Business Sentiment
Sentiment Legend:
Negative < 44
Mixed 46-54
Positive > 56
Lee el artículo en español
Costa Rica heads to the polls this Sunday to pick a new president after an election season overshadowed by crime and political apathy.
Amid persisting violence from criminal groups in a country long-considered a peaceful tourist hub, polling reveals that Costa Ricans are most concerned about security this year. Voters are also distressed by the decline in their quality of life, as well as the country's muddled political landscape – a fact indicated by the twenty candidates for president alone.
Taking the lead in national surveys among the score of contenders is a right-winger from the country's ruling party: Laura Fernández, a 39-year-old former Minister of National Planning.
In Costa Rica, a candidate must obtain at least 40 percent of the vote to win the presidency in the first round. If no one reaches that threshold, the top two head to a runoff.
Fernández's polling lead means she's close to securing the presidency in the first round, according to the Center for Research and Political Studies of the University of Costa Rica (CIEP-UCR). Second place is occupied by nobody at all – more than a quarter of those CIEP-UCR surveyed are undecided.
Costa Rica's slogan "pura vida" invites tourists to experience "a pure life," but with murder rates on the rise in the nation's capital, authorities say visitors are on the decline. CNN's Djenane Villanueva reports from San José.
What Costa Rica's rise in crime means for tourists seeking ‘pura vida'
Costa Rica's struggle with criminal violence in recent years is a cruel irony. The country has long been a model for peace. It was the first nation to abolish its armed forces, a point of national pride in a region marked by political turmoil.
Yet government figures show that the last three years have been some of the most violent in recent Costa Rican history, with 905 homicides in 2023, an all-time record. The government attributes much of the violence to drug trafficking. In January, the US Treasury alleged that the country has become a “key global cocaine transshipment point.”
Costa Rica is not alone in this trend, of course: crime-related fears drove thousands of Latin Americans to the polls in recent months, from Ecuador to Chile to Honduras. The region's struggle against crime is overshadowed by one government in particular: El Salvador and its self-described “dictator” Nayib Bukele.
Bukele brought murder rates in El Salvador to historic lows through a gargantuan imprisonment campaign and police crackdown, but faces numerous allegations of human rights violations, especially regarding his notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
Nonetheless, he remains extremely popular in Latin America. He's also sought to promote his brand of iron-fist rule in Costa Rica, where the government broke ground on a CECOT-style prison last month with Bukele's blessing.
“Nayib Bukele's presence is important, legitimate, and honors us,” declared the retiring incumbent President Rodrigo Chaves at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Is El Salvador sliding into autocracy? Exiled reporter Carlos Dada weighs in
José Andrés Díaz González, political scientist at Costa Rica's National University in Heredia, told CNN that the security crisis is part and parcel with a decline in the country's social services.
“The foundations of the social pact are being weakened,” Díaz said. “Health, with the accelerated deterioration of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund; education, as an engine of social mobility; and security, with the increase in homicides and the loss of the feeling of security in homes.”
Díaz pointed out that Costa Rica faces the same demographic cliff as many other countries: the population is getting older, threatening further strain on a safety net already coming apart at the seams.
“We are in a demographic transition that implies that fewer people will have to produce more,” Díaz explained. “In 15 or 20 years, the pension system will be under greater pressure, there will be fewer contributors, less tax revenues and greater demands for care for the elderly population.”
According to a 2025 report from the State of the Nation Program (PEN), a local think tank, Costa Rica experienced an economic rebound in 2024 and the first half of 2025.
The country became the first in Central America to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2021, and that organization's latest reports on Costa Rica also paint a rosy initial picture: an “improved” fiscal situation with declining unemployment, declining debt and tech products making up a growing share of the country's exports.
Among peer nations, OECD reported, Costa Rica's growth has been “more resilient and stronger.”
The upward-trending numbers, however, only show half of the story, according to PEN political scientist Leonardo Merino.
“Costa Rica has economic growth that is disengaged from people's well-being,” Merino told CNN. He explained that much of the growth is concentrated in so-called “free trade zones,” which offer significant tax breaks and customs exemptions for investors.
Leo XIV speaks out on ‘dictatorship' of economic inequality and support for migrants in first major text
“Free trade zones are the main engine of growth, but they account for only 12 percent of employment and around 15 percent of production,” said Merino. “The domestic market economy, where the majority of the population is, is growing little and has been abandoned.”
OECD concurred with that assessment, too, writing that “innovation outcomes are weak” outside of free trade zones.
This wear and tear is also reflected in a marked political apathy among everyday Costa Ricans. According to Merino, three decades ago nearly every person in Costa Rica was affiliated with a political party. Today, barely a fifth of the country identifies with a party.
“It is a worrying trend,” Merino said. “Fewer and fewer people are voting, young people are participating less and now even older adults are staying away from the polls.”
In 2022, Costa Rica registered the lowest voter turnout in its recent history, with two out of five eligible voters staying home on election day.
Both Díaz and Merino agree that the Costa Rican social pact — built over more than a century — is at stake. Environmental concerns have held a central place in Costa Rica's identity for years, much like its lack of a standing army, and the country has set ambitious sustainability goals.
But the two political scientists say that even that is changing. The idea of a “green Costa Rica” coexists today with proposals for ending a two-decade-old ban on fossil fuel exploration and exploiting natural resources such as precious metals, gas and oil.
“It's not just a choice. If something is not done, the deterioration can continue,” said Díaz, “and so far no political party has considered this issue with the seriousness it requires.”
Election day in Costa Rica will not just determine who holds political office. It will also test the capacity of the country's politicians to reconnect with an increasingly distant citizenry and resolve the tensions accumulating in Costa Rica's social fabric. Will an army-less country known for its environmentalism become the next El Salvador?
CNN's Djenane Villanueva reported from San José, while Max Saltman contributed from Atlanta.
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
Cherub at landmark church causes ecclesiastical and political uproar with alleged resemblance to Italian PM
Italy's culture minister and the diocese of Rome have launched investigations after claims were made that an angel in a landmark church in Rome was restored in the likeness of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The resemblance was first flagged by the newspaper La Repubblica, which noted that one of the two angels flanking a marble bust of Italy's last king in the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina now had “a familiar, astonishingly contemporary face”.
It added: “Before the restoration, there was a generic cherub. Today, it is the face of the most powerful woman in the country.”
The front-page story set off a flurry of reactions. The culture ministry said technicians had been dispatched to carry out an inspection of the winged figure. They had been told to “establish the nature of the work carried out”, it said in a statement, and would “decide what action to take”.
As before-and-after photos made the rounds on social media, Meloni weighed in, seemingly poking fun at the curious controversy. On Instagram, she posted a picture of the restored angel, adding: “No, I definitely do not look like an angel,” alongside a laughing emoji.
Reporters rushed to the basilica, whose roots trace back to the fourth century, to get a sense of what exactly had transpired. “There is indeed a certain resemblance, but you would have to ask the restorer why it was done that way,” the parish priest of the basilica, Daniele Micheletti, told the news agency Ansa. “I asked for the chapel to be restored exactly as it was, I don't know.”
He said the restoration had been needed after the chapel containing the painting sustained water damage. The original painting dated back to the year 2000, meaning it was not under any sort of heritage protection, he added.
He defended the sacristan who had carried out the restoration. “He's not a house painter; he's very good,” he said.
Opposition politicians were swift to take aim. “What has emerged is unacceptable,” Irene Manzi, of the centre-left Partito Democratico, said in a statement that called for an investigation into whether the restoration breached heritage regulations.
Members of the Five Star Movement pointed to the wider implications. “We cannot allow art and culture to risk becoming a tool for propaganda or anything else, regardless of whether the face depicted is that of the prime minister,” the party said.
The Diocese of Rome said its vicar general, Baldassare Reina, had expressed “disappointment” over what had happened and would “immediately initiate the necessary investigations” to determine who was responsible. “It is firmly reiterated that images of sacred art and Christian tradition cannot be misused or exploited, as they are intended exclusively to support liturgical life and personal and communal prayer,” it said.
As images of the restoration fuelled debate across the country, reporters lined up to speak with the octogenarian pensioner behind the revamp. “They asked me to fix it and I did,” said Bruno Valentinetti. “I worked on it for two years and finished the work a year ago.”
He said he had simply restored the paintings to their original state. “Many things had disappeared. In restoration, you strip away the layers and the original design reappears. I traced it and put the colour back in. The design was ruined, but I managed to recover the outline and traced it,” he said.
Valentinetti said he carried out the work with the blessing of the parish priest. “I live here. I'm a craftsman. I volunteered to show gratitude to the priest for hosting me,” he said.
He denied reports of being linked to rightwing politics in the past, saying he couldn't remember how long it had been since he had voted, and he repeatedly shot down any suggestion of a likeness to the prime minister. “It's not Meloni,” he said. “I restored the faces to how they were 25 years ago.”
