S., Klockgether, J. & Tummler, B. Phenotypic and genomic comparison of the two most common ExoU-positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa clones, PA14 and ST235. mSystems 5, e01007–e01020 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Treepong, P. et al. Global emergence of the widespread Pseudomonas aeruginosa ST235 clone. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 24, 258–266 (2018).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Del Barrio-Tofino, E., Lopez-Causape, C. & Oliver, A. Pseudomonas aeruginosa epidemic high-risk clones and their association with horizontally-acquired β-lactamases: 2020 update. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents 56, 106196 (2020).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Viedma, E. et al. VIM-2-producing multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa ST175 clone, Spain. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 18, 1235–1241 (2012).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Breidenstein, E. B., de la Fuente-Nunez, C. & Hancock, R. E. Pseudomonas aeruginosa: all roads lead to resistance. Trends Microbiol. 19, 419–426 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Shepherd, M. J. et al. Ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01041-1 (2024).
Lorusso, A. B., Carrara, J. A., Barroso, C. D. N., Tuon, F. F. & Faoro, H. Role of efflux pumps on antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23, 15779 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Diaz Caballero, J. et al. Mixed strain pathogen populations accelerate the evolution of antibiotic resistance in patients. Nat. Commun. 14, 4083 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Williams, D. et al. Divergent, coexisting Pseudomonas aeruginosa lineages in chronic cystic fibrosis lung infections. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 191, 775–785 (2015).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wheatley, R. et al. Rapid evolution and host immunity drive the rise and fall of carbapenem resistance during an acute Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Nat. Commun. 12, 2460 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Meirelles, L. A. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa faces a fitness trade-off between mucosal colonization and antibiotic tolerance during airway infection. Nat. Microbiol. 9, 3284–3303 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Andersson, D. I., Nicoloff, H. & Hjort, K. Mechanisms and clinical relevance of bacterial heteroresistance. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 17, 479–496 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ikonomidis, A. et al. Efflux system overexpression and decreased OprD contribute to the carbapenem heterogeneity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 279, 36–39 (2008).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Mei, S., Gao, Y., Zhu, C., Dong, C. & Chen, Y. Research of the heteroresistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to imipenem. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Med. 8, 6129–6132 (2015).
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Xu, Y. et al. Mechanisms of heteroresistance and resistance to imipenem in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Infect. Drug Resist. 13, 1419–1428 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Li, W. R. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa heteroresistance to levofloxacin caused by upregulated expression of essential genes for DNA replication and repair. Front. Microbiol. 13, 1105921 (2022).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Brauncajs, M., Bielec, F., Macieja, A. & Pastuszak-Lewandoska, D. Cefiderocol — an effective antimicrobial for MDR infections but a challenge for routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Adv. Med. Sci. 69, 256–263 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Hahn, A. et al. Bacteriophage therapy for pan-drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in two persons with cystic fibrosis. J. Investig. Med. High Impact Case Rep. 11, 23247096231188243 (2023).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jault, P. et al. Efficacy and tolerability of a cocktail of bacteriophages to treat burn wounds infected by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PhagoBurn): a randomised, controlled, double-blind phase 1/2 trial. Lancet Infect. Dis. 19, 35–45 (2019).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rumbaugh, K. P. & Sauer, K. Biofilm dispersion. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 18, 571–586 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rezzoagli, C., Archetti, M., Mignot, I., Baumgartner, M. & Kummerli, R. Combining antibiotics with antivirulence compounds can have synergistic effects and reverse selection for antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PLoS Biol. 18, e3000805 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Allen, R. C., Popat, R., Diggle, S. P. & Brown, S. P. Targeting virulence: can we make evolution-proof drugs? Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 12, 300–308 (2014).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Mei, M., Estrada, I., Diggle, S. P. & Goldberg, J. B. R-pyocins as targeted antimicrobials against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. npj Antimicrob. Resist. 3, 17 (2025).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lee, D. G. et al. Genomic analysis reveals that Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence is combinatorial. Genome Biol. 7, R90 (2006).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Freschi, L. et al. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa pan-genome provides new insights on its population structure, horizontal gene transfer, and pathogenicity. Genome Biol. Evol. 11, 109–120 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rudra, B., Duncan, L., Shah, A. J., Shah, H. N. & Gupta, R. S. Phylogenomic and comparative genomic studies robustly demarcate two distinct clades of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains: proposal to transfer the strains from an outlier clade to a novel species Pseudomonas paraeruginosa sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.005542 (2022).
Abram, K. Z., Jun, S. R. & Udaondo, Z. Pseudomonas aeruginosa pangenome: core and accessory genes of a highly resourceful opportunistic pathogen. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 1386, 3–28 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kung, V. L., Ozer, E. A. & Hauser, A. R. The accessory genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 74, 621–641 (2010).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Darch, S. E. et al. Recombination is a key driver of genomic and phenotypic diversity in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa population during cystic fibrosis infection. Sci. Rep. 5, 7649 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jorth, P. et al. Regional isolation drives bacterial diversification within cystic fibrosis lungs. Cell Host Microbe 18, 307–319 (2015).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Vanderwoude, J., Azimi, S., Read, T. D. & Diggle, S. P. The role of hypermutation and collateral sensitivity in antimicrobial resistance diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations in cystic fibrosis lung infection. mBio 15, e0310923 (2024).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Whiteley, M. et al. Gene expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. Nature 413, 860–864 (2001).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Palmer, K. L., Aye, L. M. & Whiteley, M. Nutritional cues control Pseudomonas aeruginosa multicellular behavior in cystic fibrosis sputum. J. Bacteriol. 189, 8079–8087 (2007).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Arai, H. Regulation and function of versatile aerobic and anaerobic respiratory metabolism in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Front. Microbiol. 2, 103 (2011).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Palmer, G. C. & Whiteley, M. Metabolism and pathogenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in the lungs of individuals with cystic fibrosis. Microbiol. Spectr. https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.MBP-0003-2014 (2015).
Sauvage, S. et al. Impact of carbon source supplementations on Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology. J. Proteome Res. 21, 1392–1407 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Cox, C. D. & Parker, J. Use of 2-aminoacetophenone production in identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Clin. Microbiol. 9, 479–484 (1979).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Dunphy, L. J. et al. Multidimensional clinical surveillance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa reveals complex relationships between isolate source, morphology, and antimicrobial resistance. mSphere 6, e0039321 (2021).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
da Cruz Nizer, W. S. et al. Oxidative stress response in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pathogens 10, 1187 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Neves, P. R., McCulloch, J. A., Mamizuka, E. M. & Lincopan, N. in Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology 2nd edn (eds Batt, C. A. & Tortorello, M. L.) 253–260 (Academic Press, 2014).
Visca, P., Imperi, F. & Lamont, I. L. Pyoverdine siderophores: from biogenesis to biosignificance. Trends Microbiol. 15, 22–30 (2007).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Lau, G. W., Hassett, D. J., Ran, H. & Kong, F. The role of pyocyanin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Trends Mol. Med. 10, 599–606 (2004).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ogunnariwo, J. & Hamilton-Miller, J. M. Brown- and red-pigmented Pseudomonas aeruginosa: differentiation between melanin and pyorubrin. J. Med. Microbiol. 8, 199–203 (1975).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Michel-Briand, Y. & Baysse, C. The pyocins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Biochimie 84, 499–510 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Besse, A., Groleau, M. C. & Deziel, E. Emergence of small colony variants is an adaptive strategy used by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to mitigate the effects of redox imbalance. mSphere 8, e0005723 (2023).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Dietrich, L. E. et al. Bacterial community morphogenesis is intimately linked to the intracellular redox state. J. Bacteriol. 195, 1371–1380 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Giallonardi, G. et al. Alkyl-quinolone-dependent quorum sensing controls prophage-mediated autolysis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa colony biofilms. Front. Cell Infect. Microbiol. 13, 1183681 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Rashid, M. H. & Kornberg, A. Inorganic polyphosphate is needed for swimming, swarming, and twitching motilities of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 97, 4885–4890 (2000).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Craig, L., Forest, K. T. & Maier, B. Type IV pili: dynamics, biophysics and functional consequences. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 17, 429–440 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Holloway, B. W. Genetic recombination in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J. Gen. Microbiol. 13, 572–581 (1955).
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Rahme, L. G. et al. Common virulence factors for bacterial pathogenicity in plants and animals. Science 268, 1899–1902 (1995).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Parsek, M. R. & Greenberg, E. P. Sociomicrobiology: the connections between quorum sensing and biofilms. Trends Microbiol. 13, 27–33 (2005).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Cornforth, D. M., Diggle, F. L., Melvin, J. A., Bomberger, J. M. & Whiteley, M. Quantitative framework for model evaluation in microbiology research using Pseudomonas aeruginosa and cystic fibrosis infection as a test case. mBio 11, e03042–19 (2020). In this study, the authors provide a framework for quantifying the accuracy of preclinical models relative to human infections.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lewin, G. R. et al. Application of a quantitative framework to improve the accuracy of a bacterial infection model. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2221542120 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Guan, J. et al. Bacteriophage genome engineering with CRISPR–Cas13a. Nat. Microbiol. 7, 1956–1966 (2022). This study develops a genetic editing tool using RNA-targeting CRISPR–Cas13a and P. aeruginosa to manipulate jumbo phages, overcoming challenges posed by their protective phage nucleus.
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lewin, G. R., Stocke, K. S., Lamont, R. J. & Whiteley, M. A quantitative framework reveals traditional laboratory growth is a highly accurate model of human oral infection. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2116637119 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Duncan, R. P. et al. Improvement of a mouse infection model to capture Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic physiology in cystic fibrosis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 121, e2406234121 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chaikeeratisak, V. et al. Assembly of a nucleus-like structure during viral replication in bacteria. Science 355, 194–197 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Download references
The authors thank the Cystic Fibrosis foundation for grants (WHITEL20A0 and WHITEL22G0) to M.W. and a postdoctoral fellowship to M.L. (LETIZI24G0-BASBAUM); the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for funding to S.P.D. (R01AI153116 and R56AI184449) and M.W. (R01AI189786).
School of Biological Sciences, Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Morgana Letizia, Stephen P. Diggle & Marvin Whiteley
Emory Children's Cystic Fibrosis Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
Morgana Letizia, Stephen P. Diggle & Marvin Whiteley
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
The authors contributed equally to all aspects of the article.
Correspondence to
Marvin Whiteley.
M.W. is the co-founder and CSO of SynthBiome, Inc. M.L. and S.P.D. declare no competing interests.
Nature Reviews Microbiology thanks Niels Hoiby, 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.
Stochastic switching between phenotypic states to enhance population long-term fitness in fluctuating environmental conditions.
The spatial assembly and distribution of various organisms in an environment through time.
A mechanism of bacterial aggregation driven by electrostatic interactions between bacterial cell surfaces and polymers present in the environment.
A process in which the reduction of free energy through increased entropy of the whole system induces the stacked aggregation of bacterial cells in polymer-rich environments.
Cooperating individuals specialize in carrying out specific tasks, providing an inclusive fitness benefit to all individuals involved.
Cell-autonomous and density-independent reception of signals produced by the same cell.
Studies on the group behaviours of microorganisms.
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
Letizia, M., Diggle, S.P. & Whiteley, M. Pseudomonas aeruginosa: ecology, evolution, pathogenesis and antimicrobial susceptibility.
Nat Rev Microbiol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01193-8
Download citation
Accepted: 12 May 2025
Published: 29 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01193-8
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 Reviews Microbiology
(Nat Rev Microbiol)
ISSN 1740-1534 (online)
ISSN 1740-1526 (print)
© 2025 Springer Nature Limited
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
At some point, RNA must have replicated itself before the evolutionary arrival of DNA and proteins, and now we might know how.
Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?
Where did we all come from? It's a question that has lit fires of curiosity in philosophers, theologians, and more recently (at least, historically speaking) scientists for millennia. While the the older guard of high thought used stories or metaphors to derive life's origin story, scientists instead learn about the inner workings of life's smallest building blocks in an attempt to understand how they first formed life billions of years ago.
This long scientific exploration has led most evolutionary biologists to the conclusion that, for at least 400 million years, Earth was an “RNA World.” The hypothesis suggests that life first took form due to self-replicating RNA, before the evolutionary arrival of DNA or even proteins.
But there's a couple problems.
First, there's no trace of this “first replicator” in known biology. And second, scientists have failed to convincingly replicate RNA in an environment similar to early Earth. While scientists are very much still on the hunt for evidence that validates the first of these two issues, a team from University College of London (UCL) is closing in on solving the second problem.
Published in the journal Nature Chemistry, a team of UCL scientists (along with experts from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge) used three-letter “triplet” RNA building blocks subjected to acid and heat in water. This separated the RNA double-helix—the structure that makes replication so difficult—and scientists froze the solution.
What occurred next is possibly an intimate glimpse of how life first formed on Earth—between the liquid gaps of the ice crystals, these building blocks coated the RNA strands and prevented them from zipping back together. After the scientists thawed the solution and and made adjustments to pH and temperature, the RNA replicated again and again. Eventually, the strand was so long that these structures could perform biological functions.
“The triplet or three-letter building blocks of RNA we used, called trinucleotides, do not occur in biology today, but they allow for much easier replication. The earliest forms of life are likely to have been quite different from any life that we know about,” James Attwater, lead author of the study from UCL, said in a press statement. “The changing conditions we engineered can occur naturally, for instance with night and day cycles of temperature, or in geothermal environments where hot rocks meet a cold atmosphere.”
UCL has long been involved in constructing the play-by-play of life's origins on Earth. In 2017, for example, a study analyzed the chemistry that provided Earth with the very nucleotides necessary to construct the first RNA structures. This new study now attempts to understand, in a lab setting, how those ancient RNA first began replication, a process that's essential to understanding the foundation of life.
“Life is separated from pure chemistry by information, a molecular memory encoded in the genetic material that is transmitted from one generation to the next,” Philipp Holliger, the senior author of the study from MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, said in a press statement. “For this process to occur, the information must be copied, i.e. replicated, to be passed on.”
Currently, the researchers have only been able to replicate roughly 17 percent of the RNA strand (roughly 30 out of 180 letters), but the team says there's no reason they won't achieve complete replication with improved enzyme efficiency. The researchers also note that this reaction can't occur in saltwater (the salt disrupts the freezing process), but geothermal freshwater lakes or ponds would be the perfect chemical setting for RNA replication to take hold.
Although many questions remain, Earth's ancient RNA World could have actually had the capacity for self-replication. It's an intriguing step forward, but the scientific journey continues.
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.
Scientists Found a Hidden Force Beneath Africa
Scientists Found a Massive Hidden Copper Deposit
Toxic Fungi Could Threaten Millions of Lives
Hidden Hydrogen Can Power The World if We Find It
28 American Cities Are Sinking Into the Earth
‘Dark Comets' May Have Ferried Water to Earth
Could Yellowstone Have a Huge Source of Helium?
Why Won't Bolivia's ‘Zombie Volcano' Stay Dead?
Scientists Just Solved a Major Mystery About Hail
Scientists Go Deeper Into Mantle Than Ever Before
Scientists Found New Microbes in Earth's ‘Skin'
This Ancient Larva Still Has Its Brain And Guts
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.
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
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized computational biology. Recent developments in omics technologies, including single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, provide detailed genomic data alongside tissue histology. However, current computational models focus on either omics or image analysis, lacking their integration. To address this, we developed OmiCLIP, a visual–omics foundation model linking hematoxylin and eosin images and transcriptomics using tissue patches from Visium data. We transformed transcriptomic data into ‘sentences' by concatenating top-expressed gene symbols from each patch. We curated a dataset of 2.2 million paired tissue images and transcriptomic data across 32 organs to train OmiCLIP integrating histology and transcriptomics. Building on OmiCLIP, our Loki platform offers five key functions: tissue alignment, annotation via bulk RNA sequencing or marker genes, cell-type decomposition, image–transcriptomics retrieval and spatial transcriptomics gene expression prediction from hematoxylin and eosin-stained images. Compared with 22 state-of-the-art models on 5 simulations, and 19 public and 4 in-house experimental datasets, Loki demonstrated consistent accuracy and robustness.
Computational biology has advanced notably with artificial intelligence (AI) for tasks such as gene expression enhancement, single-cell perturbation prediction, tissue annotation, diagnosis, primary tumor origin predictions and image retrieval from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained images1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Recently, foundation models like CLIP8, CoCa9 and DeCLIP10 have been adapted to the field, fine-tuned with pathology images and captions, as seen in PLIP and CONCH11,12. These visual–language foundation models support applications like text-to-image and image-to-text retrieval, histology image classification, captioning and diagnosis improvement.
Omics data, including transcriptomics and genetics, provide crucial insights into cell types in health and disease, enhancing our understanding of cellular heterogeneity, lineage tracing and disease mechanisms13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22. Combining omics data with histology images offers complementary information for both research and clinical applications, and has been used for predicting cancer outcomes, prognosis and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy3. However, existing methods remain task specific and lack a unified multimodal AI model to integrate histology and omics data. Additionally, challenges remain in developing infrastructure to efficiently analyze sequencing data and pathology images together.
To address these gaps, we introduce omics and image pretraining, OmiCLIP, a transcriptomic–image dual-encoder foundation model and Loki platform, an infrastructure of multimodal analysis using OmiCLIP as a backbone. To train OmiCLIP, we curated the ST-bank dataset with 2.2 million tissue patches from 1,007 samples across 32 organs with paired whole-slide images (WSIs) and 10x Visium spatial transcriptomics (ST) data. Inspired by large language model-based single-cell models like GenePT23 and Cell2Sentence24, we represented transcriptomics of a tissue patch by a ‘sentence' of top-ranking highly expressed genes, separated by spaces (‘ '). Using this large-scale set of transcriptomics–histology image pairs, we trained the CLIP-based foundation model, integrating both genomic and image data. Building upon OmiCLIP, the Loki platform offers five core functions: tissue alignment, tissue annotation, cell-type decomposition, image–transcriptomics retrieval and ST gene expression prediction (Fig. 1). Loki provides several distinctive features, including aligning H&E images with ST data, annotating tissue H&E images based on bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) or marker genes and decomposing cell types from H&E images with reference to single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). We evaluated Loki's functions against 22 state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods on 5 simulation datasets, 19 publicly available experimental datasets and 4 in-house experimental datasets, showing Loki's consistent accuracy and robustness across tasks. We also investigated OmiCLIP's embeddings for clustering and annotating scRNA-seq data and predicting The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) participants' risk levels (Supplementary Notes 1 and 2).
a, The workflow of pretraining the OmiCLIP model with paired image–transcriptomics dataset via contrastive learning. b, Workflow of the Loki platform using the OmiCLIP foundation model as an engine. Left diagram illustrates the size of the training data in different organs. Right diagram lists the existing modules of the Loki platform, including tissue alignment, cell-type decomposition, tissue annotation, ST gene expression prediction and histology image–transcriptomics retrieval. Created in BioRender.com. c, The heat map represents image embeddings and transcriptomic embeddings similarity across various organs and disease conditions. The color of the heat map reflects the OmiCLIP's embedding similarities, with red indicating high similarity and blue indicating low similarity. HCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy; HBV, hepatitis B virus infection. d, Schematic illustration of Loki platform with transfer learning for 3D tissue analysis. Created in BioRender.com.
Transcriptomics provides insights into cellular diversity within tissues, making it a natural indicator of tissue diversity25. ST technologies bridge histopathology images and transcriptomics data, enabling the development of a foundation model that integrates both. We introduce OmiCLIP, a visual–transcriptomics foundation model trained on ST-bank, which includes diverse histopathology images and over 2.2 million paired transcriptomics from 113 studies (Fig. 1a–c and Supplementary Table 1). ST-bank covers 32 organ types, including conditions like health, cancer, heart failure and Alzheimer's disease (Fig. 1b,c). We applied a quality-control pipeline to retain ST data with high-resolution H&E images. As the batch effects may strongly affect the generalization ability of the model, the adopted rank-based strategies inspired by recent single-cell foundation models such as GeneFormer26 and scFoundation27 successfully eliminate batch effects through rank-based approaches rather than relying directly on raw read counts or normalized gene expression values. Specifically, we standardized text descriptions of the associated images by converting all Ensembl gene IDs to gene symbols and removing housekeeping genes. To format transcriptomics for language models, genes symbols were ranked from high to low by expression levels and structured into sentences for the text encoder (Fig. 1a).
OmiCLIP was fine-tuned using CoCa9, a SOTA visual–language foundation framework, comprising an image encoder, a text encoder and a multimodal fusion decoder. The image and transcriptomics modalities were aligned in a common representation space utilizing contrastive learning (Fig. 1a and Extended Data Figs. 1 and 2). In this dual-modality space, paired image and transcriptomic embedding vectors were optimized to be similar.
To evaluate OmiCLIP's reliability to image quality variability across samples due to technological limitations, we simulated low-quality H&E images by adding Gaussian noise and compared the similarity scores between the paired transcriptomic and original image embeddings, with paired transcriptomic and simulated low-quality image embeddings, which were encoded by OmiCLIP's image and transcriptomic encoders. PLIP and OpenAI CLIP served as benchmarks (Extended Data Fig. 3a,b), and results demonstrated that OmiCLIP is robust to variations in image quality.
For sequencing depth variability across technologies, we first analyzed the sequencing depth ranges in ST-bank and categorized samples into high, medium and low sequencing depth groups, identified as 11,792 unique molecular identifier (UMI) counts, 4,512 UMI counts and 615 UMI counts, respectively. Second, we generated low sequencing depth ST simulations using the downsampling function implemented in scuttle28. We evaluated transitions from high-to-medium sequencing depth, medium-to-low sequencing depth and high-to-low sequencing depth. We compared similarity scores between paired images and original transcriptomic embeddings, with paired images and downsampled transcriptomic embeddings. These embeddings were encoded using OmiCLIP's image and transcriptomic encoders, using PLIP and OpenAI CLIP as benchmarks (Extended Data Fig. 3c). Results demonstrated OmiCLIP's robustness across sequencing depths, highlighting its adaptability to datasets generated across different technologies.
The key advantage of contrastive-aligned visual–transcriptomics pretraining is its unique capability to drive the development of cross-modality tissue analysis tools. As a proof of concept, we developed Loki, a unified AI platform for multimodal analysis. In Loki, five modules were implemented, including Loki Align for multi-section tissue alignment, Loki Annotate for multimodal tissue annotation, Loki Decompose for cell-type decomposition from transcriptomics or histology, Loki Retrieve for histology image–transcriptomics retrieval and Loki PredEx for ST gene expression prediction from histology images (Fig. 1b). While these initial modules demonstrate its potential, Loki is designed to expand, supporting the development of more tools to further enhance multimodal tissue reconstruction and analysis. Loki could serve as the infrastructure that efficiently transfers transcriptomics such as scRNA-seq, bulk RNA-seq data and even marker genes into pathology image analysis via the pretrained model (OmiCLIP) (Fig. 1d), streamlining workflows, accelerating analysis and minimizing sequencing cost in research areas such as three-dimensional (3D) tissue studies and pathology diagnosis.
OmiCLIP's image embeddings capture the morphology of tissues, while its transcriptomic embeddings represent genomic characteristics. Since OmiCLIP includes both transcriptomics and image encoders, here we evaluated whether contrastive learning enhances the ability of each encoder to represent tissue types better than the initial encoders. To assess clustering performance, we moved beyond qualitative visualizations and introduced quantitative metrics to assess the quality of the clustering. The uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) visualizations showed that both embeddings clustered similar tissue types (Extended Data Fig. 2); however, the results were limited in their ability to quantify clustering quality and may have appeared unstable in some cases. Therefore, we computed the Calinski–Harabasz (CH) score29, a widely used clustering validation metric, which balances the dispersion between clusters with the cohesion within clusters (Methods). Higher CH scores reflect better clustering performance by indicating more distinct and internally consistent clusters.
First, we calculated CH scores across 95 tissue samples from the ST-bank dataset, which included expert-annotated cell types from breast, healthy heart, kidney cancer and lung tissues and heart tissue with myocardial infarction (Supplementary Table 2). These annotated cell types served as ground-truth cluster labels. Our results showed a significant increase (P value < 0.001; Extended Data Fig. 1) in CH scores for embeddings after contrastive learning compared to before, demonstrating improved clustering performance.
Second, we expanded the CH score calculations to the rest of the ST-bank samples, where no cell-type annotations are directly available. For these samples, the clusters were identified by the Leiden algorithm on the ST (Methods). After contrastive learning, CH scores significantly increased in all organ types (P value < 0.05; Extended Data Fig. 2). OmiCLIP's image embeddings also outperformed SOTA models like UNI7 and GigaPath30 by aligning image and transcriptomic data, not just image–image interactions. The results demonstrated OmiCLIP's ability to capture tissue heterogeneity.
Researchers recently began investigating spatial biology in 3D, revealing new insights into tissue organization and cellular interactions. This requires tools to align multiple H&E images or ST sections, and even cross-align H&E images with ST slides. However, spatial distortions and biological variations between sections make alignment challenging. To address this, we developed the module Loki Align to align ST-to-ST data, H&E image-to-H&E image, and H&E image-to-ST data. Loki Align first embeds patch-level transcriptomics or H&E images into a 768-dimension space using OmiCLIP, and then applies the adapted coherent point drift (CPD) method31 to align two embeddings, preserving probability distribution and topology (Fig. 2a and Methods). We evaluated Loki Align on four datasets including two simulation datasets, a set of eight adjacent small intestine tissue sections, and a set of two adjacent ovarian carcinosarcoma sections. To ensure compatibility with datasets that may not be represented in the ST-bank, we used fine-tuning as a default setting for the Loki Align in the alignment tasks. Fine-tuning minimized contrastive loss between image embeddings and the paired text embeddings of the top-expressed gene name sentence (Methods). We further evaluated the zero-shot performance on an ovarian carcinosarcoma dataset.
a, Schematic illustration of tissue alignment using ST and histology image with Loki Align. Created in BioRender.com. b, Performance comparison of tissue alignment on 100 low-noise and 100 high-noise simulated datasets, represented by the distance between ground truth and aligned simulated sample using Loki (ST-to-ST and image-to-ST) and baseline methods PASTE (ST-to-ST) and GPSA (ST-to-ST), respectively. P values were calculated using a one-sided Wilcoxon test. c, Alignment results on eight adjacent normal human small intestine samples using Loki (ST-to-ST and image-to-ST) and baseline methods PASTE (ST-to-ST), GPSA (ST-to-ST) and CPD (ST-to-ST), respectively. We colored the samples using the top three PCA components of OmiCLIP transcriptomic embeddings, mapped to red, green and blue color channels, respectively. For visualization, we stacked the eight samples together along the perpendicular axis before and after different alignment methods, respectively, and visualized from the side view. The source2 that has no spatial variable gene selected by GPSA to run it is marked as ‘not applicable' (NA). Box plots show the comparison of tissue alignment performances on these seven source samples respectively and combined, represented by the PCC (and Kendall's tau coefficient in Supplementary Fig. 1) of highly variable gene expression between target and source samples after alignment at the same location, using Loki and baseline methods (PASTE, GPSA and CPD using PCA embeddings as input), respectively. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5 times the interquartile range. d, Tissue alignment of two adjacent human ovarian carcinosarcoma samples using Loki (ST-to-ST and image-to-ST) and baseline methods PASTE (ST-to-ST), GPSA (ST-to-ST) and CAST (ST-to-ST), respectively. We colored the samples as described in c. e, Alignment performance comparison using PCC and Kendall's tau coefficient of the highly expressed gene expression between the target sample and the source sample at aligned locations, using Loki (ST-to-ST and image-to-ST) and baseline methods PASTE (ST-to-ST), GPSA (ST-to-ST) and CAST (ST-to-ST), respectively. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5 times the interquartile range; n = 147.
First, we simulated paired H&E images and ST data by perturbing gene expression and spatial locations with varying noise levels, covering diverse tissue types and disease types (Methods). We measured the distance between Loki-aligned data and the ground truth, and compared Loki Align with PASTE and GPSA, which are designed for ST section alignment32,33. At both high and low noise levels, Loki ST-to-ST alignment and Loki image-to-ST alignment ranked first and second, respectively, among the four methods (Fig. 2b), significantly outperforming PASTE and GPSA (P values < 0.001, Wilcoxon test). This superiority likely stems from PASTE's design for linear transformations, which maintains topological integrity but struggles with spatial warping32, while GPSA aims to map readouts to a common coordinate system, risking topological fidelity33.
Second, we tested Loki Align on eight adjacent human small intestine tissues sections34. Real-world datasets often present challenges due to distortions such as rotation, tilt, uneven slicing and missing fragments. For better performance, we fine-tuned OmiCLIP using the target slide's H&E image and ST data. We aligned seven source ST datasets to target ST data and seven source H&E images to target ST data using Loki Align and applied PASTE and GPSA to align seven source ST datasets to target ST data. Loki Align successfully aligned all source sections to the target section. To evaluate the performance, we calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and Kendall's tau coefficient. For ST-to-ST scenarios, we compared the aligned ST data and the target ST data. For image-to-ST scenarios, after aligning the H&E image to the target ST dataset, we compared the paired ST data corresponding to the H&E image with the target ST dataset. The median PCC for Loki's image-to-ST and ST-to-ST alignment ranged from 0.67 to 0.80 and 0.62 to 0.83, respectively (Fig. 2c). The median Kendall's tau coefficient ranged from 0.16 to 0.27 for Loki's image-to-ST and 0.18 to 0.27 for ST-to-ST alignment (Supplementary Fig. 1a). On the vertical plane, Loki correctly aligned the same tissue types by image-to-ST and ST-to-ST alignment, while PASTE and GPSA twisted the tissues. PASTE rotated three source sections (sources 1–3; Fig. 2c) and the PCC and Kendall's tau coefficient ranged from −0.25 to 0.39 and −0.06 to 0.13, respectively. GPSA found common coordinates in six of the seven slices but introduced tremendous distortions, resulting in a PCC of 0.27 to 0.56 and Kendall's tau coefficient of 0.06 to 0.13. Overall, Loki ST-to-ST and image-to-ST alignments outperformed the SOTA methods. To isolate the contributions of OmiCLIP embeddings versus the superior registration method (CPD), we applied CPD to both OmiCLIP embeddings and transcriptomic embeddings that was reduced to two principal components using principal component analysis (PCA; Fig. 2c). OmiCLIP embeddings significantly improved the performance of alignment compared to PCA embeddings (P value < 0.001, Wilcoxon test).
Third, we assessed Loki Align's performance on two adjacent human ovarian carcinosarcoma sections35 (Fig. 2d). With fine-tuning, Loki's ST-to-ST and image-to-ST achieved the best performance, with median PCCs of 0.88 and 0.86, and Kendall's tau coefficients of 0.21 and 0.18, respectively. PASTE, GPSA and CAST36 had median PCCs of 0.26, 0.43 and 0.71 and median Kendall's tau coefficients of 0.03, 0.04 and 0.09, respectively (P value < 0.01; Fig. 2e and Supplementary Fig. 1b). The spatial expression patterns of representative genes are shown in Supplementary Fig. 2.
Fourth, we evaluated Loki Align on a human breast cancer dataset37 with paired 10x Visium and Xenium slides (Extended Data Fig. 4). We generated simulation data by performing rotation and translation of Xenium data. To perform the alignment, we first calculated transcriptomic embeddings for the Visium slide using gene sentences derived from Visium transcriptomic data. For the Xenium slide, we created pseudo-Visium data by averaging gene expression values across pseudo-spots. These pseudo-Visium data were then used to calculate transcriptomic embeddings via the transcriptomic encoder of OmiCLIP. Finally, Loki Align was applied to align the transcriptomic embeddings of the Xenium slide with those of the Visium slide, with performance measured by the mean distance between the aligned and target spots. The resulting distance between the aligned Xenium slide and the target Visium slide was 0.08 mm, demonstrating that Loki Align effectively aligns Visium and Xenium slides with high precision.
Fifth, we evaluated the performance of three training strategies: pretraining plus fine-tuning, pure pretraining and pure training from scratch on ovarian carcinosarcoma samples (Supplementary Fig. 3). The best performance was achieved with pretraining plus fine-tuning, resulting in a median PCC of 0.86 and a Kendall's tau coefficient of 0.17. Pure pretraining showed comparable performance, with a median PCC of 0.85 and a Kendall's tau coefficient of 0.18. In contrast, training from scratch exhibited the lowest performance, with a median PCC of 0.53 and a Kendall's tau coefficient of 0.06. Overall, we recommend fine-tuning as a default setting for Loki Align, as it ensures compatibility with datasets underrepresented in the ST-bank.
Lastly, we examined whether Loki Align could leverage both modalities simultaneously for alignment over a single modality. To evaluate this, we integrated image embeddings and transcriptomic embeddings by averaging them and used the combined embeddings to align two adjacent ovarian carcinosarcoma samples. We then calculated the PCC and Kendall's tau coefficient for the image embeddings, transcriptomic embeddings and averaged embeddings to assess performance (Supplementary Fig. 4). The results indicated that the averaged embeddings did not outperform single-modality embeddings. Altogether, by addressing spatial distortions and biological variability, Loki Align enables the accurate alignment of multiple H&E images and ST sections, thereby supporting advanced 3D reconstructions of tissue organization, particularly for cross-modality studies that combine H&E images and ST data.
Next, we evaluated Loki's capability to analyze H&E images using bulk RNA-seq data, which is commonly used in both basic research and clinical practice. During OmiCLIP pretraining, the cosine similarities between paired ST and histology images were maximized, allowing the similarity between the H&E image of tissue patches and tissue-type-specific bulk RNA-seq data to indicate tissue-type enrichment. We developed Loki Annotate to annotate H&E images using tissue-type-specific bulk RNA-seq data as a reference. We used OmiCLIP to encode tissue patches from a WSI and the tissue-specific bulk RNA-seq data, then calculated the cosine similarity between the encoded embeddings (Fig. 3a). Higher similarity values indicate greater presence of the tissue type.
a, Schematic illustration of tissue annotation using H&E image and reference bulk RNA-seq data from different sources, with OmiCLIP paired image and transcriptomic embeddings. b, Histology WSIs of breast cancer, heart failure and normal breast samples. The major tumor regions, fibroblast cell-enriched regions and adipose regions are annotated by pathology experts in black lines. Heat map shows the similarity of WSIs to the corresponding reference bulk RNA-seq of tumor, fibroblast and adipose, respectively. The color of the heat map reflects the similarities between WSIs and reference bulk RNA-seq data, with red indicating high similarity and blue indicating low similarity. CLAM attention heat maps were generated using CLAM with default parameters.
We evaluated Loki Annotate on breast cancer, normal breast, and heart failure tissues. In three breast cancer tissues, H&E regions corresponding to tumor tissue showed high similarity with the bulk RNA-seq data from tumor biopsies, which include tumor-related markers such as COL1A1 (ref. 38) and ACTB39 (Fig. 3b and Supplementary Fig. 5). Similarity scores within the tumor regions were significantly higher than those outside (P value < 0.05, Wilcoxon test). Additionally, higher similarity scores were consistent with higher diagnostic values of tumors calculated by clustering-constrained-attention multiple-instance learning40 (CLAM, a SOTA WSI tumor analysis model; Fig. 3b). Next, we tested the similarity between H&E images of heart failure tissues and fibroblast RNA-seq data, as well as between H&E images of normal breast tissues and adipose RNA-seq data. The similarity scores in the corresponding pathology annotated regions were remarkably higher than the non-corresponding regions (Fig. 3b and Supplementary Fig. 5). In summary, Loki Annotate effectively annotates H&E images by using tissue-type-specific bulk RNA-seq data as a reference.
When bulk RNA-seq is unavailable, Loki Annotate can also annotate tissues using predefined marker genes, similar to the workflow of using bulk RNA-seq data without fine-tuning. We created tissue-specific gene lists using well-established markers, such as ‘TP53, EPCAM, KRAS, …, DSP' for tumors (Fig. 4a and Supplementary Table 3). As with the bulk RNA-seq approach, we used OmiCLIP to encode tissue patches from histology images and the gene name sentence composed from the marker gene list. We applied Loki Annotate to four benchmark histopathology datasets including CRC7K41 (eight tissue types), WSSS4LUAD42 (normal and tumor), PatchCamelyon43 (normal and tumor) and LC2500044 (benign and malignant). Tissue-type annotation was determined by cosine similarity derived from the dot product of normalized text embeddings and H&E image embeddings, with the highest cosine similarity score assigned as the predicted tissue to the query image. Based on these annotations, precision was defined as the proportion of correctly predicted tissues (true positives) of all predicted tissues, while recall was defined as the proportion of correctly predicted tissues of all actual tissues. The F1 score was calculated as the harmonic mean of precision and recall, which was used to measure classification performance. We measured annotation performance using F1 score and compared our results to the OpenAI CLIP model. Our analysis showed that Loki consistently outperformed OpenAI CLIP across all four datasets (Fig. 4b,c). The F1 scores of Loki ranged from 0.59 to 0.96, while the F1 scores of OpenAI CLIP ranged from 0.03 to 0.34 (Fig. 4c).
a, Schematic illustration of tissue annotation using H&E image and reference marker genes. The annotation result is decided by choosing the candidate texts with the highest similarity score to the input image query. For Loki, we used the text content of marker gene symbols of each tissue type. For the PLIP model, we used the text content of natural language description of each tissue type. b, Examples of similarity scores of images and texts calculated by Loki and OpenAI CLIP model, respectively. c, Comparison of zero-shot performances, represented by weighted F1 scores, across four datasets using Loki and OpenAI CLIP, respectively. Number of test samples for each dataset: CRC7K (n = 6,333); WSSS4LUAD (n = 10,091); LC25000 (n = 15,000); and PatchCamelyon (n = 32,768). d, Comparison of zero-shot performances, represented by weighted F1 scores, across four datasets using Loki, PLIP and incorporating Loki and PLIP models by average similarity (shown in a; Methods), respectively. e, Comparison of zero-shot performances, represented by weighted F1 scores of each tissue type in the CRC7K dataset using OpenAI CLIP model, Loki, PLIP model and incorporating Loki and PLIP models, respectively. f, Confusion matrix of the CRC7K dataset using Loki (left), PLIP model (middle) and incorporating Loki and PLIP models (right), respectively. The ground-truth labels are presented in rows and the predicted labels are presented in columns. ADI, adipose tissue; NOR, normal colon mucosa; TUM, colorectal carcinoma epithelium; LYM, lymphocytes; MUC, mucus; DEB, debris; MUS, smooth muscle; STR, cancer-associated stroma.
Several studies have developed visual–language foundation models using paired histopathology images and captions11,12. Given that transcriptomics and natural language provide complementary information, we investigated whether their combination could improve annotation performance without additional training. We applied PLIP, a visual–language foundation model for pathology image analysis, to annotate the tissue images by descriptive prompts, such as converting ‘tumor' to ‘an H&E image patch of colorectal adenocarcinoma epithelium' in the CRC7K dataset. Overall, PLIP performed comparably to Loki, with F1 scores ranging from 0.5 to 0.93 (Fig. 4d). We then combined Loki and PLIP by averaging their similarity scores of an H&E image and a given tissue type (Fig. 4a and Methods), resulting in the best performance across all four benchmark datasets (Fig. 4d,e). In CRC7K, PLIP misclassified 63% of colorectal adenocarcinoma epithelium images as cancer-associated stroma, while Loki misclassified 15% of tumor images as normal colon mucosa. Notably, combining Loki and PLIP achieved a 93% recall rate, demonstrating that combining transcriptomic and natural language enhances overall performance compared to each modality alone (Fig. 4f).
Since OmiCLIP can project the Visium ST data and H&E images to a shared embedding space, we developed Loki Decompose, a feature to decompose cell types in both ST data and H&E images, using scRNA-seq as a reference. Inspired by ST decomposition models like Tangram and CytoSPACE45,46, we used OmiCLIP to encode the patches (the same size as a Visium spot) of an H&E image and scRNA-seq transcriptomic profile into this embedding space. As an application of Tangram with OmiCLIP embeddings instead of gene expression data, Loki Decompose applied Tangram's nonconvex optimization algorithm47 to deconvolute the OmiCLIP embeddings of an H&E image patch or the embeddings of a Visium spot's transcriptomic profile rather than raw gene expression data, providing the cell-type composition of an image patch or a Visium spot (Fig. 5a). We assessed Loki Decompose on our in-house triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) dataset, a human colorectal cancer dataset48 and a brain dataset49,50.
a, Schematic illustration of tissue alignment using ST, reference scRNA-seq data and histology images with OmiCLIP paired transcriptomic and image embeddings after fine-tuning. b, H&E image of our in-house TNBC sample, characterized by Xenium into three major cell types: cancer epithelial, immune and stromal cells. c, Performance comparison of 12 decomposition methods using JS divergence, SSIM and impact scores. z-scores of JS divergence (or SSIM) across methods were calculated based on the average JS divergence (or SSIM) among cell types. The impact score of each method is the average of the z-score of JS divergence and SSIM (Methods). The green color indicates decomposition tools. The blue color indicates the performance of replacing OmiCLIP embeddings with other transcriptomic foundation models' embeddings. d, Cell-type decomposition results on three major cell types of the TNBC sample using the image by Loki and using ST by Tangram, with Xenium data as ground truth. The color of the heat map reflects the z-score, calculated by the probability distribution of each cell type. e, H&E image of the human colorectal cancer sample and cell-type distribution within the Visium-HD capture area. f, Bar plot shows the accuracy of decomposition on four major cell types by Loki using ST or image mode, and by Tangram using ST. Error bars indicate the standard deviation and the center values represent the mean. For both JS divergence and SSIM, adjusted P value > 0.1 using a two-sided Wilcoxon test. g, Whole-slide (20 mm × 13 mm) human colorectal cancer cell-type decomposition. Different tissue regions are annotated by the pathologist as ground truth. Heat map shows the cell-type distribution of fibroblast, tumor, intestinal epithelial, smooth muscle and immune/inflammatory cells, with color reflecting the density of each cell type. CLAM attention heat maps were generated using CLAM with default parameters. h, Cell-type decomposition results on the brain sample. Left, brain anatomic references with zoom-in H&E image patches of L1 (VLMCs, astrocytes), L2/3, L4/5, L6 and white matter (WM; oligodendrocytes), respectively. Created in BioRender.com. Right, heat map shows the cell-type distribution of VLMCs, astrocytes, L2/3, L4/5, L6 and oligodendrocytes, with color reflecting the distribution of each cell type.
First, we performed a Xenium experiment on the in-house TNBC sample and captured paired H&E images. We generated pseudo-Visium data from the Xenium data as a benchmark for evaluating Loki Decompose, using publicly available scRNA-seq data as a ref. 51. The Xenium data classified tissue into three main cell types: cancer epithelial cells, immune cells and stromal cells (Fig. 5b and Extended Data Fig. 5a,b). We used Loki to decompose pseudo-Visium spots and H&E images, using paired sequencing and image data from one-fourth of a WSI for fine-tuning followed by cross-validation (Methods). Decomposition accuracy was evaluated using Jensen–Shannon (JS) divergence and the structural similarity index measure (SSIM). These metrics were calculated by comparing the predicted cell-type proportions to the ground truth derived from the Xenium data. Since JS divergence and SSIM operate on different scales, we standardized their values by calculating z-scores among different methods (details in Methods). The z-score for JS divergence was inverted (that is, multiplied by −1), as lower values indicate better performance. Finally, we averaged the z-scores of JS divergence and SSIM to calculate an overall impact score, which provides a unified metric for comparison across methods. Loki Decompose in ST mode and image mode ranked as the top two methods with impact scores of 1.32 and 1.11, respectively, outperforming other SOTA methods52 including Tangram, Spatial Seurat53, CARD54, CytoSPACE, Cell2location50, SpatialDWLS55 and RCTD56, with impact scores ranging from 0.87 to −1.82 (Fig. 5c,d and Extended Data Fig. 5c). As single-cell foundation models such as GeneFormer26, scGPT57 and scFoundation27 can also provide the transcriptomic embeddings, to further evaluate the approach, we replaced OmiCLIP gene expression embeddings with those from single-cell foundation models GeneFormer, scGPT and scFoundation. Results showed that scGPT, scFoundation and GeneFormer ranked 6th, 8th and 9th, respectively (Fig. 5c and Extended Data Fig. 5c).
Second, we evaluated Loki Decompose using pseudo-Visium data generated from whole-genome sequencing Visium-HD data of human colorectal cancer as a benchmark (Fig. 5e). We fine-tuned OmiCLIP on regions with paired sequencing and image data (Methods). Remarkably, the transcriptomic embeddings for scRNA-seq data effectively captured cell heterogeneity, even without training on scRNA-seq data (Extended Data Fig. 6a and Supplementary Note 1). Loki Decompose successfully predicted the spatial distribution of key cell types (Extended Data Fig. 6b). We developed a technique inspired by non-maximum suppression (NMS)58 to refine spatial probabilistic maps, enhancing decomposition performance by reducing ambiguity in complex spatial scenarios and focusing predictions on the most confident cell-type assignments. Using JS divergence and SSIM scores, Loki Decompose based on either the ST data or the H&E images was comparable to Tangram, which used gene expression as input (Fig. 5f).
Third, we extended the analysis to the entire WSI (20 mm) of the same human colorectal cancer tissue (Fig. 5g), segmenting it into image patches matching Visium spot size. Similarly, we used OmiCLIP to encode image patches and transcriptomics of scRNA-seq and then decomposed those using scRNA-seq data. Loki Decompose accurately predicted densities of tumor, fibroblast, intestinal epithelial, smooth muscle, immune and inflammatory cells, aligning closely with pathology annotations (Fig. 5g). Additionally, our predicted tumor cell density matched that of CLAM40, further validating Loki Decompose's robustness (Fig. 5g).
Fourth, to test Loki Decompose in a more challenging scenario, we applied it to a brain tissue, where neurons share similar morphology. Our dataset included vascular and leptomeningeal cells (VLMCs), astrocytes, and neurons from layers 2/3 (L2/3), layers 4/5 (L4/5) and layer 6 (L6), as well as oligodendrocytes (Fig. 5h and Supplementary Fig. 6). VLMCs and astrocytes are concentrated near the cortical surface and pial borders (for example, layer 1), while oligodendrocytes are more prevalent in deeper layers and within white matter tracts49. To decompose the mouse brain cortex slice, we applied a workflow similar to the one for other decomposition tasks. First, we fine-tuned OmiCLIP using adjacent Visium data and H&E images, then segmented the WSI into patches, corresponding to Visium spot size. The transcriptomic encoder of OmiCLIP was used to encode the scRNA-seq data from the Allen Institute atlas49, while the image encoder was used to encode the H&E image. Finally, Loki Decompose was applied to predict cell-type distributions within the brain cortex H&E image. Loki Decompose accurately predicted the distribution of VLMCs, astrocytes, neurons from L2/3, L4/5 and L6 and oligodendrocytes, aligning closely with brain anatomic ref. 49.
Lastly, we tested the performance of decomposition using three training strategies: pretraining plus fine-tuning, pure pretraining and pure training from scratch on TNBC samples (Extended Data Fig. 7). The analysis showed that pretraining plus fine-tuning had the best performance, achieving a mean SSIM score of 0.30 and a mean JS divergence of 0.40. In contrast, pure pretraining resulted in a mean SSIM score of 0.13 and a mean JS divergence of 0.43, while pure training from scratch performed the worst, with a mean SSIM score of 0.00070 and a mean JS divergence of 0.44. Although pure pretraining achieved a comparable JS divergence score to the pretraining plus fine-tuning method (0.43 versus 0.40), it showed a notable decline in the SSIM (0.13 versus 0.30), underscoring the importance of fine-tuning for optimal performance. Therefore, we strongly recommend fine-tuning the model for this task to achieve optimal results.
Altogether, Loki Decompose effectively inferred cell-type fractions from H&E images and ST data, demonstrating its potential to enhance spatial tissue analysis by utilizing H&E images to reduce experimental costs and processing time, particularly in multi-section tissue studies.
One of the basic functions of contrastive learning models is retrieval. Leveraging such ability of OmiCLIP, we developed Loki Retrieve to identify and retrieve transcriptomics data corresponding to a given H&E image. Using OmiCLIP's image encoder, query images were encoded to embeddings to retrieve the most similar transcriptomic entries from the ST-bank dataset in the aligned latent space (Fig. 6a). We presented the top 50 most similar transcriptomics results, as demonstrated by the ST-paired images from the ST-bank dataset (Fig. 6b). Then, we systematically evaluated our model on diverse datasets including four independent histopathology datasets of colorectal cancer, lung cancer and lymph node metastasis, along with eight in-house tissues of heart failure, Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer human tissues (Supplementary Fig. 7). Because ground-truth transcriptomics data were unavailable, retrieval accuracy was assessed by measuring similarity between the query image and the retrieved transcriptomics-paired images. Overall, Loki Retrieve significantly outperformed OpenAI CLIP and PLIP by a large margin (Fig. 6c,d; P value < 0.05), achieving median similarity scores ranging from 0.7 to 0.9.
a, Schematic illustration of image-to-transcriptomics retrieval on the ST-bank dataset. b, Example image-to-transcriptomics retrieval results. For each example image from adipose tissue, colorectal adenocarcinoma epithelium, lymphocytes, smooth muscle and normal colon mucosa, the retrieved top 50 most similar transcriptomics are shown by the paired image from the ST-bank dataset. c, Image-to-transcriptomics retrieval similarity scores across the four validation datasets—CRC7K, WSSS4LUAD, LC25000 and PatchCamelyon—using Loki, OpenAI CLIP and PLIP. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5 times the interquartile range. d, Image-to-transcriptomics retrieval similarity scores across the eight in-house human tissues: heart failure (HF), Alzheimer's disease (AD), metaplastic breast cancer (MPBC) and TNBC, using Loki, OpenAI CLIP and PLIP. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5 times the interquartile range. e, Image-to-transcriptomics retrieval evaluation across four validation datasets and one test dataset using Loki, OpenAI CLIP and PLIP, with random baseline. The top-K quantile most similar transcriptomics were retrieved. We report Recall@K for K ∈ {5%, 10%} (Methods). f, Example image-to-transcriptomics retrieval results. The retrieved transcriptomics are shown by the paired image.
We further evaluated image-to-transcriptomics retrieval performance by calculating the rank of the correct pair using Recall@K (5% and 10%). This metric measures the proportion of correctly retrieved data within the samples retrieved using the top-K quantile (Methods). We used four reserved samples from ST-bank as validation datasets including brain, heart, kidney and breast tissue samples and four independent ST studies as a test dataset, including desmoplastic small round cell tumor, colorectal cancer, vascular and colon samples (Supplementary Table 4). Results demonstrated that Loki notably outperformed both OpenAI CLIP and PLIP across all validation datasets. Specifically, Loki achieved Recall@5% of 0.125 and Recall@10% of 0.227 for brain (average 2.3-fold higher than OpenAI CLIP and 2.5-fold higher than PLIP), Recall@5% of 0.186 and Recall@10% of 0.291 for heart (average 3.2-fold higher than OpenAI CLIP and 3.1-fold higher than PLIP), Recall@5% of 0.173 and Recall@10% of 0.297 for kidney (average 3.2-fold higher than OpenAI CLIP and PLIP) and Recall@5% of 0.140 and Recall@10% of 0.240 for breast (average 2.6-fold higher than OpenAI CLIP and PLIP; Fig. 6e). On the test dataset, Loki further demonstrated substantial improvements, achieving Recall@5% of 0.117 and Recall@10% of 0.208 (average 3.1-fold higher than OpenAI CLIP and 3.0-fold higher than PLIP; Fig. 6e and Supplementary Table 4). Together, these results confirm Loki's superior performance in accurately retrieving paired transcriptomic information from images.
Building on the success of Loki Align, Annotate and Decompose in analyzing tissue across the H&E image and transcriptomics data, we developed Loki PredEx to predict gene expression for image patches. Loki PredEx computes a weighted sum of gene expression from reference ST spots where weights are determined by similarity scores between the query image and ST data, both encoded by OmiCLIP (Supplementary Fig. 8 and Methods). Several studies have explored predicting gene expression from H&E images using AI models59,60,61,62. We compared Loki PredEx with them on a normal human heart dataset comprising 39 samples. Loki accurately predicted highly variable gene expression, as demonstrated by the spatial distribution of the predicted gene expression (Extended Data Fig. 8). To evaluate the performance, we used mean squared error (MSE) and PCC as two metrics. Loki PredEx demonstrated superior performance, achieving the best results based on MSE scores in 28 of 39 cases, and ranking as the best in 16 of 39 samples based on PCC compared to Hist2ST, HisToGene, BLEEP and mclSTExp (Extended Data Fig. 9a). These results showed the robustness of OmiCLIP in predicting ST data across diverse datasets (Extended Data Fig. 9b). A major limitation of deep learning models like HisToGene is their heavy hardware requirements. Models like HisToGene and Hist2ST were optimized for smaller legacy ST datasets, with fewer spots. For instance, HisToGene is typically trained on less than 7,000 spot–image pairs. However, with modern ST technologies such as Visium, slides contain over 4,000 spots, pushing memory demands above 300 GB and complicating GPU-based training. In our experiments, training HisToGene on over 80,000 spots from 35 tissues required 4 h on 16 2.60 GHz Intel Xeon Gold 6348 CPUs for 100 epochs and Hist2ST took 31 h under similar conditions. Loki PredEx avoids these resource-intensive training needs, providing a more efficient alternative. Together, Loki PredEx delivers accurate ST gene expression predictions, and avoids these resource-intensive training needs, providing a more efficient alternative based upon the use of pretrained weights, highlighting its potential as a scalable infrastructure.
Existing dual-modality foundation models in computational biology11,12 primarily combine images with textual descriptions, proving their utility in histopathology annotation and analysis. However, the natural language descriptions lack molecular insights for disease characterization. Our study first suggests that publicly available ST datasets provide sufficient volume and diversity to pretrain a foundation model bridging tissue morphology with genomics. The success of the development of our foundation model could represent a substantial step toward understanding molecular mechanisms regulating tissue phenotypes in health and disease.
We presented OmiCLIP, a high-performance histopathology image–omics foundation model by contrastive learning. Unlike visual–language foundation models, OmiCLIP integrates molecular insights with pathology images, complementing language descriptions. Benchmark results indicate that OmiCLIP performs comparably to, and in some cases surpasses visual–language foundation models in tissue annotation, suggesting that marker genes could serve as effective tissue labels independent of language. Notably, our annotation of tissue types incorporating both language description and marker genes shows promise for triple-modal foundation modeling of image, transcriptomics and language. Using marker genes as a label could potentially facilitate molecular investigation-related studies such as drug repurposing, immune response prediction and disease mechanism discovery.
A key question is whether OmiCLIP's transcriptomic encoder generalizes to other sequencing techniques like bulk RNA-seq and scRNA-seq. We evaluated the information of transcriptomic embeddings by cell annotation of scRNA-seq data (Supplementary Note 1) and tumor classification of bulk RNA-seq data (Supplementary Note 2). Our results show that OmiCLIP's transcriptomic embeddings efficiently cluster participants with cancer without specific training and accurately annotate cell types with even 1% of labeled cells.
Loki could potentially enhance 3D tissue analysis by integrating imaging and molecular modalities in a scalable and efficient manner. Emerging 3D histology and omics techniques already show promise in improving diagnostic accuracy by preserving native 3D tissue morphology, leading to better prognostic predictions and ultimately improved patient care63,64,65,66. However, challenges remain in spatial distortions and aligning molecular data across different modalities. Loki addresses these by aligning tissue slices and integrating ST, histology and scRNA-seq data, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of tissue architecture and cellular interactions, which is crucial for 3D tissue analysis. Incorporating Loki into workflows facilitates detailed molecular and spatial features analysis across tissue sections, supporting automated, scalable and high-resolution 3D tissue analysis.
Loki provides an AI-powered platform supporting the expansion of additional tools in a unified framework. Among the existing modules, Loki Annotate automates annotation and interpretation of molecular and spatial tissue features using associated or external RNA-seq data or marker genes. Loki PredEx predicts spatial gene expression from histology images, reducing reliance on costly and laborious ST experiments. These modules, leveraging contrastively aligned embeddings, enable efficient multimodal tissue reconstruction and analysis, providing a scalable solution to the growing demand for high-resolution tissue studies. Loki's ability to integrate diverse data types across tissue sections minimizes cost and complexity while accelerating workflows in enabling deeper insights into biological systems.
Compared to billion-scale datasets for developing visual–language models in the general machine-learning domain, the major limitation of this study is pretraining data size. We expect that continued use of training datasets may further improve the zero-shot performance. However, several biomedical multimodal foundation models were efficiently trained on million-scale datasets by removing duplicates and noise11,12,67, a strategy we used to optimize training efficiency.
Notably, as a contrastive learning framework, OmiCLIP is not generative and cannot directly generate the accurate transcriptomic profile of the query image. Instead, it retrieves tissues with the most similar transcriptomic profiles to the query tissue. While it effectively embeds transcriptomic and histology data at the patch level, it does not inherently generate new data, such as reconstructing a WSI with gene expression patterns. However, OmiCLIP's patch-level embeddings could support generative approaches, such as diffusion models, to reconstruct WSIs with ST details. Future studies could refine the transcriptomic encoder using RNA-seq datasets like scRNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq data. Although ST-bank includes 32 organ types, rare conditions may be underrepresented. We suggest fine-tuning alignment and decomposition tasks to ensure compatibility with datasets that are not covered in ST-bank (Extended Data Fig. 10).
Unlike single-cell foundation models like scGPT57, Geneformer26 and scFoundation27, our approach models omics data as text, effectively bridging molecular and visual modalities. Representing gene expression data as text leverages natural language processing models to embed biological information into a high-dimensional space, offering several advantages over using gene expression values directly. First, text embeddings integrate omics data with various biological entities such as pathways, functional annotations68 and cell types69, extending the model's capabilities beyond tissue alignment and decomposition, making it adaptable to a broader range of biological tasks. Second, this approach aligns with other multimodal foundation models, and allows incorporation of proteomics, metabolomics and DAPI images into the same unified space. In contrast, raw gene expression values lack flexibility for such integrations and require additional preprocessing. Third, text-based foundation models trained on billions of tokens provided robust text embeddings, like GenePT23, demonstrating that gene embeddings from textual descriptions can match or surpass models trained on extensive gene expression datasets. This supports our approach of utilizing text-based embeddings to capture rich biological information efficiently.
While integrating two modalities enhances information capture, it may also introduce noise or misalignment, potentially overshadowing benefits. If one modality dominates, performance gains from dual-modality fusion may be minimal.
Loki Decompose is valuable in scenarios where sequencing costs limit transcriptomic profiling. By estimating cell-type proportions from images, researchers can preselect, screen or perform batch processing of samples cost-effectively for exploratory studies and large-scale screenings. Loki Retrieve utilizes curated reference images for ground-truth comparisons, aiding validation and interpretation, especially when training data for prediction models like Loki PredEx are scarce. Together, our approach contributes to a unified, scalable framework for multimodal analysis.
To conclude, we created ST-bank, a dataset of over 2 million pathology-specific image–transcriptomics pairs. We developed OmiCLIP to integrate these data, forming a visual–omics foundation model. Leveraging OmiCLIP, we built Loki, an infrastructure enabling multimodal analysis for tissue alignment, tissue annotation, cell-type decomposition, histology image–transcriptomics retrieval and ST gene expression prediction. These capabilities represent a fundamental step toward bridging and applying foundation models in genomics for histopathology.
We curated a large dataset of histopathology image–transcriptomics pairs using publicly available 10x Visium datasets (Supplementary Table 1). H&E images were cropped to match ST spot sizes, and text sentences were generated by combining the top 50 expressed genes per spot into sentences. For example, the top-expressed genes in one spot, for example, SNAP25, ENO2, CKB, GRIN2C and CAMK4, will be combined into a sentence: ‘SNAP25 ENO2 CKB GRIN2C CAMK4 … MTOR VPS13D'. Data preprocessing involved removing duplicates and excluding low-resolution H&E images (<2,000 × 2,000 pixels), and normalizing raw count matrices following standard protocols using Seurat70 and Scanpy71. For datasets in transcripts per million or fragments per kilobase of transcript per million fragments mapped formats, which cannot be normalized to standard gene expression profiles, were retained unchanged. Quality control was applied to filter out contaminated, extremely low-quality or damaged cells, retaining only those with over 200 expressed genes. Ensembl gene IDs were converted to gene symbols for consistency. Housekeeping genes were removed to ensure a more biologically relevant analysis. These steps resulted in ST-bank, a pathology-specific image–transcriptomics caption dataset of 2,185,571 pairs.
Simulated datasets were generated from ten human tissue slices including two breast cancer72,73, one colorectal liver cancer74, one liver cancer75, one prostate cancer76, one 10x Genomics prostate cancer, one 10x Genomics colon cancer, one embryonic lung77, one normal small intestine34 and one sleep apnea tonsil sample78. We simulated new ST experiments by perturbing both gene expression and spatial locations at different levels of noise, generating 10 simulated datasets per real dataset, totaling 200 datasets (100 low-noise, 100 high-noise). Real-world data tests used a normal human small intestine Visium dataset34 of eight adjacent tissue slices, a human ovarian carcinosarcoma Visium dataset35 of two adjacent tissue slices and a human breast cancer Visium and Xenium dataset37.
Bulk RNA-seq data-based annotation used three normal human breast and three human heart failure histology images79,80 and three breast cancer histology images from TCGA. Pathology experts annotated different tissue regions. Bulk RNA-seq datasets including 663 human adipose and 504 fibroblast samples from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Portal and three paired tumor biopsy samples from TCGA. Marker gene-based annotation included four datasets: CRC7K (6,333 colorectal adenocarcinoma images), WSSS4LUAD (10,091 LUAD images), LC25000 (25,000 lung and colon images) and PatchCamelyon (32,768 lymph node images).
We downloaded a human colorectal cancer dataset48 to create pseudo-Visium spots in the Visium-HD capture area. Pathology experts annotated different tissue regions. We collected an in-house TNBC patient-derived xenograft for processing on Xenium slides, to create pseudo-Visium spots with an external scRNA-seq reference of TNBC51 for decomposition. We also downloaded a mouse brain Visium dataset50 and a scRNA-seq dataset49 from the Allen Institute.
We collected our in-house heart failure patient tissue, paraffin-embedded Alzheimer's disease patient tissue, and metaplastic breast cancer and TNBC patient-derived xenografts. The validation datasets included brain, heart, kidney and breast samples, and the test dataset included desmoplastic small round cell tumor, colorectal cancer, vascular and colon samples (Supplementary Table 4).
We used a normal human heart sample dataset81 of paired ST data and H&E images including 39 samples.
OmiCLIP consisted of an image encoder and a text encoder following CoCa9 settings. The image encoder was based on a standard vision transformer (ViT)82 with an input image size of 224 × 224 pixels. The text encoder was based on a causal masking transformer with input text length of 76 tokens. Regarding the initial embeddings of ST data, the initial text encoder was not trained from scratch but on LAION-5B83, including biological literature, which may explain its tendency to cluster similar tissue patches. The model was trained for 20 epochs, using one NVIDIA A100 80-GB GPU with a local batch size of 64. The output vectors of the image and text encoders with dimensions of 768 were optimized by minimizing the contrastive loss on a given batch. All experiments were run in Python v.3.9. Detailed software versions are: CUDA v.12.2; torch v.2.3.1; torchvision v.0.18.1; scipy v.1.13.1; pillow v.10.4.0; scikit-learn v.1.5.2; pandas v.2.2.3; numpy v.1.25.0; and scanpy v.1.10.3.
To improve performance on downstream tasks, OmiCLIP allows fine-tuning with user datasets. The fine-tuning dataset is created by preprocessing Visium data using a standard 10x Space Ranger pipeline and generating gene name sentences as describe in ‘Training dataset curation', ensuring compatibility with the pretraining dataset format. Fine-tuning is done using contrastive loss9 between image embeddings and paired text embeddings of the top-expressed gene sentences. The contrastive loss is calculated according to equation (1):
where \({x}_{i}\) and \({y}_{j}\) denote the normalized image and text embeddings, respectively. N denotes the batch size, while \(\sigma\) represents the temperature parameter. The pretrained model was fine-tuned for ten epochs for the tissue alignment task and five epochs for the cell-type decomposition task, using a local batch size of 64, minimizing the contrastive loss.
We first fine-tuned OmiCLIP using paired ST data and H&E image of the target sample. The fine-tuned OmiCLIP text encoder and image encoder then encoded ST data and image, respectively. We used a nonrigid point set registration algorithm based on the CPD method31, which iteratively aligns two point sets by minimizing the statistical discrepancies.
