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The memo directly contradicts the Fourth Amendment, years of caselaw, and ICE's own training manuals.
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An internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) suggests that agents are authorized to enter the homes of immigrants and citizens alike without a judicial warrant — an assertion that violates the Fourth Amendment and several years of caselaw stating otherwise.
The memo was first made public in a disclosure from whistleblowers within the federal government, with the help of the nonprofit group Whistleblower Aid. According to that organization, the ICE memo, issued in May 2025, authorizes agents “to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by ‘a necessary and reasonable amount of force'” using Form I-205, which is an administrative warrant, not a judicial one.
Judicial warrants authorize searches, seizures, or arrests, and are issued by judges within the judicial branch of government. Administrative warrants, which are issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allow seizures or arrests of individuals under certain circumstances, but do not allow for search or entry of a person's property without their consent.
ICE secretly told its officers that any time someone has been ordered removed, ICE can break down their door.It has been accepted for generations that the only thing which can authorize agents to break into your home is a warrant signed by a judge. No wonder ICE hid this memo!
The extent to which the memo has been shared throughout the agency is unclear, though there are several examples of ICE or other federal immigration officials entering people's homes without valid judicial warrants, including homes of U.S. citizens. But the report from Whistleblower Aid indicates that the memo has been used to train new ICE officers, despite the fact that other training materials within the agency directly contradict the memo.
The whistleblowers who brought the memo forward, who are remaining anonymous out of fears of retribution, have also stated that several DHS employees have been reprimanded for expressing their concerns over the document. At least one instructor has resigned from their position rather than teach the new directive.
In addition to violating years of caselaw — including Supreme Court precedent — stating that federal agents cannot enter people's homes without a judicial warrant, the memo also violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Importantly, the amendment does not differentiate between rights of citizens and immigrants.
David Kligerman, senior vice president and special counsel at Whistleblower Aid, derided the Trump administration for issuing a directive so flagrantly unconstitutional.
“It's just shocking. Every chief executive who's had the opportunity to enforce their immigration laws has never wanted to come close to this red line,” Kligerman told The Washington Post. “No one wants to degrade this Fourth Amendment right, not in this way.”
In a statement accompanying an explanation of ICE's memo, Kligerman also noted: “No court has ever found that ICE agents have such legal authority to enter homes without a judicial warrant.”
The ICE directive was widely condemned as illegal, with critics ranging from lawmakers in Congress to legal experts.
“Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door and storm into your home,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) said in a statement. “It is a legally and morally abhorrent policy that exemplifies the kinds of dangerous, disgraceful abuses America is seeing in real time.” (Notably, Blumenthal has not voiced support for abolishing the agency, despite strong support from the American public for doing so.)
“I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin' insane,” said Georgetown Law professor Steve Vladeck, adding that the memo represents “massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations.”
Responding to Vladeck's post on Bluesky, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, explained just how worrisome the memo is to legal experts, saying it is “one of my top 5 scandals for this admin so far,” perhaps even within his “top 3.”
“This is a massive overreach of power by the Trump administration. Due process isn't optional. It's a fundamental right,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.
“This is clearly unlawful conduct. ICE can't change the law just because it doesn't like it,” former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance opined.
Progressive nonprofits are the latest target caught in Trump's crosshairs. With the aim of eliminating political opposition, Trump and his sycophants are working to curb government funding, constrain private foundations, and even cut tax-exempt status from organizations he dislikes.
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A federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department's initial attempt to bring charges against journalist Don Lemon for appearing alongside protesters who breached a Minnesota church over the weekend, a source told CNN.
“The Attorney General is enraged at the magistrate judge's decision,” a person familiar with the matter said. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been on the ground in Minnesota for two days meeting with federal prosecutors from the state.
Lemon, who is a former CNN host who now makes content independently, was with dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters as they rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday morning, interrupting a church service and leading to tense confrontations, CNN has reported.
Lemon has said that he was present at the demonstration as a journalist and not as a protester. In a video of the episode that he posted on YouTube, Lemon says “I'm just here photographing, I'm not part of the group… I'm a journalist.”
The Justice Department has arrested two people involved in the protests, CNN has reported.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Lemon. The Department of Justice could always try again to bring charges against him.
This story was updated with additional information.
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A federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department's initial attempt to bring charges against journalist Don Lemon for appearing alongside protesters who breached a Minnesota church over the weekend, a source told CNN.
“The Attorney General is enraged at the magistrate judge's decision,” a person familiar with the matter said. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been on the ground in Minnesota for two days meeting with federal prosecutors from the state.
Lemon, who is a former CNN host who now makes content independently, was with dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters as they rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday morning, interrupting a church service and leading to tense confrontations, CNN has reported.
Lemon has said that he was present at the demonstration as a journalist and not as a protester. In a video of the episode that he posted on YouTube, Lemon says “I'm just here photographing, I'm not part of the group… I'm a journalist.”
It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to attempt to criminally charge a journalist who is actively working – though it is not without precedent. Such charges are heavily scrutinized, and, if approved by a judge, often face extended legal battles over whether the journalist is protected by the First Amendment before the case makes it to trial.
In Lemon's case, Justice Department officials immediately, and publicly, asserted that he would face charges. They said Lemon did not have a right to be on the church's private property, adding that interrupting the service may have impeded in the churchgoers' constitutional rights to express their religion.
“The magistrate's reported actions confirm the nature of Don's First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter. It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground and engaging in constitutionally protected activity as a journalist,” Lemon's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Thursday.
Lowell added that Lemon would “fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” should the DOJ continue to pursue them.
The Department of Justice could always try again to bring charges against Lemon.
Over the past several weeks, Minneapolis has been the epicenter of unrest over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown after the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an ICE officer. Tensions between protesters and federal authorities have continued to escalate, with the administration planning to surge federal agents in the city.
The church protesters claimed in Lemon's video that a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul, David Easterwood, appeared to be a top ICE official in the Twin Cities. Once they entered the church, the protesters asked a different pastor leading the service to explain Easterwood's connection to the congregation, one of the protesters told CNN.
Videos of the moment shows the pastor who was leading the service repeatedly asking the protesters to leave.
Dozens of protesters can also been seen on video chanting “Justice for Renee Good” and engaging in angry exchanges with members of the congregation.
The Justice Department has arrested at least three people involved in the protests.
This story was updated with additional information.
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The Department of Homeland Security is actively recruiting from the far right as it seeks to hire 10,000 ICE agents.
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Under Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gone on an explicitly fascist zag as it seeks to recruit 10,000 additional U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Robert Reich and others have detailed in recent weeks how ICE is now actively seeking to recruit extremist young men from gun shows, Ultimate Fight Club venues, rodeos, martial arts centers, and other haunts for men who tend to have a far right political vision.
ICE is actively employing recruiters who use right-wing social media and influencer operations to get at potential recruits. And it is explicitly targeting young men who listen to “patriotic” (in other words, hard-right) podcasts. Part of ICE's “wartime recruitment” schtick now involves asking potential applicants if they want to repel “foreign invaders” — and then offering them $50,000 sign-up bonuses if they decide to join.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has, over the past year, researched the increasingly extreme language and imagery used in these recruitment campaigns. They include a “Your Country Needs You” poster of Uncle Sam, from August of last year, in which Uncle Sam asks “Which way, American Man?” One arrow points to “Invasion,” another to “Cultural Decline,” while a third points toward Uncle Sam and reads “Homeland.”
ICE is now actively seeking to recruit extremist young men from gun shows.
Another shows a father-son combo, both with features that the Nazis would have deemed acceptably “Aryan,” clad in body armor and holding assault rifles, with the caption “No Age Cap. Join ICE Now.”
Still another Uncle Sam recruitment poster from the summer reads, “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.” Other recruitment posters include a photo of a spacious family van, alongside the words “Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys? Think about how many criminal illegal aliens you could fit in this bad boy!”
A recent poster, shot from above, shows knights in armor, swords in both hands, in a circle, sword tips pointing inward, and a decal “THE ENEMIES ARE AT THE GATE. JOIN.ICE.GOV.” The agency is also using memes from popular video games to further their recruitment efforts.
Meanwhile, on January 9, DHS and the White House posted a recruitment video on Instagram titled “We'll have our home again,” accompanied by a visual image of a heroic-looking cowboy riding along the base of snow-covered mountains, and the Pine Tree Riots song “We'll have our home again,” which has, according to The Intercept, become increasingly popular within neo-Nazi subcultures.
ICE's “wartime recruitment” schtick now involves asking potential applicants if they want to repel “foreign invaders” — and then offering them $50,000 sign-up bonuses.
The chorus to this truly appalling song is “Oh by God we'll have our home again/ By God we'll have our home/ By blood or sweat, we'll get there yet/ By God we'll have our home.” The verses lament that “in our own towns, we're foreigners now/ Our names are spat and cursed.” And they decry the fate of “noble sons driven down beneath a coward's heel.” Not surprisingly, these lyrics are beloved by Proud Boys and other extremists — and now, apparently, by recruitment officers and propagandists at ICE.
Not to be outdone, the U.S. Department of Labor recently released on Facebook the following message: “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American” — a phrase that strongly echoed a slogan used within Nazi propaganda.
In many of these instances, the visual and audio similarities to Nazi wartime messaging is stark. ICE is using World War II recruitment memes; but it has inverted their meaning, so that classic American symbols, from Uncle Sam to the Statue of Liberty, are being invoked in service of a fanatical vision of purity and oneness.
In the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on January 7, the increasingly extremist agency has refused to modify its behavior or rhetoric.
The circumstances of Good's killing were particularly egregious: she was shot at least four times by agent Jonathan Ross, who shouted “fucking bitch” as he fired at her while she was clearly trying to drive away from the protest; and her reputation was subsequently slimed by Noem, Donald Trump, JD Vance, and other high-level administration officials who all accused her, without evidence, of being a paid agitator and a domestic terrorist. Those officials then doubled down and, even before any investigation had been carried out, claimed, as Vance put it, that Ross had “absolute immunity” for his actions on the streets of Minneapolis. To protect Ross's impunity, the FBI, under the egregious leadership of Kash Patel, has refused to share evidence with state investigators.
As anti-ICE protests spread, if anything, its parent organization DHS is upping the ante: days after the killing of Good, the department surged an additional 1,000 agents into Minneapolis, and the Department of Justice is moving federal prosecutors from around the Midwest into Minnesota to faster process the prosecution of protesters.
None of this has been conducive to assuaging growing national anger about ICE's tactics — tactics that even MAGA luminary Joe Rogan opposes: Rogan recently described Trump's ICE as behaving like “the Gestapo.”
The visual and audio similarities to Nazi wartime messaging is stark.
Each day since Good's killing, the protests have grown, only to be met with the deployment of masked, armed federal agents in military uniforms who have turned parts of Minneapolis into what looks like a war zone; and last week, on the same day that ICE agents shot another Minneapolis resident, this time non-fatally, Trump declared that he was leaning toward invoking the Insurrection Act so as to bring in active-duty military personnel to target the protesters.
Trump and his anti-immigrant wingman Stephen Miller seem to want to turn urban centers of the United States into permanent war zones, akin to Belfast during the Northern Irish “Troubles,” or the West Bank today.
DHS's explicit use of neo-Nazi references and imagery to recruit new agents for its rapidly expanding ICE force is a grim warning of where we are headed.
The scramble to pack ICE with far right recruits and instill in them a sense of total impunity risks pushing ICE toward becoming an organization similar to the Black and Tans in Ireland a little over a century ago — a group of British ex-soldiers who were hired by the British administration in Ireland to dole out death and torture against Irish civilians, raining down terror on public events and private homes alike in their effort to keep Ireland under the British imperial thumb.
As ICE deploys its forces to occupy immigrant neighborhoods of big, Democratic-run cities, its tactics resemble the way Israel polices Palestinians — ruthlessly and violently, with a nod-and-a-wink to civilian and military officers who know they will be exonerated if they shoot civilians. In both cases, the occupying police forces are quick to use baseless accusations of “terrorism” to justify their violence.
The day after Good was killed by ICE, DHS Secretary Noem spoke from a platform bedecked with the message “One of ours, all of yours,” seemingly implying that, in violation both of the law and of age-old moral codes, her department endorses collective punishment.
This is the U.S. in 2026. If there is an afterlife, I'm sure Joseph Goebbels, master propagandist of the Third Reich, is looking down and smiling, thin-lipped and cold-eyed, with approval.
Progressive nonprofits are the latest target caught in Trump's crosshairs. With the aim of eliminating political opposition, Trump and his sycophants are working to curb government funding, constrain private foundations, and even cut tax-exempt status from organizations he dislikes.
We're concerned, because Truthout is not immune to such bad-faith attacks.
We can only resist Trump's attacks by cultivating a strong base of support. The right-wing mediasphere is funded comfortably by billionaire owners and venture capitalist philanthropists. At Truthout, we have you.
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This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms:
Sasha Abramsky is a freelance journalist and a part-time lecturer at the University of California at Davis. Abramsky's latest book, American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government, is available for pre-order now and will be released in January. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, New York Magazine, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone. He also writes a weekly political column. Originally from England, with a bachelor's in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he now lives in Sacramento, California.
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The Trump administration has ordered a review of federal funding sent to more than a dozen Democratic-led states, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The sweeping scale of the review is outlined in a budget data request that was sent Tuesday to all federal departments and agencies except for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Office of Management and Budget memo, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed spending information to “facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.” Notably, the effort “does not involve withholding funds,” the memo says and is “part of a “data-gathering exercise.”
The request signals a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive strategy to target federal funding in blue states – an unprecedented policy approach triggered during last year's government shutdown that has rapidly accelerated in the wake of sweeping fraud allegations in Minnesota.
OMB Director Russel Vought has run point on the effort after spending President Donald Trump's past year in office re-engineering tools used by the agency, known as the federal government's “nerve center,” to exert new authority and power over the federal spending process.
The memo directs agencies to include in their spending reports all grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts and “other monetary awards” provided to 13 states and Washington, DC. All of the states voted for Democratic nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and 12 of the 13 states have Democratic governors. A fourteenth Democratic-led state has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The request directs agencies to include funding data on the states as well as their localities, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations operating or performing award activities there. The administration's plan to review the funding was first reported by RealClearPolitics.
The review is an expansion of an ongoing effort to build a full accounting of government spending in those states and will give the Trump administration options for how to address what they see as waste or abuse, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
That effort also includes options to counter blue-state policies that go against the administration's priorities, most notably on funding related to so-called “sanctuary cities,” the people said.
It also comes as Trump officials focus on the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal, and as the Justice Department works to create a new division of prosecutors and investigators focused on national fraud enforcement. CNN has reported that the White House recently pushed the FBI to investigate political campaigns in Minnesota over whether they illegally benefited from the fraud.
Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to visit the state later today.
Federal agencies have until Monday to provide data on California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, DC, the budget data request shows.
Virginia wasn't listed in the original memo, but has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.
They are being asked to hand over data on all grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts and other financial awards including those made to colleges and universities, the request states. Information should cover fiscal years 2025 and 2026, as well as projected spending for 2027, the memo says.
With Minnesota's scandals in the spotlight, the Trump administration has doubled down on its efforts to investigate fraud in federal support to states – particularly blue states – and often without evidence.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it would freeze $10 billion in federal childcare and social assistance funding to five Democratic-led states – California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York – suggesting the funds could have been subject to fraud. The states quickly sued, arguing the agency has not provided any evidence of fraud and saying the move would hurt many low-income families and children. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that is keeping the money flowing for now.
A federal judge has also temporarily halted the US Department of Agriculture's recent demand that Minnesota re-certify the eligibility of more than 100,000 food stamp enrollees in four counties within 30 days or face steep penalties, including possible disqualification from the program and a halt of federal administrative funding. In a letter to the state in December, the agency cited a multimillion dollar fraud scheme involving a USDA Covid-19 pandemic child nutrition relief program.
HHS said earlier this month that it would freeze federal child care payments to Minnesota and require all states to justify their spending of HHS funding before the money is released.
Trump has also vowed to cut off funding to sanctuary cities, a longtime target of his ire.
“Starting February 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens,” Trump said last week in an economic speech in Detroit. “And it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come with it.”
His previous efforts to stop funding to these jurisdictions have been repeatedly halted by courts.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a verbal understanding about Greenland during their meeting on Wednesday, but no document has been produced yet memorializing a future deal, people familiar with their discussion told CNN.
Trump and Rutte agreed to further discussions about updating a 1951 agreement between the US, Denmark and Greenland that governs the US military's presence on the island, the sources said. The deal framework also guarantees that Russia and China will be barred from any investments in Greenland and lays out an enhanced role for NATO in Greenland, they said.
Two of the sources said another element of a possible deal is increased US access to Greenland's natural resources, including its mineral reserves. But Rutte on Thursday denied that he had discussed this issue with Trump directly.
Five takeaways from Trump's antagonistic speech in Davos
The White House said previously that details of the plan would be released as they are finalized, and a spokeswoman repeated that Thursday.
“If this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland, at very little cost, forever. President Trump is proving once again he's the Dealmaker in Chief. As details are finalized by all parties involved, they will be released accordingly,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly.
CNN has reached out to Rutte's office for comment.
One person familiar with the discussions said Rutte did not want any formal documents prepared during his meeting with Trump because he was concerned they could leak — or be posted by Trump himself on social media. Trump earlier this week posted a private message Rutte sent to him ahead of their talks.
But the lack of any written documentation has caused some confusion among NATO allies about what was actually agreed upon. A document detailing the specific terms of a new deal is expected to be hammered out at the next meeting of the US-Denmark-Greenland working group, which was established last week after Danish and Greenlandic officials met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, two of the sources said. That meeting could happen as soon as next week in Washington, DC, one of the sources said.
NATO officials had also previously floated the idea that Denmark could allow the US to build more military bases in Greenland that would be constructed on land considered sovereign US territory, a NATO official told CNN. But Danish officials said there have been no direct discussions between Denmark and the US about the possibility of granting the US sovereign parcels of land, and a NATO spokesperson said Rutte did not discuss it with Trump on Wednesday.
“NATO is fully aware of the Kingdom of Denmark's position,” Denmark's prime minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement on Thursday. “We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty. I have been informed that this has not been the case.”
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Jenna Scott remembers the joy of being pregnant with her first and only child. She also remembers the immense abdominal pain.
During her pregnancy, she let her doctors know about the persistent discomfort. She was told it was normal, that the aches “came with the territory,” she said.
But after she delivered a healthy baby boy, the pain didn't fade. It lingered.
More than a year later, Scott received a diagnosis that shook her sense of normalcy: stage 4 colon cancer. She was 31 years old at the time.
“We did a colonoscopy and when I woke up, there was my husband, my doctor and four nurses in the room. The GI doctor said he didn't need to send anything off to pathology to know that I had cancer,” Scott, now 39, said in an email.
Stage 4 cancer, also known as metastatic cancer, means the cancer has spread from its original location to other parts of the body. For Scott, she said the disease spread from her colon to her liver.
“I've always been super fit and healthy. I've been an athlete all my life. I didn't even grow up eating red meat. In an instant, my life changed completely and unexpectedly,” she said. “I was in a state of disbelief because that word ‘cancer' didn't live in my world. Cancer means death.”
In a concerning trend, colorectal cancer now appears to be the deadliest cancer for young adults.
First-of-its-kind study may help explain why colorectal cancers are rising sharply in young people
Colorectal cancer has surpassed other cancer types to become the leading cause of cancer deaths among people under 50 in the United States, as of 2023, according to new research published Thursday in the medical journal JAMA.
Deaths from colon and rectal cancers in the under-50 age group rose by 1.1% annually since 2005, the research found. Because of this rise, colorectal cancer went from being the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths among people younger than 50 in the early 1990s to becoming the top cause in 2023.
“We don't know why it is increasing,” said Dr. Ahmedin Jemal, senior vice president of surveillance, prevention and health services research at the American Cancer Society and senior author of the new study.
“Mortality for the other major causes of cancer deaths in young adults under 50 is declining. It is only colorectal cancer mortality that is increasing, but we really don't know fully what contributes to this rising burden,” he said.
More young people are getting early-onset colorectal cancer. 5 things to know
Scott, an advocate for the nonprofit Colorectal Cancer Alliance, also finds the new research troubling.
After years of treatment – which included chemotherapy medications, targeted therapy and surgery – she is now in stable condition, but she said that she must “continue chemotherapy and targeted therapy indefinitely,” because each time she has stopped treatment before, the cancer came back and spread further to other organs in her body.
As she now continues treatment, Scott said that her goal is to “become a grandmother one day.”
For the new research, Jemal and his colleagues at the American Cancer society analyzed the annual numbers and rates of cancer deaths among people under 50 in the United States from 1990 through 2023, based on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
“It's the most complete data we have,” Jemal said.
The researchers examined the five leading causes of cancer death among the under-50 age group. They found that overall, from 1990 through 2023, more than 1.2 million people died of cancer in the United States before age 50, and the death rate fell by 44% during that time.
The data also showed that deaths decreased for every leading cancer type, except for colorectal cancer.
Among the five leading causes of cancer death in people under 50, the average annual decline in deaths from 2014 through 2023 was 0.3% for brain cancer, 1.4% for breast cancer, 2.3% for leukemia and 5.7% for lung cancer, according to the data.
The research findings suggest that as of 2023, the top five causes of cancer deaths among people younger than 50 in the United States were:
“We weren't expecting colorectal cancer to rise to this level so quickly, but now it is clear that this can no longer be called an old person's disease,” Jemal said in a news release.
“We must double down on research to pinpoint what is driving this tsunami of cancer in generations born since 1950,” he added. “In the meantime, people 45-49 years make up fifty percent of diagnoses under 50, so increased screening uptake will prevent disease as well as death.”
As more young people get screened, more colon cancer is being found early. Here's how to lower your risk
As a young adult with colorectal cancer, Scott said that the research findings were “pretty disturbing” for her.
“What has to happen to draw more awareness to this disease and the people who are mostly being affected by it today? Why are seemingly healthy adults and children continuing to die from this disease? Why are women becoming more and more affected? How do you prevent something when you nor your team of doctors know how you got it in the first place?” Scott said in the email. “We have to stop this increase in mortality.”
There are nearly 60 new colorectal cancer cases diagnosed in people under 50 each day in the United States, according to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance — that's a diagnosis about every 25 minutes.
The new research is an important reminder for people under 50 to stay up-to-date on their cancer screenings, Jemal said. It's recommended for people at average risk of colorectal cancer to start regular screening at age 45.
Yet “only 37% of adults ages 45 to 49 are up-to-date for their colorectal cancer screening,” Jemal said.
“Colorectal cancer screening can not only detect cancer at the early stage, but also it removes the polyps before it becomes cancer,” he said. “So, it's one of the two screening types that we have that not only detects cancer at early stage but also prevents it, the other being cervical cancer screening.”
Reduce your risk of colon and rectal cancer with these basic steps
The new research is “timely” and highlights a “red flag,” said Dr. Y. Nancy You, professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and director of its Young-onset Colorectal Cancer Program, who was not involved in the new paper.
But while screening for colorectal cancer among healthy younger adults with no symptoms is critically important, “that's only part of the story. I think there is a tremendous gap – and opportunity – in expeditiously diagnosing and treating people who are already symptomatic,” You said.
Common symptoms of colorectal cancer include:
“There is an unmeasurable group of young adults who have symptoms that may be consistent with colorectal cancer, but either sit on the symptoms because they are busy or are scared, or eventually access their health care system but encounter a provider who thinks it's just a hemorrhoid and doesn't trigger further investigations,” You said, referring to when patients' symptoms sometimes get dismissed by their providers.
“So, there are definitely delays in diagnosing young adults who are already symptomatic.”
Regular aspirin use may help lower risk of colorectal cancer, study finds, especially for those with unhealthy lifestyles
When there are delays in diagnosing cancer, it becomes more likely that the disease will be diagnosed at later stages, such as stage 3 or 4. When cancer is at an advanced stage, it may have spread beyond the tumor itself into surrounding regions or other parts in the body, making it more difficult to treat and the patient becomes less likely to survive, regardless of age.
That's why the increase in colorectal cancer deaths appears to be happening at a time when more people under 50 are being diagnosed with advanced-stage disease, said Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who was not involved in the new research.
For colorectal cancer, “those under 45 are not screened, so they're not diagnosed until they have symptoms. In many of those, about three-fourths, those symptoms are actually because they have much more advanced disease, and then the outcomes are worse, regardless of their age,” Cercek said, adding that the new research highlights a greater need to diagnose young patients quickly and not dismiss their symptoms because of age.
FDA approves blood test for colorectal cancer screening among average-risk adults in the US
It's estimated that more than 60% of colorectal cancer patients under 50 are diagnosed after the disease has already advanced to stage 3 or 4.
“In this younger group, when we do see later stage of diagnosis, that is highly associated with lower survival,” said Christine Molmenti, an associate professor and cancer epidemiologist at Northwell Health in New York, who was not involved in the new research.
“I've met a lot of patients under 50 with this disease, and I think it is very heartbreaking,” she said. “Anecdotally, what we see a lot of times is that these patients are healthy. They're fit. Sometimes they're athletes. There were a couple of patients who had not survived the disease, but their parents told us that they ran a marathon four months before their stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis. And often times young people ignore symptoms, or their symptoms are dismissed. So, I think there needs to be awareness.”
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Ukraine president accuses EU leaders of waiting for direction from Donald Trump in blistering speech at Davos
Davos live – latest updates
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken aim at Europe in a speech at Davos, accusing leaders of being in “Greenland mode” as they waited for leadership from Donald Trump on Ukraine and other geopolitical crises rather than taking action themselves.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words Europe needs to know how to defend itself,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the World Economic Forum. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.”
He added: “Europe remains in Greenland mode: maybe someone somewhere will do something.”
Zelenskyy's speech nodded toward the extraordinary demands by Trump for the US to take over Greenland, but largely eschewed criticism of the US president, instead blaming Europeans for remaining at the behest of an increasingly unpredictable White House.
He said: “Everyone gave attention to Greenland, and it is clear most leaders are not sure what to do about it. It seems like everyone is just waiting for America to cool down on this topic, hoping it will pass away. But what if it [does] not: what then?
“Europe must learn how to defend itself,” he added. “Sending 14 or 40 soldiers to Greenland – what is that meant to achieve? What message does that send to Putin? To China? And perhaps, most importantly, what message does it send to Denmark?”
During the speech, Zelenskyy also suggested that Ukraine could help defend Europe in the event of a Russian invasion of Greenland, saying: “We know what to do if Russian warships go near Greenland, Ukraine can help with that. They can sink near Greenland just as they do near Crimea.”
He also suggested that Europe should play a more muscular role in targeting Russia's “shadow fleet” of oil tankers that help bankroll its war machine, and said it remained too easy for Russia to bypass sanctions that allow it to continue mass-producing missiles and other ordinance.
The threats to Europe were existential for Nato, he said, and Europe needed a “united armed forces” that could defend the continent.
“Today, Europe relies only on the belief that if danger comes, then Nato will react. But no one has really seen the alliance in action. If Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond? Right now, Nato exists thanks to the belief that the United States will act … but what if it doesn't?”
Zelenskyy's speech – which mainly targeted Europe for failing to respond to the instability in US leadership – was delivered shortly after he met Trump to discuss stalled talks for a peace deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine.
Trump told reporters that his meeting with Zelenskyy was “good” but that there was “a ways to go”. His envoy Steve Witkoff is to meet Vladimir Putin later on Thursday. Witkoff said the fact that the meeting was called by the Russians was a good sign.
“I think we've got it down to one issue and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it's solvable,” Witkoff said before flying to Moscow. He was joined by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Asked at Davos whether he had a message for Putin, Trump said: “The war has to end.”
Geopolitical developments add to a sense of political anxiety that started building early last year.Olezzo/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
It is, to quote a recent Globe and Mail editorial, “a time of unthinkable things.”
Every day it feels like the Trump administration does something new to disrupt the global world order, as we used to know it.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, the U.S. President insulted Canada on the international stage, saying this country “lives because of the United States.” That affront came shortly after Trump posted a map on social media depicting Canada, Greenland and Venezuela as part of U.S. territory. It also followed Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech in Davos a day earlier, in which he called on middle powers to work together to protect sovereignty in a new era of power rivalry.
Carney stands with Greenland, criticizes Trump without naming him in blunt Davos speech
The roller-coaster of geopolitical developments is adding to a sense of political anxiety that started building early last year.
When U.S. President Donald Trump first made annexation threats against Canada, along with promises of a trade war, The Globe asked readers how they were feeling and received nearly 100 responses from people expressing angst about the future. A survey released in late March, 2025, by Mental Health Research Canada found 42 per cent of Canadians reported increased anxiety levels over the prior month, with many citing tensions with the U.S. as a factor.
Stefanie Peachey, a registered social worker based in Burlington, Ont., says more clients are asking for help to deal with fears over the upheaval south of the border and how it could affect them.
Does cannabis help you sleep? So far, the science is unclear
“Last year the underlying stress and uncertainty was linked to tariffs and how it would affect the cost of living,” says Peachey. “Now they see images on social media of armed ICE agents roaming the streets of American cities, throwing people to the ground and even shooting them. They are increasingly worried about their personal safety, their children's safety, their grandchildren's safety and the country's safety, too.”
In light of mounting tensions, we asked mental health experts for suggestions on how to cope. Whether you're feeling the weight of global events or struggling to stay informed without becoming overwhelmed, here is some of their advice.
Instead of worrying about what you can't change, concentrate on the areas of your life that you can influence, says Peachey. “The fundamental truth is that we cannot control external factors such as other people's actions, or government decisions.”
We need to consciously shift our attention away from elements beyond our reach and onto matters where our impact is meaningful, she adds. “Once we do that, we not only conserve valuable mental energy but also gain a sense of empowerment.”
The best way to move past despair caused by geopolitical events is to do something, says Amanda Friesen, associate professor and Canada research chair in political psychology at Western University. Get involved in your local community through organizations aimed at helping people or working on problems you care about, she says, adding that collective action is more effective than one person complaining.
“While politics can have a negative impact on a person, ignoring everything isn't particularly advantageous either,” Friesen explains. “My recommendation is to ‘think globally, act locally.' Concentrate on the issue really tearing you up and ask yourself, ‘Is there some organization locally that I could get involved with, donate money to or learn more about?' I guarantee you there is.”
Find a reputable news source or two that you feel you can rely on for well-balanced coverage, says Friesen. And rather than going down rabbit holes or watching endless videos, focus only on key developments.
“There is no such thing as full information on current events and reading hourly updates will do little for your personal knowledge or ability to act,” says Friesen. “Our cognitive and emotional systems are not prepared for the constant inflow of information. The more people tune into these possible threats, the more their mental and emotional health can deteriorate.”
Peachey recommends setting boundaries on news intake. Designate specific times for checking the news, such as 15 minutes in the morning and evening. Before engaging with news or social media, ask yourself, “‘Is this information helpful or harmful to my mental health?'” Peachey says this simple question can help people make more conscious choices about what they consume.
Take a walk in the snow. Spend time with friends and family. Work on a hobby. Peachey says self-care and doing things you enjoy isn't selfish. It is self-preservation and it helps equip you to handle uncertainty and anxious thoughts and to show up fully for yourself and those around you.
“There is good evidence that people who are lifelong learners, feel better and are more productive, too,” says Dr. David Gratzer, attending psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. “So learn a new language, sign up for a university course, watch a YouTube video on how to do a home repair or pick up a musical instrument you've always wanted to learn how to play.”
Gratzer says it's also vital to maintain healthy habits that support your overall well-being during stressful times. Following a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, incorporating regular physical movement into your daily routine and limiting alcohol, cannabis and caffeine can help regulate energy levels and mood.
Peachey says even short and simple activities such as taking five- to 10-minute stretch breaks can have a profound impact. “These breaks boost creativity, productivity and mood, breaking the cycle of anxious rumination,” she says. “A 15-minute daily walk may seem modest, but it can enhance blood circulation, elevate energy levels and provide a mental reset, offering clarity and respite from anxious thoughts.”
When anxiety takes over, it's easy to put familiar routines on hold. However, Peachey says maintaining structure in your day “is one of the best ways to create stability amid uncertainty. Continue with the things that regularly fill your time – going to work, exercising, seeing friends and engaging in hobbies.
“The self-accountability of keeping up with your daily activities and responsibilities will help you stay more present and reinforce the reality that life goes on, even in difficult times,” she says.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the reference to Western University.
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Ukrainian drone strikes inflicted damage on Russian oil and weapons facilities in widespread attacks carried out overnight on Jan. 22, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed.
Targets included Russia's Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, several radar stations in Russian-occupied Crimea, a drone storage facility in the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, command and observation post of Russian military personnel in Donetsk Oblast.
Tamanneftegaz, located in the village of Volna, Krasnodar Krai, operates the Taman transshipment complex, handling crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied hydrocarbon gases. The complex is one of the largest in the Black Sea region.
According to Ukraine's General Staff, there was a direct hit on the terminal, resulting in explosions and a fire. The extent of the damage is being assessed, it added.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent that it was drones operated by the SBU's Alpha special operations unit that struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal. The strike damaged technological pipelines at the terminal's berths and multiple oil storage tanks, according to the SBU source. Damage to shutoff valves caused petroleum products to leak and then ignite, the source said, adding that the fire covered about 7,000 square meters.
The source estimated preliminary losses at about $50 million and said the terminal's tank farm for storing petroleum products and liquefied gas exceeds 1 million cubic meters. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the SBU's claims.
Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratiev wrote on Telegram on the evening of Jan. 21 that as a result of the attack, four tanks containing petroleum products caught fire. He claimed that two enterprise employees died, and several others were injured in the attack.
Previously the terminal was attacked on Dec. 22, 2025, Ukraine's General Staff said. A source in Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent at the time that the Ukrainian strike damaged equipment at the oil terminal, the liquefied hydrocarbon gas pier, and other port infrastructure, triggering a large-scale fire.
Ukraine reported additional strikes on military targets in Russian-occupied regions, including Crimea, Kherson and Donetsk oblasts.
In Crimea, the Ukrainian military struck radar stations 59N6-E "Protivnik-GE", 55Zh6 Nebo-U, 55Zh6M Nebo-M, the General Staff said, adding that the extent of the damage is being assessed.
In the occupied part of Kherson Oblast, a drone storage facility in Novohryhorivka was also hit, the General Staff said.
In the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, the command and observation post of Russia's 76th Airborne Brigade and the military personnel of the 74th Motorized Brigade in Selydove, the ammunition depot of Russia's 101st separate logistics brigade in Debaltseve were hit, the General Staff said.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the military's claims.
Ukraine has escalated its strike campaign against oil facilities and military objects inside Russia and Russian-occupied territories throughout 2025 and into 2026, primarily relying on domestically developed drones
Reporter
Yuliia Taradiuk is a Ukrainian reporter at the Kyiv Independent. She has been working with Lutsk-based misto.media, telling stories of Ukrainian fighters for the "All are gone to the front" project. She has experience as a freelance culture reporter, and a background in urbanism and activism, working for multiple Ukrainian NGOs.
Yuliia holds B.A. degree in English language and literature from Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, she studied in Germany and Lithuania.
Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding Theranos' investors and is not eligible for release until December, 2031.Jeff Chiu/The Associated Press
Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of now-defunct blood testing startup Theranos, has asked U.S. President Donald Trump to release her from prison with nearly six years left before she is eligible for release.
Holmes sought to commute her 11-1/4-year sentence last year and her request remains pending, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Now 41, Holmes was convicted in 2022 on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy for cheating investors, and ordered to pay US$452-million in restitution. A federal appeals court upheld her conviction and sentence last February.
Prosecutors said Holmes lied to investors from 2010 to 2015 by promising Theranos' technology could run many medical tests on one blood drop from a finger prick.
Theranos was once valued at U$9-billion, and Forbes magazine estimated Holmes' net worth at US$4.5-billion in 2015.
Holmes would still owe restitution if Trump released her from prison, but would not owe it if he pardoned her.
She is housed at a minimum security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, and eligible for release in December, 2031.
The White House declined to comment on Holmes' request. Lawyers for Holmes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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President Donald Trump said on Jan. 22 that the United States is negotiating an arrangement to secure full access to Greenland with no payment in return and unconstrained by any time limit, with the president previously describing U.S control of the Arctic island as essential to both national and international security.
Barron Trump, son of the US president, contacted police in London last year after witnessing an alleged assault on a female friend while he and the woman were on a video call, a British court has been told.
A transcript of Trump's emergency call was shown during the trial of Matvei Rumiantsev, 22, at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London on Wednesday, the PA Media news agency reported.
Rumiantsev is accused of assault, actual bodily harm, two counts of rape, intentional strangulation and perverting the course of justice. He denies all charges. Rumiantsev's legal counsel declined to comment when reached by CNN.
On Wednesday, the woman told the court that Trump's intervention had helped stop Rumiantsev from killing her, according to British media reports.
“He helped save my life. That call was like a sign from God at that moment,” she said, the British newspaper Metro reported.
Rumiantsev's legal counsel told the court that the woman's claims were a “complete fabrication,” suggesting that the defendant had restrained her due to the fact that she was being “angry and violent,” Metro reported.
Trump, now 19, called the police after speaking to the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on January 18, 2025, the court heard, PA Media reported.
“I'm calling from the US, I just got a call from a girl… she's getting beat up,” Trump said, according to the transcript of his call with police.
“This was happening about eight minutes ago. I just figured out how to, how to call someone. It's really an emergency.”
Police investigating the allegations later asked Trump if he would be willing to provide a witness statement. Trump wrote in an email to police that what he saw was “very brief indeed but indeed prevalent,” the court was told Thursday.
“I didn't expect her to pick up due to the time difference,” Trump wrote in an email sent May 2, 2025.
“The phone was picked up,” he added.
“The individual who answered was a shirtless man with darkish hair. This view lasted maybe one second… then the view flipped to the victim,” said Trump, who added that the woman had told him “that this individual was giving her difficulty for a long time.”
Police replied to Trump's email, jurors were told, but did not receive a response to that or follow-up correspondence sent on July 1.
The trial continues. CNN has contacted the White House for comment.
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Private postmortem says unarmed US citizen was struck in arm, breast and head in shooting by immigration officer
A private autopsy has determined that Renee Good, the unarmed US citizen and mother killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, was shot three times, in her forearm, breast and head.
The independent postmortem was commissioned by lawyers in Chicago representing Good's family, and its findings were released late on Wednesday, ABC7 News reported.
The autopsy, described as preliminary, found three clear gunshot wounds on the 37-year-old's body, two of which were not immediately life-threatening. One struck her left forearm, and another entered her body through her right breast, but missed major organs.
A third shot struck her on the left side of her head near her temple then exited on the right side of her head, the New York Times reported. The newspaper said there was also a graze wound “consistent with a firearm injury, but with no penetration”.
The Good family's attorneys, Romanucci and Blandin, declined to release the full report, but said it would continue “to gather evidence” in connection with her death as it pursued what it said was a civil investigation, the Times said.
The findings align with incident reports, including transcripts of 911 calls, into the 7 January shooting, which chronicled two “apparent gunshot wounds” to the right side of Good's chest, and a “possible gunshot wound with protruding tissue on the left side of the patient's head”.
The death of Good, who relatives said was acting as a legal observer of a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Minneapolis, has raised tensions in the Minnesota city and sparked a fight between the Trump administration and local officials.
The White House and the Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly insisted that Good was a “domestic terrorist” who aimed her car at the ICE agent. The officer was forced to fire in self-defense, they claimed.
Multiple video clips of the encounter, however, show that Good was steering away from the agent as she tried to drive away, and at least two of the shots were fired from the side of the vehicle. State officials are angry that they have been cut out of an FBI inquiry, and that federal authorities are looking into Good's widow and Democratic leaders in Minnesota, including the governor, Tim Walz, and the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, and not the officer who killed Good, Jonathan Ross.
Separately, the justice department has said available video evidence “cleared” Ross, and that no criminal investigation was taking place.
“The Department of Justice doesn't just stand up and investigate because some congressman thinks we should, because some governor thinks that we should,” Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, told Fox News on Sunday.
The lack of an investigation led a wave of federal prosecutors to quit in protest. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has amplified its blaming of the victim, and support for an escalation of immigration enforcement activities, which have led to sometimes violent skirmishes with protesters and the arrests of US citizens and children.
On Thursday, the vice-president, JD Vance, is expected in Minneapolis and will speak in defense of Donald Trump's decision to send 3,000 federal law enforcement officers to the area.
MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. /TASS/. The Board of Peace could become one of the most consequential organizations in the world, US President Donald Trump has stated at the ceremony establishing the new structure in Davos, Switzerland.
He also mentioned significant progress being made in the settlement of the Ukraine issue. Additionally, Trump noted that the US has "great relationships" with the new leadership of Venezuela.
TASS has gathered key statements made by the US leader.
The Board of Peace will operate in cooperation with the UN and many countries: "We'll work with many others including the United Nations."
The board has every chance "to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created."
Great progress is being made on the Ukraine settlement: "We have meetings and we think we're making a lot of progress."
The conflict in Ukraine has proven the "most difficult" to resolve.
Iran is willing to negotiate with the US: "Iran does want to talk, and we will talk."
The US military budget will grow by 50% to $1.5 trillion in 2027.
The conflict in Gaza is coming to an end: "They have to give up their weapons, and if they don't do that, it's going to be the end of them."
The United States has "great relationships" with Venezuela's new leadership.
The US is opening Venezuela to their "giant oil companies."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting at the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/via Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday after talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos that the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalized, but that the vital issue of territory in its war with Russia remains unsolved.
In what he said was a positive sign of progress in long-running peace talks to end the four-year conflict, Zelensky said negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. would hold trilateral meetings for the first time in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.
He also said a deal was almost ready on economic recovery after the war with Russia, a key element of Kyiv-backed proposals to push back on an earlier U.S. peace plan seen as heavily favouring Moscow.
Zelensky opened his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a reference to the U.S. film 'Groundhog Day,' saying Europe and the wider world were trapped in a cycle of repeating the same debates while threats continue to evolve.
Reuters
Zelensky and Trump – who have met half a dozen times since Trump returned to the White House last year and upended U.S. policy on Ukraine – both said Thursday's talks were positive.
“I think the meeting with President Zelensky was good. It's an ongoing process,” Trump told reporters, saying that U.S. envoys were heading for talks in Moscow on Thursday. Asked what his message was for Putin, Trump replied: “The war has to end.”
Zelensky, who did not indicate he discussed territory with Trump on Thursday, had said earlier this week he would only travel to Davos if he could sign agreements with Trump on U.S. security guarantees and postwar reconstruction funding for Ukraine.
Trump said his meeting with Zelensky in Davos was 'good,' and repeated his call for the war in Ukraine to end.
The Associated Press
Zelensky has been saddled with an energy crisis at home from Russian air strikes that have left millions of Ukrainians across swathes of the capital and other regions without power and heating.
Zelensky described Russia's months-long onslaught as an attempt by Putin to freeze Ukrainians to death. Invoking Trump's operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to face charges before a U.S. court, he wondered aloud why Putin was not yet on trial.
U.S. envoy for Ukraine Steve Witkoff had told an audience at the World Economic Forum earlier on Thursday that good progress was being made in peace talks, after he met with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Davos.
“If both sides want to solve this, we're going to get it solved,” Witkoff said.
Employees walk at a compound of a thermal power plant damaged by multiple Russian missile strikes in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Wednesday.Roman Baluk/Reuters
Witkoff was due in Moscow later on Thursday with fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner – Trump's son-in-law – for talks with Putin on the possible plan to end Europe's deadliest war since World War Two.
After those discussions, negotiators would head directly to Abu Dhabi, Witkoff said on Thursday, “where there will be military-to-military talks and discussion of the prosperity package.”
Russia has been cool on the U.S.-led peace push, demanding that Kyiv give up part of its eastern Donetsk region which Moscow has been unable to conquer despite grinding forward on the battlefield.
Moscow agrees with Trump that Ukraine is holding up peace deal, Kremlin says
Putin said late on Wednesday that they would discuss a settlement on Ukraine and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction of Moscow-occupied land, as well as Trump's proposal for a Board of Peace, tasked with promoting peace around the world.
Critics of the proposal have said it would rival or undermine the United Nations.
The Kremlin said Putin's meeting with Witkoff and Kushner will take place after 7 p.m. Moscow time.
Ukraine's international bonds rallied more than 2 cents on Thursday as the bout of high-level diplomatic meetings lifted hopes in financial markets that progress could be made toward ending the war.
Russian air strikes hit several parts of Ukraine on Thursday. In the southern region of Odesa, a 17-year-old man was killed when a drone struck an apartment building, the regional governor said.
Eleven people were also wounded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih when a ballistic missile slammed into a residential building, officials said.
In the capital Kyiv, nearly 3,000 highrises across the city remained without heating on Thursday after Russia's latest attack earlier this week.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting at the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/via Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday after talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos that the terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalized, but that the vital issue of territory in its war with Russia remains unsolved.
In what he said was a positive sign of progress in long-running peace talks to end the four-year conflict, Zelensky said negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. would hold trilateral meetings for the first time in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.
He also said a deal was almost ready on economic recovery after the war with Russia, a key element of Kyiv-backed proposals to push back on an earlier U.S. peace plan seen as heavily favouring Moscow.
Zelensky opened his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a reference to the U.S. film 'Groundhog Day,' saying Europe and the wider world were trapped in a cycle of repeating the same debates while threats continue to evolve.
Reuters
Zelensky and Trump – who have met half a dozen times since Trump returned to the White House last year and upended U.S. policy on Ukraine – both said Thursday's talks were positive.
“I think the meeting with President Zelensky was good. It's an ongoing process,” Trump told reporters, saying that U.S. envoys were heading for talks in Moscow on Thursday. Asked what his message was for Putin, Trump replied: “The war has to end.”
Zelensky, who did not indicate he discussed territory with Trump on Thursday, had said earlier this week he would only travel to Davos if he could sign agreements with Trump on U.S. security guarantees and postwar reconstruction funding for Ukraine.
Trump said his meeting with Zelensky in Davos was 'good,' and repeated his call for the war in Ukraine to end.
The Associated Press
Zelensky has been saddled with an energy crisis at home from Russian air strikes that have left millions of Ukrainians across swathes of the capital and other regions without power and heating.
Zelensky described Russia's months-long onslaught as an attempt by Putin to freeze Ukrainians to death. Invoking Trump's operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to face charges before a U.S. court, he wondered aloud why Putin was not yet on trial.
U.S. envoy for Ukraine Steve Witkoff had told an audience at the World Economic Forum earlier on Thursday that good progress was being made in peace talks, after he met with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Davos.
“If both sides want to solve this, we're going to get it solved,” Witkoff said.
Employees walk at a compound of a thermal power plant damaged by multiple Russian missile strikes in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Wednesday.Roman Baluk/Reuters
Witkoff was due in Moscow later on Thursday with fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner – Trump's son-in-law – for talks with Putin on the possible plan to end Europe's deadliest war since World War Two.
After those discussions, negotiators would head directly to Abu Dhabi, Witkoff said on Thursday, “where there will be military-to-military talks and discussion of the prosperity package.”
Russia has been cool on the U.S.-led peace push, demanding that Kyiv give up part of its eastern Donetsk region which Moscow has been unable to conquer despite grinding forward on the battlefield.
Moscow agrees with Trump that Ukraine is holding up peace deal, Kremlin says
Putin said late on Wednesday that they would discuss a settlement on Ukraine and the possibility of using frozen Russian assets for reconstruction of Moscow-occupied land, as well as Trump's proposal for a Board of Peace, tasked with promoting peace around the world.
Critics of the proposal have said it would rival or undermine the United Nations.
The Kremlin said Putin's meeting with Witkoff and Kushner will take place after 7 p.m. Moscow time.
Ukraine's international bonds rallied more than 2 cents on Thursday as the bout of high-level diplomatic meetings lifted hopes in financial markets that progress could be made toward ending the war.
Russian air strikes hit several parts of Ukraine on Thursday. In the southern region of Odesa, a 17-year-old man was killed when a drone struck an apartment building, the regional governor said.
Eleven people were also wounded in the central city of Kryvyi Rih when a ballistic missile slammed into a residential building, officials said.
In the capital Kyiv, nearly 3,000 highrises across the city remained without heating on Thursday after Russia's latest attack earlier this week.
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Editor's note: The story was updated with additional details.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his new Board of Peace during a signing ceremony in Davos on Jan. 22, in an event attended by leaders and officials from 19 signatory states.
The new body is launched primarily to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, but U.S. officials said it would be expanded to other conflict regions.
A White House official confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the Board could play a role in other situations, subject to the chairman's discretion and the consent of the relevant states, without ruling out engagement on Russia's war in Ukraine.
"This is not just a 'Board of Peace,' this is a board of action," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after signing.
"It is going to be a successful effort, and you see it reflected here today among countries of different backgrounds from different parts of the world."
Countries represented at the opening ceremony included Turkey, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Argentina, Pakistan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Others, including Belarus, Israel, and Vietnam, have also said they would join the Board, while France, Norway, and Sweden have rejected.
Russia has been invited and said it was considering the option, while Trump claimed that Moscow had already accepted.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine had also received an invitation, but stressed that any such effort could only take place after the war ends.
"With Russians, we are enemies. Belarus — (they are) allies of the Russians. We can't be with them. I think so it will work with a monitor mission only after the war ends for us," he said.
While critics fear that the Board could become a competitor to the U.N., Trump claimed it would work in conjunction with the international organization. The U.S. president is chairing the body, which requires a $1 billion fee to secure a permanent seat.
Addressing an audience during the ceremony in Switzerland, Trump hailed the coming "peace in the Middle East" and repeated his claim that he had settled eight conflicts, promising that "another one's coming pretty soon" in reference to Ukraine.
Trump, who is meeting Zelensky later in the day, acknowledged that the Russia-Ukraine war has been the most difficult to settle so far.
The ceremony took place the same day as Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are scheduled to travel to Moscow to present Russian President Vladimir Putin with a 20-point peace framework for Ukraine.
Witkoff has been optimistic about the progress in negotiations, noting that the talks are "down to one issue."
Zelensky previously said the peace deal is "90% ready," even as some of the most thorny issues — including Moscow's demand that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region — remain unresolved.
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"Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech by saying Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed, and nothing has changed," Zelensky said.
A White House official told the Kyiv Independent that the Board could play a role in different situations, without ruling out engagement on Russia's war in Ukraine.
"We will not tolerate any violation," Emmanuel Macron said. "We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions."
The cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast came under attack in the afternoon on Jan. 22, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
Ukraine reported additional strikes on military targets in Russian-occupied regions, including Crimea, Kherson and Donetsk oblasts.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the official involved is Serhiy Deineko, who headed the State Border Guard from 2019 to Jan. 4, 2026.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters that the deal would hinge on NATO allies doing more to strengthen Arctic security.
The Kyiv Independent is launching a new "Through darkness, I stand with Ukraine" collection to help those suffering as a result of the escalating crisis caused by Russia's relentless attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Heating was restored to 227 buildings overnight for the second time in two weeks after two massive Russian attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital, according to the mayor.
"Given the special relationship with the Palestinian people, Russia could direct $1 billion from Russian assets frozen under the previous U.S. administration to the Board of Peace," Putin said, referring to Trump's indications that a $1 billion payment would secure a permanent seat on the board.
Former special counsel gives evidence on his handling of two federal investigations into Trump
Jack Smith testifies evidence showed Trump crimes in 2020 election effort
In his opening remarks today, House judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan slammed Jack Smith and his two failed investigations into the president.
“It was always about politics and to get president Trump. They were willing to do just about anything,” Jordan said.
He maintained that the probes into the president were part of a scheme to prevent Trump's re-election. Jordan repeated the ruling by judge Aileen Cannon – who dismissed the classified documents case – saying Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.
“In spite of the Left and the weaponization efforts of Jim Comey, Alvin Bragg, Bonnie Willis and Jack Smith, we the people saw through it all, and we elected President Trump twice,” Jordan concluded.
Jayapal then asked Smith how he would describe “the toll on our democracy if we do not hold a president accountable for attempting to steal an election”.
Smith replied:
My belief is that if we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards of the rule of law, it can be catastrophic, because if they don't have to follow the law it's very easy to understand why people think they don't have to follow the law as well. So I think the law should be applied equally to everyone.
And asked about the toll for future elections and presidents who try to steal an election, Smith said:
I believe that if we don't hold people to account when they commit crimes in this context, it can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers, and ultimately, our democracy.
The attack on this Capitol on January 6 was … an attack on the structure of our democracy.
Responding to questions from Democratic representative Pramila Jayapal, of Seattle, about what his investigation found, Jack Smith gave the following answers:
Did your investigation find that Donald Trump attempted to manufacture fraudulent slates of presidential electors in seven states that he lost? Yes.
Did he pressure state officials to ignore true vote counts in those states? Yes.
Did he spread lies and conspiracy to his followers to make them believe that the election had been illegally rigged against him? Yes.
Did he pressure DOJ officials to stop the certification of the election? He did.
Did he pressure his own vice-president, Mike Pence, to stop the certification, against the oath of office he had sworn to the constitution? He did.
And when all of this didn't work, did he – Donald Trump – motivate and inspire an angry mob tot he US Capitol to stop the certification. Our proof showed that he caused what happened on January 6, that it was foreseeable and that he exploited that violence.
Did Donald Trump know that his allegations of election fraud were lies when he spread them? Our proof was that he did and we intended to prove that at trial.
He even privately admitted that he lost the election, correct? Yes.
As Jack Smith continues to testify, Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social claiming that he “is being DECIMATED before Congress”.
The US president repeated his attack on Smith as a “deranged animal” and said he hoped that attorney general Pam Bondi “is looking at what he's done, including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me”.
“The whole thing was a Democrat SCAM — A big price should be paid by them for what they have put our Country through!” Trump went on.
A reminder that Trump has frequently called on Bondi and the DOJ to investigate individuals he perceives to be his political adversaries, and the department has brought cases against several of them.
Two people were arrested on Thursday morning in connection with a controversial protest at a Minnesota church on Sunday, Pam Bondi posted on social media.
The two people, who the attorney general identified as Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, were taken into custody on Thursday. Charging papers were not immediately available and the justice department did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi said in a post on X.
The White House and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, celebrated Armstrong's arrest on social media and posted a picture of her being detained. Armstrong was being charged under a statute that makes it a crime to conspire to block someone from exercising their civil rights.
The disruption at Cities church in St Paul took place after demonstrators alleged that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, was the acting field director of the St Paul ICE office. The upset at a religious institution has caused widespread outrage among conservatives and the Trump administration has pledged to bring charges.
Jack Smith said earlier that he opted not to charge Trump with insurrection, but he is asserting clearly that the January 6 Capitol riot was principally the fault of the president.
“Our assessment of the evidence is that he is the person most responsible for what happened on January 6,” Smith said. “He caused what happened. It was foreseeable to him, and then when it happened, he tried to exploit it in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
Republicans on the judiciary committee have been very focused on Jack Smith's toll records of phone calls between Trump, the White House and members of Congress who supported the president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
As we noted earlier, toll records don't contain the content of the conversations, but Republicans are framing Smith's move to obtain the records – and get a gag order to prevent targeted lawmakers from being notified – as spying.
Smith has rebutted that several times, including in previous closed door testimony where he said that he was examining lawmakers because Trump was trying to enlist them in efforts to disrupt the 6 January 2021 certification.
Still, Smith has not directly addressed the technical point that obtaining toll records of members of Congress risked violating the speech or debate clause in the constitution, namely that obtaining a gag order meant there was no way for lawmakers to challenge him in court.
A quick note that throughout this hearing, ranking member Jamie Raskin has chided House Republicans on the committee for not letting Jack Smith answer their questions.
Representative Brandon Gill snapped back, insisting that this was not Raskin's time, after the top Democrat told him that he was not giving Smith a chance to reply.
Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican from California, finished his heated questioning of Jack Smith saying that “I yield back in disgust of this witness”.
The representative blasted Smith for going after “political enemies”.
“Maybe they're not your political enemies,” Issa said. “But they sure as hell were Joe Biden's political enemies, weren't they? They were Harris's political enemies. They were the enemies of the president.”
While answering questions from lawmakers earlier, Jack Smith defended gathering “toll data” from lawmakers' personal mobile phones as part of his fake-elector investigation, known as “Arctic Frost”.
A reminder that as part of the probe, the FBI subpoenaed phone records of several Republican members of Congress. Notably this did not include the content of any correspondence, but the metadata of the calls.
“We wanted to conduct a thorough investigation of the matters that was assigned to me, including attempts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said. “It was relevant to get toll records to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking to influence, who was seeking to help them.”
The former special counsel also said that it is “common practice” to obtain non-content toll records in complex investigation.
While speaking in Toledo, Ohio, vice-president JD Vance slammed the ongoing demonstrations against federal immigration agents in Minneapolis (where he's due to visit later today).
“If you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country. It's not that hard,” he said during his Thursday remarks at a shipping facility.
He went on to say that people should show their disapproval at the ballot box, not by going “to the street and assaulting federal law enforcement.”
“It's cowardly bullshit,” he added.
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The search for a replacement for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has taken yet another turn, with a dark horse contender gaining momentum: BlackRock's Rick Rieder.
While the decision is still fluid, people familiar with the matter told CNN that the finance executive left a positive impression on those in attendance at his sit-down interview with President Donald Trump last week.
For months, the Trump administration has teased a long list of candidates to take over when Powell's term as chair ends in May. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has spearheaded the search for the key economic role, presenting Trump with four final candidates ahead of the expiration of Powell's term: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett; former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh; Fed Governor Christopher Waller; and Rieder, BlackRock's chief bond investment manager.
On Wednesday, Trump indicated that he has narrowed down the field. In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he repeated his preference that Hassett, long seen as the front-runner, remain in his current role.
And in a Wednesday afternoon interview with CNBC, Trump said Rieder was “very impressive.”
“I'd say we're down to three, but we're down to two. And I can probably tell you, we're down to maybe one, in my mind,” he said of his candidate list.
It would not be the first time he has made such a claim, only to reverse course. The indecision highlights the riddle of how to find a Trump loyalist who is palatable for markets and Congress and who can also successfully navigate the stark division at the Fed to deliver Trump's desired lower rates.
The White House isn't commenting on the Fed chair process or specific candidates until the president makes a decision.
Trump's pick for Fed chair is already on track to disappoint him
Rieder's interview, which took place the same day he was spotted at a White House ceremony honoring the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, marked the final scheduled candidate meeting for Trump, the people said.
Rieder's initial meeting at the Oval Office with Trump included Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Bessent, the people said. Dan Scavino, the deputy chief of staff who leads the White House personnel office, was also in attendance.
Rieder's candidacy has largely flown under the radar despite high regard on Wall Street and regular appearances on business television to share his views on markets.
Rieder, who met with Bessent in New York for several hours last September and has been a fixture on the Fed shortlist since, is the only candidate of the final four without experience at the Fed or in government service.
That outsider status is viewed as a positive inside the White House: Aside from Trump's unprecedented attacks on Powell, Trump's economic aides regularly press the need for a shakeup in how the central bank functions.
Rieder's television appearances and BlackRock commentary have also drawn positive reviews inside the administration for an executive who, up until now, hasn't been a known commodity in Washington political circles. He has detailed a clear and positive view of the US investment climate under Trump that will accelerate growth going forward.
On monetary policy, Rieder last week said concerns about the labor market are front and center and should mean that the central bank ”will respond with modest reductions in the policy interest rate,” though officials “will probably choose to wait a meeting, or so, to begin cutting rates again.”
The Fed's benchmark lending rate should drop to 3% from its current range of 3.5-3.75%, Rieder said in an interview with CNBC last week. That would imply a few more quarter-point rate cuts than the one reduction the Fed has penciled in for 2026.
Higher rates allow “wealthy, older savers to do well” at the expense of small business owners and lower-income individuals, he said, noting that cutting rates “would be quite helpful to much of the country.”
The Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates any time soon. Here's why that might be good news
Trump has disparaged Powell for not lowering rates quickly enough and continues to call on the Fed to aggressively bring down rates, which were raised after the pandemic as inflation surged. In his address at Davos on Wednesday, Trump again reiterated that the United States should have rates that are among the lowest in the world.
Whoever Trump picks for Fed chair will have the difficult task of laying out a convincing economic argument for several more rate cuts before the Fed's 12-person rate-setting committee.
Fed officials in recent speeches have said they're inclined to hold borrowing costs steady for some time to see how the economy responds to the three rate cuts they delivered late last year.
Rieder does not have a traditional central banking background, with experience instead in fixed-income markets and portfolio management. He's worked at hedge fund giant BlackRock since 2009.
Prior to that, Rieder founded and ran R3 Capital Partners, which BlackRock acquired. He also worked at Lehman Brothers for about two decades, leaving around the time of its collapse in 2008.
From 2017 to 2024, he was also a member of the New York Fed's Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.
Rieder was also vice chair of the US Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of senior private-sector individuals who meet with members of the Treasury Department quarterly. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack served as chair of that committee before joining the regional bank.
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MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained an agent of Moldovan intelligence services in Moscow who came to carry out an assignment detrimental to Russia's security, the FSB's press service reported.
"It has been established that in December 2025, a Russian citizen entered Moscow with the purpose of carrying out a task for the Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova, directed against Russia's security, during the preparation of which he was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service," the press service stated. Correspondence with an employee of the Moldovan intelligence service was found on his seized communication devices, confirming these circumstances.
The FSB's Investigative Directorate has initiated a criminal case based on signs of a crime under article 275.1 of Russia's criminal code (confidential cooperation with a foreign state, international or foreign organization), and a preventive measure in the form of detention has been imposed. The article provides for up to 8 years of imprisonment. "The detainee is confessing. An investigation is underway," the FSB noted.
"This is not the first instance where the intelligence services of the Republic of Moldova, despite receiving financial and advisory support from Western patrons and despite the high probability of exposure, have infiltrated their agents into Russia," the Federal Security Service noted. For example, in May 2025, two agents of Moldovan intelligence were detained in Moscow, having entered Russia on forged documents to carry out unlawful activities detrimental to the security of our country.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Jan. 21 that Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to join Trump's new Board of Peace for Gaza.
"He was invited. He's accepted," Trump said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in referring to Putin.
Despite Trump's assertions, Putin did not publicly confirm the acceptance of the U.S. president's invitation during a meeting of the Russian security council, suggesting instead that Moscow will "consult with our strategic partners" as the Russian Foreign Ministry reviews the details.
Dozens of countries across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and elsewhere have been invited to the new body designed to oversee the Gaza transition as part of Trump's 20-point plan on ending the Israel-Hamas war.
Governments have been divided on the proposal, as critics fear that the Trump-chaired body — requiring a $1 billion payment to secure a permanent seat — could serve as an alternative to the U.N., an organization the U.S. president has often criticised.
Putin on Jan. 21 suggested that Moscow may pay for the $1 billion permanent seat with Russian frozen assets held by the United States.
"Given the special relationship with the Palestinian people, Russia could direct $1 billion from Russian assets frozen under the previous U.S. administration to the Board of Peace," Putin said, referring to the approximately $5 billion frozen by the Biden administration at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has not yet commented on Putin's apparent offer.
The U.S.-led board aims to take temporary charge of Gaza's administration and reconstruction efforts. U.S. officials have reportedly also discussed expanding the body to include other conflict zones, including Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Jan. 20 that Ukrainian diplomats are reviewing an invitation by Trump for Kyiv to also join the Board of Peace. However, Zelensky stressed it would be "difficult to imagine" sitting at the body alongside Russia and Belarus.
"Russia is our enemy, Belarus is their ally," Zelensky told journalists.
Despite Trump's plans to meet Zelensky in Davos, the Ukrainian president cancelled plans to attend the forum, choosing to remain in Ukraine amid continued Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
Senior News Editor
Dmytro Basmat is a senior news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He previously worked in Canadian politics as a communications lead and spokesperson for a national political party, and as a communications assistant for a Canadian Member of Parliament. Basmat has a Master's degree in Political Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University.
"Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech by saying Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed, and nothing has changed," Zelensky said.
A White House official told the Kyiv Independent that the Board could play a role in different situations, without ruling out engagement on Russia's war in Ukraine.
"We will not tolerate any violation," Emmanuel Macron said. "We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions."
The cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast came under attack in the afternoon on Jan. 22, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
Ukraine reported additional strikes on military targets in Russian-occupied regions, including Crimea, Kherson and Donetsk oblasts.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the official involved is Serhiy Deineko, who headed the State Border Guard from 2019 to Jan. 4, 2026.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters that the deal would hinge on NATO allies doing more to strengthen Arctic security.
The Kyiv Independent is launching a new "Through darkness, I stand with Ukraine" collection to help those suffering as a result of the escalating crisis caused by Russia's relentless attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Heating was restored to 227 buildings overnight for the second time in two weeks after two massive Russian attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital, according to the mayor.
Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales leaves the courtroom as the jury goes back to deliberate during his trial at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday.Sam Owens/The Associated Press
A former Uvalde police officer was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he failed in his duties to confront the gunman at Robb Elementary during the critical first minutes of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzales, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the 2022 attack, which killed 19 children and two teachers.
Gonzales appeared to close his eyes and take a deep breath as he stood to hear the verdict in a Corpus Christi courtroom hundreds of miles from Uvalde, where Gonzales' attorneys argued that he could not receive a fair trial. After the verdict was read, he hugged one of his lawyers and appeared to be fighting back tears.
“Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” Gonzales told reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he declined.
Moments after the verdict was read, several members of families of the victims sat in silence, some crying or wiping away tears.
“Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith,” said Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed. He said he was frustrated by the verdict and hopes the state will press ahead with the trial of former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the only other officer who has been charged over the police response.
“Those children in the cemetery can't speak for themselves,” Rizo said.
Arredondo's trial has not yet been set.
Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving the courthouse.
The nearly three-week trial was a rare case in the U.S. of an officer facing criminal charges on accusations of failing to stop a crime and protect lives. Gonzales had faced the possibility of up to two years in prison if convicted.
The proceedings included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot and survived. Prosecutors argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he entered the school.
“We're expected to act differently when talking about a child that can't defend themselves,” special prosecutor Bill Turner said during closing arguments Wednesday. “If you have a duty to act, you can't stand by while a child is in imminent danger.”
At least 370 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the gunman. Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, angering some victim's relatives who said they wanted more to be held accountable.
Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment and endangerment — each count representing the 19 students who were killed and 10 others who were injured.
During the trial jurors heard a medical examiner describe the fatal wounds to the children, some of whom were shot more than a dozen times. Several parents told of sending their children to school for an awards ceremony and the panic that ensued as the attack unfolded.
Gonzales' lawyers said he arrived upon a chaotic scene of rifle shots echoing on school grounds and never saw the gunman before the attacker went inside the school. They also insisted that three other officers who arrived seconds later had a better chance to stop the gunman.
Gonzales' attorney, Jason Goss, told jurors before they began deliberating that his client was not responsible for the attack.
“The monster that hurt those kids is dead,” Goss said. “It is one of the worst things that ever happened.”
A conviction would tell police they have to be “perfect” when responding to a crisis and could make them even more hesitant in the future, Goss said.
Some victims' families made the long drive to watch Gonzales' trial. Early on the sister of one of the teachers killed was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer's testimony.
Gonzales' trial was tightly focused on his actions in the early moments of the attack, but prosecutors also presented the graphic and emotional testimony as the result of police failures.
State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.
Prosecutors faced a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Florida. A sheriff's deputy was acquitted after being charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting.
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MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. The filing of corruption charges and the arrest of associates of Vladimir Zelensky have become a "good anti-corruption tradition," Kirill Dmitriev, Special Representative of the Russian president and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said.
"For the second time now - right before Zelensky meets Trump - one of Zelensky's closest associates gets arrested/indicted on corruption charges. This is becoming a good anti-corruption tradition," he wrote on X, commenting on reports that Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies had brought charges against a former deputy head of Zelensky's office.
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau earlier said it had uncovered a scheme to "appropriate funds intended for payments under the ‘green' tariff," with total "losses" amounting to 141.3 million hryvnia, or about $3.2 million. The bureau did not disclose names. Verkhovna Rada member Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on his Telegram channel that the individual involved was Rostislav Shurma, who served as deputy head of Zelensky's office under Andrey Yermak from November 2021 to September 2024.
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
An oil terminal near the village of Volna in Russia's Krasnodar Krai was struck, sparking a blaze, killing three people and injuring eight others, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev and independent media reported late on Jan. 21.
"There is currently a fire at the terminals, with four oil product tanks on fire. To deal with the consequences, 97 people and 29 pieces of equipment, including employees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, have been mobilized," Kondratyev claimed.
Volna is located just east of Crimea's Kerch Peninsula and about 325 kilometers (200 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled territory near Nikopol.
This is the second night in a row Krasnodar Krai has been under attack, Kondratyev said.
In the early hours of Jan. 21, 11 people were injured, and one was killed in an overnight attack in Russia's Republic of Adygea, while a separate drone strike sparked a fire at an oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai.
Drones struck Krasnodar Krai's Afipsky oil refinery, sparking a fire at the facility, Russian media and local authorities reported.
The refinery is one of the largest in southern Russia. It has been repeatedly targeted in previous drone attacks, including strikes reported last September and November that caused fires at the facility.
Ukraine considers Moscow's energy sites as military targets as they directly fund Russia's war against Ukraine. Kyiv regularly strikes deep within Russia in an effort to diminish the Kremlin's fighting power.
News Editor
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn is a news editor for The Kyiv Independent. He is pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto, majoring in political science with a minor in anthropology and human geography. Volodymyr holds a Certificate in Business Fundamentals from Rotman Commerce at the University of Toronto. He previously completed an internship with The Kyiv Independent.
"Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech by saying Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed, and nothing has changed," Zelensky said.
A White House official told the Kyiv Independent that the Board could play a role in different situations, without ruling out engagement on Russia's war in Ukraine.
"We will not tolerate any violation," Emmanuel Macron said. "We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions."
The cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast came under attack in the afternoon on Jan. 22, according to Ukraine's Air Force.
Ukraine reported additional strikes on military targets in Russian-occupied regions, including Crimea, Kherson and Donetsk oblasts.
Law enforcement sources confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the official involved is Serhiy Deineko, who headed the State Border Guard from 2019 to Jan. 4, 2026.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters that the deal would hinge on NATO allies doing more to strengthen Arctic security.
The Kyiv Independent is launching a new "Through darkness, I stand with Ukraine" collection to help those suffering as a result of the escalating crisis caused by Russia's relentless attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Heating was restored to 227 buildings overnight for the second time in two weeks after two massive Russian attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital, according to the mayor.
"Given the special relationship with the Palestinian people, Russia could direct $1 billion from Russian assets frozen under the previous U.S. administration to the Board of Peace," Putin said, referring to Trump's indications that a $1 billion payment would secure a permanent seat on the board.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 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 LSEG.
The Buffalo Bills lost 33-30 in OT to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional round, and have fired their head coach Sean McDermott. Colin Cowherd analyzes the game, and asks if this was the right move by the Bills.
Buffalo Bills wide Brandin Cooks said that he caught what ultimately turned into a controversial interception in the Denver Broncos' overtime victory on Saturday night.
Cooks, 32, had the ball taken away from him by Broncos defensive back Ja'Quan McMillan after he seemingly completed the catch. The referees ruled it an interception, taking the ball away from the Bills.
"At the end of the day, it was a catch. Not just what it looked like, like you said, but what it felt like," Cooks said during a recent appearance on NFL Network's "Good Morning Football."
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Ja'Quan McMillian of the Denver Broncos intercepts a pass intended for Brandin Cooks of the Buffalo Bills during overtime in the AFC divisional playoff game at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 17, 2026. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
"You see examples throughout the league all year, in previous years, and you like, wait a minute, if that was the catch, then there's a no-brainer that this was the catch. But I think when you look back at it, the time that was spent on it to review it wasn't enough."
Cooks lamented the lack of time that was spent on the review, given the magnitude of the call. If it was ruled a catch, it would have moved the Bills into field goal range with a chance to win the game on a kick. Instead, the interception gave the Broncos the ball back to their offense with a chance to win the game.
"The first thing you think about, well, it's overtime, so we can't challenge it. And so, when the timeout happens, I'm like, okay, there's hope here," Cooks said.
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION COACH SLAMS BILLS FOR FIRING SEAN MCDERMOTT AFTER CRUSHING PLAYOFF LOSS
Denver Broncos cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian intercepts a pass intended for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks during overtime of an AFC divisional round playoff game at Empower Field at Mile High. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
"Like, OK, they're about to take a look at this thing, and get it right. And that's what's going through my mind, right? The offense is marching out there for Denver. Like, wait, hold on. You know, that timeout is going to get them some time to be able to, you know, look this through. Clearly, they didn't look it through enough and, you know, here we are."
What frustrated Cooks further, is that he was certain that he held onto the ball and made what could have been the game-winning catch.
"(My) knee hit, shoulder hit, back hit, whatever the case may be, my hands never left that ball, right? The other thing is the tie goes to offense, but I really feel in my heart of hearts that I caught that ball and ,you know, it doesn't matter now what I think or what I know," Cooks said.
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Denver Broncos cornerback Ja'Quan McMillian (29) reacts after intercepting a pass intended for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks (18) during overtime of an NFL divisional round playoff football game in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
After the crushing playoff defeat, the Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott. Bills owner Terry Pegula told reporters on Wednesday that his decision to fire McDermott was based on the results of the team's 33-30 overtime loss to the Broncos on Sunday.
Cooks signed with the Bills in late November to help bolster their wide receiving corps. In five regular season games with the Bills, he caught five passes for 114 yards. In two playoff games, Cooks caught five passes for 78 yards.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Thursday that they arrested an alleged organized crime figure in the western state of Michoacan in connection with last October's killing of an outspoken leader of the state's lime growers.
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said that authorities arrested the man known as “El Botox,” allegedly responsible for extorting lime growers and for various homicides, including the killing of agricultural leader Bernardo Bravo.
A Michoacan state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the suspect's full name was César Alejandro Sepúlveda Arellano, leader of a group known as the White Trojans, or Blancos de Troya. The group is known to work with Los Viagras, a criminal organization allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
García Harfuch said there were 11 arrest orders for him for extortion and homicide. He has also been accused of attacking authorities with explosives.
Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said in a statement that his arrest Thursday represented “an overwhelming blow against extortion” in the state, which is Mexico's largest producer of limes and avocados.
In October, the body of Bravo, president of the Apatzingan Valley Citrus Producers Association, was found in his vehicle on a road in the area.
Bravo had denounced “organized crime's permanent commercial hijacking of any commercial activity.”
Two weeks after his killing, a gunman killed popular Uruapan Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo, another outspoken critic of the cartels' control of Michoacan. The two homicides and the popular outcry that followed spurred the administration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to send more troops to Michoacan.
___
Follow AP's Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
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The AP examines President Donald Trump's comments he made earlier at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, insisting he would not use force to acquire Greenland. Many Greenlanders think Trump is dismissing them as a people. (AP video by Kwiyeon Ha)
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after a meeting in the Foreign Policy Committee at Christiansborg in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026./ (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
President Donald Trump talks to media after a meeting about Greenland during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen speaks to journalists during press conference in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
An Aurora Borealis is seen in the sky above Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
▶ Follow live updates on the 2026 World Economic Forum
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark's prime minister insisted that her country can't negotiate on its sovereignty and Greenland's leader said Thursday it's a “red line” after U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with the head of NATO.
Much about the potential deal remained unclear, though Trump said in a Fox Business interview that “we're going to have total access to Greenland.” He added that “we're going to have all the military access we want.”
Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership” — though he also said he would not use force.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen voiced guarded relief, but he said he knew no concrete details of the agreement Trump cited.
“‘I don't know what there is in the agreement, or the deal about my country,” he told reporters.
Trump said the deal, if completed, will also allow the United States to install an element of his “Golden Dome,” part of a multibillion dollar missile defense system, in Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said security in the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it is “good and natural” that it be discussed between the U.S. president and Rutte. She said in a statement that she had spoken with Rutte “on an ongoing basis,” including before and after he met Trump in Davos.
She wrote that “we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty” and added: “I have been informed that this has not been the case.”
Frederiksen said that Denmark wants to continue engaging in constructive dialogue with allies on how to strengthen security in the Arctic, including the Golden Dome program, “provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity.” Danish officials noted that NATO doesn't have a mandate to negotiate a deal on behalf of Denmark and Greenland.
Denmark has said the U.S., which already has a military presence in Greenland, can boost its bases there. The U.S. is already party to a 1951 treaty that gives it broad rights to set up military bases there with the consent of Denmark and Greenland.
NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said the alliance's secretary general, Mark Rutte, “did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with President Trump.” She said that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. “will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold - economically or militarily - in Greenland.”
Nielsen, Greenland's leader, said Rutte had delivered the message that Greenland is willing to do more and host a NATO mission.
“Until yesterday, we couldn't rule out anything,” he told reporters in the island's capital, Nuuk. “Respectful dialogue through the right channels is what we have been seeking from the get-go, and I also feel that's the intention now from the other parties, and I'm happy for that.”
He pointed to a working group that the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers agreed with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to set up last week, before Trump threatened tariffs. Denmark and the White House at the time offered diverging public views on its purpose.
Asked whether U.S. sovereignty over small pockets of Greenland might be a possibility, Nielsen said that “we are ready to negotiate a better partnership and so on, but sovereignty is a red line.”
On the streets of Copenhagen, some were skeptical about Trump's switch.
“I think the man has said many things and done a lot of different things to what he says,” said Louise Pedersen, 22, who works with a startup company. “I have a hard time believing it. I think it's terrifying that we stand here in 2026.”
She said it's for Greenlanders to decide what happens with their land — “not Donald Trump.”
“I don't really trust anything Mr. Trump is saying,” said Poul Bjoern Strand, 70, who works in advertising.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of the European countries that had faced Trump's threat of tariffs over Greenland, underlined the need for European NATO allies to do more to secure the Arctic region and stressed that it is “a common trans-Atlantic interest.”
“We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the north from the threat posed by Russia,” he said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “We will uphold the principles on which the trans-Atlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“We support talks between Denmark, Greenland (and) the United States on the basis of these principles,” aiming for closer cooperation, Merz said. “It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction. I welcome President Trump's remarks from last night — this is the right way to go.”
Frederiksen traveled to the United Kingdom on Thursday for talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said the “hard yards” of bolstering Arctic security can begin and credited Trump's “pragmatism” for withdrawing his tariff threats.
___
Moulson reported from Berlin and Burrows from Nuuk, Greenland. Aamer Madhani in Washington, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Live Updates
• Ukraine talks: After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, US President Donald Trump said there's still “a ways to go” on ending Russia's war. Zelensky noted that documents aimed at stopping the conflict are “nearly ready” and also called out Europe for inaction.
• Greenland deal progress: Trump said negotiations regarding Greenland currently give US “total access” for defense. While Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a verbal understanding about Greenland yesterday, no document has been produced yet memorializing a future deal, sources say.
• “Board of Peace”: Trump earlier unveiled his “Board of Peace,” which is tasked with rebuilding Gaza and resolving global conflicts, in a signing ceremony attended by fewer than 20 countries. He called Gaza a “beautiful piece of property” when talking about reconstruction of the war-torn strip.
Residents in Greenland have reacted cautiously to US President Donald Trump's apparent U-turn on using force to take control of the territory, welcoming his change of heart, while remaining skeptical about his actions.
CNN's Nic Robertson spoke to residents in the capital Nuuk, finding a mix of relief and lingering anxiety driven by what many described as the US president's unpredictability.
“You never know what he says next week. That's the problem with him, I think. I don't know if we can trust him,” Nuuk resident Putsi told Robertson today.
Another resident, Aqqalu Frederiksen, said he felt some reassurance after Trump signaled he would not use force to acquire the island, but stressed that doubts persist.
“I'm kind of relieved that he is saying that he won't use force or anything like that, but it's, it's quite unsure, I mean … Trump is an unpredictable man,” Frederiksen said.
Frederiksen went on to describe Trump's initial threats as “quite terrifying,” pointing to the US capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
Robertson also spoke to Greenlandic member of parliament Margrethe Thårup Andersen, asking whether the threat of Trump attempting to take over the territory had now passed.
“He's not predictable,” she said.
Despite those concerns, many Greenlanders said their trust lies firmly with Denmark, the European Union and Greenland's own government.
“I trust the European Union. I trust Denmark. And our Greenlandic government,” Putsi said.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Thursday that he wasn't sure “what's concrete” in US President Donald Trump's announced “framework” for a “future deal” on Greenland.
“Nobody else than Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark have the mandate to make deals or agreements about Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark without us,” Nielsen told CNN's Nic Robertson at a press conference in Nuuk.
Trump yesterday announced that he had achieved the new “framework” after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Nielsen said he understood that at that meeting, Rutte “delivered the message that we actually have delivered a couple of days ago with our representative from the government of Greenland.”
“What we have said from the beginning is we want a respectful, peaceful relationship and a strong partnership as an ally,” Nielsen said. “But no doubt, the rhetoric we have heard the last year is unacceptable for us.”
The prime minister added that Greenland is open to any number of plans to further integrate into NATO, including through a “permanent mission” on the island, so long as any plans emerge from a baseline of “respect” for their sovereignty.
“We have a responsibility,” Nielsen said. “So, let's talk about it through the right channels, in a respectful manner. Then I'm sure we can work something out that benefits.”
Greenland's sovereignty and territorial integrity is a “red line,” Nielsen continued. Earlier in the press conference, he told reporters that Greenland's position is clear.
“To summarize, we choose the Kingdom of Denmark,” Nielsen said. “We choose the EU, we choose NATO. This is not only a situation for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, it's about the world order for all of us.”
Ukrainian, US and Russian officials are to hold a trilateral meeting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday, in a sign that peace talks to end the war in Ukraine are intensifying.
The two-day meeting will take place on Friday and Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said as he delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Speaking to reporters later, Zelensky revealed that the Ukrainian delegation will include the head and deputy head of his presidential office, Kyrylo Budanov and Serhii Kyslytsia; the head of the parliamentary faction of Zelensky's Servant of the People party and negotiator, David Arakhamia; and the Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov.
“I asked Hnatov to fly in from Kyiv; the military must be present,” Zelensky told the reporters.
“We are at the moment when, I think, if all the sides will work a lot, we will end this war, but if somebody will play the games, I don't know who, but I'm just sharing with you. If someone will play games, the war will continue,” he said.
This was a very strident broadside by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky against European leaders he says have not done enough over the past year. They remain, he said, “in Greenland mode, maybe someone, somewhere will do something.”
Zelensky thanked France and the UK for offering troops in the event of a peace deal, but otherwise tried to stir European leaders – still reeling from US President Donald Trump's whirlwind of noise around Greenland – into action to forge a new world order. “We need something to replace the old world order with, but where are the leaders to do that?” he said.
Zelensky revealed plans for US, Russian and Ukrainian leaders to meet in the United Arab Emirates in the coming days, for what would mark the first trilateral meeting since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trump had floated such an idea late last year – and Russia rejected it. That it is now likely happening might suggest some progress in peace talks, if only on the procedural front.
The speech's tone – defiant against a part of Europe that has been Zelensky's key support base – was designed to appeal to the White House. Parts of it would have pleased both US Vice-President JD Vance and Trump himself. But it was also designed to use the embarrassment and vertigo of the Greenland crisis to urge sedentary European leaders into real action.
Zelensky was complimentary about how Trump's snatching of Venezuela's former president Nicolas Maduro led to him facing trial in New York. But he reminded Europeans that Russia's President Vladimir Putin did not face a similar fate, and that the people of Iran had been left to face the brutality of their security forces. He danced around the issue of US weapons supplies, saying he had discussed air defenses with Trump, but that he had been advised not to mention the US Tomahawk missiles Ukraine urgently wants.
Zelensky wanted to leave a mark on his European hosts that Trump would appreciate and convey the idea that the peace process has momentum, saying the documents were “almost ready.”
The answer to the key question of whether Putin will sign up to them likely leans towards the negative.
President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reached a verbal understanding about Greenland during their meeting yesterday, but no document has been produced yet memorializing a future deal, people familiar with their discussion told CNN.
Trump and Rutte agreed to further discussions about updating a 1951 agreement between the US, Denmark and Greenland that governs the US military's presence on the island, the sources said. The deal framework also guarantees that Russia and China will be barred from any investments in Greenland and lays out an enhanced role for NATO in Greenland, they said.
Two sources said another element of a possible deal is increased US access to Greenland's natural resources. Rutte on Thursday denied that he had discussed this issue with Trump directly.
One person familiar with the discussions said Rutte did not want any formal documents prepared during his meeting with Trump because he was concerned they could leak — or be posted by Trump himself on social media. Trump earlier this week posted a private message Rutte sent to him ahead of their talks.
The lack of any written documentation has caused some confusion among NATO allies about what was actually agreed upon.
Read more.
Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Globb urged European leaders to move forward in solidarity as they face the prospect of a new world order that shifts away from decades-long norms.