In an interview with La Repubblica, Valentinetti noted that the swirling debate over the painting had come with an upside: “In the past years we've never seen so many people in this church.”
But effort fell short of state surgeon general's promise to end Florida's immunization mandates altogether
Republicans advanced a bill in the Florida legislature this week to weaken vaccine protections for children, but it fell well short of state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo's promise made last year to end immunization mandates.
The proposed new law, introduced by Jacksonville state senator Clay Yarborough, and which narrowly passed the chamber's health policy committee on Monday in a 6-4 vote, seeks only to expand exemptions for parents who do not want their school-age children vaccinated.
It keeps mandates in place for shots for measles, mumps and rubella, frequently combined into a single MMR vaccine; diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP); and polio.
In September, Ladapo, a longtime vaccine skeptic appointed by Florida's hard-right governor, Ron DeSantis, caused outrage among public health experts when he declared children in the state would no longer be required to receive vaccines against a number of preventable diseases.
He said he expected his push to eliminate compulsory vaccinations would receive the blessing “of God”, and that “every last [mandate] is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery”.
Florida's lawmakers, he said, “are going to have to choose a side”.
Yarborough's bill would appear to indicate that Republicans have chosen, and their decision is not to support the surgeon general's sweeping anti-vaccine agenda, which was already showing signs of stress soon after he announced it.
“The main thrust of this bill is that parents be in charge of the decisions of their children's health care,” Yarborough said at Monday's hearing, reported by the Sun-Sentinel.
“Parents need to be in the drivers' seat for every aspect of their children's education, their health care, their wellbeing, anything related thereto.”
If passed into law, the so-called “medical freedom” bill will add parents' “conscience” as a reason for them to back out of vaccinations for their children to the existing exemption for religious reasons. It will require medical providers to advise parents and caregivers of the “risks, benefits, safety and efficacy of each vaccine being administered” using materials provided by state-run medical boards.
Some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the bill, noting that an easier opt-out weakens any benefit of mandates remaining in place.
“We are about to go down a road that's going to create a major problem for children, but also for seniors and those who cannot be vaccinated,” Gayle Harrell, state senator for the city of Stuart, said, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
“I had a conversation with my primary-care doctor I've had [as] a good friend for many years, and she said, ‘Gayle, I don't want to go back to medical school to learn how to treat polio.' And that's where we are going.”
Harrell, the committee's vice-chair, joined Alexis Calatayud as the two Republicans who voted against advancing the bill.
Separately, Florida's health department is moving towards eliminating requirements for some vaccines that are not mandated by law. In December, it discussed dropping chickenpox, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The department has not yet published a proposed rule.
Florida's anti-vaccine drive has parallels in health secretary Robert F Kennedy's federal-level rejection of immunizations and pursuit of what many see as a science-free health agenda.
Dr Scott Rivkees, Ladapo's predecessor as Florida surgeon general, told the Guardian last year that the state was pursuing a flawed policy that was overwhelmingly rejected by the public and dangerous to children's health.
Three cases of measles have been reported in Florida already this year.
“The public is overwhelmingly supportive of children being vaccinated. They don't want their kids to get sick,” Rivkees said.
“[But] so much distrust has been put in place that makes those of us in medicine less effective than we would have been even just six months ago.”
The year was 2007. Steve Jobs had announced the launch of the first iPhone, the sub-prime mortgage crisis was bubbling up in the US, the EU had expanded to include Romania and Bulgaria, and India had for the first time become a trillion-dollar economy. This was when trade talks between Delhi and Brussels were initiated for the first time. It would not be until this very week, almost 20 years later, that a deal was signed after a few final months of unusually rapid negotiations.
On Tuesday last week, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced the “mother of all deals,” which promises to bring together about 2 billion consumers and a quarter of the world's GDP. The agreement opens parts of India's famously protectionist domestic market with a focus on exporting manufacturing and services. In return, middle-class Indian consumers should find it cheaper to buy European cars and wine.
The overarching EU-India comprehensive strategic agenda is really much larger in scope, taking in defense and security, commitments to multilateralism, mobility and cooperation in a range of areas.
Illustration: Yusha
Why the sudden change of pace, after 20 years of stops and starts? The answer has everything to do with US President Donald Trump. The EU-India free trade agreement unveils the emerging silhouette of a post-US world order amid relentless threats to territorial sovereignty, punitive tariffs and the weakening of multilateral institutions.
The original talks had proceeded slowly over differences on cars, alcohol, agriculture and dairy — and were abandoned entirely in 2013. They were resumed in 2022 as the post-pandemic world sought to “de-risk” and diversify supply chains beyond China. Ironically what brought the deal to the finish line was not China but the looming shadow of Trump. In December 2024, even before the inauguration of his second presidency, the US president had spooked Europe by reviving the idea of owning Greenland. That a close ally was threatening territorial sovereignty prompted a widely shared sense of Europe being “home alone” amid frictions in the tightly woven transAtlantic relations.
To add to the chaos, on his first day in office Trump imposed punishing tariffs on America's neighbors, Canada and Mexico — a move that culminated in the “liberation day” taxes levied on 90 countries across the world. India was hit with one of the highest tariff rates of 50 percent, which included an additional 25 percent because of its purchase of discounted Russian oil. And most recently the tariff weapon was wielded once again against the EU and the UK when eight countries sent a few NATO soldiers to Greenland. As a result, the US is seen — as public opinion surveys show — as not simply undependable in Europe, but as an outright threat.
“De-risking” and “decoupling” are back in vogue in Europe — except that the target is Trump's US, rather than China. And what is at stake is not just supply chains but the strategic capacity to act against coercion. The move by the French government to ban officials from using US video-conferencing software such as Zoom and instead promote its home-grown Visio platform is a case in point.
The wide scope of the evolving India-EU partnership suggests a move toward greater convergence in terms of the commitment to multilateral institutions, and cooperation in a range of areas of security and defense, research, mobility and connectivity, including enhanced engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. As the US withdraws to the western hemisphere (through the “Donroe doctrine”), the Indo-Pacific region, which was once central to US engagement in Asia, is more open to collaboration with the EU.
The trade deal is the largest of its kind but is part of a growing trend as many nations attempt to forge new alliances. Brussels recently concluded a trade deal with the South American Mercosur trade bloc, with several more in the pipeline; India has made agreements with the UK and New Zealand in the last few months alone. While ratification and implementation take time, and might even hit a roadblock or two (such as the delay in the EU-Mercosur deal), it suggests a shift that is unmistakable. The world many outside the west have long dreamed about — of multipolarity, strategic autonomy, even de-dollarization — is taking shape, first slowly and then rapidly.
A day before the EU-India summit, EU leaders were for the first time guests of honor at India's Republic Day celebrations, invited to witness the military parade and colorful pageantry. The emerging pictures were a world removed from the gloom that has overtaken the European mood in the past few months. They projected bonhomie, even optimism.
The world is moving on. America first increasingly seems to be America alone.
Ravinder Kaur is professor of Asian studies at the University of Copenhagen and is writing a book about the history of the global south.
There is a modern roadway stretching from central Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa, to the partially recognized state's Egal International Airport. Emblazoned on a gold plaque marking the road's inauguration in July last year, just below the flags of Somaliland and the Republic of China (ROC), is the road's official name: “Taiwan Avenue.”
The first phase of construction of the upgraded road, with new sidewalks and a modern drainage system to reduce flooding, was 70 percent funded by Taipei, which contributed US$1.85 million. That is a relatively modest sum for the effect on international perception, and
At the end of last year, a diplomatic development with consequences reaching well beyond the regional level emerged. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel's recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state, paving the way for political, economic and strategic cooperation with the African nation.
The diplomatic breakthrough yields, above all, substantial and tangible benefits for the two countries, enhancing Somaliland's international posture, with a state prepared to champion its bid for broader legitimacy.
With Israel's support, Somaliland might also benefit from the expertise of Israeli companies in fields such as mineral exploration and water management, as underscored by Israeli Minister of
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan.
Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration?
Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
On Sunday, elite free solo climber Alex Honnold — famous worldwide for scaling sheer rock faces without ropes — climbed Taipei 101, once the world's tallest building and still the most recognizable symbol of Taiwan's modern identity. Widespread media coverage not only promoted Taiwan, but also saw the Republic of China (ROC) flag fluttering beside the building, breaking through China's political constraints on Taiwan.
That visual impact did not happen by accident. Credit belongs to Taipei 101 chairwoman Janet Chia (賈永婕), who reportedly took the extra step of replacing surrounding flags with the ROC flag ahead of the climb.
Just
Multiple education indicators in Taiwan outperformed global and East Asian averages across all levels of education in 2024, according to a report released by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Jan. 22.
The report said Taiwan's education completion rates in 2024 stood at 100 percent for primary education, 99.69 percent for lower secondary education and 98.81 percent for upper secondary education, compared with global averages of 88.1 percent, 78.1 percent and 59.6 percent, respectively.