The algorithm initializes the transformation matrix \(W\) to zero and sets the variance \({\sigma }^{2}\) of point displacements as shown in equation (2):
Where \(D\) is the point's dimensionality, \(M,N\) are the number of points in each set, and \(x,y\) are the source and target points in sets \(X\) and \(Y\), respectively. Point sets are modeled as Gaussian mixture samples, with correspondence probability matrix \(G\) computed as shown in equation (3):
This forms the basis for expectation–maximization steps, which iterate until convergence. During the E-step, posterior probabilities \(P\) of correspondences update as given by equation (4):
In the M-step, \(W\) updates according to equations (5)–(7):
where the transformation weights \(W\) are constrained to \(0\le W\le 1\). Parameters \(\beta > 0\) controls transformation stiffness and the trade-off between data fidelity and smoothness, respectively.
We optimized CPD by adding the first two principal components of embeddings generated by OmiCLIP image encoder or text encoder, along with the original two-dimensional coordinates. The M-step was optimized by updating only the coordinates to minimize loss. We further calculated the homography matrix with translation and rotation between spots before and after alignment to avoid tremendous distortion. For PASTE, GPSA and CAST, we used their default configuration for tissue preparation and alignment in Visium data.
OmiCLIP enables zero-shot annotation by learning an aligned latent space for image and transcriptomic embeddings, eliminating the need for retraining. We used OmiCLIP text encoder to encode bulk RNA-seq data and image encoder for H&E images, then calculated cosine similarity between transcriptomic and image embeddings at spot level.
Annotation was determined by selecting candidate texts with the highest similarity score to image query. We evaluate this using four datasets: CRC7K, LC25000, PatchCamelyon and WSSS4LUAD. For Loki, text candidates were generated according to marker genes of each tissue type (Supplementary Table 3). For the PLIP model, text candidates were generated from tissue-type descriptions (Supplementary Table 3). The OmiCLIP image encoder encoded images resized to 20 × 20 pixels, consistent with its pretraining. OpenAI CLIP and PLIP models used their default configuration and functions for image and text processing.
For jointly using Loki and PLIP, we summed their normalized similarity scores. Let, \({s}_{{Loki}}\left(I,T\;\right)\) and \({s}_{{PLIP}}\left(I,T\;\right)\) represent the similarity scores between an image \(I\) and text \(T\) computed by Loki and PLIP, respectively. Normalized scores were obtained according to equations (8)–(10):
The candidate text \({T}^{* }\) with the highest combined similarity score was identified as given by equation (11):
To decompose human colorectal cancer slices, we fine-tuned OmiCLIP using paired Visium ST data and H&E images. We then used fine-tuned OmiCLIP text encoder to encode scRNA-seq data and pseudo-Visium ST data, and image encoder to encode H&E images. For in-house TNBC human samples, we fine-tuned OmiCLIP using a quarter of a region (top-right, top-left, bottom-right or bottom-left) of pseudo-Visium ST data and H&E images, then encoded scRNA-seq data and ST data via the text encoder and H&E images via the image encoder. Similarly, for mouse brain cortex slices, we fine-tuned OmiCLIP using adjacent Visium ST data and H&E images, then encoded scRNA-seq data and H&E images accordingly.
We used a nonconvex optimization algorithm implemented by Tangram to co-register OmiCLIP embeddings of scRNA-seq data with those of ST data or H&E images. We aimed to obtain a probabilistic mapping matrix \(M\) aligning single cells to specific spots based on embedding similarities between scRNA-seq and ST data or scRNA-seq and H&E images. The mapping matrix \(M\) of dimensions spots-by-cells quantifies the likelihood that a given single cell is located within a particular spot. The scRNA-seq data matrix \(S\) is structured as cells-by-embeddings, while the ST data or H&E image matrix \(G\) is formatted as spots-by-embeddings. The optimal mapping matrix \(M\) is derived by minimizing the loss function \(L\left(S,M\right)\) as shown in equation (12):
Here, \({\cos }_{{\rm{distance}}}\) denotes the cosine distance between OmiCLIP embeddings of the mapped single cells and those of ST data or H&E images. The loss function aims to minimize the cosine distance between the projected single-cell embeddings \({M}^{T}S\) and the embeddings of ST data or H&E images \(G\), thereby ensuring that the embeddings of the single cells, when mapped, resemble those observed in the spatial data as closely as possible. Each element \({M}_{{ij}}\) in the matrix represents the probability that \({\rm{cell}}_{i}\) correspond to \({\rm{spot}}_{j}\), integrating the cellular composition of the spatial spot. For Tangram, we used a uniform density prior for each spot without target count, aligning with Loki Decompose. To enhance efficiency, we adapted the mapping at the cell cluster level. The same settings were used for Loki, while Spatial Seurat, CARD, CytoSPACE, RCTD, Cell2location and spatialDWLS utilized their default configurations and tissue preparation and decomposition functions. For scGPT, scFoundation and GeneFormer, we used default configuration and tissue preparation functions before using the Tangram method with same default configurations to decompose cell types. To evaluate their performance, we used cell-type information from Xenium, Visium-HD and pathology annotation as ground truth.
To improve decomposition performance in regions with complex cellular heterogeneity, we developed a refinement strategy inspired by NMS58. This method prioritizes the most probable cell type within each spot, reducing overlapping or ambiguous assignments when multiple cell types have comparable probabilities. This refined method is recommended in complex spatial scenarios, such as colorectal cancer. For \(N\) total spots (indexed by \(i=1,\ldots ,N\)), and \(C\) cell types, we defined \({P}_{i,c}\) as the original probability of cell type \(c\) at spot i. The NMS-based refinement follows two steps: selecting the highest probability cell type and suppressing others. The most likely cell type at each spot i was determined as given by equation (13):
Then refined probabilities \({P}_{i,c}^{({\rm{NMS}})}\) was defined according to equation (14):
This NMS-based refinement ensured that only the cell type with the highest likelihood remained at each spot, eliminating competing probabilities and improving spatial decomposition accuracy.
Similarly to Loki Annotate, the retrieval results were decided by choosing candidate transcriptomics with the highest similarity score to the image query.
Here, as shown in equation (15), \(K\) indicates the set of all pairs, \({I}_{q}\) indicates the image embeddings of a given query, \({I}_{k}\) indicates the transcriptomics embeddings and \({k}^{* }\) indicates the candidate transcriptomics with the highest similarity score. We then calculated the similarity between the embeddings of the query image and the image that is paired with the retrieved transcriptomics as the ground truth.
We applied 10-fold cross-validation to evaluate Loki PredEx's performance. In each fold, OmiCLIP was fine-tuned on the training set for ten epochs, and then we used the fine-tuned OmiCLIP text encoder to encode the ST data of training sets and the image encoder to encode the image of validation sets. For each spot in the validation set, cosine similarity between its image embeddings and all the transcriptomic embeddings in the training set was computed, and these weights were used to generate ST gene expression prediction for validation set spots via a weighted average as given by equation (16):
where \(T\) is the set of all spots in the training set, Xi is the predicted gene expression for validation spot i, wi,j is the similarity score between validation spot i and training spot j, and Xj is the gene expression for training spot \(j\).
To benchmark performance, we compared Loki PredEx against HisToGene, Hist2ST, BLEEP and mclSTExp, on the same dataset. In each fold, the top 300 expressed genes in the validation set were selected for prediction. We followed default training settings: 100 epochs for HisToGene, 4 epochs for BLEEP, 90 epochs for mclSTExp and 110 epochs reduced from 350 due to computational resource constraints for Hist2ST. By applying the same cross-validation procedure and evaluating the top 300 expressed genes in each fold, we ensured a fair comparison between Loki PredEx and baseline models.
In ‘OmiCLIP improves image and transcriptomics representations', we used the Leiden algorithm in Scanpy71 to cluster ST with default parameters including a resolution of 1 and a sparse adjacency matrix derived from neighbor connectivity. We then calculated the UMAP embeddings with an effective minimum distance of 0.5 and three dimensions.
The CH score, also referred to as the variance ratio criterion, was used to evaluate clustering quality for a given dataset by comparing between-cluster dispersion and within-cluster dispersion. It was computed using two sets of ground truth, a benchmarked dataset containing 95 tissue samples from the ST-bank, which included expert-annotated cell types (Supplementary Table 2) and the Leiden clustering (described above) labels for samples without cell-type annotations. For a dataset with \(n\) points \(\left\{{x}_{1},\ldots ,{x}_{n}\right\}\) divided into \(k\) clusters \(\left\{{C}_{1},\ldots ,{C}_{k}\right\}\), CH score is the ratio normalized by the number of degrees of freedom for between-cluster and within-cluster dispersions, respectively, as given by equation (17):
Between-cluster sum of squares (BCSS) is calculated as the weighted sum of squared Euclidean distances from each cluster's centroid to overall centroid, as given by equation (18):
Here, \({n}_{i}\) is the number of points in cluster \({C}_{i}\), \({c}_{i}\) is the centroid of cluster \({C}_{i}\), and \(c\) is the overall centroid. BCSS quantifies separation between clusters, with higher value indicating better separation. Within-cluster sum of squares (WCSS) measures the cohesion of the clusters with smaller values indicating tighter clustering and is the total squared Euclidean distances from each data point to its cluster centroid, as given by equation (19):
The PCC, which ranges from −1 to 1, assessed tissue alignment and gene expression prediction. Given paired data \(\left\{\left({x}_{1},{y}_{1}\right),\ldots ,\left({x}_{n},{y}_{n}\right)\right\}\) consisting of n pairs, PCC represented by \({r}_{{xy}}\) is defined in equation (20):
where \(n\) is the sample size, and \({x}_{i},{y}_{i}\) are the individual sample points indexed with i.
Kendall's tau coefficient, which ranges from −1 to 1, assessed tissue alignment, as given by equation (21):
where \(P\) denotes the number of concordant pairs, \(Q\) is the number of discordant pairs, while \(T\) and \(U\) represent ties occurring solely in \(x\) or solely in \(y\), respectively.
JS divergence, which ranges from 0 to 1, assessed cell-type decomposition. To calculate JS divergence between two probability distributions \(P\) and \(Q\), we first computed the pointwise average distribution, as given by equation (22):
Then, we calculated Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence of each distribution with respect to \(M\): \({D}_{\rm{{KL}}}\left({P||M}\right)\) and \({D}_{\rm{{KL}}}\left({Q||M}\right)\). KL divergence is a measure of how one probability distribution diverges from a second distribution, as given by equation (23):
JS divergence is the average of these two KL divergences as given by equation (24):
The SSIM, which ranges from −1 to 1, assessed cell-type decomposition, where we considered the cell-type distribution in spatial as image. For two images \(x\) and \(y\), as shown in equation (25):
where \({u}_{x}\) and \({u}_{y}\) are the mean intensities of images \(x\) and \(y\), \({\sigma }_{x}^{2}\) and \({\sigma }_{y}^{2}\) are the variances of \(x\) and \(y\), \({\sigma }_{{xy}}\) is the covariance between \(x\) and \(y\), \({C}_{1}\) and \({C}_{2}\) are small constants to stabilize the division when the denominators are close to zero.
MSE assessed ST gene expression prediction by comparing the Euclidean distance of the highly expressed gene expression between ground truth and prediction for each method within the same location.
The impact score assessed the performance of cell-type decomposition. For each decomposition method \(m\), we computed the mean JS divergence, \({\rm{JS}}_{m}\), and the mean SSIM, \({\rm{{SSIM}}}_{m}\), across all cell types as given by equations (26) and (27):
where \({p}_{c}\) and \({q}_{c}\) represent the ground truth and predicted proportions, respectively. \(N\) represents the total number of cell types. We standardized SSIM and JS divergence across methods to enable direct comparison, as they operate on different scales. The standardized metrics \({Z}_{{\rm{SSIM}}_{m}}\) and \({Z}_{{{JS}}_{m}}\) are calculated according to equation (28):
where \({\mu }_{\rm{SSIM}}\) and \({\sigma }_{\rm{SSIM}}\) are the mean and standard deviation of SSIM across methods. Because lower JS divergence indicates better performance, we inverted the standardized JS divergence values by multiplying them by −1, as given by equation (29):
where \({\mu }_{\rm{JS}}\) and \({\sigma }_{\rm{JS}}\) are the mean and standard deviation of JS divergence across methods. To generate a unified metric for decomposition accuracy, we averaged the inverted JS divergence z-scores and the SSIM z-scores for each method as given by equation (30):
F1 score, which ranges from 0 to 1, assessed zero-shot and linear probing methods as given by equation (31):
Here, \(\rm{{TP}}\) represents true positives, \({\rm{FP}}\) represents false positives and \(\rm{{FN}}\) represents false negatives. A higher F1 score indicates better overall performance in classification tasks. The weighted F1 score was calculated by averaging the F1 scores for each class, with each class's contribution weighted based on its frequency in the data.
Recall@K assessed image-to-transcriptomics retrieval. Let \(Q\) be the set of all queries, and \(N\) be the total number of queries. For each query \(q\in Q\), the retrieval model outputs a ranked list of candidate targets as given by equation (32):
where \({c}_{q,i}\) is the \({i}^{{th}}\) highest-ranked candidate for query \(q\) based on cosine similarity, and \({\rm{quantile}}\left(q\right)\) is the quantile of the smallest index i of the ground-truth target. \({\rm{Recall@K}}\) is defined as the fraction of queries for which the ground-truth target occurs at rank \(K\) or better as given by equation (33):
where \({\rm{I}}\left[\bullet \right]\) is an indicator function that takes the value of 1 if \({\rm{quantile}}\left(q\right)\le K\) and 0 otherwise.
Two-sided Student's t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to assess statistical significance between models.
Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.
The normal human small intestine dataset used for the tissue alignment task can be found in https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36071-5 (ref. 34). The human ovarian carcinosarcoma dataset used for the tissue alignment task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2021.100065 (ref. 35). The human breast cancer dataset used for the tissue alignment task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43458-x (ref. 37). The human colorectal cancer dataset including Visium, Visium-HD and scRNA-seq data of serial slices used for cell-type decomposition task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.04.597233 (ref. 48). The TNBC scRNA-seq data used for the cell-type decomposition task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06052-0 (ref. 51). The TNBC Xenium data generated in this study have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus database under accession code GSE293199. The brain dataset including Visium data of serial slices used for cell-type decomposition task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01139-4 (ref. 50). The brain scRNA-seq dataset used for cell-type decomposition task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0654-5 (ref. 49). The histology images of the heart failure patient dataset used for the tissue annotation task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05060-x (ref. 80). The histology images of the normal human breast dataset used for the tissue annotation task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06252-9 (ref. 79). The histology images of TCGA BRCA dataset used for the tissue annotation task are available from the NIH Genomic Data Commons (https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/). The bulk RNA-seq data used for tissue annotation task are available from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Portal (https://gtexportal.org/home/) and TCGA (https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/). CRC7k image patch data and labels can be found at Zenodo via https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1214456 (ref. 84). WSSS4LUAD image patches and labels can be found at https://wsss4luad.grand-challenge.org/. LC25000 image patches and labels can be found at https://github.com/tampapath/lung_colon_image_set/. PatchCamelyon image patches and labels can be found at https://patchcamelyon.grand-challenge.org/. The validation and test datasets used for the image–transcriptomics retrieval task can be found in Supplementary Table 4. The normal human heart samples used for the ST gene expression prediction task can be found at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06311-1 (ref. 81). The ST-bank database is available at https://github.com/GuangyuWangLab2021/Loki/.
Loki is implemented in Python and is available via https://github.com/GuangyuWangLab2021/Loki/. The pretrained OmiCLIP weights are available via https://huggingface.co/WangGuangyuLab/Loki/.
Hegde, N. et al. Similar image search for histopathology: SMILY. NPJ Digit. Med. 2, 56 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chen, C. et al. Fast and scalable search of whole-slide images via self-supervised deep learning. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 6, 1420–1434 (2022).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Huang, Z. et al. Artificial intelligence reveals features associated with breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy responses from multi-stain histopathologic images. NPJ Precis. Oncol. 7, 14 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lu, M. Y. et al. AI-based pathology predicts origins for cancers of unknown primary. Nature 594, 106–110 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhu, L. et al. An accurate prediction of the origin for bone metastatic cancer using deep learning on digital pathological images. EBioMedicine 87, 104426 (2023).
Chen, R. J. et al. Pan-cancer integrative histology-genomic analysis via multimodal deep learning. Cancer Cell 40, 865–878 e866 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chen, R. J. et al. Towards a general-purpose foundation model for computational pathology. Nat. Med. 30, 850–862 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Radford, A. et al. Learning transferable visual models from natural language supervision. In Proc. 38th International Conference on Machine Learning 8748–8763 (PMLR, 2021).
Yu, J. et al. CoCa: contrastive captioners are image-text foundation models. Trans. Mach. Learn. Res. (2022).
Li, Y. et al. Supervision exists everywhere: a data efficient contrastive language-image pre-training paradigm. In Proc. 10th International Conference on Learning Representations (OpenReview.net, 2022).
Lu, M. Y. et al. A visual-language foundation model for computational pathology. Nat. Med. 30, 863–874 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Huang, Z., Bianchi, F., Yuksekgonul, M., Montine, T. J. & Zou, J. A visual–language foundation model for pathology image analysis using medical twitter. Nat. Med. 29, 2307–2316 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Abe, J.-I. et al. An ERK5-NRF2 axis mediates senescence-associated stemness and atherosclerosis. Circ. Res. 133, 25–44 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Mao, H. et al. CRAT links cholesterol metabolism to innate immune responses in the heart. Nat. Metab. 5, 1382–1394 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chau, K. M. et al. TNIK regulation of interferon signaling and endothelial cell response to virus infection. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 10, 1213428 (2024).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Nguyen, M. T. et al. Endothelial activation and fibrotic changes are impeded by laminar flow-induced CHK1-SENP2 activity through mechanisms distinct from endothelial-to-mesenchymal cell transition. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 10, 1187490 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Silverman, A. D., Karim, A. S. & Jewett, M. C. Cell-free gene expression: an expanded repertoire of applications. Nat. Rev. Genet. 21, 151–170 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ding, J., Sharon, N. & Bar-Joseph, Z. Temporal modelling using single-cell transcriptomics. Nat. Rev. Genet. 23, 355–368 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Li, S. et al. A relay velocity model infers cell-dependent RNA velocity. Nat. Biotechnol. 42, 99–108 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chakraborty, A. et al. Epigenetic induction of smooth muscle cell phenotypic alterations in aortic aneurysms and dissections. Circulation 148, 959–977 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Preissl, S., Gaulton, K. J. & Ren, B. Characterizing cis-regulatory elements using single-cell epigenomics. Nat. Rev. Genet. 24, 21–43 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wagner, D. E. & Klein, A. M. Lineage tracing meets single-cell omics: opportunities and challenges. Nat. Rev. Genet. 21, 410–427 (2020).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Chen, Y. & Zou, J. Simple and effective embedding model for single-cell biology built from ChatGPT. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 9, 483–493 (2024).
Levine, D. et al. Cell2Sentence: teaching large language models the language of biology. In Proc. 41st International Conference on Machine Learning 27299–27325 (PMLR, 2024).
Szabo, P. A. et al. Single-cell transcriptomics of human T cells reveals tissue and activation signatures in health and disease. Nat. Commun. 10, 4706 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Theodoris, C. V. et al. Transfer learning enables predictions in network biology. Nature 618, 616–624 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hao, M. et al. Large-scale foundation model on single-cell transcriptomics. Nat. Methods 21, 1481–1491 (2024).
McCarthy, D. J., Campbell, K. R., Lun, A. T. & Wills, Q. F. Scater: pre-processing, quality control, normalization and visualization of single-cell RNA-seq data in R. Bioinformatics 33, 1179–1186 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Caliński, T. & Harabasz, J. A dendrite method for cluster analysis. Commun. Stat. Theory Methods 3, 1–27 (1974).
Article
Google Scholar
Xu, H. et al. A whole-slide foundation model for digital pathology from real-world data. Nature 630, 181–188 (2024).
Myronenko, A. & Song, X. Point set registration: coherent point drift. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 32, 2262–2275 (2010).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zeira, R., Land, M., Strzalkowski, A. & Raphael, B. J. Alignment and integration of spatial transcriptomics data. Nat. Methods 19, 567–575 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jones, A., Townes, F. W., Li, D. & Engelhardt, B. E. Alignment of spatial genomics data using deep Gaussian processes. Nat. Methods 20, 1379–1387 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Mirzazadeh, R. et al. Spatially resolved transcriptomic profiling of degraded and challenging fresh frozen samples. Nat. Commun. 14, 509 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Villacampa, E. G. et al. Genome-wide spatial expression profiling in formalin-fixed tissues. Cell Genom. 1, 100065 (2021).
Article
Google Scholar
Tang, Z. et al. Search and match across spatial omics samples at single-cell resolution. Nat. Methods 21, 1818–1829 (2024).
Janesick, A. et al. High resolution mapping of the tumor microenvironment using integrated single-cell, spatial and in situ analysis. Nat. Commun. 14, 8353 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Hayashi, M. et al. Identification of the collagen type 1 alpha 1 gene (COL1A1) as a candidate survival-related factor associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. BMC Cancer 14, 108 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Gu, Y. et al. A pan-cancer analysis of the prognostic and immunological role of β-actin (ACTB) in human cancers. Bioengineered 12, 6166–6185 (2021).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Lu, M. Y. et al. Data-efficient and weakly supervised computational pathology on whole-slide images. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 5, 555–570 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kather, J. N. et al. Predicting survival from colorectal cancer histology slides using deep learning: a retrospective multicenter study. PLoS Med. 16, e1002730 (2019).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Han, C. et al. WSSS4LUAD: grand challenge on weakly-supervised tissue semantic segmentation for lung adenocarcinoma. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.06455 (2022).
Veeling, B. S., Linmans, J., Winkens, J., Cohen, T. & Welling, M. Rotation equivariant CNNs for digital pathology. In Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2018: 21st International Conference, Granada, Spain, September 16–20, 2018, Proceedings, Part II 210–218 (Springer, 2018).
Borkowski, A. et al. Lung and colon cancer histopathological image dataset (LC25000). Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.12142 (2019).
Biancalani, T. et al. Deep learning and alignment of spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomes with Tangram. Nat. Methods 18, 1352–1362 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Vahid, M. R. et al. High-resolution alignment of single-cell and spatial transcriptomes with CytoSPACE. Nat. Biotechnol. 41, 1543–1548 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Jain, P. & Kar, P. Non-convex optimization for machine learning. Found. Trends Mach. Learn. 10, 142–363 (2017).
Article
Google Scholar
Oliveira, M. F. et al. Characterization of immune cell populations in the tumor microenvironment of colorectal cancer using high definition spatial profiling. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.04.597233 (2024).
Tasic, B. et al. Shared and distinct transcriptomic cell types across neocortical areas. Nature 563, 72–78 (2018).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kleshchevnikov, V. et al. Cell2location maps fine-grained cell types in spatial transcriptomics. Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 661–671 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Karaayvaz, M. et al. Unravelling subclonal heterogeneity and aggressive disease states in TNBC through single-cell RNA-seq. Nat. Commun. 9, 3588 (2018).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Li, B. et al. Benchmarking spatial and single-cell transcriptomics integration methods for transcript distribution prediction and cell type deconvolution. Nat. Methods 19, 662–670 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Stuart, T. et al. Comprehensive integration of single-cell data. Cell 177, 1888–1902 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Ma, Y. & Zhou, X. Spatially informed cell-type deconvolution for spatial transcriptomics. Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 1349–1359 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Dong, R. & Yuan, G.-C. SpatialDWLS: accurate deconvolution of spatial transcriptomic data. Genome Biol. 22, 145 (2021).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Cable, D. M. et al. Robust decomposition of cell type mixtures in spatial transcriptomics. Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 517–526 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Cui, H. et al. scGPT: toward building a foundation model for single-cell multi-omics using generative AI. Nat. Methods 21, 1470–1480 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Neubeck, A. & Van Gool, L. Efficient non-maximum suppression. In 18th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR'06) 850–855 (IEEE, 2006).
Pang, M., Su, K. & Li, M. Leveraging information in spatial transcriptomics to predict super-resolution gene expression from histology images in tumors. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.28.470212 (2021).
Zeng, Y. et al. Spatial transcriptomics prediction from histology jointly through transformer and graph neural networks. Brief. Bioinform. 23, bbac297 (2022).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Xie, R. et al. Spatially resolved gene expression prediction from histology images via bi-modal contrastive learning. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 36 (2024).
Min, W., Shi, Z., Zhang, J., Wan, J. & Wang, C. Multimodal contrastive learning for spatial gene expression prediction using histology images. Brief. Bioinform. 25, bbae551 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kuett, L. et al. Three-dimensional imaging mass cytometry for highly multiplexed molecular and cellular mapping of tissues and the tumor microenvironment. Nat. Cancer 3, 122–133 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Xie, W. et al. Prostate cancer risk stratification via nondestructive 3D pathology with deep learning–assisted gland analysis. Cancer Res. 82, 334–345 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Song, A. H. et al. Analysis of 3D pathology samples using weakly supervised AI. Cell 187, 2502–2520 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Schott, M. et al. Open-ST: high-resolution spatial transcriptomics in 3D. Cell 187, 3953–3972 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Christensen, M., Vukadinovic, M., Yuan, N. & Ouyang, D. Vision–language foundation model for echocardiogram interpretation. Nat. Med. 30, 1481–1488 (2024).
Hu, M. et al. Evaluation of large language models for discovery of gene set function. Nat. Methods 22, 82–91 (2024).
Hou, W. & Ji, Z. Assessing GPT-4 for cell type annotation in single-cell RNA-seq analysis. Nat. Methods 21, 1462–1465 (2024).
Hao, Y. et al. Dictionary learning for integrative, multimodal and scalable single-cell analysis. Nat. Biotechnol. 42, 293–304 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wolf, F. A., Angerer, P. & Theis, F. J. SCANPY: large-scale single-cell gene expression data analysis. Genome Biol. 19, 15 (2018).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
He, S. et al. Starfysh reveals heterogeneous spatial dynamics in the breast tumor microenvironment. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.21.517420 (2022).
Barkley, D. et al. Cancer cell states recur across tumor types and form specific interactions with the tumor microenvironment. Nat. Genet. 54, 1192–1201 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Garbarino, O. et al. Spatial resolution of cellular senescence dynamics in human colorectal liver metastasis. Aging Cell 22, e13853 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wu, R. et al. Comprehensive analysis of spatial architecture in primary liver cancer. Sci. Adv. 7, eabg3750 (2021).
Figiel, S. et al. Spatial transcriptomic analysis of virtual prostate biopsy reveals confounding effect of tissue heterogeneity on genomic signatures. Mol. Cancer 22, 162 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sountoulidis, A. et al. A topographic atlas defines developmental origins of cell heterogeneity in the human embryonic lung. Nat. Cell Biol. 25, 351–365 (2023).
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Engblom, C. et al. Spatial transcriptomics of B cell and T cell receptors reveals lymphocyte clonal dynamics. Science 382, eadf8486 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Kumar, T. et al. A spatially resolved single-cell genomic atlas of the adult human breast. Nature 620, 181–191 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kuppe, C. et al. Spatial multi-omic map of human myocardial infarction. Nature 608, 766–777 (2022).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Kanemaru, K. et al. Spatially resolved multiomics of human cardiac niches. Nature 619, 801–810 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Dosovitskiy, A. et al. An image is worth 16x16 words: transformers for image recognition at scale. In International Conference on Learning Representations (OpenReview.net, 2020).
Schuhmann, C. et al. Laion-5b: an open large-scale dataset for training next generation image-text models. Adv. Neural Inf. Process. Syst. 35, 25278–25294 (2022).
Google Scholar
Kather, J. N., Halama, N. & Marx, A. 100,000 histological images of human colorectal cancer and healthy tissue. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1214456 (2018).
Download references
This work was supported in part by the grant R35GM150460 (to G.W.) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and grant R01HL169204-01A1 (to L.L.) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). K.W.B. is supported by NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) award K22 NS112678, NIH/National Cancer Institute (NCI) award R01 CA284315 and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) award RR220017. We acknowledge J. Chang in Houston Methodist Research Institute for support and assistance in facilitating access to clinical resources essential to this study.
These authors contributed equally: Weiqing Chen, Pengzhi Zhang.
Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
Weiqing Chen, Pengzhi Zhang, Tu N Tran, Yiwei Xiao, Shengyu Li & Guangyu Wang
Department of Physiology, Biophysics & Systems Biology, Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Science, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
Weiqing Chen & John P. Cooke
Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
Pengzhi Zhang, Tu N Tran, Yiwei Xiao, Shengyu Li, Keith Youker, Li Lai, Longhou Fang, Nhat-Tu Le, John P. Cooke & Guangyu Wang
Center for RNA Therapeutics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
Pengzhi Zhang, Tu N Tran, Yiwei Xiao, Shengyu Li, Vrutant V. Shah, Kristopher W. Brannan, John P. Cooke & Guangyu Wang
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
Pengzhi Zhang, Tu N Tran, Yiwei Xiao, Shengyu Li, Keith Youker, Li Lai, Longhou Fang, Nhat-Tu Le, John P. Cooke & Guangyu Wang
Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Hao Cheng & Qin Ma
Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Yu Yang
Department of Cardiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Jun-ichi Abe
Center for Immunotherapy, Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
Shu-Hsia Chen
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Ken Chen
Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Qianqian Song
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
G.W. supervised the study. W.C. and G.W. designed and developed the visual–omics foundation model and platform. W.C., P.Z., Y.X., T.T. and H.C. analyzed the data. G.W., W.C. and P.Z. wrote the manuscript. V.V.S., K.W.B., L.L., K.Y. and L.F. provided in-house patient tissues. K.Y. and Y.Y. annotated the pathology images. J.P.C., K.W.B., L.L., K.Y., L.F., Q.S., Q.M., K.C., N.-T.L., J.-i.A., Y.X., S.-H.C. and S.L. were involved in the discussion and helped improve the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Correspondence to
Guangyu Wang.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Methods thanks Spencer Krieger and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available. Primary Handling Editor: Rita Strack, in collaboration with the Nature Methods team.
Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
a, Clustering performance on ST-bank data with cell type annotation. Left: clustering performance using transcriptomic embeddings generated from OmiCLIP model before and after training. Right: clustering performance usings image embeddings from OmiCLIP model before and after training. The Calinski-Harabasz scores were calculated on the embeddings (Methods) using the pretrained OmiCLIP transcriptomic (left) and image (right) encoders, evaluated for each organ type. Higher Calinski-Harabasz scores indicate better separation capability between clusters of the embeddings. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range. b, Image and transcriptomic embeddings of the lung, kidney cancer, healthy heart, and Myocardial Infarction (MI) heart samples. Each row corresponds to a WSI and showcases information from two modalities. The first column are H&E images showing tissue morphology; the second column are the heatmaps of ST data with the colors indicating the cell types; the third column are the UMAP of image embeddings colored by cell types before and after contrastive learning; the fourth column are the UMAP of transcriptomics embeddings colored by cell types before and after contrastive learning.
a, Clustering performance on all ST-bank data. Top: clustering performance using transcriptomic embeddings generated from OmiCLIP model before and after training. Bottom: clustering performance usings image embeddings from OmiCLIP model before and after training, and image embeddings generated from UNI and Pro-GigaPath, respectively. The Calinski-Harabasz scores were calculated on the embeddings using the pre-trained OmiCLIP transcriptomic (top) and image (bottom) encoders, evaluated for each organ type. Higher Calinski-Harabasz scores indicate better separation capability between clusters of the embeddings. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range. Sample sizes are skin: 163, brain: 119, breast: 97, heart: 73, kidney: 73, embryo: 73, others: 64, liver: 57, prostate: 49, spinal cord: 44, ovary: 32, colon: 29, pancreas: 25, lung: 22, tonsil: 18, uterus: 17, adipose: 15, small intestine: 14, and stomach: 12. b, Image and transcriptomic embeddings of the spinal cord, liver cancer, brain cancer, kidney cancer and skin cancer samples. Each row corresponds to a WSI and showcases information from two modalities. The first column are H&E images showing tissue morphology; the second column are the heatmaps of ST data with the colors indicating the ST data clustering using Leiden algorithm (Methods); the third column are the UMAP of image embeddings colored by ST Leiden clusters before and after contrastive learning; the fourth column are the UMAP of transcriptomics embeddings colored by ST Leiden clusters before and after contrastive learning.
a, Example image with low-quality region marked in red line and simulated low-quality image by adding Gaussian noise. b, Cosine similarity of paired transcriptomic and image embeddings using OmiCLIP (original image and simulated low-quality image), PLIP (original image), and OpenAI CLIP (original image). In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range. Sample sizes are 10 for each simulated condition. c, Cosine similarity of the paired image with transcriptomic embeddings using OmiCLIP (original transcriptomes and down sampled transcriptome from high sequencing depth to middle sequencing depth, middle sequencing depth to low sequencing depth, and high sequencing depth to low sequencing depth, respectively), PLIP (original transcriptome), and OpenAI CLIP (original transcriptome). In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range, n = 500.
Tissue alignment results on breast cancer sample using Loki Align. a, Source Xenium ST data. b, Target Visium ST data. c, Xenium ST data after Loki alignment.
a, Xenium data from our in-house TNBC patient sample, colored by Louvain clusters and cell types, respectively. b, H&E image, marker gene expression (KRT7, ATCG2, RORC), and cell type distribution in an example zoom-in region of the TNBC sample. c, Cell type decomposition results on 3 major cell types of the TNBC sample using ST by RCTD, CARD, scGPT, Spatial Seurat, scFoundation, GeneFormer, CytoSPACE, Cell2location, and SpatialDWLS, respectively. The color of the heatmap reflects the z-score, calculated by the enrichment of each cell type.
a, UMAP representation of the OmiCLIP transcriptomic embeddings colored by cell types, where each dot represents a spot. b, Cell type decomposition result using Loki ST decomposition and Loki image decomposition respectively on human colorectal sample within the Visium HD capture area, and ground truth. Heatmap shows the cell type distribution of tumor, fibroblast, smooth muscle, and intestinal epithelial, respectively, with color reflecting the probability of each cell type.
a, Cell type decomposition results on 3 major cell types of the TNBC sample using Loki Decompose Image-to-ST (fine-tuning, pre-training, and train from scratch). The color of the heatmap reflects the z-score, calculated by the enrichment of each cell type. b, Bar plot shows the accuracy of decomposition of 3 major cell types by Loki Decompose Image-to-ST (fine-tuning, pre-training, and train from scratch). Error bar is standard deviation with center measured by mean.
H&E images, ground truth ST gene expression, and ST gene expression predicted by Loki, Hist2ST, HisToGene, BLEEP, and mclSTExp, respectively.
a, Comparison of ST gene expression prediction performances, represented by MSE and PCC respectively on 39 normal heart tissues using Loki, Hist2ST, HisToGene, BLEEP, and mclSTExp, respectively. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range. b, Summarized comparison of ST gene expression prediction performances, represented by MSE and PCC respectively across all samples using Loki, HisToGene, mclSTExp, BLEEP, and Hist2ST respectively. In the box plots, the middle line represents the median, the box boundaries indicate the interquartile range, and the whiskers extend to data points within 1.5× the interquartile range.
Recommendation settings for downstream tasks.
Supplementary Figs. 1–8 and Supplementary Notes 1–3.
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
Chen, W., Zhang, P., Tran, T.N. et al. A visual–omics foundation model to bridge histopathology with spatial transcriptomics.
Nat Methods (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02707-1
Download citation
Received: 30 September 2024
Accepted: 15 April 2025
Published: 29 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02707-1
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 Materials
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
The discovery of superconductivity under high pressure in Ruddlesden–Popper phases of bulk nickelates has sparked great interest in stabilizing ambient-pressure superconductivity in the thin-film form using epitaxial strain. Recently, signs of superconductivity have been observed in compressively strained bilayer nickelate thin films with an onset temperature exceeding 40 K, although with broad, two-step-like transitions. Here we report the intrinsic superconductivity and normal-state transport properties in compressively strained La2PrNi2O7 thin films, achieved through a combination of isovalent Pr substitution, growth optimization and precision ozone annealing. The superconducting onset occurs above 48 K, with zero resistance reached above 30 K, and the critical current density at 1.4 K is 100-fold larger than previous reports. The normal-state resistivity exhibits quadratic temperature dependence indicative of Fermi liquid behaviour, and other phenomenological similarities to transport in overdoped cuprates suggest parallels in their emergent properties.
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
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Any additional data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
Sun, H. et al. Signatures of superconductivity near 80 K in a nickelate under high pressure. Nature 621, 493–498 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. et al. High-temperature superconductivity with zero resistance and strange-metal behaviour in La3Ni2O7–δ. Nat. Phys. 20, 1269–1273 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Wang, G. et al. Pressure-induced superconductivity in polycrystalline La3Ni2O7–δ. Phys. Rev. X 14, 011040 (2024).
CAS
Google Scholar
Zhu, Y. et al. Superconductivity in pressurized trilayer La4Ni3O10−δ single crystals. Nature 631, 531–536 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wang, N. et al. Bulk high-temperature superconductivity in pressurized tetragonal La2PrNi2O7. Nature 634, 579–584 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wang, M., Wen, H.-H., Wu, T., Yao, D.-X. & Xiang, T. Normal and superconducting properties of La3Ni2O7. Chinese Phys. Lett. 41, 077402 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Locquet, J.-P. et al. Doubling the critical temperature of La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 using epitaxial strain. Nature 394, 453–456 (1998).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Bozovic, I., Logvenov, G., Belca, I., Narimbetov, B. & Sveklo, I. Epitaxial strain and superconductivity in La2–xSrxCuO4 thin films. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 107001 (2002).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ko, E. K. et al. Signatures of ambient pressure superconductivity in thin film La3Ni2O7. Nature 638, 935–940 (2025).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhou, G. et al. Ambient-pressure superconductivity onset above 40 K in (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films. Nature 640, 641–646 (2025).
Puphal, P. et al. Unconventional crystal structure of the high-pressure superconductor La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 146002 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Chen, X. et al. Polymorphism in the Ruddlesden–Popper nickelate La3Ni2O7: discovery of a hidden phase with distinctive layer stacking. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 3640–3645 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wang, H., Chen, L., Rutherford, A., Zhou, H. & Xie, W. Long-range structural order in a hidden phase of Ruddlesden–Popper bilayer nickelate La3Ni2O7. Inorg. Chem. 63, 5020–5026 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Zinkevich, M., Solak, N., Nitsche, H., Ahrens, M. & Aldinger, F. Stability and thermodynamic functions of lanthanum nickelates. J. Alloys Compd. 438, 92–99 (2007).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Cui, T. et al. Strain-mediated phase crossover in Ruddlesden–Popper nickelates. Commun. Mater. 5, 32 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Li, D. et al. Superconductivity in an infinite-layer nickelate. Nature 572, 624–627 (2019).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Smith, J. A., Cima, M. J. & Sonnenberg, N. High critical current density thick MOD-derived YBCO films. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 9, 1531–1534 (1999).
Article
Google Scholar
Wang, L. et al. Structure responsible for the superconducting state in La3Ni2O7 at high-pressure and low-temperature conditions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 7506–7514 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Li, J. et al. Identification of the superconductivity in bilayer nickelate La3Ni2O7 upon 100 GPa. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.11369 (2025).
Dong, Z. et al. Visualization of oxygen vacancies and self-doped ligand holes in La3Ni2O7–δ. Nature 630, 847–852 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Batakliev, T., Georgiev, V., Anachkov, M., Rakovsky, S. & Rakovsky, S. Ozone decomposition. Interdiscip. Toxicol. 7, 47–59 (2014).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Wiesmann, H. et al. Simple model for characterizing the electrical resistivity in A – 15 superconductors. Phys. Rev. Lett. 38, 782–785 (1977).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Cooper, R. A. et al. Anomalous criticality in the electrical resistivity of La2–xSrxCuO4. Science 323, 603–607 (2009).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Hussey, N. E. Phenomenology of the normal state in-plane transport properties of high-Tc cuprates. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 20, 123201 (2008).
Article
Google Scholar
Hwang, H. Y. et al. Scaling of the temperature dependent Hall effect in La2–xSrxCuO4. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2636–2639 (1994).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Zhou, Y. et al. Investigations of key issues on the reproducibility of high-Tc superconductivity emerging from compressed La3Ni2O7. Matter Radiat. Extrem. 10, 027801 (2025).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Gu, Y., Le, C., Yang, Z., Wu, X. & Hu, J. Effective model and pairing tendency in the bilayer Ni-based superconductor La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. B 111, 174506 (2025).
Zhang, Y., Lin, L.-F., Moreo, A. & Dagotto, E. Electronic structure, dimer physics, orbital-selective behavior, and magnetic tendencies in the bilayer nickelate superconductor La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. B 108, L180510 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Christiansson, V., Petocchi, F. & Werner, P. Correlated electronic structure of La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 206501 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Lechermann, F., Gondolf, J., Bötzel, S. & Eremin, I. M. Electronic correlations and superconducting instability in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure. Phys. Rev. B 108, L201121 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Yang, Q.-G., Wang, D. & Wang, Q.-H. Possible s±-wave superconductivity in La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. B 108, L140505 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Liu, Y.-B., Mei, J.-W., Ye, F., Chen, W.-Q. & Yang, F. s±-wave pairing and the destructive role of apical-oxygen deficiencies in La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 236002 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Yang, Y., Zhang, G.-M. & Zhang, F.-C. Interlayer valence bonds and two-component theory for high-Tc superconductivity of La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. B 108, L201108 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Shen, Y., Qin, M. & Zhang, G.-M. Effective bi-layer model Hamiltonian and density-matrix renormalization group study for the high-Tc superconductivity in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure. Chinese Phys. Lett. 40, 127401 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Qin, Q. & Yang, Y. High-Tc superconductivity by mobilizing local spin singlets and possible route to higher Tc in pressurized La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. B 108, L140504 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Luo, Z., Lv, B., Wang, M., Wú, W. & Yao, D.-X. High-Tc superconductivity in La3Ni2O7 based on the bilayer two-orbital t-J model. npj Quantum Mater. 9, 61 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Sakakibara, H., Kitamine, N., Ochi, M. & Kuroki, K. Possible high Tc superconductivity in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure through manifestation of a nearly half-filled bilayer Hubbard model. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 106002 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Geisler, B., Hamlin, J. J., Stewart, G. R., Hennig, R. G. & Hirschfeld, P. J. Fermi surface reconstruction in strained La3Ni2O7 on LaAlO3(001) and SrTiO3(001). Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.14600 (2024).
Zhao, Y.-F. & Botana, A. S. Electronic structure of Ruddlesden-Popper nickelates: Strain to mimic the effects of pressure. Phys. Rev. B 111, 115154 (2025).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Lu, C., Pan, Z., Yang, F. & Wu, C. Interlayer-coupling-driven high-temperature superconductivity in La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 146002 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Oh, H. & Zhang, Y.-H. Type-II t-J model and shared superexchange coupling from Hund's rule in superconducting La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. B 108, 174511 (2023).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Cao, Y. & Yang, Y. Flat bands promoted by Hund's rule coupling in the candidate double-layer high-temperature superconductor La3Ni2O7 under high pressure. Phys. Rev. B 109, L081105 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Qu, X.-Z. et al. Bilayer t-J-J⊥ model and magnetically mediated pairing in the pressurized nickelate La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 036502 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Ouyang, Z. et al. Hund electronic correlation in La3Ni2O7 under high pressure. Phys. Rev. B 109, 115114 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Wang, Z., Jiang, K. & Zhang, F.-C. Self-doped molecular Mott insulator for bilayer high-temperature superconducting La3Ni2O7. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.18469 (2025).
Botana, A. S., Lee, K.-W., Norman, M. R., Pardo, V. & Pickett, W. E. Low valence nickelates: launching the nickel age of superconductivity. Front. Phys. 9, 813532 (2022).
Article
Google Scholar
Luo, Z., Hu, X., Wang, M., Wú, W. & Yao, D.-X. Bilayer two-orbital model of La3Ni2O7 under pressure. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 126001 (2023).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Fan, Z. et al. Superconductivity in nickelate and cuprate superconductors with strong bilayer coupling. Phys. Rev. B 110, 024514 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Jiang, K., Wang, Z. & Zhang, F.-C. High-temperature superconductivity in La3Ni2O7. Chinese Phys. Lett. 41, 017402 (2024).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Jiang, R., Hou, J., Fan, Z., Lang, Z.-J. & Ku, W. Pressure driven fractionalization of ionic spins results in cupratelike high-Tc superconductivity in La3Ni2O7. Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 126503 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Harper, F. E. & Tinkham, M. The mixed state in superconducting thin films. Phys. Rev. 172, 441–450 (1968).
Article
Google Scholar
Harvey, S. P. et al. Evidence for nodal superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.12971 (2022).
Mihaly, L., Kendziora, C., Hartge, J., Mandrus, D. & Forro, L. High-pressure cell for oxygen annealing at elevated temperatures. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 64, 2397 (1993).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Download references
We thank Y. Deng, K. Lee, Y. Lee, Y. Lv, J. May-Mann, F. Theuss, B. Y. Wang, Y.-M. Wu and J. J. Yu for discussions and assistance. Y.L., E.K.K., Y.T., J.L., S.R., Y.Y. and H.Y.H. acknowledge support from the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (contract no. DE-AC02-76SF00515), as well as SuperC and the Kavli Foundation (aspects of magnetic characterization). Work at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF) RRID:SCR_023230 is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant ECCS-1542152. L.B. and D.A.M. acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (DMR-1719875), NSF PARADIM (DMR-2039380) and the Weill Institute and the Kavli Institute at Cornell University. X-ray measurements were carried out at the SSRL, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (contract no. DE-AC02-76SF00515). B.H.G. acknowledges support from the Max Planck Society and Schmidt Science Fellows in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.
Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Yidi Liu, Eun Kyo Ko, Yaoju Tarn, Jiarui Li, Srinivas Raghu, Yijun Yu & Harold Y. Hwang
Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Yidi Liu & Srinivas Raghu
Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Eun Kyo Ko, Yaoju Tarn, Jiarui Li, Yijun Yu & Harold Y. Hwang
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Lopa Bhatt & David A. Muller
Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA
Vivek Thampy
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany
Berit H. Goodge
Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Technology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
David A. Muller
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
Y.Y. and H.Y.H. conceived and designed the project. Y.L. and E.K.K. synthesised the films. Y.Y. built the ozone annealing setup and studied the ozone annealing effects with Y.L. and Y.T. Y.L. characterized and studied the transport properties of films with the assistance of Y.T. L.B., B.H.G. and D.A.M. measured and analysed the STEM images. J.L., Y.L., Y.T. and V.T. performed the reciprocal-space mapping measurements. Y.Y., Y.L., S.R. and H.Y.H. analysed the data and wrote the paper with input from all authors.
Correspondence to
Yijun Yu or Harold Y. Hwang.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Materials thanks Jinguang Cheng 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, Normalized real part (Re(Vp)) and b, imaginary (Im(Vp)) part of the voltage in the pickup coil as a function of temperature, measured using a two-coil mutual-inductance technique on sample P236. c, Resistivity of the sample. For comparison, corresponding data from refs. 9 and 10, measured on La3Ni2O7 and (La,Pr)3Ni2O7 films, are also plotted. The red triangles in b and c mark the onset temperature of diamagnetic response and zero resistance Tc, respectively.
Source data
a, Synchrotron x-ray RSM of sample P75 on substrate SLAO(001). The (1117) Bragg peak of the film is measured along with the SLAO(109) Bragg peak. b, Tc,onset versus in-plane lattice constant. The bulk and thin film studies from ref. 9 are plotted for comparison.
a, ρ(T) of films grown at different p(O2), with ozone annealing conditions as described in ref. 9. b, ρ(T) of films annealed at varying Tanneal but the same w(O3). c, ρ(T) of films annealed at varying w(O3) but the same Tanneal. In each plot, the sample with the highest Tc,onset is highlighted with a thick line.
Source data
a, Schematic of the ozone annealing setup. b, Photograph of the setup, with an inset showing a film in the chip carrier inside the quartz tube. To the right of the chip carrier, a PT1000 sensor is positioned to measure the temperature at the chip carrier. c, Interior of the ozone generator, consisting of a tunable high voltage module (front), an ozone quartz generator with inlet and outlet (centre), and a cooling fan (back). A power meter is connected to the high voltage module to monitor the power which regulates w(O3).
a-c, Time-dependent profiles of ρ, w(O3), and Tanneal during optimized ozone annealing. The inset of a shows the saturation of ρ upon oxygenation completion. Blue vertical dashed lines mark changes in w(O3), while red vertical dashed lines indicate the start of warming, reaching Tanneal, and the completion of annealing, respectively. The complex evolution of ρ with time can be understood by changes in the oxidation environment during the annealing process. This is due to both the time required for the gas environment inside the quartz tube to respond after manually adjusting w(O3), and the temperature change.
Source data
a-b, time-dependent resistivity measurements during ozone annealing of two specimens from the same growth (Sample P237). The triangles indicate the points at which the samples began cooling. In a, resistivity did not reach saturation before cooling, whereas in constrast to b. c, ρ(T) of the specimens shown in a and b.
Source data
a, XRD θ–2θ symmetric scan of as-grown films right after growth and five months later. b, Resistivity versus temperature ρ(T) for two specimens of sample P75: One piece was ozone-annealed immediately after growth, while the other was ozone-annealed five months later. c and d, Time-dependent ρ(T) plots of ozone-annealed samples P80 (stored in ambient conditions) and P75 (stored in liquid nitrogen dewar), respectively. e, Time-dependent resistivity at 300 K, normalized by the resistivity at day 0, for samples stored under different conditions. f, A photograph of Swagelok® cap and nut that is used as a gas-tight container to store samples in a nitrogen dewar.
Source data
Data are anti-symmetrised. Data below 60 K shows non-linear behaviour due to the onset of superconductivity. a-c correspond to samples P75, P78, and P108, respectively. Data from Fig. 4b in the main text.
Source data
Source data for Fig. 1.
Source data for Fig. 2.
Source data for Fig. 3.
Source data for Fig. 4.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 1.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 3.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 5.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 6.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 7.
Source data for Extended Data Fig. 8.
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
Liu, Y., Ko, E.K., Tarn, Y. et al. Superconductivity and normal-state transport in compressively strained La2PrNi2O7 thin films.
Nat. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02258-y
Download citation
Received: 14 January 2025
Accepted: 05 May 2025
Published: 29 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02258-y
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 Materials
(Nat. Mater.)
ISSN 1476-4660 (online)
ISSN 1476-1122 (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 Biotechnology
(2025)Cite this article
Metrics details
23andMe's bankruptcy serves as a moment of reflection for the direct-to-consumer (DTC) genomics industry. We analyzed 23andMe financial data and business practices to reveal the factors behind the fall of the company, once valued at US $6 billion and now being considered for acquisition by Regeneron for merely $250 million. Key challenges faced by 23andMe in monetizing its genomic data reveal that this information, at least in a typical DTC setting, is simply not worth that much.
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
Lee, S. S.-J. & Crawley, L. Am. J. Bioeth. 9, 35–44 (2009).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Davies, K. The $1,000 Genome: The Revolution in DNA Sequencing and the New Era of Personalized Medicine (Simon and Schuster, 2015).
Larkin, L. DNA tests. The DNA Geek https://thednageek.com/dna-tests/ (2023).
Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2805 (2014).
Natarajan, P. et al. Circulation 135, 2091–2101 (2017).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Brown, S. N., Jouni, H., Marroush, T. S. & Kullo, I. J. Circ. Cardiovasc. Genet. 10, e001613 (2017).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Polygenic Risk Score Task Force of the International Common Disease Alliance. et al. Nat. Med. 27, 1876–1884 (2021).
Article
CAS
Google Scholar
Minikel, E. V., Painter, J. L., Dong, C. C. & Nelson, M. R. Nature 629, 624–629 (2024).
Article
CAS
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Phares, S., Phillip, K. & Trusheim, M. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41573-025-00036-8 (2025).
Article
PubMed
Google Scholar
Sudlow, C. et al. PLoS Med. 12, e1001779 (2015).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Sheridan, C. Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 87–88 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Benjamin, J. S. et al. Cancer Res. Commun. 5, 477–496 (2025).
Article
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Fenaux, J. et al. Oncoimmunology 12, 2217737 (2023).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Dorfman, R. Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 785–786 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Wojcicki, A. Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 1075–1076 (2013).
Article
CAS
PubMed
Google Scholar
Khan, R. & Mittelman, D. Genome Biol. 14, 139 (2013).
Article
PubMed
PubMed Central
Google Scholar
Download references
Eleven Therapeutics, Tel Aviv, Israel
Yaniv Erlich
WhiteLab Genomics, Paris, France
Dina Zielinski
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to
Yaniv Erlich or Dina Zielinski.
Y.E. is an employee and shareholder of Eleven Therapeutics, an RNA Therapeutic start-up. D.Z. is an employee and shareholder of WhiteLab Genomics, a gene and cell therapy company.
Supplemental Figure 1-3, Supplemental Note 1-3
Quarterly analysis of public financial information
Reprints and permissions
Erlich, Y., Zielinski, D. Anatomy of the 23andMe fall and implications for consumer genomics.
Nat Biotechnol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
Download citation
Published: 29 May 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02683-z
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.
Recent research points to the potential utility of a familiar sounding foe-herpes virus-in the fight against cancer.
The idea: the virus has evolved to commandeer cellular machinery in order activate signaling pathways inside cells and these strategies can be repurposed to bolster immunotherapy against diseases like cancer.
T cells are front line defenders against pathogens, like viruses, and cancer because they can kill infected or malignant cells.
Scientists have for years been trying different techniques to direct these immune cells to protect against disease.
CAR-T therapy is one such example of prompting the body's own immune system to attack certain forms of cancer using T cells.
However, the therapeutic potential of T cells can be limited by the suppressive environment present within tumors that impairs T cell survival and function.
The University of Michigan team identified herpes virus saimiri, which infects the T cells of squirrel monkeys, as a source of proteins that activate pathways in T cells that are needed to promote T cell survival.
The work, led by the lab of Adam Courtney, Ph.D., in the Department of Pharmacology and the U-M Rogel Cancer Center, exploits this ability in order to investigate whether a modified viral protein could be used to activate transcription factors known as STAT proteins.
The approach is borne of observations that stimulation of the JAK-STAT5 pathway by cytokines like interleukin-2 (IL-2) helps boost the therapeutic ability of T cells to kill cancer cells.
The team engineered a variant of the tyrosine kinase interacting protein from the herpes virus to bind LCK (a kinase active in resting T cells) and recruit it to activate STAT5.
In this way, the team determined that direct activation of STAT5 could sustain T cell function in tumors of mouse models of melanoma and lymphoma.
Their findings hint at a new approach -- using genes from organisms with proven ability to modulate human cells -- to enhance the power of immunotherapy.
Ph.D. candidate Yating Zheng, of the Department of Pharmacology at U-M Medical School is first author of the paper.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader:
Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:
Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
In a major leap forward for genetic and biomedical research, two scientists at the University of Missouri have developed a powerful new artificial intelligence tool that can predict the 3D shape of chromosomes inside individual cells -- helping researchers gain a new view of how our genes work.
Chromosomes are the tiny storage boxes that hold our DNA. Since each cell has about six feet of DNA packed inside it, it must be folded up tightly to fit. This folding not only saves space -- it also controls which genes are active or inactive. But when the DNA doesn't fold the right way, it can disrupt normal cell functions and lead to serious diseases, including cancer.
Historically, scientists have relied on data that averaged results from millions of cells at once. That makes it almost impossible to see the unique differences between individual cells. But the new AI model developed by Yanli Wang and Jianlin "Jack" Cheng at Mizzou's College of Engineering changes that.
"This is important because even cells from the same part of the body can have chromosomes folded in very different ways," Wang, a graduate student and lead author of the study, said. "That folding controls which genes are turned on or off."
Studying single cells is tricky because the data is often messy or incomplete. But the new AI tool is specially designed to work with those challenges. It's smart enough to spot weak patterns in noisy data, and it knows how to estimate a chromosome's 3D shape even when some information is missing.
It also understands how to "see" biological structures correctly, even when they're rotated. Compared to a previous deep learning AI method, Mizzou's tool is more than twice as accurate when analyzing human single-cell data.
The team has made the software free and available to scientists around the world. That means researchers can now use it to better understand how genes function, how diseases start and how to design better treatments.
"Every single cell can have a different chromosome structure," Cheng, a Curators' Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, said. "Our tool helps scientists study those differences in detail -- which can lead to new insights into health and disease."
The researchers now plan to improve the AI tool even further by expanding it to build the high-resolution structures of entire genomes. Their goal: to give scientists the clearest picture yet of the genetic blueprint inside our cells.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Missouri-Columbia. Original written by Eric Stann. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader:
Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:
Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Parental warmth and affection in early childhood can have life-long physical and mental health benefits for children, and new UCLA Health research points to an important underlying process: children's sense of social safety.
The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that children who experience more maternal warmth at age 3 have more positive perceptions of social safety at age 14, which in turn predicts better physical and mental health outcomes at age 17.
Greater maternal warmth, defined as more praise, positive tone of voice and acts of affection, has previously been shown to predict better health across the lifespan. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations have been unclear, said Dr. Jenna Alley, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA.
One possibility is that interpersonal experiences early in life affect whether children perceive the social world as safe vs. threatening, accepting vs. rejecting and supportive vs. dismissive. Over time, these perceptions develop into mental frameworks, called social safety schemas, which help individuals interpret, organize, and make predictions about social situations and relationships.
"Your social safety schema is the lens through which you view every social interaction you have," Alley said. "In a way, these schemas represent your core beliefs about the world, what you can expect from it, and how you fit in."
The UCLA Health study is the first longitudinal research to track how maternal warmth in early childhood is related to perceptions of social safety in mid adolescence, and how perceptions of social safety influence physical and mental health outcomes as youth near adulthood.
Warmth from fathers was not studied because there was insufficient data from fathers in the dataset used in the study from the Millenium Cohort Study. Parental warmth care has been historically overlooked in research, Alley said, although preliminary research suggests that the quality of care that fathers provide also predicts child outcomes and should thus be a focus of future research.
Researchers used data from more than 8,500 children who were assessed as part of long-term Millennium Cohort Study in the United Kingdom. Independent evaluators visited the children's homes at age 3 and assessed their mother's warmth (praise, positive tone of voice) and harshness (physically restraining or grabbing the child). At age 14, social safety schemas were measured with questions such as "Do I have family and friends who help me feel safe, secure and happy?" The children then reported on their overall physical health, psychiatric problems and psychological distress at age 17.
Alley and her colleagues found:
"These are the first results we know of showing that maternal warmth can affect the health and wellbeing of kids years later by influencing how they think about the social world," said Dr. George Slavich, senior author of the study and Director of the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at UCLA. "That is a powerful message, because although early-life circumstances are not always easy to change, we can help youth view others and their future in a more positive light," said Slavich.
Alley said the fact that maternal warmth was found to more strongly affect adolescent health than maternal harshness was important because it has implications for how to best intervene. Based on the study findings, for example, enhancing a teenager's sense of safety, by way of a public health campaign or intervention, may be more effective than focusing on reducing perceptions of harshness, and it can potentially have a positive impact on health outcomes for years to come, even after poor maternal care has been experienced.
"The findings tell the story of resilience. Namely, it's not just about stopping the negative things like poor care but about putting effort toward enhancing the positives like warmth and safety," Alley said. "It also important to know that people who have experienced poor care during childhood are not doomed; if we focus on their perceptions of the world, we can greatly improve their lives."
"The message is clear," said Slavich. "Perceiving the social world as a socially safe, inclusive place to be really matters for physical and mental health, and this knowledge can be used to develop better interventions and public health campaigns designed to enhance resilience across the lifespan."
Additional studies are needed to determine how maternal warmth affects children in other contexts outside the United Kingdom, as well as how health care providers and policymakers may improve perceptions of social safety to enhance youth health outcomes.
The study was co-authored by Drs. Jenna Alley, Summer Mengelkoch and George Slavich of UCLA, and Dr. Dimitris Tsomokos of the University College London.
Funding
Funding for the work was provided by grant #OPR21101 from the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research/California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (Jenna Alley, Summer Mengelkoch, and George Slavich) and the Alphablocks Nursery School (Dimitris Tsomokos). The findings and conclusions in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of these organizations, which had no role in designing or planning this study; in collecting, analyzing, or interpreting the data; in writing the article; or in deciding to submit the article for publication.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences. Original written by Will Houston. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader:
Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:
Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
While the Trump administration carries out a mass deportation campaign against undocumented immigrants allegedly involved with “terrorist” organizations and targets foreign students with granular social media surveillance, at least one American member of a neo-Nazi fight club has connected with a group linked to a far-right Scandinavian organization listed by the United States Treasury Department as a terrorist group.
In September 2024, at least one American affiliated with the “Active Club” movement—a transnational alliance of far-right fight clubs that closely overlap with skinhead gangs and neo-fascist political movements—appears to have traveled to Borås, Sweden, to participate in a mixed-martial-arts tournament with members of other affiliated fight clubs from across Europe. Social media posts from Tvåsaxe and GYM XIV, the Swedish skinhead organizations that hosted Holmgang 2024, claim that at least one member from the Southern California Active Club was in attendance. Photographs of the tournament were also published online by Media 2 Rise, the American ACs' media wing.
While the identity of the American (or Americans) who traveled to Sweden last fall are not publicly known, the groups they are part of are key components of the Active Club network. On October 2, Media 2 Rise posted a series of eight watermarked photographs from the Holmgang tournament, essentially putting the American Active Club's signature of approval on the Swedish event.
Media 2 Rise was created by Active Club founder Robert Rundo in collaboration with an pseudonymous individual named "Lucca Corgiat," whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as Montana neo-Nazi Allen Michael Goff. The organization specializes in propagandistic, high-energy video edits of similar far-right combat sport tournaments and the movement more broadly. Media 2 Rise did not respond to WIRED's request for comment. When SPLC contacted Media 2 Rise on its publicly posted contact email address in an attempt to seek comment from Goff, it received no response.
Also on October 2, Tvåsaxe's Telegram account posted a photo of nine people holding the group's flag with the caption, “Borås at night! Aktivklubb Smaland, SoCal Active Club, Active Club Scotland…waiting for the storm! HOLMGANG 2024!” The SoCal Active Club, which is the first Active Club in the United States and is closely associated with Rundo, is also linked to the Hammerskin Nation, one of the largest neo-Nazi skinhead networks in the United States. Two individuals whose photos have frequently been posted to the group's Telegram channel, Grady Mayfield and Robert Wheldon, testified last spring at Rundo's bail hearing during a convoluted legal saga that ended in him pleading guilty to federal Anti-Riot Act charges first filed in 2018.
According to Swedish and American researchers, Tvåsaxe is aligned with the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a pan-Scandinavian neo-Nazi group that was designated as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group” by the American State Department in summer 2024.
Counterterrorism sanctions bar Americans from associating with or providing support to listed groups; ban members from banking, owning property, or conducting business with American financial institutions; and expose anyone found associating with or supporting the sanctioned entity to possible criminal charges.
Jason Blazakis, an extremism researcher at Middlebury College who ran the State Department component that makes FTO designations from 2008 through 2018, says that any level of tangible support to a listed terrorist group, be it sharing an event invitation or buying an item of clothing, could be the basis for a support-of-terrorism charge. “Folks could be looking at possibly 10 to 15 years if convicted, seizure of assets,” he says. “There are very real consequences for violating these sanctions.”
These types of terrorist group designations are determined by the State or Treasury departments, and along with Foreign Terrorist Organizations are included on a formal sanctions list published and maintained by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which imposes financial sanctions and freezes assets. The Justice Department is responsible for prosecuting material support for terrorism violations for Americans or foreign nationals deemed to have violated the proscriptions.
The DOJ has used the statute in a broad range of cases over the years, from charging French industrial giant Lafarge and its subsidiary for cutting business deals with the Islamic State in Northern Syria over a decade ago to six Bosnian-Americans accused and later convicted of providing material support to ISIS fighters. The statute often comes under criticism for its overbroad provisions, exemplified by a 2010 series of FBI raids on activists in Chicago and Minneapolis seeking evidence of ties to designated FTOs in Palestine and Colombia.
NRM, which seeks to create a fascist ethnostate through violent revolution, dates back several decades and is considered one of the most violent neo-Nazi groups in Scandinavia. In 2017, three NRM-linked men were sentenced to prison for attempting to bomb one asylum center, and successfully bombing another as well as a left-wing bookstore. Two of the perpetrators received paramilitary training in Russia from the Russian Imperialist Movement, which was declared a global terror group during the first Trump administration.