Speaking to CNN's Becky Anderson, the statesman expressed his empathy for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying, “I understand rather well the frustration uttered by President Zelensky … I know the root cause for it, it's not a new thing.”
The prime minister reflected positively on the bloc's recent response to US President Donald Trump's threat to raise tariffs on his NATO allies and annex Greenland from Denmark.
“Europe is only strong when it's united,” he said, adding his approval of NATO's decision to hold out and defy Trump's demands. “In the last week, Europe finally showed some backbone,” he said.
Globb joined British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, among much of Europe, in declining the US president's offer to sit on his newly founded “Board of Peace.” When asked about Trump's wish to have it work with the United Nations, Globb said: “No mechanism can be … parallel to the United Nations.”
And on the future of NATO, Slovenia's leader said that while the line demarking the organization's dissolution has not yet been crossed, recent events have brought the alliance “close to it.”
But the diplomat was optimistic about where NATO will go next: “We, the allies, are still in time to sit down, talk amongst each other honestly, sincerely, perhaps even loudly. But then find the joint and common way forward.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen to Chequers, his official country home outside London, today for a bilateral meeting, as Denmark faces continued pressure from the United States over Greenland.
Frederiksen thanked Starmer for his support, calling Britain one of Denmark's “oldest and most important allies,” and stressed the importance of a strong alliance during what she described as a difficult period.
“Everybody recognizes that it has been quite a difficult time for us and to know that you have good friends, strong allies, and that Europeans stand together, don't get divided and stick to, as you said, our common values even in a world that is changing rapidly is extremely important for all of us,” Frederiksen said, adding: “We gotta get by with a little help from our friends.”
Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The latest from Trump on Greenland: President Donald Trump said earlier today that negotiations regarding Greenland currently give US “total access” for defense. “It's really being negotiated now, the details of it, but essentially it's total access. It's there's no end, there's no time limit,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo.
US President Donald Trump said he had a good meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Davos, Switzerland, today, but added that there's still “a ways to go” toward ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
“The war has to end,” he said as he emerged from the meeting. “We hope it's going to end. There are a lot of people being killed.”
“It's an ongoing process,” Trump added. “Everybody wants to have the war end.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the meeting was “positive,” adding that was “enough” to say about it.
The Ukrainian president said the “last mile” of negotiations “is very difficult.”
“During any dialogue, with any president, I have to defend the interests of my country. That's why the dialogue is maybe, it's not simple,” he said. “But it was today. It was positive.”
Zelensky's comments came after his speech at the World Economic Forum, during which he called out European leaders on their inaction when it comes to the war in Ukraine, comparing it to their behavior surrounding Greenland in recent days.
CNN's Kaitlin Collins explains more about what we know so far:
President Trump has said that the Ukraine war 'has to end' after meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky in a private bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports.
Vice President JD Vance said the United States will “keep on trying to make sure that we secure that land mass” as he addressed the negotiations about US access to Greenland on Thursday.
Vance's comment came in response to a reporter's question about his understanding of the framework of a future deal over Greenland. While Vance did not answer that directly, he stressed US national security interests in the island.
“We would need control over the Arctic in order to shoot that missile down. Our entire missile defense system defends depends on that arctic security,” Vance said while taking questions from reporters in Toledo, Ohio.
Of the deal framework, Vance said the “negotiations with NATO are going fine.”
“Documents aimed at ending this war” against Ukraine are “nearly ready,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Davos, Switzerland, after meeting with US President Donald Trump today.
Both US and Ukrainian teams are working on ending the conflict “almost every day,” Zelensky said.
“Ukraine is working with full honesty and determination, and that brings results, and Russia must become ready too to finish this war, to stop this aggression,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called out European leaders on their inaction when it comes to the war on Ukraine, comparing it to their behavior surrounding Greenland in recent days.
“Everyone turned attention to Greenland, and it's clear most leaders simply are not sure what to do about it. And it seems like everyone is just waiting for America to cool down on this topic, hoping it will pass away. But what if it will not, what then?” Zelensky questioned.
“We have told our European partners multiple times — act now … but Europe still remains in ‘Greenland mode' — maybe someday, someone will do something,” the Ukrainian president said.
“You either declare that European bases will protect the region from Russia and China and establish those bases, or you risk not being taken seriously,” Zelensky said about Greenland, echoing what US President Donald Trump has said about the security of the Arctic region. “Because 40 soldiers will not protect anything.”
Zelensky warned of Russian warships “sailing freely around Greenland,” and he offered Urkaine's expertise and weapons “to ensure not one of those ships remains.”
“They can sink near Greenland, just as they do near Crimea,” he added. “We can take actions and we know how to fight there, if we were asked, and if Ukraine were in NATO — but we are not.”
Europe is a “beautiful but fragmented” kaleidoscope of “small and middle” powers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his speech at Davos, as he criticized the bloc of “looking lost.”
“Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America's focus shifts elsewhere, Europe looks lost trying to convince the US president to change, but he will not change,” he continued.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Europe is too reliant on the US for its security, as he questioned the response from NATO if Russia was to invade another European nation.
“Europe needs united armed forces, forces that can truly defend Europe today,” he said during his speech in Davos.
“Europe relies only on that belief that if danger comes, NATO will act, but no one has really seen the alliance in action.”
He questioned who would respond if Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Lithuania or strike Poland.
“Right now NATO exists thanks to the belief that the United States will act, that it will not stand aside and will help,” Zelensky said.
“But what if it doesn't? Believe me, this question is everywhere in the minds of every European leader.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticized a lack of progress on establishing a special tribunal for Russian aggression at the International Criminal Court (ICC), as he said that “too often in Europe something else is more urgent than justice.”
“Europe loves to discuss the future, but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have,” he added.
Zelensky made the comments in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, shortly after having a closed-door meeting with US President Donald Trump.
“There is still no real progress on establishing a special tribunal for Russian aggression against Ukraine, against the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said.
“Many meetings have taken place but still Europe hasn't reached even the point of having a home for the tribunal, with staff and actual work happening inside.”
“What's missing, time or political will?”
Zelensky did however add that he was “grateful” to be working with partners on security guarantees for Ukraine after the war ends.
President Donald Trump appeared to indicate that diplomatic channels between the US and Iran would reopen during a speech at the World Economic Forum earlier today.
“Iran does want to talk, and we'll talk,” Trump said, without offering any more detail.
Remember: Earlier this month, tensions between the US and Iran rose once again following the Iranian regime's crackdown against anti-government demonstrations. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, acknowledged that thousands of Iranians were killed in the unrest, deaths he blamed on Trump without mentioning the brutal tactics of Iran's security forces.
The Trump administration had considered striking Iran in retaliation before Trump declared “very important sources on the other side” had informed him the killing had stopped — suggesting there was now no imminent threat of military action.
Following his remarks today, Trump refused to answer Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo when she tried to press him on whether he would reconsider if there was another deadly crackdown in Iran.
“I don't want to talk about that, because I don't want to put myself in a position,” he said. “I don't want to say it, because I think it would be stupid for me to say that.
President Donald Trump today recognized that Republicans might have a tough midterm election this year, pointing to the fact that the party of the president usually loses in the midterms.
“There's something psychological that if you're president, no matter how well you're doing, you don't do well in the midterms,” Trump told Fox Business in an interview from Davos, Switzerland, where the president attended the World Economic Forum.
“We should do well,” Trump added. “And we're going to fight like hell to do well.”
With the threat of another government shutdown at the end of the month, Trump said the federal government is likely to shut down again and blamed Democrats.
“I think we have a problem,” Trump said. “I think we're probably end up in another Democrat shutdown.”
Trump also said he would like to see a reconciliation package, but added that passing his budget could be hard given the thin GOP majority.
“It's hard when you have a majority by three,” Trump said. He called out Republican Reps. Thomas Massie and Rand Paul who have previously broken with the party on major votes.
President Donald Trump said today that the US will retaliate if European countries sell US stocks and bonds in response to the president's ambition of acquiring Greenland and his pressure campaign on NATO allies.
When asked if he is worried that European countries will sell the stocks and bonds they have in the US, Trump said, “If that would happen, there would be, you know, big retaliation on our part.
“We have all the cards,” the president added while speaking to Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo from Davos, Switzerland.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Denmark — which maintains territorial control over Greenland — and its investment in the US are “irrelevant” after the European country's pension fund announced it would unwind its investment in US government bonds because of “poor government finances.”
The $100 million makes up a very small portion of the $30.8 trillion US Treasury market but Denmark itself holds just under $10 billion worth of US bonds. That investment has been on the decline for several years – the country held just under $18 billion of US Treasuries as recently as 2021.
President Donald Trump today touted US weapons as being the “best,” but urged defense companies to make them “faster.”
“We have the best equipment in the world — the Patriots, Tomahawks, the F35s — all of our equipment is the best,” Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo in an interview from Davos, Switzerland. “Other countries want it and we want it. We need more. It takes too long to get it.”
He later added: “We have to make it faster.”
Earlier this month, Trump threatened defense contracting companies, saying he would seek to limit stock buybacks and executive salaries unless they improve their delivery of weapons systems to the US military.
President Donald Trump said today that he had a good meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but that there's still “a ways to go” toward ending its war with Russia.
“The war has to end,” he said as he emerged from a meeting with Zelensky in Davos. “We hope it's going to end. There are a lot of people being killed.”
Trump declined to detail the substance of the closed-door conversation with Ukraine's leader, though he told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that the two did not talk about his just-formed “Board of Peace.”
Trump officials are due to meet next with Russian President Vladimir Putin as they aim to broker a ceasefire agreement.
“It's an ongoing process,” Trump said. “Everybody wants to have the war end.”
US President Donald Trump's “Board of Peace” signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, has concluded, as talks about the future of Ukraine and Greenland remain ongoing.
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With many Americans still recovering from repeated snowstorms and bitter cold in the North, a new weekend storm could glaze roads, trees and power lines with damaging ice across much of the South.
A digital billboard along Highway 75 warns of road preparations for upcoming inclement weather expected in the region Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Richardson, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A person walks in the cold and wind Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
A person walks in a snowy Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Ice forms on a pier along Lake Michigan ona. cold Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
A road sign warns of possible icy road conditions on the President George Bush turnpike Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
ATLANTA (AP) — Millions of Americans from New Mexico to the Carolinas are bracing for a potentially catastrophic ice storm that could crush trees and power lines and knock out power for days, while Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston could see enough snow to make travel very difficult or nearly impossible, forecasters say.
An estimated 123 million people were under Winter Storm Watches on Thursday, most of them in southern or northeastern states, the National Weather Service said. Another 27 million Americans faced Extreme Cold Warnings in all of Minnesota and Wisconsin; and parts of Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan.
The storm, expected to begin Friday and continue through the weekend, is also projected to bring heavy snow and all types of wintry precipitation, including freezing rain and sleet. An atmospheric river of moisture could be in place by the weekend, pulling precipitation across Texas and other states along the Gulf Coast and continuing across Georgia and the Carolinas before heading northeast, forecasters said.
“Snow amounts could reach a foot or more in the I-95 major cities from D.C. to Boston,” said weather service forecasters on the East Coast, who are increasingly confident the storm will strike the big cities.
In Washington, D.C., “the combination of heavy snow and ice alongside prolonged very cold temperatures presents a unique and significant risk to life and property across virtually the entire region,” forecasters said in the weather service's Washington/Baltimore office warned.
Here's a look at the approaching storm and how people are preparing for it, by the numbers:
The number of snowplows owned by the city of Jackson, Mississippi, where a mix of ice and sleet is possible this weekend. The city uses other heavy machinery like skid steers and small excavators to clear roads, said James Caldwell, deputy director of public works. Jackson also has three trucks that carry salt and sand to spread across roads before freezing weather.
The amount of ice — half an inch, or 1.27 centimeters — that can lead to a crippling ice storm, toppling trees and power lines to create widespread and long-lasting power outages. The latest forecasts from the weather service warn of the potential for a half-inch of ice or more for many areas, including parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee.
The number of Nashville snowplows named after country music legend and Tennessee native Dolly Parton (Dolly Plowton). Another snowplow in East Tennessee was named Snowlene after her classic hit song “Jolene” as part of a 2022 naming contest.
The number of layers needed to keep warm in extreme cold. AP video journalist Mark Vancleave in Minnesota explains the benefits of all three — a base layer, a middle layer and an outer shell — in this video.
The number of major U.S. hub airports in the path of the southern storm this weekend, when ice, sleet and snow could delay passengers and cargo: Dallas-Fort Worth; Atlanta; Memphis, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Still more major airports on the East Coast could see delays later, as the storm barrels east.
The number of inches of snow that could fall in parts of Oklahoma.
“You've got to be very weather aware, and real smart about what you're doing,” said Charles Daniel, who drives a semitrailer across western Oklahoma.
“One mistake can literally kill somebody, so you have to use your head,” he added.
The number of snow and ice removal trucks operated by Memphis, Tennessee's Division of Public Works. The city also has six trucks that spread brine, a mixture designed to melt wintry precipitation. Statewide, the Tennessee Department of Transportation has 851 salt trucks and 634 brine trucks, and most of the salt trucks double as plows.
Parts of at least 19 states in the storm's path were under winter storm watches by late Wednesday, with more watches and warnings expected as the system approaches. They include Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. An estimated 55 million people are included in these winter storm watches, the weather service said.
The degree in Fahrenheit when water freezes, equivalent to 0 Celsius. This is a magic number when it comes to winter weather, said Eric Guillot, a scientist at the weather service. If the temperature is slightly above 32, it will be mostly liquid. But the colder it is below the mark, the more efficiently precipitation will freeze.
The number of snowplow trucks at the ready in Nashville, Tennessee, according to the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure.
The windchill value — how cold it feels to a person when winds are factored in — that is expected in parts of the Northern Plains, the weather service projects. That equates to minus 45.6 Celsius and is forecast for parts of northern Minnesota and North Dakota.
“When the weather forecast says, ‘feels like negative 34,' it's just a matter of covering skin and being prepared for it,” said Nils Anderson, who owns Duluth Gear Exchange, an outdoor equipment store in Duluth, Minnesota.
The number of snowplows in the city of Chicago, where annual snowfall averages 37 to 39 inches (0.94 to 0.99 meters). The city also has 40 4x4 vehicles, and about 12 beet juice-dispensing trucks, according to Cole Stallard, Chicago's commissioner of Streets and Sanitation. The natural sugars of beet juice lower the freezing point of water, allowing salt mixtures to work at much lower temperatures and preventing refreezing, while also helping salt stick to the road longer.
The number of miles added last year to snowplow routes in Nashville, Tennessee. That was done “to get deeper into our neighborhoods — roads that had never been plowed before,” said Alex Apple, a spokesperson for Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell.
Texas has this number of pieces of winter weather equipment, including snowplows, motor graders and brine tankers, Texas Department of Transportation spokesperson Adam Hammons said. He said the agency also works with state partners and contractors to get more equipment when needed. In the Dallas area, “right now our main focus is treating our roadways in advance of the storm,” agency spokesperson Tony Hartzel said Wednesday.
The number of cubic yards of salt on hand at the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The state has 121 salt houses around the Arkansas, plus 600 salt spreaders and 700 snowplows, said Dave Parker, an agency spokesperson.
___
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Sophie Bates in Jackson, Mississippi; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Travis Loller and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; John O'Connor in Springfield, Illinois; and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.
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Fox News Digital spoke with Ari Lightman, a digital media and marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on Casey Anthony's latest venture on Substack.
Casey Anthony, often referred to as "America's most hated mom," is again weighing in on national politics, this time accusing the United States of systemic racism and sexism and claiming that White men are falsely portrayed as victims of discrimination.
In a recent Substack post, Anthony argued that America has a "long-standing history of discriminating against anyone who is not a white man," citing slavery, voting rights, segregation, and civil rights legislation as evidence of what she described as entrenched inequality.
"Our country has a long-standing history of discriminating against anyone who is not a white man," she wrote in a Tuesday Substack post.
CASEY ANTHONY CALLS MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING A CRIME, RIPS JD VANCE FOR PROTECTING ‘GESTAPO' AGENTS
Casey Anthony argued that America has a "long-standing history of discriminating against anyone who is not a white man." (Getty Images)
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Anthony referenced the ratification of the 13th and 15th Amendments, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the creation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, arguing that such measures were necessary to correct historical discrimination, not to punish White men.
"The entire purpose of DEI is to ‘hire without regard to race, religion, and national origin' and to ‘take affirmative action' to ensure equal treatment," Anthony wrote, adding that claims White men are being penalized are "laughable and disgusting."
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier speaks at a campaign rally for Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears on Oct. 29, 2025 in New Baltimore, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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She went on to criticize Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, accusing the state of attempting to roll back anti-discrimination policies and alleging that government leaders are prioritizing the protection of White men "at all costs."
Anthony claimed White men are the only demographic group in the U.S. that has "never been marginalized" or faced systemic barriers to employment, healthcare or civil rights.
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Caylee Anthony was 2 when she vanished in June 2008. (AP)
In a reply to Anthony's post, Uthmeier's deputy chief of staff, Jeremy Redfern, wrote on X: "If only Caylee was alive to see @AGJamesUthmeier fight for a true merit-based system free from discrimination, but she was denied that opportunity."
In an opinion issued this week, Uthmeier concluded that Florida laws requiring race-based state action are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.
Casey Anthony reacts during her trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Florida, May 26, 2011. (AP)
The comments follow Anthony's recent criticism of federal authorities over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in which she accused the Trump administration and Vice President JD Vance of shielding federal agents from accountability.
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"There is no such thing as a federal law-enforcement officer having immunity because it is convenient for you and this Administration," Anthony wrote. "This applies to your Gestapo agents in ICE."
A cross is set up in the Caylee Anthony memorial in the area where the 2-year-old child's remains were found on July 16, 2011, in Orlando, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Anthony, now 38, was acquitted in 2011 in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. A jury found her guilty of lying to law enforcement but not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter or aggravated child abuse. Caylee's death remains unsolved.
Anthony has increasingly used her Substack platform to comment on law enforcement, civil rights and political issues.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Anthony's attorney for comment.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and on X @s_rumpfwhitten
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After back-to-back fatal train crashes sent shockwaves through Spain, some good news arrived Thursday: Boro, the missing dog, was found.
A woman holds a sign reading in Spanish, “Missing Boro. Lost during the Adamuz accident. Any information is helpful,” about a dog that went missing during a train crash in Adamuz, southern Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
MADRID (AP) — After back-to-back fatal train crashes sent shock waves through Spain, some good news arrived on Thursday: Boro, the missing dog, was found.
Days earlier, Boro's owner Ana García issued a desperate plea to help find him after the dog bolted Sunday in the aftermath of the high-speed train crash in southern Spain that killed at least 45 people. García, 26, and her pregnant sister were traveling with Boro on the train that derailed.
On Thursday, forest firefighters in southern Spain found the black-and-white pooch, and posted images that showed García with one of her legs in a brace embracing Boro. Sitting inside a car, she spoke to reporters.
“Many thanks to all of Spain and everyone who has got involved so much,” she said. “It gave me great hope and we've done it.”
The search for Boro appeared to provide Spaniards something to hope for amid the week's tragedy, and ultimately something to celebrate.
A woman holds a sign reading in Spanish, “Missing Boro. Lost during the Adamuz accident. Any information is helpful,” about a dog that went missing during a train crash in Adamuz, southern Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
For days, people had rallied online to find him, amplifying García's call by sharing video of an interview she had given to local media. Photos of Boro, a medium-sized black dog with white eyebrows, went viral alongside phone numbers for García and her family. Spanish television broadcasters and newspapers covered the search.
García, her sister and the dog had been traveling Sunday by high-speed train from Malaga, their hometown in southern Spain, to the capital Madrid, when the tail of their train car jumped the rails for reasons that remain unclear, and smashed into another train.
The collision killed dozens and injured more than 150 people. Rescue crews helped García and her sister out of the tilted train car. That's when she briefly saw Boro before he ran. She spoke to the cameras with a blanket draped over her shoulders and a bandage on her cheek after Spain's worst rail accident in more than a decade.
Guardia Civil officers collect evidence next to the wreckage of train cars involved in a collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
“Please, if you can help, look for the animals,” a limping García told reporters at the time, choked up and holding back tears. “We were coming back from a family weekend with the little dog, who's family, too.”
On Thursday, she had a bruise beneath her eye but, with Boro back by her side, also a smile plastered across her face.
“Now we have him and we have him for all our life,” García told reporters. “Now let's go home, buddy.”
___
Associated Press journalist Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed to this report.
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Joel Klatt and Colin Cowherd discuss the importance of Indiana winning the National Championship, and whether or not Miami can rebound following their loss.
Indiana star quarterback Fernando Mendoza is not only a star on the field, but on LinkedIn, too.
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that connects people for career development, job seeking, and recruiting. Mendoza posted on the platform what winning a College Football Playoff National Championship taught him about business-to-business sales.
"Here's what winning a National Championship taught me about business-to-business sales (kidding … kinda)," Mendoza posted on LinkedIn.
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Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza celebrates after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Jan. 19, 2026. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
"1. Believe in yourself: Four years ago, I was a two-star recruit playing high school football 30 minutes from Hard Rock Stadium with a dream of playing at the highest level. Two days ago, I became a National Champion in that same stadium, surrounded by the family who never stopped believing in me," Mendoza wrote.
"2. Take the risk: When it's fourth-and-5 at the 12-yard line, go for it. 3. Remember who got you there: Thank you to my teammates, coaches, support staff, professors, and everyone behind the scenes who helped make this happen."
Mendoza has been thrust into the national spotlight this season. The 22-year-old won the Heisman Trophy and led the team to an undefeated season.
FERNANDO MENDOZA'S BROTHER ENTERS TRANSFER PORTAL AFTER INDIANA WINS NATIONAL TITLE
Fernando Mendoza of the Indiana Hoosiers smiles after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Jan. 19, 2026. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Mendoza credited his coaches and the support of the fans for helping him make "the unbelievable believable."
"Monday night, my teammates and I had the honor of raising the National Championship trophy and bringing a CFB title back to Bloomington, Indiana, for the first time in history. With the guidance of our coaches and the unwavering support of Hoosier Nation, our band of brothers made the unbelievable believable."
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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza passes against the Miami Hurricanes in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Mendoza, after a season in which he completed 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, with 41 touchdowns and six interceptions, has positioned himself to be the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Las Vegas Raiders currently hold the No. 1 overall pick and need a franchise quarterback.
Maybe Mendoza will have another LinkedIn update about business-to-business sales if he does indeed get selected by the Raiders with the top pick in the draft.
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Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.
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The Los Angeles Rams beat the Chicago Bears 20-17 in OT, and will face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship. Colin Cowherd analyzes the win and how the Rams were able to overcome Caleb Williams' late game heroics.
Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams players were hyped as they listened to the national anthem ahead of their playoff game over the weekend, according to video from NFL Films.
Jim Cornelison performed his epic rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Soldier Field. The video showed that players were singing along with him on the sideline, joining with the entire crowd who helped belt out the patriotic song before kickoff.
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A general view of an American flag on the field before the game between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Playoffs at Soldier Field on Jan. 18, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
Bears defensive lineman Grady Jarrett was among those stunned by Cornelison's vocals.
"Whoa!" he said multiple times in the clip.
Rams wide receiver Davante Adams was astonished by the giant American flag that was rolled out across the field for the performance.
"It's the biggest flag I've ever seen," he was heard telling quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Cornelison's singing caught the attention of social media before the game, with many NFL fans and pundits praising his effort.
Fans cheer before the game between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Playoffs at Soldier Field on Jan. 18, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
RAMS PLAYERS REVEAL SECRET INGREDIENT IN PLAYOFF WIN OVER BEARS
It's not the first time that Cornelison left a mark on NFL fans this season. He received a round of applause back in September when he performed the anthem before the Bears took on the Minnesota Vikings. It was the first "Monday Night Football" game of the season.
The 61-year-old is a regular at Chicago sporting events. He's been the Bears' national anthem singer since 2010. He has hit the ice for Chicago Blackhawks games since 2008 and has sung "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the Indianapolis 500 since 2017.
Cornelison is just as popular outside of sports. He was a part of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago and sang at some of the most popular opera houses around the world.
He's also on the board of the Illinois Patriot Education Fund and the honorary squad commander of the U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America.
Jim Cornelison performs the national anthem before the start of Round One of the 2017 NHL Draft at United Center on June 23, 2017, in Chicago, Illinois. (Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
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Unfortunately, the Rams took home a win in overtime. Los Angeles will play the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
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(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)
NEW YORK (AP) — Beth Brown was assigned to a major project at work when hardship struck. First, her 6-month-old daughter fell ill with COVID-19. A few days later, her mother passed away.
Brown, director of health and well-being at a company that provides employee mental health programs and absence management services, sent a note to the senior ComPsych director who was her partner on the project, explaining she would have to miss work to care for her daughter and to make funeral arrangements. “The guilt that I felt for knowing I was going to leave her dry on my end,” she recalled.
Instead of calling to go over remaining tasks, the director reached out to ask whether Brown was OK and to tell her not to worry about the project. “In the grand scheme of things, this is not important,” Brown recalled her colleague saying. “It'll be here when you get back. I'll be there when you're back.” Hearing the kind words, Brown “felt like there was a brick taken off my chest.”
The importance of treating others with kindness is one of the first lessons most parents and guardians try to teach children. But the skill sometimes falls by the wayside in work settings that encourage competition and where adults face deadlines and pressure. Financial worries and fears of layoffs also can stifle generous impulses.
Perhaps that's why acts of kindness on the job often are so memorable for those on the receiving end. Molly MacDermot, director of special initiatives at Girls Write Now, a nonprofit mentorship and writing program, feels lucky to have a boss who was kind to her when MacDermot's father died eight years ago and her mother passed away six months ago.
This article is part of AP's Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
As technology accelerates the pace of many types of work, “it's really important to feel human, to be allowed to be human, which is getting the grace to just deal with the bumps in life,” MacDermot said.
Kindness can also mean sharing hard truths in a productive way, going out of the way to welcome a new coworker or bending the rules for the sake of love.
Here are some examples of kindness in action and ideas for spreading goodwill at work.
Treating others with warmth and consideration may be especially meaningful at a time of heightened political divisions that has many people feeling like they have to choose sides, said Anna Malaika Tubbs, a sociologist and author of “The Three Mothers” and “Erased.”
“Especially in a workplace, where you can level the playing field and really make sure people know, ‘Hey, you're welcome here and you're seen here,' that can really make a difference at a time when on a national level people feel really divided from each other,” Tubbs added.
One way to encourage empathy at work is to create an environment where people get to know each other, Tubbs said. Organizing staff retreats where family members are welcome, bringing in guest speakers, starting book clubs and scheduling fun offsite activities like going to an escape room are ways to generate shared experiences and facilitate healthy dialogues, she said.
The goal isn't “to erase political difference or erase being able to disagree with each other” but to promote a cultural shift by encouraging behavior and actions different from the ones that often get rewarded at work, Tubbs said.
“Let's not show up to meetings thinking that we have to compete and show who's going to be the loudest and who's going to be the most dominant,” she said. “What would look differently if we were collaborating with each other? If we were more focused on community?”
Creating a supportive culture within an organization requires daily attention, said Maya Nussbaum, the founder of Girls Write Now and MacDermot's boss. She starts meetings with “heart warmers,” a time for staff members to share their thoughts on topics as simple as a favorite candle. She also encourages actively listening to different perspectives.
“Productivity is better when people feel that they're valued and they're listened to and they matter,” Nussbaum said. “They're going to work harder and they are going to care, and they're going to channel their passion as opposed to feeling dismissed.”
Compassion can mean sharing hard truths in a tactful way. For example, it's challenging to let people know they aren't meeting performance expectations, but “sometimes kindness is getting out of your comfort zone and telling someone the truth so they can shine,” said Chantel Cohen, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based CWC Coaching and Therapy, a counseling and life coaching practice in Atlanta.
When providing feedback as a manager, give specific examples to illustrate the behaviors that need improvement, she said. “Kindness isn't a conflict-free workplace. Kindness is a workplace where repair is possible or improvement is possible,” Cohen said.
However, remember to acknowledge successes. Karla Cen recalls a former boss who she says criticized her several times a day. She learned a lot, but felt unrelenting pressure.
A manager at the retirement community in Florida where Cen works now brought her a potted plant on her first day after driving four hours to meet her. Another manager provides encouraging feedback daily.
“Having her pass by and say, ‘You did that really well today,' it just really uplifts the mood of the whole department and makes us ready to come in for the next challenges,” Cen said.
Before scheduling a meeting, consider whether the goals can be accomplished another way. For example, a manager can tell a working group, here's what's on the agenda, take time to think about it and send your ideas in writing, Cohen suggested.
“Sometimes, the gift of time is such a kindness,” she said. “Maybe you can't give your team time off right now, but what you could do a couple times a quarter is just say, ‘Hey we're going to skip tomorrow's meeting and here are the things I want you all to think about. Submit this in writing so that you can have the time for yourselves.'”
Keeping meetings structured and focused also frees up time, Nussbaum said.
Meher Murshed began dating a colleague, Anupa Kurian-Murshed, more than two decades ago when they both worked at Gulf News in Dubai. The couple wanted to marry, but the newspaper prohibited spouses from working in the same department. They feared one of them would have to quit if they wed.
So they appealed to their editor-in-chief, who raised the issue with the managing director. The top managers decided the couple could keep their jobs and get married as long as one of them didn't report to the other.
“It changed our lives. Life could have been very different,” Meher Murshed said.
___
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The man accused of killing a 52-year-old during a shooting at a Phoenix gas station previously faced a weapons-related charge, court records show.
Deondre Stephon Franklin, 25, was charged in 2020 with carrying a deadly weapon while under the age of 21, along with an underage alcohol offense, according to Peoria Municipal Court records.
The case was later dismissed by prosecutors after Franklin complied with court-ordered conditions, including substance evaluation and education, records show. The case did not result in a conviction.
Franklin is now accused in a fatal shooting that police say unfolded during a routine morning stop at a QuikTrip gas station.
OMAHA BYSTANDER FLEES GAS STATION BATHROOM MOMENTS BEFORE ARMED MAN FIRES ON OFFICERS
Deondre Franklin, 25, is shown in a booking photo. Authorities said Franklin was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a Phoenix gas station. (Fox 10 Phoenix)
Phoenix Police said 52-year-old Danny Lyn Kaster was shot and killed during a morning shooting at a QuikTrip in Phoenix on Jan. 16. Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 7:45 a.m. and found Kaster suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
Phoenix Fire Department crews transported Kaster to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, police said.
Homicide detectives launched an investigation and were able to identify Franklin as the suspect. One day after the shooting, Franklin was arrested and booked on one count of murder, according to Phoenix Police Public Affairs Sgt. Rob Scherer.
FLORIDA REPEAT OFFENDER ALLEGEDLY KILLED 3 TOURISTS MINUTES FROM MAGIC KINGDOM AFTER RUN OF VIOLENCE: RECORDS
Police tape and officers seen near the area of 19th Avenue and Baseline in Phoenix, Arizona, as officers responded to a shooting on Saturday, Nov. 22. (Phoenix Police via X)
He is being held on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 23, records show. The investigation remains active.
Authorities have not released details about a possible motive or whether the two men knew each other prior to the encounter.
Kaster's family told FOX 10 Phoenix the shooting stemmed from what they described as a seemingly ordinary interaction inside the gas station.
According to family members, Kaster was waiting in line to use the bathroom when Franklin allegedly attempted to cut in front of him. When Kaster intervened, the family said, Franklin shot him.
VIOLENT REPEAT OFFENDER ACCUSED OF KILLING TEACHER AS 911 CALL REVEALED HER FINAL MOMENTS: REPORT
Danny Lyn Kaster, 52, is shown with his dogs in an undated photo. Kaster was later killed in a shooting, authorities said. (Fox 10 Phoenix)
"He was killed in the most ordinary interaction," family members told the station, adding that "it could have been anyone."
Kaster was taken to the hospital following the shooting but died shortly afterward, his family said.
Loved ones told FOX 10 Phoenix they now want the world to know who Kaster was beyond the circumstances of his death, describing him as a special person whose life was taken far too soon.
Police have not said whether surveillance video captured the shooting or whether a weapon has been recovered.
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Investigators are urging anyone with information about the shooting to contact Silent Witness (480-948-6377).
Fox News Digital reached out to the Arizona Department of Corrections for comment.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security.
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American tennis star Amanda Anisimova dismissed a tennis reporter's question about how it felt to play in the U.S. with "everything that's been happening."
Anisimova was among the American players who received a similar question at the Australian Open this week. First, she was asked how it felt to "play under the American flag right now."
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Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. reacts after defeating Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
"I was born in America. So, I'm always proud to represent my country," the New Jersey native said. "A lot of us are doing really well, and it's great to see a lot of great athletes on the women's side and men's side. I feel like we're all doing a great job representing ourselves."
The reporter later tried to clarify the question, asking "in the context of the last year of everything that's been happening in the U.S., does that complicate that feeling at all?"
"I don't think that's relevant," she fired back.
AMERICAN TENNIS STAR COCO GAUFF GIVES HER THOUGHTS ON STATE OF US YEAR INTO TRUMP'S SECOND TERM
Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. is congratulated by Katerina Siniakova, right, of the Czech Republic following their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Anisimova's answer was a stark contrast from what Coco Gauff said during the tournament earlier this week.
Gauff was asked about her thoughts on the "state of the U.S." one year into President Donald Trump's second term.
"I hope forward that we can have a lot more peace in our country and more kindness in the way we speak to each other about different topics and things like that," she said, via The Tennis Letter. "Obviously, I've been pretty vocal about how I felt. At this point, I feel a bit fatigued talking about it just because of the fact that it is hard also being a Black woman in this country and having to experience things, even online, and seeing marginalized communities being affected. And knowing that I can only donate and speak out. I try my best to do that.
Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. reacts after defeating Simona Waltert of Switzerland in their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
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"But, yeah, I hope that as time continues that we can reach a state that we're not currently in, and we keep moving forward. I posted the video of Martin Luther King and that was kind of saying, ‘We must keep moving forward,' even as things may not be as calm as I'd like it to be right now."
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When I shared my investigative findings into the Tim Walz fraud scandal with the House Oversight Committee, I was met with a stunning refusal by congressional Democrats to accept the facts. Members of “The Squad,” such as Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), were not interested in the truth, but rather in Trump-bashing, name-calling, and outlandish claims that exposing fraud was racist and Islamophobic. They wanted viral moments for cable news, while I wanted to protect taxpayers and vulnerable citizens.
My message to the Oversight Committee was clear: This grandstanding nonsense is exactly what Minnesotans hate about Washington, D.C.
Those partisan and hyperbolic insults are what got us into this mess. For years, Democratic leadership has minimized whistleblower reports and allowed fraud to grow. The Walz administration retaliated against those who spoke up by claiming they were racist or Islamophobic. Why? To protect their political base at the expense of all Minnesotans.
But crime is crime, no matter who is committing it.
It is true that most of the fraud is in the Somali community, but it is also true that some of our best whistleblowers have been from the Somali community. Democrats refuse to acknowledge the truth, and that has enabled criminals to steal billions and hurt our vulnerable citizens.
As Chairwoman of the Fraud Prevention Committee in Minnesota, I've been at the tip of the spear in uncovering the massive fraud that occurred under Walz. Our committee has given whistleblowers a place to be heard, exposed the most egregious fraud, and demanded accountability from those in power.
Here are the results and hard truths from my congressional testimony that struck a nerve with Walz, Keith Ellison, and Democrats in Congress:
First, we are unearthing staggering amounts of fraud.
As far back as 2014, there were credible whistleblower reports of millions in day care fraud. The fraud intensified starting in 2019, as Walz and Minnesota Democrats allowed fraud to explode. There's been more than $300 million stolen in the Feeding Our Future child nutrition program scandal, and prosecutions have revealed that half of those indicted also ran other Medicaid-funded programs.Yet, despite this being publicly reported in 2023, Walz and his agencies have done nothing to stop those defendants from getting additional state money. We have now found fraud in multiple Medicaid programs, including autism centers, sober homes, non-emergency medical transportation, integrated community supports, and housing stabilization. Just last month, our committee uncovered credible allegations of fraud in two new areas: adult day services and assisted living. Federal prosecutors estimate the fraud could be an astronomical $9 billion.
Second, in the face of mounting reports and literal criminal indictments and convictions, the Walz administration has repeatedly and publicly denied or downplayed the fraud.Walz's commissioner of DHS Jodi Harpstead, who'd been on the job for almost six years, said in January of 2025, “There's a lot of rumors of fraud more than there is actual fraud.”
This cavalier attitude reflected the view of the entire Walz administration, which has been gaslighting Minnesotans on the scale of the fraud problem for years. In the face of this refusal to act, we knew we had to take accountability and oversight into our own hands. We launched the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, opened a portal for whistleblowers, held 15 hearings, and turned over credible allegations of fraud to federal prosecutors.
The third point I made to Congress was that other states should learn from the failures of the Walz administration to find and stop fraud. The road map to stop fraud starts with culture. Fraud flourishes when leaders ignore it, and criminals see they can get away with it. Next, fraud happens when basic internal controls are not followed. Third, states have to look at the interconnected web of providers with businesses in multiple program areas.
Finally, it is important to say what is true and to stand up against fake allegations of racism or Islamophobia.
I was grateful to bring my findings before Congress, and there is still work to be done to further uncover fraud and hold those criminals accountable. But now is the time to get results. Because of our work, federal partners and prosecutors are seeking justice. We will pressure Walz to stop the flow of state money to indicted fraudsters and hold agencies accountable for turning a blind eye to rampant fraud.
THE HUMAN COST OF THE MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
Vulnerable citizens are hurt when leaders refuse to acknowledge the truth, enable criminals, and allow fraud to flourish. We will not allow this to continue. Accountability and justice have arrived.
Kristin Robbins is the Chairwoman of the Minnesota Fraud Prevention Committee.
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Chief medical officer for Dry January USA Dr. Michael Caldwell discusses the health benefits of abstaining from alcohol on ‘Fox & Friends.'
Happy hour used to be a reliable business driver for bars and restaurants.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, that reliability has faded.
Remote work, altered schedules and changing social habits have disrupted the traditional post-work drinking rush, forcing establishments to adapt — and raising questions about whether happy hour is disappearing altogether or simply evolving.
BARTENDERS REVEAL WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DRINK WHEN THEY'RE OFF DUTY: 'TRULY GREAT SHOT'
Fox News Digital spoke with a bar owner and a behavioral health specialist to learn more.
Here's what the experts said.
Happy hour crowds look different these days as remote work reshapes when, and whether, co-workers gather after hours. (iStock)
Happy hours haven't disappeared, but they've become fragmented, said Robert Mahon, owner of Mahon Hospitality in New York and Dublin.
"We are now seeing where the dust has settled across Manhattan," Mahon said.
"Certain pockets have recovered [from the pandemic] far better than others, largely due to ongoing work-from-home dynamics."
HAPPY HOUR BANNED? 7 US STATES STILL OUTLAW AFTER-WORK DRINK SPECIALS
Mahon said that in the Big Apple, workers have largely returned to the areas around Penn Station and Grand Central, and his bars in those areas are still seeing a traditional 5-7 p.m. bar rush on Tuesdays through Thursdays.
"By contrast, areas such as Midtown East and the Financial District, which still hold a large volume of office inventory, have experienced significant bar and restaurant closures along their main corridors," he said.
In some Manhattan neighborhoods, happy hour traffic has returned — while nearby business districts remain quiet. (iStock)
"Traditionally, Thursday was our strongest corporate happy hour night pre-pandemic. This has now shifted to Wednesday, as many companies continue to accommodate remote work on Fridays."
He added that he's seen "a clear divergence by age group," with younger drinkers being far more driven by deals — even if they have to travel for it.
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"While there is a lot of media commentary about younger people drinking less, our experience is the opposite," Mahon said.
"They are drinking, but they want new, trendy venues that align with their lifestyle and social identity. ... In contrast, the 35-plus demographic tends to prioritize convenience, opting for their nearest bar to the office or somewhere along their commute home."
"Many people feel emotionally spent by the end of the workday and see happy hour less as a release and more as another obligation."
Mahon also recalled something that his father once told him: If you have a good burger and cold beer, customers will come.
"That still holds true, but the game has changed," he said.
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"Today, customers expect great food and drink as a baseline, but they also want a memorable experience."
The decline in happy hour attendance can be seen in remote and in-person workers alike, said Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist based in New York City.
"Remote and hybrid workers feel it the most because there's less natural transition from office to social time," he said. "When people are already home, the motivation to go back out drops significantly."
Younger professionals in finance, tech and consulting are rethinking how they unwind at the end of long days. (iStock)
Alpert added that he sees this shift "among younger professionals in their 20s and 30s, especially in high-pressure industries like finance, tech and consulting."
The decline in post-work socializing, he added, isn't just due to after-work stress, though that's a major factor.
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"Higher prices make people think twice, but the bigger driver is burnout," Alpert said.
"Many people feel emotionally spent by the end of the workday and see happy hour less as a release and more as another obligation."
Behavioral health experts say many workers feel emotionally drained by day's end, making happy hour less appealing. (iStock)
That said, Alpert doesn't think after-work happy hours are disappearing into the ether.
They're just "no longer automatic," he said.
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"People seem to be shifting toward smaller, more intentional plans like weekend meetups, fitness classes or low-key dinners rather than spontaneous drinks after work," he observed.
Andrea Margolis is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can follow her on X at @andreamargs or send story tips to andrea.margolis@fox.com.
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Tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Sorana Cirstea had a tiff at the end of their Australian Open match on Thursday.
Osaka brought Cirstea's final Aussie Open match to a bitter end when she defeated the Romanian player 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Cirstea had words for Osaka as she greeted her at the net for the post-match handshake.
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Naomi Osaka, right, of Japan talks with Sorana Cirstea, left, of Romania following their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
She slapped Osaka's hand and then marched toward the umpire. Osaka asked, "What was that for?"
Cirstea didn't appear to enjoy Osaka trying to hype herself up during the match.
"Apparently a lot of ‘C'mons' that she was angry about but whatever," Osaka said in the interview after the match. "I mean, I tried to play well, I tried my best. She's a great player — I think this was her last Australian Open so, OK, sorry she was mad about it."
Osaka added that Cirstea could have asked her to stop.
AMERICAN TENNIS PLAYER HAS REQUEST FOR AUSTRALIAN OPEN FAN WHO 'BARKED' AT HER IN UPSET WIN
Naomi Osaka of Japan plays a forehand return to Sorana Cirstea of Romania during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
Osaka entered the tournament as the No. 16 seed. She's won the Australian Open twice in her career but hasn't made it past the third round since 2021. She is set for a third-round matchup against Maddison Inglis on Friday.
Cirstea announced in December that the 2026 season would be her final run in professional tennis. She only made it as far as the fourth round at the Australian Open.
Naomi Osaka of Japan walks onto court for her second round match against Sorana Cirstea of Romaniaat the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
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She has three career singles titles and no Grand Slam titles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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From enforcement raids to citizen checks: A scene-by-scene analysis of federal agents' presence in the Twin Cities since the death of Renee Good
By Amy O'Kruk, Koko Nakajima, Renée Rigdon, Byron Manley, Janie Boschma, Sharif Paget and CJ Riculan, CNN
Published January 22, 2026
Confirmed federal agent locations since Jan. 6, 2026
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis
St. Paul
Jan. 7
Renee Good killed
BH Whipple Federal Building
Confirmed federal agent locations since Jan. 6, 2026
MINNESOTA
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis
St. Paul
Jan. 7
Renee Good killed
BH Whipple Federal Building
Tensions are high in Minneapolis after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her SUV earlier this month. Good's death sparked outrage against ICE's continued presence and the Department of Homeland Security's aggressive tactics by armed, masked agents in the Twin Cities — in both immigration enforcement operations and crackdowns on protesters.
DHS has poured thousands of federal agents into the cities, greatly outnumbering the combined sworn police officers that Minneapolis and St. Paul have, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said federal agents had arrested 3,000 “criminal” undocumented immigrants in Minnesota over the last six weeks, as of January 19.
“DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CNN.
The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for possible deployment to Minnesota, according to a Trump administration source, while state officials have mobilized — but not yet deployed — the Minnesota National Guard.
CNN reviewed and geolocated videos that demonstrate just some examples of federal agents' tactics in the Twin Cities. They have detained both suspected undocumented immigrants and US citizens, used pepper balls, tear gas and pepper spray against protesters, and stopped a citizen to ask for identification and where he was born because of his accent.
Jan. 7
1/7
ICE agent fatally shoots Renee Good
CNN obtained multiple angles of the fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Noem said Good “weaponized” her vehicle and that the agent responded in defense of his life. State and local officials have repeatedly disputed claims that the shooting of the Minneapolis mother of three was done in self-defense.
CNN
Confrontation outside a public school
On the day of Good's fatal shooting, a Border Patrol agent visibly shoves somebody and a person is detained by agents. A DHS spokesperson said agents were chasing a US citizen “actively trying to impede operations,” and the pursuit ended near the school. Students and staff were never targeted, DHS said, saying a teacher assaulted an agent and the crowd threw objects and paint, prompting “targeted crowd control.”
Video obtained by CNN
Agents use chemical irritants and pepper balls
Federal agents push back a crowd of protesters, shooting pepper balls at their feet and spraying an orange chemical irritant from a can, near the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. According to CNN's Omar Jimenez, who was on the scene, law enforcement presence increased significantly after several instances of cars being hit with snow and ice, or protesters trying to block vehicles from leaving the facility.
CNN
Agent shoves man blocking ICE vehicle into oncoming traffic
A man stops in front of an ICE vehicle as it begins moving. An ICE agent pushes the man, causing him to fall into oncoming traffic. A bus about to pass by the scene comes to a quick stop after he falls. CNN has reached out to DHS for comment.
Video obtained by CNN
Agents tackle and detain anti-ICE protester
A masked agent yells "Get back!" and pushes a protester, who swats the agent's hand away before getting tackled to the ground by several agents. After being detained the man is carried away and placed in an SUV. DHS said the US citizen was arrested after he didn't comply with the order to stay back and responded by hitting an officer.
Amanda M/FNTV
Woman stands her ground when agents ask for ID
A woman says she was surrounded by federal agents on the sidewalk, asking for identification and where she was born. The woman says she doesn't need to carry ID and eventually the agents return to their vehicle. DHS said “a person's immigration status makes them a target for enforcement, not their skin color, race or ethnicity.”
Nimco Omar
Man is pepper sprayed in confrontation with ICE agents
A man is pepper sprayed in a confrontation with agents near where Renee Good was fatally shot. DHS said officers “were swarmed by approximately 100 agitators who surrounded law enforcement and began throwing objects at them, threatening them, blocking their exit, and impeding their lawful operations. Officers called for backup and were forced to deploy tear gas and other crowd control techniques.”
FNTV
Agents drag woman out of her car
Agents surround Aliya Rahman's car, smash her window and cut her seatbelt off as she yells she's disabled. She told CNN she wasn't part of the protest and was going to a doctor's appointment. DHS said she was arrested for obstruction after ignoring commands to move her vehicle away from the scene.
FNTV
Agent detains US citizen after he refuses to show ID requested “because of your accent”
Ramon Menera was detained outside his home in a Minneapolis suburb in front of his 5-year-old daughter after a US Border Patrol agent accused him of not being a US citizen because of his accent, he told CNN. DHS told CNN an agent recognized his accent as being from Mexico and that Menera initially lied to agents about where he was born. Agents let Menera go after reviewing his paperwork, he said.
Danniela Monzon
Agents use gas to disperse protesters
Protesters clashed with law enforcement after an ICE agent shot a person in the leg who DHS said had assaulted one of its officers earlier in the evening. The video shows multiple explosions and gas as protesters disperse.
Associated Press
Family trapped in protest is tear gassed
A family on their way home from their son's basketball game found themselves trapped in a protest and were tear gassed in their car, resulting in the mother having to administer CPR to her infant, she told CNN. Dramatic video shows the family evacuating their car and fleeing to a nearby home. DHS said they didn't target the family and that agents “followed their training and reasonably deployed crowd control measures.”
Yaakov Strasberg
Photographer tells CNN about being detained, pepper sprayed by federal agents
John Abernathy, an independent photographer, tells CNN he was hit from behind by "three ICE guys" during a protest outside the Whipple Federal Building. Abernathy said agents set tear gas in front of him and sprayed pepper spray into his face. DHS said he was arrested for obstructing pedestrian and vehicle traffic on federal property.
CNN
Minneapolis
St. Paul
How DHS is turbocharging its immigration crackdown
Blood. Pain. Disorientation. Here's what protesters say ‘less-lethal' weapons feel like
Aftermath video of latest ICE shooting involving a man officials say assaulted an officer contradicts officials' account
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Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced legislation on Wednesday to help people achieve the American dream of owning a home. Miller's legislation proposes restrictions on large corporations, companies, and investors to prevent them from “crowding families out of homes.”
Miller's American Family Housing Act calls to amend the “Investment Company Act of 1940 to prohibit certain large-scale companies from purchasing single-family residences.” The bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit the number of single-family homes that “large institutional investors” can buy so that ordinary working-class families can afford to purchase houses at reasonable prices. Miller's objective with this legislation is to put “an end to Wall Street firms driving up prices and pushing families out of the housing market.”
“Homeownership is the foundation of the American Dream,” said Miller. “But today, hardworking families are competing with massive Wall Street firms that are buying up single-family homes and pricing Americans out of their own communities.”
Miller's American Family Housing Act comes on the heels of President Donald Trump's executive order “Stopping Wall Street From Competing With Main Street Homebuyers,” issued on Jan. 20. Trump's order also prioritized housing affordability for everyday people over investment firms purchasing properties.
“Hardworking young families cannot effectively compete for starter homes with Wall Street firms and their vast resources,” read Trump's directive. “Neighborhoods and communities once controlled by middle-class American families are now run by faraway corporate interests.”
“People live in homes, not corporations,” Trump said. “My Administration will take decisive action to stop Wall Street from treating America's neighborhoods like a trading floor and empower American families to own their homes.”
Miller presented the numerous challenges people face when purchasing a home in the country today as justification for her bill in a press release on Wednesday.
“According to the National Association of Realtors, the average first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old, with first-time buyers making up just 21 percent of the market,” read Miller's release. “A 2024 Government Accountability Office study estimated that institutional investors collectively own roughly 300,000 homes nationwide, with ownership heavily concentrated in metropolitan areas. In some cities in America, institutional investors own 25% of single-family rentals.”
TRUMP'S BATTLE WITH THE FEDERAL RESERVE FACES SUPREME COURT TEST
To offer a remedy to these challenges, Miller's bill would restrict “large-scale” companies from purchasing “any single-family residence” and require the SEC to “monitor and enforce restrictions preventing large institutional investment firms from purchasing single-family homes.” Miller's bill would apply such requirements only to future purchases and would be limited to corporations with “more than $100 billion in assets under management.” It would take effect 100 days after the bill's approval to prevent sizable fluctuations and market destabilization.
“President Trump is right to confront this crisis, and my American Family Housing Act ensures homes are owned by families, not large institutional investors,” Miller said.
One day after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, a Minnesota immigrant advocacy group reported a threefold increase in the number of people signing up to become legal observers.
“To say this: The killing of Renee Good lit a fire under the community, would be an understatement,” said Ryan Perez, a leadership and organizing director with the advocacy group COPAL, part of a network of 5,000 trained civilians who monitor immigration enforcement. “It really is a remarkable moment.”
As the Trump administration deploys thousands of federal officers to carry out turbocharged immigration operations across the country – with the Minneapolis area now the epicenter – growing networks of volunteers who call themselves ICE observers appear to be intensifying their efforts.
Volunteers document arrests, some tail ICE agents in vehicles, while others blow whistles warning community members of ICE enforcement –– tactics under increased scrutiny since the fatal shooting, which has led to more aggressive enforcement operations and sparked protests across the US.
Good, who served on the board of her son's school, was linked, in school documents, to similar activities encouraging parents to monitor and possibly disrupt ICE operations –– an association Trump officials are placing at the center of their review into the incident as the activist and mother of three partially blocked ICE agents with her car.
Woman dragged from car by ICE speaks exclusively to CNN
An ICE officer who was filming Good shot her after she started to accelerate her SUV on January 7. Videos of the encounter show Good was turning her vehicle away from the agent as she pulled forward, but it is unclear whether she made contact with him before he fired.
Experts say while some practices by volunteers are acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, others may fall into murkier legal territory. Here's what we know.
CNN's Isabel Rosales went on a ride-a-long with residents who are monitoring federal agents in real time. They are part of a network of five thousand civilians called "legal observers" who are responding to tips that immigration enforcement is around. With the increase of federal agents in Minnesota, they say they are responding to more activity everyday.
Across the country, thousands of parents, teachers, clergy members and community organizers have sought training on what they can legally do when they see an immigration arrest. They have been trained on documenting federal immigration agents' actions with cell phone video and quickly warning migrant neighbors with whistles and car horns.
“People that look a lot like Renee Good, we have a lot of moms. We have a lot of retirees, people that would be volunteering at the ballot box,” Perez said of the volunteers.
Kateri Heymans, a 29-year-old Spanish teacher in Minneapolis, registered as an observer the day after Good was fatally shot. She said she was alarmed by the number of federal agents flooding her hometown and the violent scenes that have accompanied their presence.
In North Carolina, the immigrant worker group Siembra NC operates an ICE watch hotline and a verification system tracking the operations of federal agents in the community.
“Safety concerns are a daily reality,” said Andrew Wills Garces, a senior strategist with Siembra NC. “After the killing of Renee Nicole Good, our volunteers are asking, ‘Can they get away with this?' They see an administration labeling legal observers as ‘domestic terrorists' and feel a target on their backs.”
Nationwide, volunteers are being trained not only to honk horns and blow whistles to warn anyone in earshot immigration agents are present but also to document the actions of federal officers.
Critics of the immigration crackdown say observers are necessary given what they describe as dangerous tactics by federal agents which put people at risk. Trump administration officials counter they are taking necessary steps to keep Americans safe, and ICE officers are facing a significant increase in assaults. Officers exercise restraint despite facing threats and attacks, according to federal officials.
Trump administration asks judge to reject Minnesota's bid to stop immigration crackdown
“Our observers are trained to walk in and say, ‘I demand to see a warrant. Show me a warrant. I need to see a signed judicial warrant. Why are you here? What are you doing here?' And all of that creates a legal record as well,” Perez said.
Their notes and videos are shared with attorneys and advocacy groups to be used in possible court cases, he said. Volunteers also watch video of enforcement actions and participate in simulations as part of their training.
“If you're in a public space, using whistles to signal that law enforcement officers are present and recording law enforcement activities are expressive activities protected by the First Amendment,” said Gregory Magarian, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
“If we take the First Amendment seriously, and if we look at our nation's history, we see that a wide range of protest and pushback activities are protected by the First Amendment … and have been essential to social movements – the Civil Rights Movement, women's suffrage, the run-up to the American Revolution itself – that almost everyone views positively.”
Tim Zick, a professor at William and Mary Law School in Virginia, said some volunteers have sought to identify mostly masked ICE officers by badge numbers or other accessible information, occasionally posting information about their identities online.
“In some communities, activists have posted fliers with information about the ICE agents involved in arrests and other actions in the community,” he said.
Distribution of factual and lawfully obtained public information is generally protected by the First Amendment, according to Zick.
“The Trump administration has initiated investigations and prosecutions of some activists who have posted information about agents online or distributed it,” Zick said.
But context matters.
Trump officials investigate protesters who interrupted Minnesota church service, targeting ICE official
“If the information is posted with the intent or purpose of inciting violence against agents or threatening them, it may not be protected. However, it appears the administration has adopted the view that any posting of personal information regarding ICE agents is unlawful. That position is contrary to First Amendment case law.”
President Donald Trump has warned leaders in Minnesota he may be forced to intervene further if widespread protests continue during his administration's surge in immigration enforcement operations.
“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
ICE watch activities and protests appear to be escalating as aggressive arrests become more common in public, with some federal officers using tactics such as shattering car windows and tackling their targets.
Recruiter pitches joining the military to Minneapolis high school students to protect their families from ICE
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said agents who “put their lives on the line every day to enforce the law” are facing “smearing” by claims they're employing “harsher approaches.”
“ICE and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and themselves,” McLaughlin told CNN. “Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use of force training.”
Physically interfering with the actions of agents is illegal.
“If a person directly interferes with a law enforcement officer, for example by deliberately blocking the officer's path, that is not protected by the First Amendment and is generally unlawful,” Magarian said.
It is also unlawful to disobey an order from law enforcement to disperse, he said.
Zick said posting threats to federal agents is unlawful and not protected speech.
“So is inciting others to engage in unlawful actions against the agents, if the incitement is likely to produce an imminent attack,” he added.
1,500 soldiers on standby for possible Minnesota deployment, source says, as state mobilizes National Guard
Perez, the Minneapolis activist who trains ICE watchers, said his group instructs volunteers to stay eight feet away from agents and to avoid touching or blocking them.
“We have a 100% no obstruction protocol as observers,” he insisted.
Perez added, “We have people that were so afraid before and I think the fear is still there. There's so much violence from law enforcement against community members and yet there's also more bravery than ever … because people are feeling like, ‘Now's my time to act.'”
CNN's Elizabeth Wolfe, Dalia Faheid, Andy Buck, Dianne Gallagher, Kaanita Iyer, Catherine E. Shoichet, Sarah-Grace Mankarious, Caroll Alvarado and Marco Chacon contributed to this report.
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In 2015, China handed back something of great value to Ai Weiwei: his Chinese passport. The move allowed the dissident artist to travel for the first time since authorities revoked his document in 2011 – the same year he spent 81 days in secret government detention for alleged tax evasion. He moved to Berlin shortly after.
For the past 10 years Ai has lived in Germany, the UK and now Portugal, never once setting foot in his native country, where people with far less controversial pasts have faced arbitrary detention. But in mid-December, he decided to take the risk, returning for a three-week visit.
“It felt like a phone call that had been disconnected for 10 years suddenly reconnecting,” he said of the instant he arrived into Beijing. “The tone, rhythm and speed, all returned to how they were before.”
Glimpses of the visit are on Ai's Instagram account, where the artist actively posts but doesn't typically write captions, contributing to the trip's under-the-radar quality. Varied scenes include a video of smokestacks in the unmistakable soft light of a Beijing winter, the artist puffing cigarettes as a Lazy Susan spins leisurely with dishes and a bottle of Nongfu Spring, a local mineral water brand; and a robot getting out of an elevator.
Still images show the artist lifting dumbbells at an indoor gym and catching up with old friends – the ordinary becoming somewhat extraordinary when compared to how intensely he was surveilled by authorities when he was last in China's capital.
Nostalgia permeates the images. “What I missed most was speaking Chinese,” he said. “For immigrants, the greatest loss is not wealth, loneliness or an unfamiliar lifestyle, but the loss of linguistic exchange.”
When Ai left in 2015, he was a thorn on the government's side. The outspoken artist and activist relentlessly criticized China on everything from alleged human rights abuses to censorship and corruption, with artworks such as “Remembering” (2009) – an installation commemorating the thousands of children killed under the collapse of shoddily-constructed school buildings during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake – gaining international attention. In “S.A.C.R.E.D,” he depicted what it was like to be imprisoned for nearly three months, in the form of six life-sized dioramas that debuted at the 2013 Venice Biennale.
Such pieces came at a time when – in the years after the 2008 Beijing Olympics – officials carefully projected a new era of Chinese development and aggressively cracked down on any dissent. In the decade Ai has been away, China's censorship and surveillance efforts have only grown more sophisticated, with critics now fearing that artificial intelligence is turbocharging these systems of control.
Ai had previously said he had no illusions about his chances of returning to China. But now his son is almost 17 years old, he no longer bears the same weight of parental responsibility – and feels “relatively freer” to act of his own accord.
Poignant photos from the trip shared with CNN show the father and son walking out of Beijing Capital International Airport, as well as reuniting with Ai's 93-year-old mother.
“When I saw my mother, she was smiling and especially happy to see my son. They held hands the entire time. She did not say much, but she was deeply content. That contentment was like a gentle wind on a hot day, or a few drops of rain during a drought – natural, humane happiness.
“I am not familiar with this kind of feeling, and it surprised me,” he added.
Ai didn't take any specific precautions when planning the trip but was “inspected and interrogated” for almost two hours at Beijing's airport before he was allowed to pass immigration. “The questions were very simple: How long do you plan to stay here? Where else do you plan to go?”
The fact that rest of the 68-year-old's visit was “smooth and, one could say, pleasant” may signal authorities' confidence on a number of fronts: a Chinese public that is increasingly unfamiliar with the artist as his name and works have been largely censored on the country's social media platforms; and in the expansive reach of their surveillance technologies. Politically, there might also be little to gain from the international outcry that would arise were the high-profile artist detained or prevented from entering Beijing.
The red lines in China, as always, are vague and fast-evolving. Another prominent Chinese artist, Gao Zhen, had relocated to New York but returned to China in June 2024 to visit family, only to be detained about a week before he planned to return to the US, for scathing sculptures of Mao he created over a decade ago.
From Europe, Ai has continued to produce works that are critical of the state, such as the 2020 documentary “Coronation,” on China's initial handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, and “Cockroach,” a sympathetic take on the 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy protests. But he has also gone to great lengths to make art of what's in front of him: the global refugee crisis and, more recently, the war in Ukraine.
When asked if he thought the Chinese government's attitudes towards him had changed given his trouble-free stay, he said he didn't think any change began recently.
“Rather, it comes from my long-term public work in expressing my views… Although a country or group may disagree with my positions, they at least recognize that I speak sincerely and not for personal gain.”
He believes China is “in an upward phase,” pointing to individual wealth, national strength and personal freedoms, though discussing political topics remains taboo. “The overall trajectory is one of ascent, even though different problems emerge at different stages.”
Western society, conversely, is in decline, he argued, in perhaps rare agreement with the frequent message from Chinese leaders. He added that changes he's seen over the past 10 years have “shocked” him. “It feels like a landslide burying the highways it once built. Values once celebrated now appear hollow and collapsed. The West increasingly struggles to sustain its own logic; in many areas it has lost its ethical authority and descended into something barely recognizable.”
So does he plan on moving back to China anytime soon?
“I have never truly left anywhere; the distance has simply grown longer,” Ai explained. He once said he felt that he belonged nowhere, a “stranger” everywhere he goes. But it's his Chinese passport that keeps him rooted.
“Even when I lived under great difficulty, I still felt that this identity gave me the fundamental right to return to my place of birth. Other human-made obstacles were secondary.”
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he reached a framework for a deal with NATO over the future of Greenland that will include rights to rare-earth minerals.
“They're going to be involved in mineral rights, and so are we,” Trump said about NATO and the United States in an interview with CNBC after the initial announcement on Truth Social.
He didn't specify any preliminary terms. But Greenland's untapped mineral wealth has helped land the island at the top of Trump's empire-building wish list.
Trump officials view Greenland's underground riches as a way to loosen China's stranglehold over the rare-earth metals that are critical for everything from fighter jets and lasers to electric vehicles and MRI scanners.
Trump has downplayed Greenland's natural resources, including in his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, when he said acquiring rare-earth minerals wasn't the reason America needed the territory.
“Everyone talks about the minerals. There's so many,” Trump said. “There's no such thing as rare earth. There's rare processing. But there's so much rare earth. And to get to this rare earth, you got to go through hundreds of feet of ice. That's not the reason we need it. We need it for strategic national security and international security.”
But hours later, Trump said the deal for Greenland included two parts: his “Golden Dome” missile defense concept and minerals. That tracks with what his former national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News in 2024, when Waltz said that the administration's focus on Greenland was “about critical minerals” and “natural resources.”
The reality is that Denmark's ownership of Greenland is not what's stopping the United States from tapping the island's treasure trove. It's the punishing Arctic environment.
Researchers say it would be extremely difficult and expensive to extract Greenland's minerals because many of the island's mineral deposits are located in remote areas above the Arctic Circle, where there is a mile-thick polar ice sheet and darkness reigns much of the year.
Not only that, but Greenland, a self-ruling territory of Denmark, lacks the infrastructure and manpower required to make this mining dream a reality.
“The idea of turning Greenland into America's rare-earth factory is science fiction. It's just completely bonkers,” said Malte Humpert, founder and senior fellow at The Arctic Institute. “You might as well mine on the moon. In some respects, it's worse than the moon.”
Despite its name, approximately 80% of Greenland is covered with ice. And mineral extraction — or just about anything — in the Arctic can be five to 10 times more expensive than doing it elsewhere on the planet.
Trump's interest in Greenland is not new — nor is he the first US president to covet the island.
For years, if not decades, officials in Greenland have courted foreign direct investment. People in Greenland say they already are open to business opportunities without any belligerence.
Getting US businesses to take a chance on Greenland may be a fantasy, experts say.
“If there was a ‘pot of gold' waiting at the end of the rainbow in Greenland, private businesses would have gone there already,” said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
However, Funk Kirkegaard, who previously worked with the Danish Ministry of Defense, said it's just “very difficult” to make a business case for the very large upfront investment that would be required.
It's possible Trump tries to provide financial incentives and guarantees to entice US companies to make those massive investments, similar to the guarantees that Big Oil is seeking to drill aggressively in Venezuela.
“If given enough taxpayer dollars, private business would be willing to do almost anything,” Funk Kirkegaard said. “But is that a good foundation on which to purchase a territory? The answer is no in Greenland, just as it's no in Venezuela.”
The climate crisis has caused melting ice and rapidly rising temperatures in the Arctic, leading some to hope for new economic opportunities.
However, it's too early to say this will be enough of a game-changer to overcome the environmental challenges of mining in Greenland. While ice melt has opened up some shipping routes, it has also made the ground less stable to drill and raises the risk of landslides.
“Climate change doesn't mean it's easy. This is not the Mediterranean or your bathtub. There's just less ice freeze,” said Humpert of The Arctic Institute.
Relatedly, Greenland's stringent environmental regulations would add expense and difficulty to widespread mining.
Of course, those regulations reflect the local population's desire to keep the environment pristine. If the Trump administration somehow made those regulations disappear, it might prove deeply unpopular.
“You could end up having a hostile local political situation,” Funk Kirkegaard said.
Adam Lajeunesse, chair in Canadian and Arctic policy at St. Francis Xavier University, said Trump's “bizarre rhetoric” about taking over Greenland risks undermining the economic and strategic objectives US officials by harming the relationship with Greenland and Denmark.
“You could see the United States no longer viewed as a friend and partner but as a bully that should be resisted,” he said.
To some extent, this may already be happening.
Christian Keldsen, managing director of the Greenland Business Association, cautions US officials risk damaging the relationship with the local population.
“At the moment, everything American is a red flag,” he said. “Everyone is wondering, ‘Am I supporting someone taking over my country?'”
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A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily declined to allow the FBI to examine electronics it seized from a Washington Post reporter's home.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William B. Porter ruled the agency is permitted to keep Hannah Natanson's two phones, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch that it seized from her residence last week. However, the FBI is not allowed to review the items, Porter wrote in a two-page ruling filed in federal district court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The FBI is not permitted to investigate the electronics until at least early next month, when a hearing is scheduled on the case. The agency obtained them last week by executing a search warrant. It sought to investigate the items as part of an inquiry into a Pentagon contractor accused of illegally retaining classified documents.
But the Washington Post swiftly filed a court motion asking Porter to force the FBI to return the electronics to Natanson. The outlet warned that the seizure “flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists.” It was that motion that Porter weighed in on during his ruling Wednesday. The judge ordered the Department of Justice to respond to the Washington Post's filings by Jan. 28.
The case began after the DOJ accused Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top-secret security clearance, of retaining classified national defense materials. A DOJ official said the suspect was messaging Natanson when he was arrested earlier this month, according to the Washington Post, which also reported that Natanson said she communicated with Perez-Lugones through Signal and phone.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has accused Natanson of reporting on classified information she garnered from Perez-Lugones.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE PEACE EFFORTS REVIVED AS TRUMP MEETS WITH ZELENSKY AND DISPATCHES WITKOFF TO MOSCOW
“The Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor,” Bondi said in a post to X. “The leaker is currently behind bars. I am proud to work alongside Secretary Hegseth on this effort. The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation's national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the FBI for comment but did not receive a reply.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
A former Uvalde school police officer who was among the first to respond to the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school has been acquitted of criminal charges that he failed his duty to confront the gunman.
Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, right, embraces his attorney Jason Goss after the jury found Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
Mothers of Robb Elementary School shooting victims, from left, Sandra Torres, Veronica Luevanos, and Felicha Martinez cry together outside the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas, after former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales was found not guilty. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, left, reacts as he stands beside his attorney, Nico LaHood, to answer reporters' questions after the jury found Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
Gloria Cazares, mother of Robb Elementary school shooting victim Jackie Cazaeres, reacts after the jury found former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales not guilty at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales listens to closing statements on the 11th day of his trial at the Nueces County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Sam Owens /The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A former Uvalde schools police officer was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he failed in his duties to confront the gunman at Robb Elementary during the critical first minutes of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before finding Adrian Gonzales, 52, not guilty in the first trial over the hesitant law enforcement response to the 2022 attack, in which a teenage gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Had he been convicted, he faced up two years in prison on more than two dozen charges of child abandonment and endangerment.
Gonzales appeared to fight back tears and hugged his lawyers after the verdict was read in a courtroom in Corpus Christi, hundreds of miles from Uvalde, where his legal team said a fair trial would not have been possible.
“Thank you for the jury for considering all the evidence,” Gonzales told reporters. Asked if he wanted to say anything to the families, he declined.
Several family members of the victims sat in silence in the courtroom, some crying or wiping away tears.
“Faith is fractured, but you never lose faith,” said Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed. He said he was frustrated by the verdict and hopes the state will press ahead with the trial of former Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo, the only other officer who has been charged over the police response.
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“Those children in the cemetery can't speak for themselves,” Rizo said.
Jurors declined to speak to reporters while leaving.
Arredondo's trial has not yet been set. Paul Looney, his attorney, told The Associated Press that he believes the verdict will result in prosecutors dropping the case against his client.
“These people have been vilified, and it's horrible what's been done to them. These guys didn't do anything wrong,” Looney said.
The nearly three-week trial was an unusual case in the U.S. of an officer facing criminal charges on accusations of failing to stop a crime and protect lives.
The proceedings included emotional testimony from teachers who were shot and survived. Prosecutors argued that Gonzales abandoned his training and did nothing to stop or interrupt the teenage gunman before he entered the school.
“We're expected to act differently when talking about a child that can't defend themselves,” special prosecutor Bill Turner said during closing arguments Wednesday. “If you have a duty to act, you can't stand by while a child is in imminent danger.”
At least 370 law enforcement officers rushed to the school, where 77 minutes passed before a tactical team finally entered the classroom to confront and kill the gunman. Gonzales was one of just two officers indicted, angering some victim's relatives who said they wanted more to be held accountable.
Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment and endangerment — each count representing the 19 students who were killed and 10 others who were injured.
During the trial jurors heard a medical examiner describe the fatal wounds to the children, some of whom were shot more than a dozen times. Several parents told of sending their children to school for an awards ceremony and the panic that ensued as the attack unfolded.
Gonzales' lawyers said he arrived upon a chaotic scene of rifle shots echoing on school grounds and never saw the gunman before the attacker went inside the school. They also insisted that three other officers who arrived seconds later had a better chance to stop the gunman.
“He was the lowest man on the totem pole. They thought he was easy pickings,” Nico LaHood, one of Gonzales' attorneys, said of prosecutors after the acquittal.
LaHood said he briefly polled jurors on their decision after the verdict.
“They talked about gaps. They talked about perspective and what the government didn't prove about Adrian,” LaHood said.
Some victims' families made the long drive to watch Gonzales' trial. Early on the sister of one of the teachers killed was removed from the courtroom after an angry outburst following one officer's testimony.
Gonzales' trial was tightly focused on his actions in the early moments of the attack, but prosecutors also presented the graphic and emotional testimony as the result of police failures.
State and federal reviews of the shooting cited cascading problems in law enforcement training, communication, leadership and technology, and questioned why officers waited so long.
Looney, Arredondo's attorney, said he still wants his client to go trial so he can clear his name, saying, “Pete Arredondo deserves and needs a complete airing and public vindication. I hope he gets that chance.”
Prosecutors faced a high bar to win a conviction. Juries are often reluctant to convict law enforcement officers for inaction, as seen after the 2018 school massacre in Parkland, Florida. A sheriff's deputy was acquitted after being charged with failing to confront the shooter in that attack — the first such prosecution in the U.S. for an on-campus shooting.
___
Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
A paid left-wing provocateur, who operates a travel fund that covers expenses associated with accosting “Nazis,” joined the takeover of a Minneapolis-area church as part of an activist coalition's protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
William Kelly, an anti-Trump agitator traveling across the country to sites of political conflict, appeared to be a central figure in the shutdown of Sunday services at Cities Church, a Christian parish in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Kelly, alongside a mob of activists, allegedly stormed Cities Church over the weekend, disrupting a Sunday sermon based on allegations that one of the pastors, David Easterwood, is an ICE official. A man with the same name and likeness serves as ICE's acting director for the agency's St. Paul field office.
Afterward, on social media, Kelly said he had “the honor of protesting David Easterwood's church with Nekima Armstrong and the Racial Justice Network!”
Nekima Levy Armstrong, head of the Minnesota-based Racial Justice Network, was the chief coordinator of the well-organized church protest.
BLM COALITION BEHIND ANTI-ICE SHUTDOWN OF MINNEAPOLIS CHURCH SERVICE
Armstrong later thanked Kelly and former CNN host Don Lemon in a Facebook post for their efforts. Lemon, Kelly, and other “independent journalists” were reportedly privy to operational plans kept under wraps until the so-called “surprise operation” actually unfolded.
At the church, Lemon and Kelly recorded the protesters carrying out the “clandestine mission,” adding narration that couched their conduct as constitutionally protected activity.
Notably, when the activists initially assembled in a nearby parking lot, the protest's staging grounds, Lemon met them there and began livestreaming before they barged into Cities Church that morning.
Kelly, during the demonstration, filmed himself directly confronting lead pastor Jonathan Parnell and shouting in the faces of parishioners, even following them to their cars with crying children in tow.
“I had no idea I was going to the church that day,” Kelly said when contacted by the Washington Examiner. “I saw a flyer for a protest and showed up to support the Black Community.”
A staple in the anti-ICE activism scene, Kelly appears at pop-up protests all around the country, deploying confrontational tactics intended to provoke his political opponents.
Most recently, Kelly left Minneapolis for an anti-Tesla rally in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 16, took a red-eye flight to Chicago for a protest outside an ICE facility on Jan. 17, and jetted back to Minneapolis in time for the Cities Church occupation on Jan. 18.
In a message to supporters, Kelly told his followers, “I plan on organizing some larger movements across the country! I will do my best to come support every city being attacked by fascism!”
Kelly, known as “DaWoke Farmer” on TikTok, crowdfunds financing for his cross-country trips through a standing campaign on GoFundMe, originally titled “Help Me to Continue Agitating the Nazis.”
“Road Trip!! Help me travel the Nation scolding the Gestapo for their bad decisions!” Kelly, who also collects contributions on CashApp, captioned the fundraising campaign. “No rest for demons!”
To date, the GoFundMe page has raised over $43,000 in donations, many of them coming in after the Department of Justice threatened to file federal charges against the organizers and collaborators of the church protest.
GUERRILLA-LIKE ‘ICE WATCH' GROUPS BACKED BY TOP LEFT-WING GRANTMAKERS
Lemon, in particular, has been put “on notice” by Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, chief of the DOJ's civil rights division, for possible violations of the FACE Act, a federal law protecting places of worship from protests.
As seen on Lemon's livestream, the former CNN host bought donuts and coffee at a Starbucks location and then distributed them to protesters. “Don Lemon is on the front lines right now!” one anti-ICE activist announced on a megaphone. “Don Lemon's got coffee for y'all!” To which Lemon added, “And donuts.”
“Whoever paid for, coordinated, or participated in this attack made a big—BIG—mistake,” Harmeet warned. “No worshipper in this country should ever feel intimidated in a house of God, and @TheJusticeDept will bring the full force of the law, as directed by [Attorney General Pam Bondi].”
In response, Kelly said he was protesting “a white supremacist church.”
“F**k ‘em!” Kelly reacted, dismissing the DOJ investigation and further challenging federal officials to arrest him. “They wanna come after me? F**k ‘em!”
In an expletive-filled video statement, Kelly claimed that Muslim immigrants in Minnesota are not able to pray without the fear of ICE raiding their mosques. “How do they deserve any f**king different?” Kelly said, referring to the Christian churchgoers. “F**k those f**king Nazis! Come and get me, Pam Bondi, you f**king traitorous b*tch.”
Kelly insisted to the Washington Examiner that they were invited into the church, countering claims that the protesters trespassed.
“We preached the words of Jesus. We left,” Kelly said. “They never asked us to leave. The police never talked to us. The service continued with music and prayer the entire time we were in there.”
Calling the threats of charges “baseless,” Kelly said his lawyers assured him that he would prevail should prosecutors bring a case against him.
Justin Overbaugh, the U.S. deputy undersecretary of war for intelligence and security, informed Bondi on X that Kelly has also been part of a mob that routinely harasses congregants at Christ Church, a parish attended by War Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington, D.C.
Since the church's founding last summer, the group gathers on the premises weekly, blaring bullhorns to disrupt church services “in clear violation of the law,” Overbaugh said.
DOJ PROBING ANTI-ICE PROTEST AT MINNEAPOLIS CHURCH SERVICE
The situation grew so serious that one churchgoer was sent to the hospital with a shattered eardrum after a protester “let loose with the full force of a bullhorn in his ear,” Joe Rigney, a pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, which founded the D.C. church, wrote for the Christian news magazine World.
Kelly has a reputation as one of the most disruptive regulars stationed outside the church.
“He screams incredibly vile and gross things at families, at children, at people,” a Christ Church member told Fox News. “He's called my wife a c*nt, a wh*re, and a Nazi breeder, all sorts of fun things.”
Kelly and others screaming such obscenities as parishioners enter and exit the sanctuary has culminated in the parish's requests for police escorts.
Last month, Kelly captured on camera one of his profanity-laden confrontations with Hegseth.
“I've been waiting for this for a long time,” Kelly said in a December podcast appearance. “I go to his church almost every Sunday, and I miss him every time. So this was a long time coming.”
Some of Kelly's other past targets include members of the National Guard, whom he heckled near Union Station less than two weeks after two troops were ambushed by gunfire in the nation's capital.
Kelly was arrested in December for allegedly stalking a random father, calling the man “a Nazi piece of sh*t” while his children watched. According to Kelly, investigators are “moving forward with disorderly conduct charges” against him.
LIBERAL ACTIVISTS USE AGGRESSIVE ‘ICE WATCH' TACTICS TO TARGET FEDERAL OFFICERS IN MINNEAPOLIS
Dhillon confirmed that Kelly was recently arrested and released days prior to the Cities Church protest in Minnesota for allegedly impeding ICE. After authorities set him free on Friday, Kelly claimed that he was “kidnapped by ICE.”
Kelly told the Washington Examiner that he is now suing the Department of Homeland Security on wrongful arrest and excessive violence claims in connection to Friday's arrest.
“I will not be intimidated,” Kelly said. “The real violation of the FACE Act is being carried out by [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem every single day. The fear caused by her masked goons and their disregard of due process leaves us citizens afraid to leave their homes. They are afraid to go to mass or prayer!”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Greg Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol, who has led the administration's big-city immigration campaign, was seen on video warning protesters “Gas is coming!” before throwing a canister that released green smoke into a Minneapolis crowd Wednesday.
Tear gas is deployed as Federal agents make arrests on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Federal agents detain a person on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Tear gas is deployed as Federal agents make arrests on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
A human skeleton decoration dressed in a flannel shirt stands above a handmade sign reading “ICE OUT NOW!” outside a home in a residential neighborhood on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
A poster reading “Bovino Go Home,” featuring an altered image of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, is displayed in the snow outside a home on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Maine became the latest target of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement crackdown, while a federal appeals court on Wednesday suspended a decision that prohibited federal officers from using tear gas or pepper spray against peaceful protesters in Minnesota.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was persuaded to freeze a judge's ruling that bars retaliation against the public in Minnesota, including detaining people who follow agents in cars, while the government pursues an appeal. Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, has been underway for weeks.
ADDS IDENTIFICATION - Aliya Rahman is detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the appeals court on X, saying the Justice Department “will protect federal law enforcement agents from criminals in the streets AND activist judges in the courtroom.”
After the stay was issued, Greg Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol, who has commanded the administration's big-city immigration campaign, was seen on video repeatedly warning protesters on a snowy Minneapolis street “Gas is coming!” before tossing a canister into the crowd that released green smoke.
Minnesota is a major focus of immigration sweeps by agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and is where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7. State and local officials who oppose the campaign were served with federal grand jury subpoenas Tuesday for records that might suggest they were trying to stifle enforcement.
A political action committee founded by former Vice President Kamala Harris urged donors to contribute to a defense fund in aid of Gov. Tim Walz, her 2024 running mate.
“The Justice Department is going after Trump's enemies,” Harris' email said, referring to President Donald Trump.
ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, second from right, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after a federal immigration officer used a battering ram to break down a door before arresting Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
In Maine, the Department of Homeland Security named the enforcement operation Catch of the Day in an apparent play on the state's seafood industry. Maine has relatively few residents who are in the United States illegally but has a notable presence of refugees in its largest cities, particularly from Africa.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said she won't grant a request for confidential license plates sought by Customs and Border Protection, a decision that reflects her disgust over “abuses of power” by immigration enforcers.
“We have not revoked existing plates but have paused issuance of new plates. We want to be assured that Maine plates will not be used for lawless purposes,” Bellows said.
A message seeking comment from CBP was not immediately returned.
Portland City Council member Pious Ali, a native of Ghana, said there's much anxiety about ICE's presence in Maine's largest city.
“There are immigrants who live here who work in our hospitals, they work in our schools, they work in our hotels, they are part of the economic engine of our community,” Ali said.
Bovino said more than 10,000 people in the U.S. illegally have been arrested in Minnesota in the past year, including 3,000 “of some of the most dangerous offenders” in the last six weeks during Operation Metro Surge.
Protesters display two magazines of live ammunition found on the ground after federal immigration officers deployed tear gas and disrupted a demonstration outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said advocates have no way of knowing whether the government's arrest numbers and descriptions of the people in custody are accurate.
Separately, a federal judge said he's prepared to grant bond and release two men after hearing conflicting testimony about an alleged assault on an immigration officer. Prosecutors are appealing. One of the men was shot in the thigh by the officer during the encounter last week.
The officer said he was repeatedly struck with a broom and with snow shovels while trying to subdue and arrest Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna following a car crash and foot chase.
U.S. Border Patrol agents remove a person from their vehicle, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis denied assaulting the officer. Neither video evidence nor three eyewitnesses supported the officer's account about the broom and shovels or that there had been a third person involved.
Aljorna and Sosa-Celis do not have violent criminal records, their attorneys said, and both had been working as DoorDash drivers at night to avoid encounters with federal agents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko said they still could be detained by ICE even if released from custody in the assault case.
The Minneapolis and Saint Paul city councils are pushing for Walz to implement a pause on evictions across the state so families can shelter in place safely.
“No worker should have to choose between keeping a roof over their head and risking being kidnapped by ICE on the way to work,” Minneapolis City Council Minority Leader Robin Wonsley said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the grassroots Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee called for the arrest of the officer who shot Good.
“We need our mayor, we need our elected officials to stand up to this violence,” MIRAC spokesperson Erika Zurawski said at a news conference Wednesday. “On the federal level, we mean to make sure none of our U.S. representatives vote for any more funding for ICE.”
Good was in her vehicle blocking a Minneapolis street where ICE officers were operating. Trump administration officials say the officer shot her in self-defense, although videos of the encounter show the Honda Pilot slowly turning away from him.
___
Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press reporters Mark Vancleave and Sarah Raza in Minneapolis and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
If Wednesday was Trump day at the World Economic Forum, then Thursday was all about Elon Musk.
Musk, the world's richest person, made his first-ever appearance at Davos, taking the stage in conversation with Larry Fink, the WEF's cochair.
We're bringing you live updates from Musk and the rest of Davos here. Follow along for the latest.
On Thursday, we got to see Elon Musk grace the stage of the World Economic Forum for the first time. He didn't make much of a splash.
Earlier in the day, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was "living rent-free in Trump's head," and Business Insider's Dan DeFrancesco got turned away from a cloakroom for not having sufficiently high WEF status.
On Thursday, we got to see Elon Musk grace the stage of the World Economic Forum for the first time. He didn't make much of a splash.
Earlier in the day, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was "living rent-free in Trump's head," and Business Insider's Dan DeFrancesco got turned away from a cloakroom for not having sufficiently high WEF status.
On the geopolitical front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked businesses to open offices in his country and got two standing ovations, while Trump formally launched his Board of Peace.