In East and Southeast Asia, the average completion rates were 98 percent for primary education, 90.7 percent for lower secondary education and 73.3 percent for upper secondary education, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS).
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
As for children who are over-age for their grade -- defined as students who are at least two years older than the official age for their current grade -- Taiwan's rates stood at 0.01 percent for primary education and 0.04 percent for lower secondary education. These figures were far below the global averages of 9.93 percent and 9.35 percent, as well as the East and Southeast Asia averages of 3.8 percent and 5.73 percent, respectively.
Taiwan's gross enrollment ratio for tertiary education reached 94.35 percent, compared with the global average of 43.61 percent and the East Asia average of 76.1 percent, according to data from the MOE and the UIS.
Gender equality in education is measured using the adjusted gender parity index (GPIA), which is calculated by dividing the female index value by the male index value.
A GPIA close to 1 indicates parity, with values above 1 reflecting higher female participation and values below 1 indicating higher male participation. Generally, a GPIA between 0.97 and 1.03 is considered to represent gender equality.
In Taiwan, the GPIA for education completion was 1.0 across primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education, indicating full gender parity. Taiwan's GPIA for tertiary gross enrollment stood at 1.08, slightly below the global average of 1.12 and the East Asia average of 1.11.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation's systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said.
Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China's Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said.
On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
Reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their personal liberties restricted in China increased about fourfold annually last year, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
Last year, 221 Taiwanese who traveled to China were reported missing, were detained and interrogated, or otherwise had their personal freedom restricted, up from 55 the previous year, the council said.
Reopening group tours to China would be risky, as it would leave travelers with no way to seek help through official channels after Beijing shut down dialogue between the associations tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said.
Taipei's Taiwan Strait Tourism
SHIFT:
Taiwan is evolving from a transit stop into a tourist destination, with more international travelers willing to spend on tours, dining and cultural activities Taiwan rose three places in the World Tourism Barometer to 36th globally in 2024, with international tourism revenue of US$10.028 billion, the Tourism Administration said on Monday.
The UN Tourism Organization publication said that its focus has switched from whether a country has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels of tourism to the amount spent by a tourist during an overseas trip.
The nation last year welcomed 8.57 million international tourists, about 9 percent more than in 2024, with most tourists coming from Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong and Macau, all of which accounted for at least 1 million tourists each.
During the first
Markets
Hot Stocks
Fear & Greed Index
Latest Market News
Hot Stocks
Fans of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have made “Melania” a breakout hit by box office standards.
The documentary is on track to earn about $7 million in its opening weekend, with ticket sales reflecting a familiar red/blue divide in America.
“Melania” is projected to be the best-performing documentary of its kind in a decade, a takeaway that the first lady trumpeted in a post on X.
Then again, “Melania” also received a marketing rollout unlike any other documentary, complete with ads on buses and commemorative popcorn tins at theaters.
By financial standards, the film is not a winner, at least not yet. The company that financed it, Amazon MGM Studios, still has a long way to go to break even.
On Sunday, Kevin Wilson, the head of domestic theatrical distribution for the studio, said, “we are confident in the long-term value this rollout will deliver to customers both in theaters, and for years to come on Prime Video.”
Amazon paid $40 million for the rights to “Melania” and committed another $35 million for marketing — eye-poppingly high sums for a documentary. The Hollywood Reporter called it the “most expensive” such film in history.
The exorbitant spending led Amazon's industry rivals to speculate that the studio was trying to curry favor with the Trump administration by paying the first lady millions of dollars.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “the First Lady's cut is more than 70% of the $40 million,” or at least $28 million.
“The Daily Show” host Desi Lydic phrased it as a question on premiere night: “Why would Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who has tons of business with the government, run by a famously corrupt president known for loving bribes, overpay for a Melania documentary?”
“Hmmm,” Lydic said, pretending to be stumped.
Amazon asserted that “we licensed the film for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it.”
Theatergoers said they did love it. The documentary received an A grade through CinemaScore, an industry-standard survey of theater patrons.
The A grade was in stark contrast to the critical consensus. Professional reviewers — who weren't given a chance to screen the film in advance — have panned “Melania” as a vapid infomercial. Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates film reviews, found only 11% positive reviews as of Sunday morning.
“Melania” is not really a documentary at all, but rather a hagiographic “reality TV” special that “preaches to the faithful,” The Bulwark culture editor Sonny Bunch wrote.
Bunch called it “fascinating to see so pure and naked an instrument of graft and propaganda deployed to great effect on an audience happy to lap it up.”
Amazon MGM rightly calculated that the film would attract audiences across the country, particularly in Republican strongholds.
Industry sources said the top-performing markets for “Melania” included Dallas, Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, and West Palm Beach.
Opinions about the film predictably broke along partisan lines. Trump critics shared screenshots of empty theaters in big liberal cites to mock “Melania” while Trump fans shared photos of group outings in conservative suburbs.
The film's opening weekend performance exceeded the expectations of box office prognosticators, some of whom had forecast “Melania” to make just $2 to $5 million over the weekend.
The actual $7 million total puts the film on track at No. 3 overall for the weekend, behind the Sam Raimi-directed horror adventure “Send Help” and YouTube star Markiplier's self-financed film “Iron Lung.”
Given that “Melania” won't be in theaters for long, there is no way that Amazon will recoup its costs from the theatrical release.
But box office figures are not the only way to measure success, since “Melania” and three companion TV episodes are going to stream on Prime Video, and the studio can eventually recoup more of its spend via advertising and Prime signups.
A streaming premiere date has not yet been announced, but industry experts say most of the project's overall audience will come on Prime Video.
“We're very encouraged by the strong start and positive audience response, with early box office for ‘Melania' exceeding our expectations,” Wilson said. “This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service.”
In any case, the suspicion about Amazon's motives will linger long after the film leaves theaters.
A New York Times reporter asked President Trump about it at the premiere on Thursday in Washington, DC.
“Amazon paid $75 million to make and market this film,” reporter Shawn McCreesh said. “It's an exorbitant fee. Many Americans think that this is maybe Jeff Bezos trying to get in good with you, and they would call it an act of corporate corruption.”
President Trump interrupted and asked, “Who are you with?” After criticizing The Times, he sidestepped the topic, saying, “I'm not involved. That was done with my wife.”
Over the weekend, he played movie promoter on Truth Social, urging people to “check it out” and linking to Amazon's website for the film.
On Sunday morning, the president linked to a news story about the ticket sales and wrote, “BLOCKBUSTER!”
This story hasd been updated with additional content.
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. All times are ET. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices Copyright S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates. Fair value provided by IndexArb.com. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
Melania, however, fell substantially short of turning a profit because it cost $40m to make and $35m to promote
Amazon's Melania Trump documentary has reportedly beaten box office expectations and recorded the strongest start of any documentary in over a decade, taking $7m at the US box office during its lavishly-promoted opening weekend. Simultaneously, though, Melania fell substantially short of turning a profit because it cost $40m to make and $35m to promote.
And Amazon – which recently cut 16,000 corporate jobs – has been hit with criticism that making the documentary about the first lady, and paying so highly for it, was little more than a ploy to curry favor with her husband, Donald Trump, during his second presidency.
The film, which follows Melania Trump as she prepared to re-enter the White House in early 2025, was beaten at the box office by two horror films: Iron Lung and Rachel McAdams's Send Help. But it managed to beat out action film Shelter.
Melania registered its earnings by targeting older conservatives and has been noted for carefully playing to subjects close to what are said to be interests of her husband's fans: Patriotism, Christianity and the importance of family.
Deadline said Melania was forecast to make $5m on its debut weekend. The Hollywood Reporter said that those predictions for the Brett Ratner-directed documentary were “based on empty, or nearly empty, seat maps in cinemas across the country”.
The outlet estimated that the film had done well with conservatives in the southern US, specifically women over the age of 55, who made up 72% of the opening-day audience.
EntTelligence, a research firm, estimated that rural theaters would contribute roughly 46% of the opening-weekend box office – and those in Republican counties would contribute about 53% of ticket sales. Top box office states for the film included the conservative stalwart states of Florida and Texas.
Melania, though, has received overwhelmingly negative critical reviews. The Guardian judged it to be “dispiriting, deadly and unrevealing”.
“There is a decent documentary to be made about the former model from Slovenia, but this one is unredeemable,” the Guardian's one-star review said.
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter described it as an “expensive propaganda doc” and “a film that fawns so lavishly over its subject that you feel downright unpatriotic not gushing over it”. In trailing credits, it added, the first lady's achievements are rolled “in such laudatory fashion that North Korea would blush”.
Donald Trump recently told reporters “wasn't involved” in negotiations over the documentary $75m price tag. Melania Trump said the producers had approached several distributors, and “Amazon was the best because they agreed to do theaters all around the world.”