While the Holmgang tournament's host has a different name and history than the banned Swedish group, former State Department official Blazakis believes the difference is semantic, given Tvåsaxe's participation in closed NRM conferences and the long-standing relationship between NRM and the Active Clubs.
“They're trying to get around the listing and relevant consequences by changing their name and symbolism. Law enforcement sees right through that, and it also shows willingness and intent to evade these restrictions,” he says. A current State Department staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, also believes American participation in the September tournament could represent a potential case of support for NRM.
Rundo, a self-professed longtime fan of NRM, seems to have modeled Active Clubs and the Rise Above Movement (RAM), which he also founded, on Europe's extreme right-wing scene. Since 2021, Rundo has appeared at least twice on an NRM podcast, including an April 2023 episode devoted to Rundo's labyrinthine federal case for Anti-Riot Act violations. NRM also conducted banner drops over freeways and held demonstrations protesting his detention outside the American and Romanian embassies the same month following Rundo's arrest on an American warrant in Romania.
The 2024 Swedish tournament mirrors similar extreme right-wing martial arts tournaments hosted elsewhere in Europe for years. It also indicates the success of the Active Club model in spreading to the European continent. There are dozens of the fight clubs throughout Europe, including more than 50 in France and several in the United Kingdom, where they came under new scrutiny following a February 2025 ITV documentary connecting members to terrorism and violence. The European Active Clubs are also networking increasingly across national boundaries—Swedish Active Club members were present alongside their Dutch and French comrades at a May 10 fascist march in Paris, and engaged in an outdoor training in the Jardin du Luxembourg with Active Club members from Germany and French far-right extremists.
Though a number of the Swedish Active Club participants are older veterans of other extremist groups, they have had notable success in recruiting younger participants, some as young as 15. In the past year, Swedish authorities have started to connect Active Club members to assaults and hate crime incidents.
Jonathan Leman of Expo.se, a Swedish civil society group that tracks far-right radicalization and organizing, attributes the formation of Sweden's Active Clubs to Oskar Engels, an Estonian former member of NRM who left the group in 2020. Per research from Expo.se, Engels set up a fight club in 2020 that closely imitated Sweden's burgeoning soccer hooligan subculture, where violence and criminality occasionally crosses over with neo-Nazism, particularly in the support base of Stockholm's main clubs of AIK, Djurgården, and Hammarby.
Recently, American Active Clubs have combined with other far-right extremists like Patriot Front and the Hammerskins to hold their own mixed-martial arts-tournaments in Southern California, Texas, and elsewhere.
The State Department's listing of NRM, Blazakis says, was notable since it was the first large-scale neo-Nazi movement the American authorities were able to tie to criminal acts with a terrorist motivation. Previous efforts to sanction the UK's National Action, which is banned by the British Home Office and, according to media reports, has more members convicted of terrorism offenses in the UK than the Islamic State, did not get traction.
“The Nordic Resistance Movement, relative to Active Clubs, are far more organized than your typical ACs and have a high level of criminality that is quite reminiscent of the Rise Above Movement,” Blazakis alleges.
“When you have people that are engaged in criminality move towards terrorism, that's very dangerous,” Blazakis says. “They're evolving in an ideological direction, and in most cases you tend to see groups move in the opposite direction.”
Expo.se's Leman, who has tracked the evolution of Sweden's Active Clubs and their interactions with the rest of the burgeoning Swedish far right, says the September 2024 tournament was hosted by Tvåsaxe, an organization that has been invited to closed NRM conferences in the past two years.
“Tvåsaxe are part of NRM's network. They want to have a good relationship with all the groups in the environment,” Leman alleges. Prior to being listed as a terrorist organization by the Biden administration, Leman says, NRM had far cooler relations with rival far-right groups in Sweden. However, following a 2023 change in leadership and the terrorist entity listing, the group altered its stance and attracted a lot of sympathy and solidarity from other far-right organizations.
“Many groups felt that terror designation from the US was unjust, and that brought the Swedish scene together,” says Leman. “You'd think that the Swedish scene would be reluctant to have anything to do with NRM, but in a way, it's them calling the Americans' bluff.”
A security analyst close to the Swedish government, who asked not to be named to discuss law enforcement matters, noted that the country's security services are closely tracking the evolution of the far-right fight clubs.
“Active Clubs have become very popular because they can recruit younger cadres to the movement,” they say. “I know that this is high on the radar for security services—[they're] much more concerned with these types of activities than they are traditional skinhead groups.”
The participation of at least one American in the September 2024 tournament in Borås, the analyst says, reflects a long-standing North American fascination with NRM's organizing model and Scandinavian mythos. “The Americans are definitely in bed with NRM when they're going over to Sweden and participating in the tournament,” the security analyst alleges. “You're already providing material support and making key connections.” (This was included in WIRED's request for comment sent to Media 2 Rise, which did not respond.) “The question is, are there financial transactions taking place?”
The State Department refused to comment on the association of Americans with NRM in spite of the anti-terrrorism sanctions. It is currently unclear how the US authorities will handle cases involving far-right extremists who violate federal law, particularly in light of reports that the State Department is minimizing its use of terms related to far-right violence.
“The question is, will there be true enforcement of associations with a far-right [terrorist group]?” Blazakis says, pointing to the presence of Darren Beattie as the State Department's acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs. In 2018, Beattie was fired from his position as a Donald Trump speechwriter after it was reported that he attended a white nationalist conference; CNN has similarly reported on his social media presence, which often espouses white supremacist beliefs. Beattie's office plays a major role in shaping the State Department's messaging on counterterrrorism and violent extremism. (The White House did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.)
“I think we're going to see reluctance at best, outright reversals at worst,” says Blazakis.
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
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.
Apple rarely offers discounts on its products (especially on the latest releases) which makes the current deal on the brand-new 11-inch iPad with 128GB storage and Wi-Fi connectivity nothing but exceptional. Released in March, this tablet is being offered on Amazon for an all-time low of $299, which is 14% off the list price of $349.
See at Amazon
The 11-inch iPad has a beautiful Liquid Retina display with a resolution of 2360 by 1640 pixels. It is capable of performing day-to-day tasks in style and comfort. The colors are vibrant and the detail is impressive. If you have never seen the True Tone technology before, the iPad will automatically adjust the color temperature of the display: It senses ambient color temperature (hard if you are outdoors or near a large window) and compensates for that light with its color display.
With regard to speed, the A16 chip is fast, really fast. The iPad runs extremely fast performing simple tasks like switching between apps and multitasking. Overall, Apple has done an exceptional job making high-quality products with abundant processing and computing power used to deliver a positive user experience. Whether you're working with photos, engaged in immersive games or running multiple apps at once, this iPad handles it all with ease.
The iPad runs on iPadOS which is Apple's intuitive operating system that has been designed to maximize productivity and creativity. Connectivity is a strong point of this model, including Wi-Fi 6 for faster and smarter connections with your desired internet. This allows faster downloads, smoother streaming and seamless files delivered quickly and easily on or off a secure wifi network.
If you enjoy a creative outlet or want to take notes, the iPad supports the Apple Pencil (USB-C) turning the iPad into a superior drawing canvas or digital notebook. If you purchase the Magic Keyboard Folio, a useful keyboard that will magnetically attach and is detachable, the iPad also turns into the perfect all-in-one tool of work or play. Whether that looks like sketching out ideas, writing reports or web browsing, this mix of hardware and software makes for a smooth experience of what you want to accomplish and have fun while doing it.
For most general users, the 128GB storage capacity will provide more than enough space for photos and documents and using the iPad to create. The iPad 11-inch has a battery capacity that can last all day so you can stay as productive as possible without worrying where the nearest charge is or ranged filling up on your phone's battery.
Don't let this opportunity pass while you can save on one of the best tablets on the market today.
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
Perplexity, the AI-powered search engine gunning for Google, on Thursday released Perplexity Labs, a tool for subscribers to Perplexity's $20-per-month Pro plan that can craft reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and more.
Perplexity Labs is available on the web, iOS, and Android, and coming soon to Perplexity's apps for Mac and Windows.
“Perplexity Labs can help you complete a variety of work and personal projects,” Perplexity explains in a blog post. “Labs is designed to invest more time — 10 minutes or longer — and leverage additional tools [to accomplish tasks], such as advanced file generation and mini-app creation.”
Labs, which arrives the same day as viral AI agent platform Manus released a slide deck creation tool, is a part of Perplexity's effort to broaden beyond its core business of search. Perplexity is currently previewing a web browser, Comet, and recently acquired Read.vc, a social media network for professionals.
Perplexity Labs, powered by AI, can conduct research and analysis, taking around 10 minutes and using tools like web search, code execution, and chart and image creation to craft reports and visualizations. Labs can create interactive web apps, Perplexity says, and write code to structure data, apply formulas, and create documents.
All files created during a Perplexity Labs workflow — such as charts, images, and code files — are organized in a tab from where they can be viewed or downloaded. “This expanded capability empowers you to develop a broader array of deliverables for your projects,” according to Perplexity's blog post.
It all sounds good in theory, but AI being an imperfect technology, Labs likely doesn't always hit the mark. Of course, we'll reserve judgment until we have a chance to test it.
Perplexity has increasingly invested in corporate-focused functionality, last summer launching an enterprise plan with user management, “internal knowledge search,” and more. The moves could be in part at the behest of the VCs backing Perplexity, who are no doubt eager to see a return sooner than later. Perplexity is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion in capital from investors at an $18 billion valuation.
Topics
AI Editor
LIMITED TIME: Save $300+ on your ticket, plus an additional 50% on a second for a full immersive day of AI! Hear from AI pioneers from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more on the main stage and in breakouts, and network like never before.
Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots
Black Forest Labs' Kontext AI models can edit pics as well as generate them
Tinder tests letting users set a ‘height preference'
Delaware attorney general reportedly hires a bank to evaluate OpenAI's restructuring plan
Perplexity's new tool can generate spreadsheets, dashboards, and more
Tesla alum's Heron Power closes $38M Series A to transform key grid technology
In a victory for Palmer Luckey, Meta and Anduril work on mixed reality headsets for the military
© 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
On Thursday, Anduril and Meta announced news that feels like a fairy tale ending for Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey. The two companies are working together to build extended reality (XR) devices for the U.S. military, Anduril announced in a blog post.
“I am glad to be working with Meta once again,” Luckey is quoted as saying in the post. “My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.”
This partnership stems from the Soldier Borne Mission Command (SBMC) Next program, formerly called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) Next. IVAS was a massive military contract, with a total $22 billion budget, originally awarded to Microsoft in 2018 intended to develop HoloLens-like AR glasses for soldiers.
But after endless problems, in February the Army stripped management of the program from Microsoft and awarded it to Anduril, with Microsoft staying on as a cloud provider. The intent is to eventually have multiple suppliers of mixed reality glasses for soldiers.
All of this meant that if Luckey's former employer, Meta, wanted to tap into the potentially lucrative world of military VR/AR/XR headsets, it would need to go through Anduril.
The devices will be based on tech out of Meta's AR/VR research center Reality Labs, the post says. They'll use Meta's Llama AI model, and they will tap into Anduril's command and control software known as Lattice. The idea is to provide soldiers with a heads-up display of battlefield intelligence in real time.
Luckey is apparently feeling good about this reconciliation. He was, of course, famously fired from Facebook in 2017, about three years after Facebook bought his startup Oculus for $2 billion. This came after Luckey was embroiled in a brouhaha over his support for Donald Trump in his 2016 election. Luckey turned around and founded Anduril in 2017, with co-founders Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, and Matt Grimm.
An Anduril spokesperson tells TechCrunch that the product family Meta and Anduril are building is even called EagleEye, which will be an ecosystem of devices.
EagleEye is what Luckey named Anduril's first imagined headset in Anduril's pitch deck draft, before his investors convinced him to focus on building software first.
“All of them had worked with me for years via Oculus VR, and when they saw the EagleEye headset in our first Anduril pitch deck draft, they pointed out that it seemed like I was sequencing things irrationally. They believed, correctly, that I was too focused on winning a pissing contest over the future of AR/VR, on proving that I was right and the people who fired me were wrong,” Luckey tweeted in February after winning the IVAS contract.
After Thursday's news, Luckey posted on X: “It is pretty cool to have everything at our fingertips for this joint effort – everything I made before Meta acquired Oculus, everything we made together, and everything we did on our own after I was fired.”
And to show that Luckey has really buried the hatchet, he said Anduril has even launched a Facebook page.
Topics
Venture Editor
LIMITED TIME: Save $300+ on your ticket, plus an additional 50% on a second for a full immersive day of AI! Hear from AI pioneers from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic, and more on the main stage and in breakouts, and network like never before.
Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots
Black Forest Labs' Kontext AI models can edit pics as well as generate them
Tinder tests letting users set a ‘height preference'
Delaware attorney general reportedly hires a bank to evaluate OpenAI's restructuring plan
Perplexity's new tool can generate spreadsheets, dashboards, and more
Tesla alum's Heron Power closes $38M Series A to transform key grid technology
In a victory for Palmer Luckey, Meta and Anduril work on mixed reality headsets for the military
© 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.
LEGO does not only tell stories of well-known franchises such as Star Wars or Harry Potter, even though those licenses certainly helped propel LEGO in the minds of consumers globally. LEGO strives to bring global culture and history to life with its Architecture series featuring many wonderful landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Westminster Bridge, and Statue of Liberty.
Currently, the LEGO Architecture Statue of Liberty (21042) is available on Amazon at a record low price of $94, which is 22% off the original listing price of $119. Over 1,000 units have sold in the last month and it is an Amazon's Choice item, so it is a steal for all builders and avid collectors of LEGO.
See at Amazon
What is incredible about the Statue of Liberty model is how much detail LEGO included in this set and how many builders were blown away. Lady Liberty's flowing robe is beautifully depicted, the pedestal with the shield is incredibly detailed with brick details and columns, broken shackles represent freedom, a 7-ray crown is iconic and the tablet and upraised arm with the golden torch is equally representation of freedom. The colors (sand green and beige) are very humanlike and give the model a liveliness while building it. With a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from more than 6,200 reviews—nearly 6,000 of which are five-star ratings—this set is a favorite for dedicated collectors.
With more than 1,600 pieces, standing 44 cm tall, this statue certainly captures your focus and can be a great statement piece anywhere at home or in the office. Based on reviews, the alternative designs and materials of this set are top quality at it's current promotional price, that makes it a great dal for a LEGO fans.
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
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.
When most people think of Apple, the MacBook lineup comes to mind. But among Apple's bestsellers, there's a desktop contender that consistently punches above its weight: the Mac Mini. Offering exceptional performance at a much lower price point than a MacBook, the Mac Mini is the perfect choice if you're in the market for a compact desktop computer.
Right now, Apple 2024 Mac Mini desktop computer with M4 chip with 16GB unified memory and 256GB SSD is priced at $488, down from its usual price of $599. That is a 18% discount and it brings this desktop even more compelling if you're looking at Apple's quality and great value. This is also the lowest price ever seen since it was released, a few months ago.
See at Amazon
The Mac Mini features Apple's newest M4 chip which features a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. The powerful processor is designed for Apple Intelligence and drives capabilities that enable your computing to become smarter, faster and way more secure. Multitasking is efficiently taken care of with 16GB of unified memory and 256GB SSD guarantees quick boot up times and quick app opening. The other models (with 24GB RAM, and up to 512GB storage) are also on sale at Amazon.
Despite its compact size (just five inches by five inches), this 2024 Mac Mini is packed with connectivity options: On the back, you'll find Thunderbolt, HDMI, and Gigabit Ethernet ports, while the front now includes USB-C ports and a headphone jack for added convenience. This makes it super easy to connect all your peripherals and accessories.
Apple Intelligence is a best-of-class feature that offers you a personal intelligence system to help you write, communicate and accomplish things easily. Thanks to the world's best privacy protections, your data is protected—Apple can't even touch it. All your favorite apps like Microsoft 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud (including Photoshop and Illustrator) open instantly because of the M4 chip and optimization of macOS.
The Mac Mini is also great at integrating with the rest of the Apple family: If you love your iPhone or iPad, you'll love how seamlessly the Mac Mini integrates with them. Features like iPhone Mirroring let you view and interact with your iPhone from your Mac, while Universal Clipboard lets you copy and paste between devices. You can even send messages and receive FaceTime calls on your computer.
With its current discount on Amazon, there's never been a time better than now to upgrade your workspace with this handy computer.
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
It's hard to stand out in the phone world. Outside of foldable screens like the Flip and Fold pioneered by Samsung, most phones nowadays wind up looking suspiciously iPhone-esque—a rectangular glass slab with small variations in chassis that equate to flat or less-flat edges. That's why, when phone upstart Nothing put out its Phone 1, a few design tweaks went a long way. First and foremost, the phones have a “transparent design,” which basically just means a slightly see-through backplate that showcases some internal components.
Perhaps even more defining than that semi-transparent design aesthetic, however, is the Glyph Interface—an array of LEDs that light up the phone's backside to show notifications, timers, etc. A design choice that, according to a brief-but-telling post on X, may soon wind up in the graveyard.
We killed the Glyph Interface. pic.twitter.com/wlLHNzzc72
— Nothing (@nothing) May 29, 2025
“We killed the Glyph Interface” doesn't leave much to the imagination, especially with Nothing CEO Carl Pei chiming in underneath the seemingly straightforward update to say, “RIP.” So, that's it, right? Nothing just unceremoniously killed its phones' defining feature—maybe one that's even more defining than the design ethos they're kind of known for. Maybe! But maybe not. Rumors indicate that though the Glyph Interface as we know it may be done for, there's a new luminous sheriff in town, and it may give Nothing phones a whole new look.
While these are firmly rumors, Nothing fans have been speculating about a new kind of Glyph Interface—the dot matrix—and not all of the speculation is unfounded. Last week, Nothing tweeted out a teaser for its upcoming Phone 3, which is set to be unveiled in July, that gave a pretty big hint at a future dot-style design choice.
New dots. Phone (3). Coming July 2025. pic.twitter.com/blYmoCNlJo
— Nothing India (@nothingindia) May 23, 2025
“New dots” isn't much to go off of and could easily just be an update to its existing dot matrix aesthetic in NothingOS, but at the same time, the fact that Nothing bothered to issue a full-on teaser says a lot. And if I'm to put on my LED-clad tin foil hat for a moment, it would seem to me that a company as obsessed with its design and image as Nothing wouldn't so confidently announce that its next phone is about to get a lot more boring if it didn't have some other trick up its sleeve.
One thing is for sure: There's a big change a-comin' and the Glyph Interface is at the center of that. However you feel about the Glyph Interface, it makes sense from a pure economics perspective to switch things up. LEDs are expensive and actually limiting when you break them down. They might be good for timer bars because of the granularity, but they can't show text and other word-based information. Either way, we'll find out soon enough, because Nothing is set to release its next phone this summer, and we'll more than likely have a device to test and show off when they finally roll around.
DesignNothingSmartphones
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've officially run out of ideas, folks.
Prices are about to get a lot, uh.... pricier.
Hopefully it won't bend, either.
Get your pitchforks ready, unless, of course, you're all about unnecessarily skinny phones.
April was the month of the Nintendo Switch 2, but mid-range Android phones were a separate standout.
Find us another phone where you can 3D print accessories and screw them to the backside.
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
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.
Movies and TV are nothing without sound. It makes up 50% of the movie-watching experience. You can have the best picture in the world available, but it won't leave its full impact if the audio is just coming out of the TV. The best way to improve your home audio for watching movies, football games, and big budget TV shows without breaking your own budget is with a soundbar. You'll find a soundbar to be a significant enhancement to what the built-in speakers you TV is working with which usually sound tinny and weak in comparison. You deserve to immerse yourself fully in your media. Take for instance this LG 5.1.1 channel soundbar surround sound system. It's going for 40% off which brings the price down from $500 to just $300. That's one heck of a savings.
See at Best Buy
Surround yourself with speakers to bring that cinema experience right to your living room. The LG 5.1.1 sound system will upgrade your audio with crystal-clear dialogue, a booming bass and immersive sound. This is all thanks to the rear speaker kit and a slew of supported features of the sound bar.
Bring a new dimension of sound that will make your feel like you're in the movie or game with the rich sound. The soundbar utilizes a series of up-firing channels designed to bounce off your ceiling and fill the room with moving audio that flows around you. The system uses AI room calibration and spatial awareness to better understand the layout and acoustics of the room. It can then balance soundbar audio settings, finetuning it to the environment so it always sounds natural and accurate. Plus is has support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
The rear speaker and subwoofer are all wireless so you don't need to worry about hiding cables when setting up your living room home theater. And the soundbar supports HDMI passthrough with support for 120Hz so you don't need to sacrifice visuals for great sound, especially while gaming.
The soundbar lets you customize your speakers treble, bass, and midrange through the LG Soundbar App. You can boost the level of that center channel separately from the volume of the rest of your sound system. Why do this? Well dialogue is primarily set to come through that center channel so this can be a game changer when watching a poorly mixed movie or show where the dialogue all feels silent against loud, room-shaking action moments. Even it out to what's best for the room you're viewing in.
For a limited time, you can upgrade your home theater sound system for 40% off, getting the LG 5.1.1-channel S70TR home theater soundbar with rear speakers for just $300.
See at Best Buy
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
We can only infer mechanical compatibility based on the shipping data.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Intel's upcoming LGA1954 socket for next-generation Nova Lake CPUs is rumored to match its predecessor's size and may retain cooler compatibility. Ruby_Rapids on X highlighted NBD shipping manifests detailing the socket dimensions of LGA1954. At 45mm x 37.5mm, the size remains largely unchanged, despite offering roughly 100 more pins than LGA1851. However, full compatibility is still up in the air due to potential hotspot shifts with Nova Lake, depending on how and where Intel designs the cores.
Intel's current Arrow Lake processors utilize the LGA1851 socket, which was originally designed to support the now-axed Meteor Lake-S family on desktop. Though there are whispers of a potential Arrow Lake Refresh up in the air, it is expected to mirror Raptor Lake Refresh with improved silicon, higher clock speeds, and potentially more cache.
In essence, the next major desktop release from Intel should be Nova Lake, which has officially been slated for a 2026 launch. If rumors hold true, these CPUs will use the LGA1954 socket, necessitating a new motherboard, which is a bummer if you've already invested a lot in the current platform. That being said, you may be able to keep your current cooler. Shipping data from NBD indicates the LGA1954 socket measures 45mm x 37.5mm, matching the size of LGA1851 and even LGA1700. This at least hints at mechanical compatibility for the CPU cooler.
Another Socket V series member:The package size of FCLGA1954 is 45×37.5, too.Today‘s coolers are mechanically compatible with Nova Lake-S. pic.twitter.com/BYJIwg0ANuMay 29, 2025
Here, with identical socket dimensions, we can infer a similar cooler mounting pattern. This was previously seen with LGA1156 (Nehalem/Westmere) all the way up to LGA1200 (Comet Lake/Rocket Lake), which could share the same CPU cooler due to a consistent mounting pattern (75mm x 75mm holes) throughout. Naturally, you'd need to confirm if your CPU cooler can dissipate the heat Nova Lake produces, though we don't expect it to exceed Arrow Lake in this regard.
Mechanical compatibility also does not guarantee full thermal compatibility. With the switch to a chiplet-based architecture, Intel has the flexibility to alter the placement of the Compute Tile on the interposer, or even change the positions of the P-cores and E-cores within the tile itself. For example, both core types were arranged in distinct blocks with Meteor Lake. However, Intel shifted to an interspersed layout with Arrow Lake, which directly affects thermal hotspots. All things considered, we'll need to wait for official confirmation from Intel.
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.
Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
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.
Open Source spool tagging could redefine multicolor printing.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Elegoo has confirmed that full color printing is coming to the Centauri Series of FDM 3D printers by the third quarter of 2025. The highly anticipated Automatic Filament Switching System will be the first to feature open-source RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, a move that could shake up filament management in the 3D printing industry.
Bambu Lab was the first to introduce RFID-tagged spools to consumer-grade printers. The tags, taped to the spool's inner cardboard core, store information on the material's type and color for the printer to read. This information is then transmitted to the slicer, saving the user the extra steps of squinting at spools, writing down print temperatures, and then manually configuring materials on their computer. Creality and Anycubic followed suit with the introduction of their own multimaterial 3D printers and house lines of filaments. However, each system can only read its own RFID tag and is encrypted to prevent third-party access.
This system of convenience has misguided many new Bambu Lab users into believing their printers can only operate with proprietary filament. An open-source system would encourage users to step outside their walled garden to explore the vast world of filament created by other manufacturers.
Elegoo's RFID tags will embed information about the type, color, brand, and remaining weight of the spools with a rewritable storage tag. The data structure has been posted to GitHub, and Elegoo has invited the community at large to freely create or modify compatible filament products. The company stated in a press release that it aims to promote cross-brand compatibility and the adoption of industry standards.
To refine the system, Elegoo is actively seeking feedback on tag structure and development directions through GitHub issues and social media comments. The company emphasizes that community input will be key to building a flexible, intelligent, and open RFID ecosystem.
“As we prepare to launch this innovative system, we're committed to building it with the community,” Elegoo stated. “Together, we can unlock new possibilities for the future of 3D printing.”
Prusa Research also uses RFID tags in their spools, but only for internal quality control tracking. A QR code lasered onto each spool of Prusament allows customers to track their spool to a website and discover the filament's production date, manufacturing location, tolerance specs, weight, length, and best print settings. This has led to speculation on the internet that Prusa Research could easily implement its own tagging system for the MMU3 and tool-swapping Prusa XL. Joseph Prusa is widely known as a supporter of Open Source.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Universally tagged spools – or the ability to add tags to spools you already own – would make slicing multicolor prints much easier. I often need to load filament and then take a photo of it in the AMS – or my Prusa XL's spool holders – then refer to the photo to configure the slicer. Worse yet, when files are pre-colored by the designer, I often need to rearrange the spools in the machine to match the model's palette.
Denise Bertacchi is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering 3D printing. Denise has been crafting with PCs since she discovered Print Shop had clip art on her Apple IIe. She's been a freelance newspaper reporter, online columnist and craft blogger with an eye for kid's STEM activities. She got hooked on 3D printing after her son made a tiny Tinkercad Jeep for a school science project. Excited to learn more, she got a Creality CR10s and hasn't looked back. She loves reviewing 3D printers because she can mix all her passions: printing, photography and writing. When she's not modding her Ender 3 Pro or stirring glitter into a batch of resin, you'll find her at the latest superhero movie with her husband 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.
As much as I treasure the Steam Deck as my closest gaming companion, the handheld's limitations will inevitably become more stark with time. Valve's handheld PC is still one of the cheapest of its class. It's comfortable, relatively light, and provides a beautiful picture with the OLED screen (if you have that model like I do). But when I'm struggling to play graphically intensive titles without making my precious handheld feel ill, streaming has proved an antidote to my woes. Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming games service now sports a full native Steam Deck app, and it has become my favorite way to play today's slate of ultra-hyped games from the comfort of my couch.
Performance isn't everything, especially for something as portable as a handheld. The Steam Deck is still one of the best devices for playing less-intensive titles, but that doesn't mean the hardware isn't looking long in the tooth. Getting stable performance out of recent titles like Doom: The Dark Ages on the 3-year-old device has proved impossible. I've played games like Metaphor: Refantazio on Steam Deck—90 hours from beginning to end—and even though that game wasn't pushing pixels to their limit, I still experienced sluggish performance in Metaphor's open areas.
Nvidia previously declared it would bring a dedicated GeForce Now app to Meta Quest, Apple Vision Pro, and Steam Deck. The company gave me early access to the app in the few weeks before launch, and it's been seamless enough I don't think I can go back. I was already smitten with Razer Cortex for Windows PC-to-handheld streaming, but for simplicity's sake, GeForce Now is the reigning champion of simple and seamless streaming on a SteamOS handheld. Nvidia could not confirm if the app will work on the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go S running SteamOS. We would be surprised if Nvidia doesn't provide some support for Lenovo's 1200p-resolution handheld in the future.
You could previously use GeForce Now running on a Steam Deck, though it involved running the streaming service through a browser and setting up your own control bindings. SteamOS offers one of the most console-like experiences for handhelds, but downloading GeForce Now requires more finagling than searching for it on the Steam store. You need to load up your device into desktop mode and then download and install the app from Nvidia's website. After that, it will appear on the Steam Deck menu's “Non-Steam” folder. Playing my Steam Deck with the app was a godsend for battery life. If I can normally barely squeak two hours out of a 3D game on my Steam Deck OLED running natively, I managed to do around four to five hours before I even noticed my device needed to be plugged in.
The browser-based app has several limitations, including limiting the display resolution to 1440p. The Steam Deck app allows for 4K resolutions and a max of 60 fps if you're paying for the Ultimate subscription. That's still not the full extreme of 120 fps on the PC app, though at least the handheld version supports HDR10 and Nvidia Reflex. Nvidia told me they were considering upgrading the max fps to 90, but for the sake of using the app on handheld devices, the 60 fps ceiling is workable. That limit means it doesn't even matter if the game is running Nvidia's DLSS 4 AI upscaling. On the latest Steam Deck's OLED display, I didn't spot any distortion that can appear on in-game visuals when using the app through the browser-based app.
Steam Decks are made to play your Steam library. That doesn't mean you can't play games through Xbox, Epic Games Store, or GOG, but it's more difficult, and I have encountered a few compatibility issues with the Steam Deck's Proton compatibility layer. GeForce Now becomes the easiest way to access all your games spread out across all platforms. Xbox recently added the option to stream your games through GeForce Now rather than Microsoft's own servers. I combined my Game Pass subscription with Nvidia's streaming app to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on Steam Deck, which proved far more stable than using Game Pass on Steam Deck with the browser app. Doom: The Dark Ages, unfortunately, claims it needs a driver update and remains unplayable.
Nvidia's app also makes the Steam Deck a far more capable handheld if you combine it with a 4K display. Unlike the mobile app, the version for Steam Deck includes options for resolutions above 1440p. This requires at least 45 Mbps internet speeds if you want to maintain the max 60 fps (you only need 25 Mbps for streaming at less than 1080p and 60 fps). I combined my Steam Deck with a dock hooked up to my TV through HDMI, and I found myself preferring to navigate SteamOS with the comfort of a controller from a couch than having to switch to a keyboard and mouse on Windows. The big limitation of 60 fps means that a Steam Deck in docked mode has fewer capabilities than it does on PC or even an Nvidia Shield streaming box.
It's my new choice for streaming on my TV, although at $100 for the Ultimate subscription, I can't imagine it should be your first choice if you want to dedicate GeForce Now for Steam Deck. The free version has limits of 1-hour sessions and limits resolution to 1080p, which doesn't matter nearly as much since the Steam Deck's max resolution is 1,280 x 800, but ads are the real reason you may want to consider a “Performance” subscription for $30 in the first six months. If you consider the price of buying a more capable handheld, especially as they get more expensive, streaming starts to seem that much more attractive.
GamingNvidiaSteam Deckvalve
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.
It's not just YouTube—your games might also be cooked.
Nintendo's Switch 2 Joy-Cons 2 will literally make music in the connection menu.
Selling through major retailers in the states could ruin what made these handhelds so great in the first place.
If you own a PC handheld that runs Windows 11, you'll want to install the newest version of SteamOS. Thank me later.
Retailers like Best Buy and GameStop promise they'll have Nintendo Switch 2 in-store stock.
We'll need to see if a 9060 XT can beat the RTX 5060 Ti, but what's more important is if it manages to maintain its price after launch.
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.
This is simply the best air cooler on the market, exceeding my expectations for what air cooling can offer. You won't find better performance without using liquid cooling.
Strongest air-cooling performance I've tested yet
Competitive with entry-level 360mm AIOs
Exceptional noise-normalized performance
Reasonable $52.90 US price
None!
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.
In ancient Rome, the term Pretor (more commonly spelled Praetor) was given to magistrates and commanders of armies – and boy, does the title fit Thermalrights' latest flagship air cooler, the Royal Pretor 130. The performance of this latest product is ferocious, blurring the lines between what you should expect from air and liquid coolers.
Will the Royal Pretor 130 make our list of the best coolers? Yes. As we'll see in testing, it's the best air cooler on the market! Let's take a look at the specifications and features of the cooler, then we'll go over thermal performance with both Intel and AMD CPUs, as well as noise levels.
Cooler
Thermalright Royal Pretor 130
MSRP
$52.90 (U.S.)
Radiator Material
Aluminum
Lighting
None
Warranty
3 Years
Socket Compatibility
Intel Socket LGA 1851/1700/1200/115x AMD AM5 / AM4
Unit Dimensions
130 (L) x 112 (W) x 158mm (H)
Maximum TDP (Our Testing) @ 23C
>259W with Core i7-14700K >254W with AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D
The packaging for the cooler features a slick white and black design. Opening it reveals the parts, protected by molded foam, cardboard, and plastic coverings.
Included in the box are the following:
▶ Dual-tower heatsink
The heatsink has two silver towers, with a black etched metal top showcasing Thermalright's brand name and logo.
▶ High-quality TF7 thermal paste
Thermalright includes its TF7 thermal compound with the cooler, which offers good performance, only a couple of degrees away from the best pastes you can buy.
▶ Six copper heatpipes
The Royal Pretor has six 6mm copper heatpipes to move heat away from the CPU and into the fins of the towers.
▶ Two fans of different sizes – 120mm, 130mm
There's more to a cooler than just the heatsink or radiator. The bundled fans have a significant impact on cooling and noise levels, as well as how the cooler looks in your case. This cooler arrives with two different types of fans. Both are 28mm thick, but one is 120 mm and the other is 130 mm.
Model
TL-H12-X28
TL-HD13-X28
Dimensions
120 x 120 x 28mm
130 x 130 x 28mm
Fan Speed
Up to 2150 RPM
Up to 1750 RPM
Air Flow
Up to 80.45 CFM
Up to 81.88 CFM
Air Pressure
Up to 2.65 mm H2O
Up to 2.38 mm H2O
Bearing Type
S-FDB V2
S-FDB V2
MTTF
3 Year Warranty
3 Year Warranty
Lighting
None
None
My results may differ from others because I emphasize results that are comparable to real-world use. This means that I test CPU coolers inside of a closed desktop case, which increases cooling difficulty compared to other testing methods. Many will test CPU coolers outside of a case, on an open test bench. Open benches have lowered ambient temperatures, which makes weak coolers appear stronger than they are. Some publications have also used generic thermal plates to test cooling solutions. I reject both of these methods because they don't accurately reflect the real-world conditions a CPU cooler is used in.
CPU
Intel Core i7-14700K
GPU
ASRock Steel Legend Radeon 7900 GRE
Motherboard
MSI Z790 Project Zero
Case
MSI Pano 100L PZ Black
System Fans
Iceberg Thermal IceGale Silent
My previous reviews have tested Intel's latest platform, using the Core Ultra 9 285K Arrow Lake CPU. But we're retiring this from our testing suite. Between BIOS changes and Windows updates, Arrow Lake's thermal characteristics have changed in some scenarios, rendering much of our previous testing data useless.
With today's review, we're also testing AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D. This is a beast of a CPU, providing the best gaming and multithreaded performance on the market. It can prove quite challenging thermally when PBO is enabled for overclocking.
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
GPU
MSI Ventus 3X RTX 4070Ti Super
Motherboard
MSI X870E Carbon Wifi
Case
MSI MAG Pano 100R PZ
The installation of this cooler is simple for both Intel and AMD CPUs.
1. You'll first need to apply the included backplate if you're using an Intel CPU. AMD users will remove the default mounting mechanism.
2. Next, you'll set the rubber standoffs on both Intel and AMD systems.
3. Then you'll want to take the mounting bars and place them on top of the standoffs, securing them with the included screws.
4. Apply the included thermal paste to your CPU. If you have any questions on how to do this properly, please refer to our handy guide on how to apply thermal paste.
5. Mount the heatsink on top of the CPU, using a screwdriver to secure the screws in the middle of the unit.
6. Attach the fans to the heatsink using the included clips, and then use the included PWM cable to connect the fans to the motherboard.
Current page:
Features and Specifications
Albert Thomas is a contributor for Tom's Hardware, primarily covering CPU cooling reviews.
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.
Vice President JD Vance and the sons of President Donald Trump, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., spoke at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, hyping the cryptocurrency and promising to do everything in their power to ensure a friendly regulatory environment. And it's just the latest reminder that the Trump regime is all-in on crypto.
Vance was eager to thank the Winklevoss brothers, Tyler and Cameron, who are longtime crypto investors and donated millions to the crypto super PAC Fairshake in the 2024 election cycle. Vance said that many people in Silicon Valley were nervous to support President Trump in his bid to retake the White House and credited the Winklevoss twins as some of the first to really get on board.
“Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, I think they were some of the first big names in Silicon Valley to take that step and a whole host of people followed them. So Cameron and Tyler, thank you for that,” Vance said.
Vance also thanked Coinbase, one of the organizers of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference, and a company that the SEC dropped its investigation into about a month after Trump again took power. The Trump regime has drawn criticism for dropping investigations into powerful people and companies that are seen as friendly to the president, and nobody seems to understand that better than the crypto community, which complained during Joe Biden's tenure that they were being unfairly targeted for being crooks.
Vance told the audience he holds “a fair amount of bitcoin,” without disclosing an exact number. The vice president previously reported that he held somewhere between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of bitcoin, according to financial disclosure paperwork he filed in the summer of 2024, shortly before the election. It's not clear if the VP has purchased more or sold any since that disclosure almost a year ago.
Vance said he was “eliminating the rules, the red tape, and the lawfare that we saw aimed at crypto by our predecessors,” referring to the Biden administration. And the VP specifically called out former SEC chairman Gary Gensler, long hated among crypto enthusiasts.
“Maybe the most important thing that we did for this community, we reject regulators and we fired Gary Gensler and we're going to fire everybody like him,” Vance told the crowd.
While Vance did his part to assure conference attendees that he was doing everything he could to make sure people like Gensler were no longer able to influence policy, the president's sons leaned into the hype with a much more blunt approach.
“Every single day, people are allocating billions and billions of dollars to it. You know, 0.1 Bitcoin is going to be worth an absolute fortune,” Eric Trump said. The price of 0.1 bitcoin is about $10,700 today.
Asked by a moderator what they thought bitcoin's price would be by 2026, Eric said “the moon,” while his brother Donald Jr. said it would land somewhere between 150,000 and 175,000 dollars. The current price is hovering around $107,900, near an all-time-high.
Eric Trump made a passing reference to his father's company Trump Media, the owner of Truth Social, which had just announced plans for a $2.5 billion investment in a bitcoin treasury this week. And he insisted “everyone wants it, nobody wants to get rid of it,” doing his best to pump up the price.
The bitcoin conference will have other speakers for its final day on Thursday, including Paolo Ardoino, the head of stablecoin company Tether. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the infamous darknet market Silk Road who was sentenced to life in prison and served 11 years before being pardoned by Donald Trump, is also slated to speak Thursday.
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.
Fascists always think they're the real victims.
A third person has been taken into custody in a shocking crypto criminal case.
Trump Media says the purchases will "create synergies" and protect the company "against harassment and discrimination."
A bizarre and violent criminal case appears to be unfolding in New York involving a cryptocurrency investor.
The president isn't the most tech-savvy fascist around.
They wanted to be in the room where it happens (and the "it" is corruption).
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
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.
If you've ever found yourself squinting at a laptop screen or wishing your console gaming setup had a bit more real estate, you're not alone. Many people feel constrained by the small screens of their devices but surprisingly few know there's an easy solution: portable monitors. These lightweight and slim screens can expand your workspace or play space immensely, and the newer models are easier than ever to use and carry around with you.
Take the MNN 1080p 15.6-inch portable monitor for example: Currently, Amazon is selling this revolutionary device at an unmatchable price. Initially priced at $89, it is now available for only $61 which is a 31% off offer that is almost too good to resist. If you appreciates convenience and comfort (especially if you work remotely or if you travel a lot), this offer is a great chance to enhance your tech equipment.
See at Amazon
The MNN 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display offers bright images with a 1920 x 1080 resolution so your Excel spreadsheets, streaming Netflix and Disney videos, and all that is in between will look sharp and bright. The matte screen boasts an expansive 178-degree viewing angle so it's easy to share with others without distorting colors. It also possesses advanced eye-care technology which reduces blue light and eliminates flicker to decrease eye strain when gaming or working for long hours.
MNN Portable Monitor features simple setup due to its two Type-C ports: You can connect the monitor to the laptop/PC/MacBook, phone or even gaming consoles like the PS5, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch using a single USB Type-C cable. The device supports Thunderbolt 3.0 and USB 3.1 Type C DP ALT-MODE which supports a large number of devices. All you need to do is plug in the included USB-C to USB-C cable to experience the best results. When plugged in, you have a variety of display options to pick from to provide the versatility you need to customize your configuration to suit your purposes. If you need to mirror your primary display, extend your desktop, or turn the monitor around for vertical orientation, the MNN monitor accommodates.
Weighing just ounces less than a standard display (1.53 lbs), it easily fits in a backpack or suitcase and is perfect for use while traveling, commuting or working in the field. You can simply hold it in your hand all day long without fatigue and the integrated smart cover provides protection as well as function. Made of durable PU leather, the cover is also a stand.
Whether you're working, studying, or gaming, this (discounted) monitor is ready to help you do more – no matter where you are.
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
The backdoor evades detection and survives firmware updates
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Thousands of Asus routers have been compromised due to a newly discovered botnet called ‘AyySSHush.' The stealth attack was detected in March 2025 by cybersecurity firm GreyNoise, which reportedly exploits authentication and makes use of the router features to maintain long-term access. Notably, the backdoor does not make use of any malware, and the unauthorized access cannot be removed using firmware updates.
The attack begins with threat actors targeting the routers through brute-force login attempts and exploiting authentication bypass techniques, some of which remain undocumented without assigned CVEs. Once inside, they target and exploit CVE-2023-39780, a known command injection vulnerability, to execute arbitrary system-level commands. This technique allows the attackers to manipulate the router's configuration using legitimate functions within the firmware.
The attackers use official Asus router features to gain persistent access. They also gain the ability to enable SSH on a non-standard port (TCP 53282) and install their own public SSH key, enabling remote administrative control. Since the backdoor is written to the router's non-volatile memory (NVRAM), it can survive both firmware updates and device reboots. Additionally, by disabling system logging and the router's AiProtection security features, the attackers ensure that they cannot be detected.
According to GreyNoise's report, the techniques used by the attackers suggest thorough planning for long-term access and demonstrate a deep knowledge of the system's architecture. Over 9,000 Asus routers have been confirmed as compromised, according to data from Censys, a platform that monitors and maps internet-facing devices globally. Censys identifies devices that are exposed to the internet, while GreyNoise detects which of those devices are being actively targeted or exploited. This offers a clearer picture of both the scale and stealth of the ongoing campaign.
The discovery of the exploit was made using GreyNoise's AI-powered analysis tool called 'Sift.' It flagged just three HTTP POST requests targeting Asus router endpoints for deeper inspection, which were then observed using emulated Asus profiles running factory firmware. Surprisingly, Sift detected only 30 malicious requests over a period of three months, despite compromising thousands of devices.
Asus has released a new firmware update addressing CVE-2023-39780, as well as the initial undocumented login bypass techniques. However, the update is more or less a preventive measure. Any router that has been exploited previously, upgrading the firmware is not going to remove the SSH backdoor. This is because the malicious configuration changes are stored in non-volatile memory and are not overwritten during standard firmware upgrades.
To ensure routers are fully secured, users are advised to take additional manual steps, including checking for active SSH access on TCP port 53282, reviewing the authorized_keys file for unfamiliar entries, and blocking the known malicious IP addresses that may be associated with the campaign. If a device is suspected to be compromised, it is best to perform a full factory reset and then reconfigure the router from the beginning.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
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.
Kunal Khullar is a contributing writer at Tom's Hardware. He is a long time technology journalist and reviewer specializing in PC components and peripherals, and welcomes any and every question around building a PC.
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.
The White House says it will launch an appeal.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
The U.S. Court of International Trade has ruled that President Trump's sweeping tariffs, levied on nations including China, were unlawful, in a move that could significantly reshape the ongoing trade war and impact the price of technology. The court declared that all of President Trump's measures are "invalid as contrary to law" because the emergency law used to pass them does not give the President unilateral authority to impose such sweeping measures.
In a ruling dated May 28, three judges concluded that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 "does not authorize any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders" considered by the court in the case. Specifically, they say the Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff orders imposed by Washington "exceed any authority granted to the President by the IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs."
Regarding Trafficking Tariffs, the court says these fail "because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders." Consequently, the court ordered that all the challenged Tariff Orders be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined.
The White House has already filed a notice of appeal, and such decisions can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, and of course, the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement reported by the BBC, the administration said, "It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency." Continuing, White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai said, "President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness."
Considering previous reports, tariffs could increase tech prices by up to 70%. Legal suspension of tariffs levied on countries, including China, could be an enormous relief to suppliers of hardware, including the semiconductor industry, as well as component parts, notably GPUs.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Nvidia has raised prices by 10-15% to combat rising manufacturing costs and tariffs, while TSMC recently called on Washington to drop tariffs on semiconductors made outside the U.S.. Responding to a U.S. Commerce Department's call for public comments, the global silicon leader said "we respectfully request that the Administration avoids imposing tariffs or other restrictive measures on semiconductors made outside of the United States," claiming tariffs raise the cost of endconsumer products and lower demand for such products and the components they contain.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
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.
Raking in more cash.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Nvidia on Wednesday disclosed its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2026, posting revenue of $44.062 billion — its best quarter ever.
The company's sales increased almost across the board both in terms of quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons. As the company ramped up its Blackwell GPUs, it also set revenue records both for gaming and datacenter revenues. But the recent shipments ban of H20 GPUs to China hurt Nvidia's margins quite significantly.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Nvida reported GAAP revenue of $44.062 billion, marking a 12% rise quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) and a 69% increase year-over-year (YoY). The company's gross margin fell sharply to 60.5%, primarily due to a $4.5 billion charge related to writing down of H20 inventory due to the latest U.S. export restrictions imposed in early April.
Without the charge, Nvidia's non-GAAP margin would have been 71.3%, still considerably lower than 78.9% in Q1 FY2025 or 73.5% in Q4 FY2025. Nvidia's operating income was $21.6 billion, down 10% from the prior quarter but up 28% year-over-year, as for net income, it reached $18.8 billion, a 15% sequential decline but a 26% increase from the same period a year ago.
Nvidia's data center revenue set a new record $39.112 billion, comprising of $34.155 billion compute revenue and $4.957 billion networking revenue. The result represented a 10% quarter-over-quarter growth and 73% year-over-year growth, driven by surging global demand for AI infrastructure.
Nvidia does not provide the split between sales of Blackwell and Hopper AI GPUs as well as Blackwell and Hopper systems, but it said that transition to Blackwell is almost complete. This means that while there are still some customers interested in Hopper processors, the vast majority of its clients now want Blackwell products. In addition, the company highlighted strong momentum in Blackwell-based systems as NVL72 GB200 machines ramped to full-scale production during the quarter.
"Our breakthrough Blackwell NVL72 AI supercomputer — a 'thinking machine' designed for reasoning — is now in full-scale production across system makers and cloud service providers," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia. "Global demand for Nvidia's AI infrastructure is incredibly strong. AI inference token generation has surged tenfold in just one year, and as AI agents become mainstream, the demand for AI computing will accelerate."
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Nvidia's gaming products also achieved record-breaking revenue of $3.8 billion — a 48% increase from the previous quarter and a 42% rise YoY — in the first quarter of FY2025. This growth was driven by multiple factors, including insufficient gaming GPU shipments in the previous quarter as well as launch of Nvidia's mainstream GeForce RTX 5070 and 5060-series products based on the Blackwell architecture. As for OEM and other segment, it generated $111 million, down 12% sequentially but up 42% year-over-year.
Nvidia's professional vizualization (ProViz) business reported revenue of $509 million, down from $511 million QoQ, but up 19% from $427 million in the same quarter a year go. Such results may indicate that workstation makers continued to purchase Ada Lovelace-based professional graphics cards despite the imminent release of Blackwell-based RTX Pro graphics boards in May, perhaps because of uncertainities with the U.S. tariffs.
It is noteworthy that sales of Nvidia's client and professional GPUs — which are reported under gaming, ProViz, OEMs, and other monikers — totaled $4.42 billion, which is lower than sales of Nvidia's networking gear.
Nvidia's automotive and robotics segment earned $567 million, down from $570 million in the previous quarter, but up a whopping 72% from $329 million in Q1 FY2025.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Nvidia expects revenue of approximately $45.0 billion ± 2%. The company's Q2 revenue outlook could have been $8.0 billion higher if there was no H20 export restrictions. However, the company projects GAAP gross margins of 71.8% and Nvidia's goal is to reach mid-70% gross margins later in the year. This recovery reflects improving product mix and normalization after the Q1 inventory charge related to unsellable H20 units.
Operating expenses in Q2 FY2026 are projected to be around $5.7 billion on a GAAP basis. The vast majority of that sum will be used for research and development (R&D).
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.
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.
Alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer, but public awareness of the connection remains strikingly low in the U.S., with just 40% of American adults recognizing alcohol as a cancer risk, according to a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The findings, published today in JAMA Oncology, reveal that 39% of American adults are not aware of the connection between cancer and alcohol and an additional 20% are uncertain whether they have heard or read about the link. Additionally, of the 5,937 respondents, just over 30% believe that cancer prevention is not possible.
Despite the well-established association between alcohol and cancer, alcohol consumption has continued to rise in the U.S. Our findings suggest that many individuals are unaware of the significant benefit in reducing or eliminating alcohol intake. Simply put, the more a person drinks, the greater their risk of developing cancer."
Sanjay Shete, Ph.D., corresponding author, deputy division head of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
Consuming alcohol has been linked to at least seven types of cancer, including colorectal, breast, liver, mouth, voice box, throat and esophageal. Each year, alcohol-related cancers claim the lives of more than 20,000 Americans, but nearly 70% of American adults admit to consuming alcoholic beverages. In January 2025, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory about how alcohol increases cancer risk that also called for a new health warning label on alcoholic beverages.
Researchers found that awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer was lowest among Black respondents (30%), those with some college education or less (35.2%), and those who did not believe cancer prevention was possible (31.5%). Alternatively, respondents who had experienced cancer had a higher likelihood of being aware of the connection.
"Given we now know there is an increased risk of cancer, even at low levels of alcohol consumption, it is imperative to improve public awareness," Shete said. "We hope these findings encourage clinicians to speak with their patients directly and that the immediate revision of drinking guidelines becomes a national priority."
This study was based on data from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey and was measured through the question: "Have you ever heard or read that alcohol increases the risk of cancer?" Possible responses were: "yes," "no," or "don't know."
Limitations may include the design of the survey, which did not allow researchers to establish a causal relationship between awareness and selected variables.
This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute (P30CA016672) and the Betty B. Marcus Chair in Cancer Prevention.
University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Domgue, F., et al. (2025). Public Awareness of the Association Between Alcohol and Cancer in the US. JAMA Oncology. doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2025.1146.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Medical Condition News | Healthcare News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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 relatively new therapy used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension in those with mild to moderate disease was found to be effective at preventing death in those with more advanced disease. Results were published on Wednesday, May 28, in The New England Journal of Medicine and could have "transformative implications" for patients, according to an editorial that accompanied the study written by Bradley Maron, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Hypertension Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
When the US Food and Drug approved the first-in-its-class drug, called sotatercept, last year, it was indicated only for those with mild pulmonary arterial hypertension to increase exercise capacity and prevent clinical worsening of the lung condition which is rare but progressive, often leading to premature death. About 1,000 Americans are diagnosed with the condition every year, and women under age 60 are at higher risk. The condition, caused by a narrowing of small arteries throughout the lungs, triggers the heart to work harder and eventually lose its ability to effectively pump blood.
The clinical trial, called Zenith, was led by researchers in France and conducted at several clinical sites in the U.S. and internationally. It involved 172 patients with advanced pulmonary arterial hypertension who were randomly assigned to get an injection of sotatercept along with their usual treatments or to get a placebo injection along with their usual treatments.
"The authors observed a 76 percent lower risk of a primary endpoint event [death from any cause, lung transplantation, or hospitalization] with sotatercept than with a placebo – a staggering effect by any standard by uniquely relevant in pulmonary arterial hypertension, since previous trials have typically shown comparatively modest results with weaker end points," wrote Dr. Maron, who is also Director of the University of Maryland Institute for Health Computing. Dr. Maron was not involved in the study and provided an independent assessment of the study findings.
The trial was stopped early after it became clear that the sotatercept group had significant benefits over those taking a placebo: 50 percent of the placebo group were hospitalized during the trial compared to only 9 percent of the sotatercept group. Death occurred in 15 percent of those on a placebo compared to 8 percent of those on sotatercept.
Vascular malformations and bleeding events occurred in some patients taking sotatercept, but this did not lead them to stop taking the drug. Nonetheless, better understanding of how these side effects could relate to patient adherence to sotatercept in actual clinical practice is needed, according to Dr. Maron.
"Results from the Zenith trial," he wrote, "offer a key measure of optimism to patients with advanced-stage pulmonary arterial hypertension with limited or no options."
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Maron, B. A., (2025) Sotatercept and the Clinical Transformation of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. New England Journal of Medicine. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe2503944.
Posted in: Drug Trial News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Researchers have identified C5aR1 as a novel biomarker for metastasis risk and poor prognosis in patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), the most common type of metastatic skin cancer. The new study's findings in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, found that C5aR1 promotes the invasion of cSCC tumor cells. Its elevated presence suggests that C5aR1 might serve as a useful prognostic marker for metastatic disease and, potentially, a target for future therapies in advanced cSCC.
The incidence of cSCC is increasing. Exposure to solar UV radiation is the predominant risk factor for cSCC. Approximately 3% to 5% of primary cSCCs metastasize, and the prognosis for patients with metastatic cSCC is poor. Although most cases are curable by excision of the primary tumor, a subset of patients develop aggressive and metastatic disease with few treatment options. It is estimated that cSCC accounts for nearly 25% of annual skin cancer deaths.
Lead investigator Veli-Matti Kähäri, MD, PhD, Department of Dermatology, and FICAN West Cancer Research Laboratory University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland, explains, "Currently, there are no established molecular markers in clinical practice for predicting the metastasis risk of primary cSCCs. There is an urgent need for predictive biomarkers for the prognosis of cSCC and for new therapeutic targets for metastatic cSCC."
Studies in multiple cancers have indicated that the complement system, which is a part of the human innate immune system and is a tumor-suppressing cytolytic mechanism, can also contribute to tumor progression and metastasis by inducing inflammation or causing immunosuppression. This prompted researchers conducting the current study to investigate the interaction between C5a (which acts as a signaling molecule in cancer) and its protein receptor C5aR1 (which is found on the surface of cells) in cSCC.
Investigators noted that when C5a binds to C5aR1, it activates signaling pathways within the cell, leading to changes in cell behavior. They examined C5aR1 in the context of cSCC progression and metastasis by combining in vitro 3D spheroid co-culture of cSCC cells and skin fibroblasts, human cSCC xenograft tumors grown in SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) mice, and a large panel of patient-derived tumor samples of non-metastatic cSCC, metastatic cSCCs and cSCC metastases.
First author Lauri Heiskanen, MD, Department of Dermatology, and FICAN West Cancer Research Laboratory University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland, elaborates, "We observed that fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment induced C5aR1 expression in cSCC cells. Exposure to recombinant C5a further increased the invasiveness of cSCC cells. In patient-derived cSCC samples, high C5aR1 expression — both in tumor cells and in stromal fibroblasts — was linked to metastasis risk and poor survival."
Researchers were surprised to find that fibroblasts influenced C5aR1 expression in cancer cells, and that the C5aR1 expression in stromal fibroblasts also had a role in metastasis and poor prognosis in cSCC. They also had not anticipated that C5aR1 expression would correlate with patient outcomes across a large clinical sample set.
Co-investigators Pilvi Riihilä, MD, PhD, and Liisa Nissinen, PhD, Department of Dermatology, and FICAN West Cancer Research Laboratory University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland, conclude, "What is particularly interesting in the results of our study is how the tumor microenvironment — especially fibroblasts in this study — affects progression of cSCC through C5aR1. It emphasizes the idea that the interplay between tumor cells and stromal cells plays an important role in cancer progression. Our findings suggest that C5aR1 is a potential metastatic risk marker, a novel prognostic biomarker, and promising therapeutic target for cSCC."
Elsevier
Heiskanen, L., et al. (2025). C5aR1 Promotes Invasion, Metastasis, and Poor Prognosis in Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma. The American Journal of Pathology. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2025.02.004.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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 material developed at Cornell University could significantly improve the delivery and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines by replacing a commonly used ingredient that may trigger unwanted immune responses in some people.
Thanks to their ability to train cells to produce virus-killing proteins, mRNA vaccines have gained popularity over the last five years for their success in reducing the severity of COVID-19 infection. One method for delivering the mRNA to cells is by packaging it inside fatty spheres, called lipid nanoparticles, that protect it from being degraded. However, a common component of lipid nanoparticles called poly-ethylene glycol (PEG) can provoke immune responses in some individuals, leading researchers to search for more biocompatible materials.
Shaoyi Jiang, professor of biomedical engineering, is working to replace the PEG component of lipid nanoparticles with a more adaptable and stealthy option. The research is under embargo until 5am EST on May 29, 2025 in the journal Nature Materials.
The delivery vehicle for an mRNA vaccine needs to strike a Goldilocks balance – stable enough to protect the mRNA, yet labile enough to release it inside cells, and shielded enough to evade immune surveillance, but not so hidden that it hinders cellular uptake. PEG does the job but presents some unintended side effects in a small subset of individuals.
The human body is mostly water, so if you insert something with exposed hydrophobic moieties, like PEG, into our blood stream, our immune surveillance system says, 'Hey, that's a foreign material,' and will generate an antibody to destroy it."
Shaoyi Jiang, professor of biomedical engineering
This environment makes adverse responses to a vaccine more likely and thus makes it harder for the vaccine to do its job.
Most people's immune systems are already primed to fight PEG. Prior research shows that a majority of people have anti-PEG antibodies "from people being exposed to PEG in so many commercial products like shampoo and toothpaste," said Jiang, adding that this widespread exposure may explain why the body is so quick to flag PEG as a threat.
To solve this, Jiang has developed lipid nanoparticles that use a zwitterionic polymer, a crucial alternative to PEG, enhancing the performance and biocompatibility of the system. Due to the super-hydrophilic, or water-loving, nature of zwitterions, this material is able to blend into the body and deliver the mRNA more easily. This specific naturally derived material, called poly(carboxybetaine) (PCB), has perfect balance of stealth and stability. In his recent paper, Jiang found that replacing PEG with PCB in lipid nanoparticle results in highly effective mRNA vaccines that do not adversely trigger the body's immune system.
Jiang is working with Weill Cornell Medicine, Houston Methodist Cancer Center, the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and the National Cancer Institute to move this discovery toward clinical applications, specifically in the development of mRNA-based cancer vaccines. The zwitterionic nanoparticles help sneak the vaccines past the body's immune surveillance so that it induces antigen-specific immune responses while minimizing undesired immune activation.
"With a virus like COVID-19, you only need a tiny vaccine dose, and our immune system will respond. But for a cancer vaccine, the tumor environment suppresses the immune system, so you need a much higher dose to be effective," said Jiang. "If a patient has a minor problem because of the PEG, the issue will be amplified with a higher dose.
The research was supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute, both part of the National Institutes of Health.
Cornell University
Luozhong, S., et al. (2025). Poly(carboxybetaine) lipids enhance mRNA therapeutics efficacy and reduce their immunogenicity. Nature Materials. doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02240-8.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Nanomedicines, especially those based on nanoparticles, are revolutionizing healthcare in terms of both diagnostics and therapeutics. These particles, often containing metals like iron or gold, can serve as contrast agents in medical imaging, act as nutritional supplements, and even function as carriers for drug delivery. Thanks to their unique properties plus careful engineering, nanomedicines can reach and accumulate in places within the body that conventional medicines cannot, making them promising for cancer detection and treatment. However, the same characteristics that make nanomedicines valuable also present challenges in ensuring their safety and quality.
Current pharmaceutical guidelines, including those from the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH), have a significant blind spot: they evaluate only the total amount of elements present in a medication without distinguishing between their different forms, such as ions or differently sized particles. This distinction is crucial because these different forms can have different effects on the body, including varying toxicity profiles.
Against this backdrop, a research team led by Assistant Professor Yu-ki Tanaka from the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Japan, has developed a new analytical method to address the existing regulatory gap. Their study, which was made available online in the journal Talanta on April 8, 2025, introduces a technique to separately quantify ions, nanoparticles, and aggregated particles in nanomedicines. Co-authored by Yasumitsu Ogra and Sana Hasegawa, also from Chiba University, the study showcases how this method can improve quality control for these advanced pharmaceutical products. "By incorporating a novel evaluation method that addresses a previously overlooked issue in current evaluation guidelines, we can ensure the safe use of metal-based nanomedicines such as Resovist® and Ferinject®" explains Dr. Tanaka.
The researchers combined two existing technologies-asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). They used the AF4 method in a novel way, taking advantage of its initial 'focus step.' During this step, particles are held inside the AF4 channel by two opposing flows. Using a special permeable membrane, cross-flows filter out the tiniest dissolved particles (ions), enabling quantification based on the differences in ICP-MS signals between samples with and without ion removal−namely, with and without the focus step. Once the ions are separated, the system then uses AF4's standard separation process to sort the retained nanoparticles by size. Finally, the ICP-MS device attached to the output can determine the approximate number of nanoparticles of each size. This combination enabled the team to distinguish between free metal ions, small hydroxide colloids, and nanoparticles of various sizes, all containing the same metal element.
They tested their approach on Resovist®, a nanomedicine used as a contrast agent in liver magnetic resonance imaging scans. The analysis revealed that only 0.022% of the iron in Resovist® was present in ionic form. At approximately 6.3 micrograms per milliliter, this negligible amount falls well below levels of concern. Additionally, the team confirmed that the active nanoparticles were smaller than 30 nanometers in diameter, with some aggregates around 50 nanometers. Importantly, no large aggregates were detected, which could reduce the effectiveness of the contrast agent. These results confirm both the safety and stability of Resovist® as a nanomedicine.
The proposed technique is particularly relevant for emerging cancer treatments that use gold nanoparticles as drug delivery systems or metallic particles for photothermal therapy. These advanced treatments rely on the 'enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect,' by which nanoparticles leak from blood vessels around tumors and accumulate in cancerous tissue. "Since many novel nanomedicines consist of metal-based nanoparticles as their active ingredients, providing reliable methods for evaluating their safety and quality control will promote their development and clinical use," notes Dr. Tanaka.
Additionally, this novel analytical approach extends beyond pharmaceuticals. It can also assess the safety of metal nanoparticles in food additives, cosmetics, and environmental samples-helping to ensure public health across multiple sectors. The researchers showcased its versatility by successfully analyzing both negatively charged ions (silicon) and positively charged ions (iron), indicating its potential for a wide range of nanomaterials.
Overall, by offering a more comprehensive assessment of the composition, quality, and stability of nanoparticles, this research paves the way for safer and more effective nanomedicines and nanoparticle-based technologies.
Chiba University
Tanaka, Y., et al. (2025). Evaluation of elemental impurities and particle size distribution in nanomedicine using asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Talanta. doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2025.128116.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Biochemistry | Pharmaceutical News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Jack: I'm Jack, one of the co-founders of Unicorn Biotechnologies. My background is in chemistry, and I've worked across academia, industry, and startups. I really enjoy working at the intersection of science and engineering—turning lab-based science into real-world solutions. Adam and I met during the pandemic on Zoom, and we actually started the company before ever meeting in person.
Adam: I did my PhD in cancer research over 15 years ago, then moved into stem cell research and tissue engineering. After a stint in big industry, I realized innovation thrives more in startups. I got into hardware engineering because I couldn't believe how much of cell culture was still manual. That's where Unicorn came in—we're trying to automate those laborious processes and bring reproducibility to cell culture, which has been a challenge for decades.
Adam: There are two true stories. First, unicorn companies are startups valued over a billion dollars, so it's a cheeky goal. Second, we had 15 minutes to register a company name and found Unicorn Biotechnologies was available. Also, the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, where I'm from, and my son—who helped with our early lab work during lockdown—loved the name. He still calls it “Daddy's company” every time he sees a unicorn in a store.
Jack: Automating cell culture isn't a new idea, but previous systems have three major drawbacks—they're huge, expensive, and not always reproducible. Some are the size of multiple Volkswagens and cost seven figures. They're also typically built from repurposed lab automation hardware, which leads to variability. With Emmet, we built a purpose-designed system that integrates everything into a compact benchtop device. It's more reproducible, more affordable, and more accessible for everyday labs.