Business Insider won't be liveblogging on Friday as Davos wraps up around midday local time.
So that's it.
Goodbye, and thanks for reading!
Elon Musk once called Davos "boring af." After his first appearance, some attendees might agree with him.
The billionaire took to the stage at the World Economic Forum in a surprise appearance on Thursday for an interview that touched on many points of his sprawling business empire — but offered few new details.
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The CEOs of three major banks — Citi, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs — made clear their feelings about plans to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.
Their feelings: pretty negative.
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The bond vigilantes could make a comeback soon.
That's the big message Citadel CEO Ken Griffin thinks the US got this week.
Speaking to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Griffin pointed to the sharp sell-off in Japan's bond market as investors balked at a potential pause on food taxes, a policy proposal that caused the nation's 40-year government bond yield to hit a record high.
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Speaking of Trump's journey home, Air Force One took off from Zurich Airport at 5:37 p.m. local time (11:37 a.m. ET).
Trump's convoy was seen earlier driving away from Davos before Elon Musk's speech.
Speaking of Trump's journey home, Air Force One took off from Zurich Airport at 5:37 p.m. local time (11:37 a.m. ET).
Trump's convoy was seen earlier driving away from Davos before Elon Musk's speech.
From touchdown to take off, the president spent about 29 hours in Switzerland.
With Musk's appearance over and Trump on his way back home, we're coming into the final stretch of the 2026 World Economic Forum. Private events and cocktail parties will continue long into Thursday night, but there are only a handful of talks and discussions left today, and just a few more scheduled on Friday morning.
Things will officially wrap up with closing remarks from the WEF President Børge Brende and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Economy and Planning at midday tomorrow.
In his 30 minutes onstage, there wasn't a whole lot from Musk that we haven't heard before. He talked about his vision for a robot-powered future, plans to go to Mars, and the rollout of Tesla's robotaxis.
Whether he has any further engagements at Davos is currently unclear.
"I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future," he says.
"For quality of life, it is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than being a pessimist and right," he says to laughter.
"I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future," he says.
"For quality of life, it is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than being a pessimist and right," he says to laughter.
And with that, Musk's first time at Davos comes to an end.
"People ask me do I want to die on Mars, and I'm like 'yes, but not on impact.'"
"The rate at which AI is progressing, I think we might have AI that is smarter than any human by the end of this year, and I would say no later than the end of next year."
"Tesla has rolled out a robotaxi service in a few cities, and it will be very widespread by the end of this year within the US," he says.
Musk says Tesla hopes to get approval for its robotaxis in Europe next month. He doesn't specify where.
"Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly. We do have some of the Tesla Optimus robots doing simple tasks in the factory," Musk says.
"By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, but still deployed in an industrial environment," he adds.
"Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly. We do have some of the Tesla Optimus robots doing simple tasks in the factory," Musk says.
"By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, but still deployed in an industrial environment," he adds.
"By the end of next year, I think we'll be selling humanoid robots to the public. That's when we are confident that it's very high liability, very high safety, and the range of functionality is high."
Musk said in 2024 that he wanted to sell Optimus in 2026.
"I do think it is a very solvable problem," he says.
"When we figure out what causes ageing, I think we'll find it's incredibly obvious."
"I do think it is a very solvable problem," he says.
"When we figure out what causes ageing, I think we'll find it's incredibly obvious."
Stopping aging isn't necessarily a good thing, he adds.
"There is a reason we don't have a longer life span. There is some risk of an ossification of society, of things getting locked in place."
"We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs."
"My prediction is that there will be more robots than people."
"We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs."
"My prediction is that there will be more robots than people."
"Who wouldn't want a robot to, assuming it's very safe, watch over your kids, take care of your pets?"
"If we have ubiquitous AI, which is essentially free or close to it, and ubiquitous robotics, then you will have an explosion in the global economy that is truly beyond all precedent."
"And I say, I am one, but they don't believe me. If anyone would know if there were aliens among us, it would be me."
"I heard about the formation of the peace summit. And I was like, is that piece? A little piece of Greenland. A little piece of Venezuela," Musk says after Fink mentions Greenland.
Not many laughs for that one.
"That was not a large applause. Start again," Fink tells the audience.
Yesterday, President Donald Trump was on the agenda for 45 minutes, and ended up speaking for nearly 90 including his brief Q&A with WEF President Børge Brende.
Lots of smiles and small talk. Like a bunch of kids happily discussing their summer plans on the last day of school.
And why shouldn't they? After all, for many, the crisis had already been averted over the past 24 hours. A Greenland deal was cut, and many were feeling optimistic about the future.
Speaking @wef in 20 mins. What should I say? 🤭
Humanoid robots can do kung-fu and parkour. But can they make your morning coffee?
At a Davos panel on Thursday, moderated by Business Insider's Jamie Heller, three robotics experts said humanoid robots needed to move beyond flashy demos and perform useful tasks in the real world at scale.
Jake Loosararian, the CEO of infrastructure startup Gecko Robotics, said that deploying robots into real-world environments was the major challenge facing the much-hyped industry.
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"Open offices in Ukraine. Yes, a little bit of a risk, but we decided to be honest today," the Ukrainian president said to some laughs.
"Give jobs to our people."
"Open offices in Ukraine. Yes, a little bit of a risk, but we decided to be honest today," the Ukrainian president said to some laughs.
"Give jobs to our people."
"This is real support: jobs, money, investment."
As he left the stage after his speech, he got a second standing ovation from the Davos crowd.
"Today we met with President Trump. Our teams are working every single day. It's not simple. The documents ending this war are nearly there and that really matters."
Hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin has a blunt message for anyone expecting artificial intelligence to instantly rewrite the global economy: the hype is real — and it's there to justify enormous spending.
Speaking in Davos yesterday the Citadel CEO said the AI boom is being fueled as much by narrative as by real productivity gains. Griffin, the world's 39th richest person, said that doesn't mean AI isn't powerful — but expectations have run far ahead of reality.
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A previous speech, given by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, overran significantly.
Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump prior to his speech.
Photos show the presidential motorcade heading down the mountain and out of Davos just before 3 p.m. local time.
Flight-tracking data shows Elon Musk's Gulfstream G650 has reached Zurich. It landed at 2:22 p.m. local time, some 10 hours after departing San Jose.
Zurich is 75 miles from Davos, where Musk is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum at 4:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. ET).
Zelenskyy is due to speak in roughly 20 minutes.
Despite being probably the most prominent figure in the world of business over the past decade, today's appearance will be Musk's first in Davos.
He has a difficult history with the conference, having frequently criticized it in the past, famously calling it "boring af" ahead of the 2023 edition. That incident sparked the WEF into publicly saying it had not invited Musk since 2015.
Despite being probably the most prominent figure in the world of business over the past decade, today's appearance will be Musk's first in Davos.
He has a difficult history with the conference, having frequently criticized it in the past, famously calling it "boring af" ahead of the 2023 edition. That incident sparked the WEF into publicly saying it had not invited Musk since 2015.
He was invited last year, when he was heading up Trump's shortlived Department of Government Efficiency, but did not attend.
Elon Musk's private jet is back in tracking range, flying over France and about 200 miles from Zurich.
For much of the past week, Musk has been locked in a war of words with Michael O'Leary, CEO of Europe's biggest airline Ryanair, over Starlink.
Elon Musk's private jet is back in tracking range, flying over France and about 200 miles from Zurich.
For much of the past week, Musk has been locked in a war of words with Michael O'Leary, CEO of Europe's biggest airline Ryanair, over Starlink.
Perhaps ironically, Musk's jet earlier crossed paths with a Ryanair flight from Madrid to Dublin, which passed behind it by about 70 miles, with their flight paths intersecting roughly 10 minutes apart.
During their spat, Musk and O'Leary called each other idiots and Musk polled X users on purchasing the airline and installing a new boss named Ryan.
Then, on Wednesday, the Irish airline used the beef to promote its January sale and said it would hand-deliver a ticket to X's Dublin offices. Musk is yet to reply.
After the massive buzz around Trump's speech yesterday, things are a little lighter in terms of big name speakers at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. Still, it's Davos, so even a light day would be the envy of pretty much any other conference on earth.
The day's main event, of course, is Elon Musk's appearance at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but other highlights include a special address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 2:30 local time (8:30 ET). Zelenskyy, who initially planned to skip Davos this year, will also meet Trump while he is in Switzerland.
After the massive buzz around Trump's speech yesterday, things are a little lighter in terms of big name speakers at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. Still, it's Davos, so even a light day would be the envy of pretty much any other conference on earth.
The day's main event, of course, is Elon Musk's appearance at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but other highlights include a special address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 2:30 local time (8:30 ET). Zelenskyy, who initially planned to skip Davos this year, will also meet Trump while he is in Switzerland.
Elsewhere, Business Insider Editor In Chief Jamie Heller has just kicked off a discussion about living autonomously with MIT academic Daniela Rus, Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian, and Shao Tianlan, CEO of Mech-Mind.
Continuing our coverage of coat rooms across Davos, I was turned away from Cloakroom A in the Congress Center today.
"We're only taking white badges today. Sorry."
Continuing our coverage of coat rooms across Davos, I was turned away from Cloakroom A in the Congress Center today.
"We're only taking white badges today. Sorry."
White badges are the top dogs in Davos' weird caste system, having access to basically everything. That's followed by silver (government officials), orange (media-types like me), black (security), and finally hotel badges.
There was a free coat room for us non-white-badgers just around the corner. But that didn't stop some from feeling offended.
I heard one attendee who was turned down muttering "discrimination" under his breath.
After leaving the Congress Hall, Trump thanked onlookers, but didn't take questions from reporters.
It looks like Elon Musk is heading to Davos on his Gulfstream G650 private jet — the model of choice among the very wealthy. When I was tracking private jet arrivals on Monday, it was the most frequent type, representing 31 of 157 landings at nearby airports.
According to JetSpy data, G650s that have landed near Davos this week include ones owned by: Aramco, Bill Gates, BlackRock (twice), Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Google, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
It looks like Elon Musk is heading to Davos on his Gulfstream G650 private jet — the model of choice among the very wealthy. When I was tracking private jet arrivals on Monday, it was the most frequent type, representing 31 of 157 landings at nearby airports.
According to JetSpy data, G650s that have landed near Davos this week include ones owned by: Aramco, Bill Gates, BlackRock (twice), Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Google, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg also own G650s, per JetSpy.
None of Europe's three largest economies, Germany, the UK, and France, will be signatories to the board today.
In an interview with the BBC from Davos this morning, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that this was in part due to "concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we still haven't seen any signs from Putin there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine."
None of Europe's three largest economies, Germany, the UK, and France, will be signatories to the board today.
In an interview with the BBC from Davos this morning, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that this was in part due to "concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we still haven't seen any signs from Putin there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine."
The Kremlin earlier this week said Putin had been invited to join the initiative, which is focused on overseeing Gaza as part of plans to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Though Trump's centerpiece appearance at Davos was his 70-minute-long speech yesterday afternoon, the president is back onstage this morning.
He's launching his Board of Peace, alongside other world leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Though Trump's centerpiece appearance at Davos was his 70-minute-long speech yesterday afternoon, the president is back onstage this morning.
He's launching his Board of Peace, alongside other world leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
"Just about every country wants to be a part of it," he tells the crowd.
He then describes the world's troubles as "really calming down," saying: "Just one year ago, the world was actually on fire."
Elon Musk's private jet is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as he makes a last-minute trip to Davos.
The Gulfstream G650 took off from San Jose International at 7:12 p.m. PT. About six hours later, ADS-B Exchange data had it some 2,200 miles away from Zurich.
Elon Musk's private jet is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as he makes a last-minute trip to Davos.
The Gulfstream G650 took off from San Jose International at 7:12 p.m. PT. About six hours later, ADS-B Exchange data had it some 2,200 miles away from Zurich.
The airplane was last recorded traveling at 660 miles per hour, which means it should land in Switzerland before 2 p.m. (8 a.m. ET). Davos is then about a 40-minute helicopter ride away.
We don't know for sure Musk is on the jet, but it seems highly likely.
Unlike President Donald Trump, who was delayed yesterday due to a fault with Air Force One, Musk should have plenty of time to get to Davos on time.
There has been no shortage of protests at the World Economic Forum this week, with anti-billionaire, environmental, and anti-war demonstrators seen in the town.
One of the more creative demos we've seen, however, is this snow-based slogan. If you can't quite read it, it says: "NO IMPERIALISM."
David Sacks spoke on Wednesday at the USA House alongside Michael Kratsios, the White House's director for science and tech policy. He pushed back on the most alarmist interpretations of Elon Musk's warnings about AI and jobs, arguing they strip out a crucial part of Musk's broader vision.
According to Sacks, Musk isn't predicting a sudden mass-unemployment crisis so much as a radically different economic system, closer to a "Star Trek"-style world where technology supplies basic needs.
David Sacks spoke on Wednesday at the USA House alongside Michael Kratsios, the White House's director for science and tech policy. He pushed back on the most alarmist interpretations of Elon Musk's warnings about AI and jobs, arguing they strip out a crucial part of Musk's broader vision.
According to Sacks, Musk isn't predicting a sudden mass-unemployment crisis so much as a radically different economic system, closer to a "Star Trek"-style world where technology supplies basic needs.
"Look, I think that Elon is directionally correct about the future. I think we are heading towards a country of abundance. Rising living standards for everybody, greater productivity. I think that will lead to rising wages. I don't think it's going to put everyone out of work."
I've usually thought of Davos as being more dominated by finance and blue-chip companies, but clearly, tech has taken over.
Walking down the main thoroughfare in Davos is always fun because all the shops that are open the rest of the year are taken over this week by companies that host "houses" to showcase their brands and host clients and events.
I've usually thought of Davos as being more dominated by finance and blue-chip companies, but clearly, tech has taken over.
Walking down the main thoroughfare in Davos is always fun because all the shops that are open the rest of the year are taken over this week by companies that host "houses" to showcase their brands and host clients and events.
Walking along the street this year, it seems like 80% of the houses are tech. Palantir and Meta (with its free hot chocolate stand) had the most visible presence. Amazon's house was surprisingly small. Google was far away from the main action. Lightspeed was the only venture capital firm I saw, with its odd retro "Lighthouse."
It is also interesting to see who is not here. OpenAI has no house, and Sam Altman did not come, though some executives are here. Elon Musk was not originally part of the program but was a last-minute addition today.
There were so many techies here that sometimes I felt like I was in San Francisco.
I asked a couple of startup founders why they came so far to be here, and the consensus was that there's nothing like Davos for the efficiency of meeting potential customers and investors who are all packed into a tiny Swiss village for the week.
There were so many techies here that sometimes I felt like I was in San Francisco.
I asked a couple of startup founders why they came so far to be here, and the consensus was that there's nothing like Davos for the efficiency of meeting potential customers and investors who are all packed into a tiny Swiss village for the week.
Waiting in the cold in a long line for a party for General Catalyst and Lightspeed, I asked one founder why he traveled here.
He told me Alexandr Wang, founder and former CEO of Scale AI, who is now Chief AI Officer at Meta, advised him that Davos was highly useful because Wang said last year he signed almost a third of Scale's customers in the short time he was there.
Harvey cofounder CEO Winston Weinberg told me that dealmaking started even before I arrived, with many transactions happening in the business-class sections of flights to Zurich from San Francisco and New York.
Jamie Heller, Business Insider's editor in chief, led a panel on smart factories that dove into the future of physical AI and what's needed before robots become mainstream in homes and factory floors.
One phrase dominated her conversation: digital twins. Execs from Siemens, Agility Robotics, and Automation Anywhere agreed that what once sounded like a possibility in the distant future is now delivering real productivity gains.
Jamie Heller, Business Insider's editor in chief, led a panel on smart factories that dove into the future of physical AI and what's needed before robots become mainstream in homes and factory floors.
One phrase dominated her conversation: digital twins. Execs from Siemens, Agility Robotics, and Automation Anywhere agreed that what once sounded like a possibility in the distant future is now delivering real productivity gains.
"You want to have this digital twin alive once you are running your production because it allows you to optimize all the time," Siemens' CEO Roland Busch said. "If you make a change, if there's something going wrong, you see real-time what's happening on the shop floor."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spent most of his 30-minute interview at Davos with Semafor's editor in chief slamming President Donald Trump and the administration. The US is living under "the rule of Don" rather than the rule of law, Newsom said.
"Co-equal branches of government, the rule of law, popular sovereignty," he said. "Tell me that that reflects the America you read about today."
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Flight data from ADS-B Exchange showed that Musk's private jet, a Gulfstream G650, took off from San Jose International Airport Wednesday night, local time, and is traveling east.
It's not yet clear whether Musk is on the aircraft, but he's scheduled to appear on a panel with Larry Fink at 4:30 p.m., Swiss time.
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Management is a bug, not a feature, in a career path at Cisco.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, is a big proponent of the great flattening. In fact, if you're only managing people at Cisco, you're doing something wrong.
Management is a bug, not a feature, in a career path at Cisco.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, is a big proponent of the great flattening. In fact, if you're only managing people at Cisco, you're doing something wrong.
"I want everyone to be a player-coach. I don't want anyone to be a full-time manager. We don't need full-time managers at Cisco," he told me on Wednesday.
He called the philosophy "foundational" to Cisco. People need to think about how they want to change the world and what they can do to contribute to that change, rather than focusing on specific job titles.
"If in the pursuit of that change, you have to go out and reluctantly manage some people, then go ahead and do that," Patel said. "But management, in and of itself, is not a full-time job."
Conor Hillery and Matthieu Wiltz are well-versed in how European investors are feeling.
JPMorgan's co-CEOs of EMEA took a two-week trip across Europe and the Middle East to meet with clients at the start of the year. It corresponded with escalating geopolitical situations in Venezuela and Greenland, making for a unique trip.
Conor Hillery and Matthieu Wiltz are well-versed in how European investors are feeling.
JPMorgan's co-CEOs of EMEA took a two-week trip across Europe and the Middle East to meet with clients at the start of the year. It corresponded with escalating geopolitical situations in Venezuela and Greenland, making for a unique trip.
When I spoke to them on Wednesday morning, before Trump's speech, they told me clients aren't necessarily looking to pull the plug on things, but the questions are mounting.
"I think it's just raising the spectre of uncertainty, so clients aren't making any definitive assumptions at this stage," Hillery told me. "In the back of their heads, they are starting to think that this could get a lot more complicated than it's been for the last few years."
And even since the trip, the situation is evolving almost minute by minute.
"There is a bit more of a question mark now compared to the first two weeks of January," Wiltz added.
There was a bit of show-and-tell from the California governor at his morning session. He took out a set of red kneepads, which he said are meant for the CEOs who kneel to Trump. He also accused some corporate leaders — he didn't name them — of "selling out to this administration."
No shortage of jabs at Trump, too. The governor called Trump an "invasive species," among other things.
There was a bit of show-and-tell from the California governor at his morning session. He took out a set of red kneepads, which he said are meant for the CEOs who kneel to Trump. He also accused some corporate leaders — he didn't name them — of "selling out to this administration."
No shortage of jabs at Trump, too. The governor called Trump an "invasive species," among other things.
"I'm living rent-free in Trump's head," Newsom said.
He posted negatively about the forum in 2022 and 2023.
My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring af lol
Musk is a new addition to the programme — he's now listed to speak with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at 4:30 p.m.
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Business Insider's Ben Bergman brought us to-the-minute updates from inside the room where Trump gave his speech.
Great to start my day in Davos for the second day in a row with @Elex_Michaelson.Today I shared what it was like to be in the room for President Trump's lengthy address. pic.twitter.com/MmEjTEBgea
Check out the full story, too.
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Newsom sparred with Scott Bessent and, on Wednesday, stared into the camera in the middle of Trump's speech with a wry, knowing smile — giving his best imitation of Jim from "The Office."
rent free pic.twitter.com/lLB7uVydkf
The California governor has also been making his rounds with the press, giving snappy soundbites about how the Democratic Party and world leaders should best deal with the president.
Newsom sparred with Scott Bessent and, on Wednesday, stared into the camera in the middle of Trump's speech with a wry, knowing smile — giving his best imitation of Jim from "The Office."
rent free pic.twitter.com/lLB7uVydkf
The California governor has also been making his rounds with the press, giving snappy soundbites about how the Democratic Party and world leaders should best deal with the president.
This morning in Davos, Newsom will get his share of the spotlight. He's scheduled for a panel at 8:30 a.m. local time.
ICYMI, though we don't know how you could've.
After a slight hiccup in his travel plans due to an electrical fault on Air Force One, President Donald Trump and his team swept into Davos on Wednesday for a much-anticipated speech.
ICYMI, though we don't know how you could've.
After a slight hiccup in his travel plans due to an electrical fault on Air Force One, President Donald Trump and his team swept into Davos on Wednesday for a much-anticipated speech.
The reactions? Mixed. Business Insider was in the room for his speech, and we fact-checked the president's praise for the US economy.
And after all the panic over Greenland, Trump called off his new tariffs on Europe. There's to be a "framework" in place, per an agreement with NATO, with more to come on what that'll mean.
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President Donald Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, on Thursday for closing his and related entities' accounts in early 2021 after decades of being customers of the bank, allegedly for political reasons.
The closures came on the heels of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, and the president exiting the White House later that same month after his electoral loss to former President Joe Biden was confirmed.
JPMorgan on Thursday denied that it closed Trump's accounts for political reasons, and suggested that the closures were due to federal rules and regulations that the bank has been seeking to change during this and prior presidential administrations.
Trump and the other plaintiffs in the case, which are business entities related to the president, are seeking at least $5 billion in civil damages.
"Plaintiffs are confident that JPMC's unilateral decision came about as a result of political and social motivations, and JPMC's unsubstantiated, 'woke' beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views," the lawsuit alleges.
"In essence, JPMC debanked Plaintiffs' Accounts because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so," says the suit, which was filed in state court in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The suit says JPMorgan failed to disclose why the bank was terminating the accounts, but that the "plaintiffs have subsequently learned that they were debanked as a result of political discrimination against President Trump, the Trump Organization, its affiliated entities, and/or the Trump family."
The suit does not detail what the plaintiffs learned that substantiated that claim.
The suit also says that JPMorgan's "reckless decision is leading a growing trend by financial institutions inthe United States of America to cut off a consumer's access to banking services if their political views contradict with those of the financial institution."
In addition to alleging motivations for the closures, the complaint says that Trump and the plaintiffs "have recently learned that JPMC — at the direction of Dimon — "has unlawfully and unjustifiably published some or all of their names, including the names of President Trump, the Trump Organization with its affiliated entities, and/or the Trump family, on a blacklist."
That purported blackist is accessible by federally regulated banks "and is comprised of individuals and entities that have a history of malfeasant acts and are otherwise non-compliant with applicable banking rules and regulations," the suit says, while stating that the plaintiffs "have always complied" with banking rules and regulations.
The complaint does not give a formal name for that blacklist or indicate that it was part of a government regulatory apparatus.
The complaint alleges trade libel, and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by JPMorgan.
It also alleges violations of Florida's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act by Dimon.
In addition to Trump, the plaintiffs include Trump Payroll Corp. and various limited liability corporations.
JPMorgan, in a statement to CNBC, said, "While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit."
"We respect the President's right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves — that's what courts are for," said the bank's spokeswoman, Patricia Wexler. "JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons."
"We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company. We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so," Wexler said.
"We have been asking both this Administration and prior administrations to change the rules and regulations that put us in this position, and we support the Administration's efforts to prevent the weaponization of the banking."
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BlackRock fixed income chief Rick Rieder's star is rising as a potential Federal Reserve chair following flattering remarks Wednesday from President Donald Trump.
In a CNBC interview, Trump called Rieder "very impressive" following a recent meeting between the two. Rieder is one of a few finalists in the race to see who will succeed current Chair Jerome Powell when his term expires in May.
Trump also indicated that he is near a decision, with a candidate field that began at 11 now whittled "down to maybe one," the president said during the interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Following his comments, traders on the Kalshi predictions market raised the odds for Rieder getting the nomination to 33%, about double where they were at the beginning of the week. Rieder did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh continues to hold the lead at 45%, but that's down about 14 points from Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has led the candidate screening, told CNBC earlier this week that he expects Trump will announce a decision next week.
—Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship.
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If Wednesday was Trump day at the World Economic Forum, then Thursday was all about Elon Musk.
Musk, the world's richest person, made his first-ever appearance at Davos, taking the stage in conversation with Larry Fink, the WEF's cochair.
We're bringing you live updates from Musk and the rest of Davos here. Follow along for the latest.
Elon Musk once called Davos "boring af." After his first appearance, some attendees might agree with him.
The billionaire took to the stage at the World Economic Forum in a surprise appearance on Thursday for an interview that touched on many points of his sprawling business empire — but offered few new details.
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The CEOs of three major banks — Citi, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs — made clear their feelings about plans to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.
Their feelings: pretty negative.
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The bond vigilantes could make a comeback soon.
That's the big message Citadel CEO Ken Griffin thinks the US got this week.
Speaking to Bloomberg on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Griffin pointed to the sharp sell-off in Japan's bond market as investors balked at a potential pause on food taxes, a policy proposal that caused the nation's 40-year government bond yield to hit a record high.
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Speaking of Trump's journey home, Air Force One took off from Zurich Airport at 5:37 p.m. local time (11:37 a.m. ET).
Trump's convoy was seen earlier driving away from Davos before Elon Musk's speech.
Speaking of Trump's journey home, Air Force One took off from Zurich Airport at 5:37 p.m. local time (11:37 a.m. ET).
Trump's convoy was seen earlier driving away from Davos before Elon Musk's speech.
From touchdown to take off, the president spent about 29 hours in Switzerland.
With Musk's appearance over and Trump on his way back home, we're coming into the final stretch of the 2026 World Economic Forum. Private events and cocktail parties will continue long into Thursday night, but there are only a handful of talks and discussions left today, and just a few more scheduled on Friday morning.
Things will officially wrap up with closing remarks from the WEF President Børge Brende and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Economy and Planning at midday tomorrow.
In his 30 minutes onstage, there wasn't a whole lot from Musk that we haven't heard before. He talked about his vision for a robot-powered future, plans to go to Mars, and the rollout of Tesla's robotaxis.
Whether he has any further engagements at Davos is currently unclear.
"I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future," he says.
"For quality of life, it is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than being a pessimist and right," he says to laughter.
"I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future," he says.
"For quality of life, it is actually better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than being a pessimist and right," he says to laughter.
And with that, Musk's first time at Davos comes to an end.
"People ask me do I want to die on Mars, and I'm like 'yes, but not on impact.'"
"The rate at which AI is progressing, I think we might have AI that is smarter than any human by the end of this year, and I would say no later than the end of next year."
"Tesla has rolled out a robotaxi service in a few cities, and it will be very widespread by the end of this year within the US," he says.
Musk says Tesla hopes to get approval for its robotaxis in Europe next month. He doesn't specify where.
"Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly. We do have some of the Tesla Optimus robots doing simple tasks in the factory," Musk says.
"By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, but still deployed in an industrial environment," he adds.
"Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly. We do have some of the Tesla Optimus robots doing simple tasks in the factory," Musk says.
"By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, but still deployed in an industrial environment," he adds.
"By the end of next year, I think we'll be selling humanoid robots to the public. That's when we are confident that it's very high liability, very high safety, and the range of functionality is high."
Musk said in 2024 that he wanted to sell Optimus in 2026.
"I do think it is a very solvable problem," he says.
"When we figure out what causes ageing, I think we'll find it's incredibly obvious."
"I do think it is a very solvable problem," he says.
"When we figure out what causes ageing, I think we'll find it's incredibly obvious."
Stopping aging isn't necessarily a good thing, he adds.
"There is a reason we don't have a longer life span. There is some risk of an ossification of society, of things getting locked in place."
"We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs."
"My prediction is that there will be more robots than people."
"We will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate human needs."
"My prediction is that there will be more robots than people."
"Who wouldn't want a robot to, assuming it's very safe, watch over your kids, take care of your pets?"
"If we have ubiquitous AI, which is essentially free or close to it, and ubiquitous robotics, then you will have an explosion in the global economy that is truly beyond all precedent."
"And I say, I am one, but they don't believe me. If anyone would know if there were aliens among us, it would be me."
"I heard about the formation of the peace summit. And I was like, is that piece? A little piece of Greenland. A little piece of Venezuela," Musk says after Fink mentions Greenland.
Not many laughs for that one.
"That was not a large applause. Start again," Fink tells the audience.
Yesterday, President Donald Trump was on the agenda for 45 minutes, and ended up speaking for nearly 90 including his brief Q&A with WEF President Børge Brende.
Lots of smiles and small talk. Like a bunch of kids happily discussing their summer plans on the last day of school.
And why shouldn't they? After all, for many, the crisis had already been averted over the past 24 hours. A Greenland deal was cut, and many were feeling optimistic about the future.
Speaking @wef in 20 mins. What should I say? 🤭
Humanoid robots can do kung-fu and parkour. But can they make your morning coffee?
At a Davos panel on Thursday, moderated by Business Insider's Jamie Heller, three robotics experts said humanoid robots needed to move beyond flashy demos and perform useful tasks in the real world at scale.
Jake Loosararian, the CEO of infrastructure startup Gecko Robotics, said that deploying robots into real-world environments was the major challenge facing the much-hyped industry.
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"Open offices in Ukraine. Yes, a little bit of a risk, but we decided to be honest today," the Ukrainian president said to some laughs.
"Give jobs to our people."
"Open offices in Ukraine. Yes, a little bit of a risk, but we decided to be honest today," the Ukrainian president said to some laughs.
"Give jobs to our people."
"This is real support: jobs, money, investment."
As he left the stage after his speech, he got a second standing ovation from the Davos crowd.
"Today we met with President Trump. Our teams are working every single day. It's not simple. The documents ending this war are nearly there and that really matters."
Hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin has a blunt message for anyone expecting artificial intelligence to instantly rewrite the global economy: the hype is real — and it's there to justify enormous spending.
Speaking in Davos yesterday the Citadel CEO said the AI boom is being fueled as much by narrative as by real productivity gains. Griffin, the world's 39th richest person, said that doesn't mean AI isn't powerful — but expectations have run far ahead of reality.
Read full story
A previous speech, given by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, overran significantly.
Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump prior to his speech.
Photos show the presidential motorcade heading down the mountain and out of Davos just before 3 p.m. local time.
Flight-tracking data shows Elon Musk's Gulfstream G650 has reached Zurich. It landed at 2:22 p.m. local time, some 10 hours after departing San Jose.
Zurich is 75 miles from Davos, where Musk is scheduled to speak at the World Economic Forum at 4:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. ET).
Zelenskyy is due to speak in roughly 20 minutes.
Despite being probably the most prominent figure in the world of business over the past decade, today's appearance will be Musk's first in Davos.
He has a difficult history with the conference, having frequently criticized it in the past, famously calling it "boring af" ahead of the 2023 edition. That incident sparked the WEF into publicly saying it had not invited Musk since 2015.
Despite being probably the most prominent figure in the world of business over the past decade, today's appearance will be Musk's first in Davos.
He has a difficult history with the conference, having frequently criticized it in the past, famously calling it "boring af" ahead of the 2023 edition. That incident sparked the WEF into publicly saying it had not invited Musk since 2015.
He was invited last year, when he was heading up Trump's shortlived Department of Government Efficiency, but did not attend.
Elon Musk's private jet is back in tracking range, flying over France and about 200 miles from Zurich.
For much of the past week, Musk has been locked in a war of words with Michael O'Leary, CEO of Europe's biggest airline Ryanair, over Starlink.
Elon Musk's private jet is back in tracking range, flying over France and about 200 miles from Zurich.
For much of the past week, Musk has been locked in a war of words with Michael O'Leary, CEO of Europe's biggest airline Ryanair, over Starlink.
Perhaps ironically, Musk's jet earlier crossed paths with a Ryanair flight from Madrid to Dublin, which passed behind it by about 70 miles, with their flight paths intersecting roughly 10 minutes apart.
During their spat, Musk and O'Leary called each other idiots and Musk polled X users on purchasing the airline and installing a new boss named Ryan.
Then, on Wednesday, the Irish airline used the beef to promote its January sale and said it would hand-deliver a ticket to X's Dublin offices. Musk is yet to reply.
After the massive buzz around Trump's speech yesterday, things are a little lighter in terms of big name speakers at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. Still, it's Davos, so even a light day would be the envy of pretty much any other conference on earth.
The day's main event, of course, is Elon Musk's appearance at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but other highlights include a special address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 2:30 local time (8:30 ET). Zelenskyy, who initially planned to skip Davos this year, will also meet Trump while he is in Switzerland.
After the massive buzz around Trump's speech yesterday, things are a little lighter in terms of big name speakers at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. Still, it's Davos, so even a light day would be the envy of pretty much any other conference on earth.
The day's main event, of course, is Elon Musk's appearance at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but other highlights include a special address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 2:30 local time (8:30 ET). Zelenskyy, who initially planned to skip Davos this year, will also meet Trump while he is in Switzerland.
Elsewhere, Business Insider Editor In Chief Jamie Heller has just kicked off a discussion about living autonomously with MIT academic Daniela Rus, Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian, and Shao Tianlan, CEO of Mech-Mind.
Continuing our coverage of coat rooms across Davos, I was turned away from Cloakroom A in the Congress Center today.
"We're only taking white badges today. Sorry."
Continuing our coverage of coat rooms across Davos, I was turned away from Cloakroom A in the Congress Center today.
"We're only taking white badges today. Sorry."
White badges are the top dogs in Davos' weird caste system, having access to basically everything. That's followed by silver (government officials), orange (media-types like me), black (security), and finally hotel badges.
There was a free coat room for us non-white-badgers just around the corner. But that didn't stop some from feeling offended.
I heard one attendee who was turned down muttering "discrimination" under his breath.
After leaving the Congress Hall, Trump thanked onlookers, but didn't take questions from reporters.
It looks like Elon Musk is heading to Davos on his Gulfstream G650 private jet — the model of choice among the very wealthy. When I was tracking private jet arrivals on Monday, it was the most frequent type, representing 31 of 157 landings at nearby airports.
According to JetSpy data, G650s that have landed near Davos this week include ones owned by: Aramco, Bill Gates, BlackRock (twice), Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Google, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
It looks like Elon Musk is heading to Davos on his Gulfstream G650 private jet — the model of choice among the very wealthy. When I was tracking private jet arrivals on Monday, it was the most frequent type, representing 31 of 157 landings at nearby airports.
According to JetSpy data, G650s that have landed near Davos this week include ones owned by: Aramco, Bill Gates, BlackRock (twice), Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Google, and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg also own G650s, per JetSpy.
None of Europe's three largest economies, Germany, the UK, and France, will be signatories to the board today.
In an interview with the BBC from Davos this morning, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that this was in part due to "concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we still haven't seen any signs from Putin there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine."
None of Europe's three largest economies, Germany, the UK, and France, will be signatories to the board today.
In an interview with the BBC from Davos this morning, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that this was in part due to "concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace when we still haven't seen any signs from Putin there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine."
The Kremlin earlier this week said Putin had been invited to join the initiative, which is focused on overseeing Gaza as part of plans to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Though Trump's centerpiece appearance at Davos was his 70-minute-long speech yesterday afternoon, the president is back onstage this morning.
He's launching his Board of Peace, alongside other world leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Though Trump's centerpiece appearance at Davos was his 70-minute-long speech yesterday afternoon, the president is back onstage this morning.
He's launching his Board of Peace, alongside other world leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
"Just about every country wants to be a part of it," he tells the crowd.
He then describes the world's troubles as "really calming down," saying: "Just one year ago, the world was actually on fire."
Elon Musk's private jet is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as he makes a last-minute trip to Davos.
The Gulfstream G650 took off from San Jose International at 7:12 p.m. PT. About six hours later, ADS-B Exchange data had it some 2,200 miles away from Zurich.
Elon Musk's private jet is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as he makes a last-minute trip to Davos.
The Gulfstream G650 took off from San Jose International at 7:12 p.m. PT. About six hours later, ADS-B Exchange data had it some 2,200 miles away from Zurich.
The airplane was last recorded traveling at 660 miles per hour, which means it should land in Switzerland before 2 p.m. (8 a.m. ET). Davos is then about a 40-minute helicopter ride away.
We don't know for sure Musk is on the jet, but it seems highly likely.
Unlike President Donald Trump, who was delayed yesterday due to a fault with Air Force One, Musk should have plenty of time to get to Davos on time.
There has been no shortage of protests at the World Economic Forum this week, with anti-billionaire, environmental, and anti-war demonstrators seen in the town.
One of the more creative demos we've seen, however, is this snow-based slogan. If you can't quite read it, it says: "NO IMPERIALISM."
David Sacks spoke on Wednesday at the USA House alongside Michael Kratsios, the White House's director for science and tech policy. He pushed back on the most alarmist interpretations of Elon Musk's warnings about AI and jobs, arguing they strip out a crucial part of Musk's broader vision.
According to Sacks, Musk isn't predicting a sudden mass-unemployment crisis so much as a radically different economic system, closer to a "Star Trek"-style world where technology supplies basic needs.
David Sacks spoke on Wednesday at the USA House alongside Michael Kratsios, the White House's director for science and tech policy. He pushed back on the most alarmist interpretations of Elon Musk's warnings about AI and jobs, arguing they strip out a crucial part of Musk's broader vision.
According to Sacks, Musk isn't predicting a sudden mass-unemployment crisis so much as a radically different economic system, closer to a "Star Trek"-style world where technology supplies basic needs.
"Look, I think that Elon is directionally correct about the future. I think we are heading towards a country of abundance. Rising living standards for everybody, greater productivity. I think that will lead to rising wages. I don't think it's going to put everyone out of work."
I've usually thought of Davos as being more dominated by finance and blue-chip companies, but clearly, tech has taken over.
Walking down the main thoroughfare in Davos is always fun because all the shops that are open the rest of the year are taken over this week by companies that host "houses" to showcase their brands and host clients and events.
I've usually thought of Davos as being more dominated by finance and blue-chip companies, but clearly, tech has taken over.
Walking down the main thoroughfare in Davos is always fun because all the shops that are open the rest of the year are taken over this week by companies that host "houses" to showcase their brands and host clients and events.
Walking along the street this year, it seems like 80% of the houses are tech. Palantir and Meta (with its free hot chocolate stand) had the most visible presence. Amazon's house was surprisingly small. Google was far away from the main action. Lightspeed was the only venture capital firm I saw, with its odd retro "Lighthouse."
It is also interesting to see who is not here. OpenAI has no house, and Sam Altman did not come, though some executives are here. Elon Musk was not originally part of the program but was a last-minute addition today.
There were so many techies here that sometimes I felt like I was in San Francisco.
I asked a couple of startup founders why they came so far to be here, and the consensus was that there's nothing like Davos for the efficiency of meeting potential customers and investors who are all packed into a tiny Swiss village for the week.
There were so many techies here that sometimes I felt like I was in San Francisco.
I asked a couple of startup founders why they came so far to be here, and the consensus was that there's nothing like Davos for the efficiency of meeting potential customers and investors who are all packed into a tiny Swiss village for the week.
Waiting in the cold in a long line for a party for General Catalyst and Lightspeed, I asked one founder why he traveled here.
He told me Alexandr Wang, founder and former CEO of Scale AI, who is now Chief AI Officer at Meta, advised him that Davos was highly useful because Wang said last year he signed almost a third of Scale's customers in the short time he was there.
Harvey cofounder CEO Winston Weinberg told me that dealmaking started even before I arrived, with many transactions happening in the business-class sections of flights to Zurich from San Francisco and New York.
Jamie Heller, Business Insider's editor in chief, led a panel on smart factories that dove into the future of physical AI and what's needed before robots become mainstream in homes and factory floors.
One phrase dominated her conversation: digital twins. Execs from Siemens, Agility Robotics, and Automation Anywhere agreed that what once sounded like a possibility in the distant future is now delivering real productivity gains.
Jamie Heller, Business Insider's editor in chief, led a panel on smart factories that dove into the future of physical AI and what's needed before robots become mainstream in homes and factory floors.
One phrase dominated her conversation: digital twins. Execs from Siemens, Agility Robotics, and Automation Anywhere agreed that what once sounded like a possibility in the distant future is now delivering real productivity gains.
"You want to have this digital twin alive once you are running your production because it allows you to optimize all the time," Siemens' CEO Roland Busch said. "If you make a change, if there's something going wrong, you see real-time what's happening on the shop floor."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spent most of his 30-minute interview at Davos with Semafor's editor in chief slamming President Donald Trump and the administration. The US is living under "the rule of Don" rather than the rule of law, Newsom said.
"Co-equal branches of government, the rule of law, popular sovereignty," he said. "Tell me that that reflects the America you read about today."
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Flight data from ADS-B Exchange showed that Musk's private jet, a Gulfstream G650, took off from San Jose International Airport Wednesday night, local time, and is traveling east.
It's not yet clear whether Musk is on the aircraft, but he's scheduled to appear on a panel with Larry Fink at 4:30 p.m., Swiss time.
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Management is a bug, not a feature, in a career path at Cisco.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, is a big proponent of the great flattening. In fact, if you're only managing people at Cisco, you're doing something wrong.
Management is a bug, not a feature, in a career path at Cisco.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, is a big proponent of the great flattening. In fact, if you're only managing people at Cisco, you're doing something wrong.
"I want everyone to be a player-coach. I don't want anyone to be a full-time manager. We don't need full-time managers at Cisco," he told me on Wednesday.
He called the philosophy "foundational" to Cisco. People need to think about how they want to change the world and what they can do to contribute to that change, rather than focusing on specific job titles.
"If in the pursuit of that change, you have to go out and reluctantly manage some people, then go ahead and do that," Patel said. "But management, in and of itself, is not a full-time job."
Conor Hillery and Matthieu Wiltz are well-versed in how European investors are feeling.
JPMorgan's co-CEOs of EMEA took a two-week trip across Europe and the Middle East to meet with clients at the start of the year. It corresponded with escalating geopolitical situations in Venezuela and Greenland, making for a unique trip.
Conor Hillery and Matthieu Wiltz are well-versed in how European investors are feeling.
JPMorgan's co-CEOs of EMEA took a two-week trip across Europe and the Middle East to meet with clients at the start of the year. It corresponded with escalating geopolitical situations in Venezuela and Greenland, making for a unique trip.
When I spoke to them on Wednesday morning, before Trump's speech, they told me clients aren't necessarily looking to pull the plug on things, but the questions are mounting.
"I think it's just raising the spectre of uncertainty, so clients aren't making any definitive assumptions at this stage," Hillery told me. "In the back of their heads, they are starting to think that this could get a lot more complicated than it's been for the last few years."
And even since the trip, the situation is evolving almost minute by minute.
"There is a bit more of a question mark now compared to the first two weeks of January," Wiltz added.
There was a bit of show-and-tell from the California governor at his morning session. He took out a set of red kneepads, which he said are meant for the CEOs who kneel to Trump. He also accused some corporate leaders — he didn't name them — of "selling out to this administration."
No shortage of jabs at Trump, too. The governor called Trump an "invasive species," among other things.
There was a bit of show-and-tell from the California governor at his morning session. He took out a set of red kneepads, which he said are meant for the CEOs who kneel to Trump. He also accused some corporate leaders — he didn't name them — of "selling out to this administration."
No shortage of jabs at Trump, too. The governor called Trump an "invasive species," among other things.
"I'm living rent-free in Trump's head," Newsom said.
He posted negatively about the forum in 2022 and 2023.
My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring af lol
Musk is a new addition to the programme — he's now listed to speak with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at 4:30 p.m.
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Business Insider's Ben Bergman brought us to-the-minute updates from inside the room where Trump gave his speech.
Great to start my day in Davos for the second day in a row with @Elex_Michaelson.Today I shared what it was like to be in the room for President Trump's lengthy address. pic.twitter.com/MmEjTEBgea
Check out the full story, too.
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Newsom sparred with Scott Bessent and, on Wednesday, stared into the camera in the middle of Trump's speech with a wry, knowing smile — giving his best imitation of Jim from "The Office."
rent free pic.twitter.com/lLB7uVydkf
The California governor has also been making his rounds with the press, giving snappy soundbites about how the Democratic Party and world leaders should best deal with the president.
Newsom sparred with Scott Bessent and, on Wednesday, stared into the camera in the middle of Trump's speech with a wry, knowing smile — giving his best imitation of Jim from "The Office."
rent free pic.twitter.com/lLB7uVydkf
The California governor has also been making his rounds with the press, giving snappy soundbites about how the Democratic Party and world leaders should best deal with the president.
This morning in Davos, Newsom will get his share of the spotlight. He's scheduled for a panel at 8:30 a.m. local time.
ICYMI, though we don't know how you could've.
After a slight hiccup in his travel plans due to an electrical fault on Air Force One, President Donald Trump and his team swept into Davos on Wednesday for a much-anticipated speech.
ICYMI, though we don't know how you could've.
After a slight hiccup in his travel plans due to an electrical fault on Air Force One, President Donald Trump and his team swept into Davos on Wednesday for a much-anticipated speech.
The reactions? Mixed. Business Insider was in the room for his speech, and we fact-checked the president's praise for the US economy.
And after all the panic over Greenland, Trump called off his new tariffs on Europe. There's to be a "framework" in place, per an agreement with NATO, with more to come on what that'll mean.
Jump to
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has accused Europe of being "lost" and trying to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to help them, rather than uniting to defend itself.
"Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America's focus shifts elsewhere, Europe looks lost trying to convince the U.S. president to change," he said in a strongly worded address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after nearly four years of war with Russia.
"President Trump loves who he is, and he says he loves Europe, but he will not listen to this kind of Europe," Zelenskyy said. He had met Trump in private shortly before his speech.
"Europe still feels more like geography, history, a tradition, not a real political force, not a great power," Zelenskyy added.
"Some Europeans are really strong, it's true, but many say 'we must stand strong', and they always want someone else to tell them how long they need to stand strong, preferably until the next election."
Zelenskyy also revealed there would be trilateral meetings in the United Arab Emirates on Friday and Saturday involving Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. He added the Russians "have to be ready for compromises" for the war to end.
In a week where the focus in Davos has been on U.S. threats to annex Greenland, its tariffs on European countries and a new Gaza "Board of Peace," Zelenskyy began his speech saying Europe's inaction left his country feeling like it was living through "Groundhog Day."
Zelenskyy said: "Just last year here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words, 'Europe needs to know how to defend itself.' A year has passed and nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words."
"When united, we are truly invincible, and Europe can and must be a global force, not one that reacts late," he added.
Trump's maneuvering on Greenland was the backdrop to many politicians' speeches at the gathering. Zelenskyy criticized the small number of soldiers NATO countries sent to the Arctic island amid Trump's threats.
"If you send 30 or 40 soldiers to Greenland, what is that for? What message does it send? What's the message to Putin? To China? And even more importantly, what message does it send to Denmark?
"You either declare that European bases will protect the region from Russia and China .... or you risk not being taken seriously, because 30 or 40 soldiers will not protect anything."
Other pressing issues have been sidelined while European leaders were "waiting for America to cool down" on Greenland, Zelenskyy suggested.
"There was so much talk about the protests in Iran, but they drowned in blood. The world has not helped enough the Iranian people," he said.
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A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Sport newsletter with Alex Sherman, which brings you the biggest news and exclusive interviews from the worlds of sports business and media. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The future of the Warner Bros. Discovery company – its iconic movie studio, HBO Max, and its cable networks, including CNN, TBS, TNT, Discovery and HGTV – may come down to what European regulators think about Netflix.
That's a pretty crazy twist for a deal that will dictate the future of many valuable American sports rights – assets that, for the most part, have very little to do with Europe.
A quick refresher: WBD owns many live U.S. sports rights, including those to March Madness, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR, the French Open, AEW, the College Football Playoffs and others. But those rights wouldn't go to Netflix under WBD's agreed-upon deal to sell some of its assets to the streaming giant.
Netflix has agreed to pay $27.75 per share for the WBD movie studio and streaming business, but not the cable networks, which own the sports rights. If the deal is approved, those networks would get spun out into a separate publicly traded entity called Discovery Global, which would also own Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and WBD's other digital assets.
If WBD shareholders accept a hostile takeover attempt from Paramount Skydance, however – and if that deal is approved – the cable networks and associated sports would all fall under the Paramount umbrella. Paramount has bid $30 per share for the entirety of WBD – an offer it has taken directly to shareholders after the WBD board rejected it.
Paramount on Thursday extended the deadline on its tender offer — which expired Wednesday — giving WBD shareholders more time to weigh the option.
WBD responded with a statement, noting that less than 7% of all shareholders have tendered their shares thus far to Paramount.
"Once again, Paramount continues to make the same offer our Board has repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a superior merger agreement with Netflix. It's also clear our shareholders agree, with more than 93% also rejecting Paramount's inferior scheme," WBD said. "We are confident in our ability to achieve regulatory approval for the Netflix merger and look forward to delivering the tremendous and certain value our agreement will provide to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders."
Most media attention has focused on what U.S. President Donald Trump might think about a Netflix-WBD deal. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with Trump ahead of the deal to gauge his sentiment on a transaction. The U.S. Department of Justice — theoretically an independent body from the presidency – will ultimately decide whether or not the deal presents antitrust problems, and if those issues can be ameliorated with conditions or if they're simply too big for a deal to go through.
There's been far less attention paid to Europe, which will also need to approve a deal. And that's where either deal could fall apart.
Netflix is a global company, generating about $14.5 billion in revenue in its "EMEA" (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region last year, or about 32% of total sales.
WBD feels confident its Netflix deal will win EU approval, according to people familiar with the matter. A WBD source said there was a "95% certainty" that Europe would approve the transaction, though the person did acknowledge Netflix may need to agree to certain conditions, such as agreeing to produce a certain amount of local content in Europe and promising to release movies into theaters. The EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive already mandates that video-on-demand streaming services ensure at least 30% of programming in EU countries qualify as European works.
Paramount disagrees and believes a Netflix deal has very little chance of making it past European regulators, according to people familiar with the matter. At the same time, it's working its own EU regulatory angles for its proposed takeover.
It would be unusual but not unprecedented for European regulators to block a deal between two U.S.-based companies. Adobe dropped its $20 billion acquisition of cloud software company Figma in December 2023 after deciding there was "no clear path" to gaining antitrust approval in Europe and the U.K. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority also forced Meta's Facebook to sell Giphy, the largest supplier of animated gifs to social networks, in 2022.
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It's also worth noting the European Commission allowed Amazon to acquire MGM, perhaps the closest comparison in terms of comparative businesses to this deal.
Paramount's confidence stems from the continent's track record of being tough on tech companies, with antitrust crackdowns and penalties targeting Meta, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Amazon in recent years. Paramount executives believe EU regulators view Netflix similarly, based on recent conversations they've had with European officials, according to people familiar with the matter. Given the chance to stop a Big Tech company from gaining even more market power, Paramount executives believe Europe will take it.
The EU may also be more parochial in how it treats movie theater owners, viewing them as essential to culture and art. Both U.S. and European trade associations for the cinema industry have publicly expressed their displeasure with a Netflix-Warner combination.
This week, Sarandos reiterated that Warner Bros. films will be released in theaters with a 45-day window — as they always have.
"We're working closely with WBD and the regulatory authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission. We're confident we're gonna be able to secure all the approvals," Sarandos said Tuesday during Netflix's earnings conference call. "When this deal closes, we will have the benefit of having a scaled, world-class theatrical distribution business with more than $4 billion of global box office. And we're excited to maintain it and further strengthen that business."
The WBD board viewed two movie studios coming together – Paramount and Warner – as a bigger regulatory hurdle than any issue presented by Netflix, according to people familiar with the matter. Still, WBD's lawyers have determined both deals – Netflix-WBD and Paramount-WBD – would likely gain approval.
"The WBD Board carefully considered the federal, state, and international regulatory risks for both the Netflix merger and the [Paramount tender] Offer with its regulatory advisors," WBD said in a December corporate filing. "The WBD Board is of the view that each transaction is capable of obtaining the necessary U.S. and foreign regulatory approvals and that any difference between the respective regulatory risk levels is not material."
On the movie theater issue, a Warner source told me WBD actually views Paramount as a potentially bigger issue than Netflix. That's because WBD's board and executives aren't sure Paramount will have the money to produce 30 or more movies a year (a Paramount CEO David Ellison promise) while also paying down billions of dollars in debt and targeting $6 billion in cost savings.
This is why the structure of the Paramount deal is so important to WBD. To create a superior deal for WBD, Larry Ellison, David's father and one of the world's wealthiest men, would need to put up more money in equity to lower the leverage ratio of a combined company. The board doesn't trust Paramount can deliver on its synergies while also meeting its aggressive theatrical goals and moving forward with a leverage ratio over 7-times estimated 2026 EBITDA.
This week, Netflix changed its offer for WBD's assets from mostly cash to all cash. Simplifying the bid allows WBD to move its shareholder meeting to approve the Netflix offer earlier – possibly as early as March, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Paramount is still considering if it wants to raise its bid or change the capital structure to re-engage the WBD board, according to people familiar with the matter. It could also do nothing and wait to see if it's right about regulators – either European or American – blocking a Netflix deal.
With so much attention on the importance of live sports to the TV industry, it's unusual to see them as such an afterthought. Paramount executives have argued the value of Discovery Global should be $0 based on its high leverage ratio and the early valuation of Versant, the parent company of CNBC, which has traded down almost 30% since it debuted on the public markets this month.
In a corporate filing released Tuesday, WBD argued Discovery Global should be valued between $1.33 per share and $6.86 per share, depending on estimates.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct that Adobe dropped its $20 billion acquisition of cloud software company Figma.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday showed off knee pads that he suggested were for leaders "selling out" to the Trump administration.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Newsom said the red knee pads were available to buy via a website he had created.
"The last round of knee pads sold out, just as our law firms are selling out. Many American universities are selling out, and yes, many corporate leaders are selling out to this administration," Newsom said.
"These are available in bulk, too," he said, holding up one of the knee pads, which showed U.S. President Donald Trump's signature.
On Tuesday, Newsom accused world leaders of "rolling over" for Trump. "I can't take this complicity of people rolling over," Newsom said in Davos. "I should have brought a bunch of knee pads for all the world leaders," he said.
A scheduled appearance by Newsom at USA House, described on its website as an "official U.S. venue" at Davos, was said to have been canceled on Wednesday soon after Trump addressed the forum.
"I was going to speak last night. It was a well established event at the USA house, a simple conversation, discussion after Trump's speech. They made sure that I didn't. They made sure it was canceled," Newsom said on Thursday.
USA House is privately organized and does not represent the U.S. government. It is sponsored by large companies including Microsoft, Pfizer and blockchain company Ripple.
Newsom is a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and has previously sparred with Trump.
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Spirit Airlines is in talks with alternative investment firm Castlelake for a potential takeover as the discount airline looks for a path out of bankruptcy, CNBC has learned.
Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last August for the second time in a year after its previous turnaround plan fell flat.
Fellow budget carrier Frontier Airlines had been in talks with Spirit over the years for a potential merger, including in recent months, but didn't secure a deal, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to speak about the discussions. The two had reached a deal four years ago but it was called off after a surprise all-cash offer from JetBlue Airways.
"We don't comment on market rumors and speculation," a Spirit spokesman said. Castlelake didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was not immediately clear if Spirit's bondholders and Castlelake would reach a deal or what form it could take. Minneapolis-based Castlelake has been active for years in aviation finance. In August, it announced it was launching a new aviation lending arm, Merit AirFinance, with $1.8 billion in deployable capital.
Spirit in mid-December said it amended its agreement with creditors to receive another $50 million in funding immediately, a lifeline for the carrier. Additional funding would be contingent on "further progress on a standalone plan of reorganization or a strategic transaction," Spirit said Dec. 15. "Spirit is currently in active negotiations on each of these possibilities," the company added.
In its fight for survival, Spirit has slashed flights, reduced its fleet and cut jobs to save money. Unions last year agreed to pay cuts for the carrier's pilots and flight attendants. That amounted to $100 million in concessions, the Air Line Pilots Association said in a Jan. 13 open letter, urging bondholders to support Spirit's restructuring and avoid a liquidation.
Dania Beach, Florida-based Spirit for years enjoyed largely steady profitability and enviable margins in the often-rocky airline industry. But things took a turn after the pandemic, when wages and other costs soared, customer preferences changed, and an oversupply of domestic flights drove down airfare. That was especially punishing for U.S.-focused carriers that don't enjoy a buffer from plush first-class cabins and large credit card and loyalty program deals.
The carrier's problems snowballed after a Pratt & Whitney engine recall grounded dozens of its Airbus aircraft starting in 2023 and the planned acquisition by JetBlue was blocked two years ago by a federal judge who ruled it was anticompetitive, leaving both carriers to fend for themselves against a backdrop where larger carriers dominate.
Spirit has been trying in recent years to win over higher-spending customers by offering roomier seats or bundled fares that include seat assignments and baggage, or allow for changes, to better compete with larger rivals whose profits have been buoyed by big-spending customers post-pandemic.
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This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.
Happy Thursday. With each passing day of the World Economic Forum, my envy grows for those spending the week in Switzerland.
Stock futures are higher this morning. The three major averages are coming off a positive session.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
Stocks staged a recovery rally yesterday after President Donald Trump said that the U.S. wouldn't use military force to acquire Greenland. The president later announced that he reached a framework with NATO regarding the Danish territory, sending stocks even higher.
Here's the rundown:
The Supreme Court yesterday appeared skeptical of the Trump administration's argument that the president could fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, indicating that Cook's job could be safe.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh told Trump's team that the president's ability to fire Fed governors without judicial review "would weaken, if not shatter, the independence of the Federal Reserve." Justice Samuel Alito, a fellow conservative voice on the bench, said Trump's firing of Cook appeared to be done in a "very cursory manner."
Speaking of the Fed: Trump told CNBC yesterday that he was "down to maybe one" candidate to be the next central bank chair. Trump declined to name his favorite.
Trump called on Congress yesterday to adopt his plan for temporary 10% credit card interest rate caps into legislation. But JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon didn't mince words on the proposal, saying at a Davos event that "it would be an economic disaster."
Dimon suggested that Trump try out a version of the idea in Vermont and Massachusetts. While Dimon didn't name them, those happen to be the home states of Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who both support a five-year, 10% cap on credit card rates.
Dimon also issued a rare rebuke of Trump's immigration reform efforts while in Davos. ″I don't like what I'm seeing," the bank chief said, adding that he wanted details about who was being taken in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
CNBC's Morning Squawk recaps the biggest stories investors should know before the stock market opens, every weekday morning.
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Procter & Gamble modestly beat Wall Street's earnings expectations in the second fiscal quarter this morning, but revenue narrowly missed analysts' consensus forecast. Shares slid 1.5% in premarket trading.
The Gillette and Downy parent said its net income fell from the same period a year ago but reported a 1% increase in net sales. The Ohio-based company lowered its outlook for fiscal 2026, citing higher restructuring charges.
Elsewhere on the earnings front, we're watching for reports from Intel and Alaska Air due today after the bell.
YouTube has a resolution for 2026: reduce "AI slop" on the Google-owned video platform.
In his annual letter published yesterday, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said managing artificial intelligence-generated content and detecting deepfakes are priorities for the platform this year. "It's becoming harder to detect what's real and what's AI-generated," Mohan wrote.
As CNBC's Jennifer Elias reports, those comments come as Google continues to invest heavily in AI infrastructure while building out its Gemini models and adding more AI features to its products.
Intel surged more than 11% yesterday to its highest level since early 2022 as investors geared up for the chipmaker's earnings report coming this afternoon. Here's how the stock's day went:
CNBC's Kevin Breuninger, Spriha Srivastava, Spencer Kimball, Garrett Downs, Sean Conlon, Dan Mangan, Jeff Cox, Hugh Son, Amelia Lucas, Jennifer Elias and Kif Leswing contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
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The EU needs "clarity" on Donald Trump's intentions after he cancelled his planned levies against eight countries over their stance on Greenland, a senior lawmaker has told CNBC.
EU lawmakers have removed the threat of tariff countermeasures against the U.S. after the U.S. president backed down.
Bernd Lange, a member of the European Parliament and chair of EU-US trade relations on its committee on International trade, said the bloc still needs "greater clarity" on Trump's intentions after he declared on Truth Social he had a "framework" of a deal between the White House and NATO late Wednesday. Trump later told CNBC he had "the concept of a deal."
"First of all, nobody knows exactly what the details of this so-called solution or deal are. We have to look to the details," Lange told CNBC by phone on Thursday morning.
"The decision about such a solution or deal should be taken by Denmark and the people in Greenland, not between two important men," he said, referring to the discussions between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"Let's see what the development will bring," he added.
On Wednesday, European lawmakers suspended approval of the trade pact agreed last July between the EU and U.S. after Trump unveiled plans last weekend to hit eight countries with fresh import levies.
European leaders planned to discuss potential responses at an emergency summit in Brussels later on Thursday evening, including countermeasures on some 93 billion euros ($108 billion) worth of U.S. imports that would have taken effect next month.
But after Trump canceled tariffs on eight European countries for opposing his bid to annex Greenland, saying he had "the framework of a future deal" over Greenland, tensions appear to have eased.
Lange said the EU's countermeasures to tariffs were "not off the table, but on hold."
"It's clear that this list of countermeasures, which is still legally there, is now not coming into force in February, because it seems that there will be no tariffs from the United States. So this will be put on hold as well... perhaps prolonged for some months," he said.
Despite Trump's apparent climbdown, EU leaders are set to push ahead with their planned emergency summit later.
Lange said: "We will look to the assessment regarding this so-called Greenland solution, and secondly, we will contact our U.S. counterparts to get more clarity and security about respecting the deal on both sides."
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U.S. President Donald Trump was surrounded by world leaders as he declared the war in Gaza was "really coming to an end" at a signing ceremony for his "Board of Peace" for the territory.
But many countries are not represented, and Trump singled out Spain for criticism on its defense spending from the podium, saying "They want a free ride."
The United Arab Emirates, Hungary and Pakistan were represented at the ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. The board is intended to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
This is who is on the board and participated in the signing event.
A long list of countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and other European nations, were absent from the signing, and some have specifically rejected the invitation.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Thursday that it "won't be one of the signatories today," citing concerns over Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to join.
Spain did not send a representative to the signing, with an invitation for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to join "under review," according to Spanish media.
Putin received an invitation to join Trump's peace group on Monday and was "studying all the details of this proposal," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, but no representative was present at the signing event on Thursday.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the U.S. administration would meet Putin about joining the Board of Peace. "We have to go meet him on Thursday. But it's the Russians who are asking for that meeting," Witkoff said.
France reportedly turned the invitation down to join the board, as did Germany, per a Spiegel report citing a Foreign Ministry document. "We need more time," Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told state broadcaster RAI on Wednesday. "There is work that needs to be done. However, my position certainly remains one of openness," she said, according to a Reuters report.
Belgium has not signed up either, its foreign minister, Maxime Prevot, said in a statement posted on X Thursday. "We wish for a common and coordinated European response. As many European countries, we have reservations to the proposal," she said.
Sweden, Slovenia and Norway also turned the invitation down, according to local news reports.
The Board of Peace was endorsed by the United Nations Security Council in November last year. It was originally established to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but now has a far broader mandate, including promoting global stability and conflict resolution around the world.
Israel was not represented at the signing event, but its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will join, according to reports.
When asked about the board of peace on Wednesday, Mohammed Mustafa, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, said: "We want to work with the Board of Peace, with the executive board and with the committee, to ensure that they do their part of things."
"But we also want to see our government institutions to continue to … prepare for a reconstruction effort," he said during a WEF event at Davos.
Last week the White House confirmed a founding "Executive Board," to "operationalize the Board of Peace's vision."
These are the members of the Executive Board.
— CNBC's Holly Ellyatt and Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
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In this article
Markets and some European leaders welcomed the news that U.S. President Donald Trump was standing down from imposing further tariffs on European countries — but others were left bewildered.
Trump told CNBC on Wednesday that he had the "concept of a deal" with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, shortly after declaring on Truth Social that he would not proceed with the levies he threatened on eight European countries from Feb. 1.
Markets on Thursday rose on the news, but questions remain about the supposed agreement on Greenland.
As the president didn't share details of the framework — or who agreed to it — one strategist told CNBC: "Nobody's going to believe him anymore."
Trump outlined the Greenland agreement in sweeping terms, casting it as an "ultimate long-term deal" that locks in U.S. national security and gives access to "minerals."
Greenland's location matters for Arctic military posture, but climate change is making the island more accessible — sparking a renewed interest in its rare earths and other critical mineral reserves.
But Trump did not say whether Denmark, which is responsible for the island's defense, or Greenland had signed up to anything.
Rutte told Fox News that the issue of Greenland's ownership did not come up in his talks with Trump, which were about Arctic security as Chinese and Russian activity increases.
Ed Price, senior non-resident fellow at New York University, told CNBC on Thursday that striking a deal "requires two people to tango," describing Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as "a monologue not a dialogue."
Price also said the framework was "the start of a process, not the end," warning that a precedent of bargaining over disputed territories could tempt future attempts elsewhere.
Chinese state media, meanwhile, urged the European Union on Wednesday to reassess its security reliance on the U.S. and pursue greater "strategic autonomy."
Trump has "advantaged" China in the long run by signaling that U.S. commitments can swing wildly with political incentives, Price added.
Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Trump's toned-down rhetoric had "nothing to do with Europe" and was more likely driven by concerns about the recent spikes in global bond yields, which jumped on fears of a fresh trade war.
Brooks also said Europeans had limited leverage in negotiations with Trump.
"Europeans have, by all accounts, been freeriding on the U.S. security umbrella. They need to spend more. They will," Brooks said, caveating that most countries, except for Germany, lack fiscal space. "A lot of these countries have no fiscal firepower whatsoever," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."
In his Wednesday speech at Davos, Trump acknowledged financial markets' discomfort with his threats over Greenland as he publicly ruled out using force to take it for the first time.
Whatever ultimately happens with tariffs, European leaders should plan for worst-case outcomes, said David Roche, veteran investor from Quantum Strategy.
Trump's Greenland threat is "the biggest 'taco' that you could get," Roche said, referring to the phrase "Trump Always Chickens Out," which has come to define a market strategy anticipating the president reneging on his threats.
But Roche said this was becoming a problem — the bigger Trump's threat, the more allies expect him to "march his troops up the hill and then down the hill."
"What the European Union has learned is that if you face up to them, you win," Roche said. "Nobody's going to believe him anymore."
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Elon Musk wants to see your results, not your résumé.
The Tesla CEO this week requested that people who want to work on the company's Dojo3 AI chip email three bullet points describing the "toughest technical problems you've solved."
Musk's just-the-facts approach, outlined in a post on X, reflects a focus on problem-solving over fancy résumés or cover letters.
"He's basically just trying to cut through the noise of the job market," said Michelle Volberg, a longtime recruiter who is the founder of Twill, a startup that pays tech workers to recommend peers for key jobs.
She said that résumés or LinkedIn profiles don't always make it clear to employers where a person's skills lie. Asking a job seeker to lay out a trio of battles won can help hiring managers get to the meat of someone's abilities, Volberg told Business Insider.
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It's a way of thinking that she expects more employers will adopt.
"Elon is showing the way that the job market is going to go," she said.
Already, some tech companies are eager for job candidates to demonstrate their abilities by highlighting how they arrived at an answer. It's part of what appears to be a show-your-work ethos in Silicon Valley, where hefty spending on AI projects and a hangover from the pandemic-era staffing boom are driving hiring austerity in all but the hottest areas.
Volberg said that hiring managers at large companies have told her that they're sick of relying on résumés so tailored to a job opening that they reveal little about candidates themselves. Asking job seekers to identify a small number of concrete problems they've solved can help overcome that challenge and help bring clarity for hiring managers, she said.
"They don't want to see fluffy résumés that have been written by ChatGPT," Volberg said.
Bullets over bona fides is, of course, a departure from the conventional approach of stuffing a résumé with bolded job titles, years of experience, and skills.
Asking applicants to summarize the value they would bring by sharing vignettes of success can elevate technical accomplishment over pedigree or background, she said. It's an example of what some HR types call "skills-based hiring."
Musk's no-frills call for applicants appears to build on his prior statements about being open to candidates from nontraditional backgrounds. For years, the billionaire has said that people didn't need a college degree to work for Tesla. Musk has said that he's more focused on evidence of "exceptional" ability or achievement.
He also requested bullet points in 2025 when he oversaw efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency group to remake swaths of the US federal government. A nearly year-old post on X said that DOGE was seeking "world-class" software engineers, product managers, and data scientists, among other roles.
An application portal linked to the post contains a field instructing applicants to include two or three bullets "showcasing exceptional ability," and to upload a résumé.
Volberg said the bullet method is similar to guidance that her company already gives job seekers: Focus less on adjectives and more on outcomes.
From a hiring manager's perspective, she said, the central question is whether a candidate can make their job easier by solving real problems.
The corollary, Volberg said, is fakers beware: "If you say that you've solved these three things, you'd better be able to talk about them in detail."
She said that it's often immediately clear to tech recruiters whether someone has actually done the work they describe. Candidates who exaggerate or fabricate their accomplishments are likely to be found out — and potentially blacklisted, Volberg said.
Beyond candidate chicanery, there could be other risks to Musk's strategy, said David Murray, CEO of Confirm, a San Francisco startup focused on reinventing performance reviews.
Asking people to submit summaries of their greatest tech wins could mean that an employer like Tesla misses out on the quiet contributors and introverts who might not do as good a job promoting themselves, he told Business Insider. Bullets of key achievements — even more than with a typical résumé — require people to make the case for their own work.
Murray said that Musk's approach also overlooks the impacts of the so-called Dunning-Kruger effect, in which people who aren't great at something tend to overestimate their abilities, and those who are ace might assume a task is easy for anyone.
"What he is asking people to do is to market themselves," he said.
Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.
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Oracle and OpenAI have aimed to build $500 billion of data centers by the end of the decade to power their artificial intelligence ambitions.
But the massive initiative, called Stargate, may be exhausting the supply of available capital.
JPMorgan Chase, the bank that recently led a pack of lenders to extend roughly $38 billion of debt for the construction of two planned Stargate data center campuses in Texas and Wisconsin, has encountered diminished interest as it has sold off pieces of the loan to other financial players, a person familiar with the situation said.
The person said that the two projects are fully financed, the syndication effort by JPMorgan had been successful overall, and that the slowdown in new participants hadn't alarmed bankers given that it was at the tail end of such a large debt offering.
But the person acknowledged that banks and institutional investors had also grown wary in recent months of taking on too much exposure to Oracle, a tech giant whose credit rating sits below some of its peers in the AI race, including Microsoft and Google.
The reticence among lenders and investors to continue bankrolling Stargate raises questions about whether the mega-project will meet its lofty objectives.
"We are hearing from market participants that in some cases, there may be banks that could be approaching the exposure levels they're comfortable with when it comes to certain data center projects," said Dhaval Shah, a director at S&P Global Infrastructure Ratings.
The current unprecedented data center development cycle has been dominated by just a handful of leading players, testing whether lenders and investors will remain willing to continue to accrue heavy exposure to borrowers like Oracle. Oracle declined to comment.
In November, credit default swaps that insure against losses on Oracle's corporate debt rose in cost, a reflection of the concerns around the company's enormous spending on AI.
OpenAI, the AI chatbot maker that will anchor the Stargate facilities, meanwhile, produces revenue that is just a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars annually that would be necessary to justify the cost of its infrastructure.
"Oracle has become a proxy for OpenAI's ability to raise significant amounts of capital," said Gil Luria, an analyst at DA Davidson. "It's a very precarious position."
OpenAI announced Stargate a year ago, stating that it would partner with Oracle and others, to build a total of 10 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2029 — roughly the equivalent power footprint of New York City on a day of peak electrical consumption.
In October, OpenAI announced that it had arranged for the construction of six Stargate sites with a total planned capacity of roughly 7 gigawatts, stating that the pipeline "puts us on a clear path to securing the full $500 billion,10-gigawatt commitment" it had announced at the beginning of 2025.
Much of the financing for the project, so far, has been provided by major financial institutions that have banded together to share its immense costs — as well as its risks — in what are known as syndication deals. JPMorgan Chase and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group led the syndication effort for the two Stargate projects in Shackelford, Texas, and Port Washington, Wisconsin. Both banks declined to comment.
Bank of America is leading a syndication to finance another Stargate data center campus in Michigan. A person familiar with that effort said that it has attracted interest from syndication takers.
Another group of lenders provided about $18 billion of financing for another Stargate facility in New Mexico, according to Bloomberg.
Initial players in large syndication deals often seek to sell off portions of their loan commitments to other players, including other banks and institutional investors.
But the sale of these positions, which is done to reap quick profits and lower exposure, has become trickier in the case of Stargate.
Two bankers and a financing executive who are familiar with the syndication market said that the rising perception of risk around Stargate meant that lenders now wanted higher yields to lend to it. That has placed recent Stargate syndicators in a position where they can no longer profitably sell off debt that was arranged at tighter spreads just a few months ago.
Stargate borrowing rates may not come down any time soon.
In September, S&P Global Ratings affirmed Oracle's rating at BBB but said it was considering a cut due to the company's enormous planned spending on AI infrastructure. A downgrade below BBB minus would place a junk rating on Oracle debt, raising its borrowing costs significantly.
"I am very surprised these loans were even underwritten at the time," Luria said. "The market has indicated this is not investment-grade debt."
However, Luria said one scenario in particular could make the loans less risky. OpenAI is now in the process of trying to raise as much as $100 billion, according to reports, giving the Stargate venture a potential cushion of equity and making its debt easier to sell, he said.
"If that happens," he said, "everybody's dreams come true."
Other bankers who spoke with Business Insider said the slowdown did not indicate acute trouble in the syndication market, but acknowledged that the pool of investors who still have an appetite for the Stargate debt has shrunk.
"Do we have enough digestive capacity" in the market for investors to buy all of the debt that will be required, said David Tawil, a partner at transaction insurance advisory firm Castle Harbour. "That's the market's real concern: the size of this whole movement."
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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Fisayo Che, the founder of women's wear brand Elisamama. It's been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified Che's statements, including the amount Saks owes, with documentation she provided.
Saks Global filed in January for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which allows it to continue operating while undergoing a court-supervised reorganization of its debt. In a statement, Saks said it is committed to "trusted relationships with brand partners," and that funding it secured through the bankruptcy will "facilitate go-forward payments to brand partners."
Becoming a fashion designer was never a part of my vision board. When I founded Elisamama, I was still working a corporate job.
I felt like I wanted to live a life of more meaning and purpose. My family is from Nigeria, and I spent time there growing up. I got the idea to start a brand that supports women artisans in the country.
Elisamama is a women's wear and children's brand inspired by African artistry and prints. At first, I sold the clothing at flea markets; later, I listed on Etsy and promoted it on social media.
Saks really gave my business a platform to grow. Now, it's going through bankruptcy and hasn't paid me for some of my inventory. I'm not sure how to trust the company going forward.
In the fall of 2020, someone found us on Instagram and, unbeknownst to me, dropped our name with a Saks buyer. When the department store initially reached out, I thought it was a scam, and I didn't respond. Then, a vice president from the company DM'd me on Instagram.
I freaked out and was very scared. I thought: How are we going to do this? I even told them I needed time to figure it out because I didn't want to mess up this opportunity.
Saks really walked alongside us, gave us guidance, and helped us dip our toes slowly into its world. It was rapid-fire learning, trying to understand all the vendor requirements, including shipping and routing guidelines.
We hired more artisans in Nigeria. We beefed up our production. We worked on our supply situation. Everybody was winning; it helped us help other people grow their own businesses.
In 2023, Saks selected us to join its New Wave program for emerging designers. We came to New York, connected with industry experts and the press, and the company gave us a grant.
At the end, we had our products placed in the window at Saks' flagship store in New York. That was a remarkable moment for me and my team in Nigeria, who are so proud of this work. It was nothing that I could even have imagined for Elisamama.
The exposure it gave us was significant and gave us confidence.
We signed with a showroom and started selling in retailers like Shopbop, Tuckernuck, and several specialty boutiques. Things were ramping up, and the more I did this work, the more joy I found in it. In 2024, I left my corporate job.
Saks has been a great partner to us. It has placed orders with us every season since 2020. It's 50% or 60% of our business.
The problems started in February of last year, when Saks sent vendors a memo about paying in installments. Prior to that, we were consistently paid on the agreed-upon payment terms.
I thought: We can wait a few months to get paid. They're important partners.
We got a check for a couple of hundred dollars in July, and in August, we were paid a more substantial amount. I thought we were back on track and kept sending inventory. Then, no other payments came in.
We fulfilled two additional orders after that, operating on faith that things would shake out properly. The company kept saying it would get back to us with updates.
Now, Saks owes us six figures. I'm considering cutting half of our team to stay viable.
I employ 20 people full time in Nigeria; we have some consultants and contractors, as well. The amount Saks owes us means a lot.
When Saks' bankruptcy was announced in January, the ax dropped. Because of the proceedings, Saks said it'd prioritize debts incurred after January 13 and get back to us on other payments owed.
I have been trying to expand my partnerships and sales channels to protect my business, as we've been hearing about Saks' struggles for a long time.
I want to see Saks win, but I don't believe the company anymore. We're sitting on Saks' most recent order, given the situation.
I've told the buyers that any future shipments would have to be paid for before we ship. I'm also considering asking them to send back the inventory they have on hand, so at least we can cut our losses.
Saks is so powerful and significant in the fashion space that partnering with it is valuable. What's happened is a disappointment, but it's also grief and sadness.
Saks needs to restore trust with its suppliers by putting money behind its orders. If it did that, brands would continue to send goods because it's that important.
Do you have a story to share about Saks? Email Madeline Berg at mberg@businessinsider.com.
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In this article
Top CEOs have expressed relief after U.S. President Donald Trump backed away from further European tariffs, but told CNBC they were still prioritizing being resilient amid geopolitical instability and regionalization.
Conor Hillery, JP Morgan's co-CEO for Europe, told CNBC European leaders' tougher stance on Trump was "very good for business."
Trump announced Wednesday that he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had agreed on a "framework of a future deal" involving Greenland, and he would not proceed with 10% tariffs on eight European countries that had resisted his efforts.
European markets rebounded in morning dealmaking, with auto-related stocks notching the continent's biggest gains. European carmakers are particularly sensitive to levies given their global supply chains and Stateside manufacturing operations.
Speaking to CNBC on Thursday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hillery said European leaders' coordinated stance on Trump was "something that business has been crying out for."
"It's more cohesion among European leaders, more policy driven towards business growth, stability, innovation, investment and so forth. What you've seen over the last few days has obviously been more focused on Greenland and tariffs and so forth, and it has borne fruit," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe."
The president described the fresh framework as more of a "concept" in an interview with CNBC's Joe Kernen. It could involve U.S.-European collaboration on a proposed Golden Dome missile defense system and access to mineral resources in Greenland, he said.
Geopolitical risk dominated Davos, after what Hillery called a "roller coaster" year since Trump returned to the White House.
"There still is a feeling of resilience and some kind of confidence" in the macroeconomic and corporate outlook despite "high degrees of anxiety about where the world is going," Hillery said.
SAP CEO Christian Klein told CNBC that clients were still concerned about the businesses' ability to mitigate unpredictable geopolitical developments, as tariffs and regionalization came into focus.
SAP is a global business but Klein said he felt "bad" for European startups because the continent lacks a digital union, making it more difficult for them to scale and become more resilient.
Klein added European businesses could use AI to build wider moats, urging business leaders to take risks and the European Union to deregulate to unlock greater capital and talent.
Henrik Andersen, CEO of Wind energy company Vestas, told CNBC that the company has localized its supply chain, challenging Trump's claims that China is selling the green energy infrastructure, such as windmills, that it doesn't use domestically.
"We have factories that produce, in most major markets, turbines for that market based on local components. If we look at how we source, [it's] either in the U.S. from U.S. partners, or we source in Europe from European partners, and even in Denmark from Danish partners, we are both a global and a national source of components to turbines, and everything produced in China just exported to the rest of the world, is not again, a fact of life," said Andersen.
Before Trump backed down on tariffs, Wolf von Rotberg, equity strategist at J. Safra Sarasin Sustainable Asset Management, said markets "have come around to understand three things about Trump."
"His initial proposals and demands are always an opening gambit. They are often as aggressive as they could be… He does not really chicken out, but his strategy requires him to retreat from his maximalist position over time.
"While his rhetoric may sometimes suggest the opposite, Trump actually takes very calculated risks.
"He is very much focused on markets and on getting the best deal possible. Investors have learned to look through the noise and to understand that Trump is as sensitive to falling stock prices as they are."
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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Derek Fulton, 31, a former Nvidia software engineer who quit to found the North Carolina-based cloud startup Carolina Cloud with his wife. Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment about its work culture. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I've been messing around with computers since I got my first MacBook in 2006 at age 11. From building potato cannons to flying drones, I always wanted to solve problems and build things.
After college, I worked in data science at a European bank and as a quantitative analyst at a hedge fund specializing in mortgage investments.
When a friend from college who worked at Nvidia posted on LinkedIn about a software engineering opportunity, I knew I had to apply. I've always been a technologist at heart, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.
When I first joined, I felt like I was learning a good bit. It was the first time I was on a team where software was the final product and not just an internal tool — where getting the last mile right really mattered.
But after a few months, I felt like I wasn't learning anymore. There was a top-down management style and a nitpicky, boxed-in way of working. I worked on a lot of bugs and features, and when I asked to work on different projects that I wasn't familiar with, I was told no.
People assume that if you work at Nvidia, you make a lot of money. My package was in the low six figures, and the wide disparities in pay between older and newer employees impacted the culture because we were all playing different games.
The way I view a job is I want to either be learning or earning. I joined late enough that the money wasn't life-changing, and I felt I could get another job that paid roughly the same amount if it ever came to that. Also, our cost of living is reasonable in the Raleigh-Durham area, and my wife and I are both pretty fiscally shrewd.
I always knew I would launch my own company one day. One of my ambitions was to command my own time by the age of 30 and to have kids who could grow up seeing me do that every day.
My wife and I invested about $20,000 to found our family-owned cloud provider, Carolina Cloud. We're bootstrapping for now, but aren't opposed to raising a small round down the line if we fill our current server fleet.
Carolina Cloud does offer GPUs, but we're focused on CPUs because we believe they absolutely aren't going anywhere: they're less finicky, use less power, are cheaper, and last for years.
At previous jobs where we'd rented cloud, the prices were so high compared to what I knew it would cost to actually build one of the computers, so I saw an opportunity to create a provider that delivered value while still making money.
Carolina Cloud is focused on on-demand, high-performance compute. Some of our early customers are hedge funds and genomics companies, particularly in the Research Triangle. We differentiate from hyperscalers with lower pricing, no egress fees, and high-touch support.
Quitting my job at Nvidia has turned out to be a boon for my mental health. After a couple of weeks, I started sleeping better, chatting with strangers in public, spontaneously running errands I'd forgotten about, and calling people I hadn't thought about in years.
I've also been working really hard, but on my own terms, which has allowed me to reconnect with my love for technology.
While it takes time to get a business off the ground, I told myself that if we didn't turn a profit in 18 months, I could go back to a traditional job. But right now, early interest has gone as expected and indicates that we should be able to stay the course.
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at gweiss@businessinsider.com or Signal at @geoffweiss.25. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.
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Ghana is accelerating its industrialisation drive with a renewed focus on electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing, as the government moves to create jobs, attract foreign investment, and strengthen the country's competitiveness in clean transport.
The push builds on earlier engagements with Chinese automakers and has now entered a more advanced phase.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on January 21, 2026, Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare said the government had signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Shenzhen New Jekyll to establish an EV assembly plant in Ghana.
“They are already in Ghana, they have acquired land, and development is far advanced for the factory to begin operations,” Ofosu-Adjare said, signalling that the project has moved beyond preliminary negotiations.
She added that the ministry is also in discussions with Chery International, one of China's major automobile exporters, to set up an additional EV assembly plant following engagements at the China-Africa Summit.
The talks highlight growing interest from global automakers in Ghana's emerging EV market.
Ghana's EV ambitions form part of a broader strategy to reposition the country as a manufacturing hub in West Africa while supporting its climate and energy transition goals.
Transport remains a major source of emissions in Ghana's urban centres, and policymakers see EV adoption as a way to reduce fuel imports, cut emissions, and build local industrial capacity.
Chinese manufacturers are playing a central role in this strategy. China dominates the global EV supply chain, from battery technology to affordable vehicle production, and is increasingly targeting emerging markets as growth slows in Europe and North America.
For Ghana, partnering with Chinese firms offers access to technology, capital, and manufacturing expertise without the heavy upfront research and development costs.
The government has also introduced incentives to encourage EV adoption, including reduced import duties, while exploring regulatory frameworks to support charging infrastructure and after-sales services.
Industry analysts note that the success of Ghana's EV push will depend on scaling power infrastructure, expanding charging networks, and keeping EVs affordable for consumers.