The film's director Brett Ratner – who had otherwise largely retreated from Hollywood after numerous sexual misconduct allegations during the #MeToo movement – was pointedly asked at the Melania premiere if he felt he was part of a larger quid pro quo.
“That's ridiculous, but it's OK, I'll answer,” he said. “I can tell you right now, if we were audited and they said, ‘How much was spent on this movie?' This movie is one of the most expensive movies – documentaries – in the genre ever made.”
“It wasn't about getting rich. I mean, I think the Trumps are wealthy and successful enough. This is about giving me the ability to hire the best crew in the world, to not only score the film with the best composer … I mean, when you see the movie, you'll go, ‘Oh, we see where the money went now.' This wasn't about corruption. Melania only cared about one thing – making a great movie for audiences.”
On the same day Melania opened in theaters, Ratner appeared in photos published by Trump's justice department as part of a release of 3m files pertaining to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The photos show Ratner in pictures alongside Epstein, including while wrapping his arms around a woman between them.
Ratner has not publicly commented.
People mentioned in or seen in pictures included in the so-called Epstein files have not been implicated in or convicted of crimes. Many notable people who associated with Epstein, a former friend of Trump, have denied wrongdoing.
Taylor Rehmet's win adds to Democrats' record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle
Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that Donald Trump won by 17 points when he clinched a second presidency in 2024.
Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, easily defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in the Fort Worth-area district. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet had a comfortable lead of more than 14 percentage points.
His victory added to Democrats' record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle. Democrats said it was further evidence that voters under the second Trump administration are motivated to reject GOP candidates and their policies.
Ken Martin, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman, called it “a warning sign to Republicans across the country”.
“This win goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet told supporters.
The seat was open because the four-term Republican incumbent, Kelly Hancock, resigned to take a statewide office. Hancock easily won election each time he ran for the office, and Republicans have held the seat for decades.
The district is redder than its home, Tarrant county. Trump won the county by five points in the 2024 presidential election. But Democrat Joe Biden carried it by about 1,800 votes out of more than 834,000 cast in 2020, when he defeated Trump at the end of his first presidency.
Trump posted about the race on his Truth social media platform earlier Saturday, urging voters to get out to support Wambsganss. He called her a successful entrepreneur and “an incredible supporter” of his Make America great again (Maga) movement.
But Rehmet had support from national organizations, including the DNC and VoteVets, a veterans group that said it spent $500,000 on ads. Rehmet, who served in the US air force and works as a machinist, focused on lowering costs, supporting public education and protecting jobs.
Democrats have been encouraged by their performance in elections since Trump took office. In November, the party dominated the first major Election Day since Trump's return to the White House, notably winning governor races in Virginia and New Jersey.
Democratic candidates also have won special elections in Kentucky and Iowa. And while Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee special election for a US House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democrats hope for this fall's midterms.
Rehmet's victory allows him to serve only until early January, and he must win the November general election to keep the seat for a full four-year term. The Texas legislature is not set to reconvene until 2027, and the GOP still will have a comfortable majority.
Even with US forces poised to strike Iran, the country's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CNN Sunday that he was “confident that we can achieve a deal” with the United States on Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
“Unfortunately, we have lost our trust [in] the US as a negotiating partner,” he said, but the exchange of messages through friendly countries in the region was facilitating “fruitful” talks with the US.
There appeared to be similar optimism on the US side this weekend. Aboard Air Force One Saturday, US President Donald Trump told reporters that Iran was “talking to us, seriously talking to us.”
Refusing to promise that Iran would engage in direct talks with US negotiators, Araghchi highlighted the need to address the “substance of negotiations” rather than the form.
His remarks came as Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, struck a defiant tone, warning that any US strike on Iran would result in a regional war.
Khamenei told a crowd at the Imam Khomeini mosque in Tehran on Sunday that Iran does not “intend to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will deliver a firm blow to anyone who attacks and harasses it,” according to state media.
Trump faces a weakened Iran but that doesn't make his choices any easier
“The Americans should know that if they initiate a war, this time it will be a regional war,” he said, posting similar remarks on X.
Progress towards renewed negotiations appears to have stumbled on Iranian demands that they concentrate on nuclear issues – and the US refusal to reduce its large military presence in the region, which looms large over any diplomatic efforts.
Pressed by CNN on questions of Iran's extensive missile arsenal – believed to have been largely rebuilt following last year's war with Israel – and the country's regional proxies, like the Yemen-based Houthis that have harassed regional shipping, Araghchi said the focus must be on Iran's nuclear capabilities instead.
“Let's not talk about impossible things,” he said, “And not lose the opportunity to achieve a fair and equitable deal to ensure no nuclear weapons. That as I said, is achievable even in a short period of time.”
In return, Araghchi said that Tehran would expect the lifting of US sanctions – which have been a yoke around the neck of the Iranian economy for more than a decade – as well as respect for Iran's right to continue nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes.
If talks fail, Iran was ready for war, Araghchi promised, although a conflict would likely spiral beyond Iran, he said, echoing Khamenei's comments.
But a war, “would be a disaster for everybody,” Araghchi said, and US bases across the region would be targets for Iran's military, which had seen the limitations and strengths of its missile arsenal in last year's 12-day war against Israel.
Human rights groups have estimated that at least several thousand people were killed in street protests across Iran last month, which led Trump to warn Tehran that the US would carry out strikes against the regime.
Trump declined on Saturday to say whether he has decided on a potential military strike against Iran.
“Some people think that. Some people don't,” Trump said when asked about concerns that backing away from a strike would embolden Tehran.
Trump again refused to provide specifics about a possible military strike, repeating comments he has made previously.
“I certainly can't tell you that, but we do have very big, powerful ships heading in that direction,” he said. “As you know, I can't tell you. I hope they negotiate something that's acceptable.”
Regional efforts to avert conflict have involved a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, including a visit to Tehran by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani on Saturday.
Qatar's foreign ministry said the two sides “reviewed ongoing efforts to de-escalate the tensions in the region.”
The future of Iran's internet connectivity is still bleak, even as weeks-long blackout begins to lift
There was also a call Saturday between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who “reiterated Egypt's persistent efforts aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region,” Pezeshkian told Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.
On the streets of Tehran, the violent suppression of January's protests is at the forefront of people's minds.
Asked about the government response, Araghchi blamed “terrorist elements” receiving orders from abroad for stirring up dissent and provoking violence, as have Khamenei and Iranian state media throughout the crisis.
Talking about the violent peak of protests, he said, “We consider these three days as the continuation of those 12 days of war that was an operation led by Mossad from outside and of course, we crushed that operation.”
“There was no plan for the execution or hanging” of protesteors, he said, denying Trump's assertion that he had received guarantees from Iran that executions would be halted.
“I can affirm that the right to each and every person who is arrested and detained would be observed and guaranteed,” he said.
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
GORKI, February 1. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump wants to go down in history as a peacemaker and is "trying to make that happen," Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with TASS, Reuters, and the Wargonzo project.
"Trump, it is obvious, wants to go down in history as a peacemaker and he is trying. In some cases, it works out, in others it doesn't. He is genuinely trying to do this," Medvedev noted.
According to him, the chaos often used to describe the actions of US President Donald Trump in fact conceals a carefully thought-out policy. "He (Trump — TASS) is an emotional person, but on the other hand, that very chaos people like to talk about, which his actions are said to create, is not quite so. It is obvious that behind it lies a fully deliberate and well-calibrated line," the deputy head of the Security Council emphasized.
Therefore, Medvedev added, Trump's style of governance is "original, but in some ways quite effective."
Medvedev also noted that US President Donald Trump, as a former businessman, "acts forcefully," which is quite effective in dealings with many European countries. "As a former businessman — and there are no truly former businessmen, just as there are some other things that are never truly former — he always acts forcefully: I will scare you, then step back, and you will agree to half of my terms," Medvedev explained.
The deputy head of the Security Council noted that "this is quite effective — in relations with the UK, with other European countries, and with many other countries as well.".
MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Russian servicemen in the special military operation zone have liberated the settlements of Zelenoye in the Kharkov Region and Sukhetskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
"Units of the North battlegroup, as a result of active operations, liberated the settlement of Zelenoye in the Kharkov Region. <…> Units of the Center battlegroup liberated the settlement of Sukhetskoye in the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry said.
At the same time, total losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the special military operation zone over the past day amounted to about 1,085 servicemen.
Thus, in the area of responsibility of the North battlegroup, Ukrainian losses exceeded 130 servicemen; the West battlegroup — more than 150; the South battlegroup — up to 125; the Center battlegroup — over 375; the East battlegroup — up to 275; and the Dnepr battlegroup — up to 30 servicemen.