The Emmet System. Image Credits: Unicorn Biotechnologies
Adam: Our software is designed with scientists in mind. Many companies bolt on software at the end, but for us, the software and hardware were co-designed. Users can input their standard operating procedures—like seeding, passaging, or differentiating cells—and customize fluid flow, rocking frequency, and other parameters. Setup is super intuitive, like using a capsule-based espresso machine. In the future, we want Emmet to incorporate feedback loops and real-time decision-making, removing the variability of human input altogether.
Jack: Emmet is modular and flexible both internally and externally. Internally, users can change hardware and software settings quickly. For example, switching from six to twelve T-flasks can be done in minutes. Externally, the system fits on any standard lab bench. To scale, labs can simply add more Emmet units without having to reengineer their process, making tech transfer and scaling much simpler.
Adam: We prioritize quality control and reproducibility. We use onboard imaging and sensing systems for pH, glucose, and lactate. We're also developing biochemical fingerprinting tools. Instead of subjective decisions like “it looks 80% confluent,” we generate real data to guide actions. This standardizes processes and reduces the artisan-like variability that still exists in many labs.
Jack: All of the above. Most labs, even high-tech ones, still do cell culture manually. We validated Emmet with sensitive pluripotent stem cells, and if it can handle those, it can handle almost any mammalian cell line—from iPSCs to cancer cell lines to HEK cells for viral vector production.
Adam: Absolutely. We already use imaging and machine learning to monitor confluence and identify cell types. The next step is predictive analytics—giving Emmet a target outcome and letting it figure out the protocol. We're experimenting with LLMs like ChatGPT to design experiments automatically. It's like building a discovery engine.
Jack: (laughs) Just to clarify—we're not in a partnership with OpenAI… but we'd love to be!
Jack: It was amazing. From the moment the exhibition opened to the minute it closed, we had constant interest. Most of it was organic—people saw our talk or were drawn in by our stuffed unicorns—and we had deep, meaningful conversations with folks who really need what we're offering.
Jack: Yes, we had great conversations with people in our ideal customer profile—scientists dealing with manual cell culture issues who want a better solution. They see real business value in Emmet—less FTE time, better consistency, and fewer delays due to human scheduling.
Jack: The best part? Definitely the stuffed unicorns! But seriously, in-person conversations are invaluable. We learned more and had more productive commercial interactions in two days at SLAS than we would from months of email outreach. It's that spontaneous hallway magic—you can't beat it.
Jack: We're scaling up deployments—already in the UK, with US and EU expansions coming soon. Beyond Emmet, we have other R&D products in the pipeline, including GMP-ready versions and smaller-scale systems for early discovery.
Adam: We want Emmet systems to be as common as PCR machines—helping researchers across cancer, stem cells, vaccines, and beyond. It's about creating an outsized impact across all of science.
Emmet: https://www.unicornb.io/machines/emmet
Unicorn Biotechnologies' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unicorn-biotechnologies/
Jack Reid holds a degree in Chemistry and has worked across academic and commercial R&D settings before co-founding Unicorn Biotechnologies. His experience spans multinational corporations and agile startups, with a passion for translating science into scalable technologies. His leadership focuses on product innovation, user-centric design, and startup ecosystem development.
Dr. Adam Glen earned his PhD in cancer research and has worked across academia, big industry (GE Healthcare), and biotech startups. He has developed expertise in stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and hardware integration for life science applications. Adam co-founded Unicorn Biotechnologies with a mission to automate and simplify cell culture workflows, inspired by his firsthand experience with the inefficiencies of manual lab work.
Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
Posted in: Insights from Industry
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
APA
Unicorn Biotechnologies. (2025, May 29). Transforming Lab Workflows with Cell Culture Automation: Insights from Unicorn Biotechnologies at SLAS 2025. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 29, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250529/Transforming-Lab-Workflows-with-Cell-Culture-Automation-Insights-from-Unicorn-Biotechnologies-at-SLAS-2025.aspx.
MLA
Unicorn Biotechnologies. "Transforming Lab Workflows with Cell Culture Automation: Insights from Unicorn Biotechnologies at SLAS 2025". News-Medical. 29 May 2025.
May 29, 2025
Growing evidence suggested that the skin and gut may be more closely linked than once thought — especially in chronic inflammatory conditions like rosacea. In a comprehensive review recently published in Biomolecules, Marco Manfredini, MD, from the Department of Dermatology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, and colleagues explored the evolving science around how diet, gut microbiota, and probiotics may influence rosacea pathogenesis and symptom severity.
While more clinical studies are needed, the review highlighted new pathways linking gastrointestinal dysbiosis to cutaneous inflammation. The authors proposed that specific dietary modifications and the use of probiotics could support traditional treatment approaches for certain patients.
Rosacea arises from a complex interplay of multiple contributing factors. “The pathogenesis of rosacea continues to be a subject of investigation,” the authors wrote, involving “dysregulation of the innate immune response and neuropeptide activity, microbial involvement, environmental factors, dietary triggers, and skin barrier dysfunction.”
Central to these mechanisms is the innate immune system. In rosacea, elevated levels of kallikrein-5 trigger excessive processing of antimicrobial peptides into proinflammatory fragments such as LL-37. These fragments promote oxidative stress, cytokine release, and blood vessel changes, contributing to the inflammation and vascular symptoms seen in the disease, according to the authors.
Neurovascular dysregulation is also a hallmark of the disease. The authors noted, “activation of TRPV1 [Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily V Member 1] and related channels by environmental triggers like heat and UV [ultraviolet] radiation exacerbate flushing and erythema by promoting vasodilation and neurogenic inflammation.” These channels are hypersensitive in patients with rosacea, contributing to enhanced symptom severity.
While the skin microbiome — particularly Demodex folliculorum and its associated Bacillus oleronius — has long been considered a contributing factor, recent attention has turned to the gut.
“Emerging evidence suggests that while microorganisms may not be central causative factors…alterations in the skin microbiome across multiple rosacea subtypes may act as trigger factors or potentiate inflammation,” the review authors wrote. “Gastrointestinal dysbiosis, including conditions such as Helicobacter pylori infection and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO),” they noted, “has been hypothesized as a potential contributor to rosacea development.”
The concept of a gut-skin axis describes the bidirectional relationship between intestinal microbiota and skin inflammation. In rosacea, this relationship is supported by associations with conditions like SIBO, H pylori infection, and inflammatory bowel diseases, as highlighted in the Manfredini review.
Asked to comment on this emerging topic, Rajani Katta, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at the McGovern Medical School, University of Texas, Houston, noted, “We have strong evidence linking gut dysbiosis to rosacea, but it is important to note that this applies only to certain patients. In other words, only a subset of patients with rosacea seems to have gut dysbiosis, and in those patients, there appears to be a link.”
Katta added that the most compelling mechanisms relate to inflammation. “Patients with SIBO may have higher levels of inflammatory mediators, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha. In other studies, gut dysbiosis can lead to the activation of specific inflammatory pathways like the kallikrein-kinin pathway. Activation of these pathways has multiple downstream effects, which may ultimately increase neurogenic inflammation in the skin.”
The review by Manfredini and colleagues supported these theories, citing studies that show improvement in rosacea symptoms following SIBO eradication, although the benefit of H pylori treatment is less clear.
“The association between Helicobacter pylori infection and rosacea remains complex and influenced by several confounding factors,” the authors wrote. “The antibiotic treatment required for H pylori eradication represents an important confounding factor.” The authors caution that without large-scale prospective studies examining the gut microbiome before and after intervention, firm conclusions about causality remain elusive.
Dietary factors may influence rosacea by promoting vasodilation, activating sensory receptors, or altering the gut microbiome. Yet data on specific triggers remain mixed, according to the authors.
Asked to comment on dietary triggers in rosacea, Lauren Kole, MD, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said that “the best data for dietary triggers for rosacea are for alcohol and hot beverages. Alcohol may induce peripheral vasodilation, promote inflammation, modulate the immune system, and may trigger histamine release. Hot beverages may cause direct vasodilation and trigger other pathways that lead to flushing, stinging, and sensitive skin.”
Katta also noted that alcohol and hot beverages “are common triggers, likely because they lead to vasodilation, which causes flushing.” She also highlighted spicy foods as a culprit. “Foods that contain capsaicin may result in vasodilation and thus flare rosacea, so avoiding spicy foods may be helpful.” Another category included foods that contain cinnamaldehyde — a compound found in cinnamon, tomatoes, and citrus — which may trigger flushing in sensitive individuals, according to Katta.
Katta recommended a practical approach for patients. “For most patients, a 6-week trial of eliminating the most commonly reported food triggers in rosacea is a good first step…I tell patients that it can take 6 weeks of avoiding these foods to see if it will be helpful, and I recommend a food diary.”
Interestingly, certain foods may offer benefits. Dairy products have been associated with reduced rosacea severity in some populations, potentially because of their anti-inflammatory effects. High-fiber diets may support gut microbial diversity and caffeine — despite its reputation — has been inversely associated with rosacea in large observational studies, cited in the Manfredini review.
Probiotics are another area of growing interest. These live microorganisms may influence rosacea by rebalancing the gut microbiome, reducing inflammatory cytokine production, and enhancing skin barrier function, according to the authors.
“Dietary probiotics may help normalize skin dysbiosis in rosacea and may limit substance P-induced skin inflammation,” said Kole. She referenced a study that found improved skin barrier function and reduced sensitivity with oral probiotic use alongside doxycycline therapy.
Katta said that she has not used probiotics for rosacea in her practice. “Preliminary results appear intriguing, but there are still many questions about the optimal strain of probiotics as well as dose and duration,” she told Medscape Medical News. She added that the current evidence is “too preliminary to recommend specific strains or delivery routes, although some have shown benefit,” referencing studies on strains of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Escherichia coli Nissle included in the Manfredini review.
Topical formulations are also being explored with promising results, and a product containing Vitreoscilla filiformis has shown reductions in facial erythema and Demodex density while improving transepidermal water loss, according to the review's authors.
However, mirroring Katta's sentiment, the authors concluded that “despite promising results, the evidence supporting the use of probiotics in the treatment of rosacea remains relatively limited. Further clinical trials are necessary to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of various probiotic strains and different methods of delivery, such as oral ingestion and topical use.”
While the current research is promising, more rigorous studies are needed. “One of the research areas that I'd love to see more of,” Katta said, “is measuring rates of gut dysbiosis in patients with rosacea, with prospective studies examining gut microbiome composition before and after treatment, and how that correlates to rosacea severity.”
For now, clinicians may consider an individualized approach, she said, and asking about gastrointestinal symptoms, evaluating for common dietary triggers, and discussing a food elimination trial can be helpful strategies. Although formal probiotic guidelines for rosacea are lacking, some patients may benefit from a monitored trial of supplementation — particularly if they also have gut-related complaints, she added.
“There are many gaps in our understanding of the gut-skin axis,” Katta emphasized. “But it's an exciting area of dermatologic research.”
The review was independently supported, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest. Katta is a consultant to the National Eczema Association and L'Oréal and is on the advisory board for Vichy Laboratories but had no relevant disclosures related to the topic of this article. Kole had no disclosures.
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.
Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners–like therapy horses who respond to human emotion–say University of Bristol researchers.
Equine-assisted interventions (EAIs) offer a powerful alternative to traditional talking therapies for patients with PTSD, trauma and autism, who struggle to express and regulate emotions through words alone.
The study, presented at the CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems held in Yokohama, recommends that therapeutic robots should also exhibit a level of autonomy, rather than one-dimensional displays of friendship and compliance.
Most social robots today are designed to be obedient and predictable - following commands and prioritizing user comfort.
Our research challenges this assumption."
Ellen Weir, Lead Author from Bristol's Faculty of Science and Engineering
In EAIs, individuals communicate with horses through body language and emotional energy. If someone is tense or unregulated, the horse resists their cues. When the individual becomes calm, clear, and confident, the horse responds positively. This 'living mirror' effect helps participants recognise and adjust their emotional states, improving both internal well-being and social interactions.
However, EAIs require highly trained horses and facilitators, making them expensive and inaccessible.
Ellen continued: "We found that therapeutic robots should not be passive companions but active co-workers, like EAI horses.
"Just as horses respond only when a person is calm and emotionally regulated, therapeutic robots should resist engagement when users are stressed or unsettled. By requiring emotional regulation before responding, these robots could mirror the therapeutic effect of EAIs, rather than simply providing comfort."
This approach has the potential to transform robotic therapy, helping users develop self-awareness and regulation skills, just as horses do in EAIs.
Beyond therapy, this concept could influence human-robot interaction in other fields, such as training robots for social skills development, emotional coaching, or even stress management in workplaces.
A key question is whether robots can truly replicate - or at least complement - the emotional depth of human-animal interactions. Future research must explore how robotic behaviour can foster trust, empathy, and fine tuning, ensuring these machines support emotional well-being in a meaningful way.
Ellen added: "The next challenge is designing robots that can interpret human emotions and respond dynamically-just as horses do. This requires advances in emotional sensing, movement dynamics, and machine learning.
"We must also consider the ethical implications of replacing sentient animals with machines. Could a robot ever offer the same therapeutic value as a living horse? And if so, how do we ensure these interactions remain ethical, effective, and emotionally authentic?"
University of Bristol
Weir, E., et al. (2025). “You Can Fool Me, You Can't Fool Her!”: Autoethnographic Insights from Equine-Assisted Interventions to Inform Therapeutic Robot Design. CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714311.
Posted in: Device / Technology News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
How does where you live, by the ocean or an inland lake, shape your lifespan? Discover why coastal living adds years and why blue spaces don't always mean better health.
Study: Unveiling Complexity in Blue Spaces and Life Expectancy. Image Credit: De Visu / Shutterstock
In a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal Environmental Research, researchers investigated the impact of proximity to coastal and inland water bodies on life expectancy in both urban and rural communities across the United States (US).
Did you know that where you live, especially how close you are to water, might impact how long you live? Life expectancy, a key indicator of overall well-being, is influenced by factors such as income, healthcare, and environmental conditions. While the benefits of green spaces are well-known, “blue spaces” like oceans, lakes, and rivers are gaining attention for their effects on both mental and physical health. Coastal areas often offer cooler temperatures, better air quality, and recreational benefits, while inland waters show mixed effects. Direct research on how these spaces affect life expectancy has been absent globally—a gap this pioneering study addresses.
Researchers studied 66,263 census tracts across the contiguous United States, using life expectancy data from 2010 to 2015 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's US Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project. Blue space exposure was measured in two ways: proximity to coastal waters (within 0, 20, or 50 kilometers) and the presence of large inland water bodies (at least 10 or 20 square kilometers). Environmental data, including air pollution (PM₂.₅ and wildfire smoke), terrain features, temperature extremes, and drought susceptibility (as measured by the Standardized Precipitation Index), were collected from national sources. Socioeconomic data, including income and population demographics, were obtained from the American Community Survey.
Analytical approaches included multiple linear regression, multi-level models (to account for state-level variations), and spatial regression (addressing geographic clustering). A mutual information model was applied to identify key factors differentiating coastal and inland water-proximate tracts. Sensitivity analyses tested alternative definitions of blue space exposure. All analyses utilized specialized statistical software, with a particular focus on urban-rural differences.
Life expectancy in the US averaged 78.3 years across census tracts. Multi-level regression revealed that proximity to coastal waters (within 50 km) significantly increased life expectancy (β=0.32), while proximity to inland water bodies (≥20 km²) reduced it overall (β=-0.14). Critically, inland waters showed divergent effects: urban exposure decreased longevity (β=-0.39), but rural exposure increased it (β=0.22).
Mutual information analysis identified the most influential differences between coastal and inland tracts: coastal tracts had far fewer hot days (2.2 vs. 21.0 days annually), lower maximum temperatures (34.3°C vs. 37.7°C), higher barren land coverage (0.65% vs. 0.13%), and better air quality (annual smoke PM₂.₅: 0.52 µg/m³ vs. 0.78 µg/m³).
Coastal advantages included milder temperatures, fewer smoke days (30.6 vs. 40.3 annually), flatter terrain (road TRI count: 633.6 vs. 1,759.7), reduced drought susceptibility, and significantly higher incomes ($91,075 vs. $67,775). Urban-rural disparities emerged in other factors: Population density increased urban longevity (β=0.49) but decreased rural (β=-9.73), while elevation benefited only rural residents (β=0.62).
This groundbreaking research confirms that the impact of blue space on longevity is not universal. Living near coastal waters extends life expectancy through milder climates, cleaner air, recreational access, transportation advantages, and higher incomes. Meanwhile, inland waters exhibit location-dependent effects: they are harmful in urban areas due to pollution and flood risks, but beneficial in rural settings. These insights call for context-sensitive integration of blue spaces into public health planning. The authors acknowledge limitations, including the study's cross-sectional design and the lack of data on water quality and recreational use. Urban planners and policymakers can leverage these findings to design health-equitable communities and address spatial health disparities nationwide.
Posted in: Men's Health News | Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Women's Health News
Written by
Vijay holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and possesses a deep passion for microbiology. His academic journey has allowed him to delve deeper into understanding the intricate world of microorganisms. Through his research and studies, he has gained expertise in various aspects of microbiology, which includes microbial genetics, microbial physiology, and microbial ecology. Vijay has six years of scientific research experience at renowned research institutes such as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and KIIT University. He has worked on diverse projects in microbiology, biopolymers, and drug delivery. His contributions to these areas have provided him with a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter and the ability to tackle complex research challenges.
Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
APA
Kumar Malesu, Vijay. (2025, May 29). Coastal living adds years to your life while inland waters may cut them short. News-Medical. Retrieved on May 29, 2025 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250529/Coastal-living-adds-years-to-your-life-while-inland-waters-may-cut-them-short.aspx.
MLA
Kumar Malesu, Vijay. "Coastal living adds years to your life while inland waters may cut them short". News-Medical. 29 May 2025.
In a new study of college undergraduates in Japan, the students' self-perception of their own athletic ability was linked with several internal and external factors, such as personality traits, family characteristics, leisure activities, and others' perceptions. Sho Ito of Nanzan University, Japan, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on May 28, 2025.
Self-perception of one's own athletic ability could influence one's motivation to engage in physical activity. For young people, the sense of one's own athleticism may affect their participation in sports and other physical activities, which could, in turn, have implications for health and academic achievement.
However, while people often refer to others' "athletic ability," this term's definition is vague. Furthermore, research on the underlying factors associated with self-perception of one's own athletic ability has been limited. To help clarify, Ito and colleagues investigated self-perception of athletic ability among 406 undergraduate students, who each completed a questionnaire evaluating their sense of their own physical capability across 11 different sports disciplines, such as soccer, volleyball, and basketball. The students also completed assessments of personality, family background, and history of physical activity.
Statistical analysis of the responses revealed that students who perceived themselves as having higher overall athletic ability tended to also score higher for the personality traits of grit, resilience, and a growth mindset. These students were also more likely to be youngest siblings, to be frequently called "athletic" by others, to have first walked at an earlier age, and to have more prior sports experience, athletic parents, and a higher parental household income. Meanwhile, they were less likely to engage in certain leisure activities, such as games and music.
These findings could help lead to a deeper understanding of factors influencing athletic ability, which could also help establish a more precise definition of the term. However, this study does not confirm any cause-effect relationships, and the authors note that additional research is needed to clarify how the factors identified in this study are related to development of self-perception of athletic ability.
The authors add: "Our study shows that subjective perceptions of athletic ability are shaped not only by personality traits and sports experience, but also by early childhood environments and family background. We were particularly surprised to find that the youngest siblings reported higher perceived athletic ability-perhaps because they often imitate older siblings."
PLOS
Ito, S., et al. (2025) Determinants of subjective total athletic ability. PLoS One. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324044
Posted in: Medical Research News | Healthcare News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
How do we think, feel, remember, or move? These processes involve synaptic transmission, in which chemical signals are transmitted between nerve cells using molecular containers called vesicles. Now, researchers have successfully modeled the vesicle cycle in unprecedented detail, revealing new information about the way our brain functions.
A joint study, published in Science Advances, between researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Japan, and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Germany, has applied a unique computational modeling system, which considers the complicated interplay of vesicles, their cellular environments, activities and interactions, to create a realistic picture of how vesicles support synaptic transmission. Their model predicts parameters of synaptic function that could not be tested experimentally in the past, opening new avenues in neuroscience investigations.
Recent technological advances have enabled experimental scientists to capture increasing amounts of data. The challenge now lies in integrating and interpreting all the different types of data, to understand the complexities of the brain. Our model provides better molecular and spatial detail of the vesicle cycle, and much faster, than any other systems before. And it's transferable to different cells and scenarios too. It's a significant leap forward towards scientific aspirations of full cell and full tissue simulation."
Professor Erik De Schutter, head of the OIST Computational Neuroscience Unit and co-author on this study
"We have been working on synapses for over 20 years, but some functional steps were difficult to test experimentally. After several years of fine-tuning experimental and computational work with our Japanese colleagues, we now have a model for testing new hypotheses, especially in the context of neurological diseases", added Professor Silvio Rizzoli, director of the Department for Neuro- and Sensory Physiology at the UMG and also co-author on the study.
The vesicle cycle describes the steps through which neurotransmitters (chemical signals) are released at a synapse (a junction between nerve cells), to transfer information between cells. Vesicles containing neurotransmitters move and dock at the membrane, ready to fuse and release their contents, before being recycled. The process is prompted by electrical stimulation within the brain and is driven by a complex signaling cascade.
Depending on the situation, different amounts of neurotransmitters need to be released over different time periods. To enable controlled and sustained synaptic transmission, only 10-20% of vesicles are readily available to dock at any given time (these are known as the recycling pool). Most vesicles are instead in a reserve pool, immobilized in a cluster.
Many details of this process, including how vesicles move between the reserve and recycling pool, were poorly known.
In their publication, the researchers shed new light on the vesicle recycling process in hippocampal synapses. With their model, they aimed to both confirm the behavior of vesicles at experimentally-observed firing frequencies, and explore behavior at higher frequencies.
They discovered that the vesicle cycle was able to operate at high stimulation frequencies, far beyond what is normally found in nature. They were also able to pinpoint some of the reasons behind this robust cycle, identifying the roles of key proteins synapsin-1 and tomosyn-1 in regulating vesicle release from the clustered reserve pool.
The researchers noted that the efficiency of the vesicle cycle relied on molecular tethering. By physically connecting some vesicles to the membrane with tethers, a close supply of vesicles could be made available for rapid docking and neurotransmitter release.
These important findings enable deeper understanding of vesicle recycling, a process involved in many different diseases. "For example, the release of neurotransmitters is hampered in botulism or some myasthenic syndromes. Treatments for depression and other major neurological diseases also often focus on synaptic transmission," explained Prof. De Schutter. "As we expand our models, the potential applications are vast, both in developing new therapeutics, and in deepening our fundamental understanding of how the brain works."
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University
Gallimore, A. R., et al. (2025) Dynamic regulation of vesicle pools in a detailed spatial model of the complete synaptic vesicle cycle. Science Advances. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adq6477.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Researchers have proposed transforming the narrative on ultraprocessed foods by mirroring the strategies that have successfully reshaped public perceptions of tobacco.
By spotlighting the aggressive tactics of food companies, advocates aim to reduce young adults' consumption of these addictive products.
The new study unveiled that young adults, aged 18 to 25, develop significantly negative attitudes toward the food industry when exposed to messages that highlight its engineering and aggressive marketing of addictive, ultraprocessed foods. This approach takes inspiration from the acclaimed anti-tobacco “truth” campaigns, which have effectively held cigarette manufacturers accountable without blaming consumers.
We found that by focusing on industry tactics rather than individual choices, we could change public perceptions without exacerbating weight stigma.”
Ashley Gearhardt, University of Michigan psychologist, study author
Conducted in collaboration with Kathleen Good of Brown University, Lindsey Parnarouskis of Drexel University and Jenna Cummings of the University of Liverpool, the study involved an inventive experimental design.
Participants were exposed to different presentations, each underscoring varying aspects of food consumption and industry practices. The results revealed that even a brief, one-minute presentation could significantly shift perceptions.
Significantly, the study indicates that emphasizing the addictive nature of products and the food industry's manipulative strategies can potentially transform young adults' attitudes without stigmatizing individual weight issues. The researchers said this framing approach may cultivate greater accountability for public health harms wrought by corporate practices.
“The implications of this study are vast,” Gearhardt said. “It opens the door to high-impact, expertly crafted public health campaigns aimed at the food industry, similar to those we've seen with tobacco.”
Published in the journal Obesity, the research holds promise for meaningful change and underscores the need for further investigation into message framing that could bolster support for impactful obesity-related policies, Gearhardt says.
University of Michigan
Good, K. E., et al. (2025). Adapting anti‐tobacco messages to ultraprocessed foods: message framing's impact on attitudes toward the food industry. Obesity. doi.org/10.1002/oby.24272.
Posted in: Medical Research News | Healthcare News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Imagine cells navigating through a complex maze, guided by chemical signals and the physical landscape of their environment. A team of researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) has contributed an important discovery about how cells move, or migrate, through this maze of bodily tissues, using the fruit fly egg chamber as a model system. Potential implications include better understanding of diseases like cancer and advancing medical treatments.
Published in iScience, the team's study combines biological experiments and mathematics to reveal new insights into cell migration. By integrating mathematical modeling with advanced imaging, the team discovered that the physical shape of the egg chamber, combined with chemical signals called chemoattractants, significantly influences how cells move.
This paper takes an interdisciplinary focus with tight collaboration between a mathematical framework and experimental design. The results promote the idea that complex distribution of chemical attractants can explain specific variations in migratory movement."
Brad Peercy, UMBC mathematician and co-author
Peercy's enthusiasm highlights the study's innovative approach, which merges precise mathematical models with real-world biological experiments to uncover patterns that were previously invisible.
The team's work focuses on border cells, a type of cell in fruit fly egg chambers, which are a model system for studying cell migration because of their similarities to processes in human development and disease. The team found that the border cells' movement wasn't only driven by continuously increasing chemical concentrations from one end of the egg chamber to the other, as earlier models suggested. Instead, the physical structure of the tissue-narrow tubes alternating with wider gaps-played a critical role.
"This was the first time that we characterized that there were these patterns of migration behavior that ended up correlating to aspects of the tissue geometry," explains biologist Alex George, a co-author who completed his Ph.D. at UMBC in 2024 and will begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in a few weeks. He likens the migration process to Hansel and Gretel following breadcrumbs through a forest: On a flat plain, the trail is clear, but in a landscape with ravines and valleys, the breadcrumbs pool in unexpected ways, complicating the path.
To understand this, co-author Naghmeh Akhavan, who completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at UMBC this spring, developed mathematical models that simulate how cells respond to both chemical signals and tissue geometry together. "Alex's experiments showed that the speed is not exactly the way previous models showed it," she says. Her models revealed that cells speed up in narrow tubes and slow down in larger gaps, a pattern confirmed by George's imaging.
Both approaches-wet-lab experiments and modeling-bring unique strengths to the work. Putting them together "is like unveiling the invisible from two different perspectives," George says. "My experiments would refine her model, and her model would refine my experiments."
And then, "When our model shows exactly what Alex found in his experiments, we love that," Akhavan adds.
The study's broader impact lies in its potential to inform fields beyond developmental biology. Cell migration is critical in processes like wound healing, immune responses, and cancer metastasis.
"Most research on how cells navigate the world has focused only on chemical signals or only on structural ones, so this is one of the first studies to consider how those two things impact each other, which is likely to be relevant in many cases," explains UMBC biologist and co-author Michelle Starz-Gaiano. By showing how tissue geometry and chemical signals interact, the research could guide new strategies for controlling cell movement via medical treatments.
The team's work continues to evolve, including recent experiments at the Advanced Imaging Center at the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia, where George used specialized microscopes to capture previously unseen dynamics of the relevant chemoattractants. These findings will further refine the team's models, opening new avenues for research.
"We are developing new experimental strategies both on the biology and the math side of things," Starz-Gaiano says, "so it will be exciting to see where this will take us next."
University of Maryland Baltimore County
George, A., et al. (2025). Chemotaxis of Drosophila border cells is modulated by tissue geometry through dispersion of chemoattractants. iScience. doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.111959.
Posted in: Cell Biology | Medical Science News | Medical Research News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Considered the natural "hunger hormone", Ghrelin could be the key to preventing debilitating chronic constipation experienced by people living with Parkinson's disease, University of Queensland researchers have found.
Associate Professor Sebastian Furness from the UQ School of Biomedical Sciences said the team discovered the body's receptor for Ghrelin had a critical role in the normal function of the spinal defecation centre – an area of the body in the lower spinal cord that controls bowel movements.
The 'reward molecule' dopamine is a neurotransmitter and chemical messenger responsible for controlling bowel movements, but we've shown that to work properly in this setting it needs a partner, and that partner is the receptor for Ghrelin.
We're translating this knowledge about normal physiology into a major step towards improving the quality of life for people with Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes chronic constipation in up to 90 per cent of patients.
Chronic constipation is debilitating and is one of the biggest factors for reduction in the quality of life for people with Parkinson's because it is poorly managed by current approaches."
Dr. Sebastian Furness, Associate Professor, UQ School of Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Furness said Parkinson's disease can cause changes in the spinal control pathway for defecation, which is why constipation is a common problem for patients.
"While Parkinson's affects dopamine-carrying neurons in the brain, the dopamine-carrying neurons responsible for defecation are not, and our research suggests targeting the Ghrelin receptor could overcome the changes in the spinal defecation control pathway," Dr Furness said.
"We will now explore how medicines targeting the Ghrelin receptor may help coordinate voluntary defecation and alleviate chronic constipation for people with Parkinson's disease.
"This discovery might allow us to substantially improve the lives for people living with Parkinson's Disease.
"Our work has led to a new explanation for chronic constipation in Parkinson's that is viewed as so important the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded us $3 million to pursue the idea."
The study was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas grant and carried out in collaboration with the Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The research is published in Molecular Cell.
The University of Queensland
Dehkhoda, F., et al. (2025). Constitutive ghrelin receptor activity enables reversal of dopamine D2 receptor signaling. Molecular Cell. doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2025.05.005.
Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Cancel reply to comment
Adam Glen and Jack Reid
Discover how Unicorn Biotechnologies is revolutionizing lab workflows with cell culture automation. Expert insights from startup co-founders Jack and Adam.
Rui Tostoes
Rui Tostoes, Chief Technology Officer at ImmuneBridge, shares how his team is redefining preclinical development and large-scale manufacturing for allogeneic cell therapies.
Advancing GPCR drug discovery with fragment screening using GCI technology
Evotec's insights into GPCRs and waveRAPID technology reveal new opportunities in drug discovery, focusing on orphan receptors and innovative screening methods.
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 29 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
Most professional sportspeople are long retired by the age of 40, but Cristiano Ronaldo is weighing up his next challenge as a whirlwind spell with Al Nassr comes to an end.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid superstar has scored 99 goals in 111 games across all competitions for the Saudi Pro League club and earned €200 million ($225.8 million) each year.
But he has frustratingly fallen short of winning anything more than 2023's regional Arab Club Champions Cup—Ronaldo hasn't lifted a league title, domestic cup or major continental trophy since Juventus triumphed in the Coppa Italia in 2020–21.
With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Ronaldo isn't expected to retire.
The player himself said that while his “chapter is over”, his wider story is “still being written”. Al Nassr maintain that they haven't given up hope of agreeing a new contract.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has teased “discussion with some clubs” that could see Ronaldo appear at the upcoming Club World Cup.
Whether that could take the form of a short-term deal for the tournament or a slightly more permanent contract remains to be seen, but it would certainly be a in FIFA's interest to have one of football's biggest names at the inaugural competition in its fastest growing market.
If Ronaldo is looking for more than just a short-term contract, there are few clubs that could afford to pay him anything close to what Al Nassr have been. Some might view a short deal as an unmissable marketing opportunity, both in terms of furthering their reach and increasing their chances of prevailing at the Club World Cup with watching eyes from all around the world.
Joining a new team before the Club World Cup is possible due to FIFA opening a mini-transfer window at the start of June, to allow squad changes.
For success in Saudi Arabia, with all the same financial benefits he has become used to, Ronaldo could make the short hop to domestic rivals Al Hilal.
The Riyadh-based club have been the dominant force in Saudi Arabia in recent times, winning six of the last nine Saudi Pro League titles, and are the only representative from the Kingdom at the Club World Cup. They have been the Saudi side most expected to pursue Vinícius Júnior, who remains in contract talks with Real Madrid, but also haven't yet replaced Neymar.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: Real Madrid, Pachuca, Red Bull Salzburg.
For similar riches, but across the border in the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain could be another option, where UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan serves as club chief.
The UAE Pro League doesn't command the same international attention as its Saudi equivalent, but then the Saudi Pro League wasn't a big draw until Ronaldo arrived in January 2023.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: Manchester City, Wydad AC, Juventus.
The romantic move would be joining a club from Brazil. There are four of them in the Club World Cup, genuine heavyweights at that—Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras and Botafogo. It is the latter that has been specifically linked with an ambitious approach.
Botafogo, once home of Brazilian icons Garrincha and Jairzinho—and more recently Clarence Seedorf, are controlled by Crystal Palace co-owner John Textor. In Brazil, Ronaldo couldn't expect the kind of wages he's been used to, but some of the more speculative reporting suggests that Textor has offered Ronaldo a stake in Palace, which could be lucrative in the long-term.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid, Seattle Sounders.
Mexico is one of world football's biggest markets and Monterrey could be a plausible destination.
Some reports have considered the Liga MX a leading contender to land Ronaldo, even just on a short-term contract for the length of the Club World Cup.
Former teammate Sergio Ramos has been with Monterrey since February and reuniting two of the key forces behind Real Madrid's UEFA Champions League three-peat would be a huge coup for the Mexican club, even if only for a matter of weeks.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: River Plate, Inter, Urawa Red Diamonds.
Ronaldo has already been back to Manchester United and could yet take in a second spell at first club Sporting CP before calling it a day. So why not a four-week summer fling with Real Madrid?
Los Blancos are making plenty of use of the extraordinary mini-transfer window. Dean Huijsen will be part of the squad at the Club World Cup and the likelihood is that Trent Alexander-Arnold also will as long as a nominal transfer fee can be agreed with Liverpool.
The only drawback is that Real Madrid have already had trouble accommodating all of the club's elite attacking talent this season as it—leaving Rodrygo feeling snubbed and Endrick struggling for minutes. Ronaldo couldn't command a starring role, even with ex-colleague Xabi Alonso now in charge, and that alone might be enough to kill the possibility.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: Al Hilal, Pachuca, Red Bull Salzburg.
The world might just stop turning if Ronaldo was to land in the same team as longtime rival Lionel Messi at Inter Miami. Budgets aside, and even with both acknowledging the importance of the other in their own successes, could the two ever really co-exist?
Should America be the destination—and it feels like it might be a longer deal than a few weeks if that were to be the case—LAFC might the one instead. The California franchise are already in prime position for MLS success, having topped the Western Conference in 2024, so Ronaldo might feel as though he could be the final piece of the puzzle there.
Then comes the LA lifestyle, which could be a huge lure, and the slightly more private existence that other high-profile players—like Messi—have found the United States can provide.
This is one to watch, though, because LAFC will only participate at the Club World Cup this summer if they beat Mexico's Club América in a late qualifying play-off on May 31.
Club World Cup group stage opponents: Flamengo, Espérance de Tunis, Chelsea.
feed
© 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.
Now
70
Fri
78
Sat
69
Natalie Spala
TOPICS:
WASHINGTON (7News) — June is nearly here, which means the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)'s international break is quickly approaching.
This year, 10 Washington Spirit players have been called up to their respective home countries' national teams to compete in international friendlies through July.
Defender Tara McKeown will compete for the U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT). McKeown and the team will face China on Saturday, before taking on Jamaica on Tuesday, June 3.
MORE WASHINGTON SPIRIT NEWS
Spirit defender and national team captain Rebeca Bernal will compete for the Mexico Women's National Team. Bernal and her teammates will face Uruguay in friendly matches.
Across the pond in Europe's Nations League Tournament, England's Esme Morgan and Scotland's Sandy MacIver were called up to their respective squads in mid-May.
Morgan, a standout defender, will compete in England's two friendlies against Portugal and Spain. Maclver, who joined the team in the offseason as Washington's backup goalkeeper, will compete against Austria and the Netherlands.
Washington Spirit defender Gabby Carle will compete with Canada. Carle and her teammates will take on Haiti in two friendly matches in Winnipeg and Montréal. According to the Spirit, she has appeared in 55 international matches (27 starts) for Canada, scoring one goal and adding four assists.
Midfielder Narumi Miura will travel to Sao Paulo for friendlies against Brazil after being called up to the Japan Women's National Team. Forward Rosemonde Kouassi will compete with the Ivory Coast Women's National Team for the federation's upcoming friendlies against Ghana.
In addition to the seven players called up, three other Spirit players also got the nod to perform with the youth national teams for their respective home countries. Forward Chloe Ricketts was called up to the U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team, and Makenna Morris to the Under-23 Women's National Team. Just days ago, defender Kysha Sylla was called up to France's Under-23 Women's National Team.
The NWSL will have a break from June 23rd to July 27th for international tournaments.
Emily Fox recently became the latest U.S. Women's National Team star to win the coveted UEFA Women's Champions League, following Arsenal's stunning 1-0 win against Barcelona.
Joining the likes of Ali Krieger, Alex Morgan, and Lindsey Heaps, Fox played the full 90 minutes in Lisbon as they took down the reigning six-time Liga F champions thanks to a 74th-minute close-range strike from Swedish international Stina Blackstenius.
The subsequent tense minutes left Fox clock watching as the Gunners awaited the final whistle. “I looked at the clock a lot,” Fox told reporters on Wednesday.
“There was one, I think it was a minute before she blew the whistle, she blew a foul, and I think some people already started celebrating, thinking she had blown the whistle.
“But yeah, there was a lot of clock checking after the goal. But before that, I try to avoid it at all costs. So I stay in it.”
The Gunners' second-ever Women's Champions League win, with their first having come back in 2007, the landmark victory was celebrated in London outside the Emirates Stadium, with thousands of fans in attendance.
Reflecting on the celebrations, Fox said she had “no words” to describe the occasion. “I mean, the amount of people that showed up, I was amazed by,” the 26-year-old admitted.
“And then I learned it was a bank holiday, so that might have helped us out a little bit. But no, it was so cool. I think we really had the time to celebrate and connect with each other, connect with the fans. And it definitely makes it more surreal when you have that time.”
Now back on U.S. soil, having been called up by Emma Hayes for the USWNT's upcoming friendlies against China and Jamaica, Fox was quizzed on whether or not she would recommend her teammates also make the move to Europe, should the opportunity arise.
“For me personally, this has always been something I've wanted to do,” she explained. “So I definitely, I'm going to say it's individual choice. But for me, as soon as I had the opportunity and had some restricted free agency in the NWSL, Arsenal and going to Europe was right on my mind.”
Fox added that she “had heard amazing things about the fans” and knew of Arsenal's desire to help “grow the women's game.”
“It was a no brainer and I'm very grateful it's worked out, in the sense of two days ago and even this whole experience.”
The former North Carolina Courage star's focus will now turn from celebrating Arsenal's victory back to the USWNT's ongoing preparations for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup, which Hayes has long said remains their primary target over the coming years.
This preparation will continue first of all against China on May 31, before the USWNT takes on Jamaica on June 3.
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.
The first $1 million women's soccer player, U.S. Women's National Team centerback Naomi Girma, has had a whirlwind year.
Having secured a big-money move to Women's Super League giants Chelsea from the San Diego Wave in January, the 24-year-old's world was turned on its head as she swapped California, where she'd lived all of her life, for the madness of London.
Arriving in the U.K. off the back of an injury which forced her to miss the start of head coach Sonia Bompastor's first season in charge, Girma ultimately made her debut for the Blues in March, during a 2-2 draw with Brighton.
Unfortunately, her WSL career immediately hit another stumbling block, as she was substituted in the second half with a calf injury. All in all, Girma finished her debut season having made eight appearances across all competitions, winning her first WSL and FA Cup titles in the process.
However, speaking with reporters ahead of the USWNT's friendlies against China and Jamaica, Girma explained that the adjustment to life in the U.K. has been challenging in more ways than one.
“It was a big move for me, like not just soccer-wise, life-wise too,” she explained. “So I think it was a big step out of my comfort zone, leaving California, living somewhere different, and playing in a different culture and country.”
Girma described the challenge as “exciting,” although she admitted it has been “a big test for me.”
“I think just on the field, being in the training environment and working with our staff has been really good. And, yeah, I think there's a lot more to come.
“It was pretty short for me this year, so I'm really looking forward to the next couple of years there.”
While clearly optimistic looking ahead, dealing with injuries on top of such a life-changing move, understandably, the past few months appear to have been tough from a mental perspective for Girma.
She opened up on this mental toll, describing how what the public sees is merely “the tiniest moments of our career,” noting how the majority happens “behind the scenes.”
“A lot of it isn't easy and isn't fun. And I think in those moments for me, a lot of it is just relying on family and friends and my support system,” Girma said. “And I think in moving to London, that was harder just because I was new, but I was able to find small wins in life and had family visit and just explored the city and did everything I could to get healthy.
“I think in those moments, it really just is finding joy in little things and trying to find whatever joy you can off the field. Because, it's not always going to be going your way.”
Thankfully for the Stanford Cardinal legend, there were plenty of familiar faces in the area to look to for support. USWNT teammates Catarina Macario and Mia Fishel both play for Chelsea, Emily Fox and Jenna Nighswonger currently represent London rivals Arsenal, while Madison Haley plays for Brighton.
Girma recalled how they all met up in London for brunch following her arrival, splitting the bill in what was surely a welcome return to familiarity for both the Chelsea star and fellow WSL newcomer Nighswonger.
Now back on home soil with the USWNT, which is currently led by former Chelsea boss Emma Hayes, Girma is admittedly “excited” about finally being able to return to camp — a sentiment seemingly felt by the British coach as well.
“I think she said she was excited to have me back and just wanted me to focus on feeling good within the team,” Girma said of Hayes. “Getting comfortable with playing with new people. And yeah, just like enjoy being back in.
“And I think, like the leadership and other things will come as we're playing in sessions and in games. So she really just wanted me to have fun and be myself.”
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.
GOAL's MLS and Liga MX correspondents make their case for each club in this preview ahead of Saturday night's affair
There is $10 million at stake when the battle between North American heavyweights arrives Saturday evening as MLS side LAFC host Club America in a one-game playoff for a berth in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The winner of the contest advances to this summer's marquee tournament, which features 32 of the world's best teams. The victor will join Group D in the competition, where they will compete against the likes of Flamengo, Esperance De Tunis, and Premier League side Chelsea FC.
The match, which kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, will be streamed live on DAZN and will be available on TNT and Univision in the USA as well.
LAFC qualified for the playoff as runners-up in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup, while America progressed as a result of being the top-ranked team in the FIFA Club World Cup confederation ranking after the 2024 Champions Cup. The winner will replace Liga MX side Club Leon in the competition, who were expelled as a result of breaching competition guidelines earlier this spring.
The two North American powerhouses last met in 2020, where LAFC won 3-1 in the semifinals of the Champions Cup, but this time around, a blistering affair awaits.
The Black and Gold ended the 2024 MLS regular season as Western Conference champions, and heading into Saturday night's match, sit sixth in the West - but are just four points out of second place with a game in hand. Club America, meanwhile, are coming off of a Clausura final appearance where they fell just short to Toluca and are looking to immediately bounce back by clinching a berth in this summer's tournament.
GOAL's MLS correspondent Jacob Schneider and Liga MX writer Alejandro Orellano detail the match ahead, offering insight into why each respective team might come out on top.
GOAL's MLS and Liga MX correspondents make their case for each club in this preview ahead of Saturday night's affair
There is $10 million at stake when the battle between North American heavyweights arrives Saturday evening as MLS side LAFC host Club America in a one-game playoff for a berth in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
The winner of the contest advances to this summer's marquee tournament, which features 32 of the world's best teams. The victor will join Group D in the competition, where they will compete against the likes of Flamengo, Esperance De Tunis, and Premier League side Chelsea FC.
The match, which kicks off at 10:30 p.m. ET at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, will be streamed live on DAZN and will be available on TNT and Univision in the USA as well.
LAFC qualified for the playoff as runners-up in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup, while America progressed as a result of being the top-ranked team in the FIFA Club World Cup confederation ranking after the 2024 Champions Cup. The winner will replace Liga MX side Club Leon in the competition, who were expelled as a result of breaching competition guidelines earlier this spring.
The two North American powerhouses last met in 2020, where LAFC won 3-1 in the semifinals of the Champions Cup, but this time around, a blistering affair awaits.
The Black and Gold ended the 2024 MLS regular season as Western Conference champions, and heading into Saturday night's match, sit sixth in the West - but are just four points out of second place with a game in hand. Club America, meanwhile, are coming off of a Clausura final appearance where they fell just short to Toluca and are looking to immediately bounce back by clinching a berth in this summer's tournament.
GOAL's MLS correspondent Jacob Schneider and Liga MX writer Alejandro Orellano detail the match ahead, offering insight into why each respective team might come out on top.
Jobe Bellingham has reportedly turned down the chance to join Eintracht Frankfurt after viewing the German club's stadium and facilities.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Filed under:
The 19-year-old defender will not be replaced on the roster.
Gisele Thompson left the USWNT due to a minor hip injury and will not be replaced on the roster, the team announced Thursday morning. The 19-year-old Angel City FC defender has three caps for the national team.
Thompson, who usually plays as an outside back, was listed as a forward for this camp.
Gisele and sister Alyssa Thompson have made waves as a dynamic sister duo, playing together for both ACFC and the national team. Their third sister, Zoe, was recently called up for a USYNT U-14 talent ID camp.
Gisele Thompson received her first call up and cap during the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, where she and Alyssa became the second pair of sisters to start a USWNT game together. She was then called into the April training camp after defender Tierna Davidson sustained an injury.
“I thought Gisele showed a tenacity and a good aggression in her individual duels,” said Emma Hayes in February. “I think we can add some value in the defensive department for her, but I think she showed some really good intent going forward, some good link-up [play] with Alyssa. You can see they naturally want to give the ball to each other, and I think that actually settled them both being on the same side. And I think it was a really, really good debut, considering she's playing probably one of the best wingers in the world.”
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537). Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support (MA). Visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). Call 877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 21+ (18+ D.C.) and present in select states (for KS, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino). Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT) or visit FanDuel.com/RG.
GOAL US writers debate the Champions League final, ask who can win it, and whether PSG are actually better without Kylian Mbappe
So, it all comes to a head. In the end, the two best teams are probably squaring off in the final. PSG can claim, with some validity, that they have been the best side in Europe this year, tearing through Ligue 1 and making Europe look remarkably easy.
Yes, they took a bit to get going, but did away with the two best sides in the Premier League. Inter, meanwhile, have been on this journey for a some time, and were just about the better side in an enthralling semifinal tie with Barcelona. It could be their time to win this thing.
Either way, it's a tasty matchup. PSG are all attack, ferocious athleticism and real technical quality in the final-third. Inter are smart, strong, and more defensive. But they, too, have their attacking weapons.
Perhaps most crucially, though, both of these teams are also deeply flawed. The Parisians can be exploited on the break and Inter sometimes have a hard time finding the back of the net. Finals are supposed to be cagey; this one might be a good chance for chaos.
PSG have dominated domestic football but have fallen short in Europe, with their only previous Champions League final ending in defeat by Bayern Munich in 2020. Inter won the Champions League in 2010, after also lifting the European Cup in 1964 and 1965, while Olympique de Marseille are the only French club to have won the trophy, back in 1993.
So who will actually win it? Is Ousmane Dembele the main man with Kylian Mbappe now playing his football in Madrid? Who from Inter can make things happen? And from an American point of view, who will be the next USMNT star to play in Europe's biggest game?
GOAL US writers debate all of that and more in a Champions League edition of... The Rondo.
Filed under:
We have to discuss the talisman's absence, plus new kits for the national teams.
If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
The United States Men's National Team prepares to play in the Concacaf Gold Cup, but Christian Pulisic's absence has everyone talking. We discuss his decision to opt out of this summer's matches on Episode 154.
Christian Pulisic has decided that after a long season for AC Milan, he wants to sit the summer out. That decision has taken American soccer by storm and it has prompted a lot of critical feedback. We offer our own thoughts on his decision and what it means for him and the USMNT. With other absences, this means the A roster that fans were promised for the Gold Cup is left with some newcomers who have a huge opportunity ahead of them.
We also get into the new 2025 US Soccer jerseys that were released a couple of weeks ago. While we're still Team Waldos as the permanent home identity, we're excited about these really cool looking jerseys for this summer.
Don't forget to follow us on Bluesky and YouTube! Rates, reviews, and subscriptions really help our reach wherever you get your podcasts as well as on YouTube. Head to our Linktree, which will give you access to all our affiliate links and our Stimulus store! And finally, tag us on Twitter or email USA Soccercast at Gmail dot com with any topic suggestions or questions for the show.
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537). Hope is here. GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support (MA). Visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). Call 877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 21+ (18+ D.C.) and present in select states (for KS, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino). Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT) or visit FanDuel.com/RG.
Gotham FC's Jaelin Howell talks about the impact of playing alongside USWNT veteran Emily Sonnett. (1:08)
The U.S. women's national team has always had an abundance of strong leaders and recognizable stars throughout its 40-year history. Many iconic players competed across multiple generations, with 14 of them accumulating 200 caps or more, and three eclipsing the 300 mark. Today's USWNT, however, is marked by youthful inexperience, as head coach Emma Hayes experiments to decide who will join her on the path to the 2027 World Cup.
Hayes started the youngest USWNT lineup in 24 years against Brazil last month. She has doled out 23 first-time call-ups since being hired in November 2023. Fifteen players on the current roster have 10 camps or fewer, and the three goalkeepers have a combined four caps.
All of which underscores this changeover in generations as a jarring moment in USWNT history: For the first time in a long time, there is no obvious face of the team or spokesperson for the larger group.
Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn prominently filled those roles over the past decade, leading the USWNT to back-to-back World Cup titles and standing on the front lines of the fight for equal pay off the field. All three have retired in the past 18 months.
Transitioning generations is natural and necessary for any team, so is it even that big of a deal? Well, yes, it is, considering the uniquely high standards of a USWNT program that has won four World Cups and five Olympic gold medals -- world records in both. It is not the first time that a new generation has had to pick up where its predecessors left off, but the player turnover happening in this cycle is arguably unprecedented.
"Sometimes we just assume that everybody knows what the demands or the standards are for a U.S. women's national team player," Hayes said recently. "But as I've mentioned, we've got a lot of new players that lack a lot of experience. We have to transfer that, and we have to transfer it in the right way."
Last year provided clear evidence that the changing of the guard for the USWNT was going smoothly. Hayes officially took over the job in late May, and by mid-August, the team won the Olympic gold medal. Hayes said then that she couldn't worry about the lack of time she had -- her focus was short-term on the Olympics. Only during the past eight months has she had time to plot out her long-term vision for success.
During February's SheBelieves Cup, Hayes sat down with Lindsey Heaps, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnett, Lynn Biyendolo, Tierna Davidson and Sam Coffey to discuss whether they see themselves as leaders -- and how that might not matter, she said, because their teammates view them as leaders anyway. What followed was weeks of conversation among players and staff around how to transfer the "non-negotiables" of work ethic and effort -- and what she frequently calls "the American DNA" -- to a new group of players trying to establish its own identity.
"Their insights are invaluable, and I lean on learnings from them to help this process," Hayes said of her more experienced players. "It's going to be a little bit unfamiliar at this moment in time, but I think we'll go to the next place. I'm certain of that."
Kansas City captain Lo'eau LaBonta reacts to her first ever senior call-up to the USWNT at 32 years old.
Heaps is the USWNT's captain and most experienced player with 165 caps. She is a passionate, often unheralded leader who organizes the team behind the scenes, as Hayes pointed out after the team's Olympic triumph in August.
Heaps is one of the few remaining (or, at least, healthy) bridges to the past generation of players. She came onto the scene ahead of the 2016 Olympics and was part of the 2019 World Cup-winning team. Only two other players from that 2019 squad are on the current roster: Heaps and Dunn.
Hayes confirmed last week that Naomi Girma is the vice-captain. Both Girma and Heaps have had to grow into more vocal roles.
"I think it just takes time," Sauerbrunn told ESPN. "If you look at some of the personalities on the team that have retired, that took us a while to get into that after Abby Wambach retired and Shannon Boxx retired [after the 2015 World Cup].
"You just kind of learn a little bit from the people ahead of you and then you have to go and learn on your own as you figure out what you're comfortable with. Some people want to be the spokesperson, and some people are behind there in the weeds."
The USWNT doesn't live in the weeds, however. It is the most famous women's sports team on the planet, and the most successful women's soccer team in history.
Ali Krieger, Cristina Alexander and Jeff Kassouf debate the biggest storylines and break down the best highlights from women's soccer in the Americas. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
Sauerbrunn's generation had to publicly fight the U.S. Soccer Federation and U.S. President Donald Trump as part of its years-long quest for equal pay, which increased attention and scrutiny on the USWNT. Sauerbrunn said she hopes the next generation doesn't have to shoulder as much of a burden off the field -- but she also said it isn't really a choice.
"It's not even if they want to [take on those things], because I think they have a responsibility with this platform," Sauerbrunn said. "But it's what they're comfortable doing within that platform."
Coffey, who has 33 caps, is the captain of the Portland Thorns and one of the USWNT's several emerging leaders. She said her leadership looks different each day based on the USWNT's needs, but she told ESPN "we're in trouble when we're quiet," which means she is constantly a vocal source of positive reinforcement.
Coffey barely played alongside the past generation of stars, but she still regularly seeks advice from Sauerbrunn, her former Thorns teammate, who she calls "the gold standard of what it means to be a leader."
Sauerbrunn was the USWNT's captain at multiple points over the past two World Cup cycles. Rapinoe and Morgan were the faces of the team who became global superstars. Wambach previously filled that spokesperson and star role, and Mia Hamm -- among others -- before that.
At 24 years old and already the vice-captain, Girma is clearly next in line as leader after Heaps. Girma has already taken on some of those duties, but there has been a void of experience around the team for simple reasons: injuries and other absences.
Girma, who became the first player to fetch a $1 million transfer in January, effectively missed the last three USWNT camps due to injury. Davidson tore her ACL in March, days before the camp began for the Brazil games. Biyendolo missed the April games due to injury. Dunn was absent from club and country last fall for personal reasons. And Rose Lavelle has been sidelined all year.
All three forwards who led the USWNT to the Olympic gold medal -- Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson (nee Smith) -- have been missing from the team since the gold-medal game, save for a goal-scoring cameo from Rodman in April. Wilson and Swanson are on maternity leave, and Rodman is sidelined again due to a chronic back injury.
Rodman, 23, is emerging as a star who transcends sports into pop culture and is someone Sauerbrunn says could reach the star status of Rapinoe. "And with that, I think she's going to develop the responsibility of being a spokesperson for the team when you are also the face of the team," Sauerbrunn said.
With iconic stories, hit Originals and live sports, there's something for everyone on Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Get all three for a price you'll love.
Rodman is electric when she is on the field, and the media attention she has attracted suggests she is already becoming The Next Big Thing™ for the USWNT. Staying healthy is her biggest challenge right now. She said earlier this year that she didn't think her back would ever be 100% healthy.
There is an argument that Hayes is the biggest personality on the team, which further reflects the volatile nature of the player pool. She won the first Ballon d'Or women's coaching award last year, and she instantly commands attention, whether she's in a locker room, boardroom or packed convention hall.
Hayes has appeared to use her platform to absorb and deflect the external pressures placed on a team full of young, talented players like Rodman, Jaedyn Shaw, and 17-year-old midfielder Lily Yohannes. She has preached patience as the group discovers its identity.
"I think you're seeing that this less experienced team are growing up," Hayes said after the team's 2-1 win over Brazil on April 5.
Who among them will take on the vaunted role as one of the next faces of the USWNT? The lack of an immediate answer is an unfamiliar, uncomfortable position for a team so accustomed to having one, but it isn't necessarily something that needs fixing. It's a natural step in the transfer process.
Searching for your content...
In-Language News
Contact Us
888-776-0942
from 8 AM - 10 PM ET
May 29, 2025, 09:00 ET
Share this article
LEXINGTON, Ky., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Valvoline™ Global, a worldwide leader in automotive and industrial solutions, has been announced as an Official FIFA World Cup 26™ Supporter ahead of the global extravaganza set to take place across Canada, Mexico and the United States next year.
Valvoline Global's sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup 26 builds on its rapid international growth. As the company approaches its 160th anniversary with sales in more than 140 countries and territories, Valvoline has become one of the fastest growing lubricants brands worldwide.
Set to be the biggest and most inclusive edition of the FIFA World Cup™, the 2026 tournament will feature 48 national teams from across the globe competing in 104 matches in 16 Host Cities throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States. The company plans to offer experiences for fans in select Host Cities and exclusive promotions with key Valvoline retail partners, with more details to be released later this year.
"The FIFA World Cup 26 will bring people together like nothing else – through passion, performance and the power of possibility," said Valvoline Global CEO Jamal Muashsher.
"As we approach our 160th anniversary, Valvoline Global is proud to be part of an event that celebrates not just the greatness of the game, but the potential within us all to move the world forward."
This will be the first time that Valvoline Global has been involved in a sporting event of such scale. The company's partnership with FIFA underscores its commitment to world-class innovation and outstanding service, objectives that are shared by both organizations.
"We are thrilled to welcome Valvoline Global, a respected global force in the automotive and industrial sectors, as an official supporter of this historic tournament," said FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström.
"The company's innovative vision aligns with the dynamic spirit of the FIFA World Cup. Valvoline Global's commitment to driving progress through cutting-edge solutions resonates with our values, and we are excited to embark on this journey together."
To learn more about Valvoline Global's partnership with the World Cup 2026, click here.
About Valvoline™ Global OperationsValvoline Global, the creator of the world's first branded motor oil is powering the next generation of mobility through innovation for customers in 140+ countries and at more than 80,000 points of distribution. A worldwide leader in future-ready automotive and industrial solutions and best-in-class services for partners around the globe, our legacy of firsts spans nearly 160 years.
With solutions available for every engine and drivetrain, from high-mileage and heavy-duty to electric vehicles, Valvoline Global is inventing the way forward for mobility and beyond, expanding its heat transfer solutions to high performance computing.
Together with our parent company Aramco, one of the world's largest integrated energy and chemicals companies, we are driving unparalleled product innovation and sustainable business solutions for what the future holds – on and off the road.
Learn more at www.ValvolineGlobal.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.™ Trademark, Valvoline Global or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries.
About The FIFA World Cup 26™The FIFA World Cup 26™ will be the biggest sporting event ever, with three Host Countries, 16 Host Cities, 48 teams and 104 matches uniting an entire continent to showcase a momentous new tournament format. With more countries, cities, teams, and games, the FIFA World Cup 26™ will be the most inclusive edition of the competition, engaging millions of fans across unique stadiums and billions worldwide. The tournament will take place in June and July 2026. For the latest FIFA World Cup 26™ information, please visit FIFA.com/WorldCup. For media representatives wishing to stay up to date on all things 2026, please register via the FIFA Media Hub.
SOURCE Valvoline Global Operations
Valvoline™ Global Operations, a worldwide leader in automotive and industrial solutions, has announced the opening of its first-ever London office, a ...
Valvoline™ Global Operations, a worldwide leader in automotive and industrial solutions, has announced the launch of their new passenger car motor...
Oil & Energy
Utilities
Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
Sporting Events
Do not sell or share my personal information:
Manchester City are raring to go for the Club World Cup despite the expanded competition coming on the back of a difficult and demanding season.
City suffered with injuries throughout the 2024-25 campaign and after a strong start, faded in a disastrous three month spell that saw him fall away in the Premier League and exit the Carabao Cup and Champions league.
Pep Guardiola's side recovered somewhat to piece together an unbeaten 11-game run to finish the top flight season and secure a third place finish and Champions League football. But they were beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final to end the season without a trophy.
City played 57 competitive games and have just three weeks between the end of the domestic campaign and their first fixture in the Club World Cup in the United States. But despite that hectic nature, the Blues players are raring to go.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak gave an insight into the mindset of the squad during his annual club interview, which was conducted on Monday in Abu Dhabi.
"All the players, they're excited," he told club media. "They're excited about coming back. Nobody feels good about how we finished the season.
"They want to come back, and they want to come back hungry. And I can see the hunger and these players, they want to come back to pre-season.
"Normally these players are off and they're starting to think about vacation time etc. Honestly, every player I spoke to was telling me, we're coming back. We're ready to come back in three weeks' time.
"I was speaking to Rodri as an example, he's looking for games. Erling didn't want to go on vacation. He wanted to stay with the physios and prepare for next season. That's the attitude you want and that's exactly why you see me so positive."
Rodri spoke in September about the hectic nature of the fixture list and suggested has players are close to going on strike because of the increasing workload. Guardiola too has questioned the need for so many games. If City reach the final of the Club World Cup they will play seven matches with the showpiece on July 13. The 2025-26 Premier League season starts on the weekend of August 16-17 with one fixture set to take place on Friday, August 15.
Al Mubarak continued: "What we are focusing on is the future, always. History is great and it's lovely and we celebrate it, and we enjoy it. But then the page flips and there's a new page to write, and the future is about what we can do together.
"How many more leagues we can keep winning, how many more Champions Leagues we can go on and win. How many Club World Cups we're going to go and win, FA Cups, Carabao Cups, Community Shields. It's writing the next chapter and the following chapter.
Manchester City have released their home kit for next season - featuring the reimagining of the sash running through their shirt. For the first time ever, the famous City blue will have a white sash through it as Puma put a new twist on an old favourite.
---
Here at the Manchester Evening News, we're dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don't miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day's biggest stories.
And finally, if you'd rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and you can also watch along on YouTube.
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.
08:00 EDT 29 May 2025, updated
12:45 EDT 29 May 2025
By
JACK GAUGHAN
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has vowed that Pep Guardiola should have a new-look squad in time for the Club World Cup.
City fly to the United States on June 12 ahead of the tournament, with a temporary transfer window opening this Sunday and shutting two days before they jet off.
Al Mubarak admitted that City were not aggressive enough in reshaping the team on the back of sealing a fourth consecutive Premier League title last summer and insisted the same mistakes will not be repeated.
Mail Sport revealed earlier this week that City want to wrap up a move north of £55million for AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders before America.
Morgan Gibbs-White has been a primary target in midfield, with City hopeful of signing at least one full back. Wolves left back Rayan Ait-Nouri has interest, with the club looking at two right back options.
Lyon's mercurial talent Rayan Cherki has admirers from across Europe as City pulled out of the race to land Florian Wirtz, citing the finances involved in signing the Bayer Leverkusen playmaker. Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa is an option were either Ederson or Stefan Ortega to depart.
‘Four players (arrived) in January and that gives you an idea of what's coming this summer because we will continue this summer with this, serving the needs of the club,' Al Mubarak said.
‘We'll go about our business and it will be very clear, very swift. Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.
‘I think when I look back, last summer, we probably should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do. We didn't do that and that ended up costing us this year.'
It therefore promises to be a hectic fortnight at the Etihad Stadium before the summer jaunt, which starts with a short training camp in Boca Raton, an hour north of Miami.
City face Wydad AC on June 18 but should have a plethora of new faces both on and off the pitch before then. Guardiola's backroom staff has been cut by three, with Juanma Lillo, Inigo Dominguez and Carlos Vicens all leaving in the coming weeks.
During an interview recorded in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Al Mubarak revealed that the hierarchy are working tirelessly to sort business early.
Guardiola's messages about squad size have been mixed in recent weeks, first claiming he requires more numbers owing to an increasing amount of games before stating last week that the existing bunch needed streamlining.
‘All the players, everyone I saw after the Fulham game, they're excited about coming back,' Al Mubarak added.
‘Nobody feels good about how we finished the season. They want to come back, and they want to come back hungry.
‘And I can see the hunger and these players, they want to come back to pre-season. Normally these players are off and they're starting to think about vacation time.'
City clinched third spot in the Premier League - and qualification for next season's Champions League - by beating Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage on the final day.
Al Mubarak said: ‘Honestly, every player I spoke to was telling me, “we're coming back”. I was speaking to Rodri as an example, he's looking for games.
'Erling (Haaland) didn't want to go on vacation. He wanted to stay with the physios and prepare for next season.
‘That's the attitude you want and that's exactly why you see me so positive. We're going to come back strong, with a lot of positivity.