If executed effectively, Ghana's strategy could help anchor a domestic automotive ecosystem and position the country as a reference point for electric mobility in West Africa, at a time when African countries are competing for a share of the global EV value chain.
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Ukraine's new defense minister has set a new goal for its forces to kill 50,000 Russian troops a month, a sharp increase from the losses that Kyiv says it's inflicting on the Kremlin now.
In a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Mykhailo Fedorov said the new figure would be a core "strategic objective" for Ukraine.
"The objective is to impose costs on Russia that it cannot bear. In this way to force peace through strength," Fedorov said.
Notably, he specified only battlefield fatalities.
The new standard comes as Russia intensified its offensive in some areas of the front lines last year, aiming to take key cities such as Pokrovsk. The nature of its operations — often reliant on continuous high-casualty infantry attacks — has led to political discussion in recent months that the Kremlin may soon reach a point where it will lose more soldiers than it can recruit.
Ukraine's commander in chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in December that his forces had, for the first time, killed and wounded more Russian soldiers in one month than the Kremlin had called up for the same time period.
Fedorov, who was confirmed in his role last week, said on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops are already documenting 35,000 kills every month via video.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte cited another figure while speaking in Brussels on January 16, saying that 20,000 to 25,000 Russian troops were dying every month.
While differing significantly, both figures indicate that Russia is fighting the war at a high cost.
Rutte said the death rate has become "unsustainable" for Russia, and contrasted it to the Soviet Union's losses during the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, when an estimated 15,000 Soviet troops died over nine years.
Likewise, Fedorov expressed hopes that ramping up a focus on lethality will exhaust Russia's war machine.
"If we reach the figure of 50,000, we will see what happens to the enemy. They treat people as a resource, and problems with that resource are already obvious," he said.
Russia does not disclose how many of its troops are wounded or killed during the war. However, international and Ukrainian analyses say the number is likely tracking past 1 million people over nearly four years of war.
The UK's defense ministry said in early January that the Kremlin may have suffered at least 1.2 million total casualties, which includes both wounded and deceased, since February 2022.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has relied largely on hefty sign-up bonuses to attract local contract soldiers, though it's also been found to sustain troop levels through other means, such as by recruiting from prisons or hiring foreigners via informal channels.
Some of those strategies may be waning. On Tuesday, the Russian independent media outlet Vertska reported that contract soldier sign-ups were slowing in some areas of the country.
Data from an unnamed source in the Moscow mayor's office, it wrote, showed that the capital had seen a roughly 25% annual drop in recruitment in 2025.
It's unclear how Fedorov intends to specifically target increasing combat kills. He said in his opening remarks to Ukrainian lawmakers last week that he intended to divert more staffing to drone units. Drones are thought to be responsible for roughly 70 to 90% of casualties inflicted during the war.
His new objective also comes against the backdrop of the US attempting to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Many of the Kremlin's latest war actions, such as attempts to take Pokrovsk, have been seen in Ukraine as efforts to posture into a position of strength.
At 32, Fedorov is Ukraine's youngest-ever defense minister. He's begun his new appointment with promises of aggressive reform of the military's structure and how it distributes resources to its fighters.
Fedorov was previously Ukraine's minister for digital transformation.
Correction: January 22, 2026 — An earlier version of this story misstated the number of Soviet troops estimated killed during the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
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Lululemon's founder said the athleisure company's recall of its sheer "Get Low" leggings was a "new low" for the brand.
Chip Wilson, Lululemon's founder and former CEO, said in a Wednesday LinkedIn post that the pullback of the leggings was a "total operational failure," and the fault of the company's board.
"I've believed that Lululemon has lost its cool for some time, but it is now evident to me that the Company has completely lost its way as a leader in technical apparel," Wilson said on LinkedIn.
He slammed the board, calling them inexperienced and shortsighted.
"It is clear that persistent failures like this are born out of this Board's lack of experience in creative businesses, disinterest in product development and quality, and focus on short-term, self-interested priorities," Wilson said.
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Lululemon said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday that the collection was still available in stores, but its online sales had been temporarily paused because of guest feedback.
The recall took place less than two years after its "Breezethrough" product line was pulled from the market in July 2024, following customer complaints about unflattering seam lines.
Analysts took note of the "Get Low" recall.
"LULU's withdrawal of a new legging line underscores ongoing execution issues in its core and raises further concerns about the durability of its innovation engine and premium positioning," Jefferies analysts wrote in a Tuesday note.
Lululemon's stock price is down about 10% over the past five days and has dropped more than 50% over the past year.
However, Lululemon had another sheer leggings fiasco more than a decade ago, when Wilson was still on the company's board.
In 2013, Lululemon recalled 17% of all its pants for being too sheer. At that point, the company blamed the manufacturing error on an incomplete testing protocol.
This is not the first time Wilson has publicly criticized the brand since he left the company's board in 2015.
He slammed the company's succession plan after CEO Calvin McDonald, compared its trajectory to a "plane crash" and a "sinking ship."
In December, he launched a proxy fight to shake up the company leadership. As the largest shareholder, he nominated three new board members of his choosing.
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My late 30s were hard. Living alone in Cape Town, South Africa, I was holding out for a partner and children while my friends moved through weddings and baby showers without me.
My parents and sisters (including my twin) lived in another province, freelance writing work was drying up, and as 40 approached, I felt stuck — single, lonely, and unsure what came next.
This story is part of our Overseas Identity Crisis series, which explores how living abroad reshapes identity and belonging.
Explore more from the series:
After living abroad for 15 years, I no longer fit in back home. I know my son won't either.
So I made a deal with myself: If the picket-fence dream hadn't happened by 40, I'd leave. I didn't have a family of my own, but I had freedom, English, and nothing to lose. I packed up my life and accepted a yearlong EFL teaching job in Vietnam.
I took a one-way flight to a city I'd never heard of in a country I'd never visited.
Vietnam's humidity, population density, and traffic overwhelmed me. In Haiphong, the industrial port city in northern Vietnam that I now call home, foreigners are rare, and not many locals speak English. Some older locals don't take kindly to outsiders, so I had a few terse encounters with taxi drivers and traders.
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But after three months, the adventure took hold. I went from living and working alone to having housemates, socializing the way I had back at university, learning a new language, and connecting with kids and teens.
When COVID hit halfway through my contract, some younger coworkers left, many were urged by their parents. I stayed.
By the time borders reopened, I'd traveled across the country, formed lasting friendships, taught hundreds of students, and come to belong to a community. I'd become accustomed to the city's gruffness and felt more in tune with its people. It became hard to even contemplate leaving. It still is.
In my time here, I've seldom been lonely. I'm surrounded by younger expat friends who are mostly single. I started a book club and a foodie club. There are daily moments of laughter across language divides with strangers.
Being a middle-aged woman with no husband or children is an anomaly here, but becoming "Teacher Dee" has helped me put aside some of the sadness of being childless — not by choice, but by circumstance.
I've gone from lamenting not having children to being surrounded by them. Neighborhood children shout "Helloooo!" as they whizz past on their bikes. In shops, parents nudge their kids to practice English with me. I get happy high-fives from spunky students.
Early on, I often directed my interior monologue to my twin sister, narrating my new life to her in my head. These days, I connect with other South African friends who feel similarly torn. We even support our country during rugby matches, something I rarely did back home.
Vietnam has been good to me. I've gained teaching experience, become more sociable, and feel less financially stressed.
Now, nearing seven years of what began as a "break" from life back home, I'm contemplating what's next. Friends and family often ask, "When are you coming back?" The question looms larger as I edge closer to 50.
Home is no longer one place, but two. I pay for storage in Cape Town while accumulating more than I can fit into two suitcases in Haiphong. I exist in a constant state of longing for one place while living in the other.
I miss the nature, familiarity, and diversity of Cape Town, but I know I'd grieve the freedom, safety, and financial security I've found here. People say, "It'll always be there, waiting." I worry instead, "Has that door closed?"
I panic at the thought of missing all that's uniquely Vietnamese — a place that pulses with energy and possibility. Life spills out through open front doors, down alleys, onto sidewalk stools, into food markets and coffee shops, and onto the backs of zippy scooters. Most of all, I'd miss the people — especially the children.
I see myself eventually settling back in Cape Town, but not yet. For now, I'm betwixt and between — juggling two career paths, with my head and heart stretched across continents.
After enough time abroad, returning can feel as daunting as leaving once did. My belongings are split between two homes, and so am I.
Do you have a story to share about living abroad? Contact the editor at akarplus@businessinsider.com.
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President Donald Trump's push to acquire Greenland is spilling into markets, drawing attention to Europe's leverage in US capital markets.
On Tuesday, Treasurys sold off. Yields climbed to their highest level in more than four months as "Sell America" fears gripped markets amid the latest geopolitical tensions. The US Dollar Index also moved lower.
"Europe owns Greenland, it also owns a lot of Treasuries," wrote George Saravelos, Deutsche Bank's global head of currency research, in a note on Sunday.
That exposure highlights a key vulnerability for the US, which depends heavily on foreign investors to finance its debt.
European countries own around $8 trillion of US bonds and equities — almost twice as much as the rest of the world combined, according to Deutsche.
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"For all its military and economic strength, the US has one key weakness: it relies on others to pay its bills via large external deficits," Saravelos added.
He pointed out that Danish pension funds were among the first to repatriate capital and cut dollar exposure last year in response to uncertainty over Trump's policies. Saravelos also warned that dollar exposure across Europe remains elevated.
"In an environment where the geoeconomic stability of the western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part," Saravelos said.
Beyond currencies, Saravelos said the real risk lies in capital markets as the US is more vulnerable to foreign investors than ever before.
"It is a weaponization of capital rather than trade flows that would by far be the most disruptive to markets," he wrote.
That risk is already starting to be priced in, according to Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
"The market dynamic we are seeing increasing evidence of is that US assets (including the USD) are now carrying a much higher political risk premium," Weston wrote on Monday.
That shift could push foreign investors to reduce their US exposure and adjust how much dollar risk they hold, weighing on the currency and boosting haven assets like gold, he added.
On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed market speculation that Europe could dump its US assets in retaliation for Trump's tariff threat over Greenland.
"There is no talk in European governments," Bessent told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, calling it a "completely false narrative."
"It defies any logic, and I could not disagree more strongly on that."
On Wednesday, Bessent said in Davos that Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing called to say that the German lender "does not stand by that analyst report."
Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours. The company has told media outlets that it "generally does not comment on "potential communication between the bank and government representatives."
"As a matter of long-standing policy, Deutsche Bank Research is independent in their work, therefore views expressed in individual research notes do not necessarily represent the view of the bank's management," a spokesperson for the bank said.
Bessent also said on Wednesday that he wasn't concerned about the recent sell-off in Treasurys over President Donald Trump's threats against Greenland.
"Denmark's investment in US Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant," Bessent told reporters.
Treasury yields came off multi-month highs on Wednesday after Trump called off his tariff threat on Europe following a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at Davos.
Trump said that he and Rutte formed a "framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region."
January 22, 2026 — This story has been updated with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments.
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In the consulting industry's era of AI upheaval, even job titles aren't safe.
The Big Four firm Deloitte is rolling out a sweeping overhaul of how it refers to its US workforce and introducing a new class of leader.
"All professionals will receive a new title that we will start to use internally and externally on June 1, 2026," said a presentation shared with employees during a meeting on Wednesday morning, which Business Insider has seen.
Deloitte plans to tell employees their new job titles on January 29, before they take effect at the start of the firm's next financial year in June.
The meeting, hosted by Mo Reynolds, Deloitte US's chief people officer, was held for the consulting division, but the changes apply to all Deloitte's US divisions, the presentation said. Deloitte had 181,500 employees in the US as of May 31, 2025.
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The firm also announced a new leadership role during Wednesday's meeting.
Currently, the most senior titles at the firm are partners, principals, and managing directors — known as PPMD. Starting in June, a role titled "leaders" will join the group, according to the presentation.
"We are modernizing our talent architecture to provide a more tailored experience reflective of our professionals' broad range of skills and the work they do," a Deloitte spokesperson told Business Insider.
The overhaul of titles comes as Deloitte and its peers face existential questions posed by AI in the consulting industry. The technology is changing what it means to be a consultant, affecting long-held talent structures, pricing models, and the work that clients want from their consultants.
In the internal presentation, Deloitte frames the changes as a necessary modernization for a changing market.
After a slide titled "why now?" the firm explains that its current talent architecture is "outdated" and unable to "support our business of tomorrow."
The current structure was designed for "a more homogenous workforce of 'traditional' consulting profiles," according to the presentation. "But so much has changed."
Deloitte's workforce and business have grown, employees are seeking more tailored talent experiences, and "our clients are demanding new skills and capabilities," the presentation said.
By redesigning its talent architecture, Deloitte aims to better match employees' work with their titles, clarify career levels, and give people doing similar work more consistent experiences.
Day-to-day work, leadership, and the firm's "compensation philosophy" will all stay the same, according to the presentation.
Consultants at Deloitte have traditionally followed a progression path of analyst, senior analyst, consultant, senior consultant, manager, and senior manager, before promotion to the top echelons of the firm.
Under the new system, these titles will become more specific and include reference to a "job family" and "sub-family," which are another new feature introduced in the talent overhaul.
In an example from the presentation, an employee with the current job title of "senior consultant" could become "senior consultant, functional transformation," "software engineer III," or "project management senior consultant" on June 1.
Internally, employees will also be assigned an alphanumeric reference to indicate their job level, such as L45 for what is currently a senior consultant and L55 for current managers.
These more specific titles will "drive greater clarity and market relevancy," according to the presentation.
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Coinbase has launched an Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain to proactively safeguard Bitcoin and other digital assets against potential future quantum threats.
Earlier this week, Coinbase announced the creation of an Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain, aiming to safeguard the crypto ecosystem against emerging quantum threats.
The board will bring together leading experts in quantum computing, cryptography, and blockchain to assess risks and provide guidance to the broader industry.
Quantum computers, if scaled successfully, could compromise the cryptography that underpins major blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Coinbase, in their announcement, stressed that preparing for these future challenges is crucial to maintaining the security of digital assets.
The advisory board includes notable figures such as quantum computing pioneer Scott Aaronson, Stanford cryptography expert Dan Boneh, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake, and Coinbase's own Head of Cryptography, Yehuda Lindell.
The group says they will publish position papers, recommend best practices for long-term security, and respond to significant advances in quantum computing.
This initiative is part of Coinbase's larger post-quantum security strategy, which also includes updating Bitcoin address handling, enhancing internal key management, and advancing research on post-quantum signature schemes. The board's first position paper is expected early next year, laying out a roadmap for quantum resilience in blockchain systems.
Coinbase said the move underscores the importance of proactive planning, ensuring the crypto industry remains prepared, not reactive, as quantum technology evolves.
Over the last several months, concerns over quantum computing's potential impact on Bitcoin have begun to ripple through traditional finance, prompting some investors to radically rethink their exposure to the cryptocurrency.
Jefferies strategist Christopher Wood recently removed Bitcoin from his Greed & Fear model portfolio, citing the existential risk that large-scale quantum computers could undermine the cryptographic foundations securing digital assets.
While the threat is not imminent, Wood and other institutional voices — including BlackRock and UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti — warn that quantum advances could eventually allow attackers to derive private keys from public ones, putting millions of BTC at risk.
As a result, Wood replaced Bitcoin with gold and gold-mining equities, emphasizing that long-term store-of-value claims for digital assets may be less reliable in the face of accelerating technological change.
The debate over quantum computing in the Bitcoin ecosystem is intensifying. Coinbase research indicates that roughly 20% to 50% of Bitcoin's supply, particularly coins in older wallet formats, could be vulnerable to so-called long-range quantum attacks.
Crypto developers and researchers are divided over the urgency of implementing quantum-resistant solutions, with some advocating proactive upgrades and others arguing the risk remains distant.
Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor believes that quantum computing will actually strengthen Bitcoin rather than threaten it. Network upgrades and coin migrations will boost security, while lost coins remain frozen, Saylor posted.
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Bitcoin payments startup ZBD raised $40M to expand blockchain payment infrastructure for games, focusing on Bitcoin rewards and integration.
Bitcoin payments startup ZBD has raised $40 million in a Series C funding round as it looks to expand blockchain-based payment infrastructure for the video game industry, Fortune reported.
The New Jersey–based company, which provides payments software for game developers, was led in the round by Blockstream Capital. The crypto investment firm contributed $36 million, according to cofounder and CEO Simon Cowell, who spoke with Fortune.
Cowell declined to disclose the company's valuation or name the other investors involved.
The platform allows video game developers to integrate payments directly into games, enabling transactions such as peer-to-peer transfers, loyalty rewards, and Bitcoin payouts without relying on third-party fintech providers.
“We're talking about a payment solution for the entire industry that actually really enables them to have a direct financial relationship to the player,” Cowell said.
The fundraise comes at a time when enthusiasm for crypto gaming has cooled.
Once touted as a major use case for blockchain technology, crypto-based gaming — particularly NFT-driven models — has struggled to gain mainstream traction since the 2021–2022 bull market.
ZBD has deliberately avoided NFTs and crypto-native gameplay, instead focusing on payments, an area that has seen more concrete adoption, especially as stablecoins gain attention from firms like Stripe and banks including JPMorgan Chase, according to Fortune.
Founded by Cowell alongside André Neves and Christian Moss, ZBD centers its technology on Bitcoin rather than stablecoins.
However, the company positions itself as a broader payments provider, allowing developers to keep users within their ecosystems rather than routing transactions through external services.
While the startup is not yet profitable and declined to share revenue figures, Cowell said the company worked with 55 games in 2025 and currently employs about 70 people.
The newly raised capital will be used to expand ZBD's payments product suite over the coming year, Fortune reported.
ZBD integrated Bitcoin rewards into TapNation's mobile game Idle Bank last year, marking the first mainstream mobile game to deliver Lightning Network payouts, which boosted 30-day player retention by 355% and revenue per player by 124%.
The company, originally testing Bitcoin rewards with a modded Counter-Strike server, developed an SDK and API that allow game developers to seamlessly add Bitcoin rewards while addressing cybersecurity and fraud concerns.
ZBD's model turns ad revenue into Bitcoin payouts for players, increasing engagement and monetization, and has already driven significant growth for games like Bitcoin Miner.
Established in 2012, Bitcoin Magazine is the oldest and most established source of trustworthy news, information and thought leadership on Bitcoin.
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Investors pulled nearly $1 billion from exchange-traded funds tracking the spot price of Bitcoin and Ethereum on Wednesday, seeking refuge from cryptocurrency exposure as U.S. President Donald Trump struck a new chord in his approach to acquiring Greenland.
The president said on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday afternoon that he had “a framework of a deal” regarding the Danish territory, as well as the Arctic region, following talks with NATO secretary Mark Rutte.
Along those lines, Trump abruptly backed away from threats to impose tariffs on European nations that stood in opposition of his bid for the semi-autonomous island. Not long before, he also ruled out the use of force during his address in Davos, Switzerland. Markets rebounded following his comments after falling into the red Tuesday amid tariff uncertainty.
On Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen signaled that she was receptive to Trump's about-face, but she said in a statement that “we cannot negotiate our sovereignty,” pushing back against Trump's assertion that the U.S. must own the territory for national security.
The developments had all the making of a “TACO” situation, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” The acronym was coined last year in reference to Trump's habit of announcing massive tariffs as a pressure tactic, only to reverse course once global markets begin to dip.
Investors yanked $709 million for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. on Wednesday, the biggest single-day bleed since Nov. 20, according to CoinGlass. Meanwhile, spot Ethereum ETFs shed $287 million. However, the snapshot does not include flows from products listed in Europe.
New Bitcoin Whales Outpace Old Guard in $6B Supply Tug-of-War
In a Thursday note, Jasper De Maere, a desk strategist at crypto market maker Wintermute, said Trump's pivot removed “some immediate geopolitical overhang that was driving the earlier selloff,” but “macro risk remains elevated” despite any stabilization in Bitcoin's price.
Bitcoin and Ethereum dipped indeed. Recently changing hands around $89,000, Bitcoin was down 7.5% over the past week, while Ethereum had fallen 12% to $2,950 over that same period of time, according to CoinGecko. Last week, they notched their highest prices in more than a month.
“Bitcoin is acting like a high-beta and risk-on asset, trading very similarly to equities,” Carlos Guzman, a research analyst at crypto trading firm GSR, told Decrypt. “Bitcoin is not acting as a store of value. It's not yet digital gold in investors' minds.”
CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill noted in a recent report that sentiment toward digital asset investment products soured last Friday, as diplomatic tensions flared. Still, the products generated $113 million in net inflows last week among investors in Europe.
Ethereum Sentiment Flips Bearish as Traders Brace for Drop to $2.5K
Analysts at investment bank Compass Point have linked Bitcoin's recent route to jitters among short-term holders, who are typically more sensitive to price swings. They identified the $98,000 mark for Bitcoin as a key threshold for rallies in that respect.
What's more, hopes regarding the passage of a crypto market structure bill have been dashed by Coinbase, which withdrew its support from the bill. The White House still expects the bill to pass, which Wintermute's Da Maere described as a short-term catalyst.
“Seeing participants pull out their support of that bill, I think that just added to the pessimism this week,” GSR's Guzman said. “There was a lot of optimism.”
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Ethereum's price recently suffered a sharp decline, briefly dropping below the $3,000 level during heightened market volatility. ETH fell to an intraday low near $2,870 before stabilizing.
While the move unsettled short-term traders, BlackRock argues Ethereum's long-term value lies beyond price action, rooted in its central role in tokenization.
BlackRock's Thematic Outlook 2026 describes Ethereum as the “toll road” for tokenization. The comparison highlights Ethereum's role as essential infrastructure rather than a speculative asset. As more financial instruments migrate on-chain, networks facilitating issuance, settlement, and compliance stand to benefit structurally.
Want more token insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya's Daily Crypto Newsletter here.
The report notes that about 65% of all tokenized assets currently reside on Ethereum. This dominance gives the network a near-monopolistic position in tokenization markets. Growth in stablecoin usage already reflects tokenization in practice. As adoption expands, Ethereum is positioned to capture consistent network demand.
The real-world asset market reinforces this narrative. Tokenized RWAs recently reached a new all-time high of roughly $21 billion in total value locked. Ethereum alone accounts for approximately $11.6 billion of that figure, representing about 55% of the entire RWA market.
Such concentration suggests Ethereum's advantage is compounding rather than eroding. Issuers and institutions tend to build where liquidity, tooling, and security already exist. This dynamic strengthens network effects. Investors appear to be recognizing that Ethereum's leadership in RWAs could deepen as tokenization scales globally.
Long-term holder behavior aligns with this structural outlook. On-chain data shows Ethereum's net position change turning positive among long-term holders. Selling pressure from this group has faded after weeks of distribution. Accumulation has replaced selling, signaling renewed conviction.
Long-term holders often respond to fundamental developments rather than short-term price swings. Their shift toward buying suggests confidence in Ethereum's role within financial infrastructure. Reduced sell-side pressure from these holders may help ETH regain stability and support a recovery above key psychological levels.
Ethereum trades near $2,997 at the time of writing after rebounding from recent lows around $2,870. Price now sits just below the $3,000 threshold, a level closely watched by traders. Holding this zone suggests downside momentum is weakening as buyers re-enter.
BlackRock's acknowledgment of Ethereum's tokenization role could act as a sentiment catalyst. Improved confidence may help ETH reclaim $3,085 as resistance. A sustained move higher could extend gains toward $3,188, allowing Ethereum to recover a meaningful portion of its recent losses.
Downside risk appears limited under current conditions. A bearish scenario would require ETH to fall below $2,925 or $2,885. Losing those supports could expose Ethereum to a drop to $2,796. For now, improving macro signals and long-term accumulation reduce the likelihood of such a move.
Read original story BlackRock Names Ethereum The “Toll Road” To Tokenization; Here's What It Means by Aaryamann Shrivastava at beincrypto.com
Reading time 3 minutes
While the original Bitcoin whitepaper mostly focused on the crypto network as a peer-to-peer digital cash system for decentralized payments, the narrative around the world's largest and most valuable crypto asset has evolved into more of a store of value rather than a medium of exchange over the past decade. This is where the “digital gold” nickname originated, as some believe that bitcoin can act as an apolitical base money for the digital age with a monetary policy that was “set in stone” when the network first launched all the way back in 2009.
As Larry Fink, the CEO of financial titan BlackRock, explained just last month, “Bitcoin is an asset of fear . . . The long-term fundamental reason you own [bitcoin] is because of debasement.”
While some view this digital gold narrative as a pivot from Bitcoin's original design, the reality is that the system's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was concerned with removing the trust required in central banks to not debase the currency in some of his earliest writings.
This may all sound great in theory, but the reality is that bitcoin has routinely been unable to act like its analog sibling in times of global economic turmoil. For example, the bitcoin price suffered one of the worst crashes in its history when COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic in early March 2020. Over the past week, bitcoin has also dropped roughly 10% amid increasing tensions between the United States and Europe over control of Greenland and the selloff in the Japanese bond market.
Last October, there was also a massive crash in the greater crypto market, including $16 billion in liquidations on leveraged positions, amid increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Of course, many of the liquidated positions were in crypto assets that are much more speculative and less credible than bitcoin.
Meanwhile, gold is up roughly 5% over the past week. In fact, gold massively outperformed bitcoin in 2025, despite the precious metal supposedly being the less speculative and volatile asset of the two. While bitcoin has seen increased institutional adoption from the likes of Ivy League university endowments, nation states, and the largest asset manager in the world, the reality is that central banks, most notably China, still prefer real gold over its digital alternative.
That said, the functional utility of bitcoin as something like digital gold still exists, as was shown by the recent flight from crypto exchanges in Iran to the base Bitcoin network. In addition to the local populations, there has been extensive reporting on nation-states like Iran and Venezuela using crypto to avoid economic sanctions imposed by the United States. While much of this activity is being usurped by stablecoins, these dollar-pegged tokens can also be easily frozen by their centralized issuers.
Of course, the current inability of bitcoin to act as a safe-haven asset does not mean it is destined to fail to achieve its long-term goals. After bitcoin crashed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it went on to enjoy a 4,000% price rise to the new all-time high of around $125,000 hit last year. The price has since settled back down in the $90,000 area, and it's unclear if the usual four-year cycles from the past will continue.
The fact that it still moves like a tech stock in times of increased economic tension is a sign that it is still early days for bitcoin, despite its market cap now being measured in the trillions of dollars. However, it will eventually need to start acting more like the digital gold it's touted to be if it wants to stand the test of time and become the basis of a new, digital monetary standard for the 21st century.
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Crypto is now said to account for roughly 20% of the family's $6.8 billion fortune.
Given that Bitcoin was created to circumvent traditional finance, what are we even doing here?
Situations that expose centralization in supposedly decentralized exchanges have become par for the course in crypto.
She warned of "extreme price volatility in financial markets due to catastrophising or euphoria, and a collapse in confidence."
Arizona, New Hampshire, and Texas have enacted laws aimed at creating their own reserves.
Turns out people might like to circumvent centralized financial infrastructure in times of political upheaval.
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Contributor.
On January 1, 2026, the People's Bank of China began paying interest on digital yuan balances held in user wallets. To some, it might have seemed like a small technical upgrade that was long overdue. Yet, it came with outsized implications: China has just made its central bank digital currency the first in the world to offer returns to ordinary holders.
As of the end of November 2025, the digital yuan has already processed over 3.48 billion transactions, totalling 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.38 trillion). By any measure, that is quite successful adoption. But that is just the baseline before the yield upgrade even took effect. Now, with interest-bearing status, the digital yuan is no longer just a payment rail, but rather it is a place to park money – and adoption from here is likely to accelerate.
Throughout the history of digital assets, we have mostly heard consensus messaging around interest-bearing CBDCs: the European Central Bank said no, the Federal Reserve said no, the Bank for International Settlements said no. Their position has been clear for many years – that CBDCs must function like digital cash, with no interest, and no exceptions.
And to some extent, their reasoning makes sense. An interest-bearing CBDC could potentially drain commercial bank deposits. It could trigger bank runs during financial stress, or it could fundamentally reshape how money flows through an economy. The ECB's FAQ explicitly states that no interest would be paid on digital euro holdings. The Fed's 2022 discussion paper warned against exactly this scenario.
But China saw the same risks and chose a different path, and a different future for the digital yuan. Starting from January 1, digital yuan wallet balances now function as liabilities of commercial banks under PBOC oversight – and they pay interest – marking the first time any CBDC worldwide operates in such a way.
Most Western policymakers designed their frameworks assuming everyone would play by the same rules. They have built consensus around non-interest-bearing CBDCs to protect commercial banking, warned about disintermediation risk, and moved cautiously. China watched, learned, and then moved in a different direction. The new approach splits the CBDC playbook in half: with Western orthodoxy on one side, and Chinese pragmatism on the other. One approach prioritizes financial system stability, the other prioritizes monetary control and international competitiveness.
Originally, the digital yuan was supposed to replace paper money, making the digital currency easier to use (through mobile apps like Alipay) than its physical version. The new upgrade now sets it on a path to compete with bank accounts – with an expanded suite of use cases (payments, salaries, cross-border corridors).
Looking back, the problem with the digital yuan was never about choosing the wrong path. The real issue was how M0 positioning – treating it as digital cash – locked it into low-frequency scenarios. DC/EP followed every rule about central bank issuance and sovereign backing, but following the rules made it restrained. Correct in theory, but limited in practice.
At the same time, M0 had to come first. The People's Bank of China built DC/EP on the BIS Money Flower framework, analyzing every dimension: issuing entity, digitalization, account structure, public access. One conclusion stood out – only cash had not been properly digitized yet. This was not conservative thinking, it was rigorous analysis that led to certain constraints.
M0 is cash – the bills in your wallet, the coins in your pocket. But cash exists to be spent, not stored. When China first designed the digital yuan, they built it as a digital version of exactly this. The technology was genuinely impressive – transactions could complete even without network access, a capability called "dual offline payment" – but that solves a problem most consumers encounter perhaps once a year, if ever.
The new shift is not throwing away the past – it is building on a proven foundation. Guoxin Securities' Wang Jian called it moving from "digital cash 1.0" to "deposit currency 2.0" – the point where digital yuan begins to have a potential crowding-out effect on existing forms of electronic currency.
Moving to M1 means the digital yuan now functions like demand deposits, not just electronic cash, with interest accrued directly within wallets. Within the new M1 system, new scenarios are also unlocked: wages, subsidies, and public payments flowing through digital rails. Cross-institutional and cross-system settlement are becoming even more robust, and deep integration with financial products and contract-based payments are now a big opportunity to build.
The technical capability was always there, paved on M0 rails. What is now changing with the M1 move is how useful the digital currency is actually becoming – with significant potential unlocked for the rest of the continent.
The domestic implications are one side of the story, but the more consequential part plays out across borders. Cross-border payments still mostly run on infrastructure designed decades ago – SWIFT messaging, correspondent banking chains, multi-day settlement windows. The system is slow, expensive, opaque, and increasingly tangled in geopolitical friction. Sanctions regimes, compliance requirements, and great-power competition have made the plumbing of international finance feel fragile in ways it did not ten years ago.
China has been building different alternatives over the past decade. The mBridge project, developed with the Bank for International Settlements and central banks from Thailand, the UAE, and Hong Kong, already processes most of its transaction volume in digital yuan. But mBridge requires participating countries to operate their own CBDC infrastructure – a high bar for economies that lack the technical capacity or institutional readiness. The interest-bearing shift opens a different door entirely. Cross-border trade is overwhelmingly B2B: businesses moving working capital across jurisdictions. When you talk to CFOs and treasury managers about what actually drives their decisions, three factors surface repeatedly: is my money safe? is this easy to integrate? and what is in it for my company?
Fund safety was never the sticking point. Digital yuan carries the full backing of the People's Bank of China – sovereign credit does not get more solid than that, and no commercial stablecoin can match it. Ease of use remains genuinely uncertain – integrating digital yuan into corporate treasury systems, accounting workflows, and banking relationships takes more than policy announcements. This is execution territory, and execution is where ambitious financial infrastructure projects tend to stumble.
Incentives are what the interest-bearing change addresses head-on. Working capital sitting in settlement queues now earns a return. For businesses running on thin margins – particularly SMEs in emerging markets where a few basis points on idle cash makes a real difference – the math shifts. Not dramatically, but enough to tip decisions at the margin – and the margin is often where adoption curves start to bend.
Hong Kong's role in this architecture is not incidental – it is load-bearing. For digital yuan to function internationally, it needs a jurisdiction that can translate between Chinese financial infrastructure and global standards. Hong Kong offers exactly that combination: a common law legal system familiar to international businesses, deep capital markets, established regulatory credibility, and proximity to the mainland that no other financial centre can replicate.
The LEAP framework Hong Kong introduced last year – consolidating digital asset regulation under a single authority with clear licensing pathways for stablecoin issuers – positions the city as the critical connector. Compliant stablecoins backed by offshore renminbi can serve as regulated on-ramps for international businesses – offering exposure to digital yuan settlement through a jurisdiction whose AML, CFT, and sanctions compliance frameworks they already understand. The LEAP framework still mandates full KYC requirements and real-time transaction monitoring, which means companies get the efficiency benefits of digital yuan rails without navigating an unfamiliar regulatory environment.
The phased approach emerging from policy discussions on the mainland follows this very logic. Initial pilots concentrate in the Greater Bay Area and select RCEP countries – Thailand and Malaysia seem to appear frequently in planning documents. From there, expansion follows across Belt and Road economies – eventually, a parallel network emerges alongside mBridge, one that accommodates jurisdictions without their own CBDC infrastructure.
Hong Kong is not the destination market in this vision – it is the translation layer – the jurisdiction where digital yuan becomes legible to the rest of the world.
Another interesting impact of the news is the debate between CBDCs and stablecoins' positioning. Interest-bearing CBDCs shift the competitive dynamics with stablecoins, though not in the zero-sum way some have assumed.
Stablecoins achieved adoption by offering what CBDCs could not: flexibility, speed, and accessibility across borders with minimal friction. Most stablecoins designed to date work across a range of DeFi protocols, settle instantly onchain, and operate with lighter identity requirements than any government-backed system. That combination drove growth in ways official alternatives have not matched.
But most stablecoins do not pay interest (notably the two biggest stablecoins by TVL – USDC and USDT) – and that gap is about to matter more now. Tether earned $10 billion last year from its treasury holdings, yet shared none of that with the people actually holding USDT – and Circle operates the same way. The value proposition has always been utility, not yield.
Now with a sovereign-backed currency starting to offer return, even modest ones, the holding calculus is changing. It is not built on speculation or DeFi trading – those use cases care about different things. But for treasury management, working capital, and cross-border settlement, the contexts where safety and yield both matter, interest-bearing digital yuan is starting to look competitive.
According to Fan Wenzhong, the Head of International Department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in Beijing: "This 'public-private hybrid' framework offers a balanced path: it allows nations to benefit from the reach of global stablecoins while introducing a sovereign-backed 'stabilizer' – effectively insulating them from the systemic risks of a purely private stablecoin market”.
All in all, stablecoins will not disappear. But they will face pressure in segments where their zero-yield reality becomes a disadvantage against a central bank alternative that is equally safe and now returns something extra.
With these news, it would be easy to frame this as China cracking a code that has stumped every other central bank. But the truth is messier – and much more interesting.
Interest-bearing digital yuan addresses a real gap that was unsolved for many years, if not decades. It creates holding incentives that M0 positioning never could, it gives commercial banks reason to participate actively rather than comply reluctantly, and it opens pathways for cross-border applications that current infrastructure handles poorly.
But success depends on factors that have not been tested under real conditions. Will businesses actually integrate digital yuan into treasury operations, or will it remain a policy priority that never quite translates into daily practice? Will the offshore architecture through Hong Kong achieve the flexibility international adoption requires without sacrificing the control Beijing wants to maintain? Will trading partners trust Chinese financial infrastructure enough to route their own settlements through it?
The original designers of the digital yuan asked a reasonable question: how do you bring cash into the digital age? The M1 shift suggests they have realized that was never the question that mattered most. The harder question – the one every central bank is now watching China try to answer – is how you build a currency that people choose when they have alternatives. Mandates can force usage, but it is only genuine utility that creates preference.
We are about to find out which approach works at scale – and the answers will shape how money moves for the next decades.
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At the World Economic Forum in Davos, central bankers, Coinbase, Ripple and banks clash over tokenization, a Bitcoin ‘standard,' CBDCs and stablecoin yields as crypto trades near record highs.
Tokenization is no longer a World Economic Forum Davos thought experiment; it is, in the words of Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau, “the name of the game really this year,” promising “progress in global finance, delivery versus payments, [and] diminish of cost of financial transactions.”
Moderator Karen Tso opened the talk, held on Jan. 21, by recalling the early real-estate hype and noting that in 2026 “banks, asset managers, crypto players [and] other innovators have been quietly working on the innovation,” while the Trump family is “promising to bring real estate assets onto the blockchain and to tokenize Trump properties this year.” Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters argued the industry is now at “a major inflection point,” saying he has “no doubt” that “eventually all things will settle in digital, digitized form,” even if regulation across “60 plus regulators” dictates how fast that journey happens.
Euroclear CEO Valérie Urbain framed tokenization as an evolution of securities markets that can “reach out to a bigger range of investors” and “give access to finance to many more people,” explicitly tying it to financial inclusion. A joint pilot with Banque de France aims to tokenize France's commercial paper market, some “€300 billion… small enough to make sure that we can all learn the lessons and see how we can transpose this initiative in a broader sense.”
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong pushed the access narrative hard, arguing tokenization's “most powerful part… is just democratization of access to investment in high‑quality products,” noting an “unbrokered” world of “about 4 billion adults who don't have access or any ability to invest in high‑quality assets like the US stock market or real estate.” He cast crypto as the birth of “a new monetary system that I would call the Bitcoin standard instead of the gold standard… a return to sound money and something that is inflation resistant” as democracies struggle with deficits and fiat inflation.
Villeroy de Galhau pushed back bluntly: “I am a bit skeptical… about this idea of the Bitcoin standard,” warning that “monetary policy and money is part of society” and that losing the public role would mean losing “a key function of democracy.” Money, he insisted, remains a “public‑private partnership,” with CBDC as anchor and “tokenized private money” strictly regulated or risk a “Gresham's law” dynamic where bad private money dominates transactions while CBDC is hoarded as store of value.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse highlighted just how far the first “poster child of tokenization” has already run: “stable coins… went from in 2024 $19 trillion of transactions… and 2025 is $33 trillion, so about 75% growth.” On Ripple's own XRP Ledger, he said, “tokenized assets… surged over 2,200% last year.” He argued the United States has shifted from being “pretty openly hostile” to crypto to electing a “much more pro‑crypto, pro‑innovation Congress,” with the industry pushing for “clarity… better than chaos” after Ripple's five‑year legal fight with Washington.
Armstrong used the stalled US “Clarity Act” and the ongoing stablecoin rewards fight to attack what he called lobbying efforts trying “to put their thumb on the scale and ban their competition,” insisting consumers should “earn more money on their money.” At the same time, he warned that offshore stablecoins and China's interest‑bearing CBDC mean that banning rewards would simply push activity abroad, undermining US and European competitiveness.
Villeroy de Galhau rejected the idea of a remunerated digital euro, calling “innovation without regulation” a recipe for “serious trust issues” and potentially “financial crisis… born of misleaded or dangerous financial innovations.” The public purpose, he said, is “to preserve the stability of the financial system,” and CBDC is “not intended to attack the banking system and its deposits.”
The panel repeatedly circled back to the global south. Winters warned tokenization could mean “a full dollarization” for some emerging economies, even as it delivers “serious cost savings on the cross‑border business.” Villeroy de Galhau noted some G20 emerging powers have openly argued “we should forbid cryptos,” a path he rejects as sacrificing innovation but which underlines sovereignty fears. At the same time, he pointed out that countries such as Brazil and India are already global leaders in fast payments with Pix and UPI, even if they remain cautious on on‑chain currencies.
Environmental concerns surfaced briefly. Asked whether blockchain tokenization can coexist with AI's voracious energy demand, Garlinghouse drew a sharp line between consensus models: “not all layer 1 blockchains are created equal,” stressing that proof‑of‑stake systems use “99.9% less energy than proof‑of‑work,” and that “most of the activity of stable coins today is on more power efficient blockchains” like post‑Merge Ethereum.
The debate in Davos unfolded against a market backdrop where Bitcoin trades just under the psychological six‑figure mark. As of Jan. 22, 2026, Bitcoin changes hands around $89,800–$90,000, roughly flat to modestly higher over the past 24 hours, with MetaMask data showing today's price at about $89,791, up 0.67% from roughly $89,195 a day earlier. Ether holds near the tokenization narrative it increasingly underpins: around $3,000 per ETH, with MetaMask listing $3,003.33 today, a 1.26% gain on the previous day's $2,965.92, while Bybit quotes $2,998.95 with a 24‑hour range between roughly $2,872 and $3,053. Tether's USDT, the largest stablecoin and de facto settlement rail for much of this ecosystem, trades almost perfectly on‑peg at about $0.9992, with a 24‑hour change of roughly +0.05%, a market capitalization near $186.9 billion, and reported daily volume just over $110 billion.
These numbers underscore the panel's central tension: a crypto market already operating at multi‑trillion‑dollar scale, while policymakers, bankers and builders wrestle—in public—over who ultimately writes the rules for the tokenized future.
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The lowest-performing altcoins are returning to the bottom of their respective charts.
ENA, ASTER, and LIT are trading near the lower end of their respective ranges, and buyers may be attracted to the market's oversold region.
Monero's (XMR) price has fallen below the moving average lines. The cryptocurrency price has dropped below the 21-day SMA support. XMR is trading above the 50-day SMA support but below the 21-day SMA resistance.
Today, buyers are attempting to keep the price above the 21-day SMA level. If buyers succeed in pushing the price above the 21-day SMA barrier, the altcoin will appreciate and may return to the previous highs of $650 and $800. In contrast, XMR will decline if the support is broken. XMR is currently the lowest-performing altcoin.
The current price: $534.77
Market capitalisation: $9,811,716,971.14
Trade volume: $213,167,405.64
7-day loss: 30.06%
Ethena's (ENA) price is falling as it approaches lower price levels. The cryptocurrency price has dropped below its low of $0.20. ENA is declining as it nears the October 6 price level of $0.148. The price has entered the oversold territory of the market, where buyers may emerge. Doji candlesticks characterise the price action, causing the altcoin to trade within a range. ENA ranks second lowest in the following metrics:
The current price: $0.1803
Market capitalisation: $1,434,809,475.18
Trading volume: $196,341,042.63
7-day loss: 25.52%
Aster's (ASTER) price has dropped to the bottom of the chart. The altcoin is currently trading above the $0.50 support level and below the moving average lines. Buyers are attempting to push the altcoin above its moving average lines, which would fuel a bullish surge. If the altcoin turns down from the moving average lines, it will resume its range-bound trend near the bottom of the chart. ASTER is ranked third-lowest on our list of the worst coins.
The current price is $0.6168.
Market capitalisation: $1,591,749,746.7
Trade volume: $156,797,217.5
7-day loss: 24.21%
Lighter's (LIT) price has fallen below the moving average lines and is trading at the bottom of its chart. The cryptocurrency is trading above its bottom price of $0.10.
Today, buyers drove the price above the moving average lines; however, the price increase has paused at the $0.152 high. The altcoin is currently trading in a narrow range above the moving average lines but below the $0.16 high. If it overcomes this barrier, LIT will continue to advance, reaching a high of $0.23. LIT is the fourth-poorest coin in our rankings.
The current price: $1.81
Market capitalisation: $450,037,697.62
Trade volume: $123,325,055.14
7-day loss: 24.01%
Pepe's (PEPE) price has fallen below the moving average lines but has halted at the 50-day SMA support. The cryptocurrency is currently trading above the 50-day SMA support but below the 21-day SMA barrier. Today, PEPE is gaining as it attempts to stay above the 50-day SMA support.
On the upside, the altcoin will restart its bullish trend if it breaks above the 21-day SMA. If the 50-day SMA support is breached, PEPE will fall as low as $0.0000003188. PEPE is the fifth-worst cryptocurrency.
The current price: $0.000005152
Market capitalisation: $2,130,623,825.1
Trade volume: $628,145,859.68
7-day loss: 23.08%
Disclaimer. This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author. The data provided is collected by the author and is not sponsored by any company or token developer. This is not a recommendation to buy or sell cryptocurrency and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Coinidol.com. Readers should do their research before investing in funds.
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BlackRock CEO Larry Fink used the World Economic Forum stage to argue that tokenization needs to move from pilot programs to market plumbing and suggested that a shared blockchain standard could cut costs and even “reduce corruption,” a framing that immediately reignited the “which chain?” debate across crypto and specifically inside the Ethereum community.
Fink didn't name a network. But the combination of BlackRock's onchain product footprint and its own research positioning makes Ethereum the most natural candidate for the “one common blockchain” he alluded to, even if he kept it implicit.
Fink's remarks, delivered in the language of infrastructure rather than crypto evangelism, leaned heavily on the operational case for digitized assets and interoperable settlement rails.
“I think the movement towards tokenization, decimalization is necessary. It's ironic that we see two emerging countries leading the world in the tokenization and digitization of their currency, that's Brazil and India. I think we need to move very rapidly to doing that.”
He then pushed the argument beyond payments and into capital markets: “We would be reducing fees, we would do more democratization by reducing more fees if we had all investments on a tokenized platform that can move from a tokenized money market fund to equities and bonds and back and forth.”
The most provocative line was his call for standardization and the trade-off he implied comes with it. “[If] we have one common blockchain, we could reduce corruption. So I would argue that, yes, we have more dependencies on maybe one blockchain, which we could all talk about, but that being said, the activities are probably processed and more secure than ever before.”
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told the World Economic Forum he thinks the movement toward tokenization and digitization is necessary. We need to move very rapidly to doing that. With one common blockchain, we can reduce corruption.
The “one common blockchain” Larry Fink referenced… https://t.co/sMMcg4oyN1 pic.twitter.com/VhRvuwCx00
— Ethereum Daily (@ETH_Daily) January 22, 2026
In the abstract, “one common blockchain” could be read as a generic appeal for shared rails. In practice, BlackRock's public-market crypto lineup and its tokenization work have concentrated around Bitcoin and Ethereum.
On the ETF side, BlackRock's flagship US spot products track bitcoin and ether — iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) — with ETHA launching in 2024 and now sitting in the center of the firm's public-facing Ethereum exposure.
On the tokenization side, BlackRock's first tokenized fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), debuted on Ethereum via Securitize in March 2024, making Ethereum the original issuance network for what has become one of the market's most closely watched institutional RWAs.
While BUIDL has expanded across multiple networks over time, the key point for Fink's “common blockchain” framing is that Ethereum has been BlackRock's default starting point for public-chain issuance, a meaningful signal in a market where “standards” tend to follow whoever already has the deepest liquidity, the broadest integration surface, and the most conservative counterparties.
The stronger tell came this week from BlackRock research rather than Davos soundbites. In its 2026 thematic outlook, BlackRock explicitly floats the idea of Ethereum as the infrastructure layer that collects the “toll” as tokenization scales. One slide asks: “Could Ethereum represent the ‘toll road' to tokenization?” and adds that stablecoin adoption may be an early proxy for tokenization “in action,” with “blockchains like Ethereum” positioned to benefit.
In the same section, BlackRock cites RWA data “as of 1/5/2026” and notes that “of tokenized assets 65%+ are on Ethereum,” underscoring the network's lead in today's tokenized-asset stack.
At press time, ETH traded at $3,005.
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Jake Simmons has been a Bitcoin enthusiast since 2016. Ever since he heard about Bitcoin, he has been studying the topic every day and trying to share his knowledge with others. His goal is to contribute to Bitcoin's financial revolution, which will replace the fiat money system. Besides BTC and crypto, Jake studied Business Informatics at a university. After graduation in 2017, he has been working in the blockchain and crypto sector. You can follow Jake on Twitter at @realJakeSimmons.
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Litecoin has always been crypto's steady hand. Fast, reliable, and rarely dramatic, LTC has earned its place as one of the market's longest-running payment coins. But lately, something subtle has been happening beneath the surface and long-time Litecoin holders have noticed it.
Whales are trimming LTC exposure. Not dumping it outright, just reallocating. And a growing portion of that capital is flowing into Remittix's ICO, where investors are chasing what they see as asymmetric upside rather than incremental gains. That shift says a lot about how the market is thinking heading into 2026.
Litecoin does exactly what it's supposed to do. Transactions are quick. Fees are low. The network is stable. For payments, it works.
However, stability cuts both ways. Litecoin's price action has become increasingly predictable. It tends to move with the market, not ahead of it. When Bitcoin rallies, LTC follows. When the market cools, it drifts. For whales managing large portfolios, that profile is useful, but it doesn't deliver the kind of growth that justifies heavy new allocations.
In other words, Litecoin feels finished. Not dead, just fully priced.
Whales don't usually abandon assets they respect. They rotate. Yes, Litecoin's legacy is secure. But markets don't reward legacy; they reward timing.
With Remittix moving rapidly from presale to product launch, offering crypto-to-fiat payments at a global scale, it's becoming the kind of opportunity whales can't ignore. That's why Litecoin bags are getting lighter and why Remittix's ICO is starting to feel like a rotation worth paying attention to as 2026 approaches.
This isn't speculation for speculation's sake. It's a calculated move toward:
That's exactly why Remittix is showing up in the same conversations.
Remittix isn't trying to replace Litecoin, it's tackling a different layer of the payments stack. While Litecoin focuses on on-chain transfers, Remittix is building PayFi infrastructure that connects crypto directly to bank accounts worldwide. Users send crypto, recipients receive fiat. No exchanges. No FX surprises. No crypto education required on the other end.
That design dramatically expands the addressable market, especially for freelancers, SMEs and cross-border payments. What's accelerating interest is execution:
For whales, this matters more than hype. A live wallet and a fixed launch date turn an ICO into a measurable event, not a vague promise.
The reason “7x” keeps coming up isn't magic; it's math. Litecoin's market cap is already large. To 7x from here would require massive, sustained inflows across the entire market.
Remittix, by contrast, is still in its early phase. If adoption ramps as the PayFi platform goes live, price discovery happens fast, especially once liquidity, exchange listings and real transaction volume enter the picture.
That's the kind of setup whales look for:
It's not about abandoning Litecoin. It's about where new growth comes from.
This isn't a referendum on Litecoin's relevance. LTC still works. It will likely continue to be used. But its role has shifted into the “reliable infrastructure” category, similar to how Bitcoin functions as a value anchor.
Remittix sits in the growth infrastructure category, where usage, not just survival, drives valuation. That distinction explains why capital is rotating the way it is.
If you're holding Litecoin, the takeaway isn't panic, it's perspective. Litecoin offers stability. Remittix offers velocity.
As crypto adoption expands beyond traders into real payments, money movement and everyday finance, projects that connect crypto to fiat at scale are becoming the new focal point. Whales aren't betting against Litecoin. They're betting that the next leg of growth comes from somewhere else.
Discover the future of PayFi with Remittix by checking out the project here:
Website: https://remittix.io/
Socials: https://linktr.ee/remittix
Not because Litecoin is failing, but because its upside is limited compared to early-stage utility projects with upcoming catalysts.
Litecoin enables on-chain payments; Remittix connects crypto directly to global bank accounts through its PayFi platform.
The full Remittix PayFi platform is scheduled to launch on February 9, 2026.
Disclaimer: This is a paid post and should not be treated as news/advice. LiveBitcoinNews is not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from the content, products, or services referenced in this press release
Vadodara, India, January 22nd, 2026, Chainwire
CrunchUpdates, a digital newsroom focused on technology, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, startups, business, and finance, today announced the expansion of its editorial operations to strengthen its presence as a trusted source for fast, accurate, and verified news. Operating through its official website, https://crunchupdates.com, the platform is designed to deliver timely reporting while maintaining strict editorial standards.
CrunchUpdates was established to meet the growing demand for concise, reliable, and easy-to-understand news in rapidly evolving sectors such as emerging technologies, digital assets, and global business. The newsroom prioritizes factual accuracy, source verification, and clarity, ensuring readers receive information they can trust.
CrunchUpdates adopts a streamlined approach to digital journalism, emphasizing timely reporting supported by editorial oversight and factual verification processes. This model aligns with evolving standards in online media practices.
The platform covers a wide range of topics, including:
CrunchUpdates operates as an independent digital publisher and adheres to transparent editorial and fact-checking policies. The newsroom's mission is to provide value-driven journalism that respects readers' time while offering meaningful insights into complex industries.
By focusing on credibility, structured reporting, and reader trust, CrunchUpdates aims to become a recognized digital newsroom within India's growing online media ecosystem and among global readers seeking reliable coverage of technology and finance.
As digital news consumption continues to rise, CrunchUpdates positions itself as a modern newsroom built for the current generation of readers—those who value accuracy, speed, and clarity in an increasingly information-dense world.
For more information about the newsroom, editorial standards, and latest coverage, users can visit the official website at https://crunchupdates.com.
About CrunchUpdates
CrunchUpdates is a digital newsroom based in India that publishes news and analysis on technology, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, startups, business, and finance. The platform is committed to ethical journalism, factual accuracy, and transparent editorial practices. CrunchUpdates delivers verified news through its official website, https://crunchupdates.com, serving readers across India and internationally.
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X is preparing to launch “Starterpacks,” an onboarding feature for new users to help discover the best accounts and feeds based on interests like crypto and technology.
Unveiled Thursday, X will roll out the feature in the coming weeks, Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X, noted.
The curated starterpack in the crypto category will comprise memecoin trading with real-time market trends and sentiment from active traders.
A short video posted by Bier showed the preview of how starterpacks work. It shows users selecting their interests while onboarding and following the curated list of accounts.
The announcement arrives days after Bier's comments about crypto Twitter sparked backlash among the community. Crypto users have complained about the declining visibility of crypto content on X.
“Crypto Twitter (CT) is dying from suicide, not from the algorithm,” he wrote in response.
His response triggered growing frustration within the crypto community, with users believing that the platform is intentionally limiting crypto-related posts. Bier insisted that the issue is not tied to X's algorithms.
On Wednesday, Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp wrote that there were 96 million posts on X containing ‘Bitcoin' in 2025, a 32% drop year-over-year.
Although the data did not reflect overall crypto engagement, the post triggered concerns about discovery challenges and algorithmic shifts.
In a separate post on Wednesday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stressed the need for better mass communication tools.
“We need mass communication tools that serve the user's long-term interest, not maximize short-term engagement,” he wrote on X.
Further, he noted that crypto social projects has often been gone the wrong way.
“Decentralized social should be run by people who deeply believe in the “social” part, and are motivated first and foremost by solving the problems of social,” he added.
Read original story X Rolls out ‘Starterpacks' for New Users to Discover Crypto, Tech Feeds by Sujha Sundararajan at Cryptonews.com
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Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Going All-In on Decentralized Social Media as Farcaster, Lens Change Hands
$89,378.00
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Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said he's moving fully back to decentralized social media platforms in 2026, with his words coming right as the two biggest players in the space—Farcaster and Lens Protocol—have changed hands.
In an X post, the outspoken founder highlighted the need for better mass communication tools, calling for a move beyond “everyone constantly tweeting inside a single global info warzone.”
“We need mass communication tools that serve the user's long-term interest, not maximize short-term engagement,” said Buterin. “There is no simple trick that solves these problems. But there is one important place to start: more competition.”
In 2026, I plan to be fully back to decentralized social.
If we want a better society, we need better mass communication tools. We need mass communication tools that surface the best information and arguments and help people find points of agreement. We need mass communication… https://t.co/ye249HsojJ
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 21, 2026
“Decentralization is the way to enable that: a shared data layer, with anyone being able to build their own client on top,” he added.
Buterin's remarks came after Lens Protocol, the social platform built by the development team behind Ethereum DeFi protocol Aave, announced on Tuesday that Mask Network would “steward the next chapter” for the decentralized protocol.
On Wednesday, Farcaster made a similar announcement, detailing that its protocol smart contracts, code, the Farcaster app, and its acquired token launchpad, Clanker, will all be transferred to Neynar—a longstanding Farcaster client and infrastructure firm.
“This wasn't an easy decision. Farcaster and the people building on it mean a lot to us," posted Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero on X. “We're proud of what our team built, and what the community built alongside us. But after five years, it's clear Farcaster needs a new approach and leadership to reach its full potential.”
That new approach will come less than two years after the platform raised $150 million in a Series A which valued the company at $1 billion and sought to expand its active user base and developer primitives. Farcaster's team recently said that it would pivot focus towards wallet development after the “social-first” approach failed to maintain momentum.
While neither platform currently has a native token of its own, Buterin claims that most crypto social projects have inserted something speculative and considered it innovative.
“Too often, we in crypto think that if you insert a speculative coin into something, that counts as ‘innovating,' and moves the world forward,” he posted. The real focus though, he said, should be on solving for the actual social aspect of social media.
“Decentralized social should be run by people who deeply believe in the ‘social' part, and are motivated first and foremost by solving the problems of social,” Buterin added.
For the new leaders of Lens, that means a focus on “consumer-grade execution, product design, and global distribution.” For Farcaster, it is a new “builder-focused vision” that is expected to be shared soon. In both instances, the original teams will step away from day-to-day operations.
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The camps, all located in Germany between the northern Harz Mountains and the Elbe River, were dated to the 3rd Century C.E.
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:
Volunteers scouring satellite imagery pinpointed what they thought was evidence of Roman-era marching camps in Germany. On-the-ground investigation confirmed their thinking, leading to the discovery of four previously unknown third-century C.E. camps that show Roman advancement farther north in Germany than otherwise recorded.
According to a statement from Germany's State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, the four newly uncovered camps include two near Aken and one each at Trabitz and Deersheim, providing “evidence of Roman marching camps for the first time.”
With historical records chronicling the movement of Roman troops as far as the Elbe River, there was previously no evidence of a presence in Saxony-Anhalt. These finds change all that, showing the first proof of a Roman marching camp— typically located at intervals of about 12 miles, considered a day's march—between the northern Harz Mountains and the Elbe River, with the team calling the discovery an “archaeological sensation.”
A Roman marching camp has a distinct footprint, historically shaped like rectangles with rounded corners. From the gates, the main camp roads—laid out in right angles—led into the interior with camp headquarters placed at intersections. A key element of the camps was a titulum, a ditch segment with a defensive wall at the front of the gate passages. Similar infrastructure plans have been seen throughout history.
These plans specifically were also seen as clear as day on satellite images that helped kick off this project.
A volunteer archaeologist identified a potential marching camp near Aken in 2020 thanks to satellite images. Further targeted aerial surveys from the state office confirmed the presumed camp. Then in 2023, the team identified another potential site, this near Trabitz, thanks to aerial photos. Potential sites kept popping up, often thanks to remnants of the perfectly straight lines of ditch borders and the camp's rounded corners.
To corroborate the aerial clues, large-scale geophysical surveys incorporated metal detectorists. Teams recorded over 1,500 finds, mostly iron objects—the “high number of nails and bolts is striking”—that were once the hobnob nails meant to offer traction on a soldiers' sandals. A Caracalla denarius offered the newest find within a bounty of coins, making it conceivable that the camps were established in connection with a campaign under Caracalla in 213 C.E. Radiocarbon dating established the camps from the early third century C.E.
“The preliminary findings have confirmed the initial suspicion that the ditch structures discovered in aerial photographs are the remains of Roman marching camps,” the team wrote.
The history of the region features centuries of fighting. In roughly 13 B.C.E., Emperor Augustus looked to move northeast, pushing as far as the Elbe and Saale rivers. This marching effort was considered abandoned in 9 C.E., after the adopted son and designated successor of Emperor Augustus fell from his horse and eventually died near Drusus during a retreat from the Saale. That led to the Romans withdrawing and even vacating a town near Lahnau-Waldgirmes. As a result, large Germanic tribes formed, and these tribes clashed with the Romans, sometimes leading to the Roman military moving deeper into Germanic territory.
Though the broad strokes of these conflicts have long been known, discoveries like this newly-uncovered marching camp offer up key details that aid in our understanding of the time.
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Scientists just calculated how many microplastics are in our atmosphere. The number is absolutely shocking
A new estimate suggests land sources eject 600 quadrillion pieces of microplastic into the atmosphere every year
By K. R. Callaway edited by Claire Cameron
Microplastics travel by air and sea, turning up even in remote areas.
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Microplastics are pervasive, found everywhere on Earth, from the Sahara Desert to patches of Arctic sea ice. Yet despite these plastic particles' ubiquity, scientists have struggled to determine exactly how many of them are in our atmosphere.
Now a new estimate published in Nature suggests that land sources release about 600 quadrillion (600,000,000,000,000,000) microplastic particles into the atmosphere every year, about 20 times more than the number of particles contributed by oceans (about 26 quadrillion).
The median concentration of microplastics is 0.08 particle per cubic meter (m3) over land and 0.003 particle per m3 over sea, the study found.
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These estimates are between 100 and 10,000 times lower than previous accountings of atmospheric microplastics—a discrepancy that the researchers behind the new study say underscores the need for better global measures of these pollutants.
“We knew that uncertainties of existing emission estimates were very large,” says Andreas Stohl, senior author of the study and an atmospheric scientist at the University of Vienna. “They are even still large after our study, but we could at least narrow down the uncertainty range, especially when it comes to the importance of land-based versus ocean-based emissions.”
A microplastic is any plastic particle sized between one micron and five millimeters. Easily swept up by wind and carried long distances by water, these tiny motes are also exceedingly difficult to detect and almost impossible to remove from the environment.
Past estimates have focused on accounting for microplastics generated by human activity or directly measuring their concentration in the air in any given area. But these measures are highly variable: along the southeastern coast of China, for example, atmospheric microplastic estimates have ranged from 0.004 to 190 particles per m3. To try and get at a more global estimate, Stohl and his team compiled 2,782 measurements collected at 283 locations worldwide.
The researchers hope the findings will act as a baseline for future studies of global microplastic levels, including new measures that will be able to account for even smaller particles than they did.
K. R. Callaway is a freelance journalist specializing in science, health, history and policy.
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Tesla is offering passengers robotaxi rides in Austin without a human safety driver in the front seat.
CEO Elon Musk on Thursday posted on X, his social media platform: “Just started Tesla Robotaxi drives in Austin with no safety monitor in the car. Congrats to the Tesla AI team!”
He then made a recruitment pitch for engineers interested in “solving real-world AI,” which he says will “likely lead to AGI” to join the Tesla AI team.
The automaker launched its robotaxis in the Texas city last June in a limited deployment with a safety operator in the front passenger seat. Tesla initially offered those first rides to influencers and handpicked customers. In December, Tesla began testing its robotaxis in Austin without a safety driver in the front seat — a precaution in case the vehicle needs a human to take over.
Not all of Tesla's fleet in Austin will be fully driverless. Per Tesla's AI lead Ashok Elluswamy, the company will be “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time.”
Tesla is charging for the rides, according to one rider who posted on X. There also appears to be a chase car following the driverless vehicles.
Some of Tesla's rivals, like Zoox and Waymo, did not immediately charge for driverless rides upon initial deployment.
TechCrunch has attempted to reach out to Tesla for clarification.
The article has been updated to reflect new information, including that Tesla is charging for the rides.
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On September 30, 2024, the Sun unleashed a powerful explosion, causing magnetic field lines to break and reconnect in a criss-cross pattern. A Sun-observing probe was there to watch it unfold, gathering unprecedented data that's helping scientists better understand the mechanism behind solar flares.
Using the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a team of scientists discovered that solar flares are triggered by initially weak disturbances that grow more violent, similar to avalanches on snowy mountains. The process creates a sky of raining plasma blobs that continue to fall even after the solar flare has subsided, according to a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Solar flares are giant explosions on the Sun, flinging energy, light, and particles into space. They take place when energy that's stored in twisted magnetic field lines is suddenly released. The most powerful solar flares can disrupt technologies on Earth, triggering geomagnetic storms capable of causing radio blackouts.
Scientists have observed solar flares for years, but they still lack a detailed understanding of how this colossal amount of energy is released so rapidly from the Sun. Using the high-resolution data from Solar Orbiter, scientists now have a better picture of the process that leads to the violent eruption.
Solar Orbiter zoomed in on a region of the Sun with a dark arch-like ‘filament' of twisted magnetic fields and plasma, linked to a cross-shaped structure of brightening magnetic field lines. Scientists directed the spacecraft's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) toward the region roughly 40 minutes before peak flare activity.
By zooming in, observations revealed new magnetic field strands appearing in every image frame—equivalent to every two seconds or less. Each strand was magnetically contained and twisted like a rope. The region became progressively less stable, just like in an avalanche.
The twisted magnetic field strands began to break and reconnect, rapidly triggering a cascade of further instability in the region. As the strands broke, they triggered progressively stronger reconnection events and outflows of energy, which appeared as increasing brightness in the images.
Then, a sudden brightening was followed by the dark filament disconnecting from one side, launching into space while violently unrolling at high speed. Scientists first recorded the unwinding at 155 miles per second (250 kilometers per second), rising to 248 miles per second (400 km/s) at the site of disconnection. Bright sparks of reconnection appeared all along the filament in stunning high resolution as the flare erupted.
“We were really very lucky to witness the precursor events of this large flare in such beautiful detail,” Pradeep Chitta, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany, and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. “Such detailed high-cadence observations of a flare are not possible all the time because of the limited observational windows and because data like these take up so much memory space on the spacecraft's onboard computer. We really were in the right place at the right time to catch the fine details of this flare.”
The scientists behind the study were surprised to learn that the large flare is driven by a series of smaller reconnection events that spread rapidly in space and time, creating a cascade of increasingly violent events.
Even before the flare erupted, the Solar Orbiter revealed that emissions from the Sun were slowly rising when the spacecraft first began observing the region. During the flare itself, particles were accelerated to speeds of 40 to 50% the speed of light.
The detailed observations also revealed that the energy was transferred from the magnetic field to the surrounding plasma during these reconnection events. “We saw ribbon-like features moving extremely quickly down through the Sun's atmosphere, even before the main episode of the flare,” Chitta said. “These streams of ‘raining plasma blobs' are signatures of energy deposition, which get stronger and stronger as the flare progresses.”
Even after the flare subsided, the rain of plasma blobs continued for some time, Chitta added.
“Solar Orbiter's observations unveil the central engine of a flare and emphasise the crucial role of an avalanche-like magnetic energy release mechanism at work,” Miho Janvier, ESA's Solar Orbiter co-project scientist, said in a statement. “An interesting prospect is whether this mechanism happens in all flares, and on other flaring stars.”
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Scientists observed the most active solar region in decades for a record-breaking 94 days.
And as Airbus reminded us last week, we're not ready.
Airbus recalled thousands of aircraft over the weekend.
The region has unleashed at least two powerful solar flares in the last 12 hours, and experts are certain there's more to come.
A record-breakingly sharp image of a solar flare allowed astronomers to get a closer look into the Sun's mysterious coronal loops.
The clingy planet orbits so close to its star, it triggers powerful explosions of radiation that eat away at its atmosphere.
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by Lisa Stiffler on Jan 22, 2026 at 10:00 amJanuary 22, 2026 at 10:07 am
Less than a year after layoffs and a public plea by its CEO for new investments, General Fusion on Thursday announced a $1 billion SPAC agreement to take the fusion energy company public.
Vancouver, B.C.-based General Fusion plans to merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III in a transaction that could close by the middle of this year, making it one of the first fusion companies to go public. General Fusion expects to be listed on the Nasdaq and trade under the ticker GFUZ.
“We are completely focused on the future,” Megan Wilson, chief strategy officer for General Fusion, told GeekWire. “The path of any innovative company is not always linear.”
General Fusion is part of the race to produce abundant, clean energy by smashing together light atoms — replicating the reactions that power the sun and stars. The pursuit has become increasingly urgent as artificial intelligence and increased electrification of the economy drives up demand for climate friendly power.
Wilson said they explored various funding options, including a traditional IPO, but appreciated Spring Valley's experience and track record in creating publicly traded companies. Spring Valley previously used a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) to bring NuScale Power, a fission startup, public in 2021.
The deal with General Fusion includes $230 million from the SPAC's trust, presuming no redemptions, as well as a $100 million private investment in public equity, or PIPE.
The 115-person company previously raised a total of $400 million from investors, industry partners and government grants.
General Fusion's merger news comes a month after fusion rival TAE Technologies announced its own agreement to go public.
“It's really great to have competition in the market, and we think that that transaction is just another signal that the public markets are ready for fusion,” Wilson said.
California-based TAE has a $6 billion planned merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, the publicly traded parent company of the social media platform Truth Social. With the merger and new funding, TAE said that it's aiming to site and begin building a utility-scale fusion plant this year.
Despite the massive investments flowing into the sector, none of the companies have demonstrated the ability to produce excess energy from fusion reactions. But they're all reporting progress toward that goal, with TAE and Washington's Helion Energy working on commercial facilities.
General Fusion, which launched in 2002, is currently operating its Lawson Machine 26, a magnetized targeted fusion demonstration device that's about half the size of its planned commercial‑scale machine.
The new financial support will fund initiatives to hit essential scientific milestones with the device by the middle of 2028. That includes reaching 100 million degrees Celsius — a target it had earlier set for last year — and achieving the conditions needed to create fusion reactions that produce excess energy.
General Fusion hopes to be able to deploy a commercial fusion machine by around 2035.
“This transaction with Spring Valley positions us with the capital we need to be able to continue operating the Lawson Machine 26 as we pursue really transformative technical milestones that will ultimately put us on a path to the first-of-a-kind plant,” Wilson said.
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Waymo robotaxis can now be hailed by the public in Miami.
The company said Thursday it will initially open the service, on a rolling basis, to the nearly 10,000 local residents on its waitlist. Once accepted, riders will be able to hail a robotaxi within a 60-square-mile service area in Miami that covers neighborhoods such as the Design District, Wynwood, Brickell, and Coral Gables.
Waymo said it plans to eventually expand to Miami International Airport, but didn't provide a timeline beyond that it was coming “soon.”
Waymo has had a presence in Miami for months in the lead-up to the commercial launch. After mapping and then testing its autonomous vehicles on Miami's public roads, the company removed safety operators from the fleet in November. The driverless service was initially open to employees.
This phased approach is part of Waymo's launch playbook, and one that is being implemented far more often than even a year ago. Waymo first opened its robotaxis to the general public in Phoenix in 2020. It expanded to San Francisco and Los Angeles and eventually opened it to all riders in 2024. As the company continued to expand in those metro areas — pushing into the larger Bay Area and into Silicon Valley, for example — it also opened in new markets.
Waymo opened a robotaxi service in spring 2025 in partnership with Uber in Atlanta and Austin, and expanded its service area in existing markets to include freeways.
Waymo has laid out an aggressive plan to bring its robotaxi service to nearly a dozen more cities over the next year. Those plans include Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Nashville, London, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The company has already started testing in some of those cities using a mix of its all-electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and newer Zeekr RT vans that have been rebranded “Ojai.”
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt last October that “by the end of 2026, you should expect us to be offering 1 million trips per week.”
The expansion hasn't been without problems. Residents in cities like San Francisco have captured video of Waymo vehicles creating traffic jams, notably during a widespread power outage in December.
It has also gotten the attention of federal safety regulators.
The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened an initial investigation into the company last October over how its robotaxis operated around a stopped school bus in Atlanta. School district officials in Austin have shared video and complaints around the same issue of Waymo moving past school buses even when the lights are on and the stop sign is deployed.
The company has issued a voluntary software recall to fix that issue. However, new videos, which show Waymos illegally passing school buses, suggest the problem has not been resolved.
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by Taylor Soper on Jan 22, 2026 at 8:39 amJanuary 22, 2026 at 8:51 am
AIM Intelligent Machines (AIM), a Seattle-area startup developing software that lets bulldozers and excavators operate on their own, announced $4.9 million in new contracts with the U.S. Air Force to build and repair military bases and airfields.
Founded in 2021, AIM got its start in mining and construction, and is now expanding to defense applications. AIM's technology works with existing equipment and is designed for dangerous or hard-to-reach places, including areas where equipment might be dropped in by parachute. One person can remotely manage an entire site of working vehicles.
For airfield repairs, the company's tech can scan the area using sensors to create a 3D map of damage. Then autonomous machines clear debris and can repair the runway — all remotely and without people on the ground. Military advisors say the approach could speed up construction, reduce risk to personnel, and make it easier to deploy equipment in tough conditions.
Founded in 2021 and led by longtime engineers, AIM raised $50 million last year from investors including Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Human Capital. The company is led by CEO Adam Sadilek, who previously spent nine years at Google working on confidential projects.
In a LinkedIn post this week, Sadilek wrote that “we're asking the wrong questions about AI and work,” arguing that automation will enable construction companies to build more with their existing teams.
“The top line grows, but the bottom line doesn't get ‘optimized' into oblivion,” he wrote. “For example, each autonomous dozer we deploy uncovers, depending on the mineral type and current market price, between $3 million and $17 million in additional ore each season. Rather than replacing people, that gives them leverage. And yes, cost savings show up – fuel, maintenance, wear – but they're not the main event.”
He added: “Instead of focusing on whether AI removes jobs, we should be focusing on whether we'll use it to finally do more of the things we've always wanted but never had enough capacity to build.”
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AMD's Ryzen 7 9850X3D, a contender for the best CPU, will hit retail for $499 on January 29. This highly anticipated Zen 5 3D V-Cache chip aims to dethrone the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, arguably the fastest gaming processor ever created.
The Ryzen 7 9850X3D holds no surprises as we've known about it for a while now, but that doesn't diminish its appeal. The gaming processor is a meticulously higher-binned variant of the award-winning Ryzen 7 9800X3D. It features a substantial 400 MHz boost clock advantage over its predecessor, which should translate into up to a 7% improvement in games, according to AMD. Naturally, you should wait for some real-world benchmarks for a true performance verdict.
The chipmaker wasn't shy about targeting Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K, the flagship of the Core Ultra 200S (codenamed Arrow Lake) series. AMD claims the Ryzen 7 9850X3D demolishes the Core Ultra 9 285K by up to 27% in gaming. It's a testament to AMD's 3D V-Cache technology, which continues to dominate in gaming scenarios and maintains a significant performance gap that Intel hasn't been able to close.
CPU
MSRP / SEP
Architecture
Cores / Threads (P+E)
P-Core Base / Boost Clock (GHz)
E-Core Base / Boost Clock (GHz)
Cache (L2/L3)
TDP / PBP or MTP
Memory
Core Ultra 9 285K
$599
Arrow Lake
24 / 24 (8+16)
3.7 / 5.7
3.2 / 4.6
76MB (40+36)
125W / 250W
CUDIMM DDR5-6400 / DDR5-5600
Ryzen 7 9850X3D
$499
Zen 5 X3D
8 / 16
4.7 / 5.6
—
104MB (8+96)
120W / 162W
DDR5-5600
Ryzen 7 9800X3D
$479
Zen 5 X3D
8 / 16
4.7 / 5.2
—
104MB (8+96)
120W / 162W
DDR5-5600
The persistent DRAM shortage continues to wreak havoc in the memory market. The swiftly rising prices on DDR5 and DDR4 memory kits have forced enthusiasts to make difficult compromises when planning their builds or upgrading their existing systems. However, AMD offers a silver lining for prospective Ryzen 7 9850X3D buyers. Apparently, you won't need to break the bank on premium memory. AMD reassures customers that pairing the Ryzen 7 9850X3D with budget-friendly DDR5 memory won't compromise gaming performance.
The second-generation 3D V-Cache technology is AMD's secret weapon for the memory performance equation. According to the chipmaker's internal tests on over 30 games, the framerate difference between DDR5-4800 and DDR5-6000 was less than 1%. That means you can use a run-of-the-mill Crucial DDR5-4800 C40 32GB (2x16), the most affordable DDR5 memory kit on the market right now, for $251.92, and still enjoy exceptional gaming performance. This is welcome news for existing AM5 platform owners looking to drop in a Ryzen 7 9850X3D upgrade without replacing their current memory, and first-time builders assembling a new high-end gaming system.
While the official Ryzen 7 9850X3D launch date is still over a week away on January 29, eager enthusiasts don't have to wait to secure their chip. You can already buy it on Amazon for $499 to lock in your purchase and expect delivery in the first weeks of February, but waiting for benchmarks and real-world testing is normally advisable in this scenario.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom's Hardware. Although he loves everything that's hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
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by Lisa Stiffler on Jan 22, 2026 at 8:00 amJanuary 21, 2026 at 3:09 pm
A three-person clean energy team in Seattle is chasing China in pursuit of an increasingly popular alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries. Emerald Battery Labs, a startup working out of the University of Washington, recently raised just under $1.1 million in a pre-seed round to continue scaling its sodium-ion battery technology.
The burgeoning energy storage option avoids the use of lithium, which is highly sought, difficult to extract and has limited U.S. production. Sodium, by comparison, is much cheaper and comes from the same element that's in table salt. The sodium-ion batteries also last longer and present fewer fire concerns.
Battery demand is rising rapidly as these systems pair with renewable, intermittent sources like sun and wind; enhance hydro dam capacity; provide backup power for data centers; power drones and defense devices; and work with EV charging stations to reduce grid strain during peak demand.
“As battery chemistries evolve, as technology evolves, people are going to find new ways to use energy storage technology,” said David Bell, Emerald's co-founder and chief product officer.
A recent Sightline Climate survey of investors and entrepreneurs in climate tech selected sodium-ion batteries as a top-pick for a 2026 breakthrough technology, coming in just behind the use of AI for clean tech materials discovery.
But there's already a clear leader in the space.
“China, with its powerful EV industry, has led the early push” into sodium-powered batteries, according to MIT Technology Review.
Chinese auto and battery makers Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, and BYD are in hot pursuit of the technology, MIT reports. CATL claims to have a sodium-ion battery line operating at scale, while BYD is building its own massive production facility.
U.S. competitors include Peak Energy, Nanode Battery Technologies and Unigrid.
While this alternative chemistry offers numerous benefits, there's an important trade off: it's less energy dense — meaning sodium-ion batteries need to be larger than competing technologies to deliver the same amount of power.
Emerald is operating out of the UW's CoMotion Labs and using the university's Clean Energy Testbeds for fabrication work. The startup is scaling production and looking for partners to pilot test its products.
It plans to hire additional employees in the coming year. Emerald's investors include Seattle-based E8, a network of angel investors that backs clean-tech companies; network members who directly invested; and an undisclosed family venture office.
Emerald's founders bring deep battery experience:
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AI Mode, Google's conversational Search feature for complex questions, is getting more personalized. The tech giant announced on Thursday that it's bringing “Personal Intelligence” to AI Mode, enabling it to tap into your Gmail and Google Photos to provide more individualized responses.
The company debuted Personal Intelligence last week in the Gemini app to allow the AI assistant to tailor its responses by connecting across your Google ecosystem, starting with Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube history.
The opt-in feature is now starting to roll out to AI Mode to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in English in the U.S.
By bringing Personal Intelligence to Gemini and AI Mode, Google is leveraging the wealth of user data already within its ecosystem. Since users already rely on services like Gmail and Photos, Google can deliver more personalized experiences that rivals can't easily match. Of course, not everyone wants AI looking at their photos and emails, so you can turn Personal Intelligence on or off at any time.
“With Personal Intelligence, recommendations don't just match your interests — they fit seamlessly into your life,” Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search, explained in a blog post. “You don't have to constantly explain your preferences or existing plans, it selects recommendations just for you, right from the start.”
Say you're planning a vacation and searching for things to do and places to eat that everyone in your family will enjoy. With Personal Intelligence, AI Mode can draw on your hotel booking in Gmail and past travel memories in Google Photos to suggest a tailored itinerary with something for everyone. For example, you might see recommendations like an old-timey ice cream parlor based on the many ice cream selfies stored in Google Photos.
Google notes that AI Mode won't just give you a generic list of restaurants and activities; it instead provides a personalized starting point for planning.
“Personal Intelligence can also be particularly helpful for shopping, because AI Mode considers the types of items you buy and where you shop,” Stein wrote. “If you need a new coat for your upcoming trip, AI Mode could automatically take into account the brands you prefer, as well as your flight confirmation in Gmail to identify the destination and timing (Chicago in March). You'll get suggestions for windproof, versatile coats that fit the weather and your preferred look. It's like a personal shopper who already knows your itinerary and the vibe you're going for.”
Google says other questions you could ask are: “Make a scavenger hunt for [partner's name] to celebrate our anniversary. For each location, include a hint about us,” or “I'm decorating [child's name ]'s bedroom, give me ideas for a theme and suggestions for decor.”
The company notes that AI Mode doesn't train directly on your Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. Instead, it trains on specific prompts and the model's responses.
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Clothing and fitness data company Under Armour said it is investigating claims of a data breach after a cybercriminal posted millions of customer records to a hacker forum.
The seller told TechCrunch that the data was taken in a November data breach, which the Everest ransomware gang claimed responsibility for in a post on its dark web leak site at the time.
News of the data theft became more widely known this week after breach notification site Have I Been Pwned obtained a copy of the stolen data, and notified 72 million individuals by email that their information had been compromised.
Have I Been Pwned said the stolen Under Armour dataset included names, email addresses, genders, dates of birth, and customers' approximate location based on postcode or ZIP code. The data also included information relating to purchases.
The seller provided TechCrunch with a sample of the stolen data, which appears to contain millions of records of Under Armour customer purchases and matched the types of data that Have I Been Pwned had reported. The stolen data contains reams of email addresses belonging to Under Armour employees.
When reached for comment, Under Armour spokesperson Matt Dornic told TechCrunch that the company is “aware of claims that an unauthorized third party obtained certain data.”
“Our investigation of this issue, with the assistance of external cybersecurity experts, is ongoing. Importantly, at this time, there's no evidence to suggest this issue affected UA.com or systems used to process payments or store customer passwords,” the spokesperson added.
“What we know at this time is the number of affected customers with any sort of information that could be considered sensitive is a very small percentage,” said Dornic.
The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a follow-up email asking what types of customers' information Under Armour considers “sensitive” information, nor did he provide an accurate figure of how many customers are affected by the breach.
“Any implication that sensitive personal information of tens of millions of customers has been compromised is unfounded,” the spokesperson said.
Under Armour did not say if it planned to notify customers whose information was compromised. It did not say if it had received any correspondence from the hackers, such as a demand for ransom.
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Twenty years ago, a Duke University professor, David R. Smith, used artificial composite materials called “metamaterials” to make a real-life invisibility cloak. While this cloak didn't really work like Harry Potter's, exhibiting limited ability to conceal objects from the light of a single microwave length, those advances in material science did eventually trickle down to electromagnetism research.
Today, Austin-based Neurophos, a photonics startup spun out of Duke University and Metacept (an incubator run by Smith), is taking that research further to solve what may be the biggest problem facing AI labs and hyperscalers: how to scale computing power while keeping power consumption in check.
The startup has come up with a “metasurface modulator” with optical properties that enable it to serve as a tensor core processor for doing matrix vector multiplication — math that is at the heart of a lot of AI work (particularly inferencing), currently performed by specialized GPUs and TPUs that use traditional silicon gates and transistors. By fitting thousands of these modulators on a chip, Neurophos claims, its “optical processing unit” is significantly faster than the silicon GPUs currently used en masse at AI data centers, and far more efficient at inferencing (running trained models), which can be a fairly expensive task.
To fund the development of its chips, Neurophos has just raised $110 million in a Series A round led by Gates Frontier (Bill Gates' venture firm), with participation from Microsoft's M12, Carbon Direct, Aramco Ventures, Bosch Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, Space Capital, and others.
Now, photonic chips are nothing new. In theory, photonic chips offer higher performance than traditional silicon because light produces less heat than electricity, it can travel faster, and is far less susceptible to changes in temperature and electromagnetic fields.
But optical components tend to be much larger than their silicon counterparts, and can be difficult to mass-produce. And they also need converters to transform data from digital to analog and back, which can be large and take up a lot of power.
Neurophos, however, posits that the metasurface it has developed can solve all of those problems in one swoop because it is about “10,000 times” smaller than traditional optical transistors. The small size, the startup claims, enables it to fit thousands of units on a chip, which results in far more efficiency than traditional silicon because the chip can do many more calculations at once.
“When you shrink the optical transistor, you can do way more math in the optics domain before you have to do that conversion back to the electronics domain,” Dr. Patrick Bowen, CEO and co-founder of Neurophos, told TechCrunch. “If you want to go fast, you have to solve the energy efficiency problem first. Because if you're going to take a chip and make it 100 times faster, it burns 100 times more power. So you get the privilege of going fast after you solve the energy efficiency problem.”
The result, Neurophos claims, is an optical processing unit that can wildly outperform Nvidia's B200 AI GPU. The startup says its chip can run at 56 GHz, yielding a peak 235 Peta Operations per Second (POPS) and consuming 675 watts, compared to the B200, which can deliver 9 POPS at 1,000 watts.
Bowen says Neurophos has already signed multiple customers (though he declined to name any), and companies including Microsoft are “looking very closely” at the startup's products.