With America's fleet of icebreakers lagging well behind its rivals, it may have to rely on allies to boost its Arctic power
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Benedict Smith is a US Reporter based in Washington. He has covered stories on the Trump administration, Russia-Ukraine war and Epstein files. He joined through the paper's Editorial Graduate Programme and has previously worked at PA Media. In 2025 he won the Press 30 Under 30 Award
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Benedict Smith is a US Reporter based in Washington. He has covered stories on the Trump administration, Russia-Ukraine war and Epstein files. He joined through the paper's Editorial Graduate Programme and has previously worked at PA Media. In 2025 he won the Press 30 Under 30 Award
High up in the Arctic, the stillness of remote terrain is sporadically interrupted by enormous ships crashing through ice sheets, carving paths through the frozen wasteland.
Icebreakers, as these vessels are known, can weigh more than 30,000 tons and have become critical in moving cargo, supplying research stations and projecting military power in the region.
The US may be the unchallenged power in its own hemisphere, but it is far more vulnerable in the Arctic because its fleet of icebreakers lags well behind those of rival powers and allies alike. The situation is “abysmal”, one former admiral told The Telegraph.
Canada, which has a formidable array of icebreakers, plus the expertise to design and build them, could help Donald Trump assert his authority in the region.
But amid the president's threats to annex his northern neighbour and pummel its economy with extortionate tariffs, experts question whether icebreaker diplomacy could help Canada to bring Mr Trump to heel.
The president openly covets Greenland's mineral riches, which he may be able to exploit under a preliminary deal struck with Nato this month. But he needs icebreakers to cut a path through the icy waters of the Arctic to do so.
Fortunately for him, he has inherited a pact from the previous administration, under which Canada and Finland agreed to use their maritime expertise to help design and build six of these ships for the US.
Since the end of the Cold War, the US has retreated from the Arctic while allowing its shipbuilding capacity to wither, by the estimation of military officials and experts.
Most of its military bases on Greenland, which Mr Trump recently suggested he could seize by force, were left to freeze over, and its icebreaker fleet was left to decline.
Washington had little appetite for providing an extra billion dollars or so it would take to design and build another icebreaker, according to Adml Bill Baumgartner, who retired from the US Coast Guard in 2013.
“Politically, many people were saying, ‘We really haven't had very much icebreaking capability for the last couple decades. What's the problem? The world hasn't stopped.'”
The US now has just three icebreakers, the third of which only became operational in August. Before that there were only two, “which was just abysmal”, Adml Baumgartner said.
Of those, the Polar Star has been in service since 1976, and has been extended decades beyond its expected 30-year lifespan with millions of dollars spent on repairs.
According to a congressional report, its equipment frequently breaks down, while fires have occurred onboard. Spare parts need to be salvaged from another ship from the same era because many are no longer commercially available.
The others are the Healy, which the Coast Guard is spending some $97m on in the hope of extending its life to the mid-2030s, and the Storis, a converted former supply vessel.
It is widely acknowledged that the US will never equal the capabilities of Russia, which has the world's largest Arctic coastline and operates a fleet of around 40 of the vessels, eight of which are nuclear-powered. But it's even lagging behind China, which in 2018 declared itself a “near-Arctic state”.
The US believes it needs somewhere between eight or nine icebreakers to support its polar missions over the coming years, or risk surrendering its foothold to rival powers.
“That presence matters. Continuing to reinforce our sovereign waters is important, because we've seen Russia plant the flag on the bottom of the Arctic continental shelf and claiming the Arctic as theirs,” said Adml Andrew Sugimoto.
A new class of 23,000-ton polar security cutters was expected to be completed by 2024, but that has been delayed repeatedly and now is not expected before 2030.
Joe Biden, the former US president, struck a deal with Canada and Finland in 2024 to create a fleet of six vessels, which are meant to have a range of 12,000 nautical miles, operate for two months without resupply and break through 4ft of ice.
The Telegraph understands that two of these Arctic security cutters, as they are known, will be built in Finland, while another four will be made in an American shipyard.
Both Canada and Finland have decades of technical expertise in building icebreakers, which is now an important point of leverage when it comes to dealing with the Trump administration.
Mr Trump, when he returned to office last January, declared he wanted 40 icebreakers – doubtless driven by a desire to equal Russian capabilities.
But he also declared he could do it without the help of Canada, a country that has a vastly larger icebreaker fleet than the US, not to mention years of expertise in designing and building the ships.
“All of a sudden, Canada wants a piece of the deal,” Mr Trump claimed, lashing out having been spurned in his attempt to absorb the country as the US' “51st state”.
While many dismissed the president's threats as mere trolling, Ottawa has taken him seriously. So seriously, in fact, that last week it was reported its military had drawn up plans to respond to a US invasion, which predicted the country would be overrun in a matter of days.
But its icebreaker expertise has given Canada valuable diplomatic leverage in its relationship with the US.
It is notable how the president, who occasionally rattles a sabre in Ottawa's general direction, has dropped his public attacks on the ICE Pact (Icebreaker Collaboration Effort), as Mr Biden's deal was known.
And members of the administration are keen to keep the agreement on track. Kristi Noem, the US homeland security secretary, has declared it will return manufacturing to American soil while allowing the US to “thrive” in the Arctic.
Icebreakers, equipped with a rounded bow that allows them to mount an ice sheet before its enormous weight crashes through it, are subject to constant wear and tear that limits their natural lifespan.
That means that the US is currently “at the mercy” of its allies if something goes wrong with its modest fleet, Adml Baumgartner said. “It is important… to have good relations” with countries like Canada and Finland because of this, he added.
Breaking ice to keep America moving.Winter weather doesn't stop commerce, or the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2025, @USCG facilitated the movement of $5.4T in maritime commerce and 1.8B tons of cargo across U.S. waterways. From the Northeast to the Great Lakes, our icebreaking crews… pic.twitter.com/bYcDZLdfPp
Heather Conley, a former state department official, cast doubt on how willing Canadian leaders would be to exploit the ICE Pact for leverage and potentially hurt its own companies and shipyards in the process.
Nevertheless, she believes the Trump administration understands the deal is a “good old-fashioned win-win” and will be wary of upsetting it. If the pact falls apart, she believes, “it's going to be the US that feels that the most, because we are in the greatest need”.
Michael Byers, an expert in the Arctic with the University of British Columbia, cast doubt on whether Ottawa was willing to play its final “icebreaker card”.
But it could stop its icebreakers, like the CCGS Terry Fox, resupplying the US' Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland.
“If relations got really bad, then you could imagine saying, ‘Well, sorry, not this year.' And that would potentially put the Americans in a bind,” he said.
Alternatively, the Canadians may also decide to forgo “icebreaker diplomacy” and decide to tear up the deal themselves.
Some fear that by lending the expertise to build the US' icebreakers Ottawa is creating a rod for its own back.
There are suggestions, according to CBC News, that the new vessels could be used by an expansionist US to stake a claim to the Northwest Passage between Greenland and the Chukchi Sea. Canada claims ownership of the waters, although this has never been accepted by Washington.
Marc Lanteigne, of the Arctic University of Norway, noted Finland was in a stronger position to work its “icebreaker diplomacy” given the warm relationship between Mr Trump and Alexander Stubb, the golf-playing Finnish president.
“Finland has a strong reputation for icebreaker construction, and the US remains interested in potential vessel purchases from Helsinki... Canada is not out of the equation, however, given its own expertise in Arctic navigation and icebreakers,” he said.
However far relations between the US and Canada deteriorate, a former senior military figure said, cooperation between the two countries would quietly continue in the Arctic to guarantee the stability of the region.
“It is just one of those foundational pieces that is so essential to everyday life. We quietly go about it, and we stay out of the direct limelight, and just allow ourselves to continue to work,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
“Everybody needs to be everybody's friend… this is one of those places where, yes, I do understand sovereignty, I do understand all those other different things, but there are deeper bonds.”
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
WASHINGTON, February 1. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump said that negotiations on Greenland have started and expressed hope for a "good deal" for both Washington and Europe.
"We have started a negotiation," he said, responding to journalists' questions about whether he had been in contact with European leaders regarding Greenland. "I think it's going to be a good deal for everybody, very important deal, actually, from a national security point of view - very, very important deal. I think we're going to make a deal there," he stated.
According to Trump, consensus has been reached on numerous issues, and Europe also wants the US to conclude an agreement.
On January 21, after talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, US President Donald Trump announced that the outlines of a Greenland deal had emerged. According to Axios, the draft agreement Rutte proposed to Trump stipulates preserving Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland and updating the terms of the 1951 agreement on the island's defense. This would allow the US to establish military bases and "defense zones" there if NATO deems it necessary.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen later stated that Rutte had no authority to conduct such negotiations on behalf of Denmark. She also noted that the negotiation process had returned to the "traditional path" of diplomatic efforts.
Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with the BBC Russian service, has confirmed the identities of 168,142 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.
Since the media outlets' last update in mid-January, the names of 4,536 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
The journalists note that the actual figures are likely significantly higher, as their verified information comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities.
The confirmed death toll now includes over 54,600 volunteers, 20,200 recruited prisoners, and 17,400 mobilized soldiers, according to the media outlets. A total of 6,353 officers have also been confirmed to have been killed.