‘I just got off the phone right now with Ferran (Soriano). He spent the day with Txiki (Begiristain), Pep and Hugo (Viana) today, this morning.
'We finished yesterday evening, our last game. And today, we're working. Nobody's going on vacation yet.'
Log in
Subscribe Now
Current Edition: International
Search
Top News
Podcasts
Connections: Sports Edition
French Open Day 5
NFL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
NFL Draft
Scoop City Newsletter
Podcasts
Fantasy
NFL Odds
NFL Picks
'The Beast' Draft Guide
Free Agency Tracker
NBA
Home
Teams
Playoff Bracket
Scores & Schedule
Standings
NBA Draft
The Bounce Newsletter
Podcasts
Fantasy
NBA Odds
NBA Picks
Playoffs Coverage
Mock Draft
Player Poll
The Basketball 100
MLB
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
The Windup Newsletter
Fantasy
MLB Prospects
MLB Odds
MLB Picks
MLB Draft Top 100
Power Rankings
NHL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Playoff Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
Fantasy
NHL Odds
NHL Picks
Red Light Newsletter
Stanley Cup Projections
NCAAF
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Until Saturday Newsletter
Recruiting
Odds
Picks
Post-spring Top 25
NCAAM
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
Way-too-early Top 25
NBA Draft Entry Tracker
NCAAW
Home
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
Way-too-early Top 25
Tennis
Home
French Open Day 5 Live Updates
Premier League
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Fantasy
The Athletic FC Newsletter
Podcasts
PSG's Georgian Artist
Inside Matheus Cunha's Rise
Zubimendi's Fit at Arsenal
Golf
Home
WNBA
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Peak
Global Sports
MLS
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
NWSL
Home
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Full Time newsletter
Podcasts
Fantasy Baseball
Home
MLB Home
Podcasts
Betting
Terminology
Draft Kit
Customizable Player Projections
2025 Rankings
Starting Pitcher Rankings
Hitter Rankings
Fantasy Football
Home
Betting
NFL Home
Podcasts
Jake Ciely's Fantasy Rankings
Soccer
Formula 1
Home
Prime Tire newsletter
Schedule
Standings
McLaren
Ferrari
Red Bull
Mercedes
Aston Martin
Alpine
Haas
Racing Bulls
Williams
Sauber
Olympics
Home
Sports Business
Home
MoneyCall Newsletter
Opinion
Home
Betting
Home
Odds
Fantasy Baseball
NFL Picks
UK Betting
Memorabilia and Collectibles
College Sports
FIFA Club World Cup
Culture
Home
Motorsports
Home
Podcasts
NASCAR
Women's Hockey
Home
Women's World Championship
MMA
Home
UFC 309 Jones vs. Miocic
Boxing
Home
The Pulse Newsletter
Cities
Thunder Advance
Panthers Advance
Women's College World Series
Today's News
Connections: Sports Edition
Are you ready for some football? Or perhaps more appropriately, fútbol?
Saturday in Los Angeles, locals LAFC of MLS will face Liga MX giants Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup play-in match. The winner will earn a berth in the tournament that starts in the U.S. a couple of weeks later.
This one-leg playoff has been billed as the most expensive game in North American soccer history after FIFA, the sport's global governing body, announced that each participating Concacaf team would receive $9.55 million for taking part in the tournament. So Saturday's winner will leave BMO Stadium with a hefty check as well as a chance to play for the $125 million prize that will go to the tournament's eventual champion.
Advertisement
Short of dropping the prize money from a helicopter or having the teams walk out onto the field while “Living in America” blares from the stadium's loudspeakers, FIFA's ongoing fascination with U.S. sports culture will be center-stage Saturday night. The play-in concept is one FIFA has adopted from the North American sports landscape and one that is becoming more prevalent in soccer leagues around the world.
The NBA's Play-In Tournament, created during the 2020-2021 season, is the most well-known use of the format in sports, despite its short history. Before that season, eight teams each from the Eastern and Western conferences qualified for the playoffs to decide the NBA's champion. Now, up to 10 per conference are eligible, with the winner of the seventh vs. eighth seed matchup earning a playoff berth, and the loser of that game having the safety net of playing the winner of the ninth vs. 10th game to get in.
There are also rumblings that college football's recently debuted 12-team playoff will grow to include up to 16 teams, with the lowest seeds playing their way into the final bracket in the future.
FIFA's Club World Cup play-in game in 2025 is much more straightforward.
However, with expansion the new norm at FIFA, and considering South American federation Conmebol's hope that the 2030 World Cup finals will include 64 teams, one can't rule out that the Club World Cup will eventually include a four-team play-in tournament. More games mean more revenue, especially for matches with an all-or-nothing carrot — qualification, or elimination.
This inaugural 32-team Club World Cup, which is an expanded, four-yearly version of the annual version of the tournament, will be followed next year by a 48-team men's World Cup finals, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But Saturday night's win-and-you're-in match might actually never be played again.
Advertisement
FIFA only created the play-in game in a rush after Mexican side Club León was expelled from the tournament in March. León's appeal for reinstatement with the Court of Arbitration for Sport was then unsuccessful. LAFC had lost to León in the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup final. So, as that competition's runner-up, LAFC was given a lifeline. Club América qualified as the top-ranked Concacaf club not already in the tournament, per the FIFA Club World Cup confederation ratings.
The result is an MLS vs. Liga MX match with the highest of stakes.
Now, there have been recent meetings between MLS teams and Mexican ones in the Concacaf Champions Cup when a regional trophy was on the line. In fact, less than 24 hours after the Club World Cup play-in game, the Vancouver Whitecaps will face Cruz Azul in Mexico City in that Concacaf competition's 2025 final. Yet, the winner of their match earns $5 million versus the nearly $10 million award FIFA will hand out in Los Angeles this weekend.
That follows the recent trend by tournament organizers to increase the prize money up for grabs, thus further incentivizing participating teams.
In March, U.S. Soccer announced the total prize money for the U.S. Open Cup would be raised to $1 million. That's a significant increase from the 2024 total purse of $475,000. This year's Open Cup winner will receive a $600,000 prize. Meanwhile, MLS has over $2.5 million in its postseason award budget. The winner of the MLS Cup final earns $300,000. Conmebol made a big splash in 2024 when it announced a $23 million reward for the winner of the Copa Libertadores.
The UEFA Champions League winner will earn about $27 million. This season's European final, between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, will be played on the day of the Club World Cup play-in game, a few hours earlier in Munich, Germany.
Advertisement
Is that a problem for FIFA? And why is LAFC allowed to host the play-in game at its home stadium? Is that home-field advantage? Let's answer those questions.
LAFC will enjoy the comfort of its home stadium, but with a sizable contingent of Club América fans in Los Angeles, and throughout the United States, expect the Mexican side's famed yellow strip to be well represented in the stands. LAFC announced Tuesday that the match has sold out the 22,000-capacity arena.
FIFA's Club World Cup tournament director Manolo Zubiria told reporters recently that an effort was made to stage the game at a neutral site. Zubiria cited several challenges that led tournament organizers to opt for BMO Stadium. He said that because of Club León's late appeal process, FIFA had to plan ahead in the event a play-in game would be the next alternative.
A congested events calendar in the U.S. limited the available stadiums, Zubiria said. The goal, he added, was to play the match in one of the 12 cities hosting Club World Cup games this summer. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., for example, will be the venue for six matches during the tournament.
“We came across multiple challenges, as you can appreciate, trying to put together a football match like this in such a short period of time,” Zubiria told reporters May 16. “We had no certainty to commit to a stadium that may have had to move other existing events, which was the case across all venues that we spoke to. But also, one of the major challenges we had was the lead-in time or the time that we had to access a building to set up for a soccer match.
“I'm not just talking about the field of play. I'm talking about everything else that we require for a FIFA competition, especially on the technology side, to have to set up VAR and goal-line technology and semiautomated offside.”
LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington's response was as expected.
“Obviously, we respect the decision. I guess we would say I do know that there's been a number of conversations about the venue and various details about the game that we have stayed completely out of,” Thorrington said. “And what I would say is, if you go back to our preseason match against América (a 2-1 LAFC win at BMO Stadium in February), it didn't quite feel like a home game in the normal sense for us, given the affinity that and the fan base that they do have locally here in L.A.”
Advertisement
Club América president of operations Héctor Gonzalez Iñárritu remained diplomatic about the chosen venue but acknowledged the decision was not optimal.
“We know the efforts that FIFA made to find a neutral stadium,” he said. “We play a lot of games in the U.S. and understand that finding a stadium is not easy. This isn't ideal, but we have to take advantage of the opportunity. Obviously, it would have been best to play at a neutral site. But we know this stadium. We know the people. We know that there will be many more América fans there, plus Mexican fans who will surely root for América.”
Inter Milan against PSG will kick off seven hours before the Club World Cup play-in game. In that sense, LAFC and Club América will have a prime-time slot for U.S. viewers, albeit a late one. The Champions League final will start at 3 p.m. ET, and the play-in match will follow at 10:30 p.m. (That start time conversely means the game will be played in the middle of the night for Europeans, which will surely limit interest in it there). However, the Champions League final is a fixture second only to the men's World Cup final in terms of prestige. It's the most important match of the annual soccer calendar across the globe, hands down.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has invited fans to be part of history when the Club World Cup begins. He also claimed the trophy will be the “most coveted” by clubs and players. That's all scripted speak from Infantino, but there is a brewing feud between FIFA and UEFA, its European equivalent, one that took a significant turn earlier this month during the FIFA Congress in Paraguay.
UEFA officials, including the confederation's president Aleksander Ceferin, walked out of the congress after they alleged that Infantino, who was several hours late arriving at the event, had prioritized a trip to the Middle East to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders. The two sides have since calmed the waters, but it is another layer to what has become a controversial tournament.
Advertisement
“It was a challenge to find a date that worked for both teams,” Zubiria said. “We were also very considerate of everything that was happening. There is a Concacaf Champions Cup final the next day. There's a UEFA Champions League final the same day. But if you look at it the other way, it's also exciting because it gives an opportunity that so much football is happening on the same weekend, and one event will help lead into the other.”
The Club World Cup has conjured all sorts of emotions from players, club officials and fans alike. It's set to be played every four years, so this summer's inaugural edition won't be a one-and-done deal. For LAFC and Club América, a golden ticket is at stake.
They couldn't care less about all the noise.
(Top photo: Thomas Coex / Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)
Felipe Cardenas is a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer in South America, North America and more. Follow Felipe on Twitter @FelipeCar
Richard Gasquet won just seven games Thursday in his second-round match at Roland Garros against Jannik Sinner, but the Frenchman shared a wide smile with his home crowd as he departed Court Philippe-Chatrier.
His 22nd appearance in the main draw at the clay-court major was also the last tournament of the former No. 7 player in the PIF ATP Ranking's career, and he was thrilled to compete on one of the sport's most famous stages once more.
“I couldn't dream more to play on this court, Chatrier, against the No. 1 in the world. It's the perfect end for me. Of course, I would like to win, but it's not easy to win for me now against Sinner. He's No. 1 in the world,” Gasquet said. “But to finish there, I would sign when I start the tournament to finish on a packed court, on a packed Chatrier with the French crowd. It was full. Yeah, it's perfect for me.”
You May Also Like: Gasquet's final farewell: Bidding adieu to tennis' French artiste
The 38-year-old broke onto the scene as a junior, so much so that he was on the cover of France's Tennis Magazine as a nine-year-old. Gasquet set the record of youngest ATP Tour match winner as a 15-year-old — a mark he still holds — and more than 23 years later was still competing at the highest level.
“It's a little strange, because there is no stress tomorrow. There is no recovery. There is no training. There is no lawn tennis. So this is the most astonishing thing. I've got my mind just telling me that I've got to recover and rest,” Gasquet said. “But I'm very calm about the decision to stop, and I'm very happy to stop today on this court against the No. 1 in the world, the stadium, the court was full. It was good weather. I'm very happy.”
Gasquet has been able to play the best players in the world on the biggest courts throughout his career. The Frenchman reached three major semi-finals and won 16 ATP Tour titles during his illustrious career.
“I played all my life with a lot of crowd, and I tried my best to compete, and it was [an] amazing feeling to face these great players in great arenas, in Roland Garros, US
Open, Wimbledon. I was really fortunate and really lucky to just play tennis on the circuit for a long time,” Gasquet said. “Of course, I have great memories. I'm retiring now. It's a little bit weird for me. I played all my life. But it's tennis. You have to stop one day.”
The two-time Nitto ATP Finals competitor explained that he considers himself lucky to have reached the level he did and played on the stages he did across the world.
“I always wanted to do that when I was younger. So emotionally, I'm stopping today. I have wonderful memories for the rest of my life, and that's the main thing,” Gasquet said. “Of course there are matches that you'd love to play again. Some matches I have lost that I would have liked to have won. But I'm lucky to have had a wonderful career and that I was able to fulfill myself as a tennis player.”
Gasquet is universally respected by his peers, and Sinner remained on court to pay his respects to the one-handed backhand artist after the match, when Roland Garros hosted an emotional ceremony paying tribute to the 38-year-old. Rafael Nadal, who grew up with Gasquet, shared his thoughts on social media.
The Spaniard wrote: “Dear @richardgasquet1... Since we were kids we have shared so many moments together on and off the court. Hundreds of tournaments, cities, matches... Throughout your great career your talent has been recognized worldwide and I am happy that today you were able to say goodbye to tennis in such a special place as @rolandgarros. I wish you all the best in the future!”
Gasquet will not pick up his racquet again professionally. But just like he loved hitting the tennis ball from a young age, the Frenchman with the most tour-level wins on record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index (610) looks forward to playing for fun.
“When I was a child I did it. So now I will do it again just for the love of tennis and just to play tennis, you know, even if it's not professional. There is still a life for me, even if I stopped,” Gasquet said. “I don't know when or what I will do exactly in the future, but just to play tennis with friends, it's enough. I'm just happy, as I said. I'm very lucky just to be in a good health now, even if I'm stopping and I'm 39 soon. I just like to play tennis.”
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Tennis
Two-time Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas has hired former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević as his new coach.
Ivanišević, 53, will join Tsitsipas' team from the start of the Halle Open in Germany, for a trial period. Tsitsipas' father, Apostolos, who has been in his coaching box at recent events, will not be part of his coaching team at least initially, according to a report in Greek outlet SDNA. A representative for Ivanišević confirmed this element of the partnership to The Athletic, and said that Ivanišević will work full-time with Tsitsipas for a substantial number of weeks per year. Ivanišević believes Tsitsipas should be in the world's top 10 and has always got on well with him when their paths have crossed on tour.
Advertisement
Tsitsipas later confirmed the “new coaching partnership” on social media.
Tsitsipas, who will leave the the world's top 20 for the first time since August 2018 when the rankings update a week on Monday, has had a difficult couple of years and has brought on Novak Djokovic's former coach to try and arrest the slide. He most recently exited the French Open in the second round, losing to Italian qualifier Matteo Gigante Wednesday.
Afterward, Tsitsipas spoke about how he is struggling to keep up with the demands of the tour, and how he has suffered physically in the aftermath of picking up injuries over the last few years. “It's a constant puzzle,” he said in a news conference.
“Things have definitely changed over the last couple of years, and I know that I find myself in a completely different position now. ”
Tsitsipas, 26, has spent much of the last year trying to rediscover the form and love for tennis that made him look like a potential Grand Slam champion when he burst onto the scene seven years ago. In August 2024, he took the radical step of removing his father from his coaching team after a surprise defeat to Japan's Kei Nishikori, then the world No. 576, in Montreal.
Tsitsipas said he was “disappointed” in his father's work in a news conference after that loss.
“I need and I deserve a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player. My father hasn't been very smart or very good at handling those situations,” he said.
Tsitsipas has since worked with Greece's Davis Cup captain, Dimitris Chatzinikolaou. He also switched rackets in search of a winning formula, but could not say what the new one was for contractual reasons. The profile — and an uncovered logo seen on a stringing machine in Dubai — suggested a Babolat Pure Aero 98 model. But at the French Open, he returned to the Wilson frame, after experiencing back pain using the newer racket on the clay.
Advertisement
His 2025 results have largely remained underwhelming — save for winning February's Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates — as he seeks a return to the early days of his career, when he thrilled the tennis world with his flair and shotmaking ability.
When he returned to clay, which is his preferred surface, Tsitsipas suffered a disappointing quarterfinal loss to Lorenzo Musetti at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco. Tsitsipas was defending champion and had won the event three times in four years; the lost ranking points attached to the defeat saw Tsitsipas tumble to his lowest position for almost seven years. He then lost to Musetti again at the Madrid Open, before losing to Arthur Fils at the Italian Open in Rome.
As a coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion Ivanišević is best known for the six seasons he spent with Novak Djokovic, in which the Serb won 12 Grand Slam titles. They split in March 2024. Ivanišević then briefly worked with fellow Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at the start of 2025, but they parted following her fourth-round exit at the Australian Open.
The split came after it became clear that Rybakina was still working with her previous coach, Stefano Vukov. Vukov has since been given a one-year ban by the WTA for breaching its code of conduct with his behavior, which chief executive Portia Archer described as amounting to “engaging in abuse of authority and abusive conduct.”
It's felt as though Tsitsipas has been searching for his tennis identity ever since Carlos Alcaraz thrashed him at the 2022 French Open.
“I do need a bit more of that Tsitsipas in my game. I'm trying to reinvent myself with that fearlessness,” he told The Athletic a month after being beaten 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(5) by a 19-year-old Alcaraz, referring to the early part of his career.
Advertisement
Being pummelled by the next big thing in men's tennis, having held and then lost that title himself, hurt Tsitsipas. It was the first of several visceral reminders that the Greek, who lost his two major finals to Djokovic, has been stalled not just by the ‘Big Three' of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but also the ascendant Alcaraz and now Jannik Sinner. Tsitsipas has found himself confined to an awkward spot somewhere just below the very top, along with fellow “sandwich generation” members like Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev — though Medvedev has claimed the major title that has eluded the other two.
As he approaches his 27th birthday in August, it makes sense for Tsitsipas to try something different. He's worked with Australian Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis before, but bringing on a coach of Ivanišević's stature feels like a significant shakeup. Ivanišević too will relish this opportunity, after a difficult period working with Rybakina and the end of what was a very successful but at times volatile partnership with Djokovic.
Like Tsitsipas, Ivanišević lost his first two Grand Slam finals. He then lost a third, but finally won at the fourth time of asking by claiming the 2001 Wimbledon title. Tsistipas has not reached the semifinals of a major since he lost to Djokovic in Melbourne just over two years ago.
Ivanišević also has pedigree as a coach in guiding someone from outside the top echelons of the rankings to a major title, doing so in 2014 with Marin Čilić, who was the No. 14 seed when he won the U.S. Open, beating Federer en route to the final against Nishikori.
Tsitsipas will be desperate for a similar uptick in his fortunes. He has the talent to climb back into the world's top 10 — he was ranked as high as No. 3 in 2021 — but his backhand has long hamstrung him away from clay, particularly when returning serve. Ivanišević is also one of the best servers in the history of the sport, especially on grass, and he'll hope to lift Tsitsipas in that area too.
If Ivanišević can tighten some of the aspects where Tsitsipas has been struggling, and help with the mental side of how to go from nearly man to champion, then men's tennis could have one of its most exciting players back on song.
(Top photo: Daniel Cole / Associated Press)
Charlie Eccleshare is a tennis writer for The Athletic, having previously covered soccer as the Tottenham Hotspur correspondent for five years. He joined in 2019 after five years writing about football and tennis at The Telegraph. Follow Charlie on Twitter @CDEccleshare
Joao Fonseca sealed his spot in the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his fledgling career Thursday at Roland Garros, where he earned a hard-fought straight-sets win.
The 18-year-old Brazilian battled through a pendulum-swinging contest, in which he overturned a break deficit in the opening two sets, to defeat wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4. Fonseca channeled the energy from a lively crowd on Court 14, and dug deep in pressure points to secure a two-hour, 54-minute victory.
FEEL THE FONSECA FIRE 🔥He storms through to the next round with a 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 6-4 win over Herbert… ⚡️#fonseca #rolandgarros #tennis pic.twitter.com/ut3IwUf3cz
Fonseca is this week up 11 spots to a career-high No. 54 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He has enjoyed a breakout start to the season, highlighted by winning his maiden tour-level title in Buenos Aires in February and recording his maiden Top 10 win against Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open.
By defeating 30th seed Hubert Hurkacz in his Roland Garros debut on Tuesday, Fonseca became the youngest Brazilian to win a match at the clay-court major since Thomaz Koch in 1963. He will next continue his campaign in the French capital against fifth seed Jack Draper or Gael Monfils.
The evenly matched support from the Court 14 crowd reflected Fonseca's meteoric rise this year. The passionate cheers provided by the French fans were often drowned out by the hundreds of travelling Brazilians, who formed a sea of yellow in the stands and simultaneously rose when the 18-year-old slammed down an ace to seal the opening set.
Despite the increasing energy, replete with a mixture of chants from each set of fans, Herbert continued to remain cool. He saved three set points on serve at 4-5 in the second set, and led 3/0 in the tie-break, but Fonseca kept coming back with a series of trademark groundstrokes.
Aiming to unsettle Fonseca with the use of variety in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash, Herbert played with intent throughout the encounter, in which he tallied 49 winners to the Brazilian's 34. Yet Fonseca displayed standout resilience and fighting spirit in key moments, including an ultimately decisive break for 4-3 in the third set.
Herbert is a two-time doubles champion at Roland Garros with Nicolas Mahut, with whom he will team on Thursday against fourth seeds and last year's finalists Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
We've reached day five of the French Open, and it's another big day in store for British tennis. Jack Draper, Katie Boulter, Cam Norrie and Jacob Fearnley are all in action and looking to make it intl the third round.
It's all over for Emma Raducanu, though. She was blown away in straight sets by Iga Swiatek yesterday, although the 2021 US Open champion vowed to keep striving to compete with the world's best despite now going five matches against the Pole without claiming a set.
Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic and world No.1 Jannik Sinner will continue their bids after Carlos Alcaraz got through yesterday. Rain has disrupted play on the outside courts so far, but the weather is set fair today.
Express Sport brings you all the latest scores, news, and updates from Paris below...
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
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
After ending his career with a three-set defeat to Jannik Sinner on Court Philippe-Chatrier, former world No. 7 Richard Gasquet said it was a great way to bow out of the game.
"I couldn't have dreamt of a better end, because, you know, you never know what could happen on your last tournament. It's not always easy everywhere, every day," he said.
"So to finish today on Chatrier against the No. 1 in the world, it's a wonderful end for me. So I'm very happy with what I was able to do for this tournament."
There's another British defeat on Court Philippe-Chatrier. After Emma Raducanu's 6-1 6-2 loss to Iga Swiatek, Katie Boulter also failed to score a win on the main showcourt.
The British No. 1 suffered a 6-1 6-3 defeat to seventh seed Madison Keys.
But it's good news for Cameron Norrie, who beat lucky loser Federico Gomez 7-6 6-2 6-1.
Madison Keys isn't hanging around today. She took the first set 6-1 and is on course for the second.
To Court Suzanne-Lenglen, where Novak Djokovic takes on eccentric Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
It's the first time Djokovic has played a French Open match on the second court here in two years and the crowd are already going wild.
They burst out into chants of "Moutet" when he stepped out a moment ago. But three-time champion Djokovic also drew a massive cheer.
The atmosphere could be wild for this one.
It took a lengthy tiebreak, but Cameron Norrie took a one-set lead in his match against Federico Agustin Gomez.
Madison Keys and Katie Boulter will go head-to-head at the French Open shortly, but Laura Robson, who is good friends with both, refused to be drawn in on who she'd rather win.
Speaking on TNT Sports, she said: "I am Switzerland," a nod to her neutrality.
Blink and you miss Jannik Sinner's victory over Richard Gasquet.
Sinner took the win by virtue of a straight-sets victory over the Frenchman.
Jannik Sinner is heading towards a three-set win over Richard Gasquet.
He raced through to take the first two sets 6-3 6-0. The third set is on serve, though, with the Italian having just made it 3-3.
On a day of upsets at the French Open, home favourite Arthur Fils made sure he wouldn't be one of the top players going out.
De Minaur and Mensik had already lost from two sets up and the 14th seed also blew a two-set lead against Jaume Munar and seemed to be struggling with a back issue, taking painkillers.
But from 1-3 down in the decider he won three games in a row before being pulled into a marathon battle at 4-4, saving multiple break points to pull ahead.
He broke in the final game to seal a 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 2-6 0-6 6-4 victory, taking his shirt off and roaring in celebration.
Britain's Sonay Kartal suffered a 6-1 6-4 defeat to Marie Bouzkova in the second round on Thursday, bringing her French Open singles debut to an end.
Depending on other results, Kartal could now make her top 50 debut at the end of the tournament. And she's still taking the positives from her loss as she eyes what to work on next.
"Obviously super disappointed with the result, but I'll look back at that match, and I'll think that it was a super good level. I did a lot of things that I've been needing to do," the British No. 3 said.
"I did it in the match and I think that towards the end, I kind of had a few chances, struggled with the serve, but I think in that second set, we were were neck and neck, and it was just a matter of just one or two points that I played a little bit loosely.
"I think it's just the constant treating every point like it's one of the biggest points of the match. I think just consistently staying with it and not dipping off, I think, is for me, probably the most noticeable thing and the hardest thing.
"So, yeah, I think it's just mentally, just making sure I'm present, you know, every single point. I think that's probably the biggest thing that I'm taking away from today's match."
Alexander Zverev made a six-figure bet with Caroline Wozniacki on live TV after his first-round match at the French Open.
Ahead of his meeting with Jesper De Jong, Zverev appeared on TNT Sports and showed off his £275k watch.
To the surprise of the studio, he offered to put his luxury watch on the line in a game of roulette. Wozniacki guessed a number, but luckily for Zverev, who currently leads Jesper De Jong 4-3 in the third set (one set all), she didn't guess right.
Alex de Minaur suffered a horrible collapse against the dangerous Alexander Bublik, blowing a two-set lead to lose 2-6 2-6 6-4 6-3 6-2.
And Miami Open champion Jakub Mensik has also suffered a collapse from two sets up. The 19th seed lost 2-6 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-3 to qualifier Henrique Rocha, who is ranked down at No. 200 in the world.
Jordan Thompson ripped into the ATP schedule after losing in the first round of the French Open.
After a straight sets defeat by Jiri Lehecka, he said: "Unfortunately, with the ATP schedule and how s*** it is, we can't afford to take breaks because you let other people just have an opportunity to pass you on the rankings and get more prize money.
"You just feel like you're missing out. I can't stand the schedule. I hate the two-week events and I think it's even tougher for Aussies.
"I mean, you are there for an eternity. It feels like a couple of times I've made the doubles final and I've been in the same city for over 17 days, and we're at one tournament."
Coash Mark Petchey has warned Emma Raducanu that the sport is different from when she won the 2021 US Open.
After her loss to Iga Swiatek, Petchey said: "It was clearly going to be the ultimate test for Emma yesterday.
“It's tough on Emma as I still feel everyone is living in 2021. The games have changed massively, the balls are four times heavier now and Emma isn't the biggest hitter out there.
“On hard courts and grass is a lot closer compared to where Emma was in Australia against Iga, but against Iga and Coco, she knows what she has to do and it will take a long time. My mantra to her has been ‘you are starting your career now. Everyone is judging you on what happened in 2021 but the reality is, I want to see you building a career here where people judge you in two years'.”
There was a record six British players in the second round of the French Open, but now just four remain.
Sonay Kartal gets a break of serve in the second set but can't capitalise as Marie Bouzkova fights back to win 6-1 6-4.
Sonay Kartal is up against it in her second-round match against Marie Bouzkova. She was blown away 6-1 in the first set.
She has settled at the start of the second, holding serve for 1-1.
Carlos Alcaraz remains the favourite with the bookies at Roland Garros after winning through to a third round match with Damir Dzumhur.
According to Grosvenor Sport, he's now 10/11 to prevail in Paris. Jack Draper is fifth favourite at 30/1.
Grosvenor Sport: French Open winner odds: Carlos Alcaraz 10/11; Jannik Sinner 12/5; Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev 11/1; Lorenzo Musetti 20/1; Jack Draper 30/1.
Tim Henman has said Emma Raducanu must learn from her 6-1 602 defeat to Iga Siwatek.
"Swiatek is a four-time champion here," he said on TNT Sports. "She is one of the greatest clay court players of all time. There is the bar Raducanu and the rest have to get to.
“Emma has a great game, but it is almost as if Swiatek has an extra gear. She has extra power on both wings, her movement in and out of corners is a bit better. That's a lesson she learned. Emma is the kind of person who will embrace the challenge in front of her and try and find the solutions."
Fans on social media are blasting the decision not to have Novak Djokovic on the main court today.
The Serbian is targeting an unprecedented 25th major title. However, he'll play the talented Corentin Moutet on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
The match is scheduled for around 3pm.
Casper Ruud has blamed the ATP Tour for playing through injury in his shock against Nuno Borges yesterday.
After the seventh seed lost in four sets, he ranted: "I decided to kind of push through it doing some anti-inflammatory pills and painkillers, which helped to a certain degree but not enough.
"I will have some more time now to let it heal and rest for a long time. It's kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings as well. You feel you're obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events."
Emma Raducanu's post-match actions after losing to Iga Swiatek were noted with interest by Annabel Croft.
The former WTA Tour star said: "That was quite a cold handshake. There was no warmth there between the two players. It was quite dismissive, almost just a handshake and then a walk off. Once Iga Swiatek got a breakthrough in this match, she just stamped her authority on it."
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the French Open. Here's the schedule on the main courts...
Court Philippe-Chatrier (11am):
Ann Li v Jessica Pegula
Jannik Sinner v Richard Gasquet
Madison Keys v Katie Boulter
Gael Monfils v Jack Draper
Court Suzanne-Lenglen (10am):
Jaume Munar v Arthur Fils
Tereza Valentova v Coco Gauff
Corentin Moutet v Novak Djokovic
Daria Kasatkina v Leolia Jeanjean
Court Simonne-Mathieu (10am):
Mirra Andreeva v Ashlyn Krueger
Alexander Zverev v Jesper de Jong
Elena-Gabriela Ruse v Paula Badosa
Jacob Fearnley v Ugo Humbert
TODAY'S PAPER
Thursday, 29th 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
Gabriel Diallo of Canada plays a forehand return to Karen Khachanov of Russia during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
PARIS - Montrea's Gabriel Diallo is out of the French Open following a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3 loss to Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in second-round action Thursday.
Diallo came back from 4-1 down in the second set and had a chance to break and go up 5-4, but Griekspoor held with back-to-back aces and won five straight points in the tiebreak to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
After Diallo dominated the third set, the 35th-ranked Griekspoor broke early in the fourth before serving to love in the final game.
The 23-year-old Diallo, who entered the French Open one spot off his career high at No. 54, won his first-ever match at the clay court Grand Slam when he upset No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in straight sets in the first round.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., the last Canadian in the men's singles draw, was scheduled to face Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic later Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
The Australian ninth seed had reached the quarter-finals at each of the past four Grand Slams but he ran out of steam against Bublik, who rallied to win 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
"Obviously not a good day at the office," lamented De Minaur.
"One of those matches that kind of just slipped away without a whole lot of meaning."
De Minaur fell victim to the mercurial Kazakh's exceptional shotmaking as his clay-court season ended in disappointment and with the 26-year-old needing to recharge.
"Look, I'm just tired. I'm tired mentally. I'm a little bit burnt out, if anything. A lot of tennis being played," he said.
"I think I lost that one. Looking back at my Grand Slam career, I can't think of another match where I felt this way and I ended up losing a match that I probably by all means shouldn't have.
"Look, not to take credit away from Bublik, he's extremely dangerous, but saying that, I was also two sets to love up. This is a match that, yeah, I win 99.9% of the time."
De Minaur echoed the view of Casper Ruud, the two-time French Open runner-up who blasted the ATP's ranking system after he lost in the second round on Wednesday.
World number eight Ruud compared it to "a rat race" which forces players to compete with injuries, as he was hindered by a knee issue in his to loss Nuno Borges.
De Minaur missed three Masters 1000 events in the second half of last year due to injury and took just two days off after the Davis Cup in November before starting preparations for the new season.
"It's just never ending," he said of the schedule.
"No one's got a solution. But the solution is simple: you shorten the schedule, right?
"Because what's going to happen is players' careers are going to get shorter and shorter because they're just going to burn out mentally. There's just too much tennis."
On a day with nine American women in action, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lived up to their seedings, each advancing with straight-set wins.
It was Throwback Thursday for the American women at Roland Garros.
With No. 2 Coco Gauff and No. 3 Jessica Pegula, it's the first time in 15 years that the United States has two of the Top 3 French Open seeds. The last time, as discerning tennis fans no doubt know, it was Venus and Serena Williams.
In fact, there were nine American women in action across the 16 second-round matches from the bottom half of the draw. With No. 7 Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, the U.S. had three Top 10s in play.
Gauff and Pegula both eased into the third round with straight-set wins. Pegula got things started on Court Philippe Chatrier, defeating fellow American Ann Li 6-3, 7-6 (3). Gauff followed up on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Republic qualifier Tereza Valentova.
Later, Keys was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Katie Boulter. She's now won all of her nine Grand Slam matches this year.
In a typically smooth, consistent performance, Pegula broke Li's serve three times, while saving six of seven break points against her.
“It was a really tough match today,” Pegula said afterward. “Ann has been playing some really good tennis this year and had a lot of close matches with good players. It was tricky with the wind. She was slicing a lot, kind of making me earn a lot of points.
“I felt like it was a pretty physical match, a lot of long points and long games. But happy I was able to kind of hold on to that second set there definitely.”
🔥🔥🔥 #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/cEevSNXQmE
This was Pegula's 30th match-win of the year -- only World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (36) has won more. Pegula is 10-5 at Roland Garros, but nine of those wins have come against unseeded opponents. She's 9-0 in those matches.
Next up for the 31-year-old Pegula: unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a three-set winner over No. 25 Magdalena Frech, in a third-round match on Saturday. Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, reached the Roland Garros final in 2019.
This was their first meeting at the WTA level, but Li won their only previous match seven years ago in an ITF semifinal in Lexington. Li, 24 and ranked No. 55, was looking to equal her best career result at a Grand Slam.
After spotting Li a 2-0 lead in the first set, Pegula went on to win six of the last seven games. The second set was a far different story.
There were still no breaks when Pegula served at 4-all, but the persistent Li forged two break opportunities. Pegula answered them both -- with a gorgeous running forehand down the line and a booming serve that led to another winner.
The tiebreak was textbook Pegula. She scored the first mini-break when a Li backhand sailed wide and consolidated it with some nice serving. A deep backhand that Li couldn't pick up at net gave her the match.
Match win number 22 in Paris 👊@CocoGauff | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/moibnu61QG
The meeting of Gauff and Valentova was a collision of the 2018 and 2024 French Open junior champions. Not surprisingly, age and experience eventually won out over a player in her first WTA Tour-level main draw.
At 21, Gauff is three years older and used her speed to induce Valentova to try and end long rallies by overhitting. Gauff won the first set with three service breaks, the last coming on her fourth set point.
The second set featured an astounding 10 service breaks. Gauff managed to hold once -- and it was enough.
In the end, Valentova won only one of her nine service games.
Gauff has won 12 of her13 career meetings against younger opponents, losing to only Diana Shnaider in Toronto last season. She's also 9-2 against qualifiers at the Grand Slams. Her 22 main-draw match-wins at Roland Garros are the most at any single tournament.
Gauff will play Marie Bouzkova, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Sonay Kartal, on Saturday.
Keys was dominant against the No. 38 player in the PIF WTA rankings, breaking Boulter's serve five times, while getting broken only once herself. Keys doubled up Boulter, hitting 20 winners to 10.
At 30, Keys is the oldest woman to win nine consecutive Grand Slam matches since Angelique Kerber did it seven years ago. Keys will meet the winner of the later match between Sofia Kenin and Victoria Azarenka on Saturday.
On a day with nine American women in action, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lived up to their seedings, each advancing with straight-set wins.
Tennis photographer Corinne Dubreuil vividly recalls working a junior tournament in Blois in July 1995 for France's Tennis Magazine. The reporter on site with her rushed over with news of an impressive nine-year-old.
“My colleague came to me and said ‘Corinne, Corinne, you have to come to Court 3 and see this little guy',” Dubreuil said. “He's so amazing. He has a one-handed backhand. Crazy, crazy.”
Dubreuil took some photos of the young player and like her colleague was impressed. They spoke of the player to their superiors at the publication, who contacted the boy's family and decided to produce a full report, which turned into a cover story.
The boy's name was Richard Gasquet.
Early in 1996, Dubreuil visited the Frenchman in Sérignan, located in the south of France, to photograph him at home and document him playing tennis and at the beach. She took a famous portrait of Gasquet sitting in his bedroom with posters of the ATP Tour's biggest stars surrounding him.
Across two walls were legends including Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, as well as Frenchmen Guy Forget, Henri Leconte and Marc Rosset. Little did Gasquet know one day he would become an international star, too.
A post shared by Richard Gasquet (@richardgasquet34)
The February 1996 edition of Tennis Magazine featured a striking cover in which the phenom was winding up to unleash a one-handed backhand. The headline read: “Le champion que la France attend?” In English, that means: “The champion that France is waiting for?”
That was a massive amount of pressure for a nine-year-old. There was no guarantee Gasquet would pursue tennis for a career, let alone become a professional. But over the next three decades he became one of the best players in the history of French tennis.
Gasquet's backhand turned into one of the most feared shots in the sport and no matter how the Frenchman performs this Roland Garros — after which he will retire — his game will be remembered for generations to come.
In 1999, Gasquet won the prestigious Les Petits As international junior tournament in France, and three years later he became the No. 1 junior in the world as a 16-year-old. But the first major splash the Frenchman made came earlier that year, when he won his ATP Tour debut at the 2002 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters as a 15-year-old.
Gasquet defeated former World No. 11 Franco Squillari 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 to become the youngest match winner in the history of the Tour (since 1990). Nobody has broken his record since.
Watch Highlights:
Even aged 15, the Frenchman's talent was clear. As was the case for the next 23 years, Gasquet was already crafting jaw-dropping backhands according to Squillari.
“My crosscourt forehand was my best shot and I thought before [the match] I would do my best with his backhand and his backhand was unbelievable,” Squillari told ATPTour.com. “He [did not make] a mistake more than three hours from his backhand. Okay, I [then] played to his forehand and from his forehand he didn't make a mistake, too. He's a very complete player.”
The 16-time ATP Tour titlist became known for his artistic game, creating unthinkable angles with his one-handed backhand and playing aggressively with his forehand when he needed to. The Frenchman was as meticulous with his strategy as he was with his grip, which he redid at nearly every changeover, more than anyone else on the ATP Tour.
Gasquet first broke into the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings on 29 September 2023, shortly after his 17th birthday. From 18 April 2005 through 14 January 2024, he spent nearly 19 consecutive years inside the Top 100.
The 38-year-old has earned 609 tour-level wins, more than any Frenchman on record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Two years ago, after earning his 600th win to join Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray as the fourth active player to reach the milestone (Nadal and Murray have since retired), Gasquet joked, "Of course I'm the worst by far!"
Most Wins By A Frenchman
A three-time major semi-finalist and a three-time ATP Masters 1000 finalist, the only thing that prevented Gasquet from claiming titles at the biggest events was competing against the likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer. All six of his losses in those critical matches came against one of those three players. The Frenchman defeated Djokovic and Federer in his career, but lost all 18 of his Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Nadal.
“He was very close in the beginning of his career with Nadal,” Squillari said. “But unfortunately, Nadal was one of the best of four or five players on Tour in history. That was not good news for Richard.”
When Squillari lost to a 15-year-old Gasquet, it was difficult to take as a former World No. 11. But time has shown that the teen turned into a star, who climbed to a career-high World No. 7.
“He [won] more than 600 matches. I lost against one of the [biggest] players on Tour,” Squillari said. “If you lost in the French Open against [Michael] Chang [when he was] only 16 years, 20 years after you say ‘Okay, it was not too bad'. And I say now, it was not too bad.”
Gasquet recently appeared on the ‘Nothing Major' podcast, named because the four American former professional players who host it never won a major. They joked that Gasquet fit in with them, unless he wins Roland Garros over the coming fortnight.
“Zero chance,” Gasquet said, cracking a laugh. “But if there is a non-major [list] as you do, I think I would be seeded, I would be Top 10.”
Gasquet's most recent ATP Tour title came two years ago in Auckland. Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images.
The son of a father who ran a local tennis club made history in his first tour-level event and will also do so in his last tournament. By competing in Roland Garros this year, he sets the new Open-Era record for main-draw appearances in the tournament.
“It's the end, maybe the last match of your career. Hard to say,” Gasquet said of his expecations of the moment. “It's special, but I'm happy to do this, I'm happy to play here one last time. I'm practically 39 years old. I never thought I was going to be playing such a long time.
“I'm lucky enough to be able to do it here one last time. I know what that represents, to play in a tournament like this. So I'm going to try to enjoy it from beginning to end and give my all. It's sport. You never know what's going to happen.”
France hoped a nine-year-old Gasquet would turn into a champion, and that he did.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered another shocking Grand Slam defeat at the 2025 French Open.
The Greek star began the year with a tough defeat in Melbourne, when Tsitsipas lost to Alex Michelsen in the first round of the Australian Open.
He would no doubt have expected a far better showing in Paris for the second Grand Slam of 2025, having reached the final of the French Open just four years ago.
Things started well, as Tsitsipas beat Argentina's Tomas Martin Etcheverry in his opening match, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Taking on qualifier Matteo Gigante in his second-round match, Tsitsipas was stunned in four sets, 4-6, 7-5, 2-6, 4-6, suffering his earliest exit in the French capital since 2018.
After such a tough defeat, it was clear Tsitsipas had some big decisions to make, and it looks like he hasn't wasted any time in doing so.
It has now been reported that the 26-year-old will be hiring a former Wimbledon champion to his coaching team, as he looks to surge back up the rankings.
Greek media outlet SDNA has reported that Tsitsipas is set to bring in 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as his coach.
Ivanisevic is expected to act as Tsitsipas' head coach and will begin working with the world number 20 next week.
Their collaboration will initially begin as a trial, with their first tournament together set to be the Halle Open, which begins on June 16.
Ivanisevic has real pedigree as a coach, leading both Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic to Grand Slam success.
Winning his first Major title as a coach, Ivanisevic worked with his fellow Croat, Cilic, at the 2014 US Open, where he took down Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori en route to the title.
Splitting with Cilic in 2016, Ivanisevic enjoyed short stints with Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic before joining Djokovic's team in 2019.
Working together, Ivanisevic and Djokovic won nine Grand Slam titles before parting ways in March 2024.
The 53-year-old then briefly ventured into coaching on the WTA Tour alongside Elena Rybakina, joining her team ahead of the 2025 season.
Their partnership was short-lived, however, as Ivanisevic departed Rybakina's team shortly after the Australian Open.
Returning to coaching with Tsitsipas, Ivanisevic will be determined to help steady the ship, as the Greek star continues to tumble down the rankings.
Tsitsipas began 2025 with ambitions of returning to the top of the men's game, competing for the sport's biggest titles.
Winning just two of his first five matches this year, things weren't looking good for the former world number three before he made a bold move ahead of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Tsitsipas changed his racket ahead of the tournament, a decision that quickly paid off as he won the first ATP 500 title of his career.
Many expected the win would propel Tsitsipas to great things, but he soon began to struggle for form once more.
Barring a solid showing in Monte-Carlo, where Tsitsipas lost to Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals, he failed to make a real impact on the clay.
Holding a 3-3 record across his three latest tournaments, the Madrid Open, Italian Open, and French Open, Tsitsipas is set to fall well outside of the world's top 20 when the next set of rankings are released.
With that in mind, it was clearly time for a change, as fans of the Greek now wait to see whether the wisdom of Ivanisevic can guide Tsitsipas back to the top ten.
Jannik Sinner pulled the curtain shut on Richard Gasquet's career Thursday at Roland Garros, where he soared past the Frenchman 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 to reach the third round.
Making his 22nd appearance at the clay-court major in Paris, the 38-year-old Gasquet was unable to produce a response to Sinner's heavy ball-striking and pinpoint accuracy throughout the one-hour, 58-minute clash. With his victory, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings extended his Grand Slam winning streak to 16 matches, becoming the first man born in 1990 or later to do so.
“We have a good relationship off the court. We are different generations, but it's your moment,” Sinner said to Gasquet, who recorded his sole win over a World No. 1 in Monte-Carlo in 2005, when he defeated Roger Federer. “Congrats to your family, to your team. Without great people around each player, it's impossible to make such an incredible career. You played in such an incredible era of tennis and everyone will recognise you, even after your retirement.”
SPECTACULAR SINNER 👏He advances with a 6-3 6-0 6-4 win over Gasquet...@rolandgarros | #sinner | #rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/7UwchpOzOT
In many ways, it's fitting that Gasquet, who spent the majority of his 23-year career competing against the best players in the world, finished against the current World No. 1. A 16-time tour-level champion, Gasquet reached a career-high World No. 7 and holds the record for the most wins (610) among Frenchmen in the Open Era.
The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion, Sinner set a third-round meeting with Jiri Lehcka, whom he leads 2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Lehecka overcame Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the third round at Roland Garros for the first time in his career.
After recording straight-sets wins against Arthur Rinderknech in the first round and Gasquet in the second, Sinner improved to 18-5 at Roland Garros, where he notably reached last year's semi-final before falling to rival Carlos Alcaraz in a physical five-set tussle. The 23-year-old is aiming to become the first Italian men's singles champion in the Open Era after Adriano Panatta in 1976.
“It's obviously a very special place for me to play,” added Sinner, who also beat Gasquet in Paris last year. “Against Richard, we already played last year here, it's always very tough. I'm generally very happy to be in the third round. Thank you guys for making it fair.”
You May Also Like: Gasquet's final farewell: Bidding adieu to tennis' French artiste
There were moments of magic from Gasquet, who used his vintage one-handed backhand to carve out three break points when Sinner served out the first set at 5-3, sparking raucous cheers from the French fans on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Yet Sinner saved all three, according to Infosys Stats, and did not face another en route to a commanding victory.
Read More News
View All News
View Related Videos
View All Videos
There were moments of magic from Gasquet, who used his vintage one-handed backhand to carve out three break points when Sinner served out the first set at 5-3, sparking raucous cheers from the French fans on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Yet Sinner saved all three, according to Infosys Stats, and did not face another en route to a commanding victory.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Amid the many highs at Roland Garros, there have been a fair few lows for Coco Gauff.
As the world No.3 bids to win her first title on the famous clay-courts that are currently hosting the French Open , one moment Gauff will never want to relive is her third round loss at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Gauff was her nation's co flag-bearer at the 2024 Opening Ceremony alongside NBA legend LeBron James in what was her first ever Olympics for Team USA.
The stakes had never been higher, and this time the 21-year-old was representing more than just herself.
However, the 2023 US Open champion's run at the Summer Games ended in bitter disappointment after she was eliminated by Croatia's Donna Vekic 7-6, 6-2 in a third round upset.
It was a game overshadowed by a controversial line call in the second set amid a potential Gauff comeback.
The American hit a serve before Vekic's return landed near the baseline.
A line judge called Vekic's shot out, and Gauff did not keep the play alive, meaning the point was hers initially.
However, umpire Jaume Campistol felt the Croatian's shot was in and awarded her the point instead, believing the line judge's call did not hinder Gauff.
That gave Vekic a crucial break and a 4-2 lead, causing an incensed Gauff to walk over and confront the official as play was delayed for several minutes.
“I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball,” Gauff said to Campistol before she began to tear up.
“It's not even a perception; it's the rules. I always have to advocate for myself.”
It's no surprise Gauff became emotional. After all, she was a strong favourite to go deep in the tournament and had already blown away her previous two opponents, dropping just five games.
“I feel like I'm getting cheated on constantly in this game,” she added when speaking to tournament supervisor Clare Wood.
The umpire's call was one that never had to be made.
The rule states: "If a chair umpire or line umpire calls ‘Out' and then corrects the call to good, what is the correct decision?
“Decision: The chair umpire must decide if the original ‘Out' call was a hindrance to either player. If it was a hindrance, the point shall be replayed. If it was not a hindrance, the player who hit the ball wins the point.”
The umpire ultimately decided that the line judge who called Gauff's point out did not hinder the American.
Despite the fact, in almost all cases, a line judge shouting out as the receiving player hits the ball would undoubtedly hinder them.
“I felt that he called it before I hit, and I don't think the ref disagreed,” she said.
“I think he just thought it didn't affect my swing, which I felt like it did.”
Controversies such as these are easily avoidable, which is why Gauff herself demanded a rule change, in the form of video replays, following her elimination.
An almost identical dispute happened to her in the 2024 French Open semifinals just a few weeks earlier, during a defeat against Iga Swiatek where she also began to tear up.
"I think tennis is the only sport where not only we don't have the VR system, but a lot of times the decisions are made by one person," Gauff said.
"Also, there are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go back or online and you see that you were completely right, and it's like, what does that give you in that moment?
"In situations you can call for the supervisor, but there's not much they can do from that standpoint. I definitely think as a sport we have to evolve, and we have the technology. They're showing it on TV, so I don't get why the player can't see it."
This year's French Open will use line judges, but luckily for Gauff it will be the last edition of the event where such officials will exist.
It's a tournament of emerging US prodigies, including Gauff's friend Robin Montgomery and Coco's former roommate Hailey Baptiste.
From now on, every Grand Slam, including Wimbledon, will have the automatic line calling system and will not have line judges for the 2026 season.
Gauff has started this year's French Open in impressive fashion after a convincing win against Olivia Gadecki in the first round.
The American spent just one hour and 11 minutes on court as she secured a 6-2, 6-2 win against her Australian opponent.
It was a contest overshadowed by Gauff's hilarious tennis racket blunder, which she responded to on social media.
She faced Tereza Valentova in the second round of the tournament on Thursday.
Gauff cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 victory to march into the third round in Paris.
© 2025 talkSPORT Limited
Registered in England No. 2806093. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF
talkSPORT is a registered trade mark of Wireless Group Media (GB) Limited.
This service is provided on talkSPORT Limited's Terms of Use in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.
PARIS − Mirra Andreeva underlined her claycourt credentials again at the French Open when the Russian teenager methodically took apart Ashlyn Krueger, and third seed Jessica Pegula also moved into the third round on Thursday.
Andreeva, a surprise Roland Garros semi-finalist in 2024, confirmed her calibre on the sport's slowest surface with runs to the Madrid and Rome quarter-finals this season, and she had to be at her inventive best to beat the powerful Krueger 6-3, 6-4.
The 18-year-old sixth seed found herself an early break down on Court Simonne Mathieu but fought back to secure the first set, before mixing up her game with exquisite sliced forehands in the next to see off her American opponent.
"This match wasn't easy, I'd lost to her at the U.S. Open," Andreeva said, reflecting on her second-round defeat by Krueger in New York last August.
"She's a powerful and aggressive player. I knew I had to play well ... I suffered and struggled with my serve, but I'm happy I found a way to stay calm.
"I pushed myself to fight until the end."
Pegula, Krueger's frequent doubles partner this season and French Open third seed, had to battle hard against fellow American Ann Li but found her best level when it mattered to prevail 6-3, 7-6(3) in windy conditions.
Up next for the 2024 U.S. Open runner-up is former Paris finalist Marketa Vondrousova, after the Czech sent 25th seed Magdalena Frech packing 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
On the men's side, Vondrousova's compatriot Jiri Lehecka took out Spanish 26th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 while Kazakh Alexander Bublik upset Australian ninth seed Alex De Minaur 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic continues his bid for more history and a record 25th Grand Slam trophy when he plays Frenchman Corentin Moutet later on Thursday.
Top seed Jannik Sinner resumes his hunt for a maiden title on Parisian clay when he meets another local favourite in Richard Gasquet, who will retire when his campaign at his home Grand Slam comes to an end.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris, editing by Ed Osmond)
Jordan Thompson has ripped into the demanding ATP schedule after crashing out of the French Open in the first round. He was beaten in straight sets by Jiri Lehecka, a result which brought his campaign to an early end. The reigning US Open doubles champion only managed to win six games en route to a 6-4 6-2 6-1 defeat.
After the match, Thompson questioned the motivation behind extending the previous model of ATP and WTA 1000 events. They were previously concluded in under two weeks but they now take up more time on the calendar. Thompson believes the length of the warm-up events make it difficult for players to prepare for the big tournaments.
He also dismissed the idea of simply not taking part in such events, which would lead to players missing out on valuable prize money.
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
"Unfortunately, with the ATP schedule and how s*** it is, we can't afford to take breaks because you let other people just have an opportunity to pass you on the rankings and get more prize money," fumed Thompson.
"You just feel like you're missing out on an opportunity. I can't stand the schedule. I hate the two-week events and I think it's even tougher for Aussies.
"The last few years I've been away, after every Aussie Open, I've come back at probably the start of December because I've got to wait until the Davis Cup [is over].
"I know there are opportunities to go home throughout the year, but it is so far to get back to Australia and I don't see the benefit of going there for less than 10 days.
"By the time you acclimatise there, on an island in the middle of nowhere that is a completely different time zone, you've just got to come back and compete again. So I just don't see how that's beneficial for any tennis player.
Don't miss... Iga Swiatek fires 'predictable' jab at Emma Raducanu after French Open win [LATEST] Two-time French Open finalist suffers embarrassing collapse in shock upset [NEWS] British tennis ace awkwardly double books at French Open as sister gets involved [INSIGHT]
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
"I haven't spoken to a player who likes the two-week events. I mean, you are there for an eternity. It feels like a couple of times I've made the doubles final and I've been in the same city for over 17 days, and we're at one tournament.
"Why is one tournament taking that long to finish? I mean, why do we need a day off for playing? They are three set matches. It should just be like the Paris Masters, a one-week event.
"Why do we need to turn that into a two-week event? It's just a waste of time in my opinion and I know a lot of other players feel the same."
Thompson is now a veteran on the ATP Tour, having been involved in the professional circuit since 2013. It remains to be seen if the body will tweak the length of non-Grand Slam events in line with his demands and those of his fellow players.
SEARCH
CONNECT WITH US
TODAY'S PAPER
See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive.
EXPRESS.CO.UK
Daily Express uses notifications to keep you updated
Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Mark Petchey believes that tennis has ‘changed massively' in the last four years
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Emma Raducanu's coach Mark Petchey has warned her that tennis has moved on since she won the US Open four years ago.
British No 2 Raducanu was dismantled 6-1 6-2 by reigning champion Iga Swiatek in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.
It was a slight improvement on her 6-1 6-0 thrashing by Swiatek at the Australian Open, but the 22-year-old has won just one of her nine career matches against top-five players and was also trounced 6-1 6-2 by world No 2 Coco Gauff in Rome earlier this month.
Petchey, who is also working as a pundit for TNT Sports' coverage of Roland Garros, has told Raducanu – currently ranked 41 – that she cannot afford to live in the past if she wants to climb back into the top 20.
“Since I started helping Emma, I said she needs to start closing the gap between the best players,” said Petchey, who started working with Raducanu on an informal basis in March.
“She doesn't need me to sit between 20-50 in the world and, if I'm not the best choice, she needs to find the best choice.
“On this court Iga has 23 straight wins – you don't put those streaks together at a major if your game isn't so difficult to play against. It was clearly going to be the ultimate test for Emma yesterday.
“From my point of view, it's tough on Emma as I still feel everyone is living in 2021. The games have changed massively, the balls are four times heavier than back in 2021 and Emma isn't the biggest hitter out there.
“If you can't put the ball through the court on a windy, heavy clay court day against someone like Iga, you're going to get into all sorts of trouble.
Get 4 months free with ExpressVPN
Servers in 105 CountriesSuperior SpeedsWorks on all your devices
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Get 4 months free with ExpressVPN
Servers in 105 CountriesSuperior SpeedsWorks on all your devices
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
“On hard courts and grass is a lot closer compared to where Emma was in Australia against Iga, but against Iga and Coco, she knows what she has to do and it will take a long time.
“My mantra to her has been ‘you are starting your career now. Everyone is judging you on what happened in 2021 but the reality is, I want to see you building a career here where people judge you in two years'.”
Raducanu arrived in Paris with more concerns about her fitness, but Petchey has hit back at those who doubt her work ethic.
“I'm a little tired of hearing people say that she doesn't work hard, but I spent 10 months with her in 2020 and I've spent every day that I can with her since Miami, and not once has she not put in a full day shift,” he added.
“(Maybe) there are areas that, together, we can help her crystallise more gains in fitness, or tennis, or whatever, but in terms of turning up every day and putting in a good shift, she's done it every single time. So, I'd like to bury that myth where it belongs.”
PA
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Robin Montgomery is not leaving Paris early.
The 20-year-old American, who is appearing in her first-ever French Open main draw, secured her place in the second round by sending home-hero Diane Parry home with a 6-2, 6-1 win on Monday.
Montgomery dominated during the contest, winning five of her seven break points, dropping just three games and serving down five aces in her win.
It's a victory she'll hope she can use to elevate her status at Roland Garros as as she continues to climb up the rankings.
Up next for her is Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who recently dismantled World No.9 and fellow American Emma Navarro.
They are set to face off on Court 12 on Thursday at around 11:10am BST (6:10am ET).
The US sensation is ranked 115 in the world and made her debut five years ago as a 15-year-old at the US Open. Since then she's amassed over a million dollars in prize money.
Montgomery is well known within the American tennis scene, catching the eye when she won the US Open junior singles title in 2021.
She followed that victory up a few hours later with the junior doubles title when she and partner Ashlyn Krueger defeated Reese Brantmeier and Elvina Kalieva in three sets.
It meant she became the first person to win both titles in New York since Michaëlla Krajicek in 2004.
Montgomery first began to make some noise on the professional tour in 2023.
She was able to qualify for the Austin Open early that year and also earned her first WTA 1000 win when she defeated Ana Bogdan.
In 2024, she faced her toughest challenge yet and one that she still remembers to this day.
It was Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the Miami Open.
It took Sabalenka two-and-a-half hours to beat Montgomery, edging her in a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-4 victory and one that demonstrated to the then-teen where her level was at.
"It was a very close match, and it kind of opened my eyes a little bit of where my level is and what I can actually do," Montgomery told Clay Tennis.
"I was pretty p*****!! Knowing that I was that close and it was just a few shots here and there that cost me the match… didn't feel great."
She even admitted to crying after that loss as she described how devastating it was to come so close to winning.
"I was crying! I called my childhood coach and he was like ‘relax' and I'm like ‘no, screw this'. But yeah, it was a stinger, but it does happen for a reason," she added.
"It's gruesome I would say. She hits the ball very big, very hard and you have to always be ready for anything. When you play against her it sometimes feels like you're already on defense even before the point starts. It's very tough, she's a top player. The best nowadays."
Montgomery is also friends with fellow American tennis star Coco Gauff, saying she grew up with the 2023 US Open winner.
"We are friends! When we see each other at tournaments we talk, we go out to dinner, that's pretty much it, but I'd say we're friends," she said.
"We grew up together, both chasing similar goals since young. I've known her since I was 9, we had our first USTA camp together, so we've known each other for a long time."
Montgomery will be focused on forging her own path in tennis, and this year's French Open gives her that chance.
The added bonus is that it's on a surface she enjoys playing on.
"I do have good results on clay. So I probably enjoy it and play better than most American players on clay." Montgomery said.
Get 50/1 for Jannik Sinner to win the French Open - CLAIM HERE
18+ New customers only. Opt in and bet max £1 on Jannik Sinner - Outright - French Open - Mens 2025 by 10:00 on 06/06/2025. Enhanced odds paid in Free Bets, which expire in 7 days. Click for T&Cs. GambleAware.org | Please gamble responsibly
© 2025 talkSPORT Limited
Registered in England No. 2806093. Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, SE1 9GF
talkSPORT is a registered trade mark of Wireless Group Media (GB) Limited.
This service is provided on talkSPORT Limited's Terms of Use in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.
Seventh seed Ruud crashed out of the French Open on Wednesday after losing to unseeded Nuno Borges in the second round, with the Norwegian saying he had been struggling with knee pain that restricted his movement.
Asked if the busy tennis calendar made it difficult to take time off and fully heal an injury, the 26-year-old told reporters that players' rankings would take a hit if they skipped mandatory events.
"Well, it's kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings, as well," he said.
"You feel you're obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events.
"You feel like you lose a lot if you don't show up and play... the punishments are quite hard, in terms of everyone else will play, gain points, and you won't."
The ATP did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Ruud also said a player's year-end bonus was cut by 25% if they missed a mandatory event.
"I'm not sure if you're aware, but if you don't play a mandatory event, they cut 25% of your year-end bonus. You're kind of forcing players to show up injured or sick, or whatever, when that is not what I think is very fair," he added.
Ruud said he was looking forward to taking some weeks off to heal his injury before returning to court.
"I'm just looking forward to not being on painkillers for some days now. Let it really heal and rest and see where I'm at in a few weeks," he added.
Follow the French Open with Flashscore.
Women's second seed and former Roland Garros finalist Coco Gauff also targets a place in the fourth round, along with 18-year-old contender Mirra Andreeva.
World number one Sinner faces his second French opponent in a row at Roland Garros and is expecting a memorable encounter against the 38-year-old Gasquet, playing at the tournament for the 22nd and final time.
"I know you're going to support him (Gasquet), it's OK, I know that," Sinner told the crowd after his first-round win over home hope Arthur Rinderknech.
"I'm just happy to share a court with him."
The 23-year-old Italian showed some signs of rustiness against Rinderknech in just his seventh match back since returning from a three-month doping suspension.
Sinner made his comeback at the Italian Open earlier in May, reaching the final before losing in straight sets to reigning Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic, fresh off his 100th ATP title last weekend, got his tilt at a fourth French Open title off to a solid start on Tuesday.
The Serbian sixth seed will need to be on his guard against crafty Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
"I don't know how many more Grand Slams I've got left in my body," Djokovic said after the opening round.
"I spent quite a bit of time making sure that every step of the way in preparation and prevention is respected in order for me to still be able to play on this level."
Third-ranked Alexander Zverev meets Jesper de Jong for a place in round three, with Alex de Minaur, Jakub Mensik, Arthur Fils and Joao Fonseca all returning to the court as well on Thursday.
Gael Monfils looks to pull off an upset over British fifth seed Jack Draper in the night session after fighting back from two sets down under the lights on Court Philippe Chatrier in his opener.
Check out the full men's schedule at the French Open here.
Gauff laughed off an amusing lapse that led to her arriving on court without any racquets ahead of her first-round win.
The American said it actually helped her relax as she targets a first title since last year's WTA Finals, having come up just short in Madrid and Rome.
"I think as the rounds go, I think it's just with every tournament you feel more comfortable out there on the court," said Gauff, who plays Czech qualifier Tereza Valentova in her second match.
"You have a match under your belt and know how to deal with certain situations. I think the first round is the most nervous I get. After that, you just feel like it's a little bit smoother sailing."
Sixth seed Andreeva, who had an impressive run to the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, plays American Ashlyn Krueger.
Andreeva is playing her first Grand Slam as a top-10 seed after capturing WTA 1000 series titles in Dubai and Indian Wells.
Third seed Jessica Pegula plays fellow American Ann Li, while Australian Open champion Madison Keys takes on Britain's Katie Boulter.
Other past and present Grand Slam champions Marketa Vondrousova, Victoria Azarenka, Sofia Kenin and Barbora Krejcikova are also on Thursday's schedule.
Check out the women's schedule at the French Open here.
TechnicalF1 Unlocked
Technical Contributors
Leclerc explains why Ferrari need to ‘reset expectations' for Barcelona despite positive Monaco weekend
EXPLAINED: Everything you need to know about the Spanish Grand Prix front wing Technical Directive
SPANISH GRAND PRIX – Read the all-new digital race programme here
FIA Thursday press conference – Spain
‘I don't see any reason why not' – Russell confident Mercedes can return to top-five fight in Spain after ‘two poor races'
Much has been made of exactly where this year's McLaren is deriving its advantage from – and there's been a lot of focus on how well it controls its rear tyre temperatures and the part the car's brake duct design plays in that.
But an advantage in F1 is very rarely about just one golden feature and is invariably about how well designed and integrated the whole car is.
What time is the Formula 1 2025 Spanish Grand Prix and how can I watch it?
PALMER'S ANALYSIS: Did the two pit stop experiment work in Monaco?