Still, the startup is entering a crowded market that's dominated by Nvidia, the world's most valuable public company, whose products have more or less underpinned the entire AI boom. There are also other companies working on photonics, though some, like Lightmatter, have pivoted to focusing on interconnects. And Neurophos is still a few years away from production, expecting its first chips to hit the market by mid-2028.
But Bowen is confident the performance and efficiency advances provided by its metasurface modulators will prove a sufficient moat.
“What everyone else is doing is, and this includes Nvidia, in terms of the fundamental physics of the silicon, it's really evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and it's tied to the progress of TSMC. If you look at the improvement of TSMC nodes, on average, they improve in energy efficiency about 15%, and that takes a couple years,” he said.
“Even if we chart out Nvidia's improvement in architecture over the years, by the time we come out in 2028, we still have massive advantages over everyone else in the market because we're starting with a 50x over Blackwell in both energy efficiency and raw speed.”
And to address the mass-manufacturing issues optical chips have traditionally faced, Neurophos says its chips can be made with standard silicon foundry materials, tools, and processes.
The fresh funding will be used for the development of the company's first integrated photonic compute system, including data center-ready OPU modules, a full software stack, and early-access developer hardware. The company is also opening a San Francisco engineering site and expanding its HQ in Austin, Texas.
“Modern AI inference demands monumental amounts of power and compute,” Dr. Marc Tremblay, corporate vice president and technical fellow of core AI infrastructure at Microsoft, said in a statement. “We need a breakthrough in compute on par with the leaps we've seen in AI models themselves, which is what Neurophos' technology and high-talent density team is developing.”
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Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it's not the 5%)
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The rise of ‘micro' apps: non-developers are writing apps instead of buying them
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If you're a Star Wars fan looking to bring a piece of the galaxy far, far away home, LEGO's Star Wars collection has plenty to love and explore. It features a range of building sets (starships, vehicles, locations), minifigures, and more for those who want to recreate the iconic moments, while also appreciating the finer details.
These sets usually start at around $50 and go past $100 for larger builds. If you're shopping for one today, you're in luck because Amazon has dropped the price of the 25th Anniversary Edition Millennium Falcon set by 20%. It's currently priced at $68, down from $85. This is the lowest we have seen it drop in a long while, but as you'd expect, the offer is only around for a short time. Grab it before it's too late!
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This set is part of a collectible series featuring mid-scale buildable models of iconic Star Wars starships, and comes together in 921 pieces. It's not going to be one of those quick projects you can finish in a few hours, but it's also not so overwhelming that it requires a full week of attention. It can be a fun weekend project where you rewatch a favorite movie from the series while building the ship.
Attention to detail here is seriously impressive. You'll build the cockpit, big rear engine, cannons, and even the satellite dish. It also includes a LEGO Star Wars 25th anniversary brick to celebrate the event. Once complete, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy measures over 5 in. (13 cm) high, 9.5 in. (24 cm) long and 7.5 in. (19 cm) wide. It's designed to be displayed at a dynamic angle, as if it's in flight during a battle, or just carrying Luke Skywalker across the galaxy. Place it in your living room, or your office – it's going to turn heads regardless.
The set comes with a detailed instruction manual that takes you through each step of the building process. It's quite easy to follow for fans of all ages, but if you need more assistance, you can download the LEGO Builder app. The latter offers 3D instructions where you can zoom in on each step from every angle. You can also save progress and build with friends on the app. On a regular day, this LEGO set will cost you around $85, but you can now grab it for $68 at Amazon. That said, now is a great time to grab some other sets from the range to create a fuller, more complete setup, as we're spotting quite a few other options going for less, too.
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Ban shipments of H200 and MI325X to China, say U.S. lawmakers.
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Legislators from the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee this week advanced the AI Overwatch Act, originally introduced in December, which would give ultimate control over the exports of high-performance data center-grade AI processors to adversary nations to Congress. As reported by Reuters, the bill advanced after the White House introduced its new export rules for fairly advanced AI GPUs from AMD and Nvidia to China, along with a mechanism to get a 25% fee from the exporters.
The AI Overwatch Act belongs to the same legislative family as the SAFE Chips Act introduced in early December, designed to curb shipments of advanced AI processors to adversary nations, such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, but it does so in a different way. The new bill codifies existing performance limitations that allow AMD and Nvidia to ship their H20 and MI308 processors to entities in adversary nations that are not specifically blacklisted by the U.S. government without an export license from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. However, everything that offers higher performance would not only be subjected to export controls by the DoC but would also require approvals from Congress, which would have veto power, under the new proposals.
Essentially, if the bill becomes the law, then the U.S. Congress will be able to ban sales of AMD's Instinct MI325X and Nvidia's H200 processors to any Chinese customer, even if the executive branch explicitly allowed them. In addition, if passed, the legislation will terminate existing licenses, impose a temporary blanket denial until a new national security strategy is submitted, and subject any future approvals to 30-day congressional review.
One interesting thing that the bill introduces is that under the AI Overwatch Act, a trusted U.S. person may deploy and operate advanced, otherwise restricted AI GPUs abroad without certain export licenses, provided the hardware remains under U.S. ownership and control, is not placed in a country of concern, and meets strict security, ownership, and audit requirements. In effect, the framework allows the U.S. to export AI capability as a service to allies and partners while keeping physical control of the most powerful processors in American ownership.
For now, AMD, Nvidia, and others can sell high-end AI accelerators and servers to all countries except countries of concern without any restrictions. That is set to continue with the AI Overwatch. However, the trusted U.S. person framework is meant to governs ongoing control of AI compute beyond a one-time legal sale. If the bill becomes the law, it will ensure that even when allies access top-tier AI capability, ownership, oversight, and strategic leverage remain permanently with the United States.
"Companies like Nvidia are requesting to sell millions of advanced AI chips, which are the cutting edge of warfare, to Chinese military companies like Alibaba and Tencent," said Brian Mast, the chair the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee These are the same companies that work to spy against the United States of America, companies that the Chinese Communist Party uses to try and defeat the United States. This bill is very simple. It keeps America's advanced AI chips out of the hands of Chinese commie spies."
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Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. The feature, which was originally tested in New Zealand, allows users to make a playlist by describing what they want to hear, in their own words.
Prompted Playlists builds on an earlier AI playlist product, launched in 2024, which allowed for simpler prompts like “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” or “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs.”
Instead, the new Prompted Playlists feature lets users explain in more detail, and in a conversational mode, what they want to hear.
In a demo to press, for example, Spotify showed off a playlist that was built on a long prompt, which read “Find me one artist I haven't listened to yet, but would probably love, or an artist I've only heard one or two songs from, and introduce me to them. Build a playlist of songs that'll give me an overview of their catalog so it feels like I'm getting to know them. Put the songs you think I'll like the most in the top five spots.”
The idea behind the new feature, explains J.J. Italiano, head of Global Music Curation and Discovery at Spotify, is to make it possible for anyone to build a playlist, even if they don't know much about music curation or the correct words to use.
“For most people, isn't a part of their job. You don't always have the time or the energy to keep building the perfect playlist every time your mood changes, and that's where prompted playlists will come in,” said Italiano, whose team makes popular Spotify playlists like Today's Top Hits, New Music Friday, and Rap Caviar, among others. “This gives listeners access to that creative process without needing to know genres, or years, or industry language. You don't need the right words. You just need your words.”
“If you can describe a feeling, you can make a playlist,” he added.
The AI behind the feature analyzes the world of music in real time, including “trends, charts, culture, and history,” Spotify says, as well as the user's entire listening history since joining the service.
While the playlists are personalized to their creator by default, users can also use the tool to help break out of their usual listening habits and get different recommendations. That is, they can specifically tell the AI not to use their own listening history as a reference point, or they can direct it to introduce them to songs they've never heard before, as in the example above.
The prompts don't have to include any musical terminology, either. For instance, users could ask for a playlist inspired by the weather or a favorite TV show.
Because the prompts are shareable, the feature could also lead to a new type of creator — one who makes AI prompts that others will want to try. While the prompt itself would be the same, each user's resulting playlist would differ, as it's personalized to their own tastes and listening history. They could then modify that playlist further, if they chose.
Spotify says Prompted Playlists are the “next evolution” of its earlier AI playlist feature. The new version is more tuned into real-time music trends and culture, understands the full arc of a user's listening behavior — not just what they've listened to recently — and offers deeper control. However, the older AI playlist feature will not be shut down. Instead, the two products will live side-by-side, which could lead to consumer confusion, given the similarities.
The feature will have some usage limits in place because it's still in beta, and those could change over time. It's also only available in the English language for the time being.
The company couldn't say when Prompted Playlists would reach global subscribers, noting that it first wants to learn from these initial markets to inform future launches.
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Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. The feature, which was originally tested in New Zealand, allows users to make a playlist by describing what they want to hear, in their own words.
Prompted Playlists builds on an earlier AI playlist product, launched in 2024, which allowed for simpler prompts like “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” or “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs.”
Instead, the new Prompted Playlists feature lets users explain in more detail, and in a conversational mode, what they want to hear.
In a demo to press, for example, Spotify showed off a playlist that was built on a long prompt, which read “Find me one artist I haven't listened to yet, but would probably love, or an artist I've only heard one or two songs from, and introduce me to them. Build a playlist of songs that'll give me an overview of their catalog so it feels like I'm getting to know them. Put the songs you think I'll like the most in the top five spots.”
The idea behind the new feature, explains J.J. Italiano, head of Global Music Curation and Discovery at Spotify, is to make it possible for anyone to build a playlist, even if they don't know much about music curation or the correct words to use.
“For most people, isn't a part of their job. You don't always have the time or the energy to keep building the perfect playlist every time your mood changes, and that's where prompted playlists will come in,” said Italiano, whose team makes popular Spotify playlists like Today's Top Hits, New Music Friday, and Rap Caviar, among others. “This gives listeners access to that creative process without needing to know genres, or years, or industry language. You don't need the right words. You just need your words.”
“If you can describe a feeling, you can make a playlist,” he added.
The AI behind the feature analyzes the world of music in real time, including “trends, charts, culture, and history,” Spotify says, as well as the user's entire listening history since joining the service.
While the playlists are personalized to their creator by default, users can also use the tool to help break out of their usual listening habits and get different recommendations. That is, they can specifically tell the AI not to use their own listening history as a reference point, or they can direct it to introduce them to songs they've never heard before, as in the example above.
The prompts don't have to include any musical terminology, either. For instance, users could ask for a playlist inspired by the weather or a favorite TV show.
Because the prompts are shareable, the feature could also lead to a new type of creator — one who makes AI prompts that others will want to try. While the prompt itself would be the same, each user's resulting playlist would differ, as it's personalized to their own tastes and listening history. They could then modify that playlist further, if they chose.
Spotify says Prompted Playlists are the “next evolution” of its earlier AI playlist feature. The new version is more tuned into real-time music trends and culture, understands the full arc of a user's listening behavior — not just what they've listened to recently — and offers deeper control. However, the older AI playlist feature will not be shut down. Instead, the two products will live side-by-side, which could lead to consumer confusion, given the similarities.
The feature will have some usage limits in place because it's still in beta, and those could change over time. It's also only available in the English language for the time being.
The company couldn't say when Prompted Playlists would reach global subscribers, noting that it first wants to learn from these initial markets to inform future launches.
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Consumer News Editor
Plan ahead for the 2026 StrictlyVC events. Hear straight-from-the-source candid insights in on-stage fireside sessions and meet the builders and backers shaping the industry. Join the waitlist to get first access to the lowest-priced tickets and important updates.
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SpaceX didn't properly inspect crane before collapse at Starbase, OSHA says
Well, there goes the metaverse!
Sequoia to invest in Anthropic, breaking VC taboo on backing rivals: FT
Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it's not the 5%)
AI cloud startup Runpod hits $120M in ARR — and it started with a Reddit post
The rise of ‘micro' apps: non-developers are writing apps instead of buying them
© 2025 TechCrunch Media LLC.
I shared a recording of audio I generated with that here: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/22/qwen3-tts/
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I presume this is due to using the base model, and not the one tuned for more expressiveness.edit: Or more likely, the demo not exposing the expressiveness controls.The 1.7B model was much better at ignoring slight background noise in the reference audio compared to the 0.6B model though. The 0.6B would inject some of that into the generated audio, whereas the 1.7B model would not.Also, without FlashAttention it was dog slow on my 5090, running at 0.3X realtime with just 30% GPU usage. Though I guess that's to be expected. No significant difference in generation speed between the two models.Overall though, I'm quite impressed. I haven't checked out all the recent TTS models, but a fair number, and this one is certainly one of the better ones in terms of voice cloning quality I've heard.
edit: Or more likely, the demo not exposing the expressiveness controls.The 1.7B model was much better at ignoring slight background noise in the reference audio compared to the 0.6B model though. The 0.6B would inject some of that into the generated audio, whereas the 1.7B model would not.Also, without FlashAttention it was dog slow on my 5090, running at 0.3X realtime with just 30% GPU usage. Though I guess that's to be expected. No significant difference in generation speed between the two models.Overall though, I'm quite impressed. I haven't checked out all the recent TTS models, but a fair number, and this one is certainly one of the better ones in terms of voice cloning quality I've heard.
The 1.7B model was much better at ignoring slight background noise in the reference audio compared to the 0.6B model though. The 0.6B would inject some of that into the generated audio, whereas the 1.7B model would not.Also, without FlashAttention it was dog slow on my 5090, running at 0.3X realtime with just 30% GPU usage. Though I guess that's to be expected. No significant difference in generation speed between the two models.Overall though, I'm quite impressed. I haven't checked out all the recent TTS models, but a fair number, and this one is certainly one of the better ones in terms of voice cloning quality I've heard.
Also, without FlashAttention it was dog slow on my 5090, running at 0.3X realtime with just 30% GPU usage. Though I guess that's to be expected. No significant difference in generation speed between the two models.Overall though, I'm quite impressed. I haven't checked out all the recent TTS models, but a fair number, and this one is certainly one of the better ones in terms of voice cloning quality I've heard.
Overall though, I'm quite impressed. I haven't checked out all the recent TTS models, but a fair number, and this one is certainly one of the better ones in terms of voice cloning quality I've heard.
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There are far more good and interesting use cases for this technology. Games will let users clone their voices and create virtual avatars and heroes. People will have access to creative tools that let them make movies and shows with their likeness. People that couldn't sing will make music.Nothing was more scary than the invention of the nuclear weapon. And we're all still here.Life will go on. And there will be incredible benefits that come out of this.
Nothing was more scary than the invention of the nuclear weapon. And we're all still here.Life will go on. And there will be incredible benefits that come out of this.
Life will go on. And there will be incredible benefits that come out of this.
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That said, I am likewise looking forward to the cool things to come out of this.
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I was with you, untilBut, yeah. Life will go on.
But, yeah. Life will go on.
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I'm a filmmaker. I've done it photons-on-glass production for fifteen years. Meisner trained, have performed every role from cast to crew. I'm elated that these tools are going to enable me to do more with a smaller budget. To have more autonomy and creative control.
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What am I doing wrong?
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Using speaker Ryan seems to be the most consistent, I tried speaker Eric and it sounded like someone putting on a fake exaggerated Chinese accent to mock speakers.If it wasn't for the unpredictable level of emotions from each chunk, I'd say this is easily the highest quality TTS model I've tried.
If it wasn't for the unpredictable level of emotions from each chunk, I'd say this is easily the highest quality TTS model I've tried.
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Now, maybe the results were cherrypicked. i know everyone else who has released one of these cherrypicks which to publish. However, this is the first time i've considered it plausible to use AI TTS to remaster old radioplays and the like, where a section of audio is unintelligible but can be deduced from context, like a tape glitch where someone says "HEY [...]LAR!" and it's an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar...I have dozens of hours of audio of like Bob Bailey and people of that era.
I have dozens of hours of audio of like Bob Bailey and people of that era.
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Although I like the model, I don't like the leadership of that company and how close it is, how divisive they're in terms of politics.
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I still have a small Claude account to do some code reviews. Opus 4.5 does good reviews but at this point GLM 4.7 usually can do the same code reviews.If cost is an issue (for me it is, I pay out of pocket) go with GLM 4.7
If cost is an issue (for me it is, I pay out of pocket) go with GLM 4.7
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China would need an architectural breakthrough to leap American labs given the huge compute disparity.
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A financial jackknifing of the AI industry seems to be one very plausible outcome as these promises/expectations of the AI companies starts meeting reality.
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1. Chinese researcher in China, to be more specific.
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What do you mean by this?
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-20/anthropic...
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And that's the rub.Many of us are not.
Many of us are not.
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I prefer to have more open models. On the other hand China closes up their open models once they start to show a competitive edge.
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Being critical of favorable actions towards a rival country shouldn't be divisive, and if it is, well, I don't think the problem is in the criticism.Also the link doesn't mention open source? From a google search, he doesn't seem to care much for it.
Also the link doesn't mention open source? From a google search, he doesn't seem to care much for it.
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Have you tested alternatives? I grabbed Open Code and a Minimax m2.1 subscription, even just the 10usd/mo one to test with.Result? We designed a spec for a slight variation of a tool for which I wrote a spec with Claude - same problem (process supervisor tool), from scratch.Honestly, it worked great, I have played a little further with generating code (this time golang), again, I am happy.Beyond that, Glm4.7 should also be great.See https://dev.to/kilocode/open-weight-models-are-getting-serio...It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
Result? We designed a spec for a slight variation of a tool for which I wrote a spec with Claude - same problem (process supervisor tool), from scratch.Honestly, it worked great, I have played a little further with generating code (this time golang), again, I am happy.Beyond that, Glm4.7 should also be great.See https://dev.to/kilocode/open-weight-models-are-getting-serio...It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
Honestly, it worked great, I have played a little further with generating code (this time golang), again, I am happy.Beyond that, Glm4.7 should also be great.See https://dev.to/kilocode/open-weight-models-are-getting-serio...It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
Beyond that, Glm4.7 should also be great.See https://dev.to/kilocode/open-weight-models-are-getting-serio...It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
See https://dev.to/kilocode/open-weight-models-are-getting-serio...It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
It is a recent case story of vibing a smaller tool with kilo code, comparing output from minimax m2.1 and Glm4.7Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
Honestly, just give it a whirl - no need to send money to companies/nations your disagree with with.
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$20/month is a bit of an insane ask when the most valuable thing Anthropic makes is the free Claude Code CLI.
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I spent 20 minutes yesterday trying to get GLM 4.7 to understand that a simple modal on a web page (vanilla JS and HTML!) wasn't displaying when a certain button was clicked. I hooked it up to Chrome MCP in Open Code as well.It constantly told me that it fixed the problem. In frustration, I opened Claude Code and just typed "Why won't the button with ID 'edit' work???!"It fixed the problem in one shot. This isn't even a hard problem (and I could have just fixed it myself but I guess sunk cost fallacy).
It constantly told me that it fixed the problem. In frustration, I opened Claude Code and just typed "Why won't the button with ID 'edit' work???!"It fixed the problem in one shot. This isn't even a hard problem (and I could have just fixed it myself but I guess sunk cost fallacy).
It fixed the problem in one shot. This isn't even a hard problem (and I could have just fixed it myself but I guess sunk cost fallacy).
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My experience is that all of the models seem to do a decent job of writing a whole application from scratch, up to a certain point of complexity. But as soon as you ask them for non-trivial modifications and bugfixes, they _usually_ go deep into rationalized rabbit holes into nowhere.I burned through a lot of credits to try them all and Gemini tended to work the best for the things I was doing. But as always, YMMV.
I burned through a lot of credits to try them all and Gemini tended to work the best for the things I was doing. But as always, YMMV.
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That evening, for kicks, I brought the problem to GLM 4.7 Flash (Flash!) and it one-shot the right solution.It's not apples to apples, because when it comes down to it LLMs are statistical token extruders, and it's a lot easier to extrude the likely tokens from an isolated query than from a whole workspace that's already been messed up somewhat by said LLM. That, and data is not the plural of anecdote. But still, I'm easily amused, and this amused me. (I haven't otherwise pushed GLM 4.7 much and I don't have a strong opinion about about it.)But seriously, given the consistent pattern of knitting ever larger carpets to sweep errors under that Claude seems to exhibit over and over instead of identifying and addressing root causes, I'm curious what the codebases of people who use it a lot look like.
It's not apples to apples, because when it comes down to it LLMs are statistical token extruders, and it's a lot easier to extrude the likely tokens from an isolated query than from a whole workspace that's already been messed up somewhat by said LLM. That, and data is not the plural of anecdote. But still, I'm easily amused, and this amused me. (I haven't otherwise pushed GLM 4.7 much and I don't have a strong opinion about about it.)But seriously, given the consistent pattern of knitting ever larger carpets to sweep errors under that Claude seems to exhibit over and over instead of identifying and addressing root causes, I'm curious what the codebases of people who use it a lot look like.
But seriously, given the consistent pattern of knitting ever larger carpets to sweep errors under that Claude seems to exhibit over and over instead of identifying and addressing root causes, I'm curious what the codebases of people who use it a lot look like.
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I use Opus 4.5 for planning, when I reach my usage limits fallback to GLM 4.7 only for implementing the plan, it still struggles, even though I configure GLM 4.7 as both smaller model and heavier model in claude code
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Parakeet is pretty good, but there are times it struggles. Would be interesting to see how Qwen compares once Handy has it in.
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And if you ask me, I think these models were trained on tween fiction podcasts. (My kids listen to a lot of these and dramatic over-acting seems to be the industry standard.)Also, their middle-aged adult with an "American English" accent sounds like any American I've ever met. More like a bad Sean Connery impersonator.
Also, their middle-aged adult with an "American English" accent sounds like any American I've ever met. More like a bad Sean Connery impersonator.
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100% I was thinking the same thing.
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Edit: "Cross-lingual Voice Clone" https://qwen.ai/blog?id=qwen3tts-0115#voice-clone
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Reading time 2 minutes
Anthropic's Claude is getting a new constitution. On Wednesday, the company announced that the document, which provides a “detailed description of Anthropic's vision for Claude's values and behavior,” is getting a rewrite that will introduce broad principles that the company expects its chatbot to follow rather than the more stringent set of rules that it relied on in past iterations of the document.
Anthropic's logic for the change seems sound enough. While specific rules create more reliable and predictable behavior from chatbots, it's also limiting. “We think that in order to be good actors in the world, AI models like Claude need to understand why we want them to behave in certain ways, and we need to explain this to them rather than merely specify what we want them to do,” the company explained. “If we want models to exercise good judgment across a wide range of novel situations, they need to be able to generalize—to apply broad principles rather than mechanically following specific rules.”
Fair enough—though the overview of the new constitution does feel like it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of specifics. Anthropic's four guiding principles for Claude include making sure its underlying models are “broadly safe,” “broadly ethical,” “compliant with Anthropic's guidelines,” and “genuinely helpful.” Those are…well, broad principles. The company does say that much of the consitution is dedicated to explaining these principles, and it does offer some more detail (i.e., being ethical means “being honest, acting according to good values, and avoiding actions that are inappropriate, dangerous, or harmful”), but even that feels pretty generic.
The company also said that it dedicated a section of the constitution to Claude's nature because of “our uncertainty about whether Claude might have some kind of consciousness or moral status (either now or in the future).” The company is apparently hoping that by defining this within its foundational documents, it can protect “Claude's psychological security, sense of self, and well-being.”
The change to Claude's constitution and seeming embrace of the idea that it may one day have an independent consciousness comes just a day after Anthropic CEO and founder Dario Amodeo spoke on a World Economic Forum panel titled “The Day After AGI” and suggested that AI will achieve “Nobel laureate” levels of skills across many fields by 2027.
This peeling back of the curtain as to how Claude works (or is supposed to work) is on Anthropic's own terms. The last time we got to see what was happening back there, it came from a user who managed to prompt the chatbot to produce what it called a “soul document.” That document, which was revealed in December, was not an official training document, Anthropic told Gizmodo, but was an early iteration of the constitution that the company referred to internally as its “soul.” Anthropic also said its plan was always to publish the full constitution when it was ready.
Whether Claude is ready to operate without the bumpers up is a whole other question, but it seems we're going to find out the answer one way or another.
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Congress might seek more authority over AI chips exports. MAGA can't make up its mind.
Interesting timing.
A peek inside OpenAI as it changed from do-gooder computer lab to...whatever it is now.
Don't bother trying to figure out how that makes any sense.
It's better than ChatGPT encouraging you to kill yourself, I guess.
No, there have not been any updates about what the hell it is.
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But human-AI collaboration will likely lift certain industries to new levels.
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Artificial intelligence is expected to reshape the labor market by eliminating white-collar positions that do not require a lot of creativity or experience, but at the same time increase demand for blue-collar employees like construction workers, electricians, or plumbers, as AI infrastructure requires a massive built-out, according to Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia. That build-out spans many industries, so while some roles will vanish, others will flourish, reports Bloomberg.
"This is the largest infrastructure buildout in human history that is going to create a lot of jobs," Huang said in a conversation with Laurence D. Fink, the head of BlackRock, at the World Economic Forum 2026. "We are going to have plumbers, electricians, construction and steel workers, network technicians, and people who install and fit out the equipment. In the United States we are seeing quite a significant boom in [these areas]: salaries have gone up, nearly doubled. We are talking about six-figure salaries for people who are building uh chip factories or computer factories or AI factories. We have a great shortage in that."
However, the benefits of AI-driven growth are unevenly distributed across the labor market. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei once warned that AI-enabled automation could trigger a 'white-collar bloodbath,' which could eliminate up to 50% of entry-level office jobs. He noted that Anthropic's Claude AI has become particularly great at coding tasks, which could displace junior software developers and even erode portions of more senior software engineering work.
Still, even Amodei believes the long-term gains from AI will outweigh the damage. Nonetheless, he warns that large-scale unemployment or underemployment remains a serious risk over the next five years.
By contrast, Huang argues that some professions that can greatly benefit from both AI and human touch will actually increase demand for certain specialists, which will lift certain industries to new heights.
"Ten years ago, one of the first professions that everybody thought was going to get wiped out was radiology," Huang noted. "The reason for that was that the first thing AI [gpy] superhuman in capability was computer vision, and one of the largest applications of computer vision is studying scans by radiologists. Well, 10 years later, it is true that AI has now completely permeated and diffused into every aspect of radiology. It is true that radiologists use AI to study scans. […] However, […] the number of radiologists have gone up. Is that because a lack of trust of or is that because the human interaction with the results of AI is a better outcome? […] The fact that they are able to study scans now infinitely fast allows them to spend more time with patients diagnosing their disease, interacting with the patients, interacting with other clinicians. […] As a result of that, the number of patients that the hospital can see has gone up, [driving revenues of hospitals]."
In short, while AI can be a disaster for certain industries and professions, its impact on the quality of life will likely be comparable to the impact of electricity, automobiles, computers, broadband Internet, and telecommunications, all of which created many more professions and employment opportunities than they eliminated. However, one should note that the impact of AI can be compared to the cumulative impact of the aforementioned technologies combined in a very short time, so making exact predictions here is hardly a good business.
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom's Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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Essentially a free high-end GPU.
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Following a gloomy bunch of GPU shipping stories on Reddit, we return with an extraordinarily positive tale that highlights the same system that often fails customers. One lucky customer bought an Asus ROG Astral RTX 5080 White OC on Amazon and received the GPU despite cancelling their order. Amazon then told them to keep the card and the refunded money, netting the user a free GPU worth $1,850.
The Redditor, u/spaceman293, posted in the r/ASUSROG subreddit, mentioning how they'd cancelled the Amazon order because Micro Center had the same GPU in stock. However, a few days later the RTX 5080 ended up showing up on their doorstep anyways. Once our diligent citizen informed Amazon of their mishap, the multi-trillion-dollar corporation generously told u/spaceman293 to just keep it.This win serves a stark contrast to the usual accounts we see on Reddit — most recently, someone who ordered an RTX 5080 received a relabeled RTX 5060 Ti instead. Funny enough, that case and this one are both results of the same system. Amazon is a big company with operations so sprawling that it's often not worth it for the retailer to go after smaller incidents — and sometimes, those end up favoring the customer.Delays in shipping go hand-in-hand with major vendors, so it's not strange to see a cancelled order still get delivered. By the time u/spaceman293 pulled out, there's a chance that the unit was already in the pipeline, ready to travel to its now forfeit destination. In these trying times, small victories like these are just as important to highlight as the upsetting ones.
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Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
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They have got to get those chips.
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Chinese companies are reportedly considering purchasing Nvidia's H200 AI GPUs from the black market after Beijing banned their import several days ago. According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Chinese tech companies are faced with either paying more for the GPUs that have been imported illegally into the country or settling for less powerful, domestically made chips.
According to the report, three people familiar with the matter say Chinese customs officials are holding H200 chips at the border. The report says H200 orders are purportedly "super sensitive," and that it is "unclear when authorities would approve the imports." As such, buyers are reportedly considering getting the GPUs from the black market instead because of "urgent need." According to SCMP, resellers are receiving inquiries for the H200, with bundled servers (featuring eight H200 chips) valued at 50 per cent more than their official China list price.
President Donald Trump approved the export of Nvidia's H200 GPUs in December 2025, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang saying that there is strong customer demand for the chips in China. However, Beijing held an emergency meeting soon after the announcement to discuss the purchase of these AI processors. Earlier this year, the central government instructed its tech companies to pause the purchase of the H200, with some sources suggesting that only university R&D labs could acquire them.
Beijing is facing a dilemma, as it wants to pivot its dependence on Western-made chips and achieve “silicon sovereignty” by supporting its homegrown semiconductor industry. However, it's also locked in a race with the United States for AI supremacy, and its tech companies need the latest chips they can get their hands on for training the most advanced models.
The Chinese government claims that its homegrown AI processors can now match Nvidia H20 and RTX Pro 6000D in terms of performance, which is useful for AI inferencing. However, the domestic semiconductor industry still hasn't produced a chip that can match the H200 AI GPU, much less the newer and more powerful Blackwell processors, and the upcoming Vera Rubin, which Nvidia launched at CES 2026 and is expected to arrive in the second half of the year.
Because of this, some companies are reportedly turning to the black market to acquire the most powerful GPUs outside of regular, legal channels. Despite the U.S. ban on advanced Nvidia chips, China hasn't disallowed the sales of these advanced AI GPUs until recently. Because of this, there have been reports that Chinese companies have smuggled at least a billion dollars' worth of Nvidia AI chips in 2025, with some importers flaunting the availability of Blackwell B300 well before its launch.
However, Beijing's recent command means that illicitly acquiring H200 chips has become riskier. This meant that prices for the underground H200 servers, which come with eight GPUs, are priced at around $330,000, according to SCMP — a 50% premium over the MSRP that Nvidia has set for China. Furthermore, availability is spotty due to the increased scrutiny by Chinese customs.
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At the moment, it's still uncertain whether Beijing's ban on the H200 is a permanent directive or just a temporary measure to get more out of negotiations with the U.S., especially as President Trump is set to visit Beijing in April. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is also set to visit China in late January, although it's not yet known if he will get to meet senior Chinese officials to talk about the H200 situation.
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Move over, Frore, there's a new player in town. A research team comprising boffins from the Danish Technological Institute and the Heatflow company have come up with a 3D-printed cooler that can draw a whopping 600 W off a chip fully passively, without any pumps or fans, 3D Printing Industry reports. The design is naturally aimed at datacenters first and foremost, though one can imagine a world where variations on the design could work on desktop PCs and workstations.
Should the presented figures pan out, to say this cooler is impressive is quite the understatement. The original specification set an already-ambitious target of 400 W, a figure that was exceeded by a nice, round 50%.
Other than a presumably exquisite internal layout, this heatsink doesn't seem to have any special tricks. It's a standard two-phase thermosiphon, where coolant heats up and evaporates at the bottom, and condenses into vapor at the top, coming back down via gravity alone. The part shown in the picture is the heatsink that will connect to a radiator somewhere without any moving parts needed for the heat transfer.
The cooler's dissipation ability is impressive enough, but the liquid that goes out of it is claimed to be at 60 to 80°C, making it easy to recover and use in other heating networks for a double-whammy. The report claims these figures are superior to standard datacenter cooling that whisks away heat at lower temperatures, making it harder to reuse.
Seeing as the cooler is 3D printed, it has very little material wastage for production and only employs one material, making for efficient production and easy recycling. The underlying chip temperatures should also be lower than with conventional designs, helping with their longevity — a boon for AI accelerators that tend to live fast and die young, with exceedingly high failure rates.
The project's budget is arguably even more surprising than the end results. All it seemingly took was 10 million Danish Crowns (DKK), a figure that translates to $1.56 million, or 1.34 million euros. We do hope this technology makes its way to our gaming PCs... whenever we can afford RAM again.
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Even before winning reelection, President Donald Trump and his supporters put immigration at the center of their messaging. In addition to other conspiracy theories, the right-wing went all in on the false claim that immigrants were voting illegally in large numbers. The Trump administration has since poured billions of dollars into immigration enforcement, and in March, Trump issued an executive order requiring the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that states have “access to appropriate systems for verifying the citizenship or immigration status of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered.”
In May, DHS began encouraging states to check their voter rolls against immigration data with the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, run by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). SAVE now has access to data from across the federal government, not just on immigrants but on citizens as well.
Experts have warned that using disparate sources of data—all collected for different purposes–could lead to errors, including identifying US citizens as noncitizens.
According to the plaintiffs in a new legal complaint, it appears that it's already happening.
The complaint, filed against DHS and the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the Washington, DC, District Court by the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), alleges that the new SAVE expansion has led to American citizens being kicked off state voter rolls and that the creation of what amounts to a national citizenship data bank is unconstitutional.
“Eligible US citizen voters will be wrongfully purged from voter rolls based on inaccurate data from the illegally overhauled SAVE system,” says Nikhel Sus, deputy chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is counsel for the plaintiffs in the case. DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
SAVE was created in 1986 as a way for states to check whether immigrants applying for government services were eligible to receive them, and it did not have access to information on natural-born American citizens. But as the Trump administration has sought to crack down on immigration, DHS has radically expanded the tool.
Last April, WIRED reported that SAVE was querying data from the SSA, the Internal Revenue Service, and state voter data. On May 22, DHS announced a “partnership” with the SSA and rolled out SAVE as a tool that state and local governments could use for voter verification. The goal, according to USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser, was to “identify and stop aliens from hijacking our elections.” Twenty-two states, including Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, have agreements in place to use SAVE to verify voters' citizenship by bulk-uploading information from voter rolls and personal identification information, the suit alleges. But in doing so, the complaint argues, some of these states are already disenfranchising eligible voters.
In October, Texas secretary of state Jane Nelson announced that the state had identified 2,724 “potential noncitizens” who were registered to vote. One of those, Anthony Nel, is, in fact, a US citizen. According to the complaint, SAVE identified Nel as a noncitizen “based on outdated data, leading to his voter registration being wrongfully canceled in December 2025.” In response to a request for comment, Texas assistant secretary of state for communications Alicia Pierce referred WIRED to the October press release where the state announced the findings from its use of SAVE.
“We're talking about a known error rate that will result—and already has resulted—in multiple people being kicked off the voter rolls, going into a critical election,” says John Davisson, director of litigation and senior counsel at EPIC, which is one of the plaintiffs in the case.
States are not supposed to immediately purge someone flagged by SAVE from their rolls but are supposed to reach out to the voter to confirm their status. But if voters don't receive the notice or aren't able to respond in time, their registration is at risk of being canceled. “It's a burden that lawfully registered voters shouldn't have to bear,” says Davisson.
Research has shown that instances of noncitizens voting are extremely rare. Trump and his supporters have spent years spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about the integrity of US elections, making it a focal point of the right-wing media ecosystem. “Just by identifying potential noncitizen voters through SAVE, regardless of whether they actually are noncitizens, this false narrative will be further fueled,” says Sus. “There is a broader concern about sowing distrust in the integrity of our election results.”
The complaint argues, “DHS and SSA lack any statutory or constitutional authority to transform SAVE into a national data bank to conduct citizenship checks for purposes of determining individuals' eligibility to vote in elections.” It argues that the inclusion of social security data not only introduced potential inaccuracies but effectively transformed SAVE into something else—a citizenship database.
A privacy threshold analysis (PTA) conducted by USCIS, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the plaintiffs and has been reviewed by WIRED, warns that USCIS knew that “shortfalls in data accuracy in the system could cause incomplete or false results,” even as DHS was encouraging states to use the tool. The PTA marked SAVE as “not in compliance” with privacy regulations, in part because it had not yet issued a system of records notice, the legal notice required to inform the public that social security data was being shared for immigration purposes.
The PTA, which was completed in July 2025, noted that inaccuracies in the new SAVE system could be due to a lack of electronic records, particularly from the SSA, which were “not reliably recorded pre-1981.” The PTA further notes that USCIS “is not the source agency for Social Security Administration–related information” and therefore “cannot verify accuracy” of SSA data.
“Voters are being wrongfully and illegally removed from the rolls on the basis of data that is known to be inaccurate,” says Davisson.
Leland Dudek, former acting commissioner of the SSA, says the PTA accurately reflects potential issues with social security data being used in SAVE. “Social Security numbers were never intended for this use case,” says Dudek. “The records of Social Security are for the discreet and explicit purposes of old age survivors, disability insurance, and Social Security insurance.” Social Security numbers are issued to people legally allowed to work in the US and do not change once someone naturalizes. Immigration and naturalization processes are managed by DHS, and naturalized citizens are not required to tell SSA if they naturalize, meaning SSA data may be out of date. (In March 2025, SSA suspended a program that automatically mailed Social Security cards to newly naturalized citizens and people authorized to work in the US, requiring instead that they physically appear at one of the agency's regional offices.).
Dudek says the new SAVE tool was likely not fit to be rolled out for voter identification. “It needed to be rolled out in a way that was thoughtful,” he says. “When you're targeting the most fundamental right of democracy, you have to give consideration and gather input.”
This use of social security data to create a kind of national citizenship verification system, Sus says, extends far beyond the authority of DHS. “Congress has provided no specific statutory authorization for the Department of Homeland Security to create a national citizenship data bank to look up any American's citizenship status,” Sus says. “DHS is effectively imposing a backdoor, federal documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for voters whose citizenship SAVE can't confirm. Not only will this needlessly burden the voting rights of US citizens, but it undermines Congress' choice to not adopt a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting.”
As the midterms inch closer, other government systems are being proposed to further tamp down on voting access. Congress is considering a SAVE Act that would require proof of citizenship to vote. Billionaire Elon Musk has publicly supported ending the congressional filibuster to pass an “election integrity” law. Earlier this week, a different court filing indicated that a member of the Department of Government Efficiency team at the SSA had signed a “Voter Data Agreement” with a political advocacy organization seeking to “find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain states.”
The hurdles from the SAVE program, meanwhile, are more than enough to keep voting advocates concerned. Sus worries that the SAVE program could introduce further barriers to voting in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections. “In Texas, there are primary elections coming up in March,” he says. “If a voter's registration is canceled close to that election, and they don't have time to get together the documentary proof of citizenship that is required to reinstate their registration, then they may lose the right to vote.”
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In an exclusive interview, the AI pioneer shares his plans for his new Paris-based company, AMI Labs.
Yann LeCun is a Turing Award recipient and a top AI researcher, but he has long been a contrarian figure in the tech world. He believes that the industry's current obsession with large language models is wrong-headed and will ultimately fail to solve many pressing problems.
Instead, he thinks we should be betting on world models—a different type of AI that accurately reflects the dynamics of the real world. He is also a staunch advocate for open-source AI and criticizes the closed approach of frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that he recently left Meta, where he had served as chief scientist for FAIR (Fundamental AI Research), the company's influential research lab that he founded. Meta has struggled to gain much traction with its open-source AI model Llama and has seen internal shake-ups, including the controversial acquisition of ScaleAI.
LeCun sat down with MIT Technology Review in an exclusive online interview from his Paris apartment to discuss his new venture, life after Meta, the future of artificial intelligence, and why he thinks the industry is chasing the wrong ideas.
Both the questions and answers below have been edited for clarity and brevity.
You've just announced a new company, Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI). Tell me about the big ideas behind it.
It is going to be a global company, but headquartered in Paris. You pronounce it “ami”—it means “friend” in French. I am excited. There is a very high concentration of talent in Europe, but it is not always given a proper environment to flourish. And there is certainly a huge demand from the industry and governments for a credible frontier AI company that is neither Chinese nor American. I think that is going to be to our advantage.
So an ambitious alternative to the US-China binary we currently have. What made you want to pursue that third path?
Well, there are sovereignty issues for a lot of countries, and they want some control over AI. What I'm advocating is that AI is going to become a platform, and most platforms tend to become open-source. Unfortunately, that's not really the direction the American industry is taking. Right? As the competition increases, they feel like they have to be secretive. I think that is a strategic mistake.
It's certainly true for OpenAI, which went from very open to very closed, and Anthropic has always been closed. Google was sort of a little open. And then Meta, we'll see. My sense is that it's not going in a positive direction at this moment.
Simultaneously, China has completely embraced this open approach. So all leading open-source AI platforms are Chinese, and the result is that academia and startups, outside of the US, have basically embraced Chinese models. There's nothing wrong with that—you know, Chinese models are good. Chinese engineers and scientists are great. But you know, if there is a future in which all of our information diet is being mediated by AI assistance, and the choice is either English-speaking models produced by proprietary companies always close to the US or Chinese models which may be open-source but need to be fine-tuned so that they answer questions about Tiananmen Square in 1989—you know, it's not a very pleasant and engaging future.
They [the future models] should be able to be fine-tuned by anyone and produce a very high diversity of AI assistance, with different linguistic abilities and value systems and political biases and centers of interests. You need high diversity of assistance for the same reason that you need high diversity of press.
That is certainly a compelling pitch. How are investors buying that idea so far?
They really like it. A lot of venture capitalists are very much in favor of this idea of open-source, because they know for a lot of small startups, they really rely on open-source models. They don't have the means to train their own model, and it's kind of dangerous for them strategically to embrace a proprietary model.
You recently left Meta. What's your view on the company and Mark Zuckerberg's leadership? There's a perception that Meta has fumbled its AI advantage.
I think FAIR [LeCun's lab at Meta] was extremely successful in the research part. Where Meta was less successful is in picking up on that research and pushing it into practical technology and products. Mark made some choices that he thought were the best for the company. I may not have agreed with all of them. For example, the robotics group at FAIR was let go, which I think was a strategic mistake. But I'm not the director of FAIR. People make decisions rationally, and there's no reason to be upset.
So, no bad blood? Could Meta be a future client for AMI?
Meta might be our first client! We'll see. The work we are doing is not in direct competition. Our focus on world models for the physical world is very different from their focus on generative AI and LLMs.
You were working on AI long before LLMs became a mainstream approach. But since ChatGPT broke out, LLMs have become almost synonymous with AI.
Yes, and we are going to change that. The public face of AI, perhaps, is mostly LLMs and chatbots of various types. But the latest ones of those are not pure LLMs. They are LLM plus a lot of things, like perception systems and code that solves particular problems. So we are going to see LLMs as kind of the orchestrator in systems, a little bit.
Beyond LLMs, there is a lot of AI that is behind the scenes that runs a big chunk of our society. There are assistance driving programs in a car, quick-turn MRI images, algorithms that drive social media—that's all AI.
You have been vocal in arguing that LLMs can only get us so far. Do you think LLMs are overhyped these days? Can you summarize to our readers why you believe that LLMs are not enough?
There is a sense in which they have not been overhyped, which is that they are extremely useful to a lot of people, particularly if you write text, do research, or write code. LLMs manipulate language really well. But people have had this illusion, or delusion, that it is a matter of time until we can scale them up to having human-level intelligence, and that is simply false.
The truly difficult part is understanding the real world. This is the Moravec Paradox (a phenomenon observed by the computer scientist Hans Moravec in 1988): What's easy for us, like perception and navigation, is hard for computers, and vice versa. LLMs are limited to the discrete world of text. They can't truly reason or plan, because they lack a model of the world. They can't predict the consequences of their actions. This is why we don't have a domestic robot that is as agile as a house cat, or a truly autonomous car.
We are going to have AI systems that have humanlike and human-level intelligence, but they're not going to be built on LLMs, and it's not going to happen next year or two years from now. It's going to take a while. There are major conceptual breakthroughs that have to happen before we have AI systems that have human-level intelligence. And that is what I've been working on. And this company, AMI Labs, is focusing on the next generation.
And your solution is world models and JEPA architecture (JEPA, or “joint embedding predictive architecture,” is a learning framework that trains AI models to understand the world, created by LeCun while he was at Meta). What's the elevator pitch?
The world is unpredictable. If you try to build a generative model that predicts every detail of the future, it will fail. JEPA is not generative AI. It is a system that learns to represent videos really well. The key is to learn an abstract representation of the world and make predictions in that abstract space, ignoring the details you can't predict. That's what JEPA does. It learns the underlying rules of the world from observation, like a baby learning about gravity. This is the foundation for common sense, and it's the key to building truly intelligent systems that can reason and plan in the real world. The most exciting work so far on this is coming from academia, not the big industrial labs stuck in the LLM world.
The lack of non-text data has been a problem in taking AI systems further in understanding the physical world. JEPA is trained on videos. What other kinds of data will you be using?
Our systems will be trained on video, audio, and sensor data of all kinds—not just text. We are working with various modalities, from the position of a robot arm to lidar data to audio. I'm also involved in a project using JEPA to model complex physical and clinical phenomena.
What are some of the concrete, real-world applications you envision for world models?
The applications are vast. Think about complex industrial processes where you have thousands of sensors, like in a jet engine, a steel mill, or a chemical factory. There is no technique right now to build a complete, holistic model of these systems. A world model could learn this from the sensor data and predict how the system will behave. Or think of smart glasses that can watch what you're doing, identify your actions, and then predict what you're going to do next to assist you. This is what will finally make agentic systems reliable. An agentic system that is supposed to take actions in the world cannot work reliably unless it has a world model to predict the consequences of its actions. Without it, the system will inevitably make mistakes. This is the key to unlocking everything from truly useful domestic robots to Level 5 autonomous driving.
Humanoid robots are all the rage recently, especially ones built by companies from China. What's your take?
There are all these brute-force ways to get around the limitations of learning systems, which require inordinate amounts of training data to do anything. So the secret of all the companies getting robots to do kung fu or dance is they are all planned in advance. But frankly, nobody—absolutely nobody—knows how to make those robots smart enough to be useful. Take my word for it.
You need an enormous amount of tele-operation training data for every single task, and when the environment changes a little bit, it doesn't generalize very well. What this tells us is we are missing something very big. The reason why a 17-year-old can learn to drive in 20 hours is because they already know a lot about how the world behaves. If we want a generally useful domestic robot, we need systems to have a kind of good understanding of the physical world. That's not going to happen until we have good world models and planning.
There's a growing sentiment that it's becoming harder to do foundational AI research in academia because of the massive computing resources required. Do you think the most important innovations will now come from industry?
No. LLMs are now technology development, not research. It's true that it's very difficult for academics to play an important role there because of the requirements for computation, data access, and engineering support. But it's a product now. It's not something academia should even be interested in. It's like speech recognition in the early 2010s—it was a solved problem, and the progress was in the hands of industry.
What academia should be working on is long-term objectives that go beyond the capabilities of current systems. That's why I tell people in universities: Don't work on LLMs. There is no point. You're not going to be able to rival what's going on in industry. Work on something else. Invent new techniques. The breakthroughs are not going to come from scaling up LLMs. The most exciting work on world models is coming from academia, not the big industrial labs. The whole idea of using attention circuits in neural nets came out of the University of Montreal. That research paper started the whole revolution. Now that the big companies are closing up, the breakthroughs are going to slow down. Academia needs access to computing resources, but they should be focused on the next big thing, not on refining the last one.
You wear many hats: professor, researcher, educator, public thinker … Now you just took on a new one. What is that going to look like for you?
I am going to be the executive chairman of the company, and Alex LeBrun [a former colleague from Meta AI] will be the CEO. It's going to be LeCun and LeBrun—it's nice if you pronounce it the French way.
I am going to keep my position at NYU. I teach one class per year, I have PhD students and postdocs, so I am going to be kept based in New York. But I go to Paris pretty often because of my lab.
Does that mean that you won't be very hands-on?
Well, there's two ways to be hands-on. One is to manage people day to day, and another is to actually get your hands dirty in research projects, right?
I can do management, but I don't like doing it. This is not my mission in life. It's really to make science and technology progress as far as we can, inspire other people to work on things that are interesting, and then contribute to those things. So that has been my role at Meta for the last seven years. I founded FAIR and led it for four to five years. I kind of hated being a director. I am not good at this career management thing. I'm much more visionary and a scientist.
What makes Alex LeBrun the right fit?
Alex is a serial entrepreneur; he's built three successful AI companies. The first he sold to Microsoft; the second to Facebook, where he was head of the engineering division of FAIR in Paris. He then left to create Nabla, a very successful company in the health-care space. When I offered him the chance to join me in this effort, he accepted almost immediately. He has the experience to build the company, allowing me to focus on science and technology.
You're headquartered in Paris. Where else do you plan to have offices?
We are a global company. There's going to be an office in North America.
New York, hopefully?
New York is great. That's where I am, right? And it's not Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a bit of a monoculture.
What about Asia? I'm guessing Singapore, too?
Probably, yeah. I'll let you guess.
And how are you attracting talent?
We don't have any issue recruiting. There are a lot of people in the AI research community who think the future of AI is in world models. Those people, regardless of pay package, will be motivated to come work for us because they believe in the technological future we are building. We've already recruited people from places like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and xAI.
I heard that Saining Xie, a prominent researcher from NYU and Google DeepMind, might be joining you as chief scientist. Any comments?
Saining is a brilliant researcher. I have a lot of admiration for him. I hired him twice already. I hired him at FAIR, and I convinced my colleagues at NYU that we should hire him there. Let's just say I have a lot of respect for him.
When will you be ready to share more details about AMI Labs, like financial backing or other core members?
Soon—in February, maybe. I'll let you know.
Four ways to think about this year's reckoning.
Our AI writers make their big bets for the coming year—here are five hot trends to watch.
By studying large language models as if they were living things instead of computer programs, scientists are discovering some of their secrets for the first time.
The model is built to detect when crimes are being “contemplated.”
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Glancing through the content it made me wonder if the newly launched Claude Cowork had a Show HN / Ask HN skill on launch ...
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Months ago, I didn't refrain: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44780249
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The really interesting thing is that the number of posts were growing exponentially by year, but it was only in 2025 that the probability of landing on the front page dropped meaningfully. I attributed this to macroeconomic climate, and found some (shaky) evidence of voting rings based on the topics that had a unusually high likelihood of gaining 10 points and an unusually low likelihood of reaching 100 points given that they reached 10.Analysis here if anyone is interested: https://blog.sturdystatistics.com/posts/show_hn/
Analysis here if anyone is interested: https://blog.sturdystatistics.com/posts/show_hn/
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> Nearly every AI related topic does worse once it clears the 10 point threshold than any other category. This means that either the people looking through the New and Show sections are disproportionately interested in AI. This is very possible, but from my interaction with this crowd from my posts, these users tend to be more technically minded (think DIY hardware, rather than landing-page builders).Last visual in the following section: https://blog.sturdystatistics.com/posts/show_hn/#digging-int...It's good to know that this would be helpful. My tendency would be to dig in a bit more into the individual examples that fall into this more suspicious bucket before presenting this evidence formally, but curious if you think these high level results are sufficiently helpful?
Last visual in the following section: https://blog.sturdystatistics.com/posts/show_hn/#digging-int...It's good to know that this would be helpful. My tendency would be to dig in a bit more into the individual examples that fall into this more suspicious bucket before presenting this evidence formally, but curious if you think these high level results are sufficiently helpful?
It's good to know that this would be helpful. My tendency would be to dig in a bit more into the individual examples that fall into this more suspicious bucket before presenting this evidence formally, but curious if you think these high level results are sufficiently helpful?
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I'm not even remotely equipped to judge the veracity of your work, but they are, and that you care at all is, like, 0.000001%. Take the plunge and write them a note (or simply link them your comment thread here with a one sentence FYI email!). It'll be fine :)
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There are likely to be a number of possible explanations for this that offset the lower average score. The obvious one is that the filtering effect of the front page with a higher amount of content. Perhaps we are also seeing higher standards—a project that used to take 6 weeks and a ton of conviction now wraps up in a few hours, and people are resetting their expectations.
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The submissions that actually get upvoted are indeed pretty good. I think it really is the filtering effect. Standards are whatever, since it's clear that a lot of these submissions are close to one-shot (and even when they would have required some refinement, people don't actually push a meaningful commit history) with an obnoxious LLM house style promotional README.Often the submission also comes across LLM-generated, including heavy use of Markdown formatting. It gives the impression that people learn that HN is a place to promote themselves, but don't realize how blatantly obvious it is that they didn't actually do anything significant beyond thinking of something for Claude to do[1] and don't care about learning how the site works.[1] I'm not claiming that work done with coding agents will always be blatantly obvious. I'm claiming that this is the default result for people who don't put in any effort, and lack of effort correlates with lack of understanding.
Often the submission also comes across LLM-generated, including heavy use of Markdown formatting. It gives the impression that people learn that HN is a place to promote themselves, but don't realize how blatantly obvious it is that they didn't actually do anything significant beyond thinking of something for Claude to do[1] and don't care about learning how the site works.[1] I'm not claiming that work done with coding agents will always be blatantly obvious. I'm claiming that this is the default result for people who don't put in any effort, and lack of effort correlates with lack of understanding.
[1] I'm not claiming that work done with coding agents will always be blatantly obvious. I'm claiming that this is the default result for people who don't put in any effort, and lack of effort correlates with lack of understanding.
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It's not uncommon to see people showing off their website traffic graph on Twitter after hitting HN. You can also find people asking for advice on how to use HN to market their shitty SaaS on places like reddit.Another kind of marketing you see quite often is people replying with a post that starts off reasonable, until the third paragraph where the commentator says "this is why we built blah" and makes you feel you are staring at an half eaten Apple with half a worm in it.
Another kind of marketing you see quite often is people replying with a post that starts off reasonable, until the third paragraph where the commentator says "this is why we built blah" and makes you feel you are staring at an half eaten Apple with half a worm in it.
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IMX, the people submitting LLM slop projects are also, overwhelmingly, making LLM slop Show HN posts. And come across as unlikely to change, or even recognize the faults of the slop they submit.Which is really not any different from what I've seen on Stack Overflow, or GitHub, or many other places.
Which is really not any different from what I've seen on Stack Overflow, or GitHub, or many other places.
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a. this week, someone teaching how to launch a language followed by a few tries (git repository created few hours before I saw it)b. in this thread
b. in this thread
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Thus the rise of the influencer economy. What better way is there to learn about something than from somebody you trust?
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However bad thing are or will be, trusting "influencers" is the last thing you should do.
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I'm taking a pretty broad definition of influencer. In your family, you may be an influencer if you are the one people come to with tech problems.
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Whenever I see the word "influencer," my brain automatically substitutes "unemployed."
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AI may be the largest bubble yet in history, and it has the ability to sustain itself directly via online hype-bots.tulips can't specifically target all of your replies and explain why you're a cunt and should buy more
tulips can't specifically target all of your replies and explain why you're a cunt and should buy more
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the bubble might be a thing of concern, but the phenomenon behind it is much bigger then most can comprehend. even among hackers, we see a very naive and superficial understanding. most are still thinking in the current framework of the game while the game fundamentally changed. the lemon market will persist regardless of an imminent burst!even if the average tone changes, the fabrics of this game is forever eroded. hacker news current structure makes no sense when consensus can be fabricated (automated karma farming + targeted "collective action" is cheap, people have already realized this and soon will become intolerant).
showing a project means nothing, showing the equivalent of a prompt has negative value.
people will still urge for care and passion, discovery, interesting ideas. people will urge for a way to separate a vibed nothing-project, valued at 25 Claude sonnet prompts, in response to the latest Simon wilinson new hot take in 35 minutes.
people will want a way to separate a good faith idea cultivated with passion from a "look what I did to promote myself while spending 75 cents" idea.
even if the average tone changes, the fabrics of this game is forever eroded. hacker news current structure makes no sense when consensus can be fabricated (automated karma farming + targeted "collective action" is cheap, people have already realized this and soon will become intolerant).
showing a project means nothing, showing the equivalent of a prompt has negative value.
people will still urge for care and passion, discovery, interesting ideas. people will urge for a way to separate a vibed nothing-project, valued at 25 Claude sonnet prompts, in response to the latest Simon wilinson new hot take in 35 minutes.
people will want a way to separate a good faith idea cultivated with passion from a "look what I did to promote myself while spending 75 cents" idea.
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the reason they give a badge (Claude as author) is so you can showoff on LinkedIn how you are AI first.
using AI, from the braindead normies perspective, is cool. there is an economical reason for people to allow their AI usage to be perceived.
it is the equivalent of showing your support flag and pronouns in 2020.if at any time people start using this information to filter out content, they'll hide it immediately.nobody has your satisfaction as a high priority you know
if at any time people start using this information to filter out content, they'll hide it immediately.nobody has your satisfaction as a high priority you know
nobody has your satisfaction as a high priority you know
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There was no warning / taster of this. AI just dialed up to 11 real quick.
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Seems like there should be a restriction on greenies (from posting) until they've lurked more, here.
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No project should ever be "overlooked" due to the use of AI coding tools.The only valid reason for a project failing to get solid exposure on HN is that there is not much substance to it (some combination of thought, effort, ingenuity, usefulness).
The only valid reason for a project failing to get solid exposure on HN is that there is not much substance to it (some combination of thought, effort, ingenuity, usefulness).
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Did this happen?
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Also, mods can help. They are friendly and generous. Reach out to them via email and ask them about your post. Often they have something to say and it's useful.The challenge you encountered is nothing to do with the recent spike. I've been doing Show HN for 10 years. It's always been this way. It's never "easy" to get the attention of the community. But there are some things that can help, such as the time you post.Check out these heatmaps of the average/mean post score versus hour/day of post and you can see the trends: https://hackerbook.dosaygo.com/?view=archive
The challenge you encountered is nothing to do with the recent spike. I've been doing Show HN for 10 years. It's always been this way. It's never "easy" to get the attention of the community. But there are some things that can help, such as the time you post.Check out these heatmaps of the average/mean post score versus hour/day of post and you can see the trends: https://hackerbook.dosaygo.com/?view=archive
Check out these heatmaps of the average/mean post score versus hour/day of post and you can see the trends: https://hackerbook.dosaygo.com/?view=archive
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is this a violation of rules, and you simply take attention by spamming from those who follow rules?
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How do you choose what to change? No interaction means no feedback.
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Don't overthink it. Don't get obstructed by choice.
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I mean no offense by this, but intuition literally means acquiring knowledge without an explanation. Did you mean experience or are you telling GP that you cannot explain how you do it?
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I'd posit that HN is only a good place to promote things that will interest the HN crowd. Ok, not a great insight, but I don't think dropping the submission in Show HN is the problem here.
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I used to randomly evaluate and give honest feedback on invisible projects when I had the time. Most times I was completely ignored, even when I was the only person who really cared enough to answer. Eventually, I got bored.
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I suspect for some of the non-engaging posts it's just throwing it out there, inexperience or part of the product hunt playbook
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I don't think that's right, it's visible in both places, it's not "either or". Currently /new shows 5 "Show HN"s, which are also visible on /shownew.> but I really don't see the value in using the Show HN: prefix.You get a lot more traffic over a longer period of time, but best of all, the users who engage with you are in a different mindset for the "Show HN" posts.On a normal submission, you get a whole range of top-level posts that are mostly tangible related to the topic at hand. It's basically a free-for-all, as long as it's at least a bit related to the submission's theme and topic.On "Show HN" posts you get users who view it and comment about it as a way of providing feedback what they think of the idea itself, and its implementation. Completely different mood and input, that is much more about what you're actually sharing, than a submission.That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
> but I really don't see the value in using the Show HN: prefix.You get a lot more traffic over a longer period of time, but best of all, the users who engage with you are in a different mindset for the "Show HN" posts.On a normal submission, you get a whole range of top-level posts that are mostly tangible related to the topic at hand. It's basically a free-for-all, as long as it's at least a bit related to the submission's theme and topic.On "Show HN" posts you get users who view it and comment about it as a way of providing feedback what they think of the idea itself, and its implementation. Completely different mood and input, that is much more about what you're actually sharing, than a submission.That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
You get a lot more traffic over a longer period of time, but best of all, the users who engage with you are in a different mindset for the "Show HN" posts.On a normal submission, you get a whole range of top-level posts that are mostly tangible related to the topic at hand. It's basically a free-for-all, as long as it's at least a bit related to the submission's theme and topic.On "Show HN" posts you get users who view it and comment about it as a way of providing feedback what they think of the idea itself, and its implementation. Completely different mood and input, that is much more about what you're actually sharing, than a submission.That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
On a normal submission, you get a whole range of top-level posts that are mostly tangible related to the topic at hand. It's basically a free-for-all, as long as it's at least a bit related to the submission's theme and topic.On "Show HN" posts you get users who view it and comment about it as a way of providing feedback what they think of the idea itself, and its implementation. Completely different mood and input, that is much more about what you're actually sharing, than a submission.That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
On "Show HN" posts you get users who view it and comment about it as a way of providing feedback what they think of the idea itself, and its implementation. Completely different mood and input, that is much more about what you're actually sharing, than a submission.That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
That's my experience of "Show HN" at least, YMMV.
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Yeah I corrected myself in another comment. But I find with submissions to `shownew` they don't enter `top` straight away, or at all.> You get a lot more traffic over a longer period of timeWith a regular submission, it gets on `top` for at least a short period of time as well as `new`, whereas that doesn't seem to always be the case for a Show HN. And certainly not in my case. That said, many Show HNs do make it to top with less votes than the tiny few I got organically, so maybe I tripped some HN's filters? Or maybe it was bad timing? But if I post again, it'll be without the Show HN.
> You get a lot more traffic over a longer period of timeWith a regular submission, it gets on `top` for at least a short period of time as well as `new`, whereas that doesn't seem to always be the case for a Show HN. And certainly not in my case. That said, many Show HNs do make it to top with less votes than the tiny few I got organically, so maybe I tripped some HN's filters? Or maybe it was bad timing? But if I post again, it'll be without the Show HN.
With a regular submission, it gets on `top` for at least a short period of time as well as `new`, whereas that doesn't seem to always be the case for a Show HN. And certainly not in my case. That said, many Show HNs do make it to top with less votes than the tiny few I got organically, so maybe I tripped some HN's filters? Or maybe it was bad timing? But if I post again, it'll be without the Show HN.
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I think the frontpage is both a lot harder to get into, faster to get dropped from there, but obviously also has a lot more traffic. But the traffic from Show HN frontpage seems to engage more (again probably because of the mindset) and it stays there for a lot longer.Personally, when I want feedback about the idea and implementation, I'd go for Show HN, because you're out after comments and discussions then, not just traffic and views. But if traffic/views are what you care about, regular submission would do "better".
Personally, when I want feedback about the idea and implementation, I'd go for Show HN, because you're out after comments and discussions then, not just traffic and views. But if traffic/views are what you care about, regular submission would do "better".
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Traffic and views can lead to comments and discussion. I was definitely looking for feedback. I think there's a minimum threshold of interest that's required before people start engaging. But it could also be that my submission was super boring, or there was something else off-putting about it – I'd be surprised if it was the latter, because the HN audience isn't known for holding back on criticism.
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Not that I have the answer unfortunately.
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It all depends on your goals but I've had similar thoughts and I decided I'm just making opinionated tool for myself that I'm perfectly fine with never making public. Since deciding on such path I think I actually moved closer to something that may be useful to others (but I'm still staying on that path for now).I don't know any online tool which would provide me which mine does, and frankly the reality nowadays seems that it could take me more to find one if it existed (testing along all those which does not quite fit, which I did), than creating a version custom tailored for myself. It's... interesting times.1. https://imgur.com/a/73sBI7G
I don't know any online tool which would provide me which mine does, and frankly the reality nowadays seems that it could take me more to find one if it existed (testing along all those which does not quite fit, which I did), than creating a version custom tailored for myself. It's... interesting times.1. https://imgur.com/a/73sBI7G
1. https://imgur.com/a/73sBI7G
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That is a pretty interesting point. I've been running into that problem quite often recently.
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Seeing the flood of low ambition projects led me to think about the issue. I was wondering if we needed a kind of "proof of work" to help sort the entries.
For instance counting a project number of contributors, number of commits, age of the project... Not that any of those metrics are good indicators or are hard to game, of course, but that could help triage good faith attempts from shallow LLM vomit.For the record, nobody's denying how useful LLMs are, but let's also acknowledge that they excel at things that have a lot of prior art, so by definition not really a good fit for show HN any more (in the past it may have been; But what was interresting in vibe coding has never been the end result but that it was possible at all, like a dancing bear.)
For the record, nobody's denying how useful LLMs are, but let's also acknowledge that they excel at things that have a lot of prior art, so by definition not really a good fit for show HN any more (in the past it may have been; But what was interresting in vibe coding has never been the end result but that it was possible at all, like a dancing bear.)
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Right here. The problem is right here.Unfortunately, the internet is a race to the bottom. You need to hustle (euphemism for "shamelessly spam") for attention.
Unfortunately, the internet is a race to the bottom. You need to hustle (euphemism for "shamelessly spam") for attention.
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I say this as someone who received a lot of great feedback and had some interesting interactions after posting about a project of mine using "Show HN" a few years ago. I didn't need to spam anything to get the attention, but I admit maybe I just got very lucky, or maybe there were just fewer posts to "compete" with at the time (this was before the recent write-everything-with-AI-and-launch-it-out-there craze).Finally, I'm not making any moral judgments here, and if someone feels they need to do this to get the attention they want, then who am I to tell you otherwise. But we should be aware of what we're giving up when we overall tend to behave in such a way, even if it's the inevitable outcome.
Finally, I'm not making any moral judgments here, and if someone feels they need to do this to get the attention they want, then who am I to tell you otherwise. But we should be aware of what we're giving up when we overall tend to behave in such a way, even if it's the inevitable outcome.
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why even post that?
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The fact that it's all genAI stuff puts me off, but that might not be the same for everyone.I think crucially, if I wanted to do this kind of challenge, I would have a better experience just using an LLM chat directly, like “Generate me an image, then judge my description of it in
What happens here matters everywhere
by Todd Bishop on Jan 21, 2026 at 5:49 pmJanuary 22, 2026 at 5:01 am
Bicycles for the mind. … Information at your fingertips. … Managers of infinite minds?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella riffed on some famous lines from tech leaders past this week in an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and offered up his own trippy candidate to join the canon of computing metaphors.
Nadella traced the lineage in a conversation with former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
And now? “All of us are going to be managers of infinite minds,” Nadella said. “And so if we have that as the theory, then the question is, what can we do with it?”
He was referring to AI agents — the autonomous software that can take on tasks, work through problems, and keep going while you sleep. Microsoft and others have been talking for the better part of a year now about people starting to oversee large fleets of them.
Nadella said it's already reshaping how teams are structured. At Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, the company has merged design, program management, product management, and front-end engineering into a single new role: full-stack builders. Overall, he called it the biggest structural change to software teams he's seen in a career that started at Microsoft in the 1990s.
“The jobs of the future are here,” Nadella said, putting his own spin on a famous line often attributed to sci-fi writer William Gibson. “They're just not evenly distributed.”
Nadella's comments came during a live stream for LinkedIn Premium members, hosted from Davos by LinkedIn VP and Editor in Chief Daniel Roth, after Sunak mentioned his two teenage daughters, and the world they'll enter. Young people may not manage lots of people at age 20 or 21, he said, “but they will be managing a team of agents.”
Sunak was referencing an essay by Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti in Time.
The agentic shift, Argenti wrote, requires “moving from being a sole performer to an orchestra conductor” — your team now includes AI agents that “must be guided and supervised with the same approach you would apply to a new, junior colleague.”
Nadella agreed, saying “we do need a new theory of the mind” to navigate what's coming, before he offered up his new metaphor about managing infinite minds.
In other remarks at Davos, Nadella made headlines with his warning that AI's massive energy demands risk eroding its “social permission” unless it delivers tangible benefits in health, education, and productivity. Energy costs, he added, will decide the AI race's winners, with GDP growth tied to cheap power for processing AI tokens.
Whether “infinite minds” catches on like “bicycles” and “fingertips” remains to be seen. But it's definitely more psychedelic. And if this shift is stranger than what came before, maybe we do need a mind-expanding metaphor to make sense of it all.
University of Washington scientists and students are using AI to create real medicines.
Better treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, viruses and more are now on the horizon thanks to groundbreaking work with artificial intelligence from a team of scientists at the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design. Led by Nobel Prize winner David Baker, this team of Huskies uses AI tools to create proteins — biology's building blocks — that lay the foundation for new medicines. Together, this international group of students, faculty and researchers acts as a “communal brain,” with each Husky contributing ideas and expertise from their fields. The institute's recent breakthroughs — including an antivenom for snakebites, and antibiotics that combat drug-resistant bacteria — show how this innovative science can save and change lives.
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A new medical large language model (LLM) achieved over 91 percent accuracy in identifying female participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder after analyzing a short WhatsApp audio recording where participants described their week, according to a study published January 21, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Victor H. O. Otani, from Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences and Infinity Doctors Inc., Brazil, and colleagues.
Major depressive disorder is a mental health condition that affects over 280 million people globally, and early detection can be critical for timely treatment. Here, Otani and colleagues used machine learning models to classify individuals with and without major depressive disorder based on WhatsApp voice messages.
The authors used two 2 datasets for this study, a dataset to train their LLMs (with 7 different sub-models used) and then a dataset to test their LLMs. The training dataset consisted of 86 participants: a group of outpatients (37 women, 8 men) clinically diagnosed with major depressive disorder and a control group of 41 volunteers (30 women, 11 men) with no depression diagnoses. The dataset used to test the trained models consisted of 74 participants: 33 outpatients (17 women, 16 men) diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 41 control group participants (21 women, 20 men) with no depression diagnoses. All participants were provided informed consent and screened to exclude potential confounding factors such as other medical issues. In the training dataset, outpatient speech data was taken from WhatsApp audio recordings sent to their doctor's offices when they were symptomatic; control group participants chose their own routine WhatsApp audio voice messages to share. For the test dataset, speech data taken from the outpatient group and the control group were the same: recorded WhatsApp messages counting from 1-10, as well as audio messages describing their past week. All audio messages in both datasets were from native Brazilian Portuguese speakers.
The LLMs showed greater accuracy when classifying women compared to men as depressed VS not-depressed, particularly when given the "describe your week" data, with an accuracy rate of 91.9 percent for the highest-performing model. The highest-performing model's accuracy when classifying male participants was 75 percent for the same "describe your week" audio. (This may potentially be explained by the higher number of women participants in the model training dataset, as well as differences in speech patterns between men and women.) The LLMs showed more similar performance between men and women when given the "count to 10" data, with the highest-performing model 82 percent accurate in women and 78 percent accurate in men.
The authors are hopeful that continued refinement of their models could produce a low-cost and practical way to screen individuals for depression, as well as other potential clinical/research applications.
Our study shows that subtle acoustic patterns in spontaneous WhatsApp voice messages can help identify depressive profiles with surprising accuracy using machine learning. This opens a promising path for low-burden, real-world digital screening tools that respect people's daily communication habits."
Lucas Marques, Senior Author
PLOS
Otani, V. H. O., et al. (2026) ML-based detection of depressive profile through voice analysis in WhatsApp™ audio messages of Brazilian Portuguese Speakers. PLOS Mental Health. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000357. https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000357
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Rosanna Zhang
In our latest interview, News-Medical speaks with Rosanna Zhang from ACROBiosystems about utilizing organoids for disease modeling in the field of neuroscience research.
Dr Bryony Henderson
GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment.
Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún
Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production.
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One of the world's most extensive birth cohorts is now entering later adulthood. At the University of Oulu in Finland, the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) is launching a major new follow-up combining decades of biological, social, and environmental data with modern digital health tools to examine how lifelong exposures and the genome shape health and aging.
Established in 1965–1966, NFBC1966 has followed individuals from before birth – beginning during their mothers' pregnancies – through childhood and adulthood and now into later life. This is a long-term follow-up study with exceptionally comprehensive life course data, spanning more than six decades. Few studies globally combine such long follow-up with biological samples, clinical examinations, survey data, national health registers, and now also digital health measurements.
Finland offers a uniquely valuable setting for long-term population research due to its relatively homogeneous population, comprehensive healthcare registers, and high-quality longitudinal data, enabling accurate tracking of health and social outcomes over time.
During its long history, the NFBC1966 study has demonstrated how health is shaped by a complex interplay of social, environmental, biological, and behavioural factors across the life course. Now, as participants reach 60 years of age, the study is broadening its focus on understanding aging, its early signs, and how early-life conditions predict health in later life. Approximately 9,800 cohort members (alive and living in Finland) have been invited to participate in the current follow-up.
Population aging is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century in the Western world. In Finland, the proportion of people aged over 75 is expected to double within the next 25 years, a trend mirrored across Europe and many other regions.
Professor Sylvain Sebert, Scientific Director of the NFBC1966 study, emphasizes that aging is a natural and continuous process. aging is not a disease, nor is it synonymous with decline – it does not begin at a specific age. Healthy aging, he notes, can be supported throughout life and should be understood as a fundamental human right.
By drawing on decades of cohort data, the NFBC1966 study aims to identify factors that promote resilience and reduce the risk of chronic disease. These findings can inform prevention strategies, healthcare planning, and health policy – both in Finland and internationally – such as improving early prevention of multi-morbidity, supporting functional capacity in later life, and guiding more sustainable healthcare systems.
Around the age of 60, it appears that humans are reaching a cornerstone point where many aging-related processes begin to emerge. It is essential to collect detailed information before these changes fully take hold, as many chronic conditions – such as cancers, dementia and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and kidney diseases – become more common at this stage. Studying people before these changes fully emerge is essential if we want to understand how healthy aging can be supported from both a personal and healthcare system perspective.”
Professor Sylvain Sebert, Scientific Director of the NFBC1966 study
The 2026 follow-up, part of the STAGE-project, builds on traditional clinical assessments by integrating the latest health technologies, including hip-worn activity trackers, Oura rings, mobile applications, and possible 24/7 physiological measurements. These tools enable continuous, objective monitoring of daily functioning, physical activity, sleep, and recovery – capturing aspects of health that clinical visits alone cannot.
“We are contributing to the understanding of the digital transformation of healthcare. Combining clinical visits with digital tools gives us a much fuller picture of health across the life course”, Professor Sebert says.
A key perspective is to advance the inclusive integration of digital health solutions that support health without increasing social or economic inequalities. By providing these technologies to participants, NFBC1966 offers a model for how digital tools can be integrated into healthcare systems inclusively.
As NFBC1966 enters its seventh decade, it is increasingly shaped by international and multidisciplinary collaboration. An extensive network of research groups is working with the data to study aging, genetics, metabolism, cognition, and the environmental and social determinants of health, under strict ethical and data-protection standards. The unique longitudinal design of NFBC1966 provides researchers worldwide with valuable insights into how health, aging, and their determinants evolve across the life course.
The University of Oulu
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Bedfont® Scientific Limited, a medical device manufacturer based in Kent, with over 49 years' experience in the breath analysis industry, was pleased to support its UK distributor, Intermedical UK, in supplying the 3,000th NObreath® Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) device in the UK. Intermedical UK, a trusted leader in respiratory health, has been providing cardio-respiratory diagnostic and therapy equipment for frontline care since 1997.
Livio Gagliardi, Acting Managing Director at Intermedical (UK) Ltd, said, “Reaching the 3,000th NObreath® FeNO device in the UK is a shared success that reflects the dedication of both the Intermedical and Bedfont® teams. Together, we have worked hard to deliver a clinically proven, accessible, and cost-effective FeNO solution that genuinely meets the needs of frontline healthcare. We are incredibly grateful to our customers for placing their trust in us and for recognizing the value that NObreath® brings to asthma diagnosis and ongoing management. Their commitment to improving respiratory care is what makes milestones like this possible, and we look forward to continuing this journey of innovation and impact alongside Bedfont®.”
The NObreath® FeNO device, manufactured by Bedfont®, is an innovative diagnostic tool that measures airway inflammation and helps healthcare professionals diagnose and manage asthma effectively. With over 3,000 devices now available across the UK, access to FeNO testing is improving, bringing Bedfont® closer to a world where everyone can access instant, non-invasive, and simple breath testing to support medical diagnosis. As a valued long-term distributor of the NObreath®, Intermedical UK has played a key role in expanding access to high-quality respiratory diagnostics, and the close partnership over the years has been instrumental in reaching this monumental milestone.
This milestone of 3,000 devices in UK primary care highlights just how rapidly objective asthma testing is advancing. The updated joint UK guidelines now place even greater emphasis on FeNO, echoing the global shift toward evidence-based, accessible diagnostic tools. We are committed to making this technology available everywhere it is needed, ensuring clinicians and patients around the world benefit from fast, noninvasive breath testing.”
Jason Smith, CEO, Bedfont®
Bedfont® remains committed to improving asthma care worldwide, working closely with a global network of distributors to expand access to FeNO testing and improve asthma treatment. Recent partnerships in Mexico and India are already strengthening diagnostic capabilities, enabling clinicians in these regions to integrate simple, non-invasive breath testing into routine asthma assessment.
Bedfont® Scientific Limited
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Chemotherapy commonly damages the intestinal lining, a well-known side effect. But this injury does not remain confined to the gut. It reshapes nutrient availability for intestinal bacteria, forcing the microbiota to adapt.
The researchers report that chemotherapy-induced damage to the intestinal lining alters nutrient availability for gut bacteria, reshaping the microbiota and increasing the production of indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), a tryptophan-derived microbial metabolite.
Rather than acting locally, IPA functions as a systemic messenger. It travels from the gut to the bone marrow, where it rewires immune cell production. Elevated IPA levels reprogram myelopoiesis, reducing the generation of immunosuppressive monocytes that facilitate immune evasion and metastatic growth.
We were surprised by how a side effect often seen as collateral damage of chemotherapy can trigger such a structured systemic response. By reshaping the gut microbiota, chemotherapy sets off a cascade of events that rewires immunity and makes the body less permissive to metastasis."
Ludivine Bersier, first author of the study
This immune reconfiguration enhances T-cell activity and remodels immune interactions within metastatic niches, particularly in the liver, resulting in a metastasis-refractory state in preclinical models.
Experimental findings are mirrored in patients. Clinical relevance is supported by patient data obtained in collaboration with Dr Thibaud Koessler (Geneva University Hospitals, HUG). In patients with colorectal cancer, higher circulating IPA levels following chemotherapy are associated with reduced monocyte levels, a feature of improved survival outcomes.
"This work shows that the effects of chemotherapy extend far beyond the tumor itself. By uncovering a functional axis linking the gut, the bone marrow and metastatic sites, we highlight systemic mechanisms that could be harnessed to durably limit metastatic progression." says Tatiana Petrova, corresponding author of the study.
This research was supported by multiple funders, including the Swiss National Science Foundation and Swiss Cancer League. An ISREC Foundation Tandem Grant supported close collaboration between clinical and fundamental research, led at Unil by Professor Tatiana Petrova and Dr Thibaud Koessler at HUG. The project posits that chemotherapy can induce a form of biological "memory", mediated by gut microbiome–derived metabolites that durably inhibit metastatic growth.
Together, these findings reveal a previously underappreciated gut–bone marrow–liver metastasis axis through which chemotherapy can exert durable systemic effects, opening new avenues to harness microbiota-derived metabolites as adjuvant strategies to limit metastasis.
University of Lausanne
Bersier, L., et al. (2025). Chemotherapy-driven intestinal dysbiosis and indole-3-propionic acid rewire myelopoiesis to promote a metastasis-refractory state. Nature Communications. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67169-7. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67169-7
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Overuse of antibiotics has accelerated the development of bacterial resistance to conventional drugs, a global health crisis projected to result in more than 10 million deaths annually by 2050. The multidrug-resistant bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa accounts for approximately one-fifth of hospital-acquired pneumonia cases and is associated with severe illness and increased mortality.
Nitric oxide is a therapeutic gas that researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, helped establish as a life-saving therapy for hundreds of thousands of newborns with congenital heart disease. Nearly 30 years later, investigators from the same laboratory at Mass General Brigham report that high-dose inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) demonstrates potential antimicrobial activity in preclinical models and is safe and feasible in early human studies, supporting further clinical investigation. The findings are published in Science Translational Medicine.
This study provides a translational foundation rather than a definitive clinical solution. Our findings demonstrate strong preclinical antipseudomonal effects together with reassuring human safety data."
Binglan Yu, PhD, first author, Mass General Brigham Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
"These results justify the careful design of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials to formally assess clinical efficacy," added co-first author Bijan Safaee Fakhr, MD, also of the MGB Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine.
In the study, researchers first demonstrated dose-dependent killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using nitric oxide-releasing compounds in vitro. They then showed that pigs with experimental P. aeruginosa pneumonia treated with high-dose iNO (300 parts per million) exhibited reduced bacterial burden, along with improved oxygenation and other markers of lung infection, compared with untreated animals.
To assess feasibility and safety in humans, the investigators evaluated repeated high-dose iNO exposure in 10 healthy volunteers and two critically ill patients affected by multidrug-resistant bacterial infection. The treatment was well tolerated, with no serious safety concerns observed. A retrospective analysis of patients who received high-dose iNO in clinical settings, mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic, further supported the safety profile of this approach.
"These results suggest a promising strategy that could complement existing treatments," said senior author Lorenzo Berra, MD, of the MGB Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. "However, rigorous clinical trials are essential before this approach can be considered for routine clinical use."
Mass General Brigham
Yu, B., et al. (2026) Inhaled nitric oxide at 300 ppm treats multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas pneumonia in swine and is safe in humans. Science Translational Medicine. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ady2646. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.ady2646
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A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that an enzyme involved in protein translation is essential for circulating immune cells, called monocytes, to mature into tissue-resident macrophages, a specialized population of immune cells that maintain organ health by clearing dead cells and debris. Without this enzyme, monocytes enter tissues but fail to fully differentiate, leading to impaired tissue maintenance and persistent immune cell infiltration that causes inflammation instead of repair.
The research, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health and published Jan. 21 in Nature, showed that deoxyhypusine synthase (DHPS) is required for both the differentiation and long-term survival of macrophages across multiple organs, including the lung, liver, brain, kidney, heart and peritoneal cavity.
Using a series of mouse models, the investigators, led by Erika Pearce, Ph.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Oncology and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, demonstrated that DHPS controls a core, tissue-agnostic program that enables macrophages to adhere to their local environment, interact with surrounding cells and carry out the essential functions that maintain tissue balance and organ health.
Tissue resident macrophages are critical for tissue homeostasis, such as clearing out dead cells, repairing damage and maintaining balance in organs. When these cells can't mature properly, these protective functions are lost, contributing to inflammation and disease."
Erika Pearce, Ph.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Department of Oncology and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Tissue-resident macrophages form during embryonic development and typically self-renew locally. However, during injury or cell loss, bone-marrow-derived monocytes are recruited into tissues and must differentiate into mature macrophages to restore the normal, healthy population of macrophages. The study found that when DHPS was deleted in myeloid cells, macrophages were present in tissues but lacked the defining features and functions of mature tissue-resident macrophages.
Although monocytes were able to migrate into tissues and begin the differentiation process, without DHPS, they were unable to complete the transition to fully functional tissue-resident macrophages. As a result, tissue and organs experienced an ongoing influx of immature immune cells that failed to restore normal macrophage populations.
"The monocyte migration/infiltration was persistent but, ultimately, futile," explains Gustavo Carrizo, Ph.D., a former graduate student in the Pearce lab and first author on the study. "They could enter tissues, but without DHPS they couldn't become the right kind of macrophage needed to maintain and repair those tissues."
The researchers traced these defects to the polyamine–hypusine pathway. Analyses of gene activity, protein production and protein-making machinery revealed that DHPS is required for efficient translation of a subset of genes involved in cell adhesion (the ability to stick to their surroundings and to other cells so they can stay in the correct place and function properly), signaling, and tissue interaction. Without DHPS, macrophages failed to express key proteins needed to anchor themselves within tissues and respond appropriately to local cues.
Imaging studies showed that DHPS-deficient macrophages had abnormal shape and positioning within tissues, while functional assays demonstrated defects in the clearance of dead cells and tissue maintenance. In the lung, this impairment led to accumulation of surfactant material, a substance in the lungs that keeps air sacs open, and immune cell infiltration, while in the liver, acute macrophage depletion followed by failed restoration resulted in vascular disruption and tissue damage.
"Because tissue-resident macrophages play roles in cancer, wound healing, fibrosis and inflammatory diseases, this pathway could be relevant across a wide range of diseases, as well as in aging, where inflammation and impaired tissue repair are common," says Daniel Puleston, Ph.D., assistant professor of immunology and immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a co-senior author on the paper.