Moscow and Kyiv rarely officially report their losses. The journalists note that the Kremlin has stepped up efforts in recent months to remove court records from Russian families filing lawsuits against the state to determine the status of Russian soldiers' fate on the battlefield, including whether they are missing or dead.
The latest numbers come amid the publication of a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, indicating that Russia has suffered "more losses than any major power in any war since World War II."
The Jan. 27 report estimates that Russian forces have sustained nearly 1.2 million casualties — including troops killed, wounded or missing — since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022. As many as 325,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, the report found.
The report is in line with estimates maintained by Ukraine's General Staff that reports, as of Jan. 31, Russia has lost 1,239,590 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war on Feb. 24, 2022. The findings are also largely in line with estimates made by Western intelligence agencies.
Despite the heavy losses, Russia has been able to make marginal advances in Ukraine's front line region as it is able to offset its casualties through fresh contract soldiers. The Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState reported that Russian forces occupied 4,336 square kilometers (1,674 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in 2025, accounting for less than 1% of the country
In turn, Kyiv has faced increasingly serious manpower shortages, particularly among infantry units holding the front line. In a rare report, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Jan. 14 that two million Ukrainians are wanted for evading mobilization, and another 200,000 soldiers are absent without official leave (AWOL), as infantry units continue to struggle to refill heavy losses.
The outlet published the complete list of identified casualties for the first time in February, marking three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the publication, volunteers manually enter and verify each record to prevent duplicate entries in the database.
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.
Russian troops launched two attacks on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Feb. 1, injuring at least nine people, including a child, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Russia launched a mass attack, targeting mines of DTEK, Ukraine's biggest private energy firm, the company said. One of the strikes hit a service bus in the town of Ternivka, which was transporting miners after their shift.
In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent's Anna Belokur explains how martial law shapes daily life in Ukraine amid the country's harshest winter since the full-scale invasion.
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said a system would soon be introduced to ensure only authorized terminals can operate in Ukraine. Unverified terminals will be disabled.
Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia are set to meet in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4-5 for a new round of talks as part of ongoing efforts to negotiate a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 1.
Ukrainian forces downed 76 out of the 90 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Fourteen drones struck nine different locations, according to the statement.
The number includes 1,090 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal reported "a cascade shutdown" in Ukraine's power grid in the morning on Jan. 31.
Since the media outlets' last update in mid-January, the names of 4,536 Russian soldiers have been added to the list of casualties.
Polish authorities temporarily closed the airspace along the northern part of Poland's border with Belarus overnight on Jan. 30-31 after unidentified objects — believed to be Belarusian smuggling balloons — were detected in the region.
Russian Envoy Kirill Dmitriev held "productive and constructive meetings" with U.S. officials in Miami, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Jan. 31.
Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin's threat comes a few days after Ukrainian, Russian, and U.S. officials held the latest round of peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 23-24.
Emails echo alleged efforts by former prince Andrew to dig up dirt on his accuser
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Ghislaine Maxwell tried to paint Virginia Giuffre as a disturbed teenager who was into witchcraft, new emails suggest.
An email account associated with Maxwell sent a message to Jeffrey Epstein in June 2011 to advise the paedophile financier on how to respond to a journalist's request for information about the Epstein victim.
“GMAX”, a nickname and email handle for Maxwell, sent Epstein an email with the subject line: “Re: Vanity Fair MY IDEAAS [sic] IN CAPS BELOW” containing guidance on how to approach Giuffre's links with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince.
Edward Klein, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, had emailed Epstein three days earlier, asking him to shed light on Mr Mountbatten-Windsor's alleged ties to Giuffre for a planned profile piece on the royal.
The email from “GMAX” to Epstein said he should claim Giuffre, who took her own life last year, was 17 when she met the disgraced financier and that she had a prior sexual harassment suit thrown out “because she was an unreliable witness”.
The email added: “HER MUM WAS WORRIED SHE WAS INTO WHICHCRAFT [sic] AND THAT SHE FLED THE COUNTRY TO AVOID A GRAND THEFT PROBLEM AND IDITMENT..”
There is no evidence to support these claims. Giuffre said in her posthumously published memoir that she fled the US to avoid Epstein's abuse.
The witchcraft claim echoes reports that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor tried to dig up dirt on Giuffre in an effort to smear his teenage sex abuse accuser. The former prince allegedly asked his taxpayer-funded police bodyguard to investigate Giuffre earlier in 2011 and passed him her date of birth and social security number.
The then prince reportedly told Buckingham Palace aide Ed Perkins, who at the time was Elizabeth II's deputy press secretary, that he had asked one of his personal protection officers to find information on Giuffre.
“It would also seem she has a criminal record in the States,” he wrote, according to a Mail on Sunday report published last year. “I have given her DoB [date of birth] and social security number for investigation with XXX, the on-duty ppo [personal protection officer].”
The Metropolitan Police later said it looked into the repot but “has not revealed any additional evidence of criminal acts or misconduct” that would warrant opening a criminal investigation.
The latest suggestions from “GMAX” were responding to specific questions from the Vanity Fair journalist about the now-famous photograph from 2001 of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor with his hands around Giuffre.
Mr Klein's questions appear to have been forwarded to Maxwell via Epstein, who was in turn alerted to the email by Lesley Groff, his longtime assistant.
Separate documents published in the latest tranche of Epstein files on Friday show that federal authorities named Ms Groff in a spider diagram of Epstein's inner circle. Other featured names included Maxwell and Jean-Luc Brunel, who killed himself in 2022 while awaiting trial on rape charges.
According to a statement her lawyers released in 2021, Ms Groff “never witnessed anything improper or illegal” and denies any wrongdoing.
The subsequent Vanity Fair article published in the magazine's August 2011 issue did not contain any of Maxwell's claims, but concluded that Buckingham Palace had a growing “Andrew problem” on its hands.
Other emails published on Friday also reveal new details about Mr Mountbatten-Windsor's reaction after he learned that claims about his encounters with Giuffre were set to be published.
The former Duke of York sent an email to Epstein on February 25, 2011, saying that while he would pursue a “categorical denial of sexual relations” with Giuffre it was “possible that I met her in a group with others and possible there is a photograph”.
Another email sent by Mr Mountbatten-Windsor the following day updated Epstein with “the latest” plans from the Mail on Sunday after the royal learned the newspaper had obtained a photograph of him with Ms Giuffre that it intended to publish.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has never publicly acknowledged that the photo of him with his arm around Giuffre is genuine, and claimed in a bombshell BBC Newsnight interview in 2019 that it might have been “doctored”.
The former Duke stepped down from royal duties in 2019, and in 2022 paid millions to Giuffre to settle a civil sexual assault claim despite maintaining that the pair had never met.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has faced allegations, which he denies, that he sexually assaulted a teenage Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein.
The latest files published by the US justice department on Friday also included three photographs of the royal crouched on all fours looming over a woman lying flat on the floor.
One photograph showed the former Duke of York looking into the camera while positioned over the woman, while another pictured him placing his hand on her torso.
Separate files published in the latest cache of Epstein files revealed that the US financier offered to introduce Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to a “beautiful” 26-year-old Russian woman.
Epstein said he could arrange to introduce him to a woman named only as “Irina”, in an email sent in August 2010 – two years after the disgraced financier was convicted for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Please disable the ad blocking feature.
To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The Associated Press
10:21 JST, February 1, 2026
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani won't pitch for Japan in the World Baseball Classic in March, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday.
Roberts said it was Ohtani's decision to focus solely on being the designated hitter for his native country.
He said the team “absolutely” would have supported Ohtani if he had wanted to also pitch. Ohtani's teammate and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch for Japan in the WBC despite his heavy workload with the Dodgers last season.
“Yoshi feels he wants to take it on and feels good, and we support him,” Roberts said at the team's fan fest.
Ohtani made two starts for Japan in the 2023 WBC and then came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning to clinch the championship by striking out then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out against the United States.
Ohtani tore his ulnar collateral ligament in August that year and later underwent elbow surgery, which kept him from pitching during his first season with the Dodgers in 2024, when he was their full-time designated hitter.
He gradually returned to pitching last year and made four postseason starts during the Dodgers' run to their second straight World Series championship.
Ohtani didn't confirm his decision not to pitch in the WBC when speaking with reporters before Roberts. The four-time MVP said through a translator that he had to “see how my body feels, feel the progression and see what happens.”
The 31-year-old Ohtani said he's had a normal offseason because he hasn't been rehabbing from injury.
“I'm very healthy,” he said. “Glad that I am.”
Roberts said he won't manage Ohtani any differently now that he's going to pitch a full season. He said there will be ample rest days in between starts and Ohtani won't be scheduled for any more two or three-inning starts.
Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki were teammates on Japan's WBC title team in 2023. But Sasaki won't be pitching this time, coming off a rookie season filled with ups and downs that ended with him pitching out of the bullpen for the Dodgers.