Limited edition ‘F1' movie merchandise unveiled ahead of summer premiere
Horner explains why Red Bull ‘rolled the dice' with Verstappen strategy in Monaco as he reflects on ‘jeopardy' of race
EXPLAINED: Everything you need to know about the Spanish Grand Prix front wing Technical Directive
© 2003-2025 Formula One World Championship Limited
By Justin Kroll
Film Editor
The highly-anticipated Elden Ring movie at A24 and video game company Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.is gaining momentum as director Alex Garland may be zeroing on a familiar face to lead the epic adaptation. While it is unknown where things stand in negotiations or if a formal offer has been offered, sources tell Deadline the director has talks with Kit Connor, who recently appeared in his war pic Warfare, to star in the adaptation. Sources stress several factors still need to be worked out including scheduling but both Garland and Connor want this to happen.
A24 had no comment.
Related Stories
News
Alex Garland Set To Direct Live-Action 'Elden Ring' Movie For A24
Festivals
'Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping', The Big-Ticket Project At Cannes Market With One Huge Territory Ask Sparking Chatter -- The Dish
As reported last week, Garland is writing an directing the pic with Peter Rice is set to produce alongside Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich from DNA, as well as George R. R. Martin and Vince Gerardis.
Watch on Deadline
Released to critical acclaim in February 2022, Elden Ring is an action RPG set in an authentic dark fantasy world, which allows players to head off on adventures within vast environments and dungeons. Created under the guidance of FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game is based on a story written by Martin, author of the fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which served as the basis for HBO's Game of Thrones.
Over 30 million units have shipped worldwide over the last few years. An Elden Ring spin-off, Elden Ring Nightreign, is slated for release worldwide on Friday, May 30.
Over the years, Garland is one of the stronger partnerships the studio has with any director with four of his five films bowing at the studio. The project is expected to be one of A24's largest productions to date but given Garland's track record with the studio having most recently directed the war pic Warfare, the studio is very high on this upcoming venture.
If a deal does close, this would mark a major victory for Connor as this project is expected to draw plenty of talent given everyone involved in it. Connor's star has been on the rise since his breakout role in the Netflix series Heartstopper. He was most recently seen in Garland's Warfare, which featured other rising stars such as Charles Melton, Jospeh Quinn and Will Poulter and can be seen next in the Netflix pic A Cuban Girl's Guide To Tea and Tomorrow. He is repped by Independent Talent Group and WME.
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
Jacqueline Sweet
Donald Trump's administration has appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to bless his effort to deport a group of migrants to South Sudan, a war-torn African country, with little notice and in express violation of a judge's order.
The high court has already smacked down the administration's efforts to conduct rapid deportations without due process twice now. This time, Trump's Department of Justice is trying to persuade the justices to undermine the rule of law, with a misleading brief that is undercut both by the judicial record as well as flight-tracking data reviewed by Rolling Stone.
A Massachusetts federal judge, Brian Murphy, previously issued an order barring the Trump administration from deporting people to third-party countries, or nations where they are not from, without a “meaningful opportunity” to demonstrate that they fear being persecuted, tortured, or killed if they were sent there. The judge also required the administration to give people at least 15 days of notice to challenge their removals.
When the Trump administration moved to deport a group of detainees to Libya, an exceedingly dangerous country, without giving them an opportunity to raise fear-based objections, the judge clarified that would violate his order. Last week, the Trump administration began the process of sending a group of men to South Sudan, another dangerous country, with less than 24 hours of notice — leading the judge to find that officials had violated his order and demand the government maintain custody of the migrants so they have an opportunity to object to being sent there.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Murphy did not demand the administration bring the men back, allowing officials to pick where to hold them as they move to comply with his order. They are currently being held at a military base in Djibouti, in east Africa.
An attorney for the men told Rolling Stone on Thursday morning that her team still had not been given phone access to their clients, one of the conditions of last week's ruling.
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
On Tuesday, Trump's Justice Department bypassed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit as it filed an emergency brief at the Supreme Court. The administration argued in the brief that Murphy's orders are causing “irreparable injury in the diplomatic, immigration, and foreign-policy spheres.”
In a brief to the Supreme Court, Trump's Solicitor General John Sauer writes: “Having slammed on the brakes while these aliens were literally mid-flight — thus forcing the government to detain them at a military base in Djibouti not designed or equipped to hold such criminals — the court then retroactively ‘clarified' its injunction to impose an additional set of intrusive and onerous procedures on DHS. As a result, the United States has been put to the intolerable choice of holding these aliens for additional proceedings at a military facility on foreign soil — where each day of their continued confinement risks grave harm to American foreign policy — or bringing these convicted criminals back to America.
Sauer, who previously served as Trump's personal lawyer, represents the current situation as a burden put upon the government by Judge Murphy, and dubiously claims that the judge forced the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain the men in Djibouti. In reality, as Judge Murphy wrote in a memorandum this week, “this is the result Defendants asked for.” His order had left “the practicalities of compliance to defendants' discretion.”
“I honestly think that this is a sanctionable brief,” immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X on Tuesday. “It falsely claims that the District Court ‘forc[ed] the government to detain [8 men] at a military base in Djibouti.' This is false. As Judge Murphy himself repeatedly emphasized, it was the DOJ that requested the option of holding them overseas!”
Related Content
Trump's ‘Liberation Day' Tariffs Blocked by Federal Court
Can Dems Save Themselves by Spending $20M on ‘Speaking With American Men'?
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
The government's description of the sequence of events is further undermined by Rolling Stone's real-time tracking of the Gulfstream V jet that flew the men from Texas to Djibouti last week. (The flight was first noticed by former reporter and flight attendant Gillian Brockell, who saw that a plane that had previously flown high-level government missions took off from Harlingen, Texas, late Tuesday morning, at approximately the same time the men's lawyers found out from their clients that they would be sent to South Sudan.)
Judge Murphy held two emergency hearings last Tuesday night and Wednesday mid-day, responding to the migrants' lawyers' emergency filing notifying the court that their clients had been given less than 24 hours notice that they would be deported to South Sudan.
During the hastily-convened hearing on Tuesday night, Judge Murphy ordered the Justice Department to find out where the plane was and tell everyone involved in the flight that they could face criminal contempt sanctions if his earlier order barring rapid deportations to third-party countries wasn't followed.
At 8:55 p.m. Tuesday night, when Judge Murphy filed his order requiring the government to maintain custody of the men, the Gulfstream V was still over the Atlantic Ocean, and the plane was closer to U.S. soil than Africa, according to Rolling Stone's review.
We were able to follow the plane's trajectory to a stop at Shannon Airport in Ireland at approximately 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, presumably for refueling, where it sat for almost three hours before taking off and continuing toward Djibouti.
The plane ultimately landed at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, a shared military and civilian airport, at 9:54 a.m. on Wednesday morning, according to Rolling Stone's live tracking of the flight.
Wednesday's court hearing in the case, scheduled for 11 a.m., started late, and by the time Judge Murphy made what the Justice Department called his clarification of his injunction, some time after noon, the plane had been sitting on the Djibouti airport tarmac for over two hours, according to Rolling Stone's tracking.
In that hearing, the plaintiffs asked for the men to be returned to the U.S. for the period of due process, according to independent law news site LawDork's live updates of the hearing, but the judge allowed the Justice Department to offer its own “remedy” to the situation and asked DOJ attorney Drew Ensign for a suggestion.
“Any remedy should be narrowly tailored. If they weren't given meaningful opportunity to express fear, give them that opportunity. No need to bring them back,” Ensign said, according to LawDork's transcript.
“Are you suggesting they have a reasonable fear interview where they are now? Is that practical,” the judge asked Ensign, who replied that he would consult with his client and report back. Later in the hearing, the DOJ reported to the judge that it was in fact possible for the men to do their credible fear interviews where they were, in Djibouti, later in the hearing.
In his ruling last Wednesday, Judge Murphy wrote, “DHS, in its discretion, may elect to provide this process to the six individuals either within the United States — should it choose to return them to the United States — or abroad, if at all relevant times DHS retains custody and control over the individuals in conditions commensurate to those the individuals would be housed in were they still in DHS's custody within the United States. This order reflects a remedy, in light of the court's finding of a violation of its preliminary injunction, that has been narrowly tailored in accordance with principles of equity.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio filed a declaration to Murphy two days later, part of the government's appeal, arguing that the men's detainment in Djibouti had “negative consequences to important U.S. strategic interests, including in Libya, South Sudan and Djibouti.” Rubio claimed that Judge Murphy's order threatened to negatively impact the relationship between the U.S. and South Sudan, making “moving humanitarian relief — food, medicine, etc. — into the region … more difficult.”
Meanwhile, humanitarian relief in South Sudan has been notably devastated by Trump's effort to gut foreign aid.
DHS did not respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to outreach from Rolling Stone.
The Trump administration flew eight men to Djibouti, but one is a South Sudanese national and another will be deported to his home nation of Myanmar, the government said. That leaves six men subject to order for a reasonable timeframe to raise fear of torture. The men — from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico and South Sudan — were all previously convicted of violent crimes.
The plane that flew them to Djibouti is registered to two related Florida private charter companies Tannjets and Journey Aviation
Tannjets and Journey Aviation were both founded by a pilot who founded the first private airline in Uzbekistan after the fall of the Soviet Union. An executive at Journey Aviation told Rolling Stone they had no idea if their plane was involved in the South Sudan deportation flight last Wednesday.
The narrative that Judge Murphy “forced” the government to go to Djibouti began taking shape last week. On Thursday White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said “Now these illegal criminal murderers and rapists have to sit in Djibouti with our ICE agents who now have to sit there for more than two weeks. it's truly despicable what's happening in our court system and the president hopes that the Supreme Court will do what it needs to do” during a press conference.
Later that day, The State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce further distorted the events, saying “I would also point you to Karoline Leavitt's remarks the hour before my briefing here, where she noted a court order required the flight to go to Djibouti” during a State Department briefing.
Civil unrest in South Sudan deteriorated to the extent that the U.S. ordered all non-emergency staff to leave the country in March. The State Department warns: “Do not travel to South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
The department's 2023 report on human rights practices in South Sudan found credible reports of “arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces, opposition forces, armed militias affiliated with the government and the opposition, and ethnically based groups; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; [and] arbitrary detention.”
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Jackson, who oversees the emergency docket for appeals in the First Circuit, responded to the Trump administration's emergency request on Wednesday, giving lawyers for the men sent to Djibouti a week to reply.
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 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.
Ana de Armas prefers to do anything else, even intense stunts, instead of sing onscreen. The actress, who will soon join the “John Wick” franchise with “Ballerina,” said during “Hot Ones” in the below video that any stunt work is better than carrying a tune — something she had to do for Ron Howard's survival film “Eden.”
“I hated it,” de Armas said. “I remember when I talked to [director] Ron. And I was like ‘Ron, I really think I should lip sync. This is not for me.' And he just didn't want to hear it. He was like ‘no, you're singing. You're singing. If you do it bad, it's good for the character.' And I'm like ‘yeah but people don't know that.'”
Related Stories Pete Davidson Uncovers a Retirement Community Serial Killer in ‘The Home' Trailer Bella Ramsey Wants ‘The Last of Us' Fans to Watch Upcoming Indie Films Like They're ‘Game of Thrones'
De Armas continued, “I just couldn't convince him to let me lip sync so I had to learn the song. It was horrible. I was terrified. I would rather do 100 stunts than sing that song. It was terrifying because it's also in front of all the actors. I just felt very exposed and vulnerable and it's not one of my talents for sure.”
De Armas previously told Vanity Fair that starring in “Eden” pushed her to get to her “craziest” self onscreen, which is no small feat given her past dedication to portraying Marilyn Monroe in “Blonde.”
“I got a little scared, and I told [Ron] I was nervous because it was really out there,” de Armas said of joining “Eden,” which also stars Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law, and Vanessa Kirby. “He was very supportive and excited. There was no question I wanted to do it. I wanted the challenge.”
The “Deep Water” star added, “Having this crazy threesome relationship, and being a woman of opposites — either she's sweet and tender and fragile and nervous and scared, or she's absolutely crazy and dangerous, it was kind of finding that limit. What was the craziest I could get? How far could I go?”
At the time, director Howard praised de Armas' “creative courage,” saying, “She's a risk-taker as an artist, and I knew that it was going to take that kind of individual.” The IndieWire review for “Eden” also deemed de Armas a “scream in a cast filled with standout performances.”
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.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The film originally was slated to arrive before the conclusion of 'Cobra Kai': "I was screaming constantly every day."
By
Brian Davids
Writer
Forty-eight hours after wrapping Cobra Kai in Atlanta, Ralph Macchio was right back where he started on the Montreal-based set of Karate Kid: Legends.
Macchio stepped foot onto Legends' version of the Mr. Miyagi house that he and Pat Morita made famous four decades earlier in John G. Avildsen's The Karate Kid (1984). The original house in Canoga Park was demolished after production concluded on 1986's The Karate Kid Part II, before being rebuilt at Warner Bros. Ranch for 1989's Part III. Cobra Kai then constructed an iteration of it that evolved across six seasons on its Atlanta-based set.
Related Stories
Movies
Ralph Macchio on Decision to Return to 'Karate Kid' Films and Future of the Franchise 40 Years In
Movies
'Karate Kid: Legends' Review: Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio Return for a Messy and Uninspired Addition to the Franchise
“It was the weirdest feeling. I literally was at somebody else's house, but I kind of helped build the house,” Macchio tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Karate Kid: Legends' May 30 theatrical release.
Popular on THR
In Jonathan Entwistle's legacy sequel, Macchio's Daniel LaRusso is paid a visit by Jackie Chan's Mr. Han from 2010's The Karate Kid, folding the former stand-alone reboot into the mothership franchise. The Legends creative team realized that Part II's Miyagi family dojo scene could be expanded upon to link the Okinawa, Japan-based Miyagi family with the Han family in China. In 1625, Mr. Miyagi's fisherman ancestor, Shimpo Miyagi, fell asleep at sea and woke up off the coast of China. That's where the Han family took him in and taught him kung fu. Upon his return home, he established Miyagi-Do Karate, combining the two families' unique martial arts and creating a lasting friendship that endured through Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Han. (The 2010 film's brain trust used the same Part II scene inside the Miyagi family dojo as a jumping-off point for their China-set story.)
Macchio previously met Chan at the 2010 premiere of The Karate Kid, and while he was always a good sport in public, he admits that he was privately conflicted about Chan's remake at first. But through the unlikely creative merger, Macchio couldn't be happier with how it all unfolded, especially now that he's shared action scenes with Chan in the name of training Mr. Han's great-nephew, Li Fong (Ben Wang).
“I was territorial upon first hearing of [2010's The Karate Kid]. I didn't understand what they were going for, and I had walked in the shoes for so long. I just felt, ‘How are you going to do a retread of [1984's The Karate Kid]?'” Macchio says, “But they made a movie that was well-crafted and highly successful. I always describe that movie as a lesson in how you can tell virtually the same story, but still make it a completely different movie.”
Karate Kid: Legends was originally announced in September 2022, and it immediately raised a number of questions as to how it would navigate the then-upcoming final season of Cobra Kai. It's now known that Legends was always going to be set three years after the series finale of Cobra Kai, but two of its previous release dates — June 2024 and December 2024 — fell before the series' February 2025 conclusion. (Both projects were delayed by the 2023 strikes.) As a result, Macchio became adamant that the film delay itself until after Cobra Kai‘s completion — in order to not confuse the Cobra Kai audience and hopefully attract them to the movie off the strength of the satisfying series finale and successful overall run.
“When [Karate Kid: Legends] was initially slated for a December 13, 2024 release, I was screaming constantly every day: ‘This movie has to come out after [Cobra Kai] finishes,'” Macchio shares. “And once marketing got together and realized that [the December ‘24 release] would not benefit either, they did the right thing [by delaying until May 2025]. Karate Kid: Legends is now coming at a time where I like to believe that Cobra Kai fans are thirsty for another chapter.”
As for the future of Daniel LaRusso, Macchio confirms that several Cobra Kai spinoffs are in development, and it's just a matter of time before Netflix and creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg decide which direction(s) to go next.
“There are a few balls up in the air. I don't know which one is going to land. I hope all of them do, or some of them do, or one of them does,” Macchio says. “The success of Karate Kid: Legends could propel all that stuff. It's different, but the same. There's a Miyagi-ism for you.”
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Macchio also discusses the responsibility he feels to protect the Karate Kid franchise now that he's one of the last remaining principals from 1983's foundational film.
***
When Karate Kid: Legends first came along, you were still shooting Cobra Kai. So how was the movie's timeline explained in relation to the show?
The first I heard about it, I said, “Okay, where does this land?” because the Cobra Kai guys — [showrunners] Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald and Hayden Schlossberg — were not involved with the creation of Karate Kid: Legends. So I got the concept, and to me, it was just about figuring out the genuine, honest connective tissue going forward. For me, it's always been about carrying the Miyagi-verse or the legacy forward.
Chronologically, [Karate Kid: Legends] was always set about three years after the events of Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai started in 2018, and so the kids on that show would be in their third year of college [during Karate Kid: Legends]. That was determined early on, and then it was about landing Daniel LaRusso in a way that feels like a natural evolution and progression when we see him three years later. That's where my real focus was and how I would layer him into this fresh separate storyline. It's like its own ecosystem in the grand universe.
At the end of Cobra Kai, he lands in a very positive way. He and Johnny Lawrence are the best versions of themselves going forward. In Karate Kid: Legends, we find him being far more Miyagi in his sensibilities and his grounded wisdom. In Cobra Kai, it was designed that the more knee-jerk and up-in-Johnny's-face he was, the better it was to service Johnny Lawrence's redemption. So I'd be like, “Okay, but when do we land in Miyagi-land?” That is where I thought LaRusso would end up with all his wisdom from his mentor, a very grounded mother, a good life, a good business and a good wife. And then we landed Daniel at that place.
So when we pick him up three years later, he's in Miyagi''s yard, and to him, that house is like a museum of his childhood. He takes off his gardening gloves after Jackie Chan's Mr. Han comes into the dojo, and then he's reminded of the [Miyagi-Han family] connection. The [flashback] piece of Karate Kid Part II talks about how [Miyagi-Do] karate came from China, and so we were off to the races. It made sense. It was then all about protecting LaRusso and that relationship that was born in 1984, which has now given birth to this whole franchise.
For many of us, you will always be “The Karate Kid,” but for a younger generation, you are now what Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi was to my generation. Did it take a while to get used to seeing yourself as the sensei character after being the kid all these years?
Yeah, and that's a great question. It evolved early on in Cobra Kai. I'll never forget a moment in the first episode of season two where Tanner Buchanan's Robbie was now the one waxing the car and painting the fence and sanding the deck. We camera-blocked the rehearsal of that little montage, and I went back to my trailer to get changed because we hadn't changed into wardrobe yet. I then had this rush of emotion by myself. I won't say I was bawling, but I started getting misty. There was a little lump in my throat as I was getting ready to do the scene because I had just remembered all the magic that happened in Miyagi's backyard in 1983. Pat Morita showed me how to paint the fence and all the stuff that has become a piece of pop culture. So I was now on the other side of the mat, and all those years were gone. John Avildsen was no longer here. Pat Morita and producer Jerry Weintraub had both passed. And I just felt the emotional responsibility of carrying this legacy forward in that poignant moment. So that was the time that I felt that.
As far as feeling the sensei versus the student, I've had that experience as a parent. I would also tell stories of yesterday to the young cast of Cobra Kai, and just like any dad telling a story of his childhood, they would lean in and listen. I did the same thing with Ben Wang on Karate Kid: Legends. I take pride in sharing a piece of yesterday because, in essence, we don't have any of this right now without what was created back in the early 1980s. I don't like to get lost in that nostalgia, but you do need to pay it forward and make it relevant. Cobra Kai did that very well, and I'd like to believe that this film has a fresh or different kind of feeling with the same underlying themes.
Repurposing that Daniel-Miyagi flashback scene from The Karate Kid Part II was a clever way to build a canonical bridge to Jackie Chan's The Karate Kid. To be honest, when Jackie's movie came out in 2010, I refused to see it for the longest time. I thought it was blasphemous to remake The Karate Kid. Did you get territorial about it at the time?
Yeah, I absolutely did. First of all, when they start remaking your stuff, you never think you're old enough that they'd remake your stuff. I now have The Outsiders on Broadway, which won best musical [at 2024's Tony Awards]. So you don't want to believe how much time has gone by that they're going to do it for the next generation, but I'm like the third time around in generations.
So I was territorial upon first hearing of [2010's The Karate Kid]. I didn't understand what they were going for, and I had walked in the shoes for so long. I just felt, “How are you going to do a retread of that?” But they made a movie that was well-crafted and highly successful. I always describe that movie as an exercise and a lesson in how you can tell virtually the same story, but still make it a completely different movie.
When they brought the concept into the room of how they would connect these two [unconnected stories], I was like, “You have the footage.” It was all connected in a way. Miyagi tells the story that the secret to Okinawa karate came from China, and we laced that through Cobra Kai. So it's consistent, and it's in the scriptures, if you will. Then Hollywood steps in to figure out how to make a movie, and here we are.
And it allowed you to trade moves with Jackie Chan, so it all worked out quite nicely.
Yes, I went from one legend to the other. What can you say? It's really the gift that keeps on giving, and now that's working with someone like Jackie. I didn't know him personally, but I obviously knew his work. He paved the way for so many, and he's like a kid in a candy store. He just loves being on set. He loves making movies, and he cares. We both come from that place, and even though we have two different perspectives, we have the same end result in mind. So it was a joy to work with him.
Ben Wang also does a wonderful job, physically, mentally and emotionally. He will be who new 8- to 19-year-olds will cheer for and root for, but they also get a piece of the legacy throughout the movie. That's been very evident with Cobra Kai, and I'm hoping that's the case here. It's family viewing and a very positive story of good over evil. And you get to share a communal experience in the theater where you're hopefully high-fiving the stranger next to you because you had a wonderful time. And when you get home, perhaps your uncle pulls out a DVD of the original Karate Kid, and the whole family gets to watch Mr. Miyagi for the first time. It's cool when I have kids run up to me who know who Mr. Miyagi is and think he's the coolest.
One of the biggest surprises about adulthood is that I don't feel as far removed from my 17- or 18-year-old self as I thought I would. Do you feel all that different from the young guy in the aforementioned flashback?
That's a great question. (Macchio asks for a few moments to ponder.) When I did one of my first Cobra Kai scenes with Billy Zabka, we'd been in the skins of our characters for 34 years at that time. But when we stepped onto that mat inside the Cobra Kai dojo in the second episode, there was wisdom on both sides of us from different perspectives. When we spoke to each other through our characters, there was a heightened element of awareness. It felt like yesterday, yet it felt new at the same time.
When I look at young LaRusso in that opening scene, I think of Hawaii and Pat Morita. I can smell the day. I remember the humidity level and what it felt walking in the Miyagi family dojo. So it takes me back to a moment in time. Now there's life lived and wisdom gained, but the person is the same. Ironically, when I think of Daniel LaRusso in that specific scene, he was a very earnest Daniel LaRusso. He wasn't the knee-jerk guy with the temper that got up in Johnny Lawrence's face every time he got pissed off. He was the earnest student wanting to learn, and then when you look at Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid: Legends, he is very much on the opposite side [à la Mr. Miyagi]. He's open and earnest in sharing that wisdom with the next generation. So it's an interesting perspective to look at him in that opening scene as a youngster and later as the wiser, more grounded, experienced teacher.
Based on your first scene with Jackie and the coda, I assumed that you killed two birds with one stone by shooting Karate Kid: Legends' Miyagi house scenes on Cobra Kai's Miyagi house set in Atlanta. But Legends actually rebuilt the house in Montreal?
Yeah, when I finished Cobra Kai, we had the wrap party the next day, and the following morning, I was on a plane to Montreal. I stepped onto a running train, and it was the weirdest feeling. I literally was at somebody else's house, but I kind of helped build the house. So it was interesting to do this full shift by leaving this family of seven years' time and 65 episodes, which is kind of unheard of today, certainly in the streaming world. And then I was stepping onto a big screen movie that I was a part of but wasn't settled into yet. So that transition was a bit of a challenge, not that anyone made it difficult. I was just in my own head now that I was shifting gears in a story three years later.
Just so you know, when this movie was initially slated for a December 13, 2024 release, I was screaming constantly every day: “This movie has to come out after the show finishes.” And once marketing got together and realized that [the December ‘24 release] would not benefit either, they did the right thing. Karate Kid: Legends is now coming at a time where I like to believe that Cobra Kai fans are thirsty for another chapter. There's also brand-new fans, who may or may not have even seen Cobra Kai or the original film, that would have a great time at the cinema.
The showrunners of Cobra Kai have alluded to more story. Do you know what that is yet?
There are a few balls up in the air. You have to be diplomatically safe, and I don't know which one is going to land. I hope all of them do, or some of them do, or one of them does. The success of Karate Kid: Legends could propel all that stuff. It's different, but same. There's a Miyagi-ism for you.
***Karate Kid: Legends opens May 30 in movie theaters nationwide.
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.
By
Kory Grow
Nathan Fielder rejected a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on CNN on Thursday about flight safety. “That's dumb,” he said. “They're dumb.”
The premise for the second season of his HBO series The Rehearsal is that poor communication between copilots and airplane captains leads to crashes. The season finale ended with Fielder becoming a pilot and flying 150 people on a 737.
Fielder told CNN he became interested in how plane crashes occur just as a hobby (“I don't want to die,” he said) and from watching a Canadian TV show about plane crashes. “I started to notice that they can always solve the technical stuff when a crash happens, you know, they work really hard to make sure that type of accident doesn't happen again,” he said. “But for the human factor in communication, the thing keeps happening where there's miscommunication between pilots.”
The six-episode season demonstrates how Fielder believes crashes happen. The FAA responded to Fielder's findings in a statement to CNN. The administration said it “mandates all airline pilots and crew members to complete interpersonal communication training” and it “isn't seeing the data that supports the show's central claim that pilot communications is to blame for airline disasters.”
Popular on Rolling Stone
“The Federal Aviation Administration requires all crewmembers (pilots and flight attendants) and dispatchers to complete Crew Resource Management training,” the administration told CNN. “They must complete this training before they begin working in their official positions and complete it on a recurring basis afterward.”
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
Fielder responded by calling them dumb. “Here's the issue: I trained to be a pilot,” he said. “I'm a 737 pilot. I went through the training. The training is, someone shows you a PowerPoint slide saying, ‘If you are a copilot and the captain does something wrong, you need to speak up about it.' That's all. That's the training. And they talk about some crashes that happen, but they don't do anything that makes it stick emotionally.”
The comedian recently told Rolling Stone he had no interest in becoming a pilot before embarking on the show. “I was insecure of the fact that I am just a comedian, and no one will think I'm trying to explore this in a real way,” he said. “And so I wanted to be able to talk to pilots and say, “Hey, I'm a pilot, too.” And I could actually talk and understand their experiences in ways that an outsider couldn't. It was so scary for me to do that. But the second I showed up and started interacting with people I started to see the way communication happens and I'm like, ‘This is happening all the time.'”
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 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.
Pete Davidson is making his horror debut with the latest thriller from “The Purge” creator James DeMonaco. After starring in killer comedy “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” Davidson fully leans into the genre with DeMonaco's “The Home” which is set in a retirement community.
Davidson plays a rebellious twentysomething who is sentenced to community service at the seemingly-quiet nursing home. However, the residents on the fourth floor are strictly off-limits due to their “special care” procedures. As the logline teases, “as his suspicions grow and he digs deeper, he uncovers a chilling secret that puts both the residents' lives and his own in grave danger.” John Glover and Bruce Altman also star. DeMonaco directs from a script he co-wrote with Adam Cantor.
Related Stories Cannes 2025 Films Sold So Far: Janus Films Acquires Hlynur Pálmason's ‘The Love That Remains' Ana de Armas ‘Hated' Singing in Ron Howard's ‘Eden': ‘I Would Rather Do 100 Stunts'
“When I set out to create ‘The Home,' I aimed to capture the spine-chilling eeriness of 70's horror, where suspense simmers and ultimately erupts into glorious chaos,” DeMonaco said. “Joining me is my Staten Island brother, Pete Davidson, who unveils a darker, dramatic side as his character navigates a bizarre group of residents in an old age home. The growing tension culminates in an epic blood-soaked finale, designed to leave audiences gasping, terrified, and cheering. I can't wait for everyone to visit The Home. Cover your eyes, folks.”
Popular on IndieWire
“The Home” is produced by Bill Block and Sebastien K. Lemercier. In addition to “The Home,” Davidson recently has appeared in “Riff Raff” and is set to star in “The Pickup” alongside Eddie Murphy. Davidson also returned to “Saturday Night Live” for the “SNL50” event earlier this year; the actor starred on the sketch series from 2014 to 2022.
“I think I was very lucky to get my own own video [during the ‘SNL50' special],” Davidson told Variety. “There's 1,000 cast members and hundreds that are more popular and did better work than I did while I was there. I was just very grateful to be in a sketch and have a video and even just be invited. It was very surreal to see.”
Davidson added, “I know I was there for almost a decade but even when I came back and hosted, I was like, ‘Wow, I do know all these guys.' I know [creator] Lorne [Michaels], I know most of the cast. It just hits different when you see, like, Meryl Streep doing a sketch. And I also know it was a bunch of people who were in nothing so I'm just very grateful. It was a really surreal moment, and I'm happy that it went well for Lorne and just for the history and the integrity of the institution.” He added that Michaels, who executive produced Davidson's meta Peacock series “Bupkis,” was a father figure to him.
Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will co-release “The Home” in theaters July 25. Check out the trailer 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.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The 'Game of Thrones' author addresses the pressure to finish 'The Winds of Winter' with a rather blunt reaction to some fan assumptions: "I know you've given up on me ..."
By
James Hibberd
Writer-at-Large
George R.R. Martin has some rather candid pushback for fans who are frustrated by the lack of a publication date for The Winds of Winter.
The author has been working on the A Song of Ice and Fire novel for at least 15 years.
By now, Martin has heard all the usual “finish the book, George” reactions, some of which are rather cruel (suggesting the author will perish before he finishes his Game of Thrones saga, which includes both Winds and a final novel, A Dream of Spring).
Related Stories
TV
Lindsay Lohan Says 'Count My Lies' TV Role Is First Time She Doesn't Have a Romantic Interest: "So Refreshing"
Movies
Barry Diller Blasts George Lucas as a "Sanctimonious Hypocrite" in Candid Memoir
On Wednesday, the author discussed last week's Hollywood Reporter news of an adult animated feature film adapting Howard Waldrop's novella, A Dozen Tough Jobs. Martin will produce the project — a take on The Twelve Labors of Hercules — which will be penned by Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-Tep). The film follows Martin's producing short films based on three other Waldrop tales.
Each time Martin announces a non-Winds project, however, some of the online reaction laments the fact that Winds isn't yet finished. So Martin posted a strong preemptive statement along with the film news.
“I know, I know,” Martin wrote. “Some of you will just be pissed off by this, as you are by everything I announce here that is not about Westeros or THE WINDS OF WINTER. You have given up on me, or on the book. I will never finish WINDS, If I do, I will never finish A DREAM OF SPRING. If I do, it won't be any good. I ought to get some other writer to pinch hit for me…I am going to die soon anyway, because I am so old. I lost all interest in A Song of Ice and Fire decades ago. I don't give a shit about writing any longer, I just sit around and spend my money. I edit the Wild Cards books too, but you hate Wild Cards. You may hate everything else I have ever written, the Hugo-winners and Hugo-losers, “A Song for Lya” and DYING OF THE LIGHT, “Sandkings” and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, “This Tower of Ashes” and “The Stone City,” OLD MARS and OLD VENUS and ROGUES and WARRIORS and DANGEROUS WOMEN and all the other anthologies I edited with my friend Gardner Dozois. You don't care about any of those, I know. You don't care about anything but WINDS OF WINTER. You've told me so often enough.”
Continued Martin: “Thing is, I do care about them. And I care about Westeros and WINDS as well. The Starks and Lannisters and Targaryens, Tyrion and Asha, Dany and Daenerys, the dragons and the direwolves, I care about them all. More than you can ever imagine.”
Added Martin about the Waldrop adaptation, “I wish you all could share my excitement at the prospect of this movie.”
The irony is, of course, that we're living in a time of more Thrones-related content than ever — at least on TV. HBO is working on a third season of House of the Dragon (which Martin previously had some blunt thoughts about as well) and the debut season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
By Rosy Cordero
Associate Editor, TV
EXCLUSIVE: A new holiday film is reuniting 90s big screen lovebirds Rachael Leigh Cook (Josie and the Pussycats) and Freddie Prinze Jr. (I Know What You Did Last Summer), more than two decades after starring alongside one another in She's All That.
The duo will also reunite with Jennifer Gibgot, co-producer of She's All That, who will produce on the Fox Entertainment Studios project The Christmas Affair, which is currently in development.
The Christmas Affair follows superstar sportscasters Natalie (Cook) and Gabe (Prinze Jr.), who form an unlikely alliance after their spouses are caught cheating weeks before Christmas. As holiday chaos and media attention mount, they begin to fall for each other. But is this just a rebound…or the start of a real Christmas romance?
Related Stories
News
Sarah Michelle Gellar Remains Mum On 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' & 'Ready Or Not' Sequels: "Can't Even Tell You My Character's Name"
News
Chase Sui Wonders Previews 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Sequel: "Really Fun"
“Fox Entertainment Studios is excited to grant the Christmas wish of countless holiday romcom fans with the long-awaited reunion of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook,” said Hannah Pillemer, Head of Scripted at Fox Entertainment Studios. “This iconic couple stole our hearts over 25 years ago, and we are grateful to work with them on this all-new romantic comedy filled with holiday magic.”
Watch on Deadline
The project will be the first time since She's All That that the pair will appear on screen together; however, they reunited irl at Prinze Jr.'s latest film premiere for The Girl in the Pool last year.
The Christmas Affair will be produced by FOX Entertainment Studios with production services from Choice Films Inc. Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay serve as producers. Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. executive produce, alongside Mattie Fellbaum, David Massey, Larry Grimaldi, Hannah Pillemer, and Fernando Szew. The script is written by Elizabeth Hackett and Hilary Galanoy, who also serve as executive producers.
Cook began her acting career in 1995 when she booked her first audition as a lead in a major film in The Baby-Sitters Club. She went on to star and host other films such as Strike!, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-nominated film The Hi-Line, and Tom and Huck. She is best known for playing Laney Boggs in She's All That opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. and Josie McCoy in Josie and the Pussycats.
Cook was also recently seen in Spirit Halloween, opposite Christopher Lloyd, and starred in Netflix's He's All That, a gender-swapped remake of her 1999 hit romantic comedy, as well as Love Guaranteed opposite Damon Wayans Jr. and Heather Graham for the streamer. In addition, she also starred in and produced the Netflix film A Tourist's Guide to Love, and the Hallmark movies Rescuing Christmas and Sisterhood, Inc. Cook is managed by Mainstay Ent and attorney Michael Fuller.
Prinze Jr. is best known for starring in movies such as She's All That, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, as well as the Scooby-Doo franchise. He will next reprise his role of Ray Bronson in I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, which will also star Jennifer Love Hewitt, will be released by Sony on July 18th.
This past year, Prinze Jr. produced and starred opposite Monica Potter and Kevin Pollak in Dakota Gorman's mystery thriller The Girl in the Pool. Recently, he had a recurring guest voice on Comedy Central's Robot Chicken, Star Wars Rebels, and other animated series and video games. Additionally, he recently starred in the Netflix holiday movie, Christmas with You, opposite Aimee Garcia, which debuted #6 globally on Netflix. Prinze Jr. He is repped by Paradigm, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes, Krintzman.
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 Justin Kroll
Film Editor
EXCLUSIVE: After helping relaunch the Jurassic World franchise at Universal, director Colin Trevorrow has set his sights on his next project revolving around another infamous location featuring creatures not of this world. Trevorrow is set to direct and produce an untitled conspiracy thriller at Paramount Pictures with Maximum Effort also on board to produce, sources tell Deadline.
Trevorrow will produce through his Metronome banner with Ryan Reynolds, George Dewey, Ashley Fox and Johnny Pariseau will produce for the Maximum Effort with Patrick Gooing exec producing.
Set in the late 1980s, the project follows the local Las Vegas TV news journalist who first broke the story of Area 51. Thomas and William Wheeler wrote the script and will executive produce along with Metronome's Annys Hamilton.
Watch on Deadline
After his breakout film Safety Not Guaranteed blew away Sundance audiences in 2012, Trevorrow would go on to land the coveted Jurassic World job shortly after. That film went on to become one of the biggest of all time and helped relaunch the franchise that Trevorrow has had a part in ever since. He would write and exec produce the 2018 sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and return to the director's chair for the most recent pic, 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion, which also cross the billion-dollar marker.
Trevorrow and Maximum Effort are repped by WME. Tom Wheeler is represented by WME and attorney Harris Hartman and Bill Wheeler is repped by Anonymous Content and Gersh.
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.
Longtime HGTV star Egypt Sherrod says she wishes former talk show host Wendy Williams the best amid her ongoing struggles, even though the two famously butted heads years ago, when they were both personalities on New York's WBLS Radio.
On May 26, 2025, Sherrod and Mike Jackson, her husband and “Married To Real Estate” co-star, appeared on “The Morning Hustle” in Atlanta, where they live and work. During the conversation with hosts Lore'l and Kyle Santillian, Sherrod admitted Williams was never her “favorite” person, but that she has been saddened watching her downward spiral.
During the interview on “The Morning Hustle,” Sherrod was asked about her recent disappointment with a New York Times Magazine article, penned by a writer who visited her and Jackson on set but later “trashed” home improvement shows.
“That's what makes our stories worth writing and our book worth reading,” Sherrod said. “‘Cause one day when I write a book, baby, it's going to be good!”
Although Sherrod did write a book about real estate in 2015, which she said “is number one in its genre,” she laughed as she said, “I'm talking about one day, like, when we tell our real stories. I'm talking about all the way back to radio. I'm gonna make it a whole series. It's gonna be on Netflix, y'all!”
“Yeah, there's some stuff in there,” Jackson quipped, and then Lore'l asked her, “Who's the first person you would throw under the bus?”
Shifting to a serious tone, Sherrod replied, “I can't say anything about her because she is not well right now.”
“Okay, I know exactly who you're talking about,” Lore'l said, without mentioning Williams by name. “Obviously that was a public thing that you guys (went through).”
“Yep, and I have kept her lifted in prayer,” Sherrod said. “I would not wish what she's going through on my worst enemy.”
When Lore'l mentioned that Williams seems to be improving and referenced rumors of her hosting a show with former CNN anchor Don Lemon, Sherrod replied, “I hope so. That'll be a great comeback.”
A post shared by The Morning Hustle (@morninghustleshow)
Williams has been under a court-ordered guardianship since 2022, per USA Today, after struggles with alcoholism, the breakup of her marriage, and a reported diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.
But in March 2025, she began making public pleas to be released from the assisted living facility in New York City, including calling in to “The View” to report that she lives on a memory care unit where she stays “in the bedroom the majority of the time” and can't have anyone visit her without permission.
Sherrod told “The Morning Hustle” that even if Williams is released and her health improves, she's not interested in re-hashing their old issues.
“It wasn't so much about her as just the experience around that time,” she said of her years hosting middays at WBLS, on a show that aired right before Williams.
Noting that she'd watched the 2024 documentary on Williams and that her situation “saddens me,” Sherrod said, “There's been many times that I've heard her story and I just want to get, like, everybody to help her. Like, how does that happen?”
Sherrod then added, “Now, she was never my favorite. I wasn't hers. It was one of the historic spars or wars in radio. Like, literally in the lobby of Three Park Avenue. But, again, we grow. Because I think I must've been 22 right back then.”
“So, you know, you live a little, you grow, you learn, you start to understand people's pain and how it shows up,” Sherrod continued, “and how, you know, the hate was never really about me. It was about the battles that she was fighting internally.”
Fans were impressed with Sherrod's restraint and good wishes for Williams, with many commenting on social media that responses on “The Morning Hustle” were “all class.”
One person wrote, “Egypt projects nothing but good vibes and lots of prayers, she knows where all her Blessing comes from🙌🏼”
Sherrod started out in radio at age 18 and spent the next 18 years hosting shows in major markets like Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York and Atlanta. She eventually left the radio industry to focus full-time on real estate and design, telling Authority Magazine in late 2022, “I knew there was an expiry date on my radio career. Men last well into their 60s, but women who got married and had children, you're not the young, hot chick anymore.”
HGTV's “Married to Real Estate” aired its season four finale on May 27, but all episodes can be streamed on HBOMax.
Previous
Next
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The horror thriller from ‘The Purge' creators will get a Lionsgate theatrical release on July 25.
By
Etan Vlessing
Canada Bureau Chief
Pete Davidson discovers the elderly residents and caretakers in a quiet retirement home are keeping chilling secrets that leads to brutal violence in the trailer for Lionsgate's The Home, which dropped on Thursday.
The Saturday Night Live alum plays Max, a young man sentenced to community service and caring for the elderly in the retirement facility, only to come in contact with the off-limits fourth floor, where residents are in need of “special care.”
“There's something very wrong with this place,” an elderly woman tells Max at one point in the trailer. Before long, Max is screaming for help and facing a bizarre medical experiment and bloody violence in the nightmarish retirement home.
Related Stories
Movies
Keanu Reeves Is a Sad Guardian Angel With a Wild Plan in Aziz Ansari's 'Good Fortune' Trailer
TV
Kenan Thompson Teases "A Lot of Change" at 'SNL' Next Season
“Hey man, I'm not going to hurt you,” Max in the teaser tells a resident cowering in a corner, only to turn suddenly and lunge at the young care home assistant.
Popular on THR
Director James DeMonaco in a statement said of the horror thriller: “When I set out to create The Home, I aimed to capture the spine-chilling eeriness of 70's horror, where suspense simmers and ultimately erupts into glorious chaos. Joining me is my Staten Island brother, Pete Davidson, who unveils a darker, dramatic side as his character navigates a bizarre group of residents in an old age home. The growing tension culminates in an epic blood-soaked finale, designed to leave audiences gasping, terrified, and cheering. I can't wait for everyone to visit The Home. Cover your eyes, folks.”
DeMonaco and Adam Canto wrote The Home, with Bill Block and Sebastian K. Lemercier producing.
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.
By
Stephen Rodrick
Three weeks ago, I received an email from Amy Gravitt, the head of comedy at HBO. She was wondering if I wanted to sit down and talk with her and Nathan Fielder about the new season of The Rehearsal.
This was something I very much did not want to do.
I once had lunch with Gravitt in Los Angeles a dozen years ago after she read my book, The Magical Stranger, that dealt with the death of my Navy pilot father, Commander Peter Rodrick, in a crash off the USS Kitty Hawk. To understand his life and death better, I pulled a Fielder and in 2010 embedded in the lives of Commander Hunter “Tupper” Ware and other naval aviators in VAQ-135, my dad's old squadron, as they flew missions “up the avenue” from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. I did not cut corners, deploying with the Black Ravens for a month, passing a rigorous swim survival test and eventually getting up for a flight where I flew upside down over Mount Rainier.
Before comedy, Gravitt had been a naval officer on the USS Constellation, and both her father and brother had been navy pilots. I remembered her saying she learned more about the pilot life from my book than from her own family.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Much has changed since then, both happy and unbearably sad. I had a son in 2013 who happened to be born on Nov. 28, the anniversary of my dad's crash. Amy's brother Michael died by suicide in 2023, reeling from mental health issues that had ended his second career as an airline pilot.
“This was after he flew commercially throughout the pandemic, an incredibly isolating time,” Gravitt tells me. “And, you have to understand that flying is the only thing I ever remember him wanting to do. Since he was a kid, he wanted to go to the Naval Academy and become a navy pilot. My understanding is that there was a day in the fall of 2022 where he was supposed to go in for a simulation, and he couldn't do it, something he'd done a million times before. But, he didn't feel like he could talk to anyone about it. And my parents called me one day out of the blue, and said Michael's not doing well. And nothing could be more shocking. For a short time, we had some of the closest conversations of our relationship, talking about our childhood, talking about everything. I thought he was doing better. And then, in August of 2023, my mom called and said he was gone.”
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
Michael's death happened while Gravitt was overseeing the second season of The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder's cracked-fun-house mirror of performance art where cringe comedy collides with personal improvement. As it happens, the show's second season centers around Fielder's longtime obsession with plane crashes caused by poor cockpit communication, specifically junior pilots being afraid to speak up when their captain was making questionable decisions and flying their aircraft into fatal peril. (In theory, a junior pilot can take control of the airplane if they think their captain is flying dangerously. In reality, this is fraught with career-killing implications.)
After Gravitt's email, I watched the show's first episode. Fielder re-creates multiple dysfunctional conversations between pilot and co-pilot before their plane explodes into mountains, trees, and land. He watches the reenactment impassively from outside the cockpit, typing on a laptop strung over his shoulder as if he were a cigarette girl at a 1970s nightclub. I could feel my heart beating faster and my face went flush. I turned it off and went outside for air.
Years before I started working on my book, an acquaintance in Sen. John McCain's office pushed through the bureaucracy and got me a declassified copy of my dad's accident report. It was 1979 and the hostages had just been taken in Iran, and the Kitty Hawk was steaming toward the Persian Gulf as your standard American show of strength. Fearful of being tracked by Soviet spy trawlers, the carrier's commanding officer instructed all aircraft to turn off their radar altimeter, a device that gives a precise reading of altitude more accurately than the standard barometric altimeter. Being off by 50 or 100 feet isn't a big deal when you're flying at 10,000 feet, but my dad was flying at 200 feet, skimming the ocean at 500 mph. All that was found of his EA-6B Prowler was an oil slick and bits of a white helmet bobbing on a blue sea. The report suggested he caught a wing as he banked into a turn. But that wasn't what changed my world. The report implied that my father was flat-hatting, flying below clearly stated regulations. The fact that he was the squadron commanding officer likely prevented the other three junior officers on the plane from speaking up.
Related Content
‘The Rehearsal' Season 2 Might Be Too Big for Its Own Good
Nathan Fielder's ‘The Rehearsal' Season 2 Sets April Premiere Date
Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder Reuniting for Chess Cheating Scandal Film
‘The Curse' Finale Is Bonkers and Deeply Frustrating
“There was one officer who wouldn't fly with your dad,” a member of his squadron told me in 2012 as we sat in a Newark Airport Hilton Garden Inn on a rainy day as he enjoyed a day off from his FedEx pilot duties. “The guy knew it would probably kill his career, but he felt something in his bones.”
The information altered my vision of my father. Before, he was a Naval Academy whiz kid who, legend has it, tutored Navy quarterback Roger Staubach in calculus and was one of the youngest squadron commanders in the Navy. Now, I had to confront the idea that his recklessness had created four widows and five fatherless children.
I thought I'd said goodbye to all that in my book and had little desire to revisit it. But then I watched more of The Rehearsal. Describing Fielder's sometimes bleak, sometimes hilarious show to the unwatched is like trying to catch water with a net. Let's just say Fielder's re-creation of pilots' struggles includes dozens of actors playing roles from passengers to security personnel in a replica of a terminal at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, three cloned dogs, autistic kids, and Fielder's rebirth as baby Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who landed a US Airways plane on the Hudson without any loss of life.
Fielder's intricate and sometimes inconceivable work reminded me of Brian Wilson's Smile session where the mad genius played his piano in a sandbox. The key difference being Fielder actually finished his masterwork. The chef's kiss in the season finale is the reveal that Fielder spent two years getting his pilot license and was eventually approved to fly a 737. He dodges and ducks a potential autism diagnosis — a much-written theory about Fielder's social interactions that potentially could get him grounded from flying. Eventually, he takes the actors from the show for a two-hour flight.
Gravitt thought my background might lead to an interesting conversation, so I met with Fielder and Gravitt in her HBO office, sitting in the chair where Fielder first pitched the Season Two idea back in 2023. Fielder was dressed L.A. casual in a gray crewneck sweater, athletic pants, and running shoes. He was more forthcoming and less inscrutable than his image, with a few notable exceptions. Still, I did make sure to stagger our trips to the HBO washroom in respect to both his and my neuroses.
The three of us talked for two hours. Here is an edited version of our conversation.
Tell me how this idea started forming in your head.
Fielder: I've had this weird fascination with commercial aviation disasters for almost 20 years. There was a show in Canada that would talk about crash investigations. The thing that really fascinated me at first is that when a crash happens, how much effort the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] or the investigators in whatever country it happens in put into making sure that whatever caused it does not happen again. I started to notice they're really good at fixing these technical things, but the human stuff seems to keep happening over and over again. For years, I would say to friends of mine if I needed a conversation topic, “Hey, did you know that there's this thing that happens in crashes where one person might understand that there's a problem, the other person sees it differently, and the person that maybe has the better path is afraid to vocalize?”
“I've had this weird fascination with commercial aviation disasters for almost 20 years.”
Gravitt: That question became the pitch for this season.
Fielder: When you think about the person flying your plane, you don't want to really think about them. You want to think they're just a perfect person who is fully confident and knows what they're doing in every way.
You don't want to see them at the Hilton bar the night before.
Fielder: Well, you don't want to see them at the Hilton bar, but you also just don't even want to think about the idiosyncrasies they have that aren't even problems, like they make too many jokes. I think the show is about how much of your true self you show and how to compensate for that with other means while having the fear of what others might think of you.
I was intrigued by how enthusiastic the pilots were about participating. In my book, I wrote about Tupper, who was the skipper of my dad's old squadron and how other officers were coming up to him saying, “I can't believe you're letting someone else follow you around. He's going to hold your career in his hands, and you're just going to tell him everything about how lonely you are” and this and that. But I think he felt grateful he had someone he could talk to who was not a licensed therapist, which would go on his permanent record. (The fear of being grounded for a mental health issue is a constant fear of pilots and is explored by Fielder in The Rehearsal.) That seems to be the case with many of the pilots who participate in your show.
Fielder: Going into this, I was like, “Are any pilots going to want to be a part of this, given the tone of the show and what it's like?” But to our surprise, people were so game and really wanted to talk to us. They started texting the producers and sort of being like, “If you want to talk more, I'm around.”
Did you have any interest in learning to fly before?
Fielder: No. Before I even told this idea to Amy, I was like, “How real is this or how prominent is this thing? Is this very rare?” And so, I started learning to fly. I was insecure of the fact that I am just a comedian and no one will think I'm trying to explore this in a real way. And so I wanted to be able to talk to pilots and say, “Hey, I'm a pilot, too.” And I could actually talk and understand their experiences in ways that an outsider couldn't.
It was so scary for me to do that. But the second I showed up and started interacting with people, I started to see the way communication happens and I'm like, “This is happening all the time.” And you're not always in an emergency scenario, so it doesn't matter. But the things that would be bad in an emergency were there.
Give me a specific example about communications issues from your flying experience.
Fielder: I can get paranoid that people aren't being honest with me. So, if I sense that from someone, I'll be like, “Tell me.” I'll try to create an environment that invites honest feedback. Because that's my biggest fear is if someone's upset or there's something that needs to be talked about and they're not sharing that. [In the series finale, Fielder repeatedly insists his co-pilot tell him everything he is feeling as he flies a 737.]
Then I had a scenario that was with an instructor I only flew with once, who's not featured in the show. After you get your private pilot's license, there's something called an instrument rating. And that's where you learn to fly in cloud environments. But you have to be on a very specific flight plan to go into clouds. You can't just go into clouds by yourself. You need to be on an instrument flight plan. This flight, we weren't on an instrument flight plan, and we were too close to the clouds.
And I was like, “Should we be this close?” And he was like, “Well, that's not really a cloud.” And I was like, “I think it is a cloud.” And he's like, “No, no. I can see through to the other side, so it means that it's not really a cloud.” And I was OK, because he knows more than me and I trusted him.
And so, we flew into the cloud and we didn't come out and we couldn't see. And I was like, “I think this is a cloud.” And he's like, “We'll pop out soon, don't worry.” And then another 10 seconds passed and we didn't. And I'm looking at the instruments to make sure, because you can spin out and things can happen. And I was panicking because I knew how wrong it was.
And these things don't get talked about. And I didn't tell anyone this. But what could I have done? I had my private pilot's license, so I could have said, “I'm uncomfortable with this. I'm taking over the controls,” but I sort of yielded to his authority. And I thought, maybe this guy just made a mistake and he had a bad day. But he didn't acknowledge after that, “Oh, that was wrong. I'm so sorry.” So I was just like, “Ugh.” But I didn't say anything.
I mean I literally am doing a show on this thing, and I let the guy fly me into a cloud and my life is on the line, and I didn't stop it. Everything was happening that I knew was happening, but the pressure of that moment had me questioning my own —
I had that experience in my book, not just with my dad's crash but with Hunter, the skipper of the squadron I was writing about. The squadron was flying off the USS Nimitz after seven months to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island where they were based. It's a big deal. You do a flyover of the base before you land and your kids and your parents, everyone's there. It was an extra big deal for Hunter because it was his last big flight before he got booted up to a desk job. But he was sick as a dog. He had a 102 fever and was puking before he got on the airplane. He landed safely. Everything was fine, but every junior officer I talked to was like, there is no way in hell he should have been flying. But they just felt like they couldn't speak up.
Gravitt: Nathan, would you speak up now?
“I literally am doing a show on this thing, and I let the guy fly me into a cloud and my life is on the line, and I didn't stop it. “
Fielder: I don't know. If I'm still junior to the other pilot, I think I would still defer.
When did you guys have your first conversation about basing the second season around pilots?
Fielder: Amy called me up before Season One had finished airing, and she said, “We're going to announce a second season.” And I was like, “I don't have an idea. Should we wait?” And she said, “You'll figure it out.” For a while, I thought about another thing. Can we go off-the-record? [Fielder tells me of his other idea that may still be in play for a future season. Just the concept is appropriately surreal and astounding.]
Fielder: Months passed because I shot this other show [The Curse with Emma Stone] in between. So my mind was off it for a sec. Then in February of 2023, I came to Amy, and I've been flying for a month and a half at this point. At that point, I couldn't land the plane. I was still just learning how to turn the plane probably. But I'd been recording some of my lessons just because I knew, “Oh, if we do this, this will be interesting.”
And I showed her some of the footage of me trying to understand this world. And I thought it was really interesting, because here I am, I'm trying my best, and safety is at stake, and I'm really trying here, and I'm overwhelmed in these circumstances because it wasn't a natural thing for me.
Are you immediately having conversations about how we can do this in a meaningful way, but also funny?
Gravitt: Well, the funny, I don't worry about.
Fielder: You're saying this isn't funny enough right now?
No, absolutely not.
Gravitt: No, on the show.
Fielder: Oh! I thought you were saying let's pause the interview. And I was like, “Yes, you're right. This is not funny enough.” Anyway I said, “Did you know that the number one cause of commercial aviation crashes is this [communications]?” The number one contributing factor — it's not the sole cause, but it's a contributing factor. And Amy was like, “I didn't know that. That's interesting.”
I told Amy that no one wants to think about what's going on with pilots. And Amy was like, “You know, I'm from a family of pilots.”
Did you know that at the time?
Fielder: I did know, but I sort of forgot.
Gravitt: So my dad was a Navy fighter pilot and he flew F-4s and A-4s, and was commanding officer of a reserve squadron in Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. And my brother then went on to go to the Naval Academy and fly C-2s and C-9s in the Navy. And when it came time for me to go to school, I decided that I wanted to go to Duke and, in order to do that, I applied for an ROTC scholarship and joined Navy ROTC at Duke. And when I graduated, I did not become a Navy pilot, but I joined the Supply Corps and then was stationed on an aircraft carrier at the USS Constellation down in San Diego and was on a deployment with your friend Hunter.
Did your father or later your brother talk about, “Oh, I had a hairy night coming back to the carrier,” or was it not really talked about?
Gravitt: I never heard those stories.
Nathan, I've enjoyed your work, but when I heard what the subject of this season was, I couldn't imagine how it could be funny.
Fielder: I totally get that. And yeah, the show opens with recreations of real people who died in crashes. And as you put these things together and as you are shaping the story, in the planning stages or in the edit, you sort of think, “OK, this is heavy. There haven't been any jokes.” That is my insecurity. So if I'm watching something for long enough and I'm like, “This isn't that funny,” I feel like I need to say it out loud. [Fielder does this about 10 minutes into the first episode.]
I don't want to just do a serious thing because that's not really what I do best. But every time you go into a new thing, there's a huge chance it's going to go so badly and that you won't get the tone right. Because the tone always ends up being different than I picture it. You can sort of nudge the tone a little or juxtapose things in a different order, but it sort of feels how it feels, and you have to be like, I guess this is what it is.
Because my dad was a navy pilot, I'm always early to things. Just before we met, I was sitting down in my car in the garage looking at a Reddit about the show and some people were writing, “Listen, he doesn't care about the issue. It's just a launching point for him to do the show.” And the other half were like, “No, no, man, he did all this research.”
Fielder: Can I say something quickly?
Absolutely.
Fielder: Just because this has been in my head that I've been, for just a few minutes, I've been like, “I need to mention this.” But I know I talked about this flight instructor with the cloud. The people who trained me to fly were really good, and all my instructors were very, very, very good. Even though this guy was good in some ways, I'm not going to fly with him again. And that incident doesn't reflect on the people who taught me.
That will be conveyed.
Fielder: OK, so I'm doing the pilot training and I witness these communications in the cockpit, so I'm like, this exists and it exists at every level and it exists in every industry. At the beginning I was like, “Oh, maybe we will look into other industries, too.” But I feel like if you take any two random people and make them talk, it will be the most uncomfortable thing you've ever witnessed. I worked on Canadian Idol and I actually used to do that. I'd pair up two contestants and I'd put a camera on them. I'd be like, “OK, just talk.” They never put it in the show, but to me it was really funny because they just couldn't.
But you wanted people to take you seriously, right? A major thread of the season is just trying to get Congress to hold a hearing on these issues.
Fielder: Well, I want to keep making jokes while being taken somewhat seriously. When we were putting this together, that was an uphill battle, a real problem to overcome for me. And I thought, “Well, this is actually a challenge because of how I'm viewed, so this will be interesting.”
The first episode features the recreation by actors of actual communication or lack of communication between the pilot and his junior officer that led to these disasters. I wonder if there was one in particular that really stood out and left you thinking, “Wow, I can see why this happened.”
Fielder: The one where the guy created a dynamic of, “Oh, I want it to have a jokey vibe.”
[The captain tells the co-pilot, “You gotta have fun,” and how he can't wait to get a Philly cheesesteak. Visibility drops and the co-pilot says he “can't see shit.” The captain replies, “Because you're a bitch.” The plane crashes seconds later.]
I've been in conversations with people like that, where I feel like they want to have it more jokey, and I'm intimidated because I can't always be like that. Especially when I was younger, I felt a pressure to not want to be a stick in the mud. All the interactions feel like they aren't specific to cockpits and flying. When someone is like, “Let's do that, let's joke,” they are setting the tone and the tone can be very oppressive to an environment.
I was just in Japan, and it's a totally different atmosphere there based on how everyone communicates. And you just sort of adapt to what's around you. I think everyone sort of does it.
Sure.
Fielder: Anyways. I'm not doing good with this interview, am I?
No, you're fine.
Fielder: OK. Am I doing OK?
No, this is good. Obviously the final episode when you disclose you're licensed to fly 737s is quite the shock.
Fielder: Initially I thought being a pilot was going to be more part of it, not just the end. We have a lot of [footage of] me talking to pilots throughout about my experience as a pilot, and we made a choice in the edit to take those interactions out. And basically we thought, it's going to be better story-wise to leave this for the end.
When did you decide to fly the 737 with passengers as part of the show?
Fielder: I wanted to get to a place with my license where I felt like I understood things. Because if you just take a couple lessons, you just don't know enough. If you get a commercial pilot's license, you can't fly the big planes, but you can fly. I wanted to know enough to be able to understand them, because a lot of these pilots are right after that level.
They're young.
Fielder: They're young, and they have to get a lot of hours. But when you have to build hours to get to the 1,500 hours that you need to fly for an airline, a lot of people are flying alone — if you're in a small plane, you only need one pilot. So a lot of flying has no interaction component.
You go right from the simulator to flying a plane with passengers and the social aspect becomes so important. It's almost like Covid or something where people forget how to interact.
One of the themes of the show is that pilots are closed off and won't talk about their problems, whether for personal or professional reasons. Amy, you told me your brother had just reached a point psychologically where he couldn't get into the simulator anymore and that he stopped flying. He took his own life in 2023. I can't imagine dealing with this subject right after losing your brother. Did you ever feel like, “I give the show my blessing, but I just can't handle the subject matter?”
Gravitt: I never thought about not doing the show. I do remember when we went to dinner a couple months after he died, we were able to talk about what had happened and how it related to the show, and we agreed that we would take it as it came.
Fielder: When Amy told me about her brother, I remember saying to her, “We don't have to do this season if you don't want to.” And I was a little joking, but not fully joking.
Gravitt: I feel like not doing this season would have been doubling down on everything we're talking about and the conversations that people aren't having. Do I think that if my brother had seen this season of the show that he would still be alive? No. But it's important.
Tell me what it was like watching Episode Three which will always be remembered for the way that Nathan inhabits Sully Sullenberger's life but is also about pilots shutting down and not dealing with their mental issues.
Gravitt: It was a year and a half after losing Michael, and I watched it and sobbed. I had a lot of the reactions everybody else did to the big set pieces of the Sully story, but it was so grounded in a tragic experience of mine that ultimately, I don't even necessarily think of that as much as I do the therapist's office at the end, and pilots going in. [The episode features a heart-wrenching montage of lonely pilots talking to Fielder's staff about their lives, desperate to communicate their problems as long as it is out of the standard mental health community.]
I also feel a lot of relief for them when I watch it. It's that simultaneous feeling of relief for the pilots who are able to talk to Nathan, and sadness, because one of the things that I think about when I think about my brother in the end was how alone he felt.
Nathan, when you were reading Sullenberger's book were you struck by how much he dismissed any trouble he was having in his life?
Fielder: Not right away because at first it was just sort of like, “OK, yes, this is a pilot who did the right thing in terms of trying to open up the channels of communication. This is interesting. What would it look like if you took on his personality?” And so you're reading the book to understand living his life in chronological order. But then we started talking about, well, why is he including these moments? Because some were so odd, like putting rocks in his sister's mouth. I was like, “Why is this in a book?” And he would have a way of talking about a story after it happened, if it was sort of a bad thing, he would try to be like, “Yeah, it was bad, but it really wasn't that bad.” And he'd try to undercut the actual drama of his life in this interesting way.
Gravitt: He's creating order in his brain.
Fielder: It made us look into, well, what is he trying to avoid here? We've talked to these other pilots who are saying this is a big issue with pilots — they can't talk about these things.
Gravitt: Stephen, it makes sense to me, though, how you were talking about Hunter being willing to talk to you. It's very public, but somehow it's safer than talking to somebody in your inner circle or a peer.
Nathan, I think this is important because of where the episode ends up.
OK, on to some of the most remarkable filmmaking that I've ever seen. Did you fear that the breastfeeding scene where the mother is a giant puppet and you're wearing a diaper as Baby Sully might overwhelm everything else?
Fielder: Yeah, I mean everything could have been a huge disaster. With every joke you're like, is this too dumb or is it not? And sometimes it's not dumb enough. You can make that mistake too, where it's too subtle and people don't even understand what you're trying to do or something. And this is impossible to convey and people might not believe me, but when that puppet was holding me, I did feel like a mom was holding me. It was cozy. And you feel a big hand patting you. And these visual illusions for me, being in this set, work better in weird ways than you would think. You're doing these exact recreations, and it does something to the tone of the whole thing that I can't quite explain. There's a point, too, where if you try hard at something, people are like, “Well, this is dumb.” But then if you try even harder, then people are just like, “I can't even judge. I just need to watch because of the effort that's put in.”
“With every joke you're like, is this too dumb or is it not? And sometimes it's not dumb enough. “
The one thing that I want to know just as a viewer, because it seems so real at the moment, was the milk coming out too fast? Is that why you said “Fuck”? I mean, were you literally choking? Or was that a line?
Fielder: No, I didn't know how that was going to go. We had a rig that they showed me how it was going to work. And I was like, “Let's just do it.” And then we just did it, but I didn't think through enough to “OK, I have no control over stopping this breast.” So when I would put my mouth over it, it was coming in faster than I could swallow. So it just came out too fast, but I was like, I don't know, maybe this is what it's like for a baby. But it was oat milk.
This season, you play off the fact that people have theorized that you might be autistic. Was that a means to an end, or did you feel comfortable doing that? (In The Rehearsal, Fielder tries to get a congressional hearing on pilot communication. When he realizes a key congressman is on both on the aviation safety committee and a member of the Autism Caucus, Fielder becomes a member of an autism advisory board. Fielder gets a brain MRI but doesn't receive the results until after the 737 flight and, when he does get them, he clicks off a voicemail message before getting any details.)