Together, the findings identify DHPS as a central, cell-intrinsic regulator of macrophage maturation that operates independently of tissue type. By linking metabolic control of protein translation to immune cell differentiation and tissue stability, the study provides a unifying mechanism for how monocytes become long-living, functional tissue-resident macrophages.
The authors note that understanding this pathway has implications for aging, inflammatory disease and therapies that aim to target macrophages across tissues, where restoring or modulating macrophage function could influence long-term tissue health. Next steps, they say, will focus on identifying the full set of DHPS-dependent proteins and determining how this pathway influences macrophage behavior in specific diseases, where promoting tissue repair or limiting inflammation may require different therapies.
"This is a very fundamental pathway for these cells," Pearce says. "Understanding when and where macrophages depend on this process, and when it might be beneficial to enhance or inhibit, is an important next step."
In addition to Carrizo, Puleston and Pearce, other researchers participating in the study are Pianpian Lin, Seung Hyun Lee, Kevin Shenderov, Camille Blerlot, Minsun Cha, Lena Schimmelpfennig, Zhen Shen, Nikki van Teijlingen Bakker, Katarzyna Grzes, Beth Kelly, Niloufar Safinia, Kate Schole, Yaarub Musa, Gerhard Mittler, Yoh Zen, Edward Pearce, Florent Ginhoux and David Sanin.
The research was supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the National Institutes of Health grants AI170599 and AI177282.
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Carrizo, G. E., et al. (2026). The transition from monocyte to tissue-resident macrophage requires DHPS. Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09972-2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09972-2
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Having an ischemic stroke during pregnancy or three months after pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack or second stroke, heart disease and depression later in life. The new study is published on January 21, 2026, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke. It occurs when a clot or blockage reduces blood flow to the brain, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients.
The study also found that female participants who had a stroke during pregnancy or postpartum were less likely to be employed and more likely to be retired at the end of the study compared to those who did not have a stroke.
The study does not prove that stroke causes these health and employment effects. It only shows associations.
Having a stroke during pregnancy or postpartum is rare but several studies have shown it is on the rise. Our study sought to better understand what happens to women after a stroke during pregnancy and postpartum and found an increased risk of cardiac diseases and depression, as well as lower odds of being employed later."
Anna Richardt, MD, study author, University of Helsinki, Finland
For the study, researchers identified 97 female participants in Finnish health care registries who had an ischemic stroke during pregnancy or postpartum, up to three months after pregnancy. They were matched to 280 female participants who did not have a stroke.
Researchers tracked the health of each person through registries and medical records for an average of 12 years, noting which participants later had cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke and heart disease or depression.
Of participants with an initial stroke, 6% had a second stroke and 7% had a major cardiovascular event like heart attack compared to 0% of those who were stroke free at the start of the study.
Researchers also found among participants with stroke, 9% had cardiac disease, including atrial fibrillation or congestive heart failure, compared to 1% of those who did not have stroke. After adjusting for age, participants with stroke had a nearly nine times greater odds of having cardiac disease.
Of participants with stroke, 19% had depression compared to 6% of those without stroke. After adjusting for age, those with stroke had nearly four times greater odds of having depression.
Researchers also reviewed employment statistics. Of participants with stroke, 71% were employed two years prior to their stroke compared to 76% of those without stroke. By the end of the study, 66% of those with stroke were employed compared to 78% of those without stroke. After adjusting for age, researchers found that participants with stroke had 45% lower odds of being employed and nearly five times greater odds of being retired at the end of the study compared to those without stroke.
"Of those with stroke, 92% had good functional outcomes, meaning they had either completely recovered or could manage most daily activities by the end of the study," said Richardt. "Still, more than one-third of those with stroke were out of work at the end of the study. Our findings highlight the need for adequate stroke prevention, monitoring and rehabilitation to improve the long-term health for those who have stroke during pregnancy."
A limitation of the study was the small number of participants with stroke since stroke during pregnancy is rare.
The study was supported by the Finnish government and Helsinki University Hospital.
American Academy of Neurology
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Amid a surprisingly severe flu season and a Covid-19 resurgence, those highly contagious respiratory illnesses are drawing the largest share of media coverage and public attention. But it is also the season for another respiratory illness, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV, and RSV cases are "elevated in many areas of the country," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
RSV data for the week of Jan. 5, 2026, show an increase both in emergency department visits and hospital admissions for children up to age four, according to CIDRAP, the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, at the University of Minnesota. And the Pan American Health Organization issued a Jan. 10 epidemiological alert warning RSV activity "is showing a gradual upward trend," which, combined with flu cases, "could further strain health systems."
RSV, a common respiratory illness, usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but is the leading cause of hospitalization among infants in the United States. Most RSV infections go away on their own, but RSV can be severe, especially for babies, young children, and older adults. The CDC estimates that more than 100,000 older Americans are hospitalized annually with RSV, as well as 58,000 or more infants and young children.
In mid-2023, U.S. health authorities approved two types of immunizations for RSV – vaccines for older adults and for pregnant people to protect their newborns; and a monoclonal antibody injection for newborns and infants.
In a nationally representative panel survey conducted Nov. 17-Dec. 1, 2025, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania found an increase in awareness of immunizations that are available for RSV. The survey of 1,637 U.S. adults also found that about 6 in 10 respondents would recommend the vaccine or antibody injections to the groups recommended by the CDC, an increase from past years.
The rises both in public familiarity with the RSV immunizations and recommending them come as U.S. health officials under longtime vaccine critic and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cut the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations and increased scrutiny of vaccines long-established as safe and effective.
Beginning in 2023, the CDC recommended RSV immunization for newborns and infants – either through a maternal RSV vaccine given to those who are pregnant during their 32nd-36th weeks or through a monoclonal antibody injection given to newborns and infants born during RSV season, typically October through March.
On Jan. 5, 2026, after this survey was conducted, U.S. health authorities cut the number of regular childhood vaccinations to 11 from 17. As a non-vaccine antibody product, RSV immunization is not part of this count, although health officials presented it as a tool that was also now being reserved for high-risk groups. An HHS spokesman, however, told the Washington Post that these high-risk groups include all otherwise healthy children whose mothers were not vaccinated against RSV during pregnancy. This effectively means the RSV guidelines did not change for newborns: Either those who are pregnant should be vaccinated during their pregnancy or their infants should get the monoclonal antibody injection.
The CDC also recommends the antibody injection for certain young children (ages 8 to 19 months) who are at increased risk of severe RSV disease.
The CDC recommends RSV vaccination for adults 75 and older and people 50-74 years old who are at increased risk for severe RSV, if they did not get an RSV vaccine last year.
The survey finds different levels of familiarity with the immunizations for different groups, but all have increased from 2023 when the immunizations were first introduced:
The vaccine for older adults: The survey finds that a majority of adults (56%) are aware there is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved vaccine against RSV for older adults, up from 42% in October 2023, only months after CDC first recommended this treatment, in May 2023. In 2025, 39% are unsure whether there is a vaccine, compared with 53% unsure in October 2023.
The maternal vaccine to protect newborns: The survey also finds greater familiarity with the RSV vaccine for pregnant people, as compared with an August 2023 survey, when the vaccine first became available. In the current survey, 38% say there is an FDA-approved vaccine against RSV for pregnant people to protect their infants, up from 12% in August 2023. However, the percentage familiar with this vaccine was eight points higher in September 2024 at 46%, so the current figure represents a recent decline.
A majority of Americans say they would be likely to recommend the RSV vaccine for older adults and those who are pregnant and the monoclonal antibody injection for infants, as the CDC has recommended:
It's encouraging to see the increase in the likelihood of recommending the RSV vaccine to people who are pregnant or the monoclonal antibody to parents of newborns and infants. It's important for OB-GYNs, pediatricians, and public health officials to communicate the value of these immunizations."
Ken Winneg, managing director of survey research at APPC
Most U.S. adults say that getting the RSV vaccine is safer than getting RSV:
The survey data come from the 26th wave of a nationally representative panel of U.S. adults conducted for the Annenberg Public Policy Center by SSRS, an independent market research company. Wave 26 (n=1,637) of the Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge (ASAPH) survey was fielded Nov. 17-Dec. 1, 2025, and has a margin of sampling error (MOE) of ± 3.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not add to 100%. Combined subcategories may not add to totals in the topline and text due to rounding.
Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Posted in: Medical Research News | Disease/Infection News | Healthcare News
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The University of California, Irvine has received its first award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, launching a major effort to improve how doctors detect and treat diseases of the lymphatic system.
The up-to-five-year, $7.45 million award supports a project called "Quantitative Assessment of Thoracic Duct Obstruction," part of ARPA-H's Lymphatic Imaging, Genomics and Phenotyping Technologies program, which seeks to better understand and diagnose lymphatic disease.
Led by Sabee Molloi, professor of radiological sciences, and co-investigator Cholsoon Jang, assistant professor of biological chemistry, the School of Medicine team is developing a safer, noninvasive way to assess lymphatic fluid flow, a process that has long been difficult to measure.
The researchers are working on an advanced imaging approach that uses CT scans to track lymphatic flow, paired with blood-based markers that offer additional clues about how the lymphatic system is functioning. Together, the tools could give physicians a clearer picture of problems that are often missed or diagnosed late.
This award gives us the opportunity to assess the lymphatic system in ways that haven't been possible before. Our goal is to make diagnosis more precise and treatment decisions more informed, without putting additional burden on patients."
Sabee Molloi, professor of radiological sciences, University of California, Irvine
The project focuses on thoracic duct obstruction, a condition that can disrupt the body's ability to move lymph fluid and is linked to serious health problems such as chronic abdominal pain, fluid buildup and nutritional deficiencies. Because symptoms can be vague and imaging options are limited, many patients go years without clear answers.
Currently in the early phase of the up-to-five-year endeavor, researchers are refining the imaging technology and testing it in preclinical models to ensure accuracy and reliability. Later phases will involve patient studies aimed at bringing the technology into clinical use.
"Our aim is to bridge the gap between innovation and patient care," Jang said. "By combining imaging with biological signals from the blood, we hope to give clinicians more actionable information to guide treatment."
If successful, the approach could help doctors choose the most appropriate protocol for each patient, whether that means monitoring symptoms, adjusting treatment plans or pursuing minimally invasive procedures, ultimately improving outcomes for people living with lymphatic disorders.
The ARPA-H LIGHT program is focused on advancing new technologies that shed light on the lymphatic system, which remains largely unexplored despite its importance to human health.
University of California - Irvine
Posted in: Device / Technology News | Medical Condition News
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FIFA president Gianni Infantino has admitted that many of the people who have applied for tickets for the 2026 World Cup will try to sell them for profit on resale platforms.
Last week, FIFA announced it received more than 500 million requests for tickets — with each request being an application for one to four seats at a specific game — during the month-long sales window, which has just closed.
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For FIFA and Infantino, this demand for tickets was the perfect riposte to the criticism they have received for their ticketing polices this summer, most notably the record high prices.
“We had over 500 million ticket requests — half a billion ticket requests,” Infantino said, speaking at a World Cup-themed session of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on Thursday
“And the tickets are not cheap. We were hammered — I was hammered, I should say — because of the ticket prices, because they are so expensive.
“The main critics were from Germany and England, of course. Now, number one in ticket requests is U.S., number two Germany and number three England. Because everyone wants to come and to participate.”
The German and English markets, however, were not second only to the U.S., as FIFA has already explained that applications from all three co-hosts — Canada, Mexico and the U.S. — beat those from anywhere else.
Infantino went on to talk about the use of resale sites, a point that may raise questions around the world, particularly in countries where the reselling of tickets is either banned or strictly controlled.
“In the U.S., it is perfectly legal to resell tickets on resale platforms — there is a law for that, so we have to allow (it),” he explained.
“So, you can be sure that these tickets, for which we'll have to make a draw because every game will be sold out, will probably be resold at even higher prices. And this is incredible but it shows really the impact that (the World Cup) has.”
FIFA has denied suggestions that many of the 500 million requests have come from automated bots, stating that every request was “validated by unique credit card data”.
Regardless of whether the reseller is real or not, FIFA stands to profit, as it will be charging 15 per cent commissions on both the seller and buyer of any ticket on its own resale platform. This means it will make $30 from the sale of a $100 ticket, although there will not be many priced that cheaply.
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This is a significant increase on the fees it has charged in previous tournaments but Infantino has justified FIFA's pricing decisions by saying they are normal for the host market. Furthermore, he believes if FIFA did not price things with the American consumer in mind, it would be handing money over to private companies with no interest in funding football development projects.
Resale platforms are an integral part of the U.S. sports and entertainment scene, with American fans used to dynamic pricing, where the cost of tickets can rise and fall based on demand, and tolerant of high prices for premium events.
However, FIFA set the prices for this tournament and will keep all the profits from ticket sales. And while the vast majority of that money will be shared with its 211 member associations, this expanded World Cup is already guaranteed to make record profits even without the unprecedented increase in ticket prices.
“To give you another number to compare this,” Infantino continued. “In 100 years of World Cup history… FIFA has sold around 50 million tickets in total. Now, for this World Cup, in four weeks, we've had a request for 1,000 years of World Cups at once.
“It's unique, it's incredible. It shows that people have trust in the organisation, probably trust in FIFA as well, trust in Canada, Mexico and the United States. They want to travel, they want to go, want to feel, want to be together.
“We'll see ticket requests from all 211 countries, from all over the world, and those persons who purchase tickets will have what we call — what we agreed with the American administration — a FIFA PASS so they can go to get their visa in a fast-track process.
“So, all those things we read are not true when it comes to the World Cup, because America, and when I speak about America, I speak about Canada, Mexico and the United States, will welcome the world next summer, and this is what we're looking forward to.
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“It will be the greatest celebration of humanity. The greatest not just sports event, but the greatest show that our planet has ever seen and probably will ever see.”
Questions remain over whether fans from some participating countries will be allowed to attend, as the U.S. government's crackdown on immigration has seen Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal added to its banned list. The PASS scheme only gives a ticket-holder priority access to an appointment for a visa application. The high cost of accommodation, food and travel in the U.S., which is hosting 78 of the 104 games, remains another barrier to supporters.
Based in North West England, Matt Slater is a senior football news reporter for The Athletic UK. Before that, he spent 16 years with the BBC and then three years as chief sports reporter for the UK/Ireland's main news agency, PA. Follow Matt on Twitter @mjshrimper
Welcome back to World Cup Countdown—The Ringer's monthly column previewing the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Each month, we'll cover everything shaping the tournament, from the U.S. men's national team to the stars and story lines abroad that will define qualifying and the buildup to the opening match. Here's where we stand 140 days before kickoff.
The Senegal players after winning the AFCON final on January 18
Near the end of Sunday's Africa Cup of Nations final, all decorum seemed to leave Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco. For 14 minutes of Sunday's title match between Senegal and host Morocco, Rabat was plunged into a state of pure chaos. A controversial VAR review deep in stoppage time awarded Morocco a contentious penalty with the score tied 0-0. The ensuing Senegalese protest stretched into the crowd, entered the media section, and led to the Senegalese players leaving the field in protest.
When they finally returned to the pitch after 14 minutes, all the pressure was on Moroccan star Brahim Díaz. The Real Madrid attacker had a golden opportunity to make Moroccan history if he converted his penalty with essentially the final kick of the game, and it seemed like the AFCON hosts were about to receive their storybook ending after all. Morocco hadn't won Africa's top soccer prize since 1976, and the eager home fans in Rabat were waiting to erupt. Instead, Senegal's extended protest seemingly iced the kicker. For reasons that we may never fully comprehend, Diaz tried a Panenka penalty. Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy didn't flinch, easily catching the weak attempt and sending the game to extra time. Senegal's Pape Gueye scored four minutes into the extra period, and the Lions of Teranga won their second AFCON title in three tries.
You won't find a soccer tournament that's more consistently competitive and exhilarating than the one AFCON puts on every two years—although it looks like that frequency could be changing. In 2023, Ivory Coast fired its coach mid-tournament before going on to win it. In 2015, Ivorian goalkeeper Boubacar “Barry Copa” Barry not only saved two penalties but also converted the winning kick in a 22-attempt shoot-out against Ghana. Sunday's final is another chapter in incredible AFCON lore, even if the scenes in Rabat weren't the most sportsmanlike.
As much as we all love week-to-week grind of league soccer, the drama gets smoothed out over the course of months. AFCON was a reminder that when you concentrate all that energy into a single-elimination international event, one moment can tilt the trajectory of an entire country's sporting year.
Six Instant Reactions to the 2026 World Cup Draw
Six Instant Reactions to the 2026 World Cup Draw
Six Instant Reactions to the 2026 World Cup Draw
Senegal and Morocco are the two highest-ranked African teams in the FIFA rankings. They are also the top two African teams if you rate each squad by average transfermarkt value. At the last World Cup, they were the only two from the continent to advance out of the group stages. The North Africans made it all the way to the semifinal—the furthest any African side has ever gotten—and many will expect Morocco to advance out of its World Cup group, which also includes Brazil, Haiti, and Scotland. But Senegal has a much tougher challenge. The Lions of Teranga will face off against both France and Norway in their group, which is unquestionably the most difficult on paper. Sadio Mané said that this was his final AFCON tournament, which will also likely make 2026 his World Cup send-off for the national team.
After those two sides and the Ivory Coast, there is a drop-off in the overall talent level of the next tier of African contenders. Because fourth- and fifth-ranked (by squad value) Cameroon and Nigeria failed to qualify for this summer's tournament, the second tier of African World Cup contenders will start with Algeria, Ghana, and Egypt. Egypt will go as far as Mo Salah and Omar Marmoush can carry it, while Algeria and Ghana have proved in past generations that they can compete with some of the world's top heavyweights.
And getting more time with their national teammates could prove to be an advantage for the seven African teams that got a trial run at tournament soccer before the World Cup in four months.
Mauricio Pochettino voicing directions to his players during an international friendly game between Japan and the USMNT
This section focuses on the United States men's national team as it prepares to host the World Cup.
The United States men's national team will play only four matches between now and the start of the 2026 World Cup. And there are just two contests—against Belgium and Portugal in March—before Mauricio Pochettino has to pick his squad.
Over the past year, the former Tottenham manager has treated the USMNT like a laboratory. He's shifted and challenged reputations, he's pushed back against the idea of an A team, and he's waved away the confusing and occasionally lackluster results of his experiments. Now, the tinkering phase is nearly over.
There are a handful of players who should rightfully be seen as locks, but the starting XI remains murky. Here are my best predictions on the starters for the June 12 World Cup opener against Paraguay:
Freese has started the past 12 games in goal for the USMNT and has established himself as one of the top keepers in MLS. The starting goalkeeper job is his to lose now. His heroics in goal for NYCFC last season helped lead the New Yorkers to the MLS Cup conference finals, so American fans shouldn't expect another keeper to supplant him in the USMNT's rotation before June. His only real competition is expected to be Matt Turner, who didn't even make the November roster and has been struggling to find consistent minutes under Pochettino.
Pochettino tested out a back three formation on multiple occasions in the second half of 2025. And operating with only three defenders does seem to better fit the tactical strengths of some of his personnel, freeing up his more creative wide players to attack more as wingbacks instead of sitting back like more traditionally conservative fullbacks. However, playing three at the back also increases the risk that 38-year-old Tim Ream's lack of athleticism will be exposed as he gets dragged out wide to cover the space left by his roaming teammates.
Center back remains one of the thinnest parts of the American squad. Chris Richards—a mainstay at the heart of the Crystal Palace defense, which has never finished lower than ninth in the league in any season he's been there—is one of the first names on the team sheet at this point. Finding a suitable partner who will play to his level might be difficult, but Mark McKenzie, Ream, or Miles Robinson could be called on to compete alongside him in that back three.
Antonee Robinson returned from injury in December and has started seven consecutive league games for Fulham. He hasn't played for the USMNT since October 2024 due to various injuries, but he remains the clear best option for the Americans here. Robinson's crossing ability was among the best in the Premier League in the last two seasons he was healthy (in 2023-24 and 2024-25), and he's an incredibly active defender.Both Alex Freeman and Max Arfsten have had various standout moments filling in for Sergiño Dest and Robinson, but Dest—who has been solid for PSV Eindhoven when healthy—and Robinson provide the most forward thrust and attacking quality from the wingback position.
Tyler Adams's recovery from a torn MCL is one of the most important developments between now and the start of the World Cup. He suffered the injury in Bournemouth's game against Manchester United in mid-December and was expected to miss three months, which should give him more than enough time to get into top fitness before the tournament. However, given Adams's extensive injury history, his health is far from a certainty.The USMNT has tried different players in the central midfield role in his absence, but none have come close to matching his defensive tenacity and ball-winning ability. Cristian Roldan seems to be one of Pochettino's favorites; the Seattle Sounders stalwart started three of the USMNT's five friendlies to conclude 2025. But Weston McKennie's pedigree and ceiling could ultimately convince Pochettino to start him in the World Cup. The USMNT veteran has appeared in 20 of 21 games for Juventus this year—the real question may be what his best role is with the American squad and whether he's more suited to playing farther forward.
The only person who's scored more goals than Pulisic in Serie A this season is Lautaro Martinez, and the former remains one of the most vital members of this USMNT squad. The spot next to him is more uncertain. Pochettino really seemed to like Malik Tillman's pressing intensity and energy at the Gold Cup last summer. But if the Argentine is set on playing a back three, he'll want an attacking midfielder who can complement Dest. Given that, the best choice is probably Weah. In the past, Weah has played as a winger, fullback, and wingback for the USMNT and Juventus, and his versatility has earned him a lot of minutes at Marseille this year.
Balogun has always passed the eye test as the Americans' best striking option. Now he's also putting up the goals to prove it. He scored three times in his three fall starts for the USMNT and has seven goals combined in Ligue 1 and the Champions League this season.
This section focuses on the shifting fortunes of players, managers, characters, and nations who could play a significant role next summer.
Xabi Alonso during the Spanish Super Cup final between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid
Online tacticos, analytics nerds, and soccer commentators alike have been plenty critical of former Real Madrid managers Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane for their lack of tactical acumen while managing the team. But Xabi Alonso flamed out of the job in 233 days, maybe proving that Zidane's and Ancelotti's skills as managers and leaders of soccer's biggest megastars were underrated after all. Alonso struggled to get the dressing room to believe in his vision, and players reportedly described him as “distant and unapproachable.” Alonso's run at Bayer Leverkusen—including an undefeated season in the Bundesliga—was extremely impressive, but it's a much different challenge stepping up to manage one of the most successful clubs in the world. Now that the job is open, it will be interesting to see the direction Florentino Pérez and Real Madrid go. Will a new hire happen before this summer's tournament? Would Ancelotti come back after managing Brazil at the World Cup? And since Zidane is reportedly eyeing managerial duties for his native France when Didier Deschamps leaves his post, could Madrid still be searching for their man in August? Only time will tell.
The Power Shift Breaking Modern Managers
The Power Shift Breaking Modern Managers
The Power Shift Breaking Modern Managers
The soccer analytics community lost a valued resource this week when Sports Reference announced that “the provider of our advanced soccer data sent us a letter terminating our access to their data feeds.” FBref has long been one of the most abundant and accessible data sources in the sporting world. It's provided an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning the game and finding new ways to understand soccer beyond what's visible on the pitch, and speaking personally, it's been the most informative soccer resource on the internet. It truly feels like the end of an era—and a significant loss for analysts, writers, and fans alike. FBref has done incredible work to help the layperson better understand a sport that is notoriously complex and difficult to quantify and will be sorely missed.
Each month, the World Cup Countdown selection committee (me) will highlight some of the best, worst, and strangest moments in the sport.
Zohran Mamdani after a press conference announcing his petition urging FIFA to drop dynamic ticket pricing for next summer's World Cup
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani did something rare for an American politician: He's actually demonstrated elite ball knowledge. Mamdani hosted a watch party on Sunday in Manhattan's Surrogate's Court for the wild AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco. He's also made the World Cup a major focus of his first year in office.Not only has Mamdani said that he intends to ask President Donald Trump to reconsider travel bans, but he's also vowed to appoint a “World Cup czar” in an attempt to lower ticket prices for fans attending games. And when CBS Sports interviewed him on his wisdom of the game, he surpassed expectations with deep-cut references to famous African soccer icons. Perhaps we shouldn't have expected anything less from the guy who grew up playing soccer on the Upper West Side and who gained the affection of his Brooklyn recreational soccer league teammates before being elected mayor.
Ruben Amorim on the sideline during a Premier League match between Aston Villa and Manchester United
The Ruben Amorim era in Manchester United ended on January 5 in a move that could best be described as “loud quitting.” As the COVID-19 pandemic led to an era in workplace culture in which employees quietly did the bare minimum and tried to reevaluate their work-life balance, Amorim's public callout of the people above him was the equivalent of a dare. He said, “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United and that is clear” in a press conference on January 4.
Then, he later added, “I will do my job and every department—the scouting department, the sporting director—needs to do their job.”
He was fired the next day. Amorim took a page out of the Antonio Conte Tottenham playbook of getting yourself fired. The last image fans had of Amorim was him smiling wide and dapping up a member of the paparazzi as he left his home. If his replacement, club favorite Michael Carrick, can keep the vibes high at United, Amorim won't be the only one cheesing in Manchester.
Was Sacking Amorim a Step Backward, and Is Rosenior Right for Chelsea?
Was Sacking Amorim a Step Backward, and Is Rosenior Right for Chelsea?
Was Sacking Amorim a Step Backward, and Is Rosenior Right for Chelsea?
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After criticism of Qatar's human rights record resurfaced amid reports it could host a future Women's Club World Cup, FIFA chief football officer Jill Ellis tried to deflect.
Imagine the mental gymnastics it takes to accuse the United States of being "anti-gay" while bending over backward to defend Qatar.
Yet that's exactly what FIFA executive Jill Ellis did this week when asked about growing criticism of Qatar as a potential host nation for a future Women's Club World Cup.
The Middle Eastern country — which hosted the men's World Cup in 2022 — is now reportedly exploring a bid to host the women's tournament. That immediately raised red flags for obvious reasons: the country's treatment of women, its criminalization of homosexuality and its complete lack of meaningful investment in the women's game.
For reference, Qatar's own women's national team has been inactive for more than a decade.
Fireworks go off around a replica of the World Cup trophy before the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final football match.
(Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)
So when Ellis, the former U.S. Women's National Team coach and now FIFA's chief football officer, was asked whether those realities should factor into FIFA's decision-making, she didn't actually answer the question.
Instead, she tried to flip it back on the United States.
"I'm going to put my personal hat on. There are over 500 bills in the U.S. with anti-gay legislation on them," Ellis said. "I also come from the U.S., but right now there's a big light being shown on that. So I'm very, very careful not to throw stones in glass houses, right?"
That might be one of the most disingenuous takes I've heard.
Let's be very clear about what critics are talking about when they raise concerns about Qatar.
Women in Qatar are not treated as legal equals to men. That's true both socially and legally.
They are subject to male guardianship laws that govern marriage, divorce, travel and family life. A woman needs approval from a male guardian to marry. A man does not. Men can have multiple spouses. Women cannot.
Under Qatar's personal status law, wives are legally obligated to "obey" their husbands. Women can lose financial support if they refuse sex or work without their husband's permission. Divorce rights are unequal. Inheritance rights are unequal.
In some cases, unmarried Qatari women under 25 must obtain male guardian permission to travel abroad. Male relatives can request travel bans on female family members through the state.
Now an executive for FIFA, Jill Ellis is the winningest coach in USWNT history, leading the team to two consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019.
(Photo by Marcelo Endelli - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Liberal women in the United States can don their performative Handmaid's Tale costumes all they want. But what's happening in Qatar is actual second-class citizenship for women, written directly into law.
Unlike the United States, where same-sex relationships and marriages are legal nationwide, homosexuality is criminalized in Qatar.
Consensual same-sex sexual activity can be punished with prison sentences. LGBTQ expression is censored. Advocacy is restricted. Same-sex couples cannot marry, cannot live openly, and cannot challenge the law without serious personal and legal risk.
We saw this play out during the 2022 Men's World Cup in Qatar, when players were threatened with punishment for wearing "One Love" armbands — a threat FIFA itself enforced, by the way.
Midfielder from Belgium with the ONE LOVE armband during a team photo session ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
(Photo by Vincent Kalut / Photo News via Getty Images)
But sure. The United States, where men parade through the streets in thongs and make out with each other on parade floats during Pride Month, is totally the same.
Let's contrast Qatar's laws with what Ellis lumped together as "anti-gay legislation" in the United States.
The ACLU did, in fact, track 616 "anti-LGBTQ" bills in the U.S. in 2025. But when you dig into those bills, the narrative really begins to fall apart.
Those hundreds of bills fall into just a handful of categories:
If you want to disagree with any of these policy proposals, be my guest. But calling them "anti-gay" is a gross mischaracterization.
None of those laws criminalize homosexuality. None of them make it illegal to be gay or transgender. None of them impose prison sentences based on whom you choose to love, marry or sleep with.
Ellis herself is married to a woman. Good thing they don't live in Qatar.
Ellis framed her comments as a warning against hypocrisy — the idea that Americans shouldn't criticize Qatar because the United States supposedly has its own "anti-gay" problem.
With even a little bit of scrutiny, that framing collapses immediately.
She's comparing American legislative debates to a country where women lack basic legal autonomy and homosexuality is a crime. It's completely unserious. And insulting to all of our intelligence.
German players covered their mouths during the team photo before their Qatar 2022 World Cup opener against Japan to protest FIFA's ban on wearing the "One Love" anti-discrimination armband.
(Photo by Maja Hitij - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
The bills Ellis is referring to are not about criminalizing gay people, jailing adults for consensual relationships or erasing civil rights. They are about defining sex as a biological reality in law and shielding children from sexually explicit material and irreversible medical interventions.
Not the same thing.
The United States is debating how best to balance competing interests in a pluralistic society. Qatar throws human rights to the wind and enforces hierarchy by law.
These are not glass houses. They aren't even in the same neighborhood.
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Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations when it comes to the US-shaped problem
Could European countries really decide to boycott the World Cup this summer? It is an astonishing question to be asking in 2026 and an indictment of the bind in which, as Donald Trump sows confusion around a potential annexation of Greenland, the world's most popular sport finds itself. But the idea is at least seeping into the mainstream and senior figures are asking what, in a worst-case scenario, it would take for football to meet the moment.
Unprecedented times call for previously unthinkable conversations. As the Guardian reported this week, an anniversary party for the Hungarian FA on Monday became the forum for unofficial discussions among national association heads about how a unified approach to the US-shaped problem might take shape.
While flexibility is essential in a volatile, fast-moving situation, there is an acceptance that no one can afford to be asleep if the time for action comes.
That is why there is a growing belief that Europe's governing bodies, whether led by individual federations or by Uefa itself, must cohere behind a common position – or at least prepare one. Sources have described a tightening of unity since Trump, whose suggestion on Wednesday he will not take Greenland by force – and later that there was the outlines of a deal – must surely be treated with caution.
While some federations are understood to have been relatively unbothered by the spectacle of Trump receiving a peace prize from the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, in December, choosing in certain cases to find a funny side, the gravity of current events is lost on no one.
The tight bond between Infantino's leadership and the Trump administration means European football cannot look away. There is a consensus that Fifa has chosen to politicise itself; that could bring consequences if the US president intensifies his designs on a territory that belongs, indisputably, to a Uefa member in Denmark.
Then there is the precedent of recent history. Russia was quickly frozen out of international competition after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, essentially because other countries refused to compete against them. Why should the US be treated differently if it sent in the troops, and why should its part in the World Cup be indulged into the bargain?
Some key figures expect military aggression would be the breaking point for Uefa and the federations it covers. In the event Trump's latest pronouncements stand the test of time, it means any whispers about a boycott will remain hushed for now. It remains a far-flung prospect.
None of Europe's FAs are in a rush to go public with a stance and plenty may follow their governments' positions. The question is whether that would be enough for those who feel football has a unique opportunity to assert itself.
The French sports minister, Marina Ferrari, said on Tuesday, in response to calls from elsewhere on the political spectrum, that the country has no plan to boycott but added the caveat “as it stands now”. But the German minister for sports, Christiane Schenderlein, deflected any decision making to “the competent sports associations”.
There are certainly some within football's corridors of power who feel a stand could be made while politicians prevaricate. Trump has wedded himself to the World Cup project since his first term, naturally making mention of his own hard work in steering the bid when it succeeded in 2018.
The prospect of visible, palpable damage to his latest big moment would not be easy for the president to stomach. Perhaps, if Uefa and its federations flexed their muscles, Infantino could even feel compelled to engage in far-reaching diplomacy with his friend around the Greenland problem.
Some within Uefa would strain at the leash to see Infantino put in his place. Football's biggest governing bodies endured a high-profile falling-out in May over Infantino's conduct around the Fifa congress in Paraguay, although it was quickly smoothed over in public. More moderate forces close to the organisation may not favour incendiary moves this time, with the future of global football facing enough uncertainty, but the sport has been planted in uncharted waters and could find it needs to swim hard.
The hypotheticals continue but they cannot be purely dismissed as such. Recent events have underlined that football's leadership must be agile and the message is hitting home. Initiatives such as the hugely popular petition in the Netherlands, urging a boycott of the World Cup, suggest public sentiment would be supportive of decisive action if the unthinkable came to pass.
The pitch may quietly have been rolled. The enduring hope is that, for reasons in which football is unpleasantly enmeshed, it never needs testing out.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
Read our AI Policy.
Briana Scurry. Hope Solo. Aylssa Naeher.
Claudia Dickey?
After claiming the starting goalkeeper job for the Seattle Reign in the NWSL two years ago, Charlotte native and former UNC standout Claudia Dickey is working to convince head coach Emma Hayes that she's next to be the best last line of defense for the U.S. Women's National Team. With six starts since her first call-up to a January training camp, she is making her case with five shutouts. With four consecutive starts, heading into this next camp, she is the first goalkeeper since Naeher to do that.
But it will take dozens, if not a hundred games, and a World Cup trophy or two to make the list above. Solo earned 202 caps for her country, Scurry 175, Naeher 115.
Hayes included Dickey, who turned 26 in early January, on a 26-player roster for a year-opening training camp being held from January 14-21 in Carson, Calif. The camp will conclude with matches against Paraguay on Jan. 24 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, and Jan. 27 against Chile at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara.
Of the three goalkeepers on the roster, Dickey is the veteran with six caps. Mandy McGlynn of the Utah Royals has four, while Jordan Silkowitz from Bay FC has yet to debut for the national team.
Lee Horton, the long-time Charlotte Latin soccer coach who retired in 2022 with 1,012 girls' and boys' team wins, remembers when he recognized Dickey's talent.
“She was in the eighth grade, and I was watching her play both soccer and basketball, just as a coach at the school, and she was ridiculous at both. She is just gifted. God gifts some of us, and he gifted her to the brim.
“I just loved to watch the girl play basketball. In middle school, she would just get the ball and dribble through the entire team, past everybody, go down to the basket, and then stop and wait for the first girl from her team to come running in, and she would give them the ball and let them score. She loved having an assist better than scoring a basket.
“So I pulled her aside in the middle of our campus one day, and said, ‘Claudia, you are going to play either big-time soccer or big-time basketball in college without a doubt, and I don't care which one it is, because you're so good at both.'”
And he promised to support her in that effort.
Horton also liked to hoard goalkeepers. A former netminder at UNC himself, at one time he had three future NCAA Division I players competing for the position at Latin. Along with Dickey, there was Ruthie Jones, who went on to an All-ACC, All-American career for Duke (2019-2023), and Paige Nurkin, who became the starting keeper at Columbia University (2020-23), with a graduate season (2024) at Wake Forest.
Over her career at Latin, Dickey had a .39 goals-against average and scored 16 goals when she played in the field, including the game-winning goal in the 2017 state final against Providence Day. Equally adept as a point guard, Dickey earned NCISAA All-State honors in both soccer and basketball.
Horton was right about Dickey, but should have used a different conjunctive as Dickey played soccer and basketball for UNC her freshman year. On the pitch, she split time with former Carolina Ascent keeper Samantha Leshnak-Murphy, a senior, starting six of 16 games, earning a 6-2-1 record in goal. She also scored a penalty kick against UCLA in an NCAA quarterfinal shootout win.
In her 4,187 minutes in the Carolina goal from 2018-21, she posted a remarkable .47 goals against average and 15 complete game shutouts.
She was selected by Seattle Reign FC with the 20th pick in the 2022 NWSL Draft.
Before she could get her chance with the national team, though, Dickey had to establish herself at the club level, and she was one of several talented goalkeepers at Seattle, where she did what most rookies do their first year: She sat and watched when the whistle blew as Phallon Tullis-Joyce started all 29 matches across competitions.
Her second season started the same way. After three successful outings — all clean sheet wins — in the NWSL Challenge Cup, she finally started her first regular-season match on Aug. 27, 2023. It was a 2-1 away loss to Angel City.
“I honestly didn't play well the first two games, and we lost in my first game,” Dickey said.
“Playing goalkeeper is a confidence thing,” she added. “And when you don't play games, I think it's really hard to go in because you want to prove yourself, or you want to be the one who makes a difference. But I think I've learned over the years, it's about being good and being steady, and not trying to go out and do the crazy things, or not trying to prove that you're good enough to be there. I think it's more important to be that backbone of the team, and be able to communicate with and rely on everybody in front of you, and when it gets to you, basically just doing your job.
“And I think the first game or two that I played, I was like, in a way, trying to prove myself when I didn't need to. I came out of the box when I didn't need to multiple times. That was hard at first. I think I struggled with that.”
But head coach Laura Harvey kept Dickey in the net to close the regular season during a playoff chase. The next two games were draws, the second a clean sheet. As she grew into the moment, Dickey kept the opposition scoreless in the last regular-season game, 3-0 against the Chicago Stars. Harvey continued to start Dickey for the playoffs — if the wheel ain't broke, don't fix it — and Seattle won two 1-0 games to make the NWSL Final against Gotham FC.
Dickey believes that getting the opportunity to play “was a mix of we were fighting for playoffs, and she wanted to maybe see me because I was also out of contract (after that season).”
“It wasn't anything to do with (Tullis-Joyce), but (Seattle head coach) Laura (Harvey) started giving me — I started, the last six games of that season. Phallon was still there, and I think it was obviously like we were both probably good enough to be fighting for a spot.”
Dickey, then 23, already believed she could challenge Tullis-Joyce, then 26, for the starting spot. The NWSL, in general, and most teams around the world, give great weight to veterans, especially when it comes to goalkeepers.
Dickey doesn't believe Tullis-Joyce left to dodge a competition for the job.
“I think when Phallon got the opportunity to go to (Manchester) United, she was, obviously, why would you not want to go play in Europe? They're one of the best teams in the world. So I think it wasn't necessarily because I was going to take the spot from her. She got this other opportunity, and Laura, for the rest of the year, wanted to play me.”
Dickey's competition for the starting job will reignite the respectful rivalry with Tullis-Joyce, though not this week. As this is not an international window, only NWSL players will be in this camp.
“I think Claudia is in a strong position,” said Hayes in a pre-camp press conference. “I think it's fair to say her and Phallon have been given more of the minutes over this period of time. Phallon obviously cannot join this camp because she's a European-based player.”
Hayes did not commit to a given starter but did say, “I feel very strongly about Claudia and Phallon at this moment in time,” adding, “There is a pool of players. They just need to keep developing a little bit more experience.”
She also noted the move of Casey Murphy, the current active cap leader among goalkeepers with 20, from North Carolina Courage to Boston, saying, “Be curious to see how that invigorates her.”
Murphy was the backup USWNT goalkeeper to Naeher at the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. While she has 20 caps for the U.S., she has not appeared for the team since October 2024.
Currently the head coach of the Carolina Ascent, Philip Poole's previous assignment was being the goalkeeper coach for the USWNT. As a former academy director of the Charlotte Soccer Academy, he coached all of the Latin keepers and others in the region, so he's seen Dickey's rise to this opportunity and knows that she responds well to a competitive challenge.
“There's been three predominant goalkeepers in the U.S. National Team tenure. You might look at a goalkeeper being in the right place at the wrong time, right? So, Nicole Barnhart has 54 caps, but she sat behind Hope Solo for all of her career. Not to say Barney could not have played more, but again, great goalkeeper, maybe the wrong time.”
That's not the case here. With Naeher's retirement in 2024, Poole says, “There's no current, clear number one. I think the days of seeing one goalkeeper forever dominant with 200 caps might be over, but there's certainly a runway for her to become number one.”
He says her skill set, especially with the ball at her feet, may be the best of the bunch, but that her success must come between the ears.
“Can she put together the mindset, mentality, all the things that we know are in her and confident are in her. She's got to bring them out, and she's got to ride the highs and the lows, because Scurry, Naeher, Solo have all had highs and lows. And they set themselves apart with how they dealt with them.”
Scurry, Solo, Naeher, Dickey. That's the conjecture of observers, not herself.
Now that she's been in the net for the national team six times, Dickey hasn't given a thought to achieving legendary status. She knows it's far too early for that, and told the Observer that she really hadn't taken a moment to step back and appreciate the accomplishment.
“My dream has always been to be on the national team. I've always wanted to do this. Not to take away from how special it is, but I think you have to believe in yourself so much that you don't let the arena, the game, the importance of it, get to you. And treating it like a game while you're in it, like, I don't think I've stopped until probably now that I'm talking about it with you, to be like, holy… Like, how proud I am of myself for getting to this point in my career and for being able to believe that, yes, I do think if I do everything right, and I continue to improve in all these different areas that I've talked about with the national team coaches and all the things that I need to continue to do, that yeah, I can fight for a spot as long as I continue to believe in myself.
“For me, it's always about pushing myself. Even when things go well, there's always something that can be better.”
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The calendar has shifted to 2026, meaning the FIFA World Cup is now just around the corner.
The tournament will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada this summer, running from June 11 to July 19.
Mexico will have the honor of kicking off the World Cup on June 11 when it hosts South Africa at the Estadio Azteca. Canada and the United States will begin their World Cup journeys the following day.
This will be the first World Cup to feature 48 teams, a major expansion from the 32 nations that competed in the 2022 World Cup. The teams will be divided into 12 groups of four nations each.
The top two teams in each group – and the eight best third-place finishers – advance to knockout stage, which begins on June 28 with the Round of 32.
The round of 16 begins July 4, the quarterfinals on July 9 and semifinals take place July 14-15, leading up to the final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19.
ALL TIMES EASTERN
Former Manchester City, Roma and Inter striker Edin Dzeko has joined 2. Bundesliga leaders Schalke on a free transfer.
The 39-year-old has penned a short-term contract with the Gelsenkirchen club, to run until the end of the campaign, having left Fiorentina after just half a season.
It marks a return to German football for Dzeko, who made 142 appearances and scored 85 goals for Wolfsburg between 2007 and 2011.
Dzeko then joined Manchester City in January 2011, going on to score 72 goals in 189 outings for the club, winning two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and one EFL Cup.
He left for Roma – initially on loan – in 2015 and enjoyed his most prolific years in Italy, playing 260 times and scoring 119 times for the Giallorossi before switching to Inter, who he helped reach the Champions League final in 2023.
The Bosnia-Herzegovina icon, who is his country's all-time leading scorer with 72 goals in 146 caps, joins a side atop of German football's second tier, four points clear of Elversberg.
Schalke were Champions League semi-finalists as recently as 2011 but have been out of the Bundesliga since 2023, when they suffered their second relegation in three years.
They almost dropped to the third tier last season, before turning things around under head coach Miron Muslic, who joined from Plymouth Argyle last May.
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VALENCIA, Spain (Jan. 15, 2026) – The U.S. Under-16 Girls' National Team shutout the Belgium U-17 Women's National Team in the third and final match of their January Camp in Spain. The U-16 GNT faced Germany twice before this match and saw improved results each match, coming away with a loss, a tie and a win today over the Belgians.
A little more than two thirds of the way through the first half, the U.S. opened the scoring. Midfielder Valentina Perrotta won the ball and dribbled up the field. She took a shot from outside the 18-yard box and sent it past the goalkeeper to put the U.S. up 1-0, burying what would ultimately become the game winner.
Perrotta's goal was the only one of the first half, but less than four minutes into the second, the U.S. tally would double.Forward Bridget Askekohme sent a cross into the box from the left side of the field, driving the ball towards the top of the six-yard box. Forward Kayleigh Cabigon put pressure on a Belgian defender who ultimately deflected the ball into the back of the net.
The next two goals came in quick succession. In the 72nd minute, Asekomhe scored a goal of her own. She shot the ball from inside the box which Belgian goalkeeper Maud Deschutter saved but couldn't hold. Asekomhe wasted no time jumping on the rebound to put a first-time finish past the Deschutter.
In the 78th minute, forward Eileena Chinyadza scored the final goal of the match. Having subbed on for Cabigon, Chinyadza picked up a loose ball on the top of the 18-yard box as Belgium was trying to build out. Her shot sailed past Deschutter and into the back of the net.
The U.S. didn't face much in the way of attack with Belgium mustering just five shots to the USA's 13, while U.S. goalkeepers Gabby Gjeldum and Olivia Hasan combined for two saves to keep Belgium off the board.
The U.S U-16 GNT leaves Spain 1-1-1 to start 2026. All 20 players on this U.S. roster were born in 2010, which is the cutoff birth year to be eligible for the 2027 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the tournament that this age group of players will be attempting to qualify for at the 2027 Concacaf Women's U-17 Championship.
Match: United States U-16 Girls' National Team vs. Belgium U-17 Women's National Team
Date: Jan. 15, 2026
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Oliva Nova Sports Center - Field #2; Valencia, Spain
Weather: 60 degrees, sunny
Lineups:
USA: 1-Gabby Gjeldum (21-Olivia Hasan, 46); 13-Ally Damron (15-Dorothea Perry, 55), 5-Cassandra Travers, 4-Brielle Hopkins, 3-Carolyn Voss; 6-Natalia Hanson (16-Camila Fadiga, 46), 8-Isabella Ortiz (Capt.) (18-Makenna Mitchell, 55), 10-Valentina Perrotta (20-Sadie Siedel, 65); 7-Caroline Barrow (14-Lara Almeida,60), 9-Kayleigh Cabigon (17-Eileena Chinyadza, 65), 11-Ryder White (19-Bridget Askekohme, 46).
Subs not used: 2-Emma Sullivan
Head Coach: Katie Schoepfer
BEL: 12-Maud Deschutter; 3-Amélie Vanholderbeke (Capt.), 4-Hailey Van Der Schuren (22-Dieuwke Devlauwe, 46), 5-Fien Vanoverschelde (21-Divine Ogika Obida, 46); 7-Lily Hoeck, 9-Zoë Kasongo (15-Lore Goossens, 76), 10-Esthée Maerschalck (6-Jozefien Demedts, 61),11-Onie Ghysel (13-Nina Van Den Driessche, 46); 14-Lieze Penny (2-Ella Loix, 76), 16-Zoé Van Buggenhou (8-Lili Verstrepen, 61), 18-Eva Vandevelde (19-Lisa Hauspie, 76).
Subs not used: 1-Lore Laneotte, 17-Norah Buijsrogge, 20-Liz Jamssens
Head Coach: Lenie Onzia
Stats Summary: USA / BEL
Shots: 13 / 5
Shots on Goal: 5 / 2
Saves: 2 / 1
Corner Kicks: 8 / 1
Fouls: 4 / 6
Offsides: 5 / 1
Officials:
Referee: Noelia González (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Ariana Calatayud (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Sandra Baca (ESP)
Fourth Official: Jesús Minguez (ESP)
Manchester United youngsters Harry Amass and Toby Collyer are set to depart Old Trafford on loan for the remainder of the season, joining Norwich City and Hull City respectively. The duo, who previously faced scrutiny regarding their development paths during Ruben Amorim's tenure, will look to reignite their campaigns in the Championship after being recalled from previous spells earlier this month.
Midfielder Collyer is on the verge of sealing an imminent switch to Hull City, a move that offers a chance at redemption following a frustrating first half of the season. The 22-year-old had been on loan at West Brom but saw his progress stalled by a groin injury and a lack of selection, a situation that drew public criticism from former United boss Amorim in December.
Amorim, who was sacked earlier this month, had highlighted Collyer's struggles as an example of the difficulties United's academy graduates were facing in bridging the gap to senior football. Speaking candidly about the midfielder's situation just weeks before his own departure, Amorim did not mince his words regarding the futility of a loan spell where a player remains on the sidelines.
“I'm always talking about the same thing, Toby [Collyer] and this injury is returning here,” Amorim said in December. “He played, he's from the academy, he played here, went to West Bromwich, he's not playing.”
Defending his use of young players in the first-team, he accused the academy products of being "entitled", saying: “We don't need to be always with accolades in everything in every situation, we are not helping. That's why when you guys talk about a lot of players nowadays that they go against the clubs and everything happened because they feel entitlement.
.. I think it's something in our club, and we talk about the players sometimes forget about what it means to play for Manchester United. We as a club sometimes forget who we are and that's that's the feeling that I have. I understand everything is the environment, is the moment of the players, the kids they feel entitled."
The move to Hull City presents a completely different challenge and environment for Collyer. Unlike his stint at the Hawthorns, he joins a Tigers side firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion. Hull currently sit fourth in the Championship table, just three points adrift of second-placed Ipswich Town. If Collyer can shake off the groin issue that has kept him out since November and break into the side, he could play a pivotal role in a Premier League promotion push.
While Collyer struggled for minutes, 18-year-old left-back Amass enjoyed a far more productive, albeit strange, first half of the campaign. Amass spent the opening months of the season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, where he became a fan favourite. He made 21 appearances, scored one goal, and notably picked up two Player of the Month awards, showcasing the high ceiling that saw him make his senior United debut in March 2025.
Despite his individual success at Hillsborough, Amass returned to Carrington recently and has been awaiting his next step. He is now set to join Norwich City, a club operating at the other end of the table from Collyer's new side. The Canaries are entrenched in a battle for survival but received a massive boost on Tuesday night with a five-goal victory over West Brom - Collyer's former loan club - which lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Amass had attracted interest from several other Championship sides, but the opportunity to secure regular football at Carrow Road appears to have won out. His task will be to provide defensive solidity and attacking flair to a team desperate to distance themselves from the bottom three.
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These moves come at a critical juncture for United's player pathway management. The criticism from Amorim regarding the efficacy of the loan system has evidently led to a reshuffle, ensuring that the club's brightest talents are placed in environments where they are not just making up the numbers.
Collyer, who made 13 appearances for the United first team last season under both Erik ten Hag and Amorim, is viewed as a player with significant pedigree. However, at 22, the need for weekly competitive football is paramount. Sitting in the treatment room or on the bench at West Brom was benefiting neither the player nor his parent club.
Similarly, Amass features heavily in United's long-term thinking. Having broken into the first-team setup under Amorim towards the end of the previous season - featuring seven times in the closing months - his development is seen as a priority. The decision to move him from Sheffield Wednesday to Norwich suggests United are meticulously curating his exposure to different tactical demands and pressure situations in the second tier.
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For both players, the next six months are definitive. Collyer must prove his fitness and ability to influence games at the top end of the Championship, putting the memory of his stalled West Brom stint and Amorim's harsh words behind him. For Amass, the challenge is consistency; proving that his excellent form at Sheffield Wednesday was not a flash in the pan and that he can adapt quickly to a new club fighting for its life.
With a new era dawning at Old Trafford following Amorim's exit, both players will be keenly aware that their performances in the Championship will be monitored closely by the incoming hierarchy. Success at Hull and Norwich could be the ticket back into the first-team fold for the 2026-27 campaign.
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The Black Stars will play two friendly games before the 2026 World Cup
The Black Stars are set to take on Austria in an international friendly as part of preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The game against Austria will take place in Vienna at the Ernst Happel Stadium on March 27, 2026, as the team assesses its players and overall strength ahead of the Mundial.
Austria, ranked 25th, are placed in Group J alongside Jordan, Argentina, and Algeria.
US Embassy congratulates Black Stars on 2026 World Cup qualification Three days later, the Black Stars will face Germany in Stuttgart on March 30, 2026, in their final friendly of the international break.
Germany have been drawn into Group E for the 2026 World Cup, which includes Curaçao, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ecuador.
The Black Stars on the other hand are in Group L alongside England, Panama, and Croatia.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has stated that the games will give players the opportunity to justify their inclusion in the final squad for the Mundial.
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Meanwhile, watch as Ghanaians celebrate Senegal's AFCON triumph
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Chelsea icon Marcel Desailly has issued a stark warning to his former club, suggesting that talisman Cole Palmer could sensationally hand in a transfer request if he does not believe the Blues can win the Premier League within the next two seasons. The French World Cup winner has urged the Stamford Bridge hierarchy to establish a stable system built specifically around the England international, while simultaneously calling on Palmer to show "respect" and "humility" to the club's new management.
The future of Palmer has been thrown into doubt following reports that the 23-year-old "does not particularly enjoy life" in the capital. Despite a blistering start to his career at Stamford Bridge, where he helped the club secure both the Conference League and Club World Cup titles, Palmer is reportedly "unsettled" in London and is struggling with homesickness.
According reports, the star is "missing his friends back home" in the north west. This personal dissatisfaction has fuelled speculation that he could be tempted by a homecoming transfer to Manchester City this summer, particularly if the managerial landscape at the Etihad shifts. While Palmer signed a lucrative contract extension in 2024 that keeps him at Chelsea until 2033, the player's happiness off the pitch has become a major talking point as he struggles to replicate his best form during an injury-hit 2025-26 campaign.
The potential for a move is further complicated by the speculation involving Pep Guardiola and former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. Maresca, who was sacked by the Blues on New Year's Day, has been heavily linked with the Manchester City job should Guardiola decide to leave at the end of the season.
It has emerged that Maresca had informed Chelsea on three separate occasions that he had held talks with City prior to his dismissal. If the Italian were to take the reins at the Etihad, it could pave the way for Palmer to follow him. The forward enjoyed a prominent role under Maresca, often being deployed in various positions across the attack. A reunion with a manager who trusts him, combined with a return to his home city, could prove an irresistible proposition for a player currently disillusioned with life in London.
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Amid the swirling rumours, Chelsea legend Desailly has offered a blunt assessment of the situation. The former World Cup winner believes that professional ambition, rather than just geography, will be the deciding factor. Desailly claims that Palmer will not stick around for a long-term rebuild and has effectively put a two-year deadline on the club's project.
"The question is whether he feels like Chelsea are going to win the Premier League in the next two seasons," Desailly told Card Player. "If he doesn't, I'm sure he will ask for a transfer request to a club that will build a system around him."
Desailly urged new manager Liam Rosenior to provide the stability Palmer craves. "I believe Palmer wants more stability and a system that's built for him," he explained, noting that the constant tactical shifts under previous coaches may have unsettled him further. "I would love him to stay at Stamford Bridge because he's got a key role in the team."
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While sympathetic to the need for a better tactical setup, Desailly also challenged Palmer to show resilience and respect for the club that elevated his status. He reminded the youngster that it was Chelsea who gave him the platform to become a star when minutes were hard to come by at City.
"If Cole Palmer decides to move away from Chelsea then that's his business, but I just want him to respect the club, because they are the ones who have given him the tools to become the player he is now," Desailly said.
Having suffered with an injury earlier this season, Desailly insists his immediate focus must be on recovery rather than a transfer. "He still needs to fully recover from his groin injury and get back to full fitness," the Frenchman added. "His recent performances speak for themselves, so he needs to stay humble and come back into the team to help the club, regardless of whether he stays or goes."
Los Blancos remain top of the pile, with their Catalan rivals climbing back up the list, but it's bad news for Manchester United and Manchester City.
The 29th edition of the Deloitte Football Money League has been released and there is plenty of food for thought from a financial perspective as clubs move into 2026.
With broadcast, commercial and matchday revenues taken into account, clubs generated a record €12.4 billion in 2025, with a growth of 11 per cent across the board.
Here, GOAL breaks down the top 20, including the revenue detail and change on the previous year.
Real Madrid lead the 2026 Deloitte Football Money League with a revenue of €1,161 million generated in 2025 - an increase of 11 per cent on their 2024 figure. Los Blancos are closely followed by their Clasico rivals Barcelona, who occupy second place with revenues of €974.8 million.
Following Real and Barca in third place are German giants Bayern Munich, who earned €860.6 million in revenue in 2025. Paris Saint-Germain are in fourth spot, with Liverpool completing the top five.
There has been considerable change from the 2025 list, with Manchester City dropping from second place to sixth, while Manchester United have dropped from fourth to eighth, meaning they sit below Liverpool and Arsenal for the first time in the history of the list.
Getty Images
While Premier League clubs can now mostly be found outside the top five, they still dominate the top 20, accounting for nearly half the clubs on the list. As well as Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal, the other English representatives are Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle and West Ham.
Atletico Madrid are the other Spanish representatives outside of the Clasico duo, while Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart are Germany's other representatives alongside Bayern. Italy is represented by Inter, AC Milan and Juventus, while the remaining two teams come from France (PSG) and Portugal (Benfica).
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Pafos manager Albert Celades was left baffled during his post-match press conference at Stamford Bridge after being asked to comment on the ongoing family feud involving his former team-mate David Beckham. Following his side's narrow 1-0 Champions League defeat to Chelsea, the Spaniard was blindsided by a question regarding the "saga" between the Manchester United legend and his son, Brooklyn.
It is standard procedure for managers to face difficult questions after a European defeat, but few could have predicted the curveball thrown at Celades on Wednesday night. Having just watched his Cypriot side produce a spirited display against Premier League giants Chelsea, the former Real Madrid midfielder was expecting inquiries about tactics or the performance of his players.
Instead, the press conference took a surreal detour when a reporter attempted to draw a link between Celades' playing career and current celebrity gossip. "You obviously played for some time with David Beckham at Real Madrid, have you been following his saga? And what are your thoughts on it?" the journalist asked.
A clearly confused Celades broke into a smile before responding with a question of his own: "What is this saga?" The manager appeared completely unaware of the off-field drama that has dominated the headlines in the UK this week.
The "saga" referenced relates to the explosive public falling out between Beckham and his eldest son, Brooklyn. Earlier this week, Brooklyn published a blistering six-page statement on Instagram, launching a stunning attack on his parents, David and Victoria.
In the social media post, Brooklyn accused his parents of controlling narratives about his life, undermining his marriage to Nicola Peltz, and even alleged that his brothers were being "sent to attack him on social media." The family dispute has generated widespread comment, but few expected it to filter into the post-match analysis of a Champions League group stage match involving a team from Cyprus.
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Realising the bizarre nature of the line of questioning, the Pafos press officer quickly stepped in to shut it down. "Don't answer this question, I think the question is not relevant to Pafos FC. I am sorry," the officer stated firmly.
However, Celades, ever the gentleman, decided to answer the part of the question he understood. "I don't understand the last word, but we played together, yes," he said. When the reporter suggested it was "probably wise" not to answer the rest, Celades insisted on paying tribute to his former colleague.
"No, but I have a good memory of him, because we spent time together," Celades replied, referencing their time as team-mates at the Bernabeu between 2003 and 2005. "He was an amazing professional and a very good player of course."
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Before the bizarre exchange, matters on the pitch had been the primary focus. Pafos FC, competing in the Champions League for the first time, gave a credible account of themselves against Liam Rosenior's side.
Despite the vast gap in resources, the visitors restricted Chelsea for long periods. However, they were eventually undone by a solitary goal, with the competition debutants losing narrowly 1-0. While the result leaves them empty-handed, the performance earned Celades plenty of credit - even if his knowledge of the Beckham family drama was somewhat lacking.
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EPL
Real Madrid and Barcelona bring in more revenues than any other clubs David Ramos/Getty Images
Real Madrid and Barcelona were football's top-earning superpowers last season, according to Deloitte's latest Football Money League report.
Madrid topped the annual listing of club revenues for the third year running and 15th time in 21 seasons, generating £975million ($1.309bn) in 2024-25, leading second-placed Barcelona by more than £150m.
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Liverpool became the second English club to book more than £700million in revenue during their charge to the Premier League title, yet their income last term was only enough to rank them fifth worldwide. It is the first time in the report's 29-year history that no English side has featured in the top four.
The clubs on Deloitte's yearly list are routinely labelled football's ‘richest', though that is a debatable description.
High revenues don't automatically equal profits. Chunky costs can easily gobble up the resources of even the biggest earners. Of the 10 clubs on this year's 20-team list to have published full accounts for the 2024-25 season, four posted a pre-tax loss.
Barcelona, up from sixth spot in 2023-24 to second, are a timely example. Despite soaring revenues, they turned £819million of income into a £7m pre-tax deficit. As detailed by The Athletic in November, Spain's reigning champions are far from free of financial quandaries, even as they boast one of the highest income figures in football history. Their number also included £60m in one-off sales of 30-year personal seat licences (PSLs) at the refurbished Camp Nou — transactions, in short, that can't be repeated for three decades.
Deloitte's document is, by design, limited in scope, primarily focusing on revenues. Wage bills can be extrapolated — as The Athletic has done further in this piece — but the report does not deal with the many costs of running a modern football club. An appearance on the list does not necessarily mean the side concerned are in good financial health.
A further caveat is that Deloitte can only include the teams who provide its staff with data. Most relevant clubs do, but not all. The full report runs to 30 teams but makes no mention of Nottingham Forest or Fulham, who would both be expected to feature. Their names were omitted as neither provided Deloitte with the required data; Forest were notable absentees from last year's list, too.
Yet there is still much new detail to be analysed.
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For one, in a mirroring of findings from the women's football version of the report published this week, commercial income leads the way among the highest-earning clubs. That has not always been the case in men's football, as TV money has generally propelled earnings for much of this century, but the 2024-25 season was the third in succession where commercial income comprised the highest revenue segment.
The top 20 clubs generated £4.46billion in commercial revenues last season, up from £4.2bn a year earlier. Growth was especially prevalent among the already wealthy — of the £261m increase in this sector between this year's top 20 and those in the report's prior edition, £226m came from sides in the current top 10.
Commercial income drove the ascent of Spain's big two. Clubs categorise ‘income' in different ways, but using Deloitte's definition of commercial income saw Madrid generate an enormous £499million last season. Barcelona, at £438m, were some way back, but also the only other side to top £400m commercially.
Behind them, Bayern Munich (£388million), Manchester City (£343m), Manchester United (£333m), Paris Saint-Germain (£308m) and Liverpool (£307m) each topped £300m. These figures highlight the gulf in commercial revenue even among football's richest: four clubs in the top 20 generated less than £100m from commercial dealings.
Broadcast revenues might have been eclipsed, but at £3.95billion they still comprised a mammoth source of income across the game.
Real Madrid again led the way (£281m), trailed by Manchester City (£278m), Arsenal (£269m) and Liverpool (£269m). Healthy domestic TV contracts are still important, even as last year marked the first season of a bumper new Champions League deal. PSG took in a record prize-money haul from winning that competition but low domestic payouts in France limited their broadcast take overall to £246m.
Tim Bridge, lead partner in the Deloitte Sports Business Group, which produces the report, highlighted the ongoing importance of broadcast revenues, which are generally correlated with a team's match results. Bridge says: “On-pitch performance remains a primary driver for clubs to progress to the upper echelons of the ranking, with many clubs benefitting from new and expanded European and international club tournaments.”
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FIFA's greatly expanded Club World Cup helped several sides, especially the winner. Chelsea's annual revenue would have fallen without the bounty from last summer's competition, which was held in the United States.
Four clubs — Aston Villa, West Ham United, Benfica and Inter — relied on broadcast income for more than 50 per cent of their 2024-25 revenue, which naturally marks them out as financially vulnerable if on-field performances wane. In Villa's case, TV money accounted for 63.7 per cent of total revenues, so a sizeable fall can be expected in 2025-26, when there will be no repeat of last season's venture to the Champions League quarter-finals as they are in the less lucrative Europa League this time.
Villa were one of three Premier League teams to improve across each of the three main revenue streams last season, along with Liverpool and Arsenal. Villa's club-record £378million revenue represented a 42 per cent increase, the second-biggest proportional change among the top 20, behind Stuttgart (79 per cent). Both owed much to the revamped, expanded Champions League format brought in for last season.
Four English clubs — Villa, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur — enjoyed £20million-plus rises in matchday income. United still lead the way in England but Arsenal's £154m means they've increased takings from the Emirates Stadium by over £50m in just two seasons.
However, it was those who enjoyed smaller, or even negative growth, at the turnstiles who stood out.
Manchester City, Newcastle United and West Ham all generated less in 2024-25 than a year earlier, while Chelsea's £7million improvement still left them only 10th overall for gate receipts. Stadium concerns dominate the agenda at those four clubs: City are expanding the Etihad Stadium, Newcastle remain in limbo over St James' Park, empty seats and boycotts are a hot topic at West Ham, and Chelsea's future at Stamford Bridge is uncertain.
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Should English clubs be concerned about tumbling out of the top four for the first time?
One key reason behind that, and Liverpool's debut on top of the domestic pile, is what's been going on at Manchester United. They announced record revenues last autumn but growth has been glacial in recent years, allowing peers to overtake them. From never having been out of the top five since Deloitte introduced the report in the mid-1990s, United fell to eighth — as projected by The Athletic when their latest accounts were published.
Liverpool trailed PSG in fourth by less than £1million, while Manchester City and Arsenal were both within £10m of the £700m mark. PSG's lofty position looks less secure, too. They booked a notable fall in commercial income and fell from third to fourth overall; the drop would have been further without their Champions League triumph.
The French champions were overtaken by both Barcelona and Bayern, and the income-generating capabilities of Barca and Real Madrid look more robust challenges to the financial might of the Premier League. Madrid are a revenue-making juggernaut; their arch-rivals, even with the one-off income from those PSLs, hope to soon reap the rewards of their improved and reopened Camp Nou.
Bayern, meanwhile, have long been commercially astute and are closing in on £400million annually from that stream. But it is worth noting they also benefited from the Club World Cup, and the lower amount of TV money in Germany — as in France, though to a much lesser extent — is a limiting factor. Without their income from FIFA's new summer showpiece, it's likely Bayern would have again been in the fifth spot they occupied in 2023-24, and perhaps further back.
James Savage, a director in Deloitte's Sport Business Group, said the sight of no English clubs in the top four “reemphasises the importance of on-pitch performance”, but observed a signal of their strength in how “‘Big Six' clubs occupied spots five to 10 on the list despite only one reaching the Champions League quarterfinals or further.”
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While not the headline figures, Deloitte's report also details signs of better cost control among football's elite.
Of the 18 clubs to appear in both this list and the previous year's edition, 13 reduced their wage bills as a proportion of revenues. Of the five who didn't — two remained consistent with 2023-24, three paid out a higher percentage of income on salaries — there was one clear theme: they were all in the Premier League.
In all, the combined wages-to-revenue ratio of the 19 clubs in the list to provide Deloitte with salaries data for 2024-25 (Stuttgart didn't) was 55.5 per cent, five per cent lower than a year earlier, when there was also one team that didn't provide this same information. That ratio reduction was driven by combined revenues improving from £9.4billion to £10.2bn across the relevant 19 sides, while wages remained static at £5.7bn. In general terms, UEFA's squad cost rules look to be having an impact on reining in player-related expenses.
A definitive list of the highest wage payers last season can't be gleaned from Deloitte's work — lower-earning clubs may have spent proportionately more on salaries than ones who generated higher revenues — but the salary bills which can be extrapolated are instructive.
PSG's first Champions League title was achieved with the most handsomely-paid squad in European football, even as they knocked roughly £120million off their wage bill in 2024-25. It is the fourth time in five seasons they have been the highest payers in Europe.
Liverpool's own trophy-winning season in the Premier League saw them top £400million in wages for the first time, becoming only the third English club behind Manchester City (each of the last three seasons) and Chelsea (2022-23, but that included some sizeable termination payments) to go beyond that mark. At roughly £421m, wages comprised 60 per cent of revenue at Anfield, though income growth was so large (£87m) that their wages to revenue ratio actually dropped from the 63 per cent of 2023-24.
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Deloitte included termination payments in Manchester United's wages figure, without which they would have dropped to the fifth-highest payers domestically. If we take the wage figure per the club's accounts of £313million, it would make 2024-25 the first time since the dawn of the Premier League era in 1992 that United were not among the four highest wage payers in English football.
There are myriad other strands to be tugged — Villa outspending Tottenham on wages, for one — but, as outlined earlier, Deloitte's focus is squarely on the top line rather than a full accounting of what revenues are used for.
Those revenues continue to hit new records. More than £10billion was generated by the 20 listed clubs for the first time. Among those teams, combined wages were static, suggesting an easing of the pressure brought by a continuous rise in player salaries.
Yet there are caveats, too.
Half of Deloitte's top 20 participated in the Club World Cup last summer, generating income that will not be replicated for at least another four seasons, when the competition will next be played. Several on the list made a loss in 2024-25, and more may follow.
High revenues grab the headlines, and growing income will not be sniffed at. But, as in any sector, it remains only part of the tale.
Chris Weatherspoon is a Football Finance Writer for The Athletic UK. A chartered accountant, he has previously covered the business of sport on a freelance basis, spanning deep dives into individual club accounts and broader analyses of industry-wide trends and issues, and utilises data and financial acumen to explore the money behind the game. Follow Chris on Twitter @CWeatherspoon_
UCL
Champions
League Returns
Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates scoring a free kick against Marseille Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Let us imagine that Liverpool only play Champions League football and we're analysing one of the most impressive set-piece records in Europe.
Their former set-piece coach, Aaron Briggs, still has a job in this universe and is the theme of this article.
He's just told Dominik Szoboszlai to hit the ball under the wall because Marseille set up without a ‘draught excluder' (the designated player who rather awkwardly lies down behind the barrier formed by his standing team-mates, precisely to stop such shots) and the ensuing goal that sets Liverpool on their way to a 3-0 away win also puts them top of the prestigious ‘set-piece balance' table.
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With such a brilliant attacking record in his favour, Briggs is heading towards the type of celebrity status associated with Arsenal's Nicolas Jover and Austin MacPhee at Aston Villa — the leading lights of set-piece coaching — and Liverpool are feared not only for their technical brilliance, but their ability to add goals from dangerous dead-ball situations.
OK, back to reality now and, of course, only some of the above can be talked about with sincerity. Briggs no longer works for Liverpool, and part of the reason for his exit last month was that performance across his department was not good enough in competitions other than the Champions League.
Liverpool do have the best set-piece record in Europe's elite competition this season, though, having now scored six goals (five of which came when Briggs was at the club) without conceding any. Only Chelsea and Arsenal can match that defensive output in the Champions League, which begs the question: why have Liverpool been so bad in these same situations in the Premier League?
The general feeling is they have been dreadful at defending corners, free kicks and throw-ins in the domestic game, while also struggling to offer much creativity from those same routes at the other end of the pitch. Yet while that is accurate when assessing the minus-11 balance in the Premier League (13 conceded, two scored), they have actually been brilliant in Europe and are the 36-team Champions League's top scorers from dead-ball deliveries, with different players stepping up when required.
Against Atletico Madrid in September's league-phase opener, both Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk converted from set pieces in a 3-2 win, Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate did likewise in the following month's 5-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt. Alexis Mac Allister also superbly headed in a ball from Szoboszlai to help see off Real Madrid 1-0 in November.
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That body of work would usually be celebrated. Perhaps if Liverpool go on to win the Champions League this season, it will be.
The topic of set pieces has irritated supporters so much that they're fed up of hearing about it, and The Athletic has already looked into some of the deeper issues, so with all that in mind, it was particularly interesting to see the impact Szoboszlai's goal had on proceedings at Stade Velodrome on Wednesday, where Arne Slot's side might just have kickstarted their year.
Besides the strike being as cheeky and innovative as it was pre-planned, it was also crucial to the game's outcome. At the point before Szoboszlai converted just before half-time, there was nothing to split the teams as Marseille mixed defensive solidity with attacking enterprise and Liverpool, aside from a few openings, were struggling to find a killer touch.
Speaking after the game to its UK broadcaster TNT Sports, Szoboszlai said: “I did my homework. I got told that if nobody is lying down, then maybe I can have a chance to hit it under the wall, and as no one was lying down, I tried it and, yeah, it worked out.“
After a penalty miss against Burnley in the previous game, this felt like redemption for the Hungarian, who was keen to make a mark on the game.
A few months ago — in the Premier League at least — this would have been the type of encounter that went against Liverpool, most likely through conceding from a set piece with the game otherwise evenly poised.
But having conceded the night's first goal, Marseille had to open themselves up and that allowed Liverpool the freedom to create more chances and ultimately see the game off.
After such a convincing away win against opponents with an impressive home record, there is a genuine belief for the first time in this 13-game unbeaten run across three competitions that this team are on the right track after that dismal nine-defeats-in-12 autumn. The number of chances created is a huge positive — even if their previous match against Burnley, a 1-1 draw at Anfield with the side second bottom of the league, did not go to plan — and the way Liverpool were able to grind Marseille down while staying tight at the back was pleasing.
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So much has happened in Slot's second season at the club, starting with the tragic loss of Diogo Jota in the summer, the huge changes in the squad over the following couple of months and then the surrendering of the Premier League title, that it's difficult to enjoy the good times in isolation because so much still needs to be fixed.
But this night in southern France was a reminder of what Liverpool are about.
The advantage of being on the right side of set pieces was huge on this occasion, too, and now they need to take this momentum into the Premier League.
Gregg Evans is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool. Previously he reported on Aston Villa and spent over a decade at the Birmingham Mail covering West Midlands football. His time with Villa included the drop into the Championship and then an incredible return to European football. He also covers golf. Follow Gregg on Twitter @greggevans40
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The Women's Super League sounded the alarm about the timing of the proposed FIFA Women's Club World Cup, warning of a potential "catastrophic" effect on English clubs and player workload.
Officials from England's top league wrote to FIFA to express deep concern about its plan to stage the inaugural global women's tournament from Jan. 5 to 30 in 2028, possibly in Qatar and smack in the middle of the English domestic schedule.
The event could force the postponement of fixtures across five WSL match weeks and create a scheduling backlog. Other European leagues, including the top leagues in France and Spain, run on similar schedules.
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The three-time Grand Slam finalist is just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to reach that milestone.ByTENNIS.comPublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
© AFP or licensors
Casper Ruud looked dialed in at the Australian Open on Thursday night, moving comfortably past Jaume Munar in straight sets in the second round of the first Grand Slam of the year, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.With his victory over the Spaniard, he's now through to the third round of a major for the first time since the 2024 US Open, having fallen in the second round of all three he played last year at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open, and having withdrawn from Wimbledon with a knee injury.But there's one more thing.The Norwegian's latest victory in Melbourne Park was also the milestone 300th tour-level win of his career, making him just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to hit that number.MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
With his victory over the Spaniard, he's now through to the third round of a major for the first time since the 2024 US Open, having fallen in the second round of all three he played last year at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open, and having withdrawn from Wimbledon with a knee injury.But there's one more thing.The Norwegian's latest victory in Melbourne Park was also the milestone 300th tour-level win of his career, making him just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to hit that number.MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
But there's one more thing.The Norwegian's latest victory in Melbourne Park was also the milestone 300th tour-level win of his career, making him just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to hit that number.MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
The Norwegian's latest victory in Melbourne Park was also the milestone 300th tour-level win of his career, making him just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to hit that number.MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
Ruud had dominated his head-to-head with Munar going into their match on Thursday night, 5-1, and things went much the same way this time, as the Norwegian was never broken in 16 service games—he only faced two break points the entire match, and they were in the same game, when he was already up two sets to love and ahead by a break at 2-1 in the third set.And he ended up holding serve in that game, anyway.He then broke once per set to claim a straight-set victory, finishing the match with a clean 35 winners to 35 unforced errors.Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Ruud in the third round will be resurgent veteran Marin Cilic, who knocked out No. 21-seeded Denis Shapovalov in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.
And he ended up holding serve in that game, anyway.He then broke once per set to claim a straight-set victory, finishing the match with a clean 35 winners to 35 unforced errors.Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Ruud in the third round will be resurgent veteran Marin Cilic, who knocked out No. 21-seeded Denis Shapovalov in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.
He then broke once per set to claim a straight-set victory, finishing the match with a clean 35 winners to 35 unforced errors.Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Ruud in the third round will be resurgent veteran Marin Cilic, who knocked out No. 21-seeded Denis Shapovalov in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.
Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Ruud in the third round will be resurgent veteran Marin Cilic, who knocked out No. 21-seeded Denis Shapovalov in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.
Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.
Tested for the second straight round, Naomi Osaka raised her level late to outlast Sorana Cirstea in a three-set Australian Open second-round encounter.
Clad once again in her aquamarine, jellyfish-inspired outfit, Naomi Osaka showed that it was the timing of her sting that mattered the most. For the second round in a row, she was taken to three sets. For the second match in a row, she elevated her level when she needed to, pulling away from Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in exactly two hours.
Australian Open: Scores | Draws | Order of play
The matchup revived a piece of unfinished business from early in Osaka's career. Back in 2015, a 17-year-old Osaka made her Grand Slam qualifying debut at Wimbledon, only to be drawn against Cirstea -- then a former Top 30 player on the comeback trail from injury. Cirstea won that encounter 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 -- and then, remarkably, the pair did not meet again until this week.
Cirstea, who has announced that 2026 will be her final season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, put Osaka under pressure immediately as she took a 2-0 lead. But Osaka responded with a brilliant, high-intensity stretch of play to take six of the next seven games. Highlights included an angled backhand pass on the run to break Cirstea back early on, and a superb backhand volley at full stretch to save break point against her in the final game of the set -- one of a perfect seven out of seven points Osaka won at net.
Undaunted, the No. 41-ranked Cirstea hit back in the second set despite once again losing an early break lead. At 3-3, the 35-year-old saved a pair of break points against her and pounced as Osaka lapsed into error while serving to stay in the set.
It was only a brief lapse. The Osaka forehand was quickly on song again at the start of the third as she broke Cirstea with a number of winners from that wing. After an off-court medical timeout with Osaka leading 2-1, the match grew more tense, but the former World No. 1 stayed in control. She struck 38 winners, including three aces, to Cirstea's 10 and saved five of eight break points.
Tensions surfaced late in the third set. Serving at 4-2, 30-30, Cirstea objected to the umpire about Osaka's “c'mon” between first and second serves. Play resumed with Cirstea sending two forehands long, giving Osaka a double break. The two exchanged words at the net after Osaka served out the match.
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Asked what it had taken to get through the match in her on-court interview, Osaka responded: "Apparently a lot of c'mons that she was angry about," before raising her hands skyward.
"I mean, I tried to play well. I think I did a lot of unforced errors, but I tried my best. She's a great player; I think this was her last Australian Open, so ... sorry she was mad about it."
Better vibes were to be found in the crowd, where two fans had wasted no time in creating their own versions of the butterfly-ornamented hat and veil that Osaka had worn for her Tuesday walk-on. The four-time major champion gave them a shoutout in her on-court interview.
"I don't really talk that much, but I like to express myself through clothes," she said. "I'm really glad you guys loved it -- you guys look really cool, by the way."
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Later, both Osaka and Cirstea sought to downplay the incident in their respective press conferences.
"I have been playing for 20 years," Cirstea said. "It's more than going on than a five-second discussion at the end that I had with Naomi. We just had a chat. Nothing big. Again, I don't think that's the main thing after tonight's match. Again, it was a good match. She was much better than me towards the end. Yeah, she deserved the win."
Osaka also lowered the temperature in the press room.
"I'm a little confused," she said. "I guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize. I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do. ... But when I'm pumping myself up, in my head I'm not like, 'OK, now I'm going to distract the other person.' It's purely for me."
Osaka will next face the last remaining home hope in the women's draw, Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis, as she bids to return to the Australian Open fourth round for the first time since her 2021 title run.
Tested for the second straight round, Naomi Osaka raised her level late to outlast Sorana Cirstea in a three-set Australian Open second-round encounter.
Wawrinka, 40, reached the third round of the 2026 Australian Open in a shirt that pays homage to the plaid shorts in which he won his second of three major titles.ByDavid KanePublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
MELBOURNE, Australia—Stan Wawrinka has turned the nostalgia vibes all the way up at the 2026 Australian Open this week, reaching the third round to kick off what will likely be his final season on tour.At 40 years old, the 2014 champion turned back the clock to outlast Frances Arthur Gea in five grueling sets, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 7-6 (10-3) and enjoy his best run at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2023 US Open.But on the court, his outfit was as much a tribute to his illustrious career as his game on Thursday, the Swiss veteran donning a shirt that pays tribute to the plaid Yonex shorts in which he won the 2015 Roland Garros title.Very few players could successfully reference a look they wore over a decade ago, but Wawrinka was nonetheless reticent to endorse the idea that those shorts were a part of tennis' fashion continuum:
At 40 years old, the 2014 champion turned back the clock to outlast Frances Arthur Gea in five grueling sets, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 7-6 (10-3) and enjoy his best run at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2023 US Open.But on the court, his outfit was as much a tribute to his illustrious career as his game on Thursday, the Swiss veteran donning a shirt that pays tribute to the plaid Yonex shorts in which he won the 2015 Roland Garros title.Very few players could successfully reference a look they wore over a decade ago, but Wawrinka was nonetheless reticent to endorse the idea that those shorts were a part of tennis' fashion continuum:
But on the court, his outfit was as much a tribute to his illustrious career as his game on Thursday, the Swiss veteran donning a shirt that pays tribute to the plaid Yonex shorts in which he won the 2015 Roland Garros title.Very few players could successfully reference a look they wore over a decade ago, but Wawrinka was nonetheless reticent to endorse the idea that those shorts were a part of tennis' fashion continuum:
Very few players could successfully reference a look they wore over a decade ago, but Wawrinka was nonetheless reticent to endorse the idea that those shorts were a part of tennis' fashion continuum:
Q. If I can ask about the small detail on your shirt that seems to be a tribute to the shorts you wore at the French Open. Fashion history, what does it mean to be a little part of that?STAN WAWRINKA: I'm not part of fashion history. People remember that short because it was not the best-looking short. Also because I did won the French Open. That's why we talk so much about it.No, I'm happy with the clothes I'm having right now. I think they're good. I'm happy to wear them.Fans were undoubtedly heartened to see the shoutout, a recognition to their years supporting the former world No. 3, and they will have another shot to see Wawrinka on court in Melbourne as he prepares to take on No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz for the chance to reach a first Grand Slam fourth round since he made the quarterfinals of this very tournament in 2020.
STAN WAWRINKA: I'm not part of fashion history. People remember that short because it was not the best-looking short. Also because I did won the French Open. That's why we talk so much about it.No, I'm happy with the clothes I'm having right now. I think they're good. I'm happy to wear them.Fans were undoubtedly heartened to see the shoutout, a recognition to their years supporting the former world No. 3, and they will have another shot to see Wawrinka on court in Melbourne as he prepares to take on No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz for the chance to reach a first Grand Slam fourth round since he made the quarterfinals of this very tournament in 2020.
No, I'm happy with the clothes I'm having right now. I think they're good. I'm happy to wear them.Fans were undoubtedly heartened to see the shoutout, a recognition to their years supporting the former world No. 3, and they will have another shot to see Wawrinka on court in Melbourne as he prepares to take on No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz for the chance to reach a first Grand Slam fourth round since he made the quarterfinals of this very tournament in 2020.
Fans were undoubtedly heartened to see the shoutout, a recognition to their years supporting the former world No. 3, and they will have another shot to see Wawrinka on court in Melbourne as he prepares to take on No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz for the chance to reach a first Grand Slam fourth round since he made the quarterfinals of this very tournament in 2020.
The Romanian, playing her final season, accused Osaka of talking between serves.ByDavid KanePublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
MELBOURNE, Australia—Naomi Osaka's Australian Open second round ended awkwardly on Thursday when vanquished opponent Sorana Cirstea gave a frosty handshake after her 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win.Cirstea, who previously announced that the 2026 season would be her last before retirement, accused Osaka of talking between serves, but was reluctant to discuss the issue in her post-match press conference."Is this the big thing that happened tonight?" she asked."There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us."For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that."A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
Cirstea, who previously announced that the 2026 season would be her last before retirement, accused Osaka of talking between serves, but was reluctant to discuss the issue in her post-match press conference."Is this the big thing that happened tonight?" she asked."There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us."For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that."A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
"Is this the big thing that happened tonight?" she asked."There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us."For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that."A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
"There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us."For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that."A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
"For me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I'll like to stay with that."A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
A former world No. 1 and two-time champion, Osaka has been one of the biggest stories of the tournament's first week—as much due to her on-court fashion as her play. The 28-year-old emerged on court for her first round decked out in a collaboration with designer Robert Wun, an ensemble Osaka claims was inspired by jellyfish and butterflies.