The WBC runs from March 5-17.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said he won't play for Canada in the WBC because of what he described as a personal reason.
“They're very supportive,” he said. “I told them why I wasn't going to be able to go out there and play in Puerto Rico and be that far from my family. I need to be close to California.”
Roberts is pondering his starting lineup ahead of the team reporting for spring training in Arizona on Feb. 13.
“I do feel great about having Shohei lead off. I do feel great about having Will (Smith) in the 5 (spot) and then after that, I'm going to kind of read and react,” he said. “You certainly see Mookie (Betts) in the 3 (spot).”
Popular articles in the past 24 hours
Popular articles in the past week
Popular articles in the past month
JN ACCESS RANKING
The Japan News / Weekly Edition
Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting, readable fomat.
Read more
eng
jp
© 2026 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun
President Donald Trump on Saturday announced federal authorities will not intervene in protests in Democrat-led jurisdictions, but will continue to forcefully protect federal property.
“I have instructed Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, that under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before the US Congress after the former royal was featured extensively in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice.
The documents were published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in November last year, which requires the Justice Department to release federal records linked to investigations into Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his royal titles last year, appears in emails and photographs included in the cache released Friday.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Starmer was asked whether the former prince should apologize and give evidence to US lawmakers if requested.
“Firstly, I have always approached this question with the victims of Epstein in mind. Epstein's victims have to be the first priority. As for whether there should be an apology, that's a matter for Andrew,” he said.
“But yes, in terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that. You can't be victim-centered if you're not prepared to do that,” he added.
The brother of King Charles III has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has previously claimed he ended his relationship with Epstein after the financier's first conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
However, the latest release includes photographs and email exchanges between the two from 2010, two years after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty in Florida.
The images show the former royal kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor, with no context provided as to when or where they were taken. The emails also feature Epstein proposing that Andrew have dinner with a “beautiful, trustworthy” 26-year-old Russian woman.
Last year, the king stripped his brother of his royal titles and honors following renewed controversy linked to Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April. In 2022, Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre, who alleged she was trafficked to the then-Prince for non-consensual encounters while still a minor under New York law.
RT News App
© Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2026. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookies. Read RT Privacy policy to find out more.
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.
Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the debate over DHS funding amid a partial government shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson also gives analysis on ‘Fox News Sunday.'
A pair of Senate Republicans are pushing their House counterparts to reject the Trump-backed shutdown deal unless it includes Homeland Security funding and election integrity legislation.
Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, are calling on House Republicans to push back against the Senate-passed funding package, which includes bills to fund five agencies, including the Pentagon, as a partial government shutdown continues.
They contended that the package needs to be retooled, and must include a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, dubbed the SAVE America Act, and the Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, which was stripped out after Senate Democrats threatened to blow up the government funding process.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS MUTINY SCHUMER'S DEAL WITH WHITE HOUSE, THREATENING LONGER SHUTDOWN
Sen. Rick Scott demanded that his House Republican colleagues reject the Senate-passed funding package unless it included DHS spending and voter ID legislation. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Doing so could extend what was expected to be a short-term shutdown.
Scott said congressional Democrats would "NEVER fund DHS" and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He voted against the package twice, arguing that the spending levels would further bloat the nation's eye-popping $38 trillion national debt, and that the billions in earmarks betrayed Republicans' previous vows of fiscal restraint.
"If House Republicans don't put the DHS bill back in, add the SAVE America Act and remove the wasteful earmarks, Democrats win," Scott said. "We must protect our homeland, secure our elections and end the reckless spending NOW!"
HOUSE CONSERVATIVES THREATEN EXTENDED SHUTDOWN OVER ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURE
Sen. Mike Lee wants House Republicans to push back against the Trump-backed government funding deal, and demanded that it include DHS funding and his voter ID legislation. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Lee also rejected the package in the Senate because of earmarks. He also agreed with Scott, and pushed for his SAVE America Act, which he introduced alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, to be included.
"To my friends in the House GOP: Please put DHS funding back in, then add the SAVE America Act," Lee wrote on X.
The updated version of the SAVE Act would require that people present photo identification before voting, states obtain proof of citizenship in-person when people register to vote and remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
But their demands run counter to the desire of President Donald Trump, who brokered a truce with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to strip the DHS bill following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti during an immigration operation in Minneapolis in order to ram the funding package through the Senate.
GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AGAIN AFTER DEMOCRATS REVOLT OVER DHS FUNDING
Speaker Mike Johnson walks from the chamber after the final vote to bring the longest government shutdown in history to an end, at the Capitol, Nov. 12, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
And any changes to the deal, like including the SAVE America Act or adding the DHS bill, would send the package back to the Senate, where Schumer and his caucus would likely reject it.
That would create a back-and-forth between the chambers that would further prolong what was meant to be a temporary shutdown.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Their demands also place House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in a precarious position, given that several House Republicans want to extract concessions from congressional Democrats. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is already leading a charge to include the SAVE Act in the funding package.
Johnson will have to shore up any resistance among his conference, given that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made clear to the speaker that any attempt to fast-track the legislation on Monday, when the House returns, would fail.
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Pamela Goldberger, a New Jersey grandmother, shares how she overcame her devastating brain cancer diagnosis through a clinical trial for a stem cell treatment.
A longtime friendship led one man to make a one-day, 14,000-mile journey to say goodbye to his dying pal.
Bob Walker traveled from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Arbroath, Scotland, and back again, just to spend a few hours with his friend Peter Gould, 82, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in December, news agency SWNS reported.
The two men have been friends for more than four decades, first meeting while working as aircraft engineers in Papua New Guinea in the 1980s.
FORMER MLB PITCHER FINDS LIVER DONOR IN HIGH-SCHOOL CLASSMATE HE HADN'T SEEN IN 20 YEARS
Despite living in different countries for much of their lives, they stayed in close contact over the years.
Gould and Walker pictured together, drinking a beer for the final time after Walker traveled to see Gould following his cancer diagnosis. (SWNS)
The two later crossed paths again in the U.K., where they both worked at Manchester Airport, and their families grew close.
Walker, 67, said he booked the trip as soon as he heard the news, he told SWNS.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
"There's not many opportunities where you can actually say goodbye to people, so I really wanted to do the journey," Walker said.
On Jan. 16, the friends sat together in Gould's hometown, sharing cans of their favorite beer, and reminiscing about their years working, traveling and raising families.
Gould said he was deeply moved by the gesture.
Walker, pictured when he was younger; traveled 14,000 miles to see his longtime friend and drink a beer together. (SWNS)
"I'm very grateful for what Bob did," he said. "He didn't have to do it."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES
Walker said he made a special effort to bring along South Pacific Lager, a beer the pair used to drink together years ago while working overseas.
He reached out to a contact who happened to have a few cans left, SWNS said.
The person was moved by the story and offered to donate the beers.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
"The lager took us right back to 40 years ago when I went down there to work," Walker said.
Gould when he was younger. He said he was deeply moved by Walker's visit. (SWNS)
Gould's daughter, Amanda, said the visit came as a surprise, adding that she hadn't been sure the trip would actually happen given the distance and logistics involved.
She said seeing her father reunited with his longtime friend brought comfort to the family and gave them a moment they will always remember.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Walker returned to Indonesia the following day. He said the distance and travel time were insignificant compared to the chance to be there in person.
"He's great company — a straight shooter," Walker said. "His friendship is very important."
Kelly McGreal is a production assistant with the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital.
A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Mary Neilis, a New York mom of seven, shares a behind-the-scenes look at preparing a birthday dinner for her family, highlighting how advance planning and realistic routines help her manage cooking on most weeknights.
For a mom named Mary Neilis, cooking dinner every night isn't about perfection — it's about practicality. With a single takeout meal for her family of nine costing more than $200, home-cooked meals became a necessity.
Over the past year or so, the 36-year-old Westchester, New York, mother of seven has turned nightly family dinners into a full-time job and a viral following on TikTok and Substack, where she goes by "7kidskitchen."
Neilis shares realistic, "healthy-ish" meals designed for busy households.
PRIVATE CHEFS REVEAL THE 5 'HEALTHY' FOODS THEIR WEALTHY CLIENTS USUALLY AVOID
"It's a real house," she told Fox News Digital. "There's chaos going on — but I'm cooking dinner either way."
Neilis partners with her sister, Bernadette O'Donnell, who records and edits the content, while her husband, a New York City firefighter, helps manage the finances for 7kidskitchen.
Mary Neilis cooks dinner at home for her family of nine and shares the nightly meals online. (Mary Neilis/7kidskitchen)
The family-run approach has resonated with millions by keeping food, budgeting and parenting honest and approachable.
In her videos, which often draw tens of thousands of views, Neilis' children — ranging in age from 2 years old to 14 — are perched on the countertop or on her hip. They don chef's hats, help stir, ask for drinks in the background, make requests like "no tomatoes," sneak tastes — and run through the house.