Fielder: It felt like an interesting way to describe what might be happening as it relates to the acting stuff, the ability to be your true self or not. And that question of sincerity, or how to appear sincere, and how people tend to judge others, and what they judge others based on. And I think pilots are doing that and I think a lot of people are doing that.
And these things are out of your control. They're not things you can practice for. These are just parts of who you are. You could try to be like, “No, I'm not having that thought. I'm not having that bad thought.” I don't know what the answer is really, but going through that experience and going as far as I did with the pilot stuff, I feel it. I understand it in a way where it's a powerful force. And it seems to be directly related to maybe what pilots are experiencing.
But are you trying to say anything personally about yourself?
Fielder: I'm trying to … I don't know.
OK. That's fine. You've been very forthcoming. If we hit on a stumper, that's OK.
Gravitt: There was a real reaction from the autism community to the first season of the show.
Fielder: The first season of the show, there were all these articles. It's interesting to read that and see that. I sometimes find it amusing. Whenever people tell me about how I am, I think it's interesting. People are evaluating me through a TV show that's edited. And as much as you try to control things about yourself and your image, certain things seep through that you can't control. But you're also trying to control things with how you shape a story and all that.
Amy, what was your reaction when you watched cuts from the show?
Gravitt: When I met Nathan, never in a million years did I think that he would zero in on this subject, and then at the same time, I would lose my brother to suicide based on a lot of the conversations that he's tapping into. I know how important it was to him when I sat in the edit bay and watched them.
Fielder: I was so nervous to send the episodes to Amy, especially number three and number six, because I know what she has gone through, and I'm sensitive that this has converged in some way. My biggest fear would've been to violate that trust or let her down. And so it was a big relief when she said, “It's really good, it's really good,” after she watched the final cut.
Gravitt: I was sobbing. To sit and watch that and both be so overwhelmed because there are small moments in it that make me think of my brother, but also being proud of the work that he's done and the years he put in. I don't mean to sound like I'm a parent, but I feel that way in this situation.
Fielder: We're trying to make the person watching a TV screen and probably on their phone at the same time feel something. And if you can do any of that, that feels like a win these days.
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
Nikki McCann Ramirez
Elon Musk's time in the Trump administration was short, but by no means merciful. As the 130 days of Musk's “special employee” status in the White House expire, the world's richest man is leaving the government with shattered public approval, furious investors, and a to-go bag of grift and corruption to ensure the whole ordeal was worth his time.
On Wednesday night, Musk wrote on X: “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending.”
“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk added.
The full legacy of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its role in the early days of Trump's second administration will likely take years to articulate in full. As of now, what is clear is that Musk overpromised, under delivered, and executed his mandate to “reduce wasteful spending” in such a manner that the cost of the resulting chaos, backtracking, lawsuits, and downstream damage may end up wiping out any theoretical gains made by the “department.”
Popular on Rolling Stone
Even harder to pinpoint will be the extent of Musk's personal and corporate opportunism while elbow deep in the viscera of the federal government. Excluding English kings, it's hard to conceive of any figure in the history of American governance who was granted such wide-reaching, unchecked, and unaccountable power to meddle with the mandates of elected representatives. Despite acting as a superseding Cabinet official — to the point where the president was forced to clarify that members of his Cabinet did actually have authority over their agencies — as a Special Government Employee (SGE), Musk was spared the rigors of a confirmation hearing.
While some SGEs are required to submit public financial disclosures, Musk's was filed confidentially. This despite his known financial relationships with the Trump campaign, his foreign business relationships, and his various disputes with government oversight agencies that interact with his companies.
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
When asked how the administration would handle any potential conflicts of interest, the White House claimed that Musk would self-police should any arise.
He did not.
In 130 days, Musk's team at DOGE fired a slew of employees at federal departments and agencies investigating his companies — including Tesla, Neuralink, and SpaceX — on a variety of issues, including safety violations, employee lawsuits, violations of securities laws, and medical research malpractice.
Musk has also worked to intertwine the work of various federal agencies with the products produced by his companies. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that DOGE had been using a customized version of Musk's AI bot “Grok” to analyze government data. In March, the Federal Aviation Administration began approving the use of Starlink on commercial aircraft, and reports emerged claiming the FAA was considering cancelling a $2 billion dollar contract with Verizon in favor of the Musk-owned company. In one of the most unforgettable moments of the new administration, Trump staged an improvised Tesla showroom in front of the White House and vamped like a used car salesman when Musk's government antics began to tank the stock price of his electric vehicle company.
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
The billionaire is leaving government not only because the time he can legally spend as a SGE has expired, but because the leadership of his flagship companies — Tesla and SpaceX — have seemingly demanded he stop using his “chainsaw for bureaucracy” to destroy their public image and refocus his attention on their needs.
As Musk slithers away from his stint as the effective co-president of the nation, his social media pontification about the need for “transparency” in government rings hollower than ever. The billionaire has installed a web of loyalists throughout the federal government that will continue to work on his behalf even as he attempts to lay low for the sake of his tech empire, and there is still no oversight mechanism to ensure public accountability. It may have only been 130 days, but Musk will likely go down in history as one of the most destructive unelected bureaucrats in American history.
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.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
To honor the 10th anniversary of the 11-time Tony-winning musical, a special anniversary performance will take place on the biggest night in Broadway with Jonathan Groff, Ariana DeBose and more.
By
Lexi Carson
History has its eye on you, Hamilton cast.
To honor the Broadway show's 10th anniversary this year, the original cast of the Tony-winning production, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the book, music, lyrics and starred in the show, will reunite at the Tony Awards for a special anniversary performance on June 8.
Fellow castmembers participating in the performance include Jonathan Groff, Ariana DeBose, Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Alysha Deslorieux, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Christopher Jackson, Thayne Jasperson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Phillipa Soo, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene.
Related Stories
Lifestyle
Sadie Sink on Her First Tony Nomination, Shaking Off 'Stranger Things' Expectations
Lifestyle
Darren Criss, Renée Elise Goldsberry Set to Host Tony Awards Preshow
The show, which is about the rise and fall of founding father on the 10 dollar bill, Alexander Hamilton and has a hip-hop twist on the music, debuted on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2015. It won 11 Tonys at the 2026 ceremony, including best musical.
It went on to nab a Grammy, Olivier award, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, citation from the Kennedy Center Honors and the original Broadway cast recording became the first to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. The show is currently still playing on Broadway.
Before the Tony Awards begin airing, a pre-show will be hosted by first-time Tony nominee Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry, available to stream on Pluto TV at 6:40-8 p.m. ET/3:40-5 p.m. PT. Immediately after, the award show starts and is hosted by Tony winner and Wicked star Cynthia Erivo. The 78th annual Tony Awards will broadcast on CBS from 8-11 p.m. on June 8.
See the full list of Tony nominations here.
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 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.
Five months after late auteur David Lynch died at age 78, the filmmaker's personal collections will be put up for auction by his estate. Lynch suddenly passed January 17, 2025.
Now, Lynch fans can purchase part of the late director's holdings with the David Lynch Collection auction through Julien's. The auction begins June 18 at 10 a.m. PST in Los Angeles, with highlights including Lynch's personal props from his past projects, unfinished screenplays, and a personalized director's chair. Bids are already rolling in before the auction actually opens: “Mulholland Drive” prop menus for Winkie's Sunset Blvd, for example, are listed at $2,250, with an annotated script for Lynch's shelved film “Ronnie Rocket: The Absurd Mystery of the Strange Forces of Existence” tracking to go for more than $2,500.
Related Stories Shooting ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow' as an Aspect Ratio Shifting, 35mm Jungian Fever Dream Benicio del Toro Says That ‘One Battle After Another' Is Paul Thomas Anderson ‘at His Best'
A collection of six signed posters, including one for Lynch's final film “Inland Empire” and three for “Lost Highway,” are also among the auction items. Another coveted listing is no doubt the second draft of the pilot episode script for “Twin Peaks,” originally titled “Northwest Passage.” The script is dated January 23, 1988 and has “Northwest Passage” crossed out on the title page, with “Twin Peaks” written over it. A “Twin Peaks” crew gift is also for grabs: The flannel-lined denim LL Bean shirt in a men's size medium has the words “Twin Peaks '90” on the chest.
After Lynch's passing, his frequent collaborator Naomi Watts told the Los Angeles Times that she and Laura Dern were ready to collaborate again with Lynch in late November 2024. “We had a beautiful lunch at his house,” Watts said of herself, Lynch, and Dern. “I knew he'd been unwell but he was in great spirits. He wanted to go back to work — Laura and I were like, ‘You can do it! You could work from the trailer.' He was not, in any way, done. I could see the creative spirit alive in him.”
“It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch,” his family wrote on an official Facebook page. “There's a big hole in the world now that he's no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.'”
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.
Actor Andrew McCarthy, best known for his role in the 1986 classic “Pretty in Pink” and as a familiar face in Hallmark's Christmas films, offered fans a rare glimpse into his personal life this week by sharing a heartfelt prom night moment with his daughter, Willow.
The 18-year-old Broadway performer attended her senior prom looking radiant in a high-neck, floor-length blue gown, accessorized with a matching shawl and a white corsage. McCarthy, casually dressed in jeans and a gray button-down, proudly posed beside his daughter in the family's kitchen.
Sharing the image on both his Facebook and Instagram accounts, the actor joked, “My daughter Willow went to her prom tonight. She did not wear pink.” The caption was a playful reference to his beloved 1986 film, where he played the role of popular heartthrob Blane McDonough.
Fans flooded the post with well-wishes and compliments, celebrating both Willow's style and the sweet father-daughter bond. McCarthy later reshared the photo on his Instagram Stories with the caption, “Prom night, no pink,” adding another humorous nod to his iconic movie past.
Andrew McCarthy is a proud father of three: sons Sam and Rowan, and daughter Willow. While Rowan appears to shy away from the spotlight, Sam and Willow have clearly inherited their father's passion for acting.
His oldest son, Sam, 23, is a working actor, best known for playing Charlie in the Netflix series “Dead to Me.” Sam has also appeared in projects like “Goosebumps” and “Condor,” telling Flaunt magazine, “As I got older, I felt like I was drawn to acting, and would talk about being an actor ‘someday.'”
Willow, following in her father's footsteps, has already made a name for herself on Broadway. In 2013, she took on the lead role of Matilda Wormwood in “Matilda: The Musical,” and later performed in productions of “1984” and “The Ferryman.” Most recently, she reunited with fellow former Matildas for a special “Matildapalooza” concert at New York City's 54 Below, where they performed favorite Broadway numbers.
McCarthy shares Willow and Rowan, 11, with his wife, Dolores Rice. His son Sam is from his previous marriage to Carol Schneider. The actor's social media posts are rare windows into his family life, and fans were especially delighted to see the proud father celebrate this milestone moment with Willow.
Previous
Next
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
Hugh Jackman's childhood friend shared a candid perspective on the actor's life post-divorce. These remarks come after recent emotional comments made by Jackman's ex-wife, Deborra-Lee Furness.
Gus Worland — a beloved Australian radio and TV personality who's known Jackman since kindergarten — opened up on the Ben Fordham Live radio show on Thursday, May 29.
He was asked about Furness' recent comments describing her 27-year marriage to Jackman as “a traumatic journey of betrayal.”
Worland acknowledged the emotional weight of the last few years, saying, “It's not just that statement, but just the last couple of years have been difficult.” He added, “No one wants anyone to go through what they've been through, and, of course, they go through everything publicly because of the type of people and the fame that they have.”
Worland has stood by his longtime friend without judgment. “One thing that I've been really strict on, or disciplined on … is to let them do what they've had to do,” he said. (Listen to the podcast here.)
A post shared by Gus Worland (@gusworland)
He also shared that he had recently spent time with Jackman in New York. “I was over in New York with [Jackman] just last month, and he's fine. He is going along well. He's moving on with his life and I hope that Deb does as well.”
Worland and Jackman are more than friends — they're chosen family. As godparents to each other's firstborn children, Worland expressed his ongoing concern for Jackman and Furness' kids: “I just go to the kids and go, ‘What can we do to make sure that they're going to get through this as well as possible?'”
Jackman and Furness, who share sons Oscar, 25, and Louis, 19, tied the knot in 1996 and announced their separation in September 2023.
Furness, who filed for divorce on May 23, shared her reflections in a heartfelt statement, which was first published by the Daily Mail and shared with PEOPLE.
She called the separation “a profound wound that cuts deep,” but emphasized her faith and personal growth. “However, I believe in a higher power and that God/the universe, whatever you relate to as your guidance, is always working FOR us,” she wrote. “This belief has helped me navigate the breakdown of an almost three-decade marriage.”
Furness shared that the experience has brought wisdom and inner strength: “Even when we are presented with apparent adversity, it is leading us to our greatest good, our true purpose. It can hurt, but in the long run, returning to yourself and living within your own integrity, values and boundaries is liberation and freedom.”
She concluded on a spiritual note: “We are all on our individual journeys and I believe that the relationships in our lives are not random… I remain grateful.”
In recent months, Jackman has been seen publicly with his former “Music Man” co-star Sutton Foster, with whom he's been romantically linked since January 2025.
Previous
Next
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
By Denise Petski
Senior Managing Editor
We're getting a first look at Prime Video‘s The Terminal List: Dark Wolf prequel series, starring Taylor Kitsch and Chris Pratt. The streamer released several first-look photos of the action-drama, which you can view above and below, and announced it will premiere August 27, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. It will launch with the first three episodes, followed by new episodes weekly, leading up to the season finale on Wednesday, September 24.Co-created by The Terminal List author Jack Carr, and Season 1 creator-showrunner David DiGilio, the origin series follows Ben Edwards (Kitsch) throughout his journey from the Navy SEALs to the clandestine side of CIA Special Operations, exploring the darker side of warfare and the human cost that comes with it. Pratt reprises his role as James Reece.
Related Stories
News
Prime Video Launches Marketing Campaign Showcasing Originals With Female Creators & Stars
News
Jensen Ackles & Eric Dane Race To Prevent "Chernobyl-Level Event" In L.A. In First 'Countdown' Trailer
Authenticity is a prime objective of the series, from the depiction of military operations and intelligence work to the emotional and psychological realities of service. With military veterans contributing as writers, actors, on-set technical advisors, and executive producers, the series is committed to portraying the mindset, brotherhood, and moral complexity of Special Operations with respect and realism, per Prime Video.
Watch on Deadline
Additional cast includes Tom Hopper as Raife Haistings, Robert Wisdom as Jed Haverford, Luke Hemsworth as Jules Landry, Dar Salim as Mohammed Farooq, Rona-Lee Shimon as Eliza Perash, Shiraz Tzarfati as Tal Varon and Jared Shaw as Ernest ‘Boozer' Vickers.
The series is executive produced by Kitsch alongside Pratt through Indivisible Productions, writer and showrunner DiGilio, Carr, Antoine Fuqua and Kat Samick through Hill District Media, former Army Ranger and writer Max Adams, and former Navy SEAL, writer, and technical advisor Jared Shaw, as well as Emmy-winning (Shōgun) pilot director Frederick E.O. Toye. The series is produced by Amazon MGM Studios and MRC/Civic Center Media.
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.
“There's a dignity to this,” John Mulaney said in the penultimate episode of his talk show, “Everybody's Live,” while preparing to fight three 14-year-olds live on Netflix.
Time will tell if there is dignity to be found in what occurred during the show's teen-themed finale, but for the past month, Mulaney promised the world that he would fight three teenagers, and no one can say that he didn't. Ben, Jacob, and Adarsh (last names withheld for legal reasons) could not have been more serious about the task at hand, and together they achieved something that should strike fear into the hearts of Hollywood.
“The worst part of fighting is knowing you gotta fight,” said guest Adam Sandler, and Mulaney quickly agreed, sharing that he was already thinking about the confrontation which would not occur for close to an hour. Indeed, for the rest of the episode, when there was even the slightest breath in conversation, viewers may have glimpsed a darkness in Mulaney's eyes, as if part of him was somewhere else… (announcer Richard Kind's lower third was changed to “soon-to-be murder witness”).
Related Stories To Lead ‘Adolescence,' Only a ‘Magician' Like Rising Star Owen Cooper Would Do ‘Adolescence' Breakout Owen Cooper Worried About Learning His Lines — Then He Improvised the Hit Show's Most Talked-About Moment
Ben, 5'8″, 140 lbs.; thinks beating up John Mulaney would help his self esteem and popularity and said, “Comin' for you, John” with a cool point to camera.
Jacob 5'6,” 226 lbs.; extremely confident and believes he is “simply better” than John.
Adarsh, 5'6″, 109 lbs.; trained in taekwondo, wants to prove his haters wrong.
A week prior to the fight, Mulaney's writers arranged for him to be attacked by three stunt women approximately the size of young boys (but still on average not as big as his opponents). The trio jumped onto his arms and back and eventually dragged him down while shouting abuse like “pussy-ass bitch!” Later, Mulaney claimed to have been emboldened by the simulation, that he felt in control as he went down.
“When you're fighting you're not thinking about a thousand things; you're only thinking about one thing,” he said. Survival.
At the top of the show, Mulaney announced that he would fight three teens “reputationally speaking.” Losing the fight would be a source of mass humiliation for his opponents, dooming their social standing while Mulaney himself can brush off a loss and continue his career unscathed (starting with the Emmys campaign for “Everybody's Live”).
Stand-up comedy — and performance in general — makes the performer extremely vulnerable, to embarrassment as much as criticism or financial trouble. “I feel like I've been embarrassed enough on a large scale. I'm not that embarrassed by anything like this anymore,” he said.
But he had everything to lose, and they had nothing.
“John, I came here to warn you not to fight those three 14-year old boys,” his future self (Peter Gallagher) warned in the May 22 episode, calling it “the biggest mistake of our lives.” “Things get very, very bad for us when that happens.”
No punching, no kicking, no biting, no gauging, no blood. Headlocks were legal only if an arm could lock around the head. If any one boy tapped out, Mulaney would win — a rule that prompted him to look directly into the eyes of his smallest opponent, Adarsh. Mulaney is a full-time performer, so the boys had to steer clear of his face out of respect — and not hit him in the balls out of, well, safety. As he told the audience at an FYC event in Los Angeles recently, this was meant to be a “brawl” — a messy pile-on with probably a lot of pulling at shirts and hair, but maybe not any long-term damage.
Ahead of the fight, we gathered IndieWire's “Everybody's Live” experts to weigh in, who were universally concerned about Mulaney's safety. Senior Writer Proma Khosla agreed that it would be a pile on, while TV Critic Ben Travers postulated that the teens might form an actual attack plan. “They could be savage, brutal combatants who push the agreed-upon rules to their breaking point, or they could be goofballs who come in with one or two good ideas,” he wrote, probably from a plane somewhere. Editorial Director Kate Erbland shared a harrowing anecdote about the “vicious tendencies of pubescent boys” while stating point blank that the trio would best Mulaney, while Craft Editor Sarah Shachat offered this statement as a dignified abstention:
“Man, the more time passes, the more I come to believe ‘Sorry To Bother You' wasn't weird enough.”
Onward!
As Travers predicted, the fight itself was not the point of all this: It was the buildup, the debates, the speculation.
Kind gave Mulaney a lukewarm introduction before welcoming “the little fellas you came to see!” Ben, Jacob, and Adarsh entered the studio like rock stars, as the audience stood and cheered, greeted them with posters, and Adam Sandler hyped them up over the mic. Mulaney and the boys removed any jewelry ceremonially before entering the ring. All combatants were barefoot and wearing suits, perhaps as a final tribute to Mulaney's signature stage look (the boys also had on headgear, to protect their developing brains).
Surprisingly, Mulaney's first move was to run directly at Jacob, his largest opponent. This caused confusion, but freed up Adarsh to attack him from behind and Ben to immediately grab one of Mulaney's legs. This is the key flaw in Mulaney's pile-on plan; to control when you go down, you must first be up. He managed to wriggle out of Ben's grasp while still held by the other two as the four of them rotated around the ring.
There was quite a bit of pushing — given the illegality of most other moves — and a few moments where you can see the boys hold themselves back from hits. Mulaney noted earlier that things happen in the throes of adrenaline, and even with rules in place they were all fighting primal instinct.
After consistently going for Mulaney's legs, Ben succeeded — he had a plan! — and the trio was able to bring down their elder-millennial opponent, who spent a few seconds trying to crawl out of this predicament before realizing it was impossible. Mulaney tapped out to raucous applause before a final musical performance by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Congrats, teens!
“Everybody's Live with John Mulaney” is now streaming on Netflix.
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.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Patrick Wachsberger's 193 unveils deals for Lynne Ramsay's 'Die My Love,' Colman Domingo's directorial debut 'Scandalous!,' 'The Surgeon,' and the reimagination of 'The Toxic Avenger.'
By
Georg Szalai
Global Business Editor
Movies starring the likes of Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, Michelle Yeoh as well as Peter Dinklage have sold wide during the recently closed Cannes Film Festival market.
193, the film production and global sales entity led by industry veteran Patrick Wachsberger which is a joint venture with Legendary Entertainment, said on Thursday that it sold four marquee films to various territories.
The movies are the Lynne Ramsay-directed Cannes competition title and psychological thriller Die My Love, starring Lawrence and Pattinson, upcoming historical drama Scandalous!, Colman Domingo's directorial debut, starring Sweeney and David Jonsson, action film The Surgeon with Yeoh, written and directed by Roshan Sethi, as well as dark comedy The Toxic Avenger, a reimagining of the 1984 Troma Entertainment cult classic of the same name with an all-star cast including Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Taylour Paige, and Jacob Tremblay. Toxic Avenger is directed by Macon Blair from a screenplay he wrote based on Lloyd Kaufman's original script.
Related Stories
Movies
Kinky Romance 'Pillion' Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Harry Melling Sells to Multiple Territories
Business
BBC Studios Acquires Unscripted Production Company Mothership TV
Previously unveiled during Cannes was a huge deal by arthouse distributor and streamer Mubi for Die My Love covering North America, Latin America, and the U.K.
“We are immensely proud to see our slate resonate so strongly at Cannes,” said 193 CEO Wachsberger. “Securing global sales on four high-profile films, one of which having already had a successful premiere, affirms the strength of our storytelling and the trust our global partners have placed in us. This is a fantastic start for our company and a signal of the compelling projects we will continue to deliver.”
Below is a list of the buyers of the four movies across various territories.
Die My LoveBaltics – GPICIS – Provzglyad – VestaHong Kong – Golden SceneIndonesia – Falcon FilmsIsrael – Forum FilmJapan – The KlockworxMiddle East – Italia FilmsMongolia – FilmBridgePhilippines – Pioneer FilmsPoland – Vision FilmPortugal – NOS AudiovisuaisScandinavia – NonStop EntertainmentSerbia, Croatia, Montenegro – KCS
Scandalous!Australia/New Zealand – Village RoadshowBaltics – GPIBenelux – Belga FilmsEastern Europe – Monolith FilmsGreece – The Film GroupIsrael – Forum FilmItaly – Rai CinemaLatin America – Sun Distribution GroupMongolia – FilmBridgePhilippines – Pioneer FilmsPortugal – Pris AudiovisuaisScandinavia – Nordisk FilmSouth Africa – Empire EntertainmentSpain – DeAPlaneta EntertainmentTurkey – Fabula FilmsUnited Kingdom – Entertainment Film Distributors
The SurgeonAustralia/New Zealand – Umbrella EntertainmentBaltics – ACME FilmBenelux – 18KCIS – Unicorn MediaEastern Europe – Unicorn MediaGreece – The Film GroupIsrael – United King FilmsPhilippines – Pioneer FilmsPortugal – NOS AudiovisuaisSouth Africa – Empire EntertainmentSpain – DeAPlaneta EntertainmentTurkey – Fabula Films
The Toxic AvengerAustralia/New Zealand – Umbrella EntertainmentCIS – Golem FilmsGermany/Austria – Wild Bunch AGGreece – The Film GroupIsrael – Golem FilmsItaly – Eagle PicturesJapan – Nikkatsu CorporationMiddle East – The Plot PicturesPhilippines – Pioneer FilmsPoland – Vision FilmScandinavia – NonStop Entertainment South Africa – Empire Entertainment Spain – Vertigo FilmsUnited Kingdom – Signature Entertainment
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 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.
2025 is a big year for Benicio del Toro to return to working with two of his frequent collaborator auteurs, first with Wes Anderson for “The Phoenician Scheme,” following their 2021 project “The French Dispatch.” He leads Anderson's latest as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe and father to Mia Threapleton's character, Sister Liesl.
As for who's next? Del Toro will be reuniting with “Inherent Vice” director Paul Thomas Anderson with “One Battle After Another,” coming to theaters September 26. “I haven't seen the final project, the final cut of the film,” he told IndieWire at the New York City premiere of Anderson's latest on May 28.
Related Stories Ben Stiller and Jessica Lee Gagné on the Arts and Crafts Behind the Art and Craft of Hit ‘Severance' David Lynch Fans Rejoice: The Late Auteur's Personal Prop Collection Will Soon Be at Auction for You to Buy
“I saw parts of it. It's PTA at his best and with two of my favorite actors. I'm a fan,” he said. The film will be led by Leonardo DiCaprio. As for what del Toro can say about DiCaprio's performance, he says that “he's fantastic in it, fantastic at it. And so is Sean [Penn]. They're both fantastic and it's a fun ride, you know.”
The film stars DiCaprio as a civil rights activist who joins an anti-government group to combat an “alt-right” white supremacist organization. Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, and Anderson's “Licorice Pizza” alum Alana Haim co-star as DiCaprio's fellow activists; Sean Penn, who also had an iconic supporting role in “Licorice Pizza,” plays a white nationalist leader. Shayna McHale, Wood Harris, and “Presumed Innocent” actress Chase Infiniti, who plays DiCaprio's onscreen daughter, also star.
Anderson wrote the script and produced the film alongside Sara Murphy and the late Adam Somner. The feature, which was shot on 35mm film using VistaVision cameras, is getting an IMAX release from Warner Bros. This is Anderson's first film since his 2021 feature “Licorice Pizza.”
In David Ehrlich's Cannes review of “The Phoenician Scheme,” he writes that it “is free to focus all of its attention on the simple idea that family is the richest inheritance that anyone could ever hope to receive or pass down, even if some people — fathers most of all — usually have to lose everything else before they can learn to appreciate its value. ‘Planning doesn't matter, Zsa-zsa says, ‘what matters is the sincerity of your devotion.' It's a strange thing to hear towards the end of an Anderson film that's been too obsessed with the planning stage to meaningfully devote itself to anything, but [it] is a movie with its heart in the right place, and a souvenir hand grenade within arm's reach just in case it's needed.”
“One Battle After Another” premieres in theaters September 26 from Warner Bros. Check out the trailer here.
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
Andy Greene
John Fogerty could have celebrated his 80th birthday with a quiet family meal at home or a private party with his closest friends. Instead, he gathered nearly 3,000 people in New York's Beacon Theatre, took the stage alongside his longtime band — which includes his sons Shane Fogerty and Tyler Fogerty — and played an explosive set of Creedence classics and solo hits that showcased a level of energy, vocal power, and swagger few of rock's octogenarians outside of Mick Jagger can muster.
Before the show even started, Fogerty appeared on a large screen and addressed the crowd. “It's been quite a journey to get to this big eight-oh,” he said. “Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I appreciate each and every one of you, every little dip and turn in the road..It's such an honor to have people know all your words. Thank you for singing these songs all these years. I just really love performing live with my sons in this band, especially as they grow into adulthood and become really good. That sense of joy about making music is really real.”
He proved that by walking out onto a riser stationed between two bright, billowing smoke machines, and kicking into “Proud Mary” as confetti rained down on the audience. He followed it with “Up Around the Bend,” “Green River,” “Born on the Bayou,” “Who'll Stop the Rain,” and “Lookin' Out My Back Door.” Like the vast majority of the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog, these songs came out in a little sliver of time between 1968 and 1970 when Fogerty somehow wrote a significant chapter of the Great American Songbook entirely by himself.
Popular on Rolling Stone
This golden period was followed by many dark years where the bitter breakup of the band and a nasty spat with his former label head caused Fogerty to turn away from the Creedence legacy. When he finally launched a solo tour in 1986, he disappointed crowds all across America by refusing to perform even a single CCR song. He wouldn't relent until 1997, a quarter of a century after the band split. By that point, the Creedence rhythm section of Doug Clifford and Stu Cook had recruited a new singer and were touring under the banner Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
Editor's picks
The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time
The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far
But Clifford and Cook quietly dissolved their band in 2020. Two of their former compatriots, guitarist Kurt Griffey and vocalist Dan McGuinness, have attempted to keep the CCR flag flying by booking shows as Revisiting Creedence, but they are essentially a tribute band to a tribute band. That means Fogerty is now the only authentic member of the band keeping the music alive. He bills many of his shows today as “John Fogerty Celebrates His Songs From Creedence Clearwater Revival,” just so there's no confusion about who created this music.
But the 80th birthday show at the Beacon wasn't merely a Creedence retrospective. Midway through, he broke out his 1997 solo cut “Joy Of My Life.” It's a tribute to his wife, Julie, who was parked on the side of the stage all night, beaming with joy. “Julie is the one,” he told the crowd. She is the rock in our family. I wouldn't even be standing here if it wasn't for Julie. We recently celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. Somewhere along the way, I wrote this song for her.”
Later in the night, he also revisited his Eighties solo hits “Centerfield” and “The Old Man Down the Road.” Vintage baseball cards flashed on the screen during the former, and Fogerty's daughter Kelsy came out for a brief guitar jam with her brothers on the latter. The man set wrapped up with a fiery “Fortunate Son” as fake dollar bills fell down from the rafters.
Before the encore, Fogerty sat down in a folding chair and told the crowd about his upcoming LP, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. (For much more on that, check out David Browne's recent interview with Fogerty.) The crew then wheeled out a birthday cake, but Fogerty had no time to cut a slice for himself or anyone else. He instead wrapped up the show by ripping through “Travelin' Band,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and a quick repose of “Proud Mary,” taking the night full circle.
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
Related Content
John Fogerty Is Re-Recording Creedence Classics. We Asked Him Why
Bruce Springsteen Jams With John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Smokey Robinson at American Music Honors
The Best of SXSW Day One: John Fogerty, Case Oats, Gloin, and More
The Killers Aptly Cover John Fogerty's ‘Centerfield' at Innings Music Festival
The 80th birthday celebration continues Thursday night with an encore show at the Beacon before heading over to Europe in June and July for a run of festival dates, including Glastonbury. The last show on the books is stop at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy, Massachusetts, on August 3rd for a special event commemorating the 400th anniversary of the town.
But there's every reason to believe Fogerty will keep touring for the foreseeable future. A 90th birthday concert in 2035 may seem like a distant dream, but there's little reason to think it won't happen, considering how oddly vital he remains as he kicks off his eighties.
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
Joseph Hudak
Travis Roberts is emphasizing the “alt” in alt-country. On his debut album, Rebel Rose, coming Aug. 1 on New West Records, the Amarillo, Texas, songwriter channels the punk sounds of Jimmy Eat World, the power-pop of Gin Blossoms, and the grit of the album that changed his life, Steve Earle's Copperhead Road.
Roberts announced his album today with the release of the song “Bellmarie,” a hard-charging slice of country-rock.
“‘Bellmarie' is a song about an old coworker and a dear friend of mine,” Roberts says. “She's super into all the ‘stars determine your fate,' and I could never really get into that. When she started dating this dude and found out his ‘birth sign,' things didn't end out too well. I guess she's happy now. I don't know. I haven't checked in a while, but at least the song is good.”
Roberts, who's often on the road with his band, the Willing Few, says his music is a mix of jangly rock & roll (“God, I love the Telecaster,” he says) and the emo-leaning punk he was raised on. “My musical influences have changed a bit since we first cut this thing, but there are some that have stuck around that bleed all over the record. I dig a lot of roots rock and nostalgic Americana stuff like Bruce Springsteen, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, and the Dead,” he says, “but I've never been able to kill the emo kid in me that listened to Dropkick Murphys, Jimmy Eat World, the Wonder Years, and the Front Bottoms either. Mix those together and add a bit of West Texas trauma, and you get my record.”
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
Comprising 10 tracks, Rebel Rose was produced by Dalton Domino, PH Naffah, and Jeff Lusby-Breault, with the Willing Few serving as Roberts' studio band. They cut much of it live on the floor. Roberts will hit the road in support of the album with a string of shows throughout Texas.
Rebel Rose track list:1. “Bellmarie”2. “Ink Ain't Dry”3. “Kudzu”4. “Rebel Rose”5. “Arapahoe”6. “Minefields”7. “Hereford Blues”8. “I've Got Reasons”9. “All My Friends”10. “Fake Magnolias”
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.
Josh Klinghoffer, the former guitarist of Red Hot Chili Peppers, has accepted a no-jail plea deal after being charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence in September 2024 for allegedly driving over and killing pedestrian Israel Sanchez in Alhambra, California. Klinghoffer originally pleaded not guilty through his lawyer, Blair Bernholz Berk, when the charges were first filed. When reached by Pitchfork, Berk offered no comment on the plea deal.
When appearing in the courtroom on Wednesday (May 28), Klinghoffer pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. Los Angeles County Judge Rosa Fregoso sentenced the musician to one year of informal probation and 60 days of community labor, as well as requiring him to complete a driver safety class and pay restitution, the amount of which will be determined at a later date.
After Klinghoffer entered the plea, a prosecutor read a statement warning him about distracted driving again in the future: “If you continue to drive while distracted, and as a result of your driving someone is killed, you can be charged with murder.” Klinghoffer said that he understood, reports Rolling Stone.
In July 2024, Sanchez's family sued Klinghoffer for wrongful death and negligence, claiming that the 47-year-old man was struck by the musician's car when he failed to yield at a crosswalk, resulting in Sanchez's death hours later due to blunt-force trauma to the head. The lawsuit claimed that Klinghoffer was on his phone while driving the SUV, and that no arrest was initially made in the incident despite camera footage.
Klinghoffer's attorney in the civil case, Andrew B. Brettler, called it “a tragic accident” in a statement to Pitchfork. “After the car struck the pedestrian, Josh immediately pulled over, stopped the vehicle, called 911, and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. He is fully cooperating with the traffic investigation,” said Brettler.
The Sanchez family's attorney, Nick Rowley, told Variety that “Mr. Klinghoffer should be arrested and prosecuted for homicide.” Rowley continued: “We have a video of him on his cell phone at the time he hit and killed Israel Sanchez, a loving father, in a crosswalk. Israel Sanchez was on his way to the grocery store to make soup for his family and never came home. He did everything right, looking for oncoming traffic and abiding by pedestrian signage, but tragically Mr. Klinghoffer, in a rush and on his phone, hit him fatally from behind with a large SUV. The loss and grief that the Sanchez family now faces is immense. We will not stop until there is accountability and justice for Mr. Sanchez and his family.”
Klinghoffer played guitar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, when he was replaced by returning member John Frusciante. Klinghoffer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2012, making him the youngest inductee ever at the time. Since leaving the band, he performed as a touring member of Jane's Addiction before their abrupt breakup, and remains an active touring guitarist in Pearl Jam.
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
As Stapleton's solo debut becomes Billboard's Top Country Album of the 21st Century, the country icon shows his friends where the magic happens.
By
Josh Brolin
We had all met up for dinner in Santa Fe a couple of years ago. It was Chris, Morgane, me, my wife Kathryn and several band and crew members very close to Clan Stapleton. It was a humbling night in that no matter the status of our perceived successes, we all seemed to resort to naked-in-a-dream, childish reactions when the stress mounted. But in sticking with said dinner, it turned out full of a nectar that ended the night in everyone's favor.
The owner and maître d' of this Mexican restaurant came in on his day off, a little tipsy, I think, sporting a rhinestone-studded cowboy hat, and he welcomed us with grand sweeping gestures, overenunciating as he introduced each course with a rolling monologue. After his many waiters (one assigned to each of us) served us with aristocratic flair, he instructed us, with great drama, to, basically, pick up our spoons.
“Break the outer coating!” We did. “Now spoon up a small portion of every color on your dish. Every color!” We did as we were told. “And on the count of three put it in your mouth.” He was whispering at this point. We were getting scared. “One!” I looked up at Chris across the table from me, and his mouth, behind his beard and mustache, was neither grinning nor frowning, but something twisted in between. “Two!” We all had our spoons at exactly the same height, most shaking. After a long pause… “Three! In!”
Like Willy Wonka, the owner knew precisely what was happening — delectable, divine, an otherworldly Disney ride in our mouths — as it happened. “You will next be getting a slight chile burn in the back half of the inside of your cheeks riiiiight now!” He was spot on. This was sorcery, Mexican f–king magic.
I had a similar feeling when I heard Chris play for the first time so many years ago at the Ryman, but I never put the two together until now.
It was 2017, and I was in Nashville promoting a film, and Kathryn and I were asked if we wanted to go see Chris Stapleton. “Who's that?” I asked. Then, that night, I was slapped in the face with that visceral charge I hadn't felt in music in that familial of a way since I was a kid.
Chris and Morgane Stapleton are country rock stars. There's no question about it. Since I was 8 years old, a boot-toting rancher's hanger-on at The Palomino Club in Los Angeles with my parents watching the likes of Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride, Mel Tillis and the great Willie Nelson, I have sought whatever that thing is that Chris and Morgane ooze: the presentation toward fans as family, and an added innate strut that suggests there's a lot more going on than meets the eye.
I text Kenny Chesney that I'll soon be seeing Chris and Morgane, and he replies right away: “I love them. Say hello for me. He's a gift from God. He wrote a big song for me called ‘Never Wanted Nothing More.' It put a lot of gas in the bus, for sure.”
Chris has also written songs for the likes of Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Sheryl Crow and Luke Bryan. But as a performer, something drives him. When I look at early videos of him sitting bespectacled and beardless, singing as if he is possessed, it hits me with both awe and envy and I, like him, am transported into the song-glory. I am living it while he is belting it free from wherever it sat in wait until now:
“Oh, why you gotta be so cold?Why you gotta go and cut me like a knifeAnd put our love on ice?Girl, you know you left this holeRight here in the middle of my soulOh-oh, oh, why you gotta be so cold?”
The “Cold” lyrics are simple and straightforward. The song sounds as much like a calling out to God as to the Devil himself, and it surpasses the cosmetics of how we all pretend we live broken love into what it's actually like as we scratch at our faces and write the 15th letter in hopes of reconciliation.
Today, we are in Nashville. Kathryn and I flew here, then drove to a big metal warehouse where Chris and his band practice. Inside, there's an eclectic mishmash of fan art, memorabilia, Grammys and awards of all sorts strewn about; paintings of a smiling Dolly Parton and an ingenue Audrey Hepburn; and there is a back room with a collection of guitars reaching into the hundreds, an obsession of his. This place was a rental during the coronavirus pandemic where Chris could perform remotely, but over the years they've grown attached to it, happily purchased it, and it's where everything musically happens now. It's theirs, very theirs. Poncho, who manages the place, sees us in. And there they are, Chris and Morgane, standing with open arms. They show us around, and we get the awkwards out. When we eventually leave a couple of hours later, Morgane's sneaking a cigarette outside, waving.
The next morning, when Chris and Morgane walk in at around 11:30, I'm sitting on the couch draped with Native American blankets stuffing guitar picks into my pocket. There's no reason to do it. I could just ask and I'm sure Chris would give me a thousand of them — but something about stealing them just feels right.
“You want to listen to the new song?” Morgane asks. She turns on a high-fidelity record player that suddenly bellows a raw duet with Miranda Lambert through the room. The song immediately has Morgane and me dancing on the disco floor that they just laid, the one used in their “Think I'm In Love With You” video. I'm no Rick Rubin but it just has that thing that makes you move, that everybody can't help but want to play again and again. He keeps surprising us (and himself, I'm sure) with who he chooses to work with: Taylor Swift, Adele, Justin Timberlake (the video for his “Say Something” featuring Chris might be the best music video I've ever seen, as a one-take, anything-can-go-wrong vibe gone right in every way). “This is amazing!” Kathryn yells from behind her camera. Chris is off meandering through his gaggle of guitars.
I ask Morgane to play it again and I sit down at a drum set surrounded by speakers. Chris grabs a chair to sit in that I later find out he brought with him when he first came to Nashville. “My mom recovered the seat pad sometime in the '90s, but this is one out of four we had when I was a kid,” he says. “I brought this one with me. It's so uncomfortable. I don't know. I like it.”
He gets up and takes me into a long closet on the other side of the room.
“Lemme show you something,” he says.
The double door is locked, and I can see Morgane smiling as I pass her. Poncho unlocks it and we walk into what feels like miles of guitar cases, wall to wall. Chris finally stops at one that isn't particularly a standout: “And this.” He pulls, then slowly opens it as if he's revealing One-Eyed Willy's personal hidden treasure; I even half expect at this point to see a golden-amber glow of some sort coming from inside. And there it is: an acoustic 1950s Gibson LG-2 steel string. It's worn and scratched and looks like it's trying to speak but is too old to.
“This is the first guitar I ever bought after I got to Nashville. I bought it for $380.”
He holds it up.
“Where'd you buy it?” I ask.
“Chambers guitar store, which I don't think exists anymore.”
He runs his hand over it, almost longingly.
“There is nothing about it that is precious to anybody else. It's got a million crack repairs. There was even mud in it when I first bought it, I think.”
“Except it means everything to you,” I say.
“That's right.”
There are silences between us that will come and go all day, natural silences that come from people not needing to fill space all the time. This is one of those moments. I relish it. I don't look at my phone. I don't really look at him. Morgane and Kathryn are talking outside, and Poncho is getting himself a glass of water.
“If I had to walk out of here with one thing, it would be this. All the other stuff — I would be sad about it — but whatever I've done, whatever I've made, whatever I've turned into has pretty much been built on this thing.”
And for the first time this morning, he smiles. Then he walks out of the storage closet, leaving me in there holding his old friend.
Chris sits back down in his chair, his arm now around a 1976 bicentennial Gibson Firebird that Tom Petty used to play a month of shows at The Fillmore in the '90s. The vibrato chords and Travis picking are coming through a shoulder-high amp that I find out later is the one that Jimmy Page used when Zeppelin toured America for the first time in 1969, a Rickenbacker Transonic. The amplifier that rests on top belonged to John Lennon. I'm not much of a drummer, but I return to sit behind the drum kit in the middle of the room and try and hold a beat… and Stapleton starts riffing. What the hell?!
After a while we stop and he looks at me. “It's the buzz I look for. That buzz that starts with me then connects me to the band that connects to the audience then back around. I'm always looking for that electrical current.
“I had no voice before, no guitar skills,” he continues. “But something drove me to it. My uncle had a regional band, so maybe that. My dad listened to all the great country too — Waylon, Willie, Merle Haggard — but he also played R&B: Otis Redding and Ray Charles. He loved all of it. So music was always there, but sports became less prevalent, and the music just stayed.”
Chris grew up in Kentucky with big dreams of being a football player: “I couldn't watch ball for years because it just hurt too much.”
“Were you a good football player?”“I thought I was.”“But something happened?”“Nope.”“It's a sensitive subject.”“Not so much anymore.”“But it was.”“Yes, it was.”
We speak about what keeps him grounded to his roots, as he's accumulated 11 Grammys, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards (including 2025's male artist of the year honor), five Billboard Music Awards and 16 Country Music Association Awards. His latest album, Higher, won the ACM award for album of the year in 2024, earning Morgane her first ACM award as an official co-producer. Since we saw him that night at the Ryman in 2017 his career has skyrocketed. There isn't anyone out there who doesn't seem to love his music, his lyrics or him.
“I'm grateful.” He looks at me over his arms that are still draped over his guitar. “I'm grateful I get to do this. I'm grateful for what it brings my family and that's all that matters at the end of the day — those five people who call you daddy.”
It's something we've talked about before, but the longer we sit there it's obvious that words can't describe the depth of what he feels, or even what he knows. I get it because I have the same push/pull with my profession, so we stammer through the personal stuff. That's the whole point, I'm realizing, sharing that struggle with someone you trust, and this is that time and place. We never land anywhere with it, but, rather, travel in it, witnessed.
“Let's go eat!” Morgane says. “What do you want?”
Suggestions: Mexican, chicken or burgers? “S–t, you're from California. We can't take you for tacos. Y'all have your Mexican food covered.” We land on Hattie B's, a staple hot chicken joint in town known for its added spicy sauce.
We hop in the car, the four of us, the AV crew, Poncho and whoever else wants to come, with Morgane driving. She got a new car, a mom car. We pull into the small parking lot and there's one spot. “Ain't no way you're going to make that,” Chris challenges. “Watch me,” Morgane retorts. She seven-point turns until she slips right into the space like a hand into a baseball glove. “Damn, woman!”
We get a table outside.
“What'd you get, medium?” I ask Chris, curious if he is one of those burn-until-you-have-to-call-911 eaters.
“No, mild. I don't mess with that medium stuff. It's not real medium anyway. Somebody's temperature gauge must have broke.”
“What about the hot?”
“There's mild, medium, hot, ‘damn hot' and ‘shut the cluck up!' I stick with mild.”
“Want to try the hot with me?” Morgane asks.
“Yeah,” I excitedly and blindly reply.
They bring us some hot, along with some quarter and half birds, fried pickles, a few orders of “dirty bird” fries, a black-eyed pea salad and a few banana puddings. Morgane hands me my drum stick with the hot goop on it and we each take a bite. It's not bad.
Right at that moment we hear Bill Withers' “Lovely Day” from across the street. We all look over and see a man on a fully dressed, cream-white Harley-Davidson unapologetically karaoke-ing to the blasting coming from his motorcycle speakers: “Then I look at you/And the world's all right with me/Just one look at you/And I know it's going to be/A lovely day…”
We are all smiling. The man on the motorcycle is stopped and looking up at the sun, also smiling.
And my mouth is getting hotter.
“Look at him! How great, man. Does anybody have water?” I start to panic, but everyone is focused on the Bill Withers guy on a motorcycle, so I don't start screaming.
Morgane starts laughing, “This is f–king hot. My lips.”
Chris's face is in the direct sun, and I know he's getting sunburned, but he's too polite to say anything. My lips are burning, and this is exactly what I want to be doing with my day: extraordinary people doing ordinary s–t.
The man with the motorcycle drives away, taking the song but not the feeling away with him.
We finish our banana puddings, and Morgane and I each wipe our now blistering lips.
“Let's get outta here,” somebody says, though I don't know who.
The plan when we got back was to continue the interview, but that moment has passed. We've talked. We've jammed. Kathryn needs to take her photos so she and Chris go somewhere that she feels will inspire, and Morgane and I are left to reminisce on what today has been.
“I wanted you guys to go back to the roots thing,” she says, looking at me like a mother taking care of her boy. “The drive your book [Brolin's memoir, From Under the Truck] came from was from your mother and his was from his father. That's the connection between you guys — you trying to please your mother and him his father.
“After SteelDrivers [the bluegrass band that Chris started and was subsequently fired from] he went solo on a heavy riff, sex rock'n'roll-type music,” she continues. “A departure. And he had a lot of fun doing it, but it didn't hit. This was before the Traveller album. So we were sitting on the couch one night talking about what we were going to do. And I'll never forget it: He looked at me and said he needed to do something with meaning.”
I hear Kathryn and Chris laughing from across the room.
“He had already written all the songs. Brian Wright and him. You know, a close-knit team. And he said, ‘I would like to make a record that would make my dad proud.' And that's the root. I think he's been chasing that ever since.”
“When did his dad die?”“2013.”“Before Traveller.”“Yep.”
We were supposed to leave, get back to our respective kids, but we ended up at the table on the disco floor, just shooting the s–t: me, Kathryn, Chris, Morgane and Poncho. Poncho used to work at the used car dealership in town. He knows a lot about guitars too. Chris, Morgane and him met and they hit it off. He takes care of the warehouse now. He's family. It's obvious how deep the mutual care is. He lost a son. His wife then said he needed to leave because it wasn't good for their daughter, his drinking and staying out so late every night. He couldn't imagine life without his son. Then God came into the fold. Saved him from himself. Reminded him that there were others that needed taking care of. He got his s–t together and showed up, and today they are all together, slogging through the moments, as a family.
I have tears in my eyes (even as I write this) thinking of that late-night talk at the table on the disco floor, Chris easy with whatever wanted to happen. All the talks that day, but this one, especially.
Yes, Chris and Morgane Stapleton are country rock stars; there's no refuting that. But when it comes down to it, they're all about finding meaning in the music and in the moments — with their fans, their families and between each other.
We spent the day together just shooting the s–t, eating hot wings, singing along with Miranda Lambert and Bill Withers and, yeah, it's true, I got to play the drums with Chris f–king Stapleton.
Amen to it all.
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
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 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.
On June 5, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for some of the most impressive and engaging work of this TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire's editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind television well worth toasting. We're showcasing their work with new interviews leading up to the Los Angeles event.
Typically, when a reporter logs on to Zoom to interview a subject, the presence of someone sitting right next to said subject might be a tad off-putting. In the case of IndieWire's interview with “Adolescence” star Owen Cooper — the recipient of this spring's IndieWire Honor for Breakthrough Performance for his incredible work on the hit Netflix series — the sight of the young star's father sitting right next to him was a relief. OK, this writer thought, now this is a family that gets it!
Related Stories Dan Erickson on the ‘Mesmerizing Dynamic' of ‘Severance' Auteurs Ben Stiller and Jessica Lee Gagné Ben Stiller and Jessica Lee Gagné on the Arts and Crafts Behind the Art and Craft of Hit ‘Severance'
If you've watched “Adolescence,” you probably get it too. The four-episode real-time crime drama, released by Netflix in March, follows the unsettling and hugely gripping fallout from a seemingly unthinkable crime. Cooper, in his very first on-screen role, plays 13-year-old Jamie Miller, who has just been arrested for murder (Jesus Christ, murder!) when the series, co-created and co-written by Stephen Graham (who also stars as Jamie's shellshocked dad) and Jack Thorne, opens.
Popular on IndieWire
Over the course of the series, it's not just Jamie's crime that is interrogated, but the hows and whys of how he (how we) got here. As IndieWire's Ben Travers wrote earlier this year, the series “is a sly subversion of TV‘s traditional crime dramas. Rather than ask who among us could be capable of such violence, the series examines why so many boys are growing up to be angry, misogynistic men.”
At the center is Cooper's staggering performance, which is enraging, emotional, horrifying, and heartbreaking in equal measure. Along the way, we learn not just about Jamie, but the world that shaped him, including his own family. So, yes, this writer was very pleased to see his smiling father sitting alongside him while we chatted about his work, his process, and what's next.
When Cooper and his dad, an IT professional, hopped on the Zoom with IndieWire, it was early evening in the UK, just before dinner time. So, what would the 15-year-old actor be doing if he wasn't chatting with us? “I'd probably just be on the Xbox,” Cooper said with a smile. (At the exact same moment, his father said, “Doing homework.” Perfect.)
The Cooper men are more aligned when it comes to entertainment consumption. Asked what sort of movies he grew up watching, the young actor beamed. “I just watched whatever my dad had on, so ‘Terminator' and big action films and stuff like that,” Cooper said. “But the films I like now? I just love everything. Robert De Niro in gangster movies, I love. And my dad's the exact same. My dad let me watch whatever I want.”
Wait, wait, “to a limit,” Cooper's dad chimed in. The actor smiled and added, “But, yeah, if I was watching it with him.”
All apologies to De Niro, but Cooper's first real actorly obsession was with Tom Holland. Asked the first time he recognized that an actor was putting on a performance, something he might want to emulate himself, Cooper pointed immediately to his fellow Brit.
“I think it was Tom Holland in ‘The Impossible,' that I thought that he was really good and that I wanted to be like him and I wanted to be doing what he's doing,” he said. “Tom Holland was the first actor I saw and was like, ‘Oh, he's really good.' When I was a kid, I watched actors as characters, I didn't watch them as people.”
(For clarity's sake: When he “was a kid” means when he was about six or eight years old.) Since then, he added, he's seen “The Impossible” about 30 times. Even before he was a student, it seems, Cooper was studying up on his craft. As his interest in acting grew, Cooper started attending weekly classes with The Drama MOB, a Manchester drama school co–created by “Coronation Street” actress Tina O'Brien and Esther Morgan.
“The first thing that came quite quick to me in drama lessons was getting out of the comfort zone,” he said. “That was the thing I was most scared of, because I went to drama lessons with a group full of girls. But since I've got out of it, I'm comfortable doing anything literally, whatever the director says, I'll do it.”
That ability proved pivotal to his work in “Adolescence,” Cooper added. The show was “pretty dark, I don't think I would've been able to do [it] at all without the drama lessons and the coaching and stuff like that. … I just think every actor has to do it. Every actor has to do something they don't want to do in a scene. I just thought, I don't want to be the odd one out, and I just want to do it. It doesn't matter if it's embarrassing or it makes you look like an absolute idiot, but I'll just do it and whatever comes off it, comes off it.”
When The Drama MOB got a request for self-tapes for the role of Jamie, Cooper jumped at the chance. “I had a lot of self-tape requests before, but ‘Adolescence' came round, I had no idea who anyone was, because I only got told [who] the director was,” Cooper said. The young actor taped his piece, felt pretty good about it, and sent it off. About a month later, he got a callback for an in-person audition. Now that was scary.
“I was so, so nervous for that. I've never done an in-person audition before,” he said. That one? Ever the cool kid, Cooper said it “wasn't too bad.” Next up? Another in-person audition near Leeds, where the show was set to shoot. Cooper met with Thorne and producer Jo Johnson, and kept rolling through more meetings — “three or four more, because it was taking so long to get the part, [because] so many other good actors [were auditioning] in it.”
Then Cooper met Graham. “I did a chemistry session with Stephen, which I think was my favorite one, because I think I did quite well in it,” he said. “I don't know, me and Stephen just clicked, instantly just clicked. It was like an improv-y workshop thing. … As soon as I met him, he looked at me in the eyes and said, ‘From now on, you're my son, and I'm your dad.' I just can't imagine that I'm in that situation, because I've never even been in a police station before. So it was quite difficult, but it just came to me.”
Two more weeks went by, Cooper said, as the production decided between him and another young actor. One day after school, his mom had some news: He got it. He smiled remembering it. “I was so happy,” he said. “I didn't really care about the intensity and the darkness of all it. I just wanted to prove myself, that I was the perfect role for the part. No one's seen me on TV before, so it was my chance to just grab it with both hands.”
His biggest concern? “Learning the lines, because I got told just before I got the part that it was going to be shot in four long takes,” he said. “So when I got told that, I thought it was impossible, I thought I was never going to be able to do it. It's just like theater; you can't really stop in the middle.”
Each episode of the series is designed to look and feel like a single-take, one-hour slice of time. Cooper is the driving force of two of those episodes, including the gobsmacking third episode, in which Jamie (now being held in a youth detention facility before his trial) sits down with forensic psychologist Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty) for an unnerving interview. It marked Cooper's first onscreen performance.
“Episode 3, we did first, so I had two weeks to prepare the lines for that one,” he said. “I was nervous and I think I overdid the script, to be fair. I think I did about four hours a day on the script. I was so nervous to forget it and be the one that was going to make it restart. I didn't want to be that person.”
Rehearsals helped, too: one week just with the actors, then one week with the cameras in place. “The two weeks of rehearsal was the difficult part, I'm not going to lie, because it was so out of the comfort zone, the bits where I have to get in close to Erin and have to get up close and scare her and stuff, I just couldn't do it,” he said. “It took me quite a while to do, and so I just did it.”
By the first day of shooting on Episode 3, Cooper was already, in theater parlance, “off-book,” every line memorized, with a little room for error. “There were bits where I forgot the line, but I just made stuff up, and then we just kept on going,” he said. “[Series director] Phil [Barantini] said, if you get it wrong, just keep on going, because it's natural, and it's what a 13-year-old boy in that place with a psychologist, that's what he's going to do. He's going to mess up, he's going to stutter.”
They shot two takes a day, five days straight. By the end of it, Cooper said, he was tired. But then, a little magic? “With the last take, where I yawned, then Erin asked, ‘Am I boring you?,' which is brilliant,” he recalled. “That was on the very last take. Very last take! I think the crew, me, everyone was a bit tired and I lost my voice, but it didn't really sound like I lost my voice on camera.” The result is one of the most staggering moments of the series, and proof of both Cooper's prodigious talent, able to use a very real moment (as Owen) to add more resonance to his performance (as Jamie).
Cooper hasn't watched the finished show, though he did see some early cuts. Already, the young actor knows he doesn't like watching himself on camera. “I really don't like it. I can't stand it,” he said. “Every project I'm in from now on, I'll probably watch it once, maybe half of it, because I don't know, I just find it cringey. I wouldn't mind watching [‘Adolescence'] on my own, but it's with my family and, especially in Episode 3 when I'm talking such dark stuff, it's quite hard.”
He added with a smile, “But, yeah, I don't know, I've got a lot of films to watch, Stephen says!” He's also got films to make. Cooper recently finished shooting Emerald Fennell's much-anticipated “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, in which he plays young Heathcliff (the older role belongs to Jacob Elordi).
Cooper said the experience was “a lot different, a lot different to ‘Adolescence,' but it was amazing though. The crew, the cast, everyone was amazing. And filming is obviously a lot different, I just don't like repeating scenes. It's just like a pet peeve of mine. I loved it and it was good.”
So, what's next for this rising star? Mostly, Cooper wants to keep learning and growing, and he already has a strong sense of who might best help with that endeavor.
“I don't know if [I have] a certain role [in mind], but I would love to work with certain people, like David Fincher, Christopher Nolan — which is a big shout-out — Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino,” he said. “All of those directors, I would love to work with, and the big actors I want to work with too, because I can learn from them. I don't want to work with them because they're massive and famous, I want to learn off of them and work with them.”
All episodes of “Adolescence” are now streaming on Netflix.
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
"This is one of the spaces where I get to be totally myself," the Tony award-winning actor says of stepping inside the classroom on the Savannah campus.
By
Brande Victorian
Leslie Odom Jr. is back in the classroom, but this time, he's doing the teaching.
For the past 10 weeks, The Tony award-winning Hamilton star, who'll reprise his role as Aaron Burr this fall, has been leading a class of 12 select students at SCAD Savannah, helping shape the next wave of theater talent with co-professor and fellow Broadway actor Tiffany Evariste. During Memorial Day weekend, their instruction concluded with a cabaret performance by the undergraduates entitled “Getting Your Act Together: The Art of the Small Room.”
Related Stories
Lifestyle
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Original 'Hamilton' Cast Performing at Tony Awards
Lifestyle
Sadie Sink on Her First Tony Nomination, Shaking Off 'Stranger Things' Expectations
The success of the cabaret, held in the Gryphon Tea Room inside SCAD's historic Scottish Rite building on May 25 and 26 came as no surprise to Odom Jr.
“My experience of these young people is that every single prompt that I give them, every challenge that I give them, they run through the tape; they eat these challenges for breakfast, it's nothing,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter, beaming with pride over Zoom. “They are such a formidable bunch. They impress me and humble me every week with their talent and with their preparation.”
The students, who range from freshmen to seniors, chose two numbers each to perform in front of family, friends and the local community, the composition of which they perfected throughout the semester.
“They're telling these personal stories from their lives, and they're being more vulnerable than they've ever been,” says Odom Jr. “They're taking risks and they're taking charge, and my favorite thing is when this thing we do has an Ecclesiastical element to it. When it feels like we're tending to our spirits in some way, but we are just really acknowledging the fact that we have souls, the fact that we have spirits, the fact that we're more than just flesh and bone when we come into these theaters and these small rooms and we lay our burdens down, or we have our burdens tended to. That's what I think is the great service of what we do.”
Though the cabaret marks the conclusion of two-and-a-half months of work for Odom Jr. and his students, he adds, “It's not the end of something. It's the beginning of something. It's the beginning of, I think, a really fruitful and, I hope, long-lasting relationship with me and SCAD. And I hope that a seed is planted with these young people and that they get out and they make work that is more daring or bold than before.”
Below, Odom Jr. talks about his love of SCAD, how he approached teaching — and auditions — and his return to Hamilton for a select Broadway run Sept. 9-Nov. 23.
How did you first connect with SCAD?
So, in the past, maybe seven or eight years, I've had four different friends tell me that they were going to start working at this little college in Savannah called SCAD, and these are New York and L.A. people so I'm like, “OK. That's great. Congratulations!” Then, I kept expecting these people to come back to New York or L.A., but none of them have come back. So, I came down here to make sure they were not being held hostage. (Laughs) I had another gig down here that brought me to Savannah, and it was the first time that I came down here for an extended period of time. My friends were here, so I got to see the city through their eyes and I took a tour of the campus and I got it. I had dinner with President [Paula] Wallace that night and I was like, “we have to figure out how I can join my people.” If you haven't been, it's hard to describe, but trust me, it's a very impressive place.
So, it was your idea to start teaching a class essentially?
It was, yeah. I was feeling something like an existential clock ticking in that there was something nagging me and gnawing at me in this season of my life that was really about, it's time for you to start investing in the next generation. You cannot leave here with all the information that you have and with all the people that poured into you, you can't just take it all with you. And time is not promised, so there was something very urgent that was starting to bother me. Of course, I have young people that I mentor throughout the business, but I wanted to start a relationship with some sort of institution where I was teaching and imparting the information in a way that was scheduled and consistent.
Tell me about the audition process. The notes I received said it was rigorous.
Oh, please. Are you kidding me? That is so funny. I tried to be the most welcoming and generous presence that I could possibly be because while I hope that I'm offering them something, I also recognize every day that I'm here, they offer me something. They offer me their trust. These young people offer me their time and their hearts on some level. It's a very vulnerable thing. I remember what it was like to sit where they sat. So, I'm very mindful of that. I didn't want anybody stressing out over my audition. I told them they could sing a cappella and they could sing anything they wanted. I just wanted to hear them sing, and I wanted to hear them tell a story. So, I gave them three prompts. You can either tell me the story of your birth — I got that prompt from the great Anna DeaVere Smith; they could tell me the sort of family legend that has everybody on the floor rolling in laughter at the end of that story; or they could tell me the best piece of advice they've ever received. I wanted to get to know their storytelling instrument and how comfortable they were not playing a character. We're not looking for you to put on a funny nose or do a funny walk, we just want you to be yourselves. And then I wanted to, of course, see the singing instrument.
Did the prompts continue throughout class each week? How did you structure those sessions?
The prompts were all to get them to hopefully expand their repertoire — so they were singing songs they hadn't sung before — and also to coach them along the way in getting them to take risks and be vulnerable and practice for this small room format. In my experience as an actor and as a singer, the thing that has been most useful for me on Broadway, on film sets, and certainly in my concert career is my experience in the small room. That's what I bring. The intimacy that I have in these small rooms is what makes a concert at Carnegie Hall feel like your living room. It was something I thought a lot about when I was building Burr. He, in many ways, was the host for that night. It's his job to make sure that everybody feels welcome, to introduce my castmates, to roll out the red carpet for them and to keep Burr as the one that consistently breaks that fourth wall that brings the audience along. So I wanted to kind of take all this training that I have and put these kids, in 10 weeks, through the paces, give them a bunch of exercises, a bunch of tiny experiences that hopefully mimic somewhat what these 20 years have been like for me and get them starting to think about the small room and how they could make that their own.
What have you learned about yourself teaching for the first time?
My mentors have changed my life. I think of Billy Porter, Stuart K. Robinson, my first acting teacher of my life, Maureen Booker, when I think of these people, really the only two things that they've offered me is their time and their honesty. They told me the truth. They opened up the pages of their lives and they read from the pages of their lives. And when they saw me, they told me what they saw. And with that, I took what they gave me and I made something of it. I used the parts that meant something to me and I left the things aside that didn't resonate with me. So that's all I'm giving these kids. I haven't told one lie to these babies. I'm my most truthful, my most authentic self. I'm also my most authentic self with my kids and with my spouse and with my friends, but this is one of the spaces where I get to be totally myself and they make room for me to do that, too. They make it a safe space for me to be myself, too. So that's another gift that they give me. But because it's an honest space, I then have to listen to the advice that I'm giving, right? Because I'm a working professor, I gig on the weekends, too; I have performances as well. I'm getting ready for Hamilton. So the things that I say to them, I have to live that. I can't ask them to do something that I'm not willing to do.
What has preparation been like this time around for Hamilton?