"I just thought, I was like, Huh, that's interesting. That was my exact thought in my head," Osaka said when initially asked about the moment in her post-match press conference."I'm not a person that reacts well to be casually disrespected."Osaka edged past Antonia Ruzic in the first round and needed three sets to dispatch Cirstea, a former world No. 21.Addressing the incident in her on-court interview, Osaka said, “I think it's [Cirstea's] last Australian Open, so that's probably why she is mad,” adding that the Romanian could have confronted her about any issue during the match.Osaka later apologized for the comments when speaking to the media."I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
"I'm not a person that reacts well to be casually disrespected."Osaka edged past Antonia Ruzic in the first round and needed three sets to dispatch Cirstea, a former world No. 21.Addressing the incident in her on-court interview, Osaka said, “I think it's [Cirstea's] last Australian Open, so that's probably why she is mad,” adding that the Romanian could have confronted her about any issue during the match.Osaka later apologized for the comments when speaking to the media."I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
Osaka edged past Antonia Ruzic in the first round and needed three sets to dispatch Cirstea, a former world No. 21.Addressing the incident in her on-court interview, Osaka said, “I think it's [Cirstea's] last Australian Open, so that's probably why she is mad,” adding that the Romanian could have confronted her about any issue during the match.Osaka later apologized for the comments when speaking to the media."I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
Addressing the incident in her on-court interview, Osaka said, “I think it's [Cirstea's] last Australian Open, so that's probably why she is mad,” adding that the Romanian could have confronted her about any issue during the match.Osaka later apologized for the comments when speaking to the media."I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
Osaka later apologized for the comments when speaking to the media."I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
"I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
Standing between Osaka and a return to the Australian Open's second week is hometown favorite Maddison Inglis, who defeated Laura Siegemund in a third-set tiebreaker earlier on Thursday.
Nike's olive and lemon Slam set drew mixed reviews as the two-time defending champion cruised into Round 3.ByStephanie LivaudaisPublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
© 2026 Getty Images
Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner knows his way around Rod Laver Arena—but after two wins in Melbourne, his latest Australian Open look is proving far more divisive than his tennis.The world No. 2 first returned to Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday to face Hugo Gaston, giving fans their first look at his Melbourne wardrobe. For night matches, Sinner is wearing NikeCourt's Men's Slam Dri-FIT polo and matching shorts in a muddy olive green, while daytime sessions feature a bright lemon yellow set.Read More: Black or white t-shirt enthusiast Jannik Sinner reveals his three wardrobe essentials with IG's "Street style Australia"The colorways have sparked plenty of debate. Some fans on social media enjoy the bold choices, while others have called it one of the worst combinations they've seen. The Daily Mail even posed the question in a headline: “Is Jannik Sinner's Australian Open outfit the worst in the history of tennis?” Its verdict was a resounding “YES”.
The world No. 2 first returned to Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday to face Hugo Gaston, giving fans their first look at his Melbourne wardrobe. For night matches, Sinner is wearing NikeCourt's Men's Slam Dri-FIT polo and matching shorts in a muddy olive green, while daytime sessions feature a bright lemon yellow set.Read More: Black or white t-shirt enthusiast Jannik Sinner reveals his three wardrobe essentials with IG's "Street style Australia"The colorways have sparked plenty of debate. Some fans on social media enjoy the bold choices, while others have called it one of the worst combinations they've seen. The Daily Mail even posed the question in a headline: “Is Jannik Sinner's Australian Open outfit the worst in the history of tennis?” Its verdict was a resounding “YES”.
Read More: Black or white t-shirt enthusiast Jannik Sinner reveals his three wardrobe essentials with IG's "Street style Australia"The colorways have sparked plenty of debate. Some fans on social media enjoy the bold choices, while others have called it one of the worst combinations they've seen. The Daily Mail even posed the question in a headline: “Is Jannik Sinner's Australian Open outfit the worst in the history of tennis?” Its verdict was a resounding “YES”.
The colorways have sparked plenty of debate. Some fans on social media enjoy the bold choices, while others have called it one of the worst combinations they've seen. The Daily Mail even posed the question in a headline: “Is Jannik Sinner's Australian Open outfit the worst in the history of tennis?” Its verdict was a resounding “YES”.
Jannik Sinner wears “Mustard yellow” at the Australian Open.© Getty Images
© Getty Images
Read More: 'It's-a me, Jannik!' Sinner embraces "Luigi" memes at Roland GarrosSinner, for his part, seems to be taking it all in stride. After sporting a head-to-toe neon yellow kit during a pre-tournament charity match, he joked that he'd like a bit more creative control in the future.“Next year I have a little bit more of a say in the colors!” Sinner told reporters in Melbourne with a laugh. “But I'm very, very happy to wear this outfit.”Adding to the online chatter is a viral graphic comparing Sinner's recent kits to a lineup of colorful condiments. Alongside “Yellow Mustard,” there's an off-white look that's been dubbed “Mayo,” last year's red Roland Garros ensemble “Tomato Ketchup,” and this week's olive number “Dill Relish” to complete the 'Sauce Slam'.
Sinner, for his part, seems to be taking it all in stride. After sporting a head-to-toe neon yellow kit during a pre-tournament charity match, he joked that he'd like a bit more creative control in the future.“Next year I have a little bit more of a say in the colors!” Sinner told reporters in Melbourne with a laugh. “But I'm very, very happy to wear this outfit.”Adding to the online chatter is a viral graphic comparing Sinner's recent kits to a lineup of colorful condiments. Alongside “Yellow Mustard,” there's an off-white look that's been dubbed “Mayo,” last year's red Roland Garros ensemble “Tomato Ketchup,” and this week's olive number “Dill Relish” to complete the 'Sauce Slam'.
“Next year I have a little bit more of a say in the colors!” Sinner told reporters in Melbourne with a laugh. “But I'm very, very happy to wear this outfit.”Adding to the online chatter is a viral graphic comparing Sinner's recent kits to a lineup of colorful condiments. Alongside “Yellow Mustard,” there's an off-white look that's been dubbed “Mayo,” last year's red Roland Garros ensemble “Tomato Ketchup,” and this week's olive number “Dill Relish” to complete the 'Sauce Slam'.
Adding to the online chatter is a viral graphic comparing Sinner's recent kits to a lineup of colorful condiments. Alongside “Yellow Mustard,” there's an off-white look that's been dubbed “Mayo,” last year's red Roland Garros ensemble “Tomato Ketchup,” and this week's olive number “Dill Relish” to complete the 'Sauce Slam'.
The debate even reached Tennis Channel's studio. When host Steve Weissman asked Prakash Amritraj, Lindsey Davenport and Martina Navratilova on TC Live to pick a favorite, the panel was split.“Oh man… Favorite? Well, maybe the favorite hasn't shown up yet!” Navratilova offered diplomatically, before predicting his next shade: “It's going to be Vegemite next year, Vegemite brown.”Off the court, Sinner's style tends to be more understated. The Italian, a global ambassador for Gucci, recently spoke about his preference for relaxed, functional pieces in pure neutral tones.“In my wardrobe, there are a lot of very simple t-shirts. White or black, usually, because I travel around a lot,” he told Street Style Australia (@whatpeoplewear.au). “For sure a nice jacket has to be there.”
“Oh man… Favorite? Well, maybe the favorite hasn't shown up yet!” Navratilova offered diplomatically, before predicting his next shade: “It's going to be Vegemite next year, Vegemite brown.”Off the court, Sinner's style tends to be more understated. The Italian, a global ambassador for Gucci, recently spoke about his preference for relaxed, functional pieces in pure neutral tones.“In my wardrobe, there are a lot of very simple t-shirts. White or black, usually, because I travel around a lot,” he told Street Style Australia (@whatpeoplewear.au). “For sure a nice jacket has to be there.”
Off the court, Sinner's style tends to be more understated. The Italian, a global ambassador for Gucci, recently spoke about his preference for relaxed, functional pieces in pure neutral tones.“In my wardrobe, there are a lot of very simple t-shirts. White or black, usually, because I travel around a lot,” he told Street Style Australia (@whatpeoplewear.au). “For sure a nice jacket has to be there.”
“In my wardrobe, there are a lot of very simple t-shirts. White or black, usually, because I travel around a lot,” he told Street Style Australia (@whatpeoplewear.au). “For sure a nice jacket has to be there.”
Sinner relishing his return to the Australian Open third round.© Getty Images
© Getty Images
For now, though, the focus remains on his tennis. Ranked No. 2 in the world, Sinner is chasing his fifth Grand Slam title in Melbourne—and a third consecutive Australian Open crown—while extending his 16-match win streak at the tournament.So far, so good. Sinner has yet to drop a set through his opening matches. Gaston was forced to retire from their first-round clash while trailing 6-2, 6-1, and on Thursday night—again in “Relish” green—Sinner dispatched Australian wild card James Duckworth in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.The No. 2 seed will next face American Eliot Spizzirri in the third round.
So far, so good. Sinner has yet to drop a set through his opening matches. Gaston was forced to retire from their first-round clash while trailing 6-2, 6-1, and on Thursday night—again in “Relish” green—Sinner dispatched Australian wild card James Duckworth in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.The No. 2 seed will next face American Eliot Spizzirri in the third round.
The No. 2 seed will next face American Eliot Spizzirri in the third round.
Jannik Sinner continued his smooth march toward a potential third straight Australian Open crown on Thursday night, dispatching home favourite James Duckworth 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 with clinical efficiency.
The second seed was relentless throughout, extending his flawless 9-0 record against Australian opponents at Grand Slam events. Sinner faced little trouble on serve, erasing all three break points he encountered, according to Infosys Stats.
“Every match is very difficult, so I'm very happy to be in the next round,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “I was returning very well today, and my serve was also good, so I'm very happy about my performance. I want to thank you guys [the crowd]. I know I'm not Australian, but you have been very fair to me, so thank you for the support.”
Sealed with an Ace! 👏@janniksin sails into Round 3 with a straight sets win over Duckworth#AusOpen2026 pic.twitter.com/Jw9142vNAu
Sinner booked a third-round clash with American Eliot Spizzirri, and while a showdown with rival and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz could only come in the final, the Italian couldn't resist a light-hearted nod to the Spaniard when the topic of drop shots arose.
“I think we all know who has the best drop shots… Carlos, of course,” Sinner said of Alcaraz, with whom he has split the past eight major titles.
The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Sinner is aiming to become just the second man in the Open Era — alongside Novak Djokovic — to lift three consecutive Australian Open trophies.
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Not only did Iga Swiatek extend her perfect record against Marie Bouzkova with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on Thursday night, but she also improved to 24-0 in Grand Slam second rounds in the 2020s.
Iga Swiatek arrived on court Thursday night in Melbourne with several streaks on the line. Chief among them: extend her perfect record against Marie Bouzkova to 3-0, ideally in straight sets once again.
Australian Open: Scores | Draws | Order of play
That second part looked shaky when she fell behind by a break in the second set, but the No. 2 seed never truly appeared in danger of losing the match, closing out a 6-2, 6-3 win in 1 hour and 19 minutes.
“It felt great playing today,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I felt more free than in my first round, so I really wanted to go for it. And for sure, the conditions also weren't easy. I don't know if you guys feel that, but on the court it's super windy.
“So I needed to adjust for that, and I'm really happy with the performance for sure.”
The victory sent her into the Australian Open third round for the seventh straight year. She has now reached the third round at 24 consecutive Grand Slam events; her last second-round exit came at the 2019 US Open, where she lost to Anastasija Sevastova.
With the result, Swiatek became the first WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz player in the Open Era to reach the Round of 32 at the first 24 women's singles Grand Slam events of a single decade.
Here's how she got it done:
On the approach: At one point early in the second set, Swiatek was a perfect 9-for-9 winning points when approaching the net, a clear weapon for the World No. 2, who repeatedly used forward movement to take control of rallies.
She incorporated this tactic immediately, creeping toward the net before firing a backhand winner by Bouzkova to hold for 1-0. She followed the same blueprint to guide her to a 4-1 hold, affording her a lead she would only build on before claiming the first set in 38 minutes.
Fittingly, she ended the match with one final approach, this time finishing it with a forehand winner to seal the win.
Through in two ✌️ Iga Swiatek moves into Round 3 after defeating Bouzkova in straight sets.#AO26pic.twitter.com/0Cpy8HkWc1
Tour's best frontrunner: That forehand was one of 31 winners Swiatek hit (compared to just three from Bouzkova), many coming after she built comfortable leads in each set. There's a saying that fits her game well: give an inch, take a mile. Because, if an opponent offers even a sliver of space, Swiatek tends to take far more.
Exhibit A: the second set. Bouzkova broke for a 2-1 lead and consolidated for 3-1 but left the door open just a crack. Swiatek burst through, converting her third break point of the game to level at 3-3.
In all, she reeled off five straight games to finish the match, taking the lead and never looking back.
Give an inch, take a mile.
What's next: Swiatek will face No. 31 seed Anna Kalinskaya in the third round.
She leads their head-to-head 2-1, losing in Dubai last season, but winning their two most recent meetings in Cincinnati and at the US Open in straight sets.
A third win in a row would send her to the Australian Open fourth round for the sixth time and keep alive her bid to complete the career Grand Slam with a title in Melbourne.
Not only did Iga Swiatek extend her perfect record against Marie Bouzkova with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on Thursday night, but she also improved to 24-0 in Grand Slam second rounds in the 2020s.
The 21-year-old was hit with a big dinner tab by his fellow Americans ahead of the Australian Open. Now, he's into the third round for the first time.ByTENNIS.comPublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
© AFP or licensors
On the eve of the Australian Open, Ethan Quinn was a loser. The 21-year-old American drew the metaphorical short straw after a game of "credit-card roulette" during a night out with many of the other U.S. men in the singles field in Melbourne, and was left paying the group's $2,500 tab at Nobu.But nearly a week later, the 21-year-old is showing why he's earned his seat at the table.The former NCAA champion, ranked No. 80, is through the the third round Down Under for the first time. After defeating No. 23 seed Tallon Griekspoor, who topped Quinn twice last year, in straight sets in the first round, he beat the in-form Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday also in three sets to match the best-ever major result of his young career so far."I think each Slam you get to experience something different," Quinn, who also won two matches at Roland Garros last year, said after defeating Hurkacz. "You know, first time making third round here. First time winning a Slam match here. ... I'm still trying to make sure that awe moment doesn't leave every time you make a deep run."
But nearly a week later, the 21-year-old is showing why he's earned his seat at the table.The former NCAA champion, ranked No. 80, is through the the third round Down Under for the first time. After defeating No. 23 seed Tallon Griekspoor, who topped Quinn twice last year, in straight sets in the first round, he beat the in-form Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday also in three sets to match the best-ever major result of his young career so far."I think each Slam you get to experience something different," Quinn, who also won two matches at Roland Garros last year, said after defeating Hurkacz. "You know, first time making third round here. First time winning a Slam match here. ... I'm still trying to make sure that awe moment doesn't leave every time you make a deep run."
The former NCAA champion, ranked No. 80, is through the the third round Down Under for the first time. After defeating No. 23 seed Tallon Griekspoor, who topped Quinn twice last year, in straight sets in the first round, he beat the in-form Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday also in three sets to match the best-ever major result of his young career so far."I think each Slam you get to experience something different," Quinn, who also won two matches at Roland Garros last year, said after defeating Hurkacz. "You know, first time making third round here. First time winning a Slam match here. ... I'm still trying to make sure that awe moment doesn't leave every time you make a deep run."
"I think each Slam you get to experience something different," Quinn, who also won two matches at Roland Garros last year, said after defeating Hurkacz. "You know, first time making third round here. First time winning a Slam match here. ... I'm still trying to make sure that awe moment doesn't leave every time you make a deep run."
In 2023, Quinn won the NCAA singles title and turned professional a month later. But he only broke into the Top 200 for the first time in 2025, confessing last year that he needed a "reality check" about just what it would take to become a successful professional. His rise over the last year earned him not just a spot in the world's Top 100, but an invitation to at what's become a traditional bonding experience for American men in Melbourne.Read more: After "reality check," Ethan Quinn starts to meet his expectations"It's growing a lot," Taylor Fritz says of the gathering, which he estimates began in 2018. "It used to not be so big. But we started doing this. And it makes sense in Australia, because it's like we start the year, there's some time before the tournament. You know, a lot of us haven't seen each other because of off-season and stuff like that. So, you know, we always do it here."I've tried to kind of branch it out and invite all the guys," he adds. "I don't have every American guy's number. And there's new guys that come up. So I put six or seven of the guys in the group chat, and everyone is invited. I'm getting the big table. Whoever can come comes."And though Quinn had the shortest resume so far amongst the attendees, which also included Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility of tradition when his card was pulled.
Read more: After "reality check," Ethan Quinn starts to meet his expectations"It's growing a lot," Taylor Fritz says of the gathering, which he estimates began in 2018. "It used to not be so big. But we started doing this. And it makes sense in Australia, because it's like we start the year, there's some time before the tournament. You know, a lot of us haven't seen each other because of off-season and stuff like that. So, you know, we always do it here."I've tried to kind of branch it out and invite all the guys," he adds. "I don't have every American guy's number. And there's new guys that come up. So I put six or seven of the guys in the group chat, and everyone is invited. I'm getting the big table. Whoever can come comes."And though Quinn had the shortest resume so far amongst the attendees, which also included Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility of tradition when his card was pulled.
"It's growing a lot," Taylor Fritz says of the gathering, which he estimates began in 2018. "It used to not be so big. But we started doing this. And it makes sense in Australia, because it's like we start the year, there's some time before the tournament. You know, a lot of us haven't seen each other because of off-season and stuff like that. So, you know, we always do it here."I've tried to kind of branch it out and invite all the guys," he adds. "I don't have every American guy's number. And there's new guys that come up. So I put six or seven of the guys in the group chat, and everyone is invited. I'm getting the big table. Whoever can come comes."And though Quinn had the shortest resume so far amongst the attendees, which also included Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility of tradition when his card was pulled.
"I've tried to kind of branch it out and invite all the guys," he adds. "I don't have every American guy's number. And there's new guys that come up. So I put six or seven of the guys in the group chat, and everyone is invited. I'm getting the big table. Whoever can come comes."And though Quinn had the shortest resume so far amongst the attendees, which also included Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility of tradition when his card was pulled.
And though Quinn had the shortest resume so far amongst the attendees, which also included Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul, he wasn't about to shirk the responsibility of tradition when his card was pulled.
Ethan Quinn gonna go broke paying for this dinner RIP pic.twitter.com/8o8etH1RK4
"You're making money out here, you will be all right," joked Frances Tiafoe, who didn't make it to the night out because he was playing his opening match on Sunday. "Hence why he got Griekspoor out of the way. He needed to recoup that. So that's good."I took two Ls very early on in my career, too, back-to-back years," Fritz added. "It all comes around. I told Ethan, Keep coming back every year. You'll get some free dinners."But the $220,000-plus that Quinn has pocketed so far at the Australian Open can foot the bill for some more sushi platters, too.
"I took two Ls very early on in my career, too, back-to-back years," Fritz added. "It all comes around. I told Ethan, Keep coming back every year. You'll get some free dinners."But the $220,000-plus that Quinn has pocketed so far at the Australian Open can foot the bill for some more sushi platters, too.
But the $220,000-plus that Quinn has pocketed so far at the Australian Open can foot the bill for some more sushi platters, too.
When Corentin Moutet steps on a tennis court, you never know quite what to expect.
The 26-year-old Frenchman is renowned for the flair and unpredictability of his lefty game. He is a mercurial talent who will on Friday attempt to craft an upset against the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Carlos Alcaraz, in the third round at the Australian Open.
Moutet has already shown glimpses of his showmanship this week at Melbourne Park. Stepping up to the line at match point against Tristan Schoolkate in the first round, the Frenchman completed his win by using a shot he has become synonymous with: the underarm serve.
“I'm quite happy about the one I did on match point, because I surprised myself doing it,” Moutet told ATPTour.com on Wednesday. “I didn't think about it, [my opponent] was quite close to the baseline, and I still did it.”
Underarm serves have in the past been known to cause strong reactions from some players and fans but Moutet, who used the shot six times in one match last June in Mallorca, is clear on his position that how and when the shot is used is key.
“If you do it to provoke the crowd, that's different. For myself, I do it when I think I can win the point,” he said. “I'm here on the court to win every point, so I will never do something just for fun. That's not who I am. I respect all my opponents, and I respect the crowd of course even when they are against me, because they bring a great energy and they are here to support someone.
“Maybe it's going to change because we are seeing more and more players doing it, because it is efficient and it is working. From my side, I never do it to disrespect anyone. So as long as it works, I am going to keep doing it… I think it saved me a few times. [Like] against Daniil [Medvedev] in Washington last year.”
The current No. 37 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Moutet is bidding to back up a personal-best 2025 season in which he earned 33 tour-level wins, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. His Friday clash with Alcaraz will be the pair's maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.
“I never practised with him and never played against him, so it will be a surprise, I think, even for him,” said Moutet, when asked about how his game style might clash with Alcaraz. “I'm trying not to overthink how it will be. I'm just going to come on the court with my game style, with all the work we did with my team to be ready for these matches. I feel healthy.
“Let's see, but for sure it's going to be fun. Nice points, I guess. He is very physical and talented as well, so it's going to be interesting. Let's see how I can deal with it.”
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Moutet will be chasing his third victory against a Top 10 opponent when he steps on Rod Laver Arena to face Alcaraz. Last season, the Frenchman defeated then-No. 10 Holger Rune and then-No. 4 Taylor Fritz at the Queen's Club, but he knows that taking on the current World No. 1, who is bidding to complete the Career Grand Slam by lifting the Australian Open trophy, will likely be another step up.
“He's a very nice guy and a great player," said Moutet of the Spaniard. "One of the best, I think along with Jannik [Sinner]. They are the two best players at the moment. I've really wanted to play against him because I want to see the highest level on the Tour. I'm working hard to reach this level, so it's always interesting to see what's going on there and how they play. So I'm curious and very happy to play against him.”
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Novak Djokovic praised the decision from players like Shelton to use digital media to connect with fans.ByDavid KanePublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
MELBOURNE, Australia—In between press conferences at the 2026 Australian Open, Ben Shelton released an interview of his own on his official YouTube channel, one that chronicled his off-season and prep for the summer Down Under.“I've kind of been excited to be able to tell my story a little bit,” Shelton told me after his second-round win on Thursday, “and have people see, especially in this episode, some of the off-court stuff, the behind the scenes, in the off-season, away from tournament life.”With help from a WME production team, Shelton debuted the series, entitled The Long Game, back in December after ending the 2025 season with a first appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals post in Turin.“If I was, like, traveling around with a big crew with a bunch of, like, equipment and big cameras, that's not something I would be comfortable with, but we've found a way to do it with the minimal amount of people and still make it look good,” explained the No. 8 seed.
“I've kind of been excited to be able to tell my story a little bit,” Shelton told me after his second-round win on Thursday, “and have people see, especially in this episode, some of the off-court stuff, the behind the scenes, in the off-season, away from tournament life.”With help from a WME production team, Shelton debuted the series, entitled The Long Game, back in December after ending the 2025 season with a first appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals post in Turin.“If I was, like, traveling around with a big crew with a bunch of, like, equipment and big cameras, that's not something I would be comfortable with, but we've found a way to do it with the minimal amount of people and still make it look good,” explained the No. 8 seed.
With help from a WME production team, Shelton debuted the series, entitled The Long Game, back in December after ending the 2025 season with a first appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals post in Turin.“If I was, like, traveling around with a big crew with a bunch of, like, equipment and big cameras, that's not something I would be comfortable with, but we've found a way to do it with the minimal amount of people and still make it look good,” explained the No. 8 seed.
“If I was, like, traveling around with a big crew with a bunch of, like, equipment and big cameras, that's not something I would be comfortable with, but we've found a way to do it with the minimal amount of people and still make it look good,” explained the No. 8 seed.
“My camera guy, he's a good friend. He's like a fly on the wall. You don't even notice that he's there sometimes. He gets clips [and] I didn't even realize he was recording!”Shelton has become TikTok's favorite tennis player since his rise up the ATP rankings, in combination due to his effusive on-court celebrations and some of the dances he's roped into performing alongside girlfriend Trinity Rodman.“I think I'm good at following direction and whatever dances that Trinity wants to do. I don't do every one, but I feel like I do a good bit of them when she asks me to. It's not my thing, but…” he trailed off with a laugh.Shelton is the latest player to embrace the documentary format, a trend 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic believes is the cost of doing business in the current online economy.“We're living in a world today of digital media,” Djokovic said after joining Shelton in the third round with a straight-sets win over Francesco Maestrelli. “The communication of the brand happens pretty much only through digital and social media channels.
Shelton has become TikTok's favorite tennis player since his rise up the ATP rankings, in combination due to his effusive on-court celebrations and some of the dances he's roped into performing alongside girlfriend Trinity Rodman.“I think I'm good at following direction and whatever dances that Trinity wants to do. I don't do every one, but I feel like I do a good bit of them when she asks me to. It's not my thing, but…” he trailed off with a laugh.Shelton is the latest player to embrace the documentary format, a trend 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic believes is the cost of doing business in the current online economy.“We're living in a world today of digital media,” Djokovic said after joining Shelton in the third round with a straight-sets win over Francesco Maestrelli. “The communication of the brand happens pretty much only through digital and social media channels.
“I think I'm good at following direction and whatever dances that Trinity wants to do. I don't do every one, but I feel like I do a good bit of them when she asks me to. It's not my thing, but…” he trailed off with a laugh.Shelton is the latest player to embrace the documentary format, a trend 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic believes is the cost of doing business in the current online economy.“We're living in a world today of digital media,” Djokovic said after joining Shelton in the third round with a straight-sets win over Francesco Maestrelli. “The communication of the brand happens pretty much only through digital and social media channels.
Shelton is the latest player to embrace the documentary format, a trend 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic believes is the cost of doing business in the current online economy.“We're living in a world today of digital media,” Djokovic said after joining Shelton in the third round with a straight-sets win over Francesco Maestrelli. “The communication of the brand happens pretty much only through digital and social media channels.
“We're living in a world today of digital media,” Djokovic said after joining Shelton in the third round with a straight-sets win over Francesco Maestrelli. “The communication of the brand happens pretty much only through digital and social media channels.
“Most of the civilized world, people that can afford have a mobile phone with them at all times, this is how you want to communicate and connect with people. Yeah, that's what we have. I guess everyone has a different opinion and subjectively what they think is the borderline, how much do you want to open the doors to your, you know, not just professional but private life to people worldwide. That's very individual.“I don't judge. Everyone has their own likings. But yeah, that's the way to reach people is definitely through Internet.”For his part, Shelton will look to gather even more viral content in his next match when he takes on No. 30 seed Valentin Vacherot, the surprise Shanghai Masters champion. He may have already made at least one moment: Shelton addressed the growing depth among players ranked in the Top 15 to comic effect to end his press conference.“That's a very specific range,” teased the 23-year-old. “What about No. 16? What do you have against Karen Khachanov?”
“I don't judge. Everyone has their own likings. But yeah, that's the way to reach people is definitely through Internet.”For his part, Shelton will look to gather even more viral content in his next match when he takes on No. 30 seed Valentin Vacherot, the surprise Shanghai Masters champion. He may have already made at least one moment: Shelton addressed the growing depth among players ranked in the Top 15 to comic effect to end his press conference.“That's a very specific range,” teased the 23-year-old. “What about No. 16? What do you have against Karen Khachanov?”
For his part, Shelton will look to gather even more viral content in his next match when he takes on No. 30 seed Valentin Vacherot, the surprise Shanghai Masters champion. He may have already made at least one moment: Shelton addressed the growing depth among players ranked in the Top 15 to comic effect to end his press conference.“That's a very specific range,” teased the 23-year-old. “What about No. 16? What do you have against Karen Khachanov?”
“That's a very specific range,” teased the 23-year-old. “What about No. 16? What do you have against Karen Khachanov?”
Novak Djokovic cruised to a convincing second-round victory Thursday at the Australian Open, where the record 10-time champion downed Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Playing just his second match since winning his 101st tour-level title in Athens in November, the 38-year-old moved efficiently as ever and struck the ball cleanly throughout the afternoon, a positive sign for the Serbian's form in the early stages of the tournament.
“It did feel like two completely different tournaments playing at night [round one] and day today, particularly with the wind that I think has been blowing this year more than any other year that I've been playing here in Australia,” Djokovic said of the conditions. “I have to adjust to that and adapt to a different opponent with a big serve, but overall it's good. I'm pleased with the way I'm moving and hitting the ball.”
Djokovic, who claimed his 100th match win at the Australian Open in the opening round, needed seven set points to clinch the 47-minute opener. Rarely relinquishing control in baseline rallies, Djokovic will be pleased with his dominant serving display, having won 86 per cent (43/50) of his first-serve points.
When faced with two break points in his opening service game of the second set, Djokovic drew forehand return errors from the 23-year-old qualifier, who before the match called his clash against the 24-time major titlist “one of the most exciting things of my life”.
Djokovic is now one win shy of 400 victories at Slam level. Should he defeat his next opponent, Botic van de Zandschulp or Shang Juncheng, Djokovic will become the first player to record 400 major match wins. Van de Zandschulp stunned Djokovic last year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, tying their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1. Djokovic has never faced Shang.
Making his 21st appearance at Melbourne Park, Djokovic is seeded to meet Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals and two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in the last four.
Musetti flew past countryman Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to match his career-best result at the season's first major. The fifth seed created 23 break chances, converting six, according to Infosys Stats. Musetti, 23, will next meet 31st seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Czech Tomas Machac.
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The No. 14 seed booked an intriguing third-round match vs. rising Canadian star Victoria Mboko in Melbourne.ByDavid KanePublished Jan 22, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 22, 2026
MELBOURNE, Australia—Where most players are eager to make the most of their off-season, Clara Tauson wanted to keep playing.The world No. 14 was coming off a breakthrough year during which she reached her first WTA 1000 final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and followed it up with another semifinal later that summer at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montréal. Falling victim to the FOMO that inspired a jam-packed 2025 tournament schedule, she got straight back to work in the hopes of maintaining that momentum into the new year.“I was working really hard, and I think I maybe started a bit too early and didn't take my time after the season ended,” Tauson told me at the Australian Open on Wednesday. “I was just so ready to get out there and practice that I got a little bit sick and had some issues here and there.”Those issues led to a bumpy start to this season and a mid-match retirement from the Adelaide International just last week.
The world No. 14 was coming off a breakthrough year during which she reached her first WTA 1000 final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and followed it up with another semifinal later that summer at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montréal. Falling victim to the FOMO that inspired a jam-packed 2025 tournament schedule, she got straight back to work in the hopes of maintaining that momentum into the new year.“I was working really hard, and I think I maybe started a bit too early and didn't take my time after the season ended,” Tauson told me at the Australian Open on Wednesday. “I was just so ready to get out there and practice that I got a little bit sick and had some issues here and there.”Those issues led to a bumpy start to this season and a mid-match retirement from the Adelaide International just last week.
“I was working really hard, and I think I maybe started a bit too early and didn't take my time after the season ended,” Tauson told me at the Australian Open on Wednesday. “I was just so ready to get out there and practice that I got a little bit sick and had some issues here and there.”Those issues led to a bumpy start to this season and a mid-match retirement from the Adelaide International just last week.
Those issues led to a bumpy start to this season and a mid-match retirement from the Adelaide International just last week.
“That was more of a precaution because I didn't feel too well against Ajla [Tomljanovic] or in my first match in Brisbane,” she explained. “I had a little bit of trouble in the first two tournaments, but the rest that I got after retiring was needed.“You try to work on everything in the off-season because you don't really have time when we're on tour, so it wasn't the perfect pre-season but I really worked hard on just everything.”Tauson immediately put her fitness to the test over three long sets against Polina Kudermetova, shaking off a lost a 5-3 lead in the final set to reach the third round of the Australian Open for a third straight season.“The physios have been taking great care of me and I feel great,” said Tauson. “I played three hours of doubles yesterday and 7-5 in the third today without any troubles, so I'm really happy about that.“She plays a really fast game, which is hard to read sometimes. I tried to just play focused and hope she'd make a few mistakes. In the end, I felt like I was playing better than her but at 5-4 I got a little nervous and she played good. After that, I just told myself I need to go for it. She's not going to give it to me, and it worked.”
“You try to work on everything in the off-season because you don't really have time when we're on tour, so it wasn't the perfect pre-season but I really worked hard on just everything.”Tauson immediately put her fitness to the test over three long sets against Polina Kudermetova, shaking off a lost a 5-3 lead in the final set to reach the third round of the Australian Open for a third straight season.“The physios have been taking great care of me and I feel great,” said Tauson. “I played three hours of doubles yesterday and 7-5 in the third today without any troubles, so I'm really happy about that.“She plays a really fast game, which is hard to read sometimes. I tried to just play focused and hope she'd make a few mistakes. In the end, I felt like I was playing better than her but at 5-4 I got a little nervous and she played good. After that, I just told myself I need to go for it. She's not going to give it to me, and it worked.”
Tauson immediately put her fitness to the test over three long sets against Polina Kudermetova, shaking off a lost a 5-3 lead in the final set to reach the third round of the Australian Open for a third straight season.“The physios have been taking great care of me and I feel great,” said Tauson. “I played three hours of doubles yesterday and 7-5 in the third today without any troubles, so I'm really happy about that.“She plays a really fast game, which is hard to read sometimes. I tried to just play focused and hope she'd make a few mistakes. In the end, I felt like I was playing better than her but at 5-4 I got a little nervous and she played good. After that, I just told myself I need to go for it. She's not going to give it to me, and it worked.”
“The physios have been taking great care of me and I feel great,” said Tauson. “I played three hours of doubles yesterday and 7-5 in the third today without any troubles, so I'm really happy about that.“She plays a really fast game, which is hard to read sometimes. I tried to just play focused and hope she'd make a few mistakes. In the end, I felt like I was playing better than her but at 5-4 I got a little nervous and she played good. After that, I just told myself I need to go for it. She's not going to give it to me, and it worked.”
“She plays a really fast game, which is hard to read sometimes. I tried to just play focused and hope she'd make a few mistakes. In the end, I felt like I was playing better than her but at 5-4 I got a little nervous and she played good. After that, I just told myself I need to go for it. She's not going to give it to me, and it worked.”
I think I like to have two or three shots and then I go for it, Many of the players, they play really fast from the beginning, which is a game I should be used to because they're so many Russians and Europeans who play that kind of game. You even see [Amanda] Anisimova, she plays like that so hard from the first shot. Clara Tauson
Her description of Kudermetova's tennis as “boom boom boom” was an interesting one coming from a player considered to be one of the biggest hitters on tour but according to Tauson, her aggression is more tactical.“I think I like to have two or three shots and then I go for it,” she said with a smile. “Many of the players, they play really fast from the beginning, which is a game I should be used to because they're so many Russians and Europeans who play that kind of game. You even see [Amanda] Anisimova, she plays like that so hard from the first shot.“I think today, I really tried to stay focused even though she played so fast on many shots, I felt I was giving her one extra shot all the time.”
“I think I like to have two or three shots and then I go for it,” she said with a smile. “Many of the players, they play really fast from the beginning, which is a game I should be used to because they're so many Russians and Europeans who play that kind of game. You even see [Amanda] Anisimova, she plays like that so hard from the first shot.“I think today, I really tried to stay focused even though she played so fast on many shots, I felt I was giving her one extra shot all the time.”
“I think today, I really tried to stay focused even though she played so fast on many shots, I felt I was giving her one extra shot all the time.”
Still, Tauson would hardly consider her best game to be one that requires too much retrieving, and too much defense could spell disaster in her next match against No. 17 seed Victoria Mboko.The rising Canadian star is coming off a breakthrough season of her own, having won her first WTA 1000 title at the Omnium Banque Nationale.“She's obviously great,” said Tauson. “I think she has a very all-around game: she can serve, she can return, she plays fast, and she's really solid. She's winning a lot of matches and in a good flow, but she's going to have to beat me, and I'll go out there and do my best.”Though she claims to find peace knowing there's always another tournament around the corner, Tauson will surely look to max out at the majors this year as she aims to make a first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2026.
The rising Canadian star is coming off a breakthrough season of her own, having won her first WTA 1000 title at the Omnium Banque Nationale.“She's obviously great,” said Tauson. “I think she has a very all-around game: she can serve, she can return, she plays fast, and she's really solid. She's winning a lot of matches and in a good flow, but she's going to have to beat me, and I'll go out there and do my best.”Though she claims to find peace knowing there's always another tournament around the corner, Tauson will surely look to max out at the majors this year as she aims to make a first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2026.
“She's obviously great,” said Tauson. “I think she has a very all-around game: she can serve, she can return, she plays fast, and she's really solid. She's winning a lot of matches and in a good flow, but she's going to have to beat me, and I'll go out there and do my best.”Though she claims to find peace knowing there's always another tournament around the corner, Tauson will surely look to max out at the majors this year as she aims to make a first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2026.
Though she claims to find peace knowing there's always another tournament around the corner, Tauson will surely look to max out at the majors this year as she aims to make a first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 2026.
“I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going," she declared after reaching the third round.ByTENNIS.comPublished Jan 21, 2026 copy_link
Published Jan 21, 2026
© AFP or licensors
At last year's Australian Open, Zeynep Sonmez earned direct entry into the main draw of a major for the first time on the back of a maiden WTA title captured in October 2024.When Wimbledon played out, she emerged as the first player from Turkey to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era. On Wednesday, Sonmez matched that breakout performance Down Under.Relegated to securing her place in the Australian Open qualifying rounds this time around, Sonmez followed up her upset win over No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova by dispatching Anna Bondar with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.Watch: Sonmez aids ill ball girl during first-round win in Melbourne
When Wimbledon played out, she emerged as the first player from Turkey to reach the third round of a Grand Slam event in the Open Era. On Wednesday, Sonmez matched that breakout performance Down Under.Relegated to securing her place in the Australian Open qualifying rounds this time around, Sonmez followed up her upset win over No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova by dispatching Anna Bondar with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.Watch: Sonmez aids ill ball girl during first-round win in Melbourne
Relegated to securing her place in the Australian Open qualifying rounds this time around, Sonmez followed up her upset win over No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova by dispatching Anna Bondar with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.Watch: Sonmez aids ill ball girl during first-round win in Melbourne
Watch: Sonmez aids ill ball girl during first-round win in Melbourne
I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to do better things.
The atmosphere surrounding the 23-year-old on Court 7 at Melbourne Park was unlike any setting she had been a part of.“I felt like I was at home. I was feeling the energy. It was really unreal. I really, really appreciate it,” she told press. “I felt very good on the court. I really felt the support, and I felt like we were all playing together, actually.“At first I couldn't even hear my own thoughts. It was very, very loud. Then I said, ‘Zeynep, just focus, just you and the ball, play your game and just focus on the court.'“I have never experienced something like this.”
“I felt like I was at home. I was feeling the energy. It was really unreal. I really, really appreciate it,” she told press. “I felt very good on the court. I really felt the support, and I felt like we were all playing together, actually.“At first I couldn't even hear my own thoughts. It was very, very loud. Then I said, ‘Zeynep, just focus, just you and the ball, play your game and just focus on the court.'“I have never experienced something like this.”
“At first I couldn't even hear my own thoughts. It was very, very loud. Then I said, ‘Zeynep, just focus, just you and the ball, play your game and just focus on the court.'“I have never experienced something like this.”
“I have never experienced something like this.”
Having dropped outside of the Top 100 on the year-end WTA rankings, Sonmez will undoubtedly return following the season's first major—with a win in the next round likely to vault her past a career-high mark of No. 69.It would, of course, also bring Sonmez into uncharted territory: the second week of a major. Crediting the compatriots that came before her, including Marsel Ilhan and Cagla Buyukakcay, for paving the way and offering their mentorship, Sonmez isn't lacking support with breaking further ground for her nation.“They're always trying to help me with their experiences. I want to do better,” she says.“I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to do better things.”For a coveted spot in the round of 16, Sonmez takes on Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh cruised past Elsa Jacquemot, 6-1, 6-2.
It would, of course, also bring Sonmez into uncharted territory: the second week of a major. Crediting the compatriots that came before her, including Marsel Ilhan and Cagla Buyukakcay, for paving the way and offering their mentorship, Sonmez isn't lacking support with breaking further ground for her nation.“They're always trying to help me with their experiences. I want to do better,” she says.“I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to do better things.”For a coveted spot in the round of 16, Sonmez takes on Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh cruised past Elsa Jacquemot, 6-1, 6-2.
“They're always trying to help me with their experiences. I want to do better,” she says.“I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to do better things.”For a coveted spot in the round of 16, Sonmez takes on Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh cruised past Elsa Jacquemot, 6-1, 6-2.
“I know that it's a new thing in Turkey, but I don't want to stop here. I want to keep going. I want to do better things.”For a coveted spot in the round of 16, Sonmez takes on Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh cruised past Elsa Jacquemot, 6-1, 6-2.
For a coveted spot in the round of 16, Sonmez takes on Yulia Putintseva. The Kazakh cruised past Elsa Jacquemot, 6-1, 6-2.
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2025 F1 ACADEMY champion Doriane Pin discusses taking the title after a relentless battle through the year, being part of the Mercedes family and what comes next.
For Doriane Pin there has only been one target at the forefront of her mind – to win. That's a lofty ambition for even the greatest of drivers, but it's precisely that relentless pursuit that fuelled the 22-year-old on her way to becoming the 2025 F1 ACADEMY Champion.
Never one to blend in, Pin was destined to stand out from the moment she first set foot in a kart aged seven. Too small to race initially, she soon began to break the racing driver mould. As her nickname of ‘Pocket Rocket' attests to, Pin was a driver you should never underestimate.
Opting to go down the sportscar route, the French racer was the first woman to win the FIA World Endurance Championship's Revelation of the Year Award and her destiny seemed set in endurance. However, when Mercedes offered her the chance to represent them in F1 ACADEMY, it was a chance she was determined to repay with the title.
“Champion is a beautiful word to really fit our season,” she summarises. “We can be really proud of all the work we have done since last year. We never gave up, we worked so hard on winning races, winning the title.
“Since the very first time I got in a go-kart, I wanted to win every single race I competed in. I'm very happy about my entire journey, and obviously my journey with F1 ACADEMY has been unforgettable. I'm very proud of all of this, and now we can celebrate it."
Storming onto the scene with victory on her F1 ACADEMY debut in Jeddah, Pin had every intention of claiming the 2024 crown with PREMA Racing. However, she found she'd met her match in Abbi Pulling. The Briton dominated the season and, despite Pin's valiant efforts, Pulling sealed the title by 121 points.
Entering the 2025 F1 season, it was clear that Pin had unfinished business to take care of. As a title favourite, the weight of expectation fell heavy on her shoulders. Her competition was no less fierce, as Ferrari junior Maya Weug went back-and-forth with Pin for the top spot.
“Obviously it's amazing to battle with an experienced driver, with someone who knows how to race,” she replies when asked about her season-long duel with Weug.
“She's talented and very much deserves her success this year. It was a close battle that I actually enjoyed a lot, because you need those drivers to push you and push each other to the top. We did exactly that so it was really positive.”
Taking the Standings lead with a daring first lap pass on Weug in Shanghai Race 2, Pin lost the top spot one round later, a position she refused to accept. Recognising that she needed to step up her game, the Mercedes junior left no stone unturned as she drove herself to be better than ever.
Claiming four wins and four further podiums, she finished outside the top five on just one occasion and sealed the title in the final race by 15 points. Her impeccable consistency was built on rapid speed and a sharp intellect, choosing her moments wisely – not least her outstanding performance going from sixth to the victory in Miami Race 1. However, Pin's ambitions would never be content with anything less than the top step of the podium.
“When you're not winning, it's challenging because you doubt yourself,” she admits. “You always put yourself first to know what you could do better, what you could improve, what you could do next time.
"Zandvoort was a good example. It was not easy at all but we were still there performing on Sunday. Keep working hard and never give up. The work you're doing always pays off.”
Even her behaviour behind the scenes takes lessons from those that have gone before her, with her journal recording car and session details reminiscent of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
The change in Pin across her two seasons isn't stark, with her virtually unshakeable mentality ever present. Yet there's something more refined in her approach, a humble yet firm self-assurance that becomes apparent on-track.
“Just being in the present,” Pin responds when asked about her mentality last season. “Winning and fighting for a title for the whole year hasn't been easy because when you're leading, you're the one to beat. You're the one that has to be there all the time.
“We have been very good all year, especially the last weekend in Vegas – we've been spot on from FP1 to the last lap of the race. We prepare well, we have the right mindset and it's definitely the right way to approach things when you're focusing on yourself and being in the moment."
She adds: “We're champions and it's about how intelligent you are sometimes and your approach. I'm very happy about this weekend especially, because we have been very ahead of our contenders in terms of approach. It's clearly making a difference because we are champions.”
On hand to celebrate the title with her in Las Vegas were Mercedes, as the Formula 1 team poured into parc ferme wearing custom ‘P1N' shirts. George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Toto Wolff were amongst the first to congratulate her and the Team Principal was full of praise for their young star.
“Dori has been a great addition to the team,” he remarked in the Mercedes End of Year Review video. “Her background was a little bit different because she came through karting and then more from touring cars and GT cars, and some very good performances in prototypes.
"But then she went into [F1 ACADEMY] and crushed it. She won the championship. She's a fierce young lady that can drive. From a personality, she fits into Mercedes, she fits into the team and it's a pleasure to see her working."
Her place at the heart of the Mercedes family saw her sit down with Russell for some advice ahead of her debut in Montreal – both would take to the top step across the Canadian Grand Prix weekend – alongside joining the garage for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“Mercedes have been there from day one,” she says. “They are incredibly supportive of me every day, from bad days to good days. They bring professionalism, experience and performance into my racing career. It's beautiful to achieve that together. Celebrating with them was a beautiful moment. I will remember it for my entire life.”
As the next stage awaits, with duties as a Mercedes Development Driver soon to come for the 22-year-old, Pin's aspirations know no bounds. With a versatility that should stand her in good stead for any path she chooses, the opportunities are endless. Savouring all she's learnt across her two seasons in F1 ACADEMY, her childhood dream is as alive as ever.
“I've definitely grown a lot as a person because you're in such an incredible world,” says Pin. "Every day you learn something so it's super fascinating when you're passionate about motorsport and the high level of sport.
"I've learned so much in terms of driving, but also outside the track and on myself as well. I'm really proud of everything I learned because I know it's a privilege and I know it's going to be very helpful for the rest of my career."
She adds: “The idea is to have a long and successful career. Hopefully we will achieve good things with everyone who is involved at the moment with me […] I've grown so much, it will definitely help me in my entire career.
"F1 ACADEMY and everything around it is big and I will never give up on achieving my ultimate goal – that's Formula 1.”
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Stella explains McLaren approach to 2026 with every team starting ‘from zero'
Temple details McLaren preparations ahead of new 2026 regulations
Mercedes have unveiled the first images of their 2026 challenger, featuring a new livery in their iconic colours.
Mercedes have revealed the first images of their 2026 challenger, which features a revised livery in their iconic silver and black colours.
The Silver Arrows, who fought back to finish second in the Teams' Championship last year, will run an unchanged line-up of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli this season.
The W17, like all its rivals, will be smaller, narrower and lighter than its predecessor as it has been designed and built to sweeping new aerodynamic regulations.
“Formula 1will undergo significant change in 2026, and we are prepared for that transition," said Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff.
"The new regulations demand innovation and absolute focus across every area of performance.
"Our work on the new car, and the long-term development of the Power Unit and advanced sustainable fuels with Petronas, reflects that approach.
"Releasing the first images of the W17 is simply the next step in that process.
"It represents the collective, sustained effort of our teams in [their Power Unit base in] Brixworth and [chassis base in] Brackley. We will continue to push hard in the months ahead."
Mercedes will join the rest of the teams in Spain next week for the five-day Barcelona Shakedown.
The eight-time world champions will then host a season launch event with their drivers, senior personnel and the W17 on February 2.
Afterwards, the squad will then head to Bahrain for official pre-season testing, with two three-day tests planned for teams to refine their cars and start to chase performance.
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“I am beside myself,” the ‘Frankenstein' star tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I am so excited. I mean, I'm 28 years old. It's wind in the sails.”
By
David Canfield
Senior Entertainment Writer
Jacob Elordi just received his first Oscar nomination for his transformational performance as The Creature in Frankenstein. It's one of an impressive nine nods for the Netflix film, with writer-director Guillermo del Toro nominated for his adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel and much of the below-the-line artisans, including del Toro regulars Dan Laustsen (cinematography) and Kate Hawley (costumes), recognized as well. This is to say, many nominated for the movie have been recognized by the Academy before. But Elordi has started a new chapter in his young, auspicious career, as he prepares to topline a studio movie next month in Wuthering Heights opposite Margot Robbie and return for the much-hyped third season of Euphoria.
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“I am beside myself,” Elordi tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I am so excited. I mean, I'm 28 years old. It's wind in the sails.” Below, he takes stock of it all.
Related Video
I'm not sure where you are in the world, but did you wake up for the nominations? Walk me through the last few hours.
I was asleep. I fell asleep reading a good book, so I was comfortably asleep. My mother is with me right now, and I heard her phone ring and it woke me from my sleep, and then I heard her feet running up the stairs. She had my whole team on a group FaceTime call. Very, very, very exciting. Very sweet for all of us.
You and I have spoken about how close you felt to this character, and how much it pushed you as an actor. What's the significance of the recognition, in the context of that?
This character for me and what is on screen is everything that I've wanted to say as an actor my whole life. It's every bit of the dream that I've had since I was 12. It's everything that I could possibly express of myself in a part. So in a way, the creature is the personification of a dream I had when I was very small. It means a lot to me because it's not just a character, it's myself. It's myself as an actor, I suppose.
Frankenstein is up for nine Oscars. A lot of your below-the-line colleagues were recognized for their contributions.
It's incredibly confirming and it makes me super grateful to the Academy and to the movie industry because it tells me that we are looking at the right things. The same with films like Sinners that are also handmade, it's just incredible actors, incredible artisans being recognized for real handmade cinematic work. It's a good thing for the movies.
What are some of the performances you are excited to be in the conversation with this year?
Even down to the performances that I'm nominated with — every actor grew up on Sean Penn. I mean, that's the bar in terms of real performance. Then Stellan Skarsgard, Benicio del Toro — these are people that I've read the unofficial biographies of. It's surreal to be in esteemed company.
Guillermo was not nominated for directing despite receiving a lot of recognition along the way. You've become very close. Anything you want to say there?
I see that our film has nine nominations, and for him particularly adapting the screenplay, something that's so dear and personal to him, I think that is just such an incredible achievement. All of our nominations are his nominations. None of us have these nominations without Guillermo del Toro.
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By Ted Johnson
Political Editor
Donald Trump raged at the latest New York Times/Siena Poll, which shows him with low approval after a year in office, and said that he'll add what he called the “fake results” to his defamation claim against the Gray Lady.
Trump's Truth Social post on Thursday is only the latest threat to target pollsters with legal action. He sued pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over a 2024 pre-election poll showing his behind in Iowa, yet he went on to win the state.
Trump posted on Truth Social, “The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times. Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they “computed” these fake results — Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”
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The Times/Siena Poll, published on Thursday, showed that 49% of those surveyed said that the country was worse off under Trump, versus 32% who said better. His job approval was at 40%, and disapproval at 56%.
Watch on Deadline
Trump sued the Times last year, claiming, among other things, that Susanne Craig and Ross Buettner, and their book Lucky Loser, defamed him. Their article was headlined, “The Star-Making Machine That Created ‘Donald Trump.'” The lawsuit took particular issue with the notion that Trump's celebrity fame was due to Mark Burnett and NBC's The Apprentice.
A judge tossed out the lawsuit shortly after it was filed, warning that “a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”
Trump refiled the complaint, citing not just the claim that Burnett made Trump a star, but other passages. His lawsuit cited claims made in the book that Trump received “the equivalent of more than $400 million from his father, much of it through fraudulent tax evasion schemes.”
The Times is challenging the filing of the case in Florida, and not New York, while arguing that Trump's claim “fails to sufficiently allege the most basic element of a defamation claim: a false and defamatory statement of fact. It does not allege, as it must, how each statement in suit is false or what President Trump contends the truth to be, and it challenges statements that are not defamatory.”
A spokesperson for the Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's lawsuit against Selzer and the Register cited an Iowa consumer law. After dismissing the lawsuit in federal court, Trump filed it in state court, a day before a state anti-SLAPP statute took effect. Anti-SLAPP laws are designed to protect defendants from frivolous lawsuits meant to stifle speech. The state lawsuit is still pending.
A class-action lawsuit over the Selzer poll as dismissed by a federal judge last year. The plaintiffs, the conservative group the Center for American Rights, is appealing.
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Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't higher than 49%. Worst President of my lifetime.
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By Mike Fleming Jr
Editor-At-Large
EXCLUSIVE: Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar nomination Thursday morning for One Battle After Another puts him in such rarefied air that before our eyes he's transforming from the actor of his generation to one of the most accomplished actors ever.
This marks the eighth overall nomination for DiCaprio, who won Best Actor for The Revenant. It puts him in the company of eight other actors to be nominated for at least seven Oscars, a group that includes Ingrid Bergman, Jeff Bridges, Richard Burton, Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Greer Garson, Dustin Hoffman and DiCaprio's Titanic costar Kate Winslet.
His six Best Actor nominations tie him with Burton and Daniel Day-Lewis for most all time.
Watch on Deadline
RELATED: Oscars: Every Best Actor Oscar Winner Back To 1927
DiCaprio spoke this morning with Deadline. As usual, his focus was not on himself but rather his Oscar-nominated castmates on One Battle After Another and writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. It was also about the reminder that sometimes when you take risks and swing for the fences from your heels, you hit home runs.
While Warner Bros leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy were unfairly shackled with risks taken on One Battle After Another and Sinners, they are looking pretty smart today: those films got a total of 29 nominations at a time when specialty labels and not studios rule the awards circuit.
One Battle After Another's release has been a momentum builder, transitioning from theaters to streaming at an optimal time. I tell DiCaprio this is a movie that lends itself better than many to repeat viewings, where you can focus on different performances, action, and great dialogue each time.
“That is the ultimate compliment for this film,” DiCaprio told Deadline. “Having watched the film that way a multitude of times myself, I feel it's a testament to the incredible amount of thought that Paul put into this story. When films take on a different meaning or a different pathos, you feel you can take a side road into any of these small characters' lives because they are all so fully fulfilled and hashed out with real identities. To me, it really is original filmmaking and a really multifaceted world, about a subject that is so pertinent to the world we're living in, and the confusion of the world we're living in, and the hostility and the extremism. Paul made one of those films that I'm going to be so proud to look back. I feel like he really put his thumb on the pulse of America right now. I hope it will be remembered that way, and lives on for years to come. And it's all a testament to Paul's writing and what he wanted to say about who we are right now.”
There are only five nominations in each Oscar category except Best Picture, and somebody's going to be left out. DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor all got nods. Acting in her first major feature, Chase Infiniti did not.
“Chase was the heart and soul of this movie,” DiCaprio said. “And she's going to have an incredible career ahead of her. She really carried this film, especially it being her first role in a feature film. I couldn't have been more proud of her and the integrity and the intensity and the leadership that she brought to that character. As for the others, what can I say? I got to work with an all-star cast. I was incredibly fortunate to work with so many people that I've looked up to for years in this industry, and it was an incredible experience.
“To work on this film with Paul and just to collaborate on a film that just feels so topical, man, it's unbelievable,” DiCaprio said. “It has been so cool to be a part of this band, when you go out in the world and are able to talk about a film that you're truly proud of. With actors that you're so proud to work with and a story that you feel is important. We've been doing it for the past year, and there's an ease to talking about something that you have such a genuine love and pride for. And that's how I feel about this movie.”
RELATED: Leonardo DiCaprio On ‘One Battle After Another', His “No Regrets” Career And The Fight To Save Cinema
I tell him that it seems only a matter of time that the Academy Museum comes knocking for the bathrobe DiCaprio's Bob Ferguson character wears for the entire film, and the karate pants Del Toro wore throughout.
“I guess they'll come for those, and that tracking device,” he said, adding that he doesn't have any of that stuff. “When I make a movie, I always look at the props and wonder, what might be the memorable symbol of some of these films? And I guess you nailed it.”
Unlike like his Killers of the Flower Moon co-star Robert De Niro, DiCaprio doesn't have the hoarder gene and couldn't remember anything special he took from the job. So no, the bathrobe isn't hanging in his closet.
“It's gotten harder to get those props out of the studios, man. They go right into the vault. I can't think of anything I have that is that memorable. Bob, he keeps everything.”
DiCaprio will next star with Jennifer Lawrence in the Martin Scorsese-directed What Happens at Night, as Michael Mann continues work on Heat 2, the crime classic sequel. Last time Deadline spoke with DiCaprio, he was weighing whether to play Vincent Hanna (the role originated by Al Pacino) or Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) and their continuing adventures.
I tried to pry out details on that and his Golden Globes viral moment, and he shut down like the door of a studio prop vault.
“On Heat 2, we're keeping that one tight,” he said.
As for his animated Golden Globes moment that went viral to the point lip readers were speculating on who he was speaking to, and whether the subject was KPop Demon Hunters? He felt no need to elaborate.
“It was directed to a friend, but at the end of the day, who knows if this other person that I was talking to wants me to even mention their name? So, as the lead character says in A Bronx Tale, I'm not a rat.”
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Streaming service Sundance Now is one of AMC Networks‘ “targeted” streamers, a collection that also includes AMC+, horror-centric Shudder, and ALLBLK for African American audiences. Yet even though the streamer shares the name of the Sundance Film Festival and Institute, the content on Sundance Now has largely been for scripted series, highlighting shows like “Close to Me,” “Motherland,” and “This Close.”
On Thursday, January 22, however — the same day the Sundance Film Festival kicks off for the final time in Park City — AMC Networks is rebranding Sundance Now to be the definitive streaming destination for indie film… just like the festival Sundance is for indies.
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Sundance Now will feature more than 1,000 hours of programming, and it will now have curated collections of indie films as well as a selection of IFC titles, which also shares AMC Networks as a parent company. Each month will have a new premiere, including upcoming films like “Violent Ends,” “100 Nights of Hero,” “The Plague,” “Forbidden Fruits,” and “Over Your Dead Body.” The service will also highlight a title every Friday, and it will feature curated collections of indies, starting with movies that have been standouts at film festivals like Sundance and others.
A few of the film titles that will be available at launch include “Boyhood,” “Ghostlight,” “The Babadook,” “Speak No Evil,” “How to Survive a Plague,” and “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work.”
Sundance Now is also an official sponsor of the festival and will be hosting a panel discussion on Saturday, January 24 at 1:30pm MT in Park City. The panel, titled “Building a Home for Independent Voices & Storytelling,” will feature Jay Duplass, Amy Redford, and Natalie Erika James — whose film “Saccharine” was just acquired by Shudder ahead of its festival debut — and head of AMC Networks' IFC Entertainment Group Scott Shooman.
“As the global leader in targeted streaming, AMC Networks brings deep expertise in building streaming products that connect with passionate communities,” said Courtney Thomasma, executive vice president of AMC Networks' linear and streaming products. “We're thrilled to offer Sundance Now as a home for both filmmakers and film enthusiasts, leveraging our in-house film group and festival partnerships to promote access, discovery, and affinity for culture-defining stories and storytellers.”
“As audiences have more options, and become more demanding, we wanted to recreate the film festival experience by showcasing a program hand-selected across all genres, by some of the best curators in the business. Our company has built a legacy around nurturing new creative voices, thought-provoking stories, and boundary-pushing cinema. Sundance Now deepens that commitment, furthering our ability to showcase independent film across our full distribution ecosystem — from theatrical to streaming — and deliver a taste-driven gateway to audiences craving the best in independent storytelling,” said Shooman.
Sundance Now is available for $7.99 per month and has a 50 percent off introductory discount when using the promo code SN50.
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The shows will kick off in Amsterdam in May.
By
Thomas Smith
Dig out the feather boas and plan your sparkliest getup: Harry Styles is heading out on a global world tour in 2026.
The newly announced run of 50 dates in seven cities — called Together, Together — will take Styles to Europe, North America, Latin America and Australia. The first show kicks off in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on May 16, and the trek is currently slated to conclude in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 13.
The Together, Together residencies come in support of upcoming fourth solo LP, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, due for release on March. 6 via Columbia. The album's lead track, “Aperture,” is set for release Thursday evening (Jan. 22) at 7 p.m ET; a number of in-person listening parties were held in cities across the world on Wednesday in anticipation of the track.
Styles first began teasing his return to the stage in late 2025 by sharing a video from his most recent concert in Bologna, Italy. The date was the final stop on his two-year Love On Tour run, which grossed $617 million across 169 shows and, at the time of its conclusion, was the fifth-highest grossing tour of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Last Thursday, Styles announced the title and release date of his forthcoming album, his first since 2022's Grammy-winning Harry's House.
The tour will kick off with six nights at Amsterdam's Johann Cruijff Arena before heading to London's Wembley Stadium for a further six shows. In July, he hits São Paulo, Brazil then Mexico City, and the following month, he begins a 30-night residency at New York City's Madison Square Garden. In November, the tour begins its final stretch in Melbourne, Australia, and concludes in Sydney's Accor Stadium.
A number of huge names will join him on tour at each stop with Robyn, Shania Twain, Fcukers, Jamie xx, Jorja Smith, Fousheé, Skye Newman and Baby J set to support.
Tickets for the tour will go on general sale on Jan. 30 from Harry Styles' website.
An artist presale will commence on Jan. 28 via AMEX with full details and times for each date available at Styles' site. To participate in the artist presale for New York, fans must sign up at Ticketmaster before Jan. 25 11:59 p.m. ET. For dates in Europe and Australia, hopefuls must pre-order the new album from Styles' U.K., E.U. or AU stores before Saturday, Jan. 24, at 11:59 p.m. local time to access.
The Together, Together run features a number of charitable partners. Humanitarian charity Choose Love is partnered on all dates, with HeadCount also partnering with Styles at his New York shows. In the U.K., £1 from every ticket will be donated to the LIVE Trust to support grassroots music venues.
See his announcement and tour dates below:
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The nominations for the 98th Annual Academy Awards were announced live Thursday, January 22, with press, publicists, and other guests gathering at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the very early hours of the morning. Attendees were still sleepy as the ceremony began — on the dot, at 5:30 a.m. — but there was also a palpable excitement in the air for Phase Two of awards season to kick off, and to finally find out what films made the final cut in what has been a particularly competitive Oscar race.
Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor kicked off the ceremony with a brief speech thanking the audience, both in person and those watching the livestream, while providing a preamble that gestured at the ongoing conversations about the role of AI in film.
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“This year, the Oscars celebrate our humanity, our connection with each other, and remind us once again that the world is made up of individual stories that have the power to unite us through narratives that speak to the emotions we all share,” she said. “We live in a time of limitless technology that enables us to push the boundaries of our cinematic experience, and our profound belief is that the heartbeat of film is, and will always remain, unmistakably human.”
That last line earned applause from the in-person audience, keying up the main event perfectly: Former Best Supporting Actress nominee Danielle Brooks and “The Testament of Ann Lee” star Lewis Pullman started reading the esteemed names and titles, and a clear crowd favorite soon emerged:
“Sinners,” Ryan Coogler's Southern horror blockbuster about a Black community in a small town haunted by vampires, cleaned up, breaking the record with 16 total nominations. The film got the biggest and most excited reaction by far among the small sample crowd assembled, with huge cheers for every single nomination it pulled — especially Michael B. Jordan's Best Actor nod and its inclusion in the very first Best Casting lineup.
“Sinners” also gave nomination morning one of the most delightful surprises, when on-the-bubble contender Delroy Lindo, who plays pianist Delta Slim, made his way into the Best Supporting Actor lineup. Beating out the presumptive fifth-man, Paul Mescal for “Hamnet,” Lindo's long-awaited first Oscar nom sparked massive applause.
On the opposite end of the surprise scale, but clearly a film that had its fans present, was “KPop Demon Hunters,” which received a huge reaction for its very expected Best Animated Feature and Best Song (for “Golden”) nods.
Other unexpected nominations elicited more shock mixed with excitement. The crowd reacted with audible gasps when “F1,” which had only emerged as a contender very recently after being included in the PGA nominations, was announced as the second Best Picture contender in the 10-film field.
Kate Hudson's surprise entry in the Best Actress field, for the Neil Diamond jukebox musical “Song Sung Blue,” was met with cheers but also some evident astonishment, as did Elle Fanning's inclusion in Best Supporting Actress for “Sentimental Value,” the very first nomination announced. And Oliver Laxe's rave drama “Sirāt,” which over-performed in the shortlists, was greeted with delight when it made the Best International Feature and Best Sound categories.
The 98th Annual Academy Awards will be held Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. After his acclaimed performance last year, comedian Conan O'Brien will return to host the show for a second year. The ceremony will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu.
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The actress was nominated for her role in 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.'
By
Beatrice Verhoeven
Awards Editor
If you watched the Golden Globes and were curious if Rose Byrne and her partner Bobby Cannavale ended up finding a bearded dragon, we have an update for you.
“He's doing well!” Byrne told The Hollywood Reporter following her Oscar nomination for her performance in A24's If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. “It's for the kids. The kids arevery happy.”
During Byrne's acceptance speech at the Globes, she said Cannavale was not at the ceremony with her because he was in the process of finding a new, cold-blooded member of the family. “We're getting a bearded dragon, and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey,” she said to laughter from crowd. (Byrne referred to Cannavale as “my husband” but has noted in previous interviews that the pair, who have been together for over a decade, are not legally married.)
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Will Cannavale join her at the Oscars ceremony in March? “Absolutely! It's the middle of the night in Australia, and he called me. So cute.”
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Byrne was nominated in the best lead actress category alongside Kate Hudson (Song Song Blue), Emma Stone (Bugonia), Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) and Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value). “I can't believe it. I feel like I've snuck into the back of the bus. I can't believe we got in this extraordinary group of women,” she says. “And, you know, this movie's so small, it's so surreal, and means so much. This movie's so incredible and special and a true artistic expression, it's just wild.”
Apart from the Globes win earlier this month, Byrne has been sweeping the awards circuit for her performance. She was nominated at the Critics Choice Awards, Independent Spirit and the Gotham Awards, for example, but won the National Board of Review Award for best actress, among others. She is also currently nominated for an Actor Award (formerly SAG Awards).
With all of her accolades thus far, the Oscar nomination carries a unique weight.
“The thought of the legacy and the pageantry and the scale of it, it's impossible to not have that value,” she says. “All of these sort of experiences we've had, and acknowledgements and recognition that we've had, it definitely feels like a monumental moment to have this acknowledgement. Of course, that huge kind of legacy and tradition of this ceremony is just undeniable, so to be a small part of that is unbelievable. I love the Oscars. [When I was a] little girl from Sydney, Australia, I used to watch [the show]. The pageantry of it is so fun and theatrical.”
You can see the full list of Oscar nominations here.
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By Antonia Blyth
Executive Editor, Awardsline
In California early Thursday morning, Ryan Coogler said he and the Sinners team — his partner in production and in life, Zinzi Coogler, and their longtime co-producer Sev Ohanian — were still taking in the reality of a “pretty crazy” 16 Oscar nominations.
Sinners has broken all previous records with its nominations sweep, beating out historical big Oscar dominators like All About Eve, La La Land and Titanic.
I did not have any expectations when it came to the recognition of what they [the team] did. For me, people just showing up to the movies and having a good time, that would've been enough. That is worth all the effort.
Typically horror does not get widely recognized by the Academy. When asked by Deadline what it meant to have his film with some horror elements break that mold, the director said, “I haven't had a chance to think about it on the genre thought, but as far as pride in what we made and how we made it, I was so thankful that everybody said yes to this movie. My partners included, because I knew that the movie on the surface could be read as very strange. And I say that in the best of ways, because I also really love strange movies. Those are the movies that I always admired. And I always admired the bravery of artists that were able to make movies that were kind of undefinable when it came to genre, and scary movies and movies that went there in any particular way.”
He also acknowledged that, with his filmmaking history including Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, he “was not known for making movies with horror elements. So I knew that it would also be maybe some sticker shock that it was coming from me, but to see how my partners wrapped their arms around it and everybody came down to New Orleans and put their lives on hold for a few months to make this thing and gave it their all, that filled me with just an incredible sense of gratitude. And seeing everybody's contributions up close, I knew the quality of what people were doing.”
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Given the Oscar nominations sweep for Sinners, Coogler added, “I did not have any expectations when it came to the recognition of what they [the team] did. For me, people just showing up to the movies and having a good time, that would've been enough. That is worth all the effort. But that people would consider the craft and the achievements that went into it individually. It's so rewarding.”
To see [Michael B. Jordan] achieve this recognition by his peers, it's just the best feeling to have.
Speaking alongside the Cooglers, Ohanian said that Sinners' record number of nominations had not been his only delightful surprise this morning. Ahead of the 5.30AM announcement he received some unexpected visitors at his house. “My doorbell rang at 5:15, ding dong! And it was my mom and my dad and my sister who live nearby. They showed up with a bunch of food and they're like, ‘Let's just put the TV on, let's do this.' So my wife and I had a chance to see it next to them. It was really lovely.”
But of course there was also time for a little dad joke in there too. “My dad was keeping count next to me. And when he said that, I was like, ‘Dad, you got it wrong. There's no way it's that many.' And he's been gleefully pointing out how right he was once the articles came out: ‘So you trust the articles, you don't trust my counting?'”
Another great surprise was Delroy Lindo being recognized in Supporting Actor and Wunmi Mosaku in Supporting Actress.
The Cooglers actually live just down the street from Lindo. “Delroy lives in Oakland,” Ryan Coogler said. “He lives a few minutes away from me and Zinzi, so we got to know him before working with him and we'll see him around at the post office and stuff. And we've obviously become incredibly close with Wunmi. We got really close with her and her family. Our children will play together and we got to know her husband.”
With Michael B. Jordan nominated in best Actor, Coogler also looked back on their longtime collaboration that began ahead of 2013's Fruitvale Station. “Obviously the three of us have been working with Michael since 2012. So that's a 14-year relationship. We produced his first directorial debut [Creed III] some years back and have been working with him in every capacity, in every way in between. And he's been in the business for a couple decades. So to see him achieve this recognition by his peers, it's just the best feeling to have. We just feel really, really, really happy that they said yes to the project, first of all, and happy for them.”
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So happy for them and the team of OBAA too. This film is the first one where it completely shifted from really good to great within the ending, through these post credit scenes. Im sure quite a few people missed it. The impact is astonishing.
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Oscar nominations morning was a good day for Warner Bros., which took home a total 30 nominations. Mighty Best Picture frontrunner “One Battle After Another” racked up 13 nominations, including Picture, Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Supporting Actors Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, Supporting Actress Teyana Taylor, and Paul Thomas Anderson for Director and Adapted Screenplay. (One significant miss: newcomer Chase Infiniti for Best Actress, a calculated risk designed to give Taylor a shot at winning Supporting Actress.)
But it was Ryan Coogler's audacious period horror musical “Sinners” that landed 16 nominations (breaking the Oscar record of 14 set by “Titanic,” “All About Eve,” and “La La Land”), including Picture, Actor Michael B. Jordan, Supporting Actor Delroy Lindo (who knocked out “Hamnet” star Paul Mescal), Supporting Actress Wunmi Mosaku, and Coogler for Directing and Original Screenplay. The two music categories and Casting helped to put it over the top.
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The comeback narrative for Hollywood scion Kate Hudson (musical “Song Sung Blue”) was too strong for the Academy Actors Branch to deny. Focus Features also had a good day, with 13 nominations, including Chloé Zhao's Shakespeare family drama “Hamnet” (eight). The BAFTAs should prove a strong boost for the movie, which missed a Paul Mescal nod, but did score Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Casting, and Actress (frontrunner Jessie Buckley), but not Editing or Cinematography. And Yorgos Lanthimos' “Bugonia” landed four slots: Best Picture, Producer and Actress (Emma Stone), Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay nominations. At 37, Stone is the youngest woman to earn seven nominations.
Five movies — the period pictures that landed the Actor Awards ensemble, DGA, and PGA nominations — dominated the field: “Sinners” (16), “One Battle After Another” (13), A24's “Marty Supreme” (nine), Netflix's “Frankenstein” (nine), and “Hamnet” (eight), along with Norway's Oscar entry “Sentimental Value” (nine). Besides being hugely entertaining, all delivered emotional stories and political subtext. And “Hamnet” and “Sentimental Value” dealt with fractured families and the healing power of art. But “One Battle After Another” has been on a winning streak that shows no signs of slowing.
Another genre film, “Weapons,” gave veteran Amy Madigan her second nomination after 40 years (“Twice in a Lifetime”).
Next in the nominations derby was gorgeously wrought “Frankenstein,” with nine nominations, scoring Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay slots, plus Supporting Actor Jacob Elordi, but not Director for DGA nominee Guillermo del Toro. The elevated horror film will win big in the crafts. Netflix totaled 18 nominations, including two for Animated Feature and Song frontrunner “KPop Demon Hunters,” four for Best Picture and Adapted screenplay contender “Train Dreams,” one for documentary nominee “The Perfect Neighbor,” and two shorts (“All the Empty Rooms” and “The Singers”).
Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing nominee Josh Safdie challenged Sean Baker and Warren Beatty for the most nominations for one movie for “Marty Supreme” (A24), which landed nine nominations, including Picture nominee (also as a producer) and Best Actor frontrunner Timothée Chalamet, who played table tennis like a pro. SAG nominee Odessa A'zion did not make the cut.
The international vote (24 percent of Academy voters) spoke loud with a total 18 nominations for Neon, which released European Film Awards winner “Sentimental Value,” with nine nods: Picture, Actress Renate Reinsve, Supporting Actor Stellan Skarsgård, and Supporting Actresses Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, along with Director Joachim Trier, Best International Feature, and Original Screenplay for Trier and Eskil Vogt (they were previously nominated for “The Worst Person in the World”). Clearly, the Actors Branch supports this movie.
Neon continued celebrating with a Best Picture nomination for Brazilian Oscar entry “The Secret Agent,” which also landed in Best Casting, Actor (Cannes and Globes winner Wagner Moura), and International Feature; Iranian Jafar Panahi's “It Was Just an Accident” (France), which missed Best Picture and Director but nabbed Original Screenplay and International slots; and Oliver Laxe's “Sirāt” (Spain), which did not wind up in the Best Picture race, but placed in International and Best Sound. Neon filled four of the five International slots with its Cannes prize-winners. Park Chan-wook's stylish Venice contender “No Other Choice” did not make it. The fifth feature was emotional “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Willa).
PGA nominee “F1” (Apple Original Films) grabbed the 10th Best Picture spot, voted in by the surviving steak eaters in the Academy. The movie landed three craft nominations: Editing, Sound, and VFX.
The signs were strong that two box-office hit sequels that did not surpass their prior iterations, “Wicked: For Good” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” would see diminishing returns this time around. “Wicked” wound up empty-handed; even Ariana Grande did not land a Supporting Actress berth. Auteur James Cameron had to settle for Costume Design, Sound, and VFX, which will win.
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Blake Lively's longtime fitness trainer recalled feeling “uncomfortable” during an interaction with Justin Baldoni.
Don Saladino recalled communicating with the “It Ends With Us” director “a handful of times” in February 2023, according to a court declaration obtained by Us Weekly Wednesday.
“He provided information on his nutrition and workout regimen. His existing workout program included regular back extensions,” Saladino said of Baldoni.
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“I recommended Mr. Baldoni a workout program and provided information to him about my standard nutrition plan,” Saladino continued. “I also recommended a specific individual who lived near Mr. Baldoni at the time and who could act as his trainer.”
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Saladino, who said he never met Baldoni in person, claimed the director called him on the phone during his training to ask a personal question about the “Gossip Girl” alum.
“I recall that Mr. Baldoni asked me how much Ms. Lively would weigh by the start of filming,” Saladino claimed in the filing. “He said that he was asking about her weight in connection with a scripted lift scene, suggesting that he needed to know Ms. Lively's weight to determine whether he could perform the lift.”
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Saladino said Baldoni's question made him “very uncomfortable.”
“I have never experienced someone reaching out to me about a client's weight,” Saladino claimed. “I felt that Mr. Baldoni's explanation for his question was dishonest, given that, based on my understanding of Mr. Baldoni's workout regimen, he would easily be able to perform a lift in a range that would include Ms. Lively.”
The gym coach claimed he did not share Lively's weight with Baldoni and immediately alerted the actress about the incident.
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“Lively seemed embarrassed and hurt that Mr. Baldoni had asked about her weight without her permission,” Saladino recalled.
Page Six has reached out to Baldoni's rep for comment.
Saladino's statement confirmed reports in 2024 that Lively allegedly felt “fat-shamed” by Baldoni's inquiry into her weight.
At the time, sources claimed Baldoni asked a trainer about Lively's weight before shooting a scene where he had to lift her up.
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The “Jane the Virgin” star, who reportedly has a history of back pain, wanted to make sure that he could lift her without injury.
Lively felt “bothered” by his question about her weight — especially considering she gave birth to her fourth child just months before production for their movie began.
The “A Simple Favor” star, 38, sued Baldoni, 41, for alleged sexual harassment on the set of their movie in December 2024. She also accused him of retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages.
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Baldoni denied the accusations and hit back with a $400 million countersuit accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation.
He also accused the New York Times — the first outlet to report on Lively's lawsuit — of libel.
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Last June, a judge dismissed Baldoni's countersuit.
Lively's lawsuit is still ongoing and trial is scheduled to begin on May 18.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
With filming underway in Asheville, North Carolina, for Hallmark Channel's second “A Biltmore Christmas” movie, local media members were invited to the Biltmore Estate on January 20, 2026, for a peek behind the scenes.
Not only were previously announced stars Niall Matter and Holland Roden on hand for interviews, but so was another Hallmark fan favorite, Rachel Boston, who made a cameo in the first movie and confirmed she's now part of the second installment, too! And she's not the only star fans are buzzing about being part of the movie, which also has an official title: “A Grand Biltmore Christmas.”
In 2024's “A Biltmore Christmas,” a screenwriter named Lucy, played by Bethany Joy Lenz, is tasked with writing a remake of the 1947 Christmas classic “His Merry Wife,” filmed at the historic Biltmore Estate. While touring the massive home for inspiration, she magically travels back in time to the set of the first movie and falls for the 1940s film's leading man, played by Kristoffer Polaha.
When Lucy returns to the present day, she's seen on the set of her movie remake as the last scene is filmed, with Boston and Wes Brown playing the movie's leads — a double cameo that thrilled Hallmark fans. “A Grand Biltmore Christmas” is also a time travel tale, but because Hallmark has said it's not a true sequel, it's not clear whether Boston will return as the same modern-day actress or play an entirely different role.
During press interviews, she told local ABC affiliate WLOS that she loved “having these memories and being back with this fabulous cast for ‘A Grand Biltmore Christmas.'” She also called Asheville “such a great town” and said that in their downtime, the cast “really enjoyed exploring.”
Meanwhile, Brown teased his own return by posting a photo in his Instagram Stories on January 19 of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which the Biltmore House overlooks, and writing, “Hello, North Carolina.” Although he wasn't part of the press interviews the following day, Hallmark's PR team confirmed January 21 that he, too, is returning for “A Grand Biltmore Christmas.”
As previously announced, “Star Trek” royalty Jonathan Frakes will also return for the second movie as Winston, a Biltmore staff member who seemed somehow privvy to the magical time-traveling properties of the hourglass in the first movie.
Finally, there's also been buzz that “The Way Home” star and former Asheville resident Andie MacDowell may be a surprise addition to the cast. Jason Sanford of The AsheVegas Hot Sheet reported that he's “confident that she is a cast member” after talking to multiple sources.
According to Hallmark's synopsis, the new movie will take viewers back to 1895 — the year the Biltmore House was completed — when a visiting 13-year-old named Elizabeth connects with a fellow teen named Michael. The two don't see each other again until 20 years later, when they're adults (played by Roden and Matter), back at the Biltmore. The magical hourglass from the first movie is back, too, and transports the duo to the present day — which may be where Michael is from to begin with.
“I'm coming from the modern era in this movie,” Matter told WLOS. “And my character, you get to see my character in two different eras. You also get to see Biltmore at two different eras — actually, three different eras.”
“Our characters are acquaintances in the past,” he continued, looking at Roden. “But maybe they become more in the present.”
Boston, who also starred in Hallmark's top Christmas movie of 2025 — “The More the Merrier,” told local CBS affiliate WSPA of the new Biltmore movie script, “Having read it, I will say, it is absolutely adorable and very, very, very sweet.”
Roden chimed in, “Not only is it a really wonderful romance front and center, but there's a lot of comedy that's unexpected.”
The new movie, produced by Synthetic Cinema, which also was behind the first Biltmore movie, will premiere as part of Hallmark's 2026 slate of original Christmas movies.
Are the ORIGINAL CAST MEMBERS like Beth Joy Lynz going to be in this movie??? She made the movie and without her it will not be the same.
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As AI invades more creative spaces, whether we ask it to or not, a coalition of actors, musicians, writers, and other artists have shared a new statement with a blunt message: stealing isn't innovation.
“America's creative community is the envy of the world and creates jobs, economic growth, and exports. But rather than respect and protect this valuable asset, some of the biggest tech companies, many backed by private equity and other funders, are using American creators' work to build AI platforms without authorization or regard for copyright law,” reads the statement. “Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation. It's not progress. It's theft – plain and simple. A better way exists – through licensing deals and partnerships, some AI companies have taken the responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use. It is possible to have it all. We can have advanced, rapidly developing AI and ensure creators' rights are respected.”
The letter has already received about 700 signatures, according to Deadline. Some of the names we recognized, in no particular order, include Vince Gilligan, Winnie Holzman, OK Go, Olivia Munn, Cyndi Lauper, Jennifer Hudson, They Might Be Giants, Sean Astin, George Saunders, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Bell, R.E.M., Alex Winter, Cate Blanchett, Chaka Khan, Bonnie Raitt, Aimee Mann, and Fran Drescher.
The question of AI theft has been circulating for years now and likely isn't going away any time soon. While massive companies like Disney have the option to enter into lucrative deals with OpenAI (after dubbing a rival AI company a “bottomless pit of plagiarism”) the majority of actors, novelists, and whoever else does not have this option. Last year, a group of writers brought a lawsuit against Anthropic AI, alleging that the tech used their copyrighted writing without permission or payment to train its Claude model. The company settled that lawsuit in August.
Recommended for You1FX body-horror series The Beauty has plenty of skin-deep pleasures2Stephen Graham goes way too far to fix a wayward youth in Heel trailer3The TV train moves too slowly in this week's Hijack4DC's Batman and Robin movie finally has a writer5A fan-service-heavy Fallout has marquee moments but a troubling lack of coherence
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By Nellie Andreeva
Co-Editor-in-Chief, TV
Three weeks ago, Timothée Chalamet declared on Instagram that he is “officially unc” as he turned 30. He may be old by Gen Alpha standards, but he is one of the youngest actors ever to become a three-time Oscar nominee for acting.
All of Chalamet's nominations have come in the Best Actor category, for Call Me by Your Name in 2018, A Complete Unknown last year, and Marty Supreme this morning. He is 30 years and 26 days old.
Chalamet is the youngest male actor to accomplish the feat since the great Marlon Brando, who was nominated for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1952, Viva Zapata! in 1953 and Julius Caesar in 1954, also all in the Best Actor category. Brando was still 29 when the 1954 Oscar nominations were revealed on Feb. 15 of that year, a month and a half before his 30th birthday on April 3.
Overall Jennifer Lawrence remains the youngest actor ever (male or female) to earn three Oscar nominations. She was 23 when she received her third her American Hustle (Supporting Actress) in January 2014, following Best Actress nominations for Winter's Bone (2011) and Silver Linings Playbook (2013), the latter landing her the trophy.
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Chalamet is actually a four-time Oscar nominee. He is also nominated in the Best Picture category this year as one of the Marty Supreme producers, becoming the youngest actor to accomplish the acting-producing Oscar nomination double in the same year. He edged Warren Beatty who was 30 years and almost 10 months when he achieved the same in February 1968 for Bonnie and Clyde.
In the 2026 Actor In a Leading Role field, Chalamet is facing previous winner Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle after Another), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent).
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Anyones thinks hes a safe bet? Or does he have to wait as long as Di Caprio for his first win!? That would mean to two rounds more. The speed in which he achieved these nominations already is incredible.
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Kory Grow
The United States may feel like it's on the brink of a civil war led by its own government, but one thing Americans seem to agree on in our nation's bisesquicentennial year is the peaceful, easy feeling we all get from the Eagles‘ early years. The RIAA announced on Thursday that the group's first compilation, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) (1976), had become the first LP in history to be christened quadruple diamond by the RIAA. The certification signifies that the band has sold more than 40 million copies of the LP, officially making it the bestselling album of all time.
Runner-up to the Eagles, of course, remains Michael Jackson‘s Thriller (1982), which retains its 34x platinum status, certified in 2021. And in third place? Well, gee … (blushes, adjusts tie), it's the Eagles again, this time with Hotel California, which, as of Thursday, is now freshly certified 28x platinum. That achievement, of course, is due to the Eagles' greatest hits capping things off in 1975, a year before Hotel California came out, making it so you need both if you're a real Eagles fan.
For Eagles singer-songwriter Don Henley, who recognized another milestone (Greatest Hits came out nearly half a century ago on Feb. 17, 1976), quadruple diamond status is a cultural victory. “In an age, in a culture, where everything seems to become more ephemeral, by the day, it is gratifying to have been part of something that endures, even for 50 years,” he said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We are amazed and grateful.”
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The band is celebrating by re-releasing Greatest Hits on clear, heavyweight vinyl and performing another 12 gigs at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The residency begins Friday and features four dates this month, another four each in February and March.
The AP notes that while RIAA diamond certifications once represented the sale of 10 million physical albums, the company has since changed its thresholds for the streaming era. Beginning in 2013, certifications now recognize streaming equivalents, drawing from plays on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. If you stream an album 1,500 times, and Eagles fans apparently have, that is now equal to one album sale.
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If you want some counter programming to the Oscar nominations, look no further than the campy, fun, live-action take on “Masters of the Universe,” the film based on Mattel‘s '80s toy brand and cartoon.
Travis Knight, known for Laika's stop-motion animated films and the “Transformers” spinoff “Bumblebee,” has taken on the Herculean task of imagining the He-Man character and his battle with Skeletor for the big screen. Amazon MGM Studios is releasing “Masters of the Universe” June 5, 2026 in theaters.
Nicholas Galitzine stars as He-Man, a boy from Eternia who is sent away to our world, where he's stuck unfulfilling his destiny in a boring desk job. It's only when he tracks down the legendary Sword of Power that Prince Adam returns to Eternia to save his home from the evil Skeletor, who is portrayed by an unrecognizable Jared Leto.
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Related Stories AMC Networks Streamer Sundance Now Rebranding to Target Indie Film… Just Like the Film Festival ‘One Battle' Looks Unstoppable with a Commanding 13 Oscar Nominations, but It Was ‘Sinners' That Made Oscar History — Analysis
The film also stars Camila Mendes as Teela, Idris Elba as the Man-At-Arms, as well as Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Charlotte Riley, and Kristen Wiig as the voice of “Roboto.”
Chris Butler wrote the screenplay for “Masters of the Universe” along with Aaron Nee and Adam Nee and Dave Callaham, from a story by Aaron and Adam Nee, Alex Litvak, and Michael Finch. The film was produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Robbie Brenner, Steve Tisch, and DeVon Franklin, and executive produced by Ynon Kreiz, Bill Bannerman, and David Bloomfield.
This is only Mattel's second film after the massive success of “Barbie,” which grossed $1.44 billion in 2023 from Warner Bros., though it's the first of many that Mattel has in development based on its numerous toys and games, including a Magic 8 Ball film by M. Night Shyamalan, as well as projects based on American Girl dolls, “Barney,” Hot Wheels, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Polly Pocket, “Thomas & Friends,” and more.
It's also one of Amazon MGM's big tentpoles of the year as it enters 2026 with a full slate of theatrical releases, including the upcoming “Mercy” and “Project Hail Mary,” to name just a few.
Check out the trailer for “Masters of the Universe” above.
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If it's Oscar nominations morning (it is!), it's time to dig into some of the history made ever so quickly with the announcement of this year's class of nominees.
As had long been predicted, “Hamnet” filmmaker Chloé Zhao, who previously won Best Director for directing “Nomadland,” has now joined a very rarefied club: female directors with two Best Director nominations. Previously, only Jane Campion, who was nominated for “The Piano” and won for “The Power of the Dog,” held the title.
With her historic nomination, Zhao joins a wider pool of directors who have been nominated multiple times in the vaunted category, including names like William Wyler, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, David Lean, Frank Capra, and many more.
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Related Stories ‘Sinners' Lands All-Time Record 16 Oscar Nominations — Complete List How Sundance Tees Up Future Oscar Contenders
Zhao also picked up a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with author Maggie O'Farrell), where the pair were the only women recognized. (No women were nominated in Best Original Screenplay.) And while Zhao is not a producer on “Hamnet” (they are the ones who win Best Picture), with the film's nomination in the Oscars‘ starriest category, she is responsible for the only woman-directed picture in the 10-film race.
Elsewhere, only one film in the Best International Feature Film category was directed by a woman: “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. There were some bright spots in other races, however.
In the Best Documentary Feature Film race, women-directed films actually held the majority, including “The Alabama Solution,” co-directed by Charlotte Kaufman; “Cutting Through Rocks,” co-directed by Sara Khaki; and “The Perfect Neighbor,” directed by Geeta Gandbhir. The same was true in Best Animated Feature Film, which also included three films directed or co-directed by women: smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters,” co-directed by Maggie Kang; “Elio,” co-directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi; and “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,” co-directed by Mailys Vallade.
Nominations voting for this year's Oscars ended on January 16. Final voting will take place from February 26 through March 5. And finally, the 98th Oscars telecast will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 15. Emmy-winning late-night host Conan O'Brien will return to host this year's ceremony.
Check out the full list of this morning's nominations right here.
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Nicola Peltz's ex's sister has entered the chat.
Anwar Hadid's sister Alana weighed in on the headline-making feud between the Beckham family and the “Lola” actress.
Commenting in an Instagram post about the drama, Alana claimed Peltz has wanted to be “famous” for years.
“Right and that girl doesn't want privacy she's been trying to be famous for a decade,” the model, 40, wrote.
Alana then took aim at Brooklyn's lengthy statement, in which he blasted his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, for trying to “ruin” his marriage to Peltz.
“Ending an eight paragraph rant about his family's dirty laundry with ‘all we want is privacy' is all I need to know,” Alana wrote.
Page Six has reached out to reps for Alana, Peltz and Brooklyn for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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Peltz, 31, dated Anwar, 26, from 2016 to 2018. At the time they began dating, the “Bates Motel” alum was 22 and the model was 17.
Their romance reportedly ended due to strained family relations with Anwar and his mother, Yolanda Hadid. However, the specific reasons for the split were never made public.
Peltz is now involved in more family drama with her husband Brooklyn's estranged relatives.
On Monday, the aspiring chef, also 26, released a scathing statement against his parents, stating that he does not “want to reconcile” with them.
Brooklyn also claimed the Spice Girls singer, 51, and David, 50, push certain stories to the press about their eldest son and his wife.
The hot sauce brand owner alleged that Victoria tried to sabotage his April 2022 wedding day by cancelling “Nicola's dress in the eleventh hour” and hijacking the newlyweds' first dance.
Brooklyn said he and Peltz renewed their vows in August 2025 to “create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.”
The nepo baby also denied claims that the “Transformers: Age of Extinction” star “controls” him, calling this notion “completely backward.”
The Beckhams have not directly addressed Brooklyn's claims; however, David made a cryptic comment about his children's “mistakes.”
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After a lengthy Phase 1 of Oscar season that included early award shows like the Gothams, Critics Choice Awards, and Golden Globes, along with endless speculation about what their results might mean, we now know who landed the coveted nominations.
It was a great morning for Warner Bros., with Ryan Coogler's “Sinners” landing a record 16 Oscar nominations, the most for any movie ever. Paul Thomas Anderson's “One Battle After Another” was not far behind with 13 nominations of its own, with both films picking up nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actor, Best Original Score, and their respective screenplay category, along with numerous acting nods. Apple's “F1,” which was distributed theatrically by Warner Bros., also picked up a Best Picture nomination.
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Other films receiving love from the Academy in multiple categories included “Frankenstein,” “Marty Supreme,” “Sentimental Value,” “Blue Moon,” “Bugonia,” “Hamnet,” “Train Dreams,” “Sirāt,” “It Was Just an Accident,” and “The Secret Agent.”
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The 98th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 15, with Conan O'Brien returning as host. The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Keep reading for the complete list of nominees.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
Delroy Lindo, “Sinners”
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Best Animated Short Film
“Butterfly”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls”
“Retirement Plan”
“The Three Sisters”
Best Costume Design
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“Sinners”
Best Live Action Short Film
“Butcher's Stain”
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“Jane Austen's Period Drama”
“The Singers”
“Two People Exchanging Saliva”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Frankenstein”
“Kokuho”
“Sinners”
“The Smashing Machine”
“The Ugly Stepsister”
Best Original Score
Jerskin Fendrix, “Bugonia”
Alexandre Desplat, “Frankenstein”
Max Richter, “Hamnet”
Jonny Greenwood, “One Battle After Another”
Ludwig Göransson, “Sinners”
Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Tracy, “Bugonia”
Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein”
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell, “Hamnet”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, “Train Dreams”
Best Original Screenplay
Robert Kaplow, “Blue Moon”
Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”
Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, “Marty Supreme”
Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, “Sentimental Value”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
Best Animated Feature
“Arco”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters”
“Little Amelie or the Character of Rain”
“Zootopia 2”
Best Casting
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sinners”
Best Cinematography
“Frankenstein”
“Marty Supreme”
“Sinners”
“One Battle After Another”
“Train Dreams”
Best Director
Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Best Documentary Short
“All the Empty Rooms”
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Children No More: Were and Are Gone”
“The Devil Is Busy”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”
Best Documentary Feature
“The Alabama Solution”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cutting Through Rocks”
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
“The Perfect Neighbor”
Best Editing
“F1”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
Best International Feature
“The Secret Agent”
“It Was Just an Accident”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sirat”
“The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Best Original Song
“Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters”
“I Lied to You” from “Sinners”
“Sweet Dreams of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!”
“Train Treams” from “Train Dreams”
Best Production Design
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”Best Sound
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirat”
Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“F1”
“Jurassic World Rebirth”
“The Lost Bus”
“Sinners”
Best Picture
“Bugonia”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
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By Andreas Wiseman, Patrick Hipes
UPDATED with complete list: Sinners was a record-breaker Thursday morning with a stunning 16 Oscar nominations, shattering the previous record of 14 held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).
Sinners is up for Best Picture, Actor Michael B. Jordan, Supporting Actress Wunmi Mosaku, Supporting Actor Delroy Lindo, Director and Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, Music Score, Song “I Lied To You.” Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Sound, Editing, Makeup & Hair, Casting and Visual Effects.
RELATED: Oscars Snubs & Surprises: Ariana Grande & ‘Wicked: For Good,' Hamnet's Paul Mescal Left Out, Brad Pitt's ‘F1' In Best Picture Race
Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another followed with 13 nominations, marking a stellar one-two punch for Warner Bros. The studio scored 30 nominations in total, tying its record number of nominations set in 2005. Indie distributor Neon and streamer Netflix had 18 noms each, while Focus Features had 13 and A24 had 11.
Netflix's Frankenstein, A24's Marty Supreme and Neon's Sentimental Value all garnered nine nominations, while Focus' Hamnet had eight. All are in the marquee Best Picture race joining Sinners, One Battle, Focus' Bugonia, Apple's F1, Neon's The Secret Agent and Netflix's Train Dreams. See all of the Best Picture winners through the years here.
RELATED: All The Best Picture Oscar Winners – Photo Gallery
The biggest surprise of the morning was without question the entire shutout pitched by Wicked: For Good, just one year after the first film in the franchise scored 10 nominations, converting in two categories.
Among other surprises were the omissions of Guillermo del Toro for Best Directing and the omissions of two widely tipped actors: Paul Mescal (Hamnet) for Best Supporting Actor and Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) in the Best Actress category.
A number of records and milestones were achieved this morning. At 30, Marty Supreme star Timothée Chalamet has become the youngest male actor to earn three acting nominations.
Steven Spielberg (Hamnet) received his 14th nomination for Best Picture, a record for an individual producer (since 1951, when producers were first named as nominees).
RELATED: Neon Dominates International Feature Film Oscar Category With Four Nominations
International films scored well again. A record four non-English language performances are nominated this year (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård). The previous record of three was set in 1976 (Marie-Christine Barrault, Giancarlo Giannini and Liv Ullmann). This comes after international actors were shut out in SAG-AFTRA's Actor Awards nominations.
The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value are the 12th and 13th non-English-language films to be nominated for both International Feature Film and Best Picture in the same year. Parasite in 2020, also from Neon, is the only film to win both International Feature Film and Best Picture. For the eighth year in a row, at least one non-English-language film has been nominated in the Best Picture category. Click through a photo gallery of the winners in the category here.
The Animated Feature race features the highest-grossing Hollywood toon of all time (Walt Disney Studios' Zootopia 2) and Netflix's most popular film ever (KPop Demon Hunters), along with Neon's Arco, Disney/Pixar's Elio and Gkids' Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.
The 98th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 15, at the Dolby Theater at Ovation Hollywood and will air live on ABC and streaming on Hulu. Conan O'Brien returns as host.
RELATED: All The Best Actor Oscar Winners – Photo Gallery
Check out the scorecards and the full list of nominees below.
(2 or more)
Sinners – 16One Battle After Another – 13Frankenstein – 9Marty Supreme – 9Sentimental Value – 9Hamnet – 8Bugonia – 4F1 – 4The Secret Agent – 4Train Dreams – 4Avatar: Fire and Ash – 2Blue Moon – 2It Was Just an Accident – 2KPop Demon Hunters – 2Sirāt – 2
RELATED: All The Best Actress Oscar Winners – Photo Gallery
(excluding short films)
Warner Bros – 30Neon – 18Netflix – 16Focus Features – 13A24 – 11Apple – 6Disney – 4Gkids – 2Sony Pictures Classics – 2HBO Documentary Films – 1Independent Film Company/Shudder – 1MasterClass/Greenwich Entertainment – 1Pink – 1Universal – 1Viva Verdi! – 1Willa – 1
RELATED: All The Best Director Oscar Winners – Photo Gallery
Here is the list of nominees.
Bugonia (Focus Features)An Element Pictures/Square Peg/CJ ENM in association with Pith/Fruit Tree Enterprises ProductionEd Guiney & Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and Lars Knudsen, Producers
F1 (Apple)An Apple Original Films/Monolith Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer/Plan B Entertainment/Dawn Apollo Films ProductionChad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
Frankenstein (Netflix)A Netflix/Double Dare You/Demilo Films/Bluegrass 7 ProductionGuillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber, Producers
Hamnet (Focus Features)A Hera Pictures/Neal Street/Amblin Entertainment in association with Book of Shadows ProductionLiza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Producers
Marty Supreme (A24)An A24/Central Group ProductionEli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas and Timothée Chalamet, Producers
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)A Ghoulardi Film Company ProductionAdam Somner, Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers
The Secret Agent (Neon)A CinemaScópio/MK/Lemming Film/One Two Films ProductionEmilie Lesclaux, Producer
Sentimental Value (Neon)A Mer Film/Eye Eye Pictures/MK/Lumen/Zentropa/ Komplizen Film/BBC Film ProductionMaria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Producers
Sinners (Warner Bros.)A Proximity Media ProductionZinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, Producers
Train Dreams (Netflix)A Black Bear/Kamala Films ProductionMarissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler, Producers
Jessie BuckleyHamnet (Focus Features)
Rose ByrneIf I Had Legs I'd Kick You (A24)
Kate HudsonSong Sung Blue (Focus Features)
Renate ReinsveSentimental Value (Neon)
Emma StoneBugonia (Focus Features)
Timothée ChalametMarty Supreme (A24)
Leonardo DiCaprioOne Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)
Ethan HawkeBlue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Michael B. JordanSinners (Warner Bros.)
Wagner MouraThe Secret Agent (Neon)
Elle FanningSentimental Value” (Neon)
Inga Ibsdotter LilleaasSentimental Value” (Neon)
Amy MadiganWeapons (Warner Bros.)
Wunmi MosakuSinners (Warner Bros.)
Teyana TaylorOne Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)
Benicio Del ToroOne Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)
Jacob ElordiFrankenstein (Netflix)
Delroy LindoSinners (Warner Bros.)
Sean PennOne Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)
Stellan SkarsgårdSentimental Value (Neon)
Hamnet (Focus Features)Chloé Zhao
Marty Supreme (A24)Josh Safdie
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Paul Thomas Anderson
Sentimental Value (Neon)Joachim Trier
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Ryan Coogler
The Secret AgentA CinemaScópio ProductionBrazil
It Was Just an AccidentA Les Films Pelléas ProductionFrance
Sentimental ValueA Mer Film/Eye Eye Pictures ProductionNorway
SirātAn El Deseo ProductionSpain
The Voice of Hind RajabA Mime Films ProductionTunisia
Arco (Neon)Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman
Elio (Walt Disney)Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Mary Alice Drumm
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago and Henri Magalon
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney)Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Yvett Merino
The Alabama Solution (HBO Documentary Films)An HBO Documentary Films/Alabama Film Project ProductionAndrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple)An Apple Original Films/Tripod Media/Amplify Pictures in association with Treat Media/Something Fierce ProductionRyan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen
Cutting Through RocksA Gandom Films ProductionSara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Mr. Nobody against Putin (PINK)A PINK ProductionNominees to be determined
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)A Netflix Documentary/Message Pictures in association with SO'B/Park Pictures ProductionGeeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee
Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)Written by Robert Kaplow
It Was Just an Accident (Neon) Written by Jafar PanahiScript collaborators – Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
Marty Supreme (A24)Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
Sentimental Value (Neon)Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Written by Ryan Coogler
Bugonia (Focus Features)Screenplay by Will Tracy
Frankenstein (Netflix)Written for the Screen by Guillermo del Toro
Hamnet (Focus Features)Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Train Dreams (Netflix)Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Bugonia (Focus Features)Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein (Netflix)Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet (Focus Features)Max Richter
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Jonny Greenwood
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Ludwig Göransson
“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless (MasterClass/ Greenwich Entertainment)Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)Music and Lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park
“I Lied To You” from Sinners (Warner Bros.)Music and Lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson
“Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from Viva Verdi! (Viva Verdi!)Music and Lyric by Nicholas Pike
“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams (Netflix)Music by Nick Cave and Bryce DessnerLyric by Nick Cave
Hamnet (Focus Features)Nina Gold
Marty Supreme (A24)Jennifer Venditti
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Cassandra Kulukundis
The Secret Agent (Neon)Gabriel Domingues
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Francine Maisler
Frankenstein (Netflix)Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme (A24)Darius Khondji
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Michael Bauman
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Train Dreams (Netflix)Adolpho Veloso
F1 (Apple)Stephen Mirrione
Marty Supreme (A24)Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Andy Jurgensen
Sentimental Value (Neon)Olivier Bugge Coutté
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Michael P. Shawver
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney)Deborah L. Scott
Frankenstein (Netflix)Kate Hawley
Hamnet (Focus Features)Malgosia Turzanska
Marty Supreme (A24)Miyako Bellizzi
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Ruth E. Carter
Frankenstein (Netflix)Production Design: Tamara DeverellSet Decoration: Shane Vieau
Hamnet (Focus Features)Production Design: Fiona CrombieSet Decoration: Alice Felton
Marty Supreme (A24)Production Design: Jack FiskSet Decoration: Adam Willis
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.)Production Design: Florencia MartinSet Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Production Design: Hannah BeachlerSet Decoration: Monique Champagne
Frankenstein (Netflix)Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
Kokuho(GKIDS) Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry
The Smashing Machine (A24)Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein
The Ugly Stepsister (Independent Film Company/Shudder)Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg
F1 (Apple)Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
Frankenstein (Netflix)Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
One Battle after Another (Warner Bros.) José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
Sirāt (Neon)Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney)Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
F1 (Apple)Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal)David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
The Lost Bus (Apple)Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin
Sinners (Warner Bros.)Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean
Butcher's Stain (Tel Aviv University Steve Tisch School of Film and Television)Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
A Friend of DorothyLee Knight and James Dean
Jane Austen's Period DramaJulia Aks and Steve Pinder
The Singers (Netflix)Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt
Two People Exchanging Saliva (Canal+/The New Yorker)Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata
“All the Empty Rooms” (Netflix)Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (HBO)Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo
“Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”” (Sky)Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins
“The Devil Is Busy” (HBO)Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
Perfectly a Strangeness (Second Sight Pictures)Alison McAlpine
Butterfly (Sacrebleu Productions)Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
ForevergreenNathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
The Girl Who Cried Pearls (National Film Board of Canada)Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Retirement PlanJohn Kelly and Andrew Freedman
The Three Sisters (Polydont Films/Rymanco Ventures)Constantin Bronzit
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No Paul mescal? :(
Happy for Sinners!!!! Surprised and happy F1 got a best picture nomination. That was my favorite movie last year.
It boggles the mind that Sinners got so many nominations. It is a pretty average movie and all the other nominees literally blow it out of the water. I imagine some really great films are going to get robbed by this movie.
Can't really argue with the list. A good spectrum of recognition for the most part. Soooo glad Amy Madigan was nominated for Weapons. Her Gladys was one of the standouts of the year and unlike anything else out there. Also kudos to Kate Hudson. She was terrific in Song Sung Blue. Also, Wunmi Mosaku in Sinners.
Very happy for Sinners, which along with Weapons were two of the most original, best directed films of the year and completely irrelevant that they were both horror flicks.
A bit sad that Russell Crowe didn't get nominated for Nuremberg. I get that his character is a tough one to recognize a performance for, but if you haven't seen that movie, Crowe delivers one of the best performances of the year and easily in the top 3 of his career. A very nuanced and multi-layered performance, playing a monster of a person who may or may not be a real human underneath or just faking it. Worth a watch. Also a good flick.
Honorable mention: After the Hunt. A film that fell under the radar but tackled some very challenging issues, and if you see this film with someone, it will definitely start conversations.
Hamnet was marvelous as was One Battle After Another. Hard to pick, between the two, so I would go with Sinners. It was a great film, a nail-biter, a gothic horror, a gorgeous period journey through music and injustice, and a triumph for Ryan Coogler for how to produce a studio film in the modern era.
So pleased that Sentimental Value is being recognised. Superlative performances across the board.
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By Dade Hayes
Business Editor
Paramount has extended the deadline for Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to throw their support behind the company's hostile takeover bid.
The initial deadline of Wednesday has now been pushed to February 20, the company said in an SEC filing. Paramount CEO David Ellison, along with his senior exec team and financial backers, have been meeting with WBD investors in recent weeks in order to persuade them to tender their shares in favor of Paramount's offer.
Paramount has vowed to wage a proxy fight and launch an effort to elect a set of board members who will push its offer over Netflix‘s proposal, which was accepted by WBD last December. Thursday morning's filing is the first step in that anticipated fight.
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In a statement after the Paramount filing, WBD noted a disclosure in it that 168.7 million shares had been tendered over the past six weeks, a small fraction of the total number of outstanding WBD shares. “Paramount continues to make the same offer our board has repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a superior merger agreement with Netflix,” the statement said. “It's also clear our shareholders agree, with more than 93% also rejecting Paramount's inferior scheme.” The statement went on to express confidence in the Netflix deal gaining regulatory approval.
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Days after Netflix and WBD announced their $82.7 billion deal last December for the streaming giant to acquire the studios-and-streaming division of Warner, Paramount went hostile. It went directly to WBD shareholders to ask them to consider its bod, which has an enterprise value of $108.4 billion, calling it superior to Netflix's in many respects. Paramount and its allies continue to believe that their $30-a-share proposal has a better chance to get approved by regulators and that it offers more to shareholders given it is a takeover of the entire company.
Netflix's deal, by comparison, would leave shareholders with a “stub” in the form of Discovery Global, the division of WBD that controls a fading portfolio of linear TV networks. Paramount has assigned minimal value to the stub, but Netflix and the WBD board have said the components of Discovery Global, including CNN, have value in the open market. WBD is planning to proceed with a split of the company this spring.
A key question now is whether Paramount will raise its offer, and how Netflix would then respond. Netflix stock has sunk about 30% since the news of the deal emerged last fall, with many analysts worrying that the transaction is a defensive move and points toward a year or two of massive distractions for the dominant streamer.
As it continues the main chess game, Paramount has also sued WBD in Delaware Chancery Court, looking to compel it to release more information it says shareholders deserve to see. In a recent SEC filing, Paramount noted Thursday, WBD “revealed for the first time some of the critical information that had been withheld from its shareholders, but it still has omitted highly material information its shareholders need about Discovery Global.”
Hollywood has been on tenterhooks as the storied Warner assets, chief among them the film and TV studio and HBO, prepare to have their fourth new owner in a decade. The ultimate result of the takeover battle – whose plot has been additionally thickened by the comments and ties to the stakeholders of President Trump – will reshape the business forever and could cast a shadow over a major studio just a handful of years after Fox was swallowed up by Disney.
While the valuation of the rival Warner offers has not changed, the financial terms have been tweaked, with both now in all-cash. In response to the WBD board's reservations, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison also agreed to personally guarantee a large chunk of the Paramount offer.
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She's obviously just not into you…
No mean no… Stalker… 😅
I guess shareholders aren't receptive to Ellison. Good. Ellison already made a mess of Paramount/CBS.
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By
Jon Blistein
Sinners made Oscar history with a remarkable 16 nominations, while One Battle After Another came in right behind with 13 as the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards were announced Thursday, Jan. 22.
Ryan Coogler's blues-inspired vampire flick and Paul Thomas Anderson's family drama/political thriller will compete for Best Picture, while both filmmakers are up for Best Director. In Best Picture, Sinners and One Battle are up against Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams.
The 16 nominations earned by Sinners make it the most nominated film in Oscars history, surpassing the three films that had previously secured 14 nods (All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land). Along with Best Picture and Director, Michael B. Jordan was nominated for Best Actor, while Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku received recognition for their supporting performances. The film also earned nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song (for “I Lied to You”), Best Original Score, and a host of production and technical categories.
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As for One Battle After Another, its stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, and Teyana Taylor all scored acting nominations. Anderson also picked up a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination (the film is inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland), while Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood — a frequent Anderson collaborator — earned a nod for his original score.
Sinners leading all nominees by a record-breaking margin could shake up the Oscar race, which seemed destined to come down to One Battle After Another and Chloe Zhao's Hamnet (the two films recently shared the Best Picture spoils at the Golden Globes). Hamnet earned eight nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Jessie Buckley, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Elsewhere, three films picked up nine nominations each: Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme, Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, and Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value. Timothée Chalamet secured his second Best Actor nod in a row for his performance in Safdie's edge-of-your-seat pingpong flick, with the star slated to compete against Jordan, DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent.
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Sentimental Value's four main stars all received Oscar nods: Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Stellan Skarsgård for their supporting performances, and Renate Reinsve for Best Actress. Reinsve will compete against Buckley, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, and Emma Stone for Bugonia.
Other notable nominees include Amy Madigan, who received a Best Supporting Actress nod for her turn in Weapons, 40 years after she was last nominated in the same category for Twice in a Lifetime. Jacob Elordi earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance in Frankenstein. And breakout hit Kpop Demon Hunters picked up two nominations, one for Best Animated Feature, and another for Best Original Song for “Golden.”
Speaking of Best Original Song: for the ninth year in a row, and 17th time ever, Diane Warren is nominated in that category. This time, she's up for “Dear Me,” a song she wrote for a documentary about herself, Diane Warren: Relentless. While Warren has yet to win a competitive Oscar, she did receive an Honorary Award in 2022.
The 98th Oscars will also see the introduction of a new prize, Best Casting, which is the first new category to be added to the Academy Awards in more than 20 years (the last being Best Animated Feature Film, established in 2001). The inaugural nominees for the prize are Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, and Sinners.
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The 2026 Oscars will take place on March 15, airing live on ABC starting at 7 p.m. ET. Conan O'Brien will return as host after earning rave reviews for his work helming the show in 2025.
See below for the full list of nominees:
Best PictureBugoniaF1FrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherThe Secret AgentSentimental ValueSinnersTrain Dreams
Best ActorTimothée Chalamet, Marty SupremeLeonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After AnotherEthan Hawke, Blue MoonMichael B. Jordan, SinnersWagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Best ActressJessie Buckley, HamnetRose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick YouKate Hudson, Song Sung BlueRenate Reinsve, Sentimental ValueEmma Stone, Bugonia
Best Supporting ActorBenicio Del Toro, One Battle After AnotherJacob Elordi, FrankensteinDelroy Lindo, SinnersSean Penn, One Battle After AnotherStellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value
Best Supporting ActressElle Fanning, Sentimental ValueInga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental ValueAmy Madigan, WeaponsWunmi Mosaku, SinnersTeyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Best DirectorChloé Zhao, HamnetJosh Safdie, Marty SupremePaul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After AnotherJoachim Trier, Sentimental ValueRyan Coogler, Sinners
Best Original ScoreBugoniaFrankensteinHamnetOne Battle After AnotherSinners
Best Original Song“Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters“I Lied to You” from Sinners“Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi!“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams
Best Original ScreenplayBlue MoonIt Was Just an AccidentMarty SupremeSentimental ValueSinners
Best Adapted ScreenplayBugoniaFrankensteinHamnetOne Battle After AnotherTrain Dreams
Best Documentary FeatureThe Alabama SolutionCome See Me In the Good LightCutting Through RocksMr. Nobody Against PutinThe Perfect Neighbor
Best Documentary ShortAll the Empty RoomsArmed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent RenaudChildren NO More: “Were and Are Gone”The Devil Is BusyPerfectly A Strangeness
Best Animated FeatureArcoElioKPop Demon HuntersLittle Amélie or the Character of RainZootopia 2
Best International FeatureThe Secret AgentIt Was Just an AccidentSentimental ValueSirâtThe Voice of Hind Rajab
Best Makeup and HairstylingFrankensteinKokuhoSinnersThe Smashing MachineThe Ugly Stepsister
Best Live Action ShortButcher's StainA Friend of DorothyJane Austen's Period DramaThe SingersTwo People Exchanging Saliva
Best Animated ShortButterflyForevergreenThe Girl Who Cried PearlsRetirement PlanThe Three Sisters
Best CastingHamnetMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherThe Secret AgentSinners
Best Costume DesignAvatar: Fire and AshFrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeSinners
Best Production DesignFrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSinners
Best Film EditingF1Marty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSentimental ValueSinners
Best SoundF1FrankensteinOne Battle After AnotherSinnersSirāt
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"'Down Under' is ultimately a song of celebration. It's for pluralism and inclusion; unity, not division. Go write your own song, leave mine alone," he writes.
By
Lars Brandle
Men at Work's “Down Under” is Australia's unofficial anthem, a classic tune played at sporting events, pubs, and celebrations around the world whenever Aussies gather. It's not, however, a siren's call for the far right.
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Colin Hay
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That's the word according to Colin Hay, the Scotland-born frontman and songwriter with Men at Work, which had a global hit with “Down Under” in the early ‘80s.
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Hay has drawn a virtual line in the sand, telling “March For Australia” organizers to find another song to play at their rallies.
“Let me say that I most strenuously disapprove of any unauthorized, unlicensed use of Down Under, for any ‘March For Australia' events,” he writes. “'Down Under,' a song I co-wrote, does not belong to those who attempt to sow xenophobia within the fabric of our great land, our great people,” he continues.
“'Down Under' is ultimately a song of celebration. It's for pluralism and inclusion; unity, not division. Go write your own song, leave mine alone.”
He signs off his message, “Colin Hay (immigrant).”
Men at Work enjoyed a dream breakthrough with their debut album Business As Usual, and its standout single “Down Under,” which reigned for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and has sold more than two million copies in the United States.
With Business As Usual and “Down Under,” the band had the unusual distinction of simultaneously topping the singles and albums charts in the United States and the United Kingdom.
It's not the first time Hay has had to fight for his signature song. Hay and his Men at Work co-songwriter Ron Strykert were involved in a bruising court battle, which began in 2009 and centered on the flute riff and whether it was lifted from the children's campfire song “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.” To settle the case, a court ordered Men at Work to pay just 5% of royalties in the song.
Hay told Billboard in 2023 that “Down Under” is “very dear to me. When I wrote the song, I had a lot of fear and trepidation about Australia becoming overdeveloped, like you know, Florida or something, and on the other side of the coin, there was this beautiful uniqueness and incredible — a kind of awesomeness — of the country which I thought, ‘we don't want to lose that'. We have to nurture, it's a precious thing we have.”
“Down Under” has passed more than one billion streams across all platforms, and enjoyed a second life when it was reworked as a drum ‘n' bass cut by Australian producer Luude, over Hay's vocals. The new version crashed the top 10 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, peaking at No. 5 in 2021.
Men at Work was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1994, and Hay received the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music at the 2023 APRA Music Awards.
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Writer-director Yasser Shafiey's debut feature starring Mahmoud Hemida and Sherine, set in Cairo and premiering at Rotterdam, explores love, loss, ageing and the hard-to-translate concept of "Al Qahr."
By
Georg Szalai
Global Business Editor
Magdy and Sama are in their 60s and just want a quiet life in Cairo. Too bad that the retired couple's fridge breaks down, turning their apartment into a stage on which the tragicomedies of love, loss, ageing and Al Qahr (more on that below) play out against the background of farcical bureaucracy and crumbling attitudes and value systems. A corrupt maintenance company is also a key player in this Kafka-esque set-up for Complaint No. 713317, the debut feature film from writer-director Yasser Shafiey (short films The Dream of a Scene, Intense Practice to Improve Performance, The Man Who Swallowed the Radio), who started his career as a jewellery designer.
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The movie, starring well-known Egyptian acting icons Mahmoud Hemida and Sherine, as well as Hana Shiha, and Mohamed Radwan, will world premiere in the Bright Future program of the 55th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Feb. 1.
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As you can maybe already tell, the story of Complaint No. 713317 is about way more than a fridge. “What starts as a simple fridge repair drags a retired couple into an absurd battle, unravelling everything else that's quietly broken beneath the surface,” explains a synopsis for the film. “Caught in the grip of economic duress, the couple embody an eroding Egyptian middle class struggling to make ends meet,” highlights a preview for Complaint No. 713317 on the festival website.
Orient Films is handling sales on the film from production companies Red Star Films and Misr International Films.
Complaint No. 713317 is about “what we've learned to live with – or without,” Shafiey shares in a director's statement. “Phone calls, delays, empty promises, silence. What we think is a journey to repair an appliance becomes something far more painful – a fight to hold on to their dignity in a system that keeps stripping it away.”
At its core, he says Complaint No. 713317 is about “Al Qahr,” a word with no real translation in English, “or any other language,” he notes. “Not quite injustice. Not just oppression. It's something deeper and heavier, something we know intimately in this part of the world. Al Qahr is the emotional, psychological, and social weight of being denied your most basic rights – quietly, daily, endlessly – until it becomes a way of life. It is when nothing works, and no one listens, and you are left to face it all alone.”
Concludes the filmmaker: “This film is quiet. But so is Al Qahr. It doesn't always explode. It sits in the silence, the delays, the indifference. It's in the resignation on people's faces. In how they stop expecting anything better.”
THR can now exclusively reveal three clips from Complaint No. 713317.
The first teaser proves that more people don't always make a difference when it comes to problems with household devices, even if one of them is an engineer. Oh yeah, take a breath, too, and get ready to hold the line…
The second Complaint No. 713317 clip features haggling for money, such phrases as “we are honest people,” the mention of German materials, and the realization that talking to customer service reps in person doesn't always solve your problem. Check it out here:
Are you still holding the line? The final scene from Complaint No. 713317 offers up cups of tea, questions of conscience, and – yes, you guessed it! – more delays. The fridge may not be working, but the atmosphere is frigid. Watch the final clip from Complaint No. 713317 below.
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By
Emily Zemler
Don't invite Martin Short to your wedding. The comedian appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night and explained that he was slightly misbehaved at the much-publicized nuptials of Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco last year.
Short described Gomez, his co-star on Only Murders in the Building, as “an extra child of mine.” “I adore her so much, and she found this guy and he's the greatest guy,” Short told Jimmy Kimmel. “They have the greatest hang and they're wildly in love. So the wedding was perfect and it was beautiful.”
He explained that on the night of the reception, which was held outdoors in Santa Barbara under a group of tents, he made a misstep. “It was a big, big party,” he said. “Imagine a stage and dance floor and musicians and big, big tents. And at the back of the tent were these individual seating areas with couches and chairs.”
Short's group of friends from Only Murders in the Building, including Steve Martin and Paul Rudd, gathered in one of these areas. Also in the area: a small wedding cake. “I just assumed there was a wedding cake for each section,” Short said. When Martin said he was leaving, Short, a few cocktails in and fork in hand, said, “Oh Steve, you can't leave yet without a piece of wedding cake.”
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“And I cut the wedding cake on one side and then cut it on the other, and then all the people in our group screamed, ‘Marty!'” he recalled. “It was the wedding cake.” Kimmel showed a photo of the mangled cake, which Short had tried to repair with his fork. “This was bad,” Short admitted. “This was about an hour before it was to be presented.”
Although Short considered just leaving, the chef was able to mostly repair it and Gomez and Blanco cut the cake as usual when it was time. “It ended up being very like a Hollywood wedding cake in that it was beautiful but now it had had a little work done,” Short said.
Short and Martin wanted to keep the incident a secret from Gomez. “But then as I was leaving Selena came by [and said], ‘Hey Marty, I hear you tried to eat my cake!'” Short said.
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Gomez and Blanco officially tied the knot in a private ceremony on Sept. 27. The couple got engaged in December 2024 after more than a year of dating. The wedding included numerous famous attendees, including Taylor Swift, who gave a speech.
“I did make a speech, but I actually made a point not to mention anything about my engagement,” Swift recalled on The Tonight Show afterwards. “I did do some light teasing about the way we used to dress in 2008, the year that we met. Because we met when we were teenagers in 2008. It was quite a year. Let me tell you. It was the year of deep, deep V-necks.”
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Writers, actors and other musicians have come out in support of the Human Artistry Campaign's “Stealing Isn't Innovation” push for licensing and opt-out mechanisms for human-created works.
By
Katie Kilkenny
Labor & Media Reporter
Celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are backing a campaign blasting tech companies for training generative AI tools on copyrighted works without express permission.
The “Stealing Isn't Innovation” campaign from the Human Artistry Campaign, which launches Thursday, protests tech companies' alleged mass theft of human-created works in order to produce tools that could theoretically compete with real creatives.
On Thursday, the Human Artistry Campaign debuted the awareness campaign and revealed more than 700 supporters behind it, while The New York Times ran an ad for the push.
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“Big Tech is trying to change the law so they can keep stealing American artistry to build their AI businesses – without authorization and without paying the people who did the work. That is wrong; it's un-American, and it's theft on a grand scale,” one of the campaign's message proclaims. “The following creators all agree. Do you? If so, come join us.”
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In addition to Johansson, Blanchett and Gordon-Levitt, industry figures David Lowery, Fran Drescher, Jennifer Hudson, Kristen Bell, Michele Mulroney, Olivia Munn, Sean Astin and Vince Gilligan all signed their names as backing the campaign. Musicians such as Cyndi Lauper, LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride and Questlove and the groups MGMT, One Republic, R.E.M. and OK Go have also given their support, as did the authors George Saunders, Jodi Picoult, Roxane Gay and Jonathan Franzen.
The Human Artistry Campaign is composed of a mix of unions representing creators, artists' rights groups and trade associations like the Writers Guild of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, The NewsGuild, the NFL Players Association and SAG-AFTRA.
The organization encourages tech companies to license works and also to allow creators to opt out of their projects being subject to generative AI training.
“Real innovation comes from the human motivation to change our lives. It moves opportunity forward while driving economic growth and creating jobs,” Human Artistry Campaign senior advisor Dr. Moiya McTier said in a statement. “But AI companies are endangering artists' careers while exploiting their practiced craft, using human art and other creative works without authorization to amass billions in corporate earnings.”
McTier added, “America wins when technology companies and creators collaborate to make the highest quality consumer and enterprise digital products and tools. Solutions like licensing offer a path to a mutually beneficial outcome for all.”
So far, only a couple Hollywood companies have dipped their toes into sanctioned licensing for generative AI tools. The biggest to date was Disney, which in December inked a three-year deal with OpenAI to bring some of its iconic characters to the video-generation tool Sora.
But the AI company raised eyebrows in Hollywood just a few months earlier, when upon release Sora 2.0 produced characters from titles including Bob's Burgers, Pokémon, Grand Theft Auto and SpongeBob Squarepants in its outputs. At the time, the company's position was that rights holders could contact the firm to opt out and have their works excluded from the video generator. A few days later, the company walked back that position.
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By
Nancy Dillon
Three months after a federal judge dismissed Drake's defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group, the superstar rapper and his lawyers filed an opening appellate brief Wednesday that seeks to overturn the ruling and revive his bid for damages over Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning diss track, “Not Like Us.”
In the new 60-page brief obtained by Rolling Stone, Drake argues that Lamar's track states, as an “unambiguous matter of fact,” that he is a “certified pedophile.” He also claims Universal Music Group “relentlessly” marketed the song in a way that misled consumers and caused him serious harm. The brief contends that the allegation carries a “precise” and readily understood meaning that is “capable of being proven true or false,” a point the district court previously acknowledged, according to the filing.
Drake also claims that the dismissal of his lawsuit could have far-reaching consequences. By ruling that rap diss tracks are non-actionable opinion, the lower court created a “dangerous categorical rule” that would shield artists and labels from defamation liability regardless of how direct or damaging a statement might be, he argues. “The court effectively created an unprecedented and overbroad categorical rule that statements in rap diss tracks can never constitute statements of fact,” his brief claims.
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Drake previously filed his notice of appeal on Nov. 12 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan, signaling he would challenge the Oct. 9 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette A. Vargas. In her ruling, Judge Vargas concluded that Lamar's lyrics accusing Drake of pedophilia were “nonactionable opinion” rather than statements of fact.
“The issue in this case is whether ‘Not Like Us' can reasonably be understood to convey as a factual matter that Drake is a pedophile or that he has engaged in sexual relations with minors,” Judge Vargas wrote. “In light of the overall context in which the statements in the recording were made, the court holds that it cannot.”
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She said the “broader context” of the song was “a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants,” adding that it “would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us' imparts verifiable facts.”
But in his Wednesday filing, Drake says the song's repeated references to pedophilia, combined with its “ubiquitous cover art,” and subsequently released viral video, plausibly convey a false statement of fact that should be decided by a jury. Drake's appeal asks the court to send the case back, insisting that his claim he was defamed by “Not Like Us” is a question to be decided at trial, not in a motion to dismiss.
Drake, whose legal name is Aubrey Drake Graham, sued UMG last January, accusing the label of promoting Lamar's hit song in a way that “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile.” He notably sued only the record label he shares with Lamar, not Lamar himself.
UMG responded with a scathing motion to dismiss that ultimately prevailed. “Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” lawyers for UMG wrote. “Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”
A spokesman for UMG did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Drake's opening appellate brief. UMG's response brief is due March 27.
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The nine-track rap battle at the center of the legal war started making headlines in April 2024. It exploded when Drake released “Family Matters” on May 3, 2024. The song insinuated that Lamar had cheated on his fiancée and was physically violent with her. Lamar responded with the back-to-back drops of “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us,” with the latter's hook of “certified lover boy, certified pedophile” becoming an instant and viral sensation.
“Not Like Us” went on to win Grammy Awards for record and song of the year last February. Lamar also performed the song during last year's Super Bowl halftime show.
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Richie Akiva is one wild boy.
The former nightclub founder, who was arrested on Wednesday, has a long history of wild parties, star-studded adventures and serious business deals. He also happens to be a good friend of Leonardo DiCaprio.
Read along to learn more about the “Titanic” star's close pal.
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The Wednesday arrest isn't the night club entrepreneur's first run-in with police. Akiva was arrested in March 2025 after it was discovered that he was driving with a suspended license.
He was taken to New York's 9th precinct, where he was charged with misdemeanors. A source previously told Page Six he was hit with one count of aggravated unlicensed operation in the second degree, and one count of an equipment violation.
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It was reported that his license was suspended because of an old unpaid parking ticket.
Akiva earned his claim to fame as the founder of iconic NYC hotspots 1Oak and Up & Down.
He was also part of Butter Group — which included an array of restaurants and popular nightclubs — with former business partner Scott Sartiano.
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In 2017, it was reported that the mogul had plans to open a rock ‘n' roll bar titled E. Vil (pronounced “evil”), which stands for East Village.
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In June 2022, he launched the exclusive members-only club The Ned alongside Ron Burkle and Soho House founder Nick Jones.
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Akiva was attached to the business venture as its “brand and creative director,” bringing in celebs like DiCaprio, Rihanna, Emily Ratajkowski, G-Eazy and “SNL” comic Leslie Jones.
It was reported in 2023 that he had a falling out with his former Butter Group business partner, Darren Dzienciol. They now hold rival bashes during May's Cannes Film Festival.
He was also pushed out of his business arrangement at The Ned by February 2024, allegedly due to some behind-the-scenes money haggling, a source previously told Page Six.
Akiva first hit the Hollywood scene as a core member of DiCaprio's entourage since they were known as the “P–sy Posse” on the '90s nightlife scene. The entrepreneur eventually became known for his wide network of celebrity pals and wild parties.
In 2013, Akiva made headlines after he hosted a multi-city birthday bash featuring stars Steve Wynn, Diddy, Chris Brown and Miguel, whom he met up with at his 1OAK in Las Vegas where Robin Thicke performed “Blurred Lines.”
He followed it up the following day with a private dinner at the Peninsula Rooftop in New York City hosted by Naomi Campbell. They were allegedly joined by guests Jay Z, Timbaland, Anne V and her beau Matt Harvey.
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Thicke later appeared at Akiva's Paris birthday party in 2017. Additional guests included Lenny Kravitz, Kourtney Kardashian and her then-boyfriend Younes Bendjima, supermodels Jourdan Dunn, Taylor Hill, Joan Smalls and Doutzen Kroes.
In more recent years, Akiva has begun hosting his signature shindigs in St. Barts. In 2021, he hosted a New Year's Eve party on the popular celebrity hotspot island which, a source told us, was jumping with hundreds of people until the wee hours of the morning.
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In 2022, he celebrated the launch of his private social club, Societe, with a star-studded event featuring appearances from Busta Rhymes; Ne-Yo and Gunna Alex Rodriguez; Giancarlo Stanton; NBA players Joakim Noah, Myles Turner, and Oshae Brissett; model Joan Smalls, and “Gossip Girl” cast members Thomas Doherty and Whitney Peak.
Over the years, DiCaprio and Akiva have remained as close as ever, with the actor making several appearances at the mogul's bashes. In 2024, the “Wolf of Wall Street” star was said to have helped out a drunk man at one of Akiva's epic parties in the Hamptons.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Naming your TV show anything that will make for a punny headline when it nigh-inevitably gets canceled is just asking for trouble. Something Netflix and Kurt Sutter just got done proving all over again, as Variety reports that the former has just rendered the latter's historical Western series The Abandons, well… You know.
The news was one of two cancellations the streamer handed down today, having also placed up on the chopping block two-season comedy series The Vince Staples Show. That one's both a bummer, and a bit of a surprise, in so far as the show—originally created by the Summertime '06 rapper with Ian Edelman and Maurice Williams, and centered on a surreal version of Staples' life as an easily recognized celebrity—was both a critical hit and a genuinely funny, interesting slice of comedy TV. In The A.V. Club‘s review of the show's second season, Leila Latif wrote that, “In a landscape crowded with self-referential comedies, this one still feels singular, less a parody of Black excellence than a meditation on what it costs to live inside your own image,” praising Staples' chops as a comic actor, and ultimately calling the series “one of Netflix's brightest comedies.”
The Abandons, not so much. Even if you ignore the show's dismal critical reaction—our own D+ was par for the course, noting that not even TV stalwarts like Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson could find much to do with the series' stale take on 1850s frontier living—the show's incredibly troubled production probably had it doomed anyway. In what could be taken as a preemptive bout of title pun synergy, Sutter reportedly walked away from the series with an episode left to film after getting into arguments with the streamer, leaving the show's other producers to scramble to get something workable on the screen. That wouldn't have boded well even if the resulting series turned out to be a masterpiece; as is, it's one of the less surprising cancellations we've seen in a minute.
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The gravelly-voiced singer tells Billboard that the show may have convinced him to get back in the studio for the first time in three decades.
By
Gil Kaufman
SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains details about the singer eliminated on Wednesday night's (Jan. 21) episode of The Masked Singer.
There are typically two kinds of celebrities who get revealed on The Masked Singer: ones who the judges and studio audience simply can't pinpoint because they've adjusted their vocals and mannerisms just enough to go incognito and ones with such an unmistakable, signature tone to their voice that it's pretty obvious from jump who they are.
Wednesday night's (Jan. 21) boot-ee was one of the latter. If you're old enough to have shopped for CDs in the Bush 1.0/Clinton era, then you probably sussed out the identity of Handyman from the second he took the stage last week. While the artist was hidden in a bright yellow, Jack-of-all-trades outfit — complete with hard hat and prominent tool belt — when he got funky with Peaches & Herb's 1978 Billboard Hot 100 No. 5 disco classic “Shake Your Groove Thing,” a lightbulb likely popped up right away.
And while he was hidden behind a metallic mask as he waved his wrench arms and sang into a screwdriver microphone, the low, throaty growl and laconic delivery was pretty much a dead giveaway. The first clue package was also kind of obvious, with a reference to his “wild guy face” and a crew of past big-screen co-stars including Robert DeNiro (Heat) and Courteney Cox (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective).
Then, on Wednesday night's Clueless-themed episode, he joined the rest of the cast for a run through Kim Wilde's 1981 classic “Kids in America” alongside fellow season 14 contestants Pugcasso, Scarab and Snow Cone, with his voice again reading pretty obviously after he described the childhood accident that gave him his signature rasp. His vocals really popped during his run through A Tribe Called Quest's “Can I Kick It?,” which got both the crowd and the judges on their feet as he showed off his impressive rhyming skills, with the audience enthusiastically chanting “yes you can!”
When it came time to guess, panelist Rita Ora went with Vanilla Ice — based on a clue featuring an ice sculpture of a microphone — though the more “gravelly” voice made her think Ice-T. Always wrong Ken Jeong was all the way off with his pick of A-Team legend Mr. T. He was, naturally, totally in the wrong ballpark, as the real man behind the mask was none other than “Funky Cold Medina” rapper and occasional actor (Poetic Justice, Posse) Tone Lōc. (Scarab was also unmasked on Wednesday night, revealed to be Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson.)
Billboard caught up with Lōc (born Anthony Terrell Smith), 59, before his elimination to find out why he didn't even try to disguise his instantly recognizable voice, who convinced him to appear on the show and why the show may have convinced him to get back in the studio for the first time in three decades.
You said your daughter dared you to do the show. What did she say?
She grew up with me and she was like, “There's no way you would do something like that.” I had never seen it, but she had and now I see what she was talking about. [She said] “You would not put on a mask and costume and dance and sing.” Once I saw it, I said, “Yeah I'll do it.” Most people who called after the first day [I was on the show] saw me on there and had no idea I was doing it.
What did they say?
First they said, “‘Shake Your Groove Thing?' Huh?”
Were they able to figure out it was you right away?
Oh, immediately. “Oh, dude, first voice we heard, we knew.” I didn't realize [my voice] was that noticeable. It is kind of, a little bit, I think.
C'mon! You have such a distinctive voice, one of the most distinctive in rap, really. Did you even try to switch it up to fool people?
I mean, I think I did try, but I couldn't change it. It's basically is what it is. When I try to change it even slightly, it doesn't matter. It is what it is, it's who I am.
Sometimes singers will purposely pick a song out of their genre, like you were saying with Peaches & Herb, but then tonight you went with a Tribe song, which kind of made it more obvious who was under the hard hat. Did you do that on purpose?
I didn't really know. I couldn't hear it [in the costume] but it was kind of cool. I don't know how it came out sounding, but I liked it. I didn't pick Peaches to throw anyone off… they had some songs they wanted me to sing that wouldn't have worked out well. I think my agent decided, “Let's try Peaches & Herb.” I don't know what was on his mind. Tribe was cool, though.
You've been doing the I Love the 90s tour for a couple years, but haven't really been on the music scene that much. Why this show to come back to singing on a big platform?
I've been doing that tour for like six years and I did this, like I said, because of the dare. I'm still doing shows; I have never stopped doing shows. I've always tried to keep it pushing, maintain the people who like Tone Lōc, stay in my lane.
The Handyman was a bonkers costume. Why did you pick that one?
They handed it to me. It's a big costume with a big helmet and head. You have to be committed, because that's a serious costume. You have to make sure you have everything tight. I like Handyman, that was the most masculine one I've seen, that worked out quite well.
It's been 35 years since your last album, 1991's Cool Hand Lōc. Any chance you're working on a new album now?
Oh man, that long? Man. I wasn't working on a new album, but I think I will now because of the big song I do have now that is bigger than [my other hits]. It's called “Hey, What's Up?” and I haven't recorded it yet. I do it live on tour and the audience response to that is way higher than “Funky Cold Medina” or “Wild Thing.”
The judges' guesses were hilarious: Vanilla Ice, Ice-T Mr. T…
The ones who don't know, who have no idea who Tone Lōc is. Then you have people who know exactly who that is from the first word or two out of that graggily-ass voice. Now I see how my voice sounds to people, I had no idea.
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David Siegel, a longtime producer who worked on iconic films such as “The Hangover” trilogy and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” has passed away at the age of 70 years old. He died on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles, a representative for New Line told Deadline.
The representative went on to describe Siegel as “the person you wanted at your side when a production developed complications.”
“Colleagues were said to have remarked on his uncanny ability to connect with crew — a respect earned through the way his career evolved in the industry. He also mentored countless individuals across production, giving opportunities to those who demonstrated hard work and curiosity and advocating for them quietly,” Deadline wrote.
Throughout his career that spanned four decades, Siegel worked on numerous projects with incredible filmmakers such as Kevin Costner, Todd Phillips, Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall, and David Lester. Along with that, his resume includes working on films such as “Dances with Wolves,” “Gravity,” “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “The LEGO Movie,” “War Dogs,” “Serenity,” “Holes,” “Air Force One,” “Bull Durham,” and many others.
His last project was “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” in which Siegel was an executive producer.
Some comments were left on social media, paying tribute to the producer.
“Rest in peace, David Siegel. Thank you for all the films and memories — your impact on Hollywood will be remembered,” one fan wrote.
“Rest in peace, David Siegel. Your work on The Hangover trilogy and Crazy, Stupid, Love brought so much laughter to the world,” another fan posted.
Hollywood is also mourning the loss of director Bruce Bilson, who passed away at the age of 97 at his home in Los Angeles on Friday, January 16, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bilson served as the assistant director for “The Andy Griffith Show,” as well as working on other iconic series such as “Gidget,” “Hogan's Heroes,” “Bewitched,” “Get Smart,” “Bonanza,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Odd Couple,” “Green Acres,” and “The Brady Bunch.” He also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
“When I was starting out, I thought my camera work was awful, and I tried to make it more interesting,” he said in his TV Academy interview (per the Hollywood Reporter). “As I got older and more experienced, I learned to tell the story with the actors first, cameras second.”
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Jardyn Walker, more commonly known as “Pee Wee,” was tragically shot to death in St. Louis, where his body was found in a Central West End alley on Wednesday, Jan. 21, TMZ reports. He was 23 years old.
Pee Wee competed on “Two Ways With Erica Mena,” where he vied for the chance to win Erica Mena's heart during season 1 in 2025. Although he didn't win the “Love & Hip Hop” star's affection, Mena shared an emotional tribute for him on her Instagram Story.
Along with several photos of the late reality TV star, Mena wrote, “I'm so sorry,” and that she was “crushed.”
TMZ reports that the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call about gunfire on Tuesday, Jan, 20. They arrested suspect Jamaal Jones after seeing him flee the scene. Jones has since been charged by prosecutors with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and tampering with evidence in connection to Pee Wee's death.
In addition to his appearance on the Zeus Network dating show, Pee Wee was a rising rapper in St. Louis, where local fans respected his work. He also appeared on “Bad Boys: Houston” in 2023, when he auditioned to be part of a group who traveled across Texas for club appearances.
When he wasn't making music or starring in reality TV shows, Pee Wee worked as a delivery driver. He was supposed to meet his sister after making a delivery on the night he died, leading to an investigation.
Influencer Isiah Jaay honored Pee Wee in an Instagram video, saying, “I was really hoping this wasn't true because I just literally seen Pee Wee at the auditions. We hugged and everything, so this is really sad.”
“And if you really know know Pee Wee, you know bro was cool. He didn't really bother nobody like that. But if you really messed with him, he was on that every time,” he added.
Influencer Terrance Lee Johnson expressed his shock over Pee Wee's devastating death on Instagram. He wrote, “Jardyn, known as Pee Wee from ‘Two Ways with Erica Mena' on Zeus, has left us far too soon after a violent incident, but his memory will live on through his inspiring appearance at the Bad Boys auditions.”
Comments under a social media post also showed how missed Pee Wee will be by his fans. One fan wrote that the late rapper had a “good heart,” while others referred to him as “lovely” and expressed wanting to see him continue to succeed.
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Kenshi Yonezu's "IRIS OUT" follows at No. 2.
By
Billboard Japan
Mrs. GREEN APPLE's “lulu.” debuts atop the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart dated Jan. 21.
The song serves as the opening theme for the anime Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2. After its digital release on Jan. 12, the track tops both downloads and streaming, comes in at No. 2 for video and No. 8 for radio airplay to secure the summit on the all-genre song chart. Mrs. GREEN APPLE earns its sixth No. 1 song on the list and its 13th week at No. 1 overall.
“breakfast”“Tengoku”“KUSUSHIKI” (two weeks at No. 1)“Lilac” (seven weeks at No. 1)“Bitter Vacances”“lulu.”
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Kenshi Yonezu's “IRIS OUT” follows at No. 2. While streaming dips to 90%, downloads to 72%, radio to 67% and karaoke to 97% of the prior frame, video climbs to 115%.
At No. 3 is King Gnu's “AIZO.” The opening theme for TV anime Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 (Culling Game arc, Part 1) was released digitally on Jan. 9, leaving it with a shorter tracking window last week. This frame, streaming surges to 194% and radio to 904%, lifting the track three notches this week.
Ryosuke Yamada's “Blue Noise” bows at No. 4. The song appears on his first CD single released under the Hey! Say! JUMP member's solo moniker and serves as the opening theme for season two of the anime Blue Miburo (Serizawa Assassination Arc). The song launches with 101,964 copies to top sales and comes in at No. 40 for downloads. Holding at No. 5 is M!LK's “Suki Sugite Metsu!” While most metrics edge down slightly, karaoke rises to 108%.
In other chart activity, Bruno Mars' “I Just Might” makes its Japan chart debut at No. 26. The lead single from his first new album in roughly a decade — The Romantic, due Feb. 27 — the song also marks his first-ever debut at No. 1 on the U.S. Hot 100.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Jan. 12 to 18, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan's English X account.
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In the course of our work here at The A.V. Club‘s Newswire desk, we tend to read more than our fair share of legal complaints centered on the entertainment industry—and filter through a lot of extremely vitriolic language in the process, because, boy howdy, do corporate lawyers like to throw around ten-dollar character denigrations when they're trying to set a litigious mood. (We still think sometimes about the Warner Bros. South Park lawsuit that had all-caps, bold letter chapter headings like THE ILLICIT CONSPIRACY EMERGES dotting its text.) So it was fairly eye-catching when we dug in today into a recent lawsuit filed by clothing brand Patagonia (via Reuters) against drag queen and environmental activist Pattie Gonia, only to find that it's just about the most sheepish such accusation of copyright infringement we've ever encountered.
The legal issues here seem fairly straightforward, at least to our not-an-actual-legal-expert eyes: The company claims it's had an understanding with Pattie Gonia (a.k.a. performer Wyn Wiley, who's been using the on-stage persona to promote environmental causes since 2018) that dates back to 2022, in which Patagonia promised to not make an issue of the name as long as she didn't sell anything with the “Pattie Gonia” moniker on it, or do promotion in a way that mimicked the company's distinctive logo. (Pattie Gonia and her team dispute that that was the arrived-at agreement in their own communications quoted in the suit; we'll get to those more in a second.) The lawsuit then follows those assertions with lots of images of both the Pattie Gonia merch store—launched in 2024, and in which she sells repurposed clothes stamped with Pattie Gonia branding in a non-Patagonia-looking font—and various promotional photos of Pattie Gonia sporting clothes and accessories featuring a logo that is clearly riffing on Patagonia's mountain range branding.
What's striking about the complaint (readable here), though, is how obviously the company knows that it's going to lose any kind of PR war that breaks out on the front of “large clothing company sues drag queen who spends her days promoting environmental causes.” It notes, frequently, that it respects and admires Pattie Gonia's work; asserts that it has to protect its trademark even from people it likes; includes fully 16 set-up paragraphs detailing its various charitable acts; and ends by noting that it's only asking for a nominal $1 in damages (alongside the request that California courts shut down Pattie Gonia's commercial use of the name.) Even so: Probably screwed, at least when it comes to the “Just be cool, okay?” test.
It's worth noting that, while Pattie Gonia/Wiley hasn't responded directly to the lawsuit yet, Patagonia's complaints do include emails from both her and her business manager, and they are both quite a bit meaner, and quite a bit funnier, than the company's own efforts. These include asserting that a) she's named after the South American region, and “It's wonderful that both Patagonia the brand and Pattie Gonia the drag queen are inspired by Patagonia's beauty,” b), that she was actually about to write them to distance herself from their brand, because of controversy over military contracts Patagonia has taken in the past to provide clothes for the U.S. military, and—most hilariously—c), a statement that, while all of the shirts sold in the Pattie Gonia store are taken from discarded clothes headed for the garbage heap, “per the brand Patagonia's consideration…we won't save any of the brand Patagonia's product we frequently find heading to landfills.” Which is about as literal a version of reading someone for filth as we've ever encountered.
Recommended for You1FX body-horror series The Beauty has plenty of skin-deep pleasures2Stephen Graham goes way too far to fix a wayward youth in Heel trailer3The TV train moves too slowly in this week's Hijack4DC's Batman and Robin movie finally has a writer5A fan-service-heavy Fallout has marquee moments but a troubling lack of coherence
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The Thursday, January 22, episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will feature new cast member Rachel Zoe hosting a psychic soirée for the cast, which has us reminiscing about another iconic psychic moment from the show.
Back on Season 1 in 2010, Kyle Richards, who is still a member of the RHOBH cast, attended a dinner party at Camille Grammer‘s house, and Allison DuBois, a medium, was present. DuBois made a shocking prediction about Richards' relationship with Mauricio Umansky, and it ended up coming to fruition.
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On stage January 28th through February 7th, 2026..
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BroadwayWorld spoke to Cher Álvarez about the upcoming production of Paranoma Activity at Shakespeare Theatre Company, running January 28th through February 7th, 2026.
This North American premiere from celebrated playwright Levi Holloway (Broadway's Grey House) and Punchdrunk's Felix Barrett (Sleep No More) features illusions by Tony Award-winner Chris Fisher (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).
The creative team for Paranormal Activity includes Fly Davis (Scenic & Costume Designer), Anna Watson (Lighting Designer), Gareth Fry (Sound Designer), Luke Halls (Video & Projections Designer), Chris Fisher (Illusions Designer), Bob Mason (Casting), Travis A. Knight (Assistant Director), Camille Etchart (UK Associate Scenic Designer), Abby May (US Associate Lighting Designer), Will Pickens (US Associate Sound Designer), Skylar Fox (Associate Illusions Designer), Daniel Weissglass (Assistant Illusions Designer), and Melanie J. Lisby (Production Stage Manager), Julie Jachym (Assistant Stage Manager).
What attracted you to the role of Lou in the stage version of Paranormal Activity?
It's pretty remarkable when the right story falls into your hand and it all feels synchronized. Lou entered my life in a time of acceptance. The uncomfortable reality of accepting yourself, your past, your present, your habits. And her will to fight for the truth, to unveil the darkness and finally confront it for the sake of her healing, it felt incredibly inspiring to me. Reading the script for the first time there was this pulse and it was visceral. There was a drive, a need, to not only survive anymore but to live and the quest as to how the hell do we go about doing that. That's what is paranormal to me: the secrets that we gatekeep out of fear. False. Evidence. Appearing. Real.
How do you relate to your character Lou on a personal level?
Oh her love. Definitely the love that she chooses to give. Shes a warrior for sure and to still choose love with the risk of sharing and revealing the most inner parts of yourself; the thoughts, the ego, the pain, the hope, that self sabotage ourselves with an ending, a death if you will. She wants to understand, needs to, especially her husband Jimmy. Love being an action , a choice.
How does your background in musical theatre influence your approach to this horror-themed project?
When immersed in this world you almost feel the timer, the ticking that's relentless but also keeping time. And I believe that has everything to do with it being horror. Fear/terror affects us all so distinctly where time really feels alternate. So yeah some syncopations here and there, maybe some 4/4 and then suddenly 6/8. And Lou is really doing her best to keep time.
The production has been described as suspenseful and scary, how do you prepare mentally for each performance?
My way into preparation is music. I've created a playlist for her that is such a melting pot of songs and stories. And each day I'll find myself in a different headspace so it's nice to have a little bit of everything. And taking that time to bow. To release her back into the space, a proper check out. Thank her. And the unwinding is being learned to become slower. Check in with myself, reflect and feel all the feelings. Meditate out of it.
How was your experience working with award-winning illusion designer, Chris Fisher?
Chris and I have only ever interacted virtually; however, the brilliance behind that man's creativity is absolutely bonkers, and to say that I'm honored is an understatement. He's so willing to try, to listen, to explore, to discard. I mean genuinely a team member that is supportive and incredibly faithful to his craft.
Why must audiences come and see the show?
We are living through a time. Like we are actually living in a time of so much confusion, risk, fear. And so much of it we have such little control over. Really, for me at least, what I'm gathering and experiencing is being honest with myself. That feels like that's the way through, for change or transcending. What will it take for you to be honest with yourself and therefore honest with the people you choose to share your life with. And I strongly believe now more than ever is a calling to be just that with yourself; honest.
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Netflix's hit show Stranger Things has set viewership records with its fifth and final season — and now the National Enquirer can reveal the '80s-set paranormal drama is based on a real CIA program that used psychically gifted individuals to spy on the Soviet Union.
In the blockbuster show, Millie Bobby Brown's Jane Hopper, better known as Eleven or El, belongs to a secret CIA operation based in fictional Hawkins, Ind., but escapes and joins a crew of mischievous and heroic local kids who battle monsters from another dimension.
Eleven is shown using a combination of ESP and remote viewing and sensory deprivation — such as being submerged in a makeshift float tank — to remotely locate creatures and people, including a Russian spy.
But what most people don't know is that the U.S. government, first through the Defense Intelligence Agency and later under the CIA, used psychics to do the very same thing from 1977 to 1995.
Project Stargate — initially based out of Fort Meade, Md. — tasked psychics with spying on objects, locations and people sometimes located thousands of miles away.
In one incredible success story, psychic Rosemary Smith telepathically found a crashed Soviet Tu-95 bomber in a mountainous area of Zaire, allowing the U.S. to plunder the plane's wreckage before Russian agents arrived, sources say.
As the Enquirer previously reported, recently declassified CIA files show that a remote viewer once described an alien base hidden inside a rocky mountain in Alaska that is believed to be Mount Hayes — a spot long associated with UFO sightings.
Sources say the Stargate program's results were believed to be legit, but the CIA ultimately shuttered the operation after an independent audit by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) found that the psychic visions were too “vague and ambiguous” and not sufficiently actionable to warrant the operation's exorbitant costs.
“It remains unclear whether the existence of a paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, has been demonstrated,” AIR's report concluded, even though the organization's analysts conceded in the same write-up that “something beyond odd statistical hiccups is taking place.”
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Raelle Tucker has been a part of the writing room for some of TV's hit series for years, and now it's time for her to become a published author. The writer-producer announced her debut sci-fi novel, "Obscura," which promises to hook fans from the very first page.
According to Variety, Tucker's debut novel centers on the question of whether everything that was seen as make-believe and fairy tales is actually true.
"The island of Obscura is famed for its beaches, drugs, and hedonistic clubs. But hidden on the northern end of the island is a secret community filled with magical beings, unicorns, centaurs, and mermen, the only place on earth these creatures can be themselves," read the official logline.
"When Artemis, the daughter of the haven's pot dealer and its founder, finds a human on the side of the road, tired of playing by the rules, she decides to save him — but will this one act of defiance will burn everything she holds dear to the ground?"
RELATED:George R.R. Martin Addresses Fate of ‘Game of Thrones' If He Dies Before Completing Series
Amy Einhorn at Crown (Penguin Random House) commented Tucker's book immediately had her "dazzled" reading the first page, and calls it "a ride like no other." Tucker reveals that her debut novel was a story she had wanted to tell for decades, inspired by her "counterculture childhood" growing up among artists in Ibiza, and her love of world-building and magical realism.
"'Obscura' is a love letter to outsiders, weirdos, and anyone who's had to hide who they are to survive," she said.
If looking for the next sci-fi novel to keep an eye on, fans may want to put Tucker's at the top of the list. The writer and producer made her career in some of the fantasy genre's biggest TV titles. She wrote for the first two seasons of Supernatural before joining Alan Ball for the vampire seriesTrue Blood.
For True Blood, she also rose to become an executive producer in 2013 after having produced six seasons of the series. Her work led to nominated for a Producers Guild award, a Writers Guild award, a Primetime Emmy, and multiple Golden Globes. For Netflix, she wrote and executive-produced season two of Jessica Jones.
In 2023, she co-developed the Amazon Prime Video series The Power, based on the novel by Naomi Alderman.
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Home> Entertainment> Celebrity
Rhiannon Ingle
Topics: Brooklyn Beckham, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Celebrity, Nicola Peltz
Rhiannon Ingle is a Senior Journalist at Tyla, specialising in TV, film, travel, and culture. A graduate of the University of Manchester with a degree in English Literature, she honed her editorial skills as the Lifestyle Editor of The Mancunian, the UK's largest student newspaper. With a keen eye for storytelling, Rhiannon brings fresh perspectives to her writing, blending critical insight with an engaging style. Her work captures the intersection of entertainment and real-world experiences.
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The internet has been going wild over the latest update in the Beckham family feud saga.
There's been a whole bunch of chatter online regarding the famous British it-couple, David and Victoria, along with their four children; Brooklyn, 26, Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 14.
Now, rumours of an alleged family fall-out between the couple and their eldest, Brooklyn, have been brewing for years now but everything came to a head on Monday (19 January) when he took to Instagram to share a series of bombshell claims about 'Brand Beckham' and how his parents have reportedly impacted his relationship with his wife Nicola Peltz, with whom he tied the knot back in 2022.
Fellow celebs, ex-partners, fans and critics alike have been sharing their two cents on the matter, including a 'psychic' who made quite the eerie family prediction about the family-of-six weeks before Brooklyn released his statements, which referenced wedding dress speculation and Brooklyn and Nicola's first dance drama.
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Earlier this month (3 January), Mamamia's 'resident psychic', Evelyn Santoro, told the outlet a little more about her thoughts on the 'Beckham family succession'.
"By June 2026, the Nicola Peltz–Victoria Beckham dynamic doesn't explode. It's quite the opposite; it freezes," she explained.
"No reconciliation, no fiery escalation, just cold distance. Here we'll see two strong brands refusing to bend. But there will be strained peace through separation, not resolution."
According to the self-proclaimed psychic, matriarch Victoria, who has her own fashion label, will similarly 'face her own challenges'.
Evelyn claimed that, by August 2026, Victoria will hit 'fashion fatigue'.
"And the empire shows visible strain," she continued. "It won't collapse, but contract. Fewer collections, strategic scaling back."
Flash-forward a few more months, and Evelyn reckons we'll see the Beckham family 'operating under a new hierarchy'.
"David and Victoria: legacy protectors; Brooklyn and Nicola: separate power unit; Romeo and Cruz: the flexible duo; Harper: shielded from cameras," she noted, adding: "This is the real succession story; the Beckham's transition from one family brand to multiple orbiting ones.
"An emerging dynasty."
Now, just because a so-called psychic 'predicted' such events doesn't necessarily mean they are bound to happen, but internet sleuths will no doubt find the timings interesting.
In his statement, which was delivered across six text posts on his Instagram Stories, Brooklyn claimed: "Unfortunately, my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed."
He added: "I do not want to reconcile with my family. I'm not being controlled, I'm standing up for myself for the first time in my life.
"For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.
"Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they'll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade. But I believe the truth always comes out."
LADbible Media Group has previously reached out to David and Victoria Beckham's representatives for comment.
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The University Teachers' Network today demanded immediate reinstatement of two faculty members of the University of Asia Pacific (UAP), terming their dismissal "a surrender to mob intimidation and a serious violation of academic freedom and due process".
The demand was made at a press conference held at Jatiya Press Club this afternoon, where a written statement was read out by teachers.
The speakers protested the termination of Layeqa Bashir, an assistant professor of sociology at UAP's Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, and ASM Mohsin, an associate professor, head of the department, and former director of the Directorate of Student Welfare.
Reading out the statement, the network placed a four-point demand, calling for the immediate reinstatement of both teachers, an end to harassment of teachers and students who protested the decision. They also demanded what they described as punishment for those involved in organised intimidation and false allegations, and the enforcement of clear policies to ensure job security, due process and academic freedom in universities.
The dismissal of the two UAP teachers, is the latest example of this trend, the statement read.
Layeqa came under attack following a Facebook post that, according to the statement, was written from a security-related concern and not from a religious standpoint.
A section of current and former students portrayed the post as hurting religious sentiment and launched a campaign of online harassment, much of it driven by anonymous and fake accounts, the statement said.
Despite issuing a clarification, Layeqa continued to face pressure. Instead of verifying the complaints, the university administration allegedly asked her over the phone to resign.
Fearing for her safety, she lodged a general diary with Tejgaon Police Station, after which the university formed an inquiry committee.
The speakers criticised the inquiry process, saying that the committee sought complaints through a Google Form and received around 34 anonymous responses, making verification impossible.
Regarding Mohsin, the statement said he was dismissed without any show-cause notice or investigation, allegedly after being labelled a supporter of the former Awami League regime, despite his role in standing with students during the July uprising.
Economist Anu Muhammad, Professor Samina Luthfa of Dhaka University, and Professor Mirza Taslima Sultana of Jahangirnagar University were present at the press conference.
Kajalie Shehreen Islam, associate professor of Dhaka University; Shamali Shill, associate professor of Jagannath University; Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, professor of Dhaka University; and Tanvir Sobhan, senior lecturer of BRAC University, were also present.
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Astronomers found evidence that dark matter and neutrinos may interact, hinting at a "fundamental breakthrough" that challenges our understanding of how the universe evolved.
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Two of the universe's most mysterious particles may be colliding invisibly throughout the cosmos — a discovery that could solve one of the biggest lingering problems in our standard model of cosmology.
Those two elusive components — dark matter and neutrinos (or "ghost particles") — are ubiquitous throughout the cosmos, yet they remain poorly understood. In a study published Jan. 2 in the journal Nature Astronomy, an international team of researchers found evidence that dark matter and neutrinos may collide, transferring momentum between them in the process.
This surprising interaction may help to explain why the universe is less populated by dense regions, like galaxies, than predicted — in other words, the universe is less "clumpy" than cosmologists think it should be, the researchers said in a statement.
Dark matter is the mysterious, invisible substance that constitutes 85% of the matter in the universe. As its name suggests, dark matter does not emit light, so its existence has been only indirectly inferred from its gravitational influence, as observed in cosmological surveys.
Neutrinos are subatomic particles with infinitesimally low masses and no electric charge, so they very rarely interact with other particles. They're produced by various nuclear processes, including stellar fusion and supernovas, in prodigious quantities: Every second, approximately 100 billion neutrinos pass through each square centimeter of your body, Live Science previously reported.
Yet dark matter and neutrinos should not interact, according to the leading model of cosmology, known as the lambda cold dark matter model (lambda-CDM). This standard model aims to theoretically explain the large-scale structure of the cosmos.
However, this recent study provides new evidence that dark matter and neutrinos may interact after all, as other researchers have posited over the past two decades.
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If dark matter and neutrinos do collide, and transfer momentum to one another in the process, this discovery would inspire a rethink of the lambda-CDM model. Such collisions could also help to explain the "S8 tension," a mismatch between the expected and actual "clumpiness" of the universe.
"This tension does not mean the standard cosmological model is wrong, but it may suggest that it is incomplete," Eleonora Di Valentino, study co-author and a senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., explained in the statement. "Our study shows that interactions between dark matter and neutrinos could help explain this difference, offering new insight into how structure formed in the Universe."
The mismatch stems from researchers' findings that the current cosmos isn't as packed together as predicted, based on observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) — the first light in the universe, emitted when the cosmos was only 380,000 years old.
"The statement that cosmic structures are 'less clumped' is best understood in a statistical sense, rather than as a change in the appearance of individual galaxies or clusters. It refers to a reduced efficiency in the growth of cosmic structures over time," study co-author William Giarè, a cosmologist at the University of Hawaii, told Live Science via email.
The researchers tried to unite evidence from energy and density fluctuations in the CMB and from baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) — pressure waves "frozen" in time from the beginning of the cosmos — with more recent observations of the universe's large-scale structure.
The early-universe data come from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile and the European Space Agency's space-based Planck telescope, which was designed to study the CMB. The later-universe data come from the Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a two-decade effort to create a 3D map of millions of galaxies across more than 11 billion light-years.
The researchers also incorporated cosmic shear data from the Dark Energy Survey. Cosmic shear is the distortion of distant celestial objects due to weak gravitational lensing, which occurs when massive foreground structures bend the fabric of space-time and alter the paths of light traveling from those distant celestial objects to our detectors.
Finally, the researchers combined these data and modeled the evolution of the universe. When accounting for collisions between dark matter and neutrinos and the resulting momentum exchange, the simulations generated a model universe that better agrees with real observations.
—Heaviest antimatter particle ever discovered could hold secrets to our universe's origins
—Astronomers propose making a neutrino detector out of the Pacific Ocean
—Evidence for Stephen Hawking's unproven black hole theory may have just been found — at the bottom of the sea
There's reason to remain cautious, however, as the interaction between dark matter and neutrinos has only a 3-sigma level of certainty — meaning there is a 0.3% chance that this result is a fluke. Though short of the scientific gold standard of 5 sigma, it is significant enough to warrant additional research because, if confirmed, the interaction would prove a "fundamental breakthrough in cosmology and particle physics" — and a potential solution to the cosmic clumpiness quandary.
"The final verdict will come from upcoming large sky surveys, such as those from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and more precise theoretical work," research team leader Sebastian Trojanowski, a theoretical physicist at the National Centre for Nuclear Research in Poland, explained in a separate statement. "These will allow us to determine whether we are witnessing a new discovery in the dark sector or whether our cosmological models require further adjustment. However, each of these scenarios brings us closer to solving the mystery of dark matter."
Zu, L., Giarè, W., Zhang, C. et al. A solution to the S8 tension through neutrino–dark matter interactions. Nat Astron (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02733-1
Ivan is a long-time writer who loves learning about technology, history, culture, and just about every major “ology” from “anthro” to “zoo.” Ivan also dabbles in internet comedy, marketing materials, and industry insight articles. An exercise science major, when Ivan isn't staring at a book or screen he's probably out in nature or lifting progressively heftier things off the ground. Ivan was born in sunny Romania and now resides in even-sunnier California.
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Home> Science> Space
Harry Boulton
Speculation surrounding the existence of alien life has dominated conspiracy conversations for decades now, yet these rumors might just have more to them than you think, as the Bank of England has issued a warning.
It often goes hand in hand that people both believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life and that the government is trying to cover it up, which is why secret military bases like Area 51 have built up such mythos.
Alien hunters are dedicated to their belief that there's life out there, often visiting the most common UFO sighting spots and delving deep into the current so-called evidence of alien life throughout history.
If it is true that the 'truth' is being obscured by major governments, then there's little that the average person can do. But people might have received a hint that something major could be announced in the near future.
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As shared by LADbible, the Bank of England has been warned by a former key employee to prepare for the possibility that the United States government will announce the existence of alien life, forecasting a market crash if that information was revealed.
Relayed by Douglas Macgregor on X, a former senior analyst in financial security at the Bank of England, Helen McCaw has urged her former employer and Andrew Bailey, the bank's current governor, to 'organize contingencies' if this jaw-dropping reveal occurs.
Of course, this isn't strictly a confirmation that an announcement is on the way – as even if you take it at face value, it's merely a means of preparing for all eventualities to reduce risk – but many have taken it as further proof that there's more going on than we might be led to believe.
It's unclear what the 'contingency plan' for the Bank of England would be if aliens are revealed, and some are even unconvinced that the market would move that much in response to the news, regardless of how shocking it would be in practice.
"It would be a small reaction at most," predicts one investor on X, qualifying that "if there's an alien invasion, then markets crash, yes."
Another noted that "even hypothetical disclosures can move markets. This says less about aliens — and more about how fragile confidence and expectations really are."
Others on Reddit are speculating that the US government and President Donald Trump might be motivated to reveal news as big as this to 'distract' from the bad publicity surrounding both the attempted claim of Greenland and the continued pressure of the Epstein files.
"Holy. F***. They'll do anything to take attention away from the Epstein/Trump files," writes one commenter, with another speculating that "those Epstein files must be really, really bad."
A third offered a different perspective, arguing that they're "so tired of this. Just spill the beans, get it over with.”
They concluded: “After a few days of being in the headlines it will just be another normal ho hum item in the news feeds."
There are arguably few bigger and more shocking news stories than confirmation of extraterrestrial life, yet who knows if something even bigger is around the corner, considering current trends.
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R.A.D's striking running shoe is impressive
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It isn't easy to break into the running shoe market. It's an area that's already saturated with excellent options from well-established brands with huge research and marketing budgets, and a customer base that tends to stay loyal to brands they've used in the past.
There are relatively recent success stories like Hoka and On, who have both broken through to become major running brands with innovative designs. Both brands used visually striking shoes to stand out on the market too, and that's a playbook that R.A.D seems to have adopted with its first dedicated running shoe.
The UFO is a delightfully bouncy running shoe with a distinctive design. It's very cushioned and comfortable, but still light and springy enough for faster runs, making it a versatile option for your training.
The R.A.D UFO certainly catches the eye, with its bright colors and curvy geometry. R.A.D did launch the R-1 hybrid training shoe last year, which worked for runs as well as gym workouts, but the UFO is purely aimed at runners, and indeed built to rival the best running shoes on the market with a high price tag of $200.
When the UFO landed on my doorstep I was skeptical. I've not used R.A.D shoes before but in my experience, running shoes from gym-focused brands have been underwhelming. The looks were also a little off-putting, as was the price.
However, I've loved every step in the shoe, and I do think it's one of the outstanding options on the market thanks to its springy, fun ride. Here's four things I liked about the R.A.D UFO, and two things I'm less keen on.
The main reason I like the UFO is its bouncy ride. It's exceptionally springy thanks to the SUPEFOAM midsole, which is made up of two layers of PEBA foam, and delivers a high amount of energy return.
There are very few shoes that are as soft and springy as the UFO, and for R.A.D to have developed such impressive midsole foams in its first true running shoe is remarkable.
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There's a lot of foam in the midsole of the UFO, which stands 42mm high at the heel and has an 8mm drop, and you feel the benefit of all that cushioning on long runs in particular.
Despite the max-stack design, the UFO is pretty light, tipping the scales at 9.4oz in my US men's size 10.
Its combination of cushioning and bounce in a light design make the UFO enjoyable for all kinds of runs at different paces — it's a great do-it-all option for runners who don't use a running shoe rotation.
The pronounced rocker on the UFO is not just there to make its design even more striking, it makes the ride of the shoe very smooth whether you're running easy or hard.
I was a little worried that the dramatic shape of the rocker might make the UFO feel too unnatural on the run, but it works well and makes the ride more enjoyable on long runs in particular.
The outsole on the UFO is modest in the amount of rubber used, but the main impact areas around the heel and forefoot are covered.
Having run over 40 miles in the shoe in exclusively wet conditions — that's the British winter for you — I can confirm that the grip is reliable even when running at faster paces.
The UFO is bouncy and pretty light, but the very wide sections at the heel and forefoot mean that you feel its size during runs at faster paces.
I enjoyed using it for tempo runs, but for faster interval runs I prefer a nimbler shoe that's both lighter and narrower, like the Asics Megablast.
The price is high, but I think the UFO lives up to it with its performance — rivals like the Megablast are even more expensive.
A bigger barrier to people buying and using the UFO might well be its looks. While many will love the distinctive design, many runners might well prefer to use a more normal-looking running shoe.
I'd say it works for R.A.D to make a shoe that looks so different as a debut, but I'd be keen to see a more traditional-looking sneaker that uses this excellent midsole foam in the future.
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Nick Harris-Fry is an experienced health and fitness journalist, writing professionally since 2012. He spent nine years working on the Coach magazine and website before moving to the fitness team at Tom's Guide in 2024. Nick is a keen runner and also the founder of YouTube channel The Run Testers, which specialises in reviewing running shoes, watches, headphones and other gear.
Nick ran his first marathon in 2016 and became obsessed with the sport. He now has PBs of 2hr 25min for the marathon and 15min 30sec for 5K. Nick is also a qualified Run Leader in the UK.
Nick is an established expert in the fitness area and along with writing for many publications, including Live Science, Expert Reviews, Wareable, Coach and Get Sweat Go, he has been quoted on The Guardian and The Independent.
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