Oh, it's just wonderful to layer this into this part of my life. The first time around, I didn't know people were going to like the show. I didn't know people were going to like me, I didn't know anything. So this is the first time I've had the opportunity to step into something where all those questions are answered. I don't have to worry if they'll like it. People have embraced me all over the world because of what Lin-Manuel [Miranda] and that original company of Hamilton were able to offer them at all different times of their lives. The other night, a girl came up with tears, saying her father died and Hamilton saved her life. The fact that Hamilton was on Disney+ during the thickest and most challenging part of the COVID shutdown… Hamilton means something. So to go back and revisit that and touch that — you asked me how preparation is, preparation is wonderful. I'm revisiting Ron Chernow's masterpiece. I'm just thrilled. My kids are going to get to see this show. I didn't even have kids before. It's very exciting.
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.
Just over one week after winning “American Idol” season 23, Jamal Roberts has scored his first Top 10 Billboard hit single and the number one Gospel song in the nation. The 27-year-old girl dad will likely never forget his huge feat — not only because it's a huge milestone, but also because he now has a tattoo to remember it by.
On the eve of the season finale, Roberts' soulful cover of Tom Odell's 2013 song “Heal” was released by the show's record label partner, 19 Recordings. Ten days later — on May 28, 2025 — Billboard delivered the huge news that the song had debuted at number one on the Hot Gospel chart and number two on the Digital Sales chart, across all genres.
For the week ending on May 22, per Billboard, Roberts' single “Heal” sold 9,000 downloads, based on data from Luminate. That put it on top of the Gospel Digital Song Sales chart. It's not his first time on that chart, though. In early May, while “American Idol” was still airing, curiosity from fans pushed his previously-released song, “He's Preparing Me” from 2020, to number four there, Billboard reported.
Sales of “Heal” also landed the song at number two on the all-genre Digital Songs chart, which means Roberts officially has a Top 10 song in the U.S. While chart rankings are based on song sales, “Heal” also had an impressive 918,000 official U.S. streams during the first few days after its release.
Roberts isn't the only “American Idol” fan-favorite to hit the Digital Song Sales chart, either. Third-place finisher Breanna Nix landed in the number four spot with 5,000 downloads of her first single, “Higher,” and runner-up John Foster is at number six with 4,000 sales of “Tell That Angel I Love Her.”
A post shared by Jamal Roberts (@officialjamalroberts)
Roberts originally sang “Heal” during the April 28 episode of “American Idol.” It was a song he'd never heard before, but he told guest mentor Fantasia that the words spoke to him, so he made it his own. The crowd and judges were rendered speechless after his live performance that night.
Once he made the top 3 on the show, he was able to record the tune as a single with 19 Recordings, adding his own lyrics at the end to incorporate his faith, and he performed it on the finale before being crowned the winner.
The song has been so instrumental in his skyrocketing success, that Roberts revealed to his fans via a Facebook Live session on May 27 that he'd had the word “HEAL” tattooed down his chest the day before, admitting that it was still hurting. Roberts explained that his tattoo artist made the word “HOPE,” which was already across his chest, larger and used the “E” in it to be part of the word “HEAL,” inked vertically in the same font.
While in Atlanta with his manager and attorney on May 28, Roberts gave fans a glimpse of his new tattoo in a photo he posted, seen above, as he wore his signature look of a suit with no shirt.
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.
Bryan Cranston isn't slowing down any time soon, most recently reuniting with Wes Anderson for “The Phoenician Scheme,” their latest collaboration following “Asteroid City” in 2023 and “Isle of Dogs” in 2018. In Anderson's latest, he plays Reagan, the brother of Tom Hanks' character. We caught up with the actor at the film's New York City premiere on Wednesday, May 28.
Amid his busy schedule, he will soon return to the “Malcolm in the Middle” reboot, reuniting with original cast members Jane Kaczmarek, Frankie Muniz, Christopher Masterson, and Justin Berfield. “Seeing the family was the best part,” he told IndieWire about returning to the series, which ran for 151 episodes across seven seasons from 2000 to 2006.
Related Stories Benicio del Toro Says That ‘One Battle After Another' Is Paul Thomas Anderson ‘at His Best' ‘The Thursday Murder Club' Teaser: Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren Solve a Retirement Home Slaying
“It's been 20 years since we said goodbye, and now we're seeing the family again and each person,” he said. “All the boys were around the same age, now, that I was when I started 25 years ago. They've got kids of their own. It's just great to see.”
As for whether it was a challenge returning to the role two decades later, he said, “I'm asked to do physical comedy on that show and I realized, ‘Oh, it's been 20 years since I did that.' I have a few extra restrictions now, so it's like I'm crawling around. I'm, of course, naked again. That's no surprise, no surprise at all.”
“Slipping back into that character of Hal for me was so rewarding — I missed him,” Cranston told People in a recent conversation. “It's been almost 20 years since we said goodbye. And he's a sweet, lovable man. He's a lovable guy, and it was fun to see all my whole family back together. It was great.”
Wes Anderson wrote the screenplay for the film himself, but conceived the story for “The Phoenician Scheme” with frequent collaborator Roman Coppola, who's credited on the screenplay of “The Darjeeling Limited” and also contributed to “Isle of Dogs,” “The French Dispatch,” and “Asteroid City.” The last script he fully co-wrote with Anderson was 2012's “Moonrise Kingdom,” which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. However, not joining Anderson for the first time in the writer/director's career is his loyal cinematographer Robert Yeoman. Instead, “The Phoenician Scheme” was shot by French DP Bruno Delbonnel, whose credits include the recent Apple TV+ limited series from Alfonso Cuarón, “Disclaimer,” as well as “Across the Universe,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and “Darkest Hour.” Alexandre Desplat, who scored 6 of Anderson's films, was also part of the team.
The film will receive a limited release on May 30, followed by a nationwide rollout on June 6 from Focus Features. Watch the trailer here.
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.
Alex G has announced a new album. His 10th studio LP, Headlights, arrives July 18 via RCA—marking his official debut on the major label. Leading the record is the new single “Afterlife,” which comes with a music video directed by Charlotte Rutherford. Watch that below.
The follow-up to 2022's God Save the Animals is billed as a collection of “absurd twists and mundane milestones” that draw on the same Americana influences as Alex G's previous record.
Later this year, Alex G heads out on a North American tour featuring support from Nilüfer Yanya. The two artists will play shows together in September and October, making stops in a lot of major cities. Before then, Alex G will also perform at summer festivals including Newport Folk Festival and Outbreak Festival.
Revisit the interview “Alex G Is Building a Mystery” and read about God Save the Animals in “The 100 Best Albums of the 2020s So Far.”
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.
Headlights:
01 June Guitar02 Real Thing03 Afterlife04 Beam Me Up05 Spinning06 Louisiana07 Bounce Boy08 Oranges09 Far and Wide10 Headlights11 Is It Still You in There?12 Logan Hotel (Live)
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
To celebrate, Fogerty has released three newly recorded versions of CCR classics.
By
Jessica Lynch
John Fogerty has announced a new album titled Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, due out Aug. 22 via Concord.
To celebrate, Fogerty has released three newly recorded versions of CCR classics: “Up Around the Bend,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” and “Porterville,” the latter originally released in 1967 under the band's earlier name, The Golliwogs.
The new recordings are labeled “John's Version,” a nod to Taylor Swift's “Taylor's Version” project, though Fogerty now owns his masters. He won control over his publishing rights in early 2023, ending a legal battle that spanned five decades.
Related
Zak Starkey Rubbishes Reports He Retired from The Who, Insists He Was 'Fired'
05/29/2025
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
Creedence Clearwater Revival
John Fogerty
Taylor Swift
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“For most of my life I did not own the songs I had written,” Fogerty said in a statement. “Getting them back changes everything. Legacy is my way of celebrating that — of playing these songs on my terms, with the people I love.”
The sessions feature Fogerty's sons Shane and Tyler on guitars, with Matt Chamberlain on drums, Bob Malone on keys, Bob Glaub on bass, and Rob Stone on saxophone. Shane Fogerty also co-produced the album with his father, while Julie Fogerty, John's wife, served as executive producer.
Trending on Billboard
“I knew firsthand how much it meant for John to get his publishing back,” said Julie. “It has been so joyful and beautiful since this happened for him. This is a celebration of his life's work. It is the biggest party for the good guy/artist winning.”
Legacy features 20 tracks, including CCR staples like “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Fortunate Son,” and “Down on the Corner.” The project arrives as Fogerty celebrates his 80th birthday with a pair of shows at New York's Beacon Theatre, ahead of a European summer tour and a performance at Glastonbury Festival.
Fogerty co-founded Creedence Clearwater Revival in the late 1960s and went on to write and perform some of the most enduring hits of the era. The band scored nine Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1969 and 1971, including “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Green River,” and “Lookin' Out My Back Door.”
Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years is available for pre-order now.
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
Charisma Madarang
Keanu Reeves is angel on a mission to make the world a better place. But first, he'll need to find a lost soul.
The trailer for Good Fortune, Aziz Ansari‘s feature directorial debut, dropped on Wednesday, opening with Reeves as Gabriel, a hopeful angel looking to be promoted from the unfulfilling roll of saving people from texting-and-driving accidents. His fellow angel Martha, played by the always phenomenal Sandra Oh, recommends he find someone worth saving, which leads to Gabriel standing on a Denny's sign before spotting Ansari's hapless character and declaring “I'm here to save you.”
Upon learning of his guardian angel's past credentials, Ansari exclaims, “Wait. You're telling me I have a budget guardian angel?!”
While the trailer doesn't give much away in terms of plot (a rarity these days), Gizmodo previously reported that a Lionsgate presentation at CinemaCon 2024 offered a closer look at the project written, produced, and directed by Ansari. As part of Gabriel's solution to showing Ansari's character that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the Hollywood, the well-meaning angel body-swaps him with an uber-rich jerk, played by Seth Rogen. When Ansari refuses to switch back, chaos naturally ensues.
The film also stars Keke Palmer, and is produced by Ansari, Anthony Katagas and Alan Yang, with Ansari Christopher Woodrow, Connor DiGregorio, and Jonathan McCoy executive producing.
Popular on Rolling Stone
When speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Ansari said he hopes the film will bring back the type of R-rated comedies Rogen became known for in the aughts and 2010s.
Trending Stories
Bruce Springsteen Is Under Attack by Trump. These Are All the Artists Supporting Him
Trump Pardons NBA YoungBoy During Clemency Spree
Red Hot Chili Peppers Ex-Guitarist Avoids Jail in Vehicular Manslaughter Plea Deal
Trump Loses It When Asked About ‘Chickening Out' on Tariffs
“I feel like people are like, ‘Oh, no one goes to comedies and theaters anymore.' It's like, well, they haven't really been making a lot of them, you know what I mean?” he told the outlet. “So I hope this movie shows that people do want to see comedies at theaters and that it just leads to people making s—ty ripoffs of Good Fortune.“
Good Fortune is slated to hit theaters on Oct. 17.
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.
With new single "THUNDER" and collaborations with Pharrell and Timbaland, the group celebrates a decade together with genre explorations and solo tracks.
By
Jeff Benjamin
From captivating Billboard upon their debut as the unexpectedly large 13-member boy band to now setting new Boxscore records for K-pop acts, SEVENTEEN is throwing a party to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The group marks the triumphant milestone with the new album, Happy Burstday, which captures every facet of their decade-long K-pop evolution while initiating a new chapter for the band in its next decade.
From the explosive rock-infused roar of the opening track “HBD” to the declarative dance-pop single “THUNDER,” the LP makes the bold claim that SEVENTEEN isn't just celebrating the past but charging headfirst like a buffalo into new territory. For the first time, each member delivers a solo spotlight across 13 brand-new tracks — a true testament to their individual strengths — while still coming together for three new group tracks, including the all-English cut “Bad Influence,” produced by Pharrell Williams.
Along with Pharrell in the mix, Happy Burstday lets the SEVENTEEN members write and produce songs with their longtime creative collaborators such as Bumzu and Shannon Bae, while also welcoming new names like Timbaland, BTS‘ longtime producer PDogg and K-indie singer Ha Hyunsang, among others. Whether delicate piano ballads or gritty club cuts, the solo songs reveal fresh dimensions of S.Coups, Woozi, Hoshi, Jeonghan, Wonwoo, Joshua, DK, Jun, Mingyu, The 8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino‘s talents as individual artists and creators — and further underscore the momentousness of this milestone record.
As SEVENTEEN celebrate a decade together with these 16 new groups and solo tracks, here are Billboard's rankings of all the songs across Happy Burstday.
One of the most exciting aspects of a SEVENTEEN album listening experience is the experimentation showcased throughout the records. Making a surprise premiere during January's Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2025 runway show, Pharrell Williams debuted the collaboration, which was finally released in its official form five months later. “Bad Influence” is a low-pitched, bass-heavy ode to living without worries as the album's only all-English track.
It's unusually understated for a group that has some of the most bombastic and impactful singles, not to mention Pharrell's Grammy-winning body of work. While we're all for the Pharrell x SVT linkup — and the song is no doubt a bop and a half — the change up to a subtle sound might have been a little too unexpected and we'd like to hear them all go back into the studio soon.
One of the most unexpected genre jumps on Happy Burstday, “99.9%” lets rapper Wonwoo try on a throwback jazz concept complete with twinkling piano, crisp percussion, and bold brass horns. The sweet, confessional track reminds us that the rapper is capable of far more music beyond the Hip-Hop Unit's signature sound and that he's got a soft side delivering Korean lyrics that translate to cute lines like: “You'd say, ‘Am I really that special?'/ Smiling while hiding your heart/ But my heart is already at 100%/ So don't worry — I'm sure.” 100% swoon-worthy.
While the timing of Wonwoo's mandatory military enlistment this year may have prevented him from participating in creating the track (with Woozi writing and help co-compose the song), we're eager to hear Wonwoo's full work on future solo tracks.
While it's every Carat's dream to go clubbing with Mingyu, his dance-ready rap track is a fun shift for the rapper-singer-model; however, we don't get to hear nearly enough of him throughout, as the production takes over large parts of the song. However, this may have been a deliberate choice, as Mingyu flexes his production skills, credited as a co-composer of “Shake It Off” alongside rising hip-hop producer ioah.
Still, we want more Mingyu! And as evidenced by global campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein and Innisfree, as well as recent appointments as brand ambassadors for Dior and Snickers, the world does, too.
As the first member of SEVENTEEN to enlist in his mandatory military service, Jeonghan's voice returning to listeners through such a lovely, gospel-inspired ballad track makes the track all the more special. And it's no “Coincidence” that Jeonghan perfectly embodies this track with his emotional delivery enhancing such a delicate piece.
Once again, likely due to his military enlistment last year, Jeonghan did not participate in the writing or production of this track, but it makes us all the more eager to hear what he creates when he releases more of his own solo music.
DK's “Happy Virus” might be the most perfectly titled solo track as the vocalist with the big grin takes this light-rock/pop to deliver lines like, “I'll be there for you…smile, smile, smile” in a song that's sure to infect listeners with the all the fuzzy, warm feelings.
The subtle country influences on the track make it another unforeseen genre exploration on Happy Burstday, pairing well with DK's messages of wanting to help heal and protect one's smile.
It's wild to think SEVENTEEN's youngest member Dino, who debuted with the group when he was only 16, is now an adult, whipping out mature songs like “Trigger,” co-crafted by BIGHIT MUSIC producer Pdogg. We get to truly hear his growth as a vocalist through the falsetto-heavy chorus, which feels like a genuine declaration that Dino is no longer a baby.
“Skyfall” is the first of the SEVENTEEN members' solo tracks in Happy Burstday‘s tracklist with THE 8 kicking the energy back up after the Pharrell Williams–produced “Bad Influence.” Subtle electronica beats surround THE 8's light delivery before booming 808s, hard synthesizers, and bustling breakbeats enter the mix, creating a euphoric blend that represents the singer-dancer-model's hope to let go and drift like a feather.
In a cool nod to his crossover appeal, “Skyfall” includes lyrics in Korean, English and THE8's native Chinese.
Beyond the excitement surrounding three new group songs and a solo track from each member, the biggest surprise when SEVENTEEN revealed its Happy Burstday tracklist had to have been the featured guest appearance from Timbaland on Hoshi's track, “Damage.” The track opens with a funky bassline hook that screams classic Timbaland with the Performance Unit leader introducing the track by announcing himself and SEVENTEEN's main producing member with “Hoshi, baby/ Prod. by Woozi and…” before Mr. Mosley drops his signature “Timbo” tag.
With contributions from Hoshi, Woozi, Timbaland, and some of his go-to collaborators such as Angel “BabeTruth” Lopez and Federico Vindver, “Damage” feels like a balanced mix of the two artists' worlds. We would to see each side push the other into a more experimental place next time, like the best Timbo bangers, but we'll gladly take this smooth solo song for now.
A cool rush of electro-pop beats punched up by electric guitar riffs star alongside Jun in the infectious “Gemini.” In one of the album's best-written cuts, “Gemini” paints a poignant picture using the celestial twin's zodiac sign to represent aching over a lost love, as if the other half of its soul has been lost.
With his birthday on June 10, 1996, Jun is a true, multifaceted Gemini, as evidenced by his talents in singing, rapping, dancing, composing, acting, hosting, and modeling, all demonstrated over the past 10 years alongside SEVENTEEN.
Written and composed by Seungkwan with introspective indie songwriter Ha Hyunsang of the band Hoppipolla, the classic power ballad “Raindrops” recalls the special moments with someone who may be gone but remains in one's heart. The emotional track is bound to stir up intense feelings as Seungkwan details the happiness and pain of his memories, ultimately coming to terms with his feelings and deciding that everything is all right.
While Seungkwan has not confirmed the meaning of the song, many interpreted “Raindrops” as a tribute to his late friend Moonbin, a member of the K-pop group ASTRO, who tragically passed in 2023. Fans have discovered a past interview with the late singer where he shares a memory of him and Seungkwan walking in the rain together. The sentimental lyrics now tied to this memory make this a poignant tribute track that Seungkwan can be proud to dedicate to his dear friend.
Vernon has shown his tastemaker music preferences through solo collaborations with the likes of A. G. Cook, Charli XCX, Omega Sapien, Tobi Lou, Drunken Tiger and Rina Sawayama, while shouting out his love for rising stars like 100 gecs and Bladee. With production that recalls William Orbit's spacey pop-rock stylings, “Shining Star” once again showcases his artistic range with a track that employs starry metaphors to remind the listener that they still shine, even when they're feeling burned out.
Speaking of William Orbit, can we link him, Vernon, Woozi, and the crew together for a special track on the next SEVENTEEN album?
As the member producing a majority of the songs on SEVENTEEN's albums, Woozi had a hand in two of the group songs and five solo songs for Happy Burstday. But for his solo track, the musical mastermind rather unexpectedly does not have any credits, instead singing a track written by Bumzu (who has been a producer with the group since their debut single “Adore U”), who co-produced the track with Kitae Park (who has credits across several SVT albums including their sophomore record, Boys Be).
The musical admiration and closeness among the three is crystal clear in “Destiny,” with references to some of Woozi's most famous productions, as the star angelically delivers the introspective lyrics about embracing the inevitable highs and lows in one's unfurling fate.
S.Coups is intrinsically linked with SEVENTEEN after a decade as the team's leader — which is probably why his solo track “Jungle” sounds as if it could be a track sung by all 13 members. Celebrating the group and their fans' journey together, “Jungle” delves into a hard-hitting, hip-hop sound that S.Coups has consistently embraced throughout his career, dismissing negativity and focusing on the positive. He sings and spits through English and Korean lyrics: “I don't need respect, our lives are different/ I need fans, when I have them, it's perfect/ I need love, even if the world changes, that doesn't.”
Written entirely by S.Coups, “Jungle” is the final track on Happy Burstday to leave listeners with a lasting reminder that SEVENTEEN is a group from K-pop's “third generation who's been rising for 10 years” and plans to keep on doing so in the years to come.
Opening with no-frills synth beats that hint at the song being a simple dance track, Joshua delivers one of the most satisfying songs on Happy Birthday with “Fortunate Change.” Soothing synthesizers and warm guitar riffs blend with Joshua's breezy tenor and falsetto deliveries, creating a song that forgoes traditional song structure without a second verse or repeating refrain yet still feels fully whole and encompassing as a standout solo cut.
The acid jazz influences of “Fortunate Change” are among the most unexpected yet refreshing sounds on the record. Plus, Joshua's joy is palpable through the song as he sings about seeing the world in a new light thanks to love. It's a universal message that SEVENTEEN can dedicate to fans, and fans can share back with them. But one can also dedicate the song to a lover, friend, team, colleague, group, relative, or anyone else you want to say, “Thanks for coming to me.”
The appropriately titled “HBD” opens Happy Burstday with one of SEVENTEEN's most rock & roll tracks to date. However, as with most SEVENTEEN tracks, there are numerous twists and turns as “HBD” is infused with influences of big-room EDM and breakbeat percussion for a truly explosive listening experience.
Using birthdays to symbolize rebirth, the band shares their mantras to live as authentically as possible and light up life like the candles on a birthday cake. They chant in Korean and English, “Today, it's my way/ Light a candle, make a wish — it'll all come true/ Happy birthday to you…/ Tonight is my celebration night, I won't stop for anything.”
As the first of 16 new tracks on Happy Burstday, “HBD” very much settles the listener into the true musical journey of SEVENTEEN's latest album, which marks their most expansive set of genres and styles yet.
Putting together the song to represent SEVENTEEN after a decade is no easy task (Billboard's Abby Webster somehow pulled off the impossible task of selecting their 10 best songs), but “THUNDER” feels like the kind of track that captures the true electricity surrounding the group at this moment.
With an undeniable whistle hook incorporated throughout to give it universal Top 40 appeal, “THUNDER” is a booming surge of complex, powerful K-pop that allows each of the 12 members on the record to shine through its various shifts and shakes. (13th member Jeonghan was the first member to serve his mandatory South Korean military service and seemingly enlisted before recording.)
The lyrics show a more mature SEVENTEEN that's still bursting with rebellious youth as they try out more adult lines like “Now I'm funked up, step on the gas,” but also has SVT's signature sense of knowing one's self (Vernon boasts, “Rumors spread like fire, chatter everywhere/ Now they're crowding around, ah, what a feeling”). Produced by SEVENTEEN's longtime producer Bumzu (who is sometimes referenced as their “14th member” given how many songs he's done with the group) with Woozi and S.Coups helping on the lyrics and composition, “THUNDER” also brings in an offbeat element that only SEVENTEEN can make work, with a chorus mostly made up of the guys trading off the chant, “ALO! ALO! T.H.U.N.D.E.R. ALO! ALO!”
It's explosive, it's captivating, and it's unlike any song out there. “THUNDER” does a worthy job of serving as the representative single for SEVENTEEN's 10th-anniversary album, indicating that the group will continue its musical greatness for the next decade and beyond.
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.
Throughout Gabby Samone's journey on season 23 of “American Idol,” the powerhouse R&B singer had a bevy of celebrities in her corner and sharing her performances, from Jennifer Hudson to Celine Dion. But that star-studded support hasn't stopped since the Baltimore native's shocking seventh-place finish.
On May 24, 2025, Samone had a “full circle moment” with season 3 “American Idol” winner Fantasia, who was a guest mentor to her and other finalists during season 23. Samone, 22, performed for a packed crowd at Baltimore's Artscape and then got to later introduce Fantasia, the concert headliner, who paused her concert to give her some powerful guidance in front of thousands.
A post shared by Gabby Samone (@gabbysamonemusic)
In videos taken by audience members and posted by Samone, Fantasia could be seen in the middle of her concert seeking out Samone, who was standing near the front of the stage, and yelling out to her, “Congratulations, queen, 'cause you did it!”
At another point, Fantasia walked over to the up-and-coming singer and said, “Gabby, I want to say something to you.” She leaned on a speaker as she shared some powerful wisdom with the up-and-coming singer.
“In this game of (the) music industry,” the Grammy winner began. “It can sometimes be a gift, and a curse. It's bitter. If you keep your eyes stayed on God, you my dear, you're going to go far.”
“Do me one favor,” Fantasia continued. “Never get caught up in the game of number ones and how many albums you sell. ‘Cause that is when you will lose sight.”
With a soft piano playing in the background and audience members shouting words of praise, Fantasia then told Samone that she can rest in the knowing she's already a winner “because God gave you a gift that no one can touch.”
“So don't worry about how many albums sell, just put the music out,” Fantasia told her. “And don't sign over that gift that you have to no one. Control your own stuff. Because in this industry, it's just a game of prostitution and they will use your gift, and you will go home and you will have nothing.”
“Please know that I am talking to you from what I've been through,” she concluded, getting emotional. “Keep your eyes stayed on God. He's already made you a winner.”
When Fantasia mentored the remaining finalists on the April 28 episode, Samone told producers in a pre-recorded segment, “I am a huge fan of Fantasia. She's a superstar.”
“When Fantasia won, I was only three years old,” she continued. “Seeing a black woman win ‘American Idol,' is important. I saw myself onscreen.”
Fantasia mentored Samone as she rehearsed her version of Donny Hathaway's “Song For You” and told producers, “Gabby is very shy. But when she opens up her mouth, it's like, ‘Who is this!?'”
So impressed with Samone's vocals that she didn't have any suggestions for changes, Fantasia told producers, “My prayer for her is that afterwards, she understands that it's okay now for you to come out of your shell and live.”
Previous
Next
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2025 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The actor was sitting courtside at the fourth game of the Knicks vs. Pacers playoffs, alongside Chalamet and Spike Lee.
By
Carly Thomas
Associate Editor
Ben Stiller didn't think Pat McAfee's comments about him at the Knicks game were all that funny.
The actor-producer-director, who's also a diehard Knicks fan, was sitting courtside at the fourth game of the Knicks-Pacers Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday, alongside Timothée Chalamet and Spike Lee. At the beginning of the game, The Pat McAfee Show host took the microphone to deliver a message to fellow Pacer fans, calling out some of the “bigwigs from the big city” visiting the Indianapolis, Indiana, arena.
“Spike Lee is here. Ben Stiller is here. Timothée Chalamet is here,” McAfee told the crowd, as they booed after each name, before he screamed: “Let's send these sons of bitches back to New York with their ears bleeding.”
Related Stories
TV
Women's College World Series Livestream: When to Stream NCAA Softball Tournament Online on Sling TV
TV
Susie Wolff Is Putting the F(emale) in F1
After the game, which saw the Pacers beat the Knicks 130-121, Stiller took to X (formerly Twitter) to reply to some videos of McAfee's speech. “Yes. Weird. We were happy to be there and cheer our team and other than that Indy fans were awesome. #KNICKSIN7,” the Zoolander star wrote.
Yes. Weird. We were happy to be there and cheer our team and other than that Indy fans were awesome.👏 #KNICKSIN7
Stiller added in another reply, “It's ok. He must be playing around – if it's an actual point of view it seems a little anachronistic or cliche? Like we are ‘big city celebs' and we shouldn't be there in the heartland? Again, everyone we met was awesome and incredibly cool.”
When another X user told him, “Don't be bitter,” the Severance exec producer clarified, “No bitterness at all Indy fans were amazing good win for you guys.”
Check out THR‘s list of all the celebs who attended the Knicks vs. Pacers playoff games.
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.
8 intelligent pet birds that can learn to talk like humans
10 baby girl names that are inspired by colourful flowers
10 monsoon-perfect national parks in India
10 types of snakes found in India
8 best books that help become expert communicators and speakers
How to keep your brain sharp and boost memory– Tips to be successful
10 reasons to have 1 kiwi fruit in breakfast
10 baby names that mean blessing
10 reasons to include a spoonful of Moringa powder in soups and salads
8 most adorable animals that were featured in video games and cartoons
Chrysalis Records will release UFO's classic 1980 album "No Place To Run", newly remastered from the original production tapes transfers at AIR Mastering and reissued on stunning three-LP tri-fold sleeve 180gm vinyl and two-CD digipak formats, on August 15, 2025.
"No Place To Run" was the eighth studio album by UFO and the first with Paul Chapman on guitar, following the departure of Michael Schenker. It was produced by legendary BEATLES producer George Martin and recorded at his newly launched AIR Studios in Montserrat in the Caribbean, a stark difference from the band's usual surroundings.
Reflecting on the album 45 years later, UFO singer Phil Mogg said: "The thing that sticks in my mind from recording 'No Place To Run' was the complete mismatch with UFO / George Martin (who was a lovely chap) and nothing summed it up more than when George would say to Geoff (sound engineer): 'Well, Geoff, it's six o'clock, time for a G&T out on the veranda.' How very civilized!"
The reissue includes a new and previously unreleased mix of "Live At The Marquee, London, November 16th 1980", mixed by revered engineer Brian Kehew from the original multi-track tapes, giving a powerfully fresh sound. Only three tracks have ever been officially released before ("Lettin' Go", "Mystery Train" and "No Place To Run"). The other 11 tracks from this legendary show have not been available until now. The set will take fans right back to the electric atmosphere of the Marquee, with a band at the very top of their game.
Kehew said: "Paul Chapman's guitar sound here is really superb, a thick and singing B.C. Rich-into-Marshall tone…
"'No Place To Run' is certainly a special time for the band, the peak of their public acceptance. With the music world shifting into new wave and synth-pop around them, they stayed true to their roots and delivered yet another classic album." (Quote taken from liner notes.)
Both formats feature new liner notes by Michael Hann, featuring interviews with Mogg and drummer Andy Parker.
Track listing
LP1 / CD1: No Place To Run - 2025 Remaster
01. Alpha Centuri02. Lettin' Go03. Mystery Train04. This Fire Burns Tonight05. Gone In The Night06. YoungBlood07. No Place To Run08. Take It Or Leave It09. Money, Money10. Anyday
LP2 & LP3 / CD2: Live at The Marquee, London, November 16th, 1980 - Newly Mixed / Previously Unreleased
01. Introduction02. Chains Chains03. Lettin' Go04. Long Gone05. Cherry06. Only You Can Rock Me07. No Place To Run08. Love To Love09. Hot And Ready10. Mystery Train11. Too Hot To Handle12. Lights Out13. Rock Bottom14. Doctor Doctor
8.5/10
9/10
9/10
The world's largest drone "mothership" is getting ready for deployment in June. It's designed to carry and launch up to 100 drones in a swarm, including kamikaze drones.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
China is set to deploy the largest drone carrier in the world by the end of June. Nicknamed the "drone mothership," the aircraft promises to provide China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) with more capability to deploy swarms of drones for combat, surveillance, emergency rescue missions, and other purposes.
The Jiu Tian drone carrier, an 11-ton (10 tonnes) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), can carry up to 100 smaller UAVs weighing an additional 6.6 tons (6 tonnes) up to 4,350 miles (7,000 km), according to a report published in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The aircraft was introduced in November at the international Zhuhai Air Show, China's biggest aerospace trade show, and has the potential to launch kamikaze drones (also called loitering munitions) — UAVs that are designed to wait until their target is found, then intercept and crash into them, often while armed with explosives.
Kamikaze drones are becoming more common in warfare — Russia has used them extensively in its invasion of Ukraine to target power stations, population centers, and military equipment. Ukraine has combated their use by shooting down the drones before they can strike, setting up advanced air defense systems from allies, and building makeshift cages from chain link fencing and tree branches around likely targets.
Unlike kamikaze drones already in use, China's drone "mothership" is designed to launch entire swarms of coordinating drones that might be able to overwhelm some existing air defense systems, according to the South China Morning Post.
"The big thing that really keeps me up at night is swarms," Col. Andrew Konicki, the head of the US Marine Corps Systems Command's ground-based air defense said at a military exposition for US Marines on April 30.
Individual drones are often viewed as expendable, but when working together, they can accomplish a lot — especially when coordinated using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to navigate obstacles and respond to some attempts to interfere with their operations. Also, drone swarms are often cheaper to build and maintain than the defence systems used to shoot them down, depending on the level of technology and size of the swarm.
Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
However, questions remain over how practical the Jiu Tian would be in some scenarios, and there isn't a lot of information about the carrier's technical specifications.
"China's display of advanced weapons systems can generate hype in ways that can align with deterrent and propaganda objectives, even when the actual capabilities remain unconfirmed," Elsa Kania, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Live Science in an email. Her research centers on China's military strategy, defense innovation, and emerging technologies.
—Golden Dome: Everything to know about Trump's $25 billion missile defense plan
—Groundbreaking amplifier could lead to 'super lasers' that make the internet 10 times faster
—'Rabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That's when the tortoise seizes its chance': Chinese scientists make nuclear power breakthrough using abandoned US research
"For instance, given its size, there are reasons to question the survivability of the Jiutian in highly contested environments, even equipped with electronic warfare capabilities.The Chinese defense industry is also a leading exporter of unmanned systems, which has accelerated the global diffusion of these capabilities. The displaying of and deliberate disclosures about advanced unmanned systems can also serve advertising purposes sometimes in that regard."
Jiu Tian's drone swarms also have many applications beyond combat, including resource monitoring, disaster relief, and emergency response operations thanks to its modular payload design. Swarms could make it a lot easier to assess damage from natural disasters, look for survivors, and help rescuers navigate dangerous terrain.
The aircraft's first mission is expected to begin before the end of June and will consist of operational tests before it joins the rest of the PLA's UAV fleet.
Damien Pine (he/him) is a freelance writer, artist, and former NASA engineer. He writes about science, physics, tech, art, and other topics with a focus on making complicated ideas accessible. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut, and he gets really excited every time he sees a cat.
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.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino promised Thursday to release new video that finally debunks conspiracy theories that sex predator Jeffrey Epstein could have been murdered — insisting “no one was there but him” at the time of his jail cell suicide.
“There's video clear as day,” Bongino told Fox News' “Fox & Friends” early Thursday.
“He's the only person in there and the only person coming out. You can see it.”
Advertisement
Bongino, a former conservative talk radio host, stressed the footage didn't show “the actual act” but would prove there was no one around his cell before he was found dead at Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019.
“There is video and when you look at the video, and we will release it, we're working on cleaning it up to make sure you have an enhanced – and we will give the original so you don't think there are any shenanigans – you will see no one in there but him. There's just nobody there,” Bongino said.
“I say to people of the time — if you have a tip, let us know — but there is no DNA, there's no audio, there's no fingerprints, there's no suspects, there's no accomplices, there's no tips. There is nothing. If you have it, I'm happy to see it.”
Advertisement
Epstein's death was ruled a suicide at the time, but the pedophile financier's abrupt demise has long been dogged by rampant theories.
Among them is that the billionaire, who was awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges, could have been killed by some of the rich and famous who engaged with him — or were privy to his crimes — over the years.
Advertisement
“I'm just telling you what we see in the file,” he said Thursday when asked about the case.
“I just want to be crystal clear on this. I am not asking anyone to believe me. I'm telling you what's there and what isn't.”
Advertisement
“There's going to be a disclosure on this coming shortly,” he added as he teased the video.
Bongino's revelation about the unseen footage comes after he faced backlash from MAGA fans when he and FBI Director Kash Patel emphatically declared earlier this month that the notorious sex predator's death was a suicide.
“I have reviewed the case. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself. There's no evidence in the case file indicating otherwise,” he wrote on X at the time.
Patel, too, made clear that he believed Epstein's death was a suicide and nothing more.
“As someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor, who's been in that prison system, who's been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who's been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,” he told Fox News in an earlier interview.
Epstein had bedsheets wrapped around his neck when he was found dead in his jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019 — just over a month after his arrest.
TV/Streaming
“For relief you can trust, trust Tylenol. Hospitals do.” — From a 1981 TV commercial for Tylenol.
In the second episode of the three-part Netflix true crime documentary series “Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders,” James Lewis fiddles with a box of Extra Strength Tylenol some four decades after he became the prime suspect in the case, and says to the off-camera filmmakers, “You think I'm going to open this and get my fingerprints all over?”
His face masked in a kind of semi-rictus grin, Lewis struggles with the foil seal on the bottle, noting, “It's pretty well sealed…Everyone opens a bottle and swears my name.” It's a creepy and chilling moment in the last interview conducted with Lewis before he died in July 2023—but he wasn't wrong about people cursing his name.
For those of us who remember the Tylenol murders of 1982, particularly those of us who lived in the Chicago area, it's virtually impossible not to think of that horrific chapter in our history every time we struggle a bit with a shrink band on a beverage bottle, induction seals on personal care products or the glued-shut outer box, plastic cap seal or foil seal under the cap on Tylenol and other over the counter medications. There were some types of tamper-resistant packaging available before the Tylenol murders, such as blister packaging for certain kinds of tablets and capsules. Still, it was the shocking killings of seven innocent people who took Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide that brought about the era of widespread and regulated Tamper Resistant Packaging.
“Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders” is the second documentary series to revisit the case in recent years, on the heels of the five-part Paramount+ project titled “Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders” in 2023. (I gave that series three stars at the time.) Much of the latter series focused on the efforts of then 13-year-old Isabel Janus and her efforts to find answers to the tragedy that took the lives of her aunt and two great uncles, as well as reporter Brad Edwards' efforts to track down Lewis, finally encountering him face to face at Lewis' apartment building, with Lewis refusing to engage.
The Netflix series has higher production values and benefits from having that sit-down interview with Lewis. It does a solid job of chronicling the case through the requisite use of recollections from investigators, reporters, and friends of the deceased, combined with instructive graphics mixed with archival news footage—but if you know the particulars of the case, there are no groundbreaking revelations to be found in either series. Many of the law enforcement personnel who were part of the investigation remain convinced that Lewis was the killer; others maintain that Lewis, who served 12 years in prison for sending an extortion note to Johnson & Johnson, couldn't possibly have committed the crimes.
In addition to the two documentary series about this case, Chicago Tribune investigative reporters Christy Gutowski and Stacy St. Clair hosted a solidly sourced podcast titled “Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders” in 2022—but we've never seen a big, splashy, theatrically released drama or streaming series, ala “Zodiac,” “Summer of Sam,” “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” “Mindhunter,” “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Giana Versace,”, the Netflix film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” about Ted Bundy, et al. Given the dramatic richness of the material (said with no disrespect to the victims and their families), that comes as something of a surprise.
There are so many twists and turns, so many stunning coincidences, so many indelible images, so many moments of heartbreaking fate in this story. Stanley and Teresa Janus joining a family gathering to mourn the death of Stanley's brother Adam, only for Stanley and Teresa to take Tylenol at the house and succumb as well. Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne called a live television press conference at midnight to announce a citywide ban on the sale of all Tylenol products. Police cars going up and down the street to give warnings, and police officers knocking on doors. Warnings broadcast via a news crawl during football games. (Getting information to the masses was such a different thing in the pre-Internet, pre-Social Media days.) James Lewis penning a Zodiac-esque extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson, writing, “Gentlemen: As you can see, it is easy to place cyanide, both potassium and sodium, into capsules sitting on store shelves.” The bizarre and tragic episode involving Roger Arnold, who became a suspect (but was exonerated), blamed a local bar owner for turning him over to the police, went to the bar intending to kill the owner, but mistakenly shot and killed a 46-year-old father of six who resembled his intended target. Not to mention the case of the woman in Westchester County, NY, who died from cyanide poisoning after ingesting Tylenol capsules in 1986—some four years after the Chicago-area deaths, and while James Lewis was in prison.
In the final episode of the Netflix series, FBI Special Agent Grey Steed notes, “I think that all of us that were actively involved in the case, believe that James Lewis not only wrote the letter, but planted the cyanide leading to the deaths of seven people,” while former Chicago Police Supt. Richard Brzeczek says, “James Lewis is an a******, but he is not the Tylenol killer.”
After more than four decades, here we are. We might see more true-crime documentaries or podcasts, maybe even a theatrical release or streaming dramatic series someday. But it's likely the Tylenol murders will never be solved. We'll never know for certain the identity of the bogeyman who didn't crawl through an open window or hide under a bed, but terrorized a community through the placement of random boxes of pain on local store shelves.
They're the Four Horsemen/-women of the apocalypse.
No need to seek a second opinion for Armageddon. The psychic stars aligned after four different prophets shared the same concerning prediction for an event that will allegedly transpire later this year.
Blind Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga,16th-century French astrologer Nostradamus, Brazilian psychic Athos Salomé and London hypnotherapist Nicolas Aujula all believe that we will see the outbreak of World War III before year's end.
Vanga, who was born in 1911 as Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova, has become known as the “Nostradamus of the Balkans” for her eerily prescient premonitions, including 9/11, Princess Diana's death and, more recently, climate change-induced earthquakes in 2025 that were similar to the deadly tremors that rocked Myanmar and Thailand last month.
Unfortunately, the doomsday seer also foresaw a war breaking out in Europe this year, which she saw as the start of “humanity's downfall” and a major blow to the global population, the Daily Mail reported.
Her warning was echoed by Nostradamus, better known as the “Prophet of Doom,” who is credited with forecasting calamities from Adolf Hitler's rise to the COVID-19 pandemic in his famed 1555 book “Les Prophéties.”
The French fiasco foreteller believes that this year, the UK will be drawn into the conflict.
“When those from the lands of Europe, see England set up her throne behind,” Nostradamus wrote in the tome. “Her flanks, there will be cruel wars. The kingdom will be marked by wars so cruel, foes from within and without will arise.”
He added, “A great pestilence from the past returns, no enemy more deadly under the skies.”
Meanwhile, Brazilian psychic Athos Salomé, 38, who has been known as a living Nostradamus for predicting momentous events like Queen Elizabeth's death, also believes that WWIII is on our doorstep and that “the worst is yet to come.”
This conflict will be perhaps scarier than in years past, as tech and cyber warfare will become the modus operandi for 21st-century combatants.
“This is not just a war of men, but of machines, and in this aspect, what comes next?” lamented Salomé.
He was seemingly echoing techsperts' “Terminator”-esque warnings about the need to regulate artificial intelligence like nuclear weapons if humanity is to survive.
The fourth member of this apocalyptic quartet, London hypnotherapist Nicolas Aujula, 38, believes that war could break out by the middle of this year due to a “lack of compassion in the world.”
Based on his psychic visions, “We will see horrific acts of human evil and violence toward each other in the name of religion and nationalism.”
These ominous warnings come at a particularly volatile time.
Earlier this month, Pakistan and India launched strikes and counter-strikes against each other's military installations, prompting US calls for the nuclear-armed neighbors to begin talks and nip the escalating conflict in the bud.
And while they agreed to a ceasefire, the truce was seemingly shaken just hours later by fighting in the disputed Kashmir region.
Meanwhile, there appears to be no end in sight for the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War, which saw at least seven people killed last week during a massive Russian drone-and-missile attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other regions in the country.
President Trump gave Vladimir Putin a deadline to prove he's serious about ending the Ukraine war — after the Kremlin revealed Thursday the Russian leader has no plans to hash it out with his US counterpart.
Putin had reportedly disclosed a list of demands for ending the conflict, which critics felt were identical to the leader's stance before launching his invasion more than three years ago.
Advertisement
A mysterious sphere fell from the sky in Colombia and nobody knows if it is a UFO or modern art
Some have called it an object of extraterrestrial origin (UFO), and others have considered it an art project, but the only absolute truth is that a sphere has crossed the sky of the city of Buga, in Colombia. Researchers in Colombia are trying to explain the origin of a metallic sphere, without welding marks or having passed through human hands, which flew over the sky of the city before landing. This event, which seems to have a more terrestrial than martian ending, adds to the thousands of sightings that occur in America, surrounded by that uncertainty of whether there will be life beyond our atmosphere.
With some marks that have been defined as unusual, the shell covering this sphere is completely metal. Jose Luis Vazquez, one of the researchers, stated that these marks are what most attracted his attention, along with the lack of “welds and joints” marks. However, the researcher has not provided anything else that could indicate the extraterrestrial origin of this object.
On the other hand, Julia Mossbridge, founder and president of the Institute for Love and Time, also stated “Frankly, we've been looking at UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) for decades, and the federal government has admitted that there are things we don't understand, but we're investigating them.”
Despite having devoted many years of his life to the research of bodies and objects whose origin remains unknown or difficult to explain, Mossbridge declared that he considers it a great art project and added that, Just as we humans are still learning that there are things that escape our knowledge, coming from our cubs and our seabed, the artist could have been inspired by this very reason for his creation. However, while she claims not to have seen enough evidence to determine that it is an extraterrestrial object, she does feel it is still too early to rule out that it can shed light on the nature of life on our planet.
The interest in UFO sightings is not new or revolutionary, but it is true that the number of people interested has increased. This is reflected in the number of hearings that have been held at the Congress with the purpose of giving an explanation to the sighting of these phenomena.
There have been cases where former members of the state security forces, already inactive, have made public data that had been kept hidden behind this issue. This is the case of a former air force officer who has stated that the United States government has been conducting investigations into such crews for more than 10 years.
The belief that we are not alone in the universe and that there is life beyond our planet Earth is not new. The number of people who are interested in this subject is increasing, so the recordings of sightings have also grown. There are many events that have not been explained and for which science or nature has not had an explanation.However, there is the totally opposite thinking, which mocks this belief and firmly believes that everything has a scientific explanation.The only certainty that can be declared as absolute truth is that many of these sightings have had a scientific or biological explanation.
If you want to learn more about new discoveries of new ways of live recently discovered, read this article.
© 2025 Pedir Ayudas
© 2025 Pedir Ayudas
Higher global temperatures mean the intertropical convergence zone could shift south — throwing off precipitation trends for a major swath of humanity, according to new research.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Nearly 2 billion people could face wild disruptions in water availability if the planet continues to warm — and the change could be irreversible, new research suggests.
Earth's average surface temperature is already about 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) higher than pre-industrial levels, and with 2024 the hottest year on record, the future forecast is not promising.
The new study, published May 14 in the journal Earth's Future, looked at what would happen should global temperatures swell to 2.7 F (1.5 C), even for just a few decades.
Such an increase in global temperature could have a permanent impact on the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), a region near the equator where trade winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, the study found.
"These impacts that we quantify here will be there for the long term," said lead author Norman Steinert, senior climate researcher at the Center for International Climate Research in Norway.
The ITCZ has a heavy influence on rainfall patterns, and the increase in global temperatures could cause it to shift south, changing the length and intensity of wet and dry seasons, especially in parts of Africa, the Amazon and Southeast Asia. Too much rain in some areas and not enough in others could have dire effects on agriculture, ecosystems and water availability for a major portion of the planet.
Related: The decline of key Atlantic currents is underway, and it's been flooding parts of the US for 20 years
Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Several factors affect this wide band of clouds, including the ocean's largest conveyor belt, a network of currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Emerging research suggests this conveyor belt is weakening, largely due to climate change.
The researchers looked at two different scenarios run by eight different Earth System Models — powerful climate simulation tools. One "idealized" scenario analyzed how precipitation patterns might change if atmospheric CO2 increased at a rate of 1% per year for 140 years, then decreased at the same rate for another 140 years — it's a "clean," way to assess the impact of a rise and fall in global temperatures, if unrealistic, Steinert said.
The researchers also looked at data showing a potentially more realistic scenario, where emissions increase until the year 2040, which is followed by aggressive mitigation efforts to bring the global temperature back down.
The assumption is "that we won't be able or won't like to live in a warmer world, and would make actual efforts to bring temperatures down again at some point," Steinert told Live Science.
Most of the projections resulted in little or no shift in the intertropical convergence zone. But in one of the idealized scenarios and two of the more realistic scenarios, the zone shifts significantly, causing potentially major upheaval to rain patterns for much of the world.
Based on the number of models predicting different outcomes, the paper describes the ITCZ shift as “unlikely.” But given the already weakened response of the AMOC and a time lag between when the climate warms and when the ocean heats up, the researchers argue a shift in the ITCZ may be more likely than the new study suggests.
Central and West Africa and parts of Southeast Asia could face reduced rainfall, whereas northeast Brazil would be inundated. The timing and intensity of weather patterns could disrupt the lives of billions, as well as complicate agriculture that relies on consistent weather patterns. In total, 23% of the world population and more than 12% of the global land area could be impacted.
The likelihood of this scenario playing out is "a low probability, but plausible outcome," Steinert said, and the models suggest the worst impacts would take decades, at a minimum, to play out. In multiple scenarios, the damage was permanent, at least at human-time scales.
"It's an important study," Richard Allan, a professor of climate science at the University of Reading in the U.K., who was not involved in the research, told Live Science.
—Climate change made April's catastrophic floods worse, report finds
—Kids born today are going to grow up in a hellscape, grim climate study finds
—Ghost forests are growing as sea levels rise
Allan pointed out water availability is more complicated than what the study considered, because the simulations don't take into account the amount of water and moisture in the ground or how much water is flowing in the rivers, for example.
Still, "this storyline could play out in the future," Allan said. "Because it has such big possibilities for regional water availability, this has got to be taken seriously."
In terms of future research, Steinert says it would be helpful to look at the local, specific outcomes for places that might be impacted by shifting weather patterns due to a warming climate. But the best way to avoid these risks is straightforward.
"I mean, that's very clear," Steinert said. "Cut emissions as soon as possible."
Jesse Steinmetz is a freelance reporter and public radio producer based in Massachusetts. His stories have covered everything from seaweed farmers to a minimalist smartphone company to the big business of online scammers and much more. His work has appeared in Inc. Magazine, Duolingo, CommonWealth Beacon, and the NPR affiliates GBH, WFAE and Connecticut Public, among other outlets. He holds a bachelors of arts degree in English at Hampshire College and another in music at Eastern Connecticut State University. When he isn't reporting, you can probably find him biking around Boston.
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 lone, battered shipping container that has washed up on the beach in Paravur, a small fishing hamlet between Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, is the talk of the town. The reddish-brown container, like many more than have beached all along Kerala's coast following the recent sinking of a Liberia-registered ship, has piqued curiosity and, for now, taken a daily staple off the plates of most households in these parts – fish.
On Sunday, May 25, MSC Elsa 3, an 184-metre-long container ship, sank while it was sailing from Vizhinjam port to Cochin port, triggering alarm in coastal hamlets all the way from Alappuzha in mid-north Kerala to Kollam further south. The ship was carrying an estimated 640 containers, including 13 with “hazardous cargo”, of which 12 are said to have contained calcium carbide. A solid compound, calcium carbide is not flammable by itself, but it reacts vigorously with water and moisture to produce highly flammable acetylene gas, posing a significant fire hazard. The ship also had 84 metric tonnes of diesel and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil, the Coast Guard said Sunday.
Around Paravur beach, men in khaki have been deployed to guard the container, lest some intrepid local falls prey to curiosity and tries to prise it open. A constable has been deputed to clear traffic as people slow down vehicles on the narrow beach road to check out the container. Taking advantage of the sudden rush of onlookers, an ice cream vendor has strategically shifted closer to this spot on the beach, adding to the problems of the constable who struggles to clear the occasional “block” – the term used for a traffic jam.
There are a bunch of people on the beach shooting reels and shorts with the container in the backdrop, as are children in uniform, who have taken a detour on their way home from school to witness the local spectacle. In this sleepy Kerala town, where the high point of the year are the fireworks at a local temple, the coming of the container is an assured selfie moment.
Valsala Srikumar, though, has a harried look. “I have barely sold anything. The same as Monday,” she says, standing metres away from the ice cream vendor, peddling a full stock of fish on a yard stool by the beach road.
Metres away, the container bobs gently as the waves crash into it. All around the container and further south along the coast, the water is white and foamy – one reason why people are keeping off fish.
Today, Valsala's husband has ventured out “to the cleaner parts” seeking a catch, but it's pointless now. “What is the use if no one is buying,” she says.
Fishing boats are moored along the beach, with little activity at the far end where the fisherfolk stay.
A kilometer away, at Oottupurayil restaurant in Paravur Kombolam, a market with a cluster of shops, waiter Anees says clients are shunning seafood. “This is just a phase,” he hopes.
Back on the beach, there are speculative guesses on the contents of the container. The locals, helped by WhatsApp forwards and their vestigial knowledge of the periodic table, rattle off names of the multiple chemical compounds the containers ostensibly contained – all the way from arsenic to zinc, lead and mercury.
For a populace fed on a steady diet of politics and media, conspiracy theories come easy. “Is Liberia linked to Pakistan… like Turkey?” a person in the crowd asks, a query that's quickly dismissed by someone else who is more well-versed in these matters.
A ship's flag state testifies to the country where it is registered, but much of this is determined by the tonnage tax advantages offered by jurisdictions such as Liberia or Cyprus.
Three days since MSC Elsa 3 sank, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard are trying to contain any oil spill from the ship. Teams of scientists from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, are collecting water and sediment samples across locations on the Kerala coast. The onset of the monsoon hasn't helped, with the surging tides making the operations difficult. While the containers are being removed from the coastline, one by one, a clean-up of the beach waters could be a long way off.
Until that happens, Valsala's fishing business could be in some trouble. And despite the optimism of the Oottupurayil waiter, this phase could last a while.
Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More
Conversations around a reddish-brown container, one of the many that have beached following the recent sinking of Liberia-registered ship MSC Elsa 3
May 29, 2025e-Paper
The View From India
Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.
Karnataka Today
Your daily dose of news highlights from Karnataka
First Day First Show
News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.
Today's Cache
Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.
Science For All
The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!
Data Point
Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers
Health Matters
Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there
The Hindu On Books
Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.
May 29, 2025e-Paper
Updated - May 29, 2025 03:43 pm IST
Kajol in ‘Maa'
A mother's fury and protection stands in the way of demonic powers in the trailer for Maa, a new horror film starring Kajol. Directed by Vishal Furia (Chhorii, Chhorii 2), the film is a fresh chapter in the world of Shaitaan, a hit 2024 horror film starring Ajay Devgn and R Madhavan.
Much like Shaitaan, Maa centres on a family in peril. In the trailer, we meet a mother-daughter pair who take shelter in a forest. Besieged by evil roots and deadly sprites, they uncover the story of the ‘daitya', a demonic spirit from Bengali folkore. The local community, blinded by superstition and ritual sacrifice, compounds the air of threat. According to a synopsis, “MAA is the story of a mother who becomes Kali to end a demonic curse rooted in fear, blood, and betrayal.”
With Kajol in the lead, the film also features Indraneil Sengupta, Kherin Sharma and Ronit Roy.
Produced by Jio Studios and Devgn Films, Maa will release in theatres on June 27, 2025.
Published - May 29, 2025 03:18 pm IST
Indian cinema
/
Hindi cinema
Copyright© 2025, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
BACK TO TOP
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
A reproduction of the haunted Annabelle doll that inspired "The Conjuring" movie series at the Education Earth Museum in Athol, Massachusetts.
There are currently rumors that the real Annabelle doll has gone missing. (Tréa Lavery, MassLive)Tréa Lavery/MassLive
Editor's note: Welcome to the world of “Paranormal PA,” a PennLive series that delves into Pennsylvania-grown stories of spirits; cryptids; oddities and legends; and the unexplained. Sign up here to get our Paranormal PA newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Rumors that the real-life Annabelle doll has gone missing have been running rampant all-over social media.
So much so, that it's caused quite a stir.
It's even safe to say that those who know about the history surrounding the “demonically possessed” Raggedy Ann doll, are afraid in real-life.
The old doll, which has become a fixture in the horror genre, is rumored to have escaped her casing as she traveled around the country on the Devils on the Run Tour hosted by the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR).
Apparently, in early May, Annabelle, which is typically housed at NESPR's Warren's Occult Museum, founded by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, made a tour stop in New Orleans.
Somehow, rumors began to circulate online that the demonic doll had somehow gone missing while in Louisiana after some visitors claimed they didn't see the doll during the tour.
Then, there was a recent fire at the nearby Nottoway Plantation-turned-Nottoway Resort in White Castle which intensified speculation that there was some sort of connection between the doll's supposed disappearance and the fire.
To squash the intensely troubling rumors, museum officials have spoken out about the doll's whereabouts.
NESPR lead investigator Dan Rivera took to TikTok on Saturday to put an end to the swirling theories that the haunted doll had gone missing.
“I'm here at the museum right now, and I just wanna show you guys that Annabelle ‘is' in the Warrens' Occult Museum,” Rivera said in a TikTok video. “Let's go inside and let's check.”
In the video, when he enters the museum, he walks over to show the haunted doll sitting in a wooden case.
“Annabelle is not missing; she's not in Chicago,” he assured fans. He also mentioned to fans that they were, however, going to be at the 2025 Rock Island Roadhouse Esoteric Expo in Rock Island, Illinois, on October 4.
A notice was also posted on NESPR's Facebook account that read: “It's a Rumor... Annabelle has NOT been stolen. The doll is safely in place at the Warren Occult Museum.”
The Annabelle doll was first owned by a student in 1970, who requested help from the Warrens when she claimed Annabelle started “exhibiting malicious and frightening behavior.”
Upon inspection, the Warrens discovered that the doll was “demonically possessed” by the spirit of a deceased girl.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025).
© 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices
Check out what's to come with Countdown that has Supernatural vets all heated up.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Jensen Ackles may have spent the better part of two decades playing Dean Winchester on Supernatural, but that hasn't held him back from new shows in the wake of that series' ending. He flexed some very different acting muscles between Big Sky and The Boys, and now he's set to star in Countdown as his own Prime Video series in the 2025 TV schedule. After sharing the very first look back in early May, the star shared the full trailer on social media, and his former Supernatural co-stars hit the comment section with one clear consensus.
Also starring The Flash's Jessica Camacho and Grey's Anatomy's Eric "McSteamy" Dane, Countdown follows LAPD Detective Mark Meachum (Ackles) as he's recruited to be part of a secret task force, also comprised of undercover agents from other law enforcement branches. The stakes are sky-high, as one might expect from a project created by Chicago Fire co-creator (and longtime showrunner) Derek Haas! Whether or not you have an Amazon Prime subscription, check out the trailer for yourself:
As a fan of One Chicago – a.k.a. Derek Haas' former haunt on TV – and a survivor of fifteen seasons of Supernatural, I was already on board for Countdown based on the team behind it. The trailer has me more hyped than before, mostly because we get to see some personality from Jessica Camacho's character. She seems set up as Ackles' co-lead or at least secondary lead, so I'm glad to experience a bit of what she'll be bringing to the action.
Jensen Ackles spread the news of Countdown's latest look on Instagram, including the trailer with the message to "Set your clocks" for the June 25 premiere and a new poster with a less certain "Clock's ticking?" caption. I for one wasn't surprised to see that it didn't take long for some familiar Supernatural names to flood the comment section, but I didn't foresee them almost all having one thing in common. Take a look:
The consensus from Ackles' fellow Supernatural stars is apparently that the Countdown trailer is fire! Kathryn Newton, who played Claire Novak on The CW series, went for a straight compliment, and I just had to include the emojis from Danneel Ackles as well. After all, she did appear in five episodes of Supernatural, so she does count as an alum as well as the leading man's wife!
I think my favorite of the comments is Timothy Omundson's, though, and not just because I frequently get his songs from the short-lived Galavant stuck in my head. He went full caps-locks to show his support for Countdown, in a definite departure from what Cain would have done on Supernatural.
While I'm guessing Countdown won't pack in Supernatural cast members like The Boys has elsewhere on Prime Video under creator Eric Kripke, Ackles has teased that fans of Dean Winchester will find some familiarity in his new character. For now, the wait is on for Countdown's premiere on Wednesday, June 25 on Prime Video. In the meantime, you could always check out Supernatural streaming with a Netflix subscription as well. With 327 episodes over 15 seasons, there's enough to last anybody a while!
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Cinemablend 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.
Have any questions? Please give us a call at 970-249-3444
Copyright © • Wick Communications
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Staff Writer
The Second Empire House, now located at the Museum of the Mountain West, was officially preserved for its unique architectural significance.
But some believe the house, which was originally located on the corner of South Fifth Street and Selig Avenue, is haunted by the ghost of a horrible crime.
Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
Staff Writer
DOLORES, Colo. – Lone Mesa State Park provides one of the most unique big-game hunting experiences in Colorado, and the application period for the 2025 opportunity is now open.Scenic Lone Mesa… Read moreLone Mesa State Park hunting opportunity now open to applicants for 2025
The Second Empire House, now located at the Museum of the Mountain West, was officially preserved for its unique architectural significance. Read moreHands-on, haunted history: Join Paranormal Researchers/Interest Group for a special tour at Museum of the Mountain West
Staff Writer
On Thursday, May 29, the Colorado Department of Transportation will perform safety-critical helicopter operations on US Highway 550 between the Red Mountain Pass Summit and the Bear Creek Over… Read more― Highway Travel Alert ― US 550 Red Mountain Pass set to close Thursday morning for helicopter operations
More people have been coming in the doors of Sharing Ministries, a local food charity. At the same time, the United States Department of Agriculture's programs to bring local produce into food… Read moreDemands on Sharing Ministries' food bank grow as funding shrinks
Assistant Editor and Senior Writer
Opening acts at Ouray's free Mountain Air Music Series start playing at 6 p.m. each Thursday night in June, but the party in Fellin Park continues long after the sun goes down. Read more'It's a magical thing': Mountain Air Music Series returns to Ouray Thursdays in June
Staff Writer
A preliminary budget request from President Donald Trump takes aim at a satellite program with a 50-year history whose data is housed just northeast of Sioux Falls, at a facility employing hun… Read moreTrump's proposed satellite cuts raise questions about the fate of EROS in South Dakota
Downtown Montrose is set to receive a vibrant new addition with the upcoming installation of a large-scale mural on the rear of the buildings located at 431, 433, and 435 East Main Street. Thi… Read moreNew mural coming to downtown
With the 2025 Colorado General Assembly's legislative session in the rearview mirror, the San Miguel County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) set new legislative advocacy priorities for the… Read moreREGIONAL: San Miguel County commissioners set new priorities for state legislative advocacy
On May 15, just ahead of Colorado Public Lands Day, Rep. Jeff Hurd, and Sen. Michael Bennet reintroduced the GORP Act as bipartisan legislation. Read moreREGIONAL: GORP Act gains bipartisan support
The massive tax and spending bill passed by U.S. House Republicans would likely result in 3.2 million people losing food assistance benefits, and saddle states with around $14 billion a year i… Read moreMore than 3 million people would lose SNAP benefits under GOP bill, nonpartisan report says
The Friends of Youth and Nature's Bring On the Summer Festival on Saturday featured a skateboard competition hosted by Skateboarders Alliance, a crew made up of skaters from around the Grand V… Read moreWeekend shred — skaters enjoy a competition at Bring On the Summer Festival [PHOTOS]
Immigration advocates in Colorado say they have identified about 12 immigrants in Colorado whom they believe federal authorities have removed to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. Read moreWhat's known about detainees from Colorado who were sent to El Salvador
Last day (May 28) Read moreAROUND TOWN: Boozy Book Fair, Cowboy Gathering; ghost tour
If it's possible to bottle up the culture of a city, or more accurately to brew it in a keg, then four local breweries are now offering a taste of Montrose this summer — and maybe beyond. Read moreComing together around the keg: Four breweries unite for one-of-a-kind Montrose brew
Staff Writer
Colorado has seen an increase in drivers who refuse a blood or breath test following a DUI arrest in recent years. Read moreCDOT: More than half of drivers refuse testing upon DUI arrest
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!
Montrose Daily Press is owned by Wick Communications
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
Account processing issue - the email address may already exist
Receive the digital, interactive PDF of the newspaper in your inbox.
Sign up with
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Sign in with
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Secure transaction.
Secure transaction. Cancel anytime.
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful!
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.
Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, owes its pale blue-green colour to its atmosphere that absorbs the red wavelengths of sunlight, according to a new study.
The study was published by a research group comprising scientists from the University of Arizona in the United States as well as other institutions. It sheds light on the atmospheric composition and complex dynamics governing the mystery planet. The researchers were able to provide new information about Uranus after analysing images of the planet captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope over the last 20 years.
The Hubble images of Uranus were taken between 2002 and 2022. As per the study, Uranus' atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, along with small amounts of methane as well as minute quantities of water and ammonia.
Uranus is located between Saturn and Neptune. As the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus remains one of the least understood planets in our solar system which is why the new research study may be significant. Scientists who authored the study also provided more information about seasonal changes on the planet. Unlike other planets, Uranus' axis of rotation is nearly parallel to its orbital plane.
It is likely that Uranus collided with an Earth-sized object, which might be the reason why it is said to be rotating in an ‘overturned' position. As a result, it takes 84 years for the planet to complete one revolution around the Sun. This means that the surface of the planet gets sunshine for 42 years and the next 42-year-period is dark.
Over the course of the 20-year-long study, researchers were able to observe only a part of the seasonal change of Uranus' atmosphere.
The research builds on existing information about Uranus, like the fact that the planet is composed mainly of water and ammonia ice. It is approximately 51,000 kilometres in diameter, making Uranus four times bigger than the Earth with a mass that is 15 times greater than that of Earth's. Uranus also has 13 rings and 28 moons.
Nasa's Voyager 2 is the only space probe mission that has explored the planet by conducting a flyby in January 1986. However, the group of scientists behind the new study said that they will continue to observe Uranus and gather more information on seasonal changes in its polar regions.