SOCIAL MEDIA STAR 'THE FOOD NANNY' REVIVES HEIRLOOM RECIPES, ANCIENT GRAINS AND SIT-DOWN DINNERS
Neilis isn't just serving up one-pot weeknight dinners. She takes special birthday requests from her children and cooks extra when they have friends over.
Some meals are guaranteed hits, she said.
"If I put chicken cutlets with any side, everyone will eat that," she said.
"I don't mind getting in the kitchen every night and cooking."
Favorites also include chicken francese, steak and mashed potatoes, as well as tacos and homemade Chipotle-style bowl nights.
PROTEIN-PACKED COMFORT FOOD ROCKED 2025, GOOGLE'S TOP 10 VIRAL RECIPES REVEAL
She keeps it fresh with other dishes, including burger bowls, takeout-inspired chicken fried rice, shepherd's pie, coconut curry salmon, chili, pulled pork sliders, pot roast — even Swedish meatballs.
Despite a packed house and a small kitchen, Neilis said cooking never feels like a burden.
Chicken francese is among the most-requested dinners in the Neilis family. (Mary Neilis/@7kidskitchen)
"I don't see it as a chore," she said. "I don't mind getting in the kitchen every night and cooking."
She and her husband, both New York natives, were already accustomed to a full house of mouths to feed. "I'm one of seven," Neilis said. "He's one of five."
Cooking is a family tradition that she grew up with, she added.
FORMER DIETITIAN SAYS HOMEGROWN FOOD HELPS FAMILY'S HEALTH AFTER CUTTING GROCERY TRIPS
"When I became a mom, my husband was in the military, so he would sometimes be out for weeks at a time," she said. "I started cooking and just loved it — and haven't stopped since."
Neilis typically plans five dinners each week. "If I know we're going to be home all weekend, I don't mind cooking then either."
She'll whip up pancakes or homemade sourdough muffins on the weekends — and sometimes gets a break with Chinese food or pizza delivery for dinner.
Taco night and Chipotle-style bowls are favorites, said a New York mom who cooks most of her large family's meals. (Mary Neilis/7kidskitchen)
She keeps weekday breakfasts and lunches easy.
"During the week, it's a bagel or cereal for breakfast. Let's get everybody out the door as quickly as possible," she said.
School lunches are often sandwiches and a bag of cookies or chips.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
Her dinners typically follow a simple structure, Neilis said. "I like to have a protein, a vegetable and a starch every night," she said, admitting it's not always perfect.
Neilis is candid about whether a dish was a hit or not. "I'm never going to lie," she said.
Neilis said staying organized and cleaning as she goes is essential. (Mary Neilis/7kidskitchen)
Italian wedding soup, she added, got a mixed reaction. "If I'm being honest, only about half my kids liked this one," she said in a TikTok video.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES
That straightforward approach extends to how she prepares meals for nine.
"You have to start in a really clean kitchen and clean as you go," she said. "You have only minimal things to work with. Really be organized about your cooking."
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Budgeting plays a major role as well, she said.
"If chicken's on sale, we might have three chicken dinners that week," she said. "If steak is on sale, we might have steak fajitas that week."
Neilis plans five dinners each week and prioritizes sales to help manage grocery costs. (Mary Neilis/7kidskitchen)
Fridays are for meal planning and online grocery orders, she said.
Neilis also shares recipes on Substack — plus, for subscribers, meal plans.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
At the end of each week, she posts a roundup of everything she cooked for her family — which she hopes gives other people inspiration.
"I need to come up with new recipes and make sure they're good," she said. "I've been loving it, and it's gotten me out of my comfort zone."
Deirdre Bardolf is a lifestyle writer with Fox News Digital.
A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on FoxNews.com.
The son of college football coaching legend Lou Holtz on Sunday shared an update on his father after he was admitted to hospice care earlier in the week.
Skip Holtz wrote on social media that his father was "still fighting the fight."
"Appreciate everyone's text and prayers. Dad is 89 and he is STILL fighting the fight! Only the man upstairs knows how much time is left on the clock," he wrote. "Cherishing the time we still have together in Orlando."
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Former Notre Dame Fighting and Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Lou Holtz holds a press conference prior to the game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Sept. 27, 2025. (Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images)
Kevin Holtz confirmed on Saturday that Lou was in hospice care.
"The Holtz family, Luanne Altenbaumer, Skip Holtz, Liz Holtz Messaglia, share the difficult news that our father, Coach Lou Holtz, is presently facing a health challenge," he wrote on Facebook. "While this is a challenging time, our focus is on maintaining his comfort, quality of life and care in his Orlando home.
"As family has always been the highest importance to Coach, we are holding to each other and focusing on making every moment and day count. The whole family appreciates your thoughts, prayers, and support but ask for privacy as we navigate this journey. Psalm 41:3."
Best known for patrolling the sidelines at Arkansas and Notre Dame, Holtz coached college football for 33 years. He was the head coach of the Fighting Irish for 11 seasons from 1986-1996, where he finished with a 110-30-2 record.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Lou Holtz on the field prior to the game against Stanford Cardinal at Foster Field at Stanford Stadium on Oct. 2, 1993. (RVR Photos/USA Today Sports)
FORMER LSU STAR TYRANN MATHIEU RECALLS NEARLY DYING TRYING TO PASS DRUG TEST: 'TRIED EVERYTHING IN THE BOOKS'
In 1988, Notre Dame finished with a perfect 12-0 record and claimed the Fiesta Bowl, which remains their last national championship. He went 249-132-7 in his coaching career.
Holtz rose to even further prominence during his time as a college football analyst on ESPN.
He played at Kent State before moving into coaching as an assistant in 1960, then got his first head coaching job in 1969 at William & Mary. Holtz later left for N.C. State, spending four seasons in Raleigh, before giving the NFL a shot. That stint didn't work out, though, as the Jets went 3-10 and he stepped down.
In recent years, Holtz has been a stern supporter of President Donald Trump. In February 2024, Holtz posted to social media that the country "need[ed] to coach America back to greatness!"
Lou Holtz speaks remotely during the Republican National Convention at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 26, 2020. (Republican National Convention via USA Today Network)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Holtz, who spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention, was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Trump in 2020, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the election.
Fox News' Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Retired Gen. Jack Keane joins 'Fox & Friends' to weigh in on the upcoming trilateral peace talks between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi to try and end the Russia-Ukraine war and the deadly protests in Iran.
A top Kremlin official praised President Donald Trump as an effective leader seeking peace in Ukraine, saying Moscow views renewed talks with Washington as productive.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and a former president, said Trump is genuinely trying to end the war in Ukraine and wants to be remembered as a peacemaker.
"Trump wants to go down in history as a peacemaker — and he is really trying," Medvedev said in an interview with Reuters. "And that is why contacts with Americans have become much more productive."
Trump has repeatedly said a peace deal to end the war is close. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday that he had "productive and constructive meetings" with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as part of the Trump administration's ongoing effort to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
WITKOFF SAYS TALKS WITH RUSSIAN ENVOY WERE 'PRODUCTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE' AMID TRUMP ADMIN'S PEACE PUSH
Dmitry Medvedev attends an interview with Reuters, TASS and WarGonzo in the Moscow region, Russia, on Jan. 29, 2026. (Dmitry Medvedev's Secretariat/Handout via Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that a new round of talks involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia will take place this week in Abu Dhabi. His announcement comes as Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy and logistics infrastructure, worsening conditions for civilians as winter temperatures plunge.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference in Kyiv on Feb. 10, 2025. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images)
Medvedev dismissed speculation that Trump is secretly aligned with Moscow, telling the outlet that Americans elected him and Russia respects that choice. He also praised Trump for standing up to the U.S. political establishment and said his blunt, sometimes "brash" style is misunderstood.
ZELENSKYY ANNOUNCES NEXT ROUND OF TALKS WITH US, RUSSIA AS UKRAINE AIMS FOR 'REAL AND DIGNIFIED END TO THE WAR'
"He is an emotional person, but on the other hand, the chaos that is commonly referred to, which is created by his activities, is not entirely true," Medvedev said. "It is obvious that behind this lies a completely conscious and competent line."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and President Donald Trump meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Medvedev told the outlet that Trump's background as a businessman shapes his approach, joking that there is no such thing as a former businessman, an echo of a well-known Russian saying about former KGB agents.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Medvedev, a hardliner within Russia's leadership, has frequently warned of nuclear escalation since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. He has stressed that avoiding further conflict remains the priority, but still expects Russia to achieve military victory in Ukraine.
"I would like this to happen as soon as possible," Medvedev said of ending the conflict. "But it is equally important to think about what will happen next. The goal of victory is to prevent new conflicts."
Fox News' Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world."
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts during the men's singles final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain reacts after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain celebrates after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a forehand to Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia braces himself after playing a shot to Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Carlos Alcaraz is 22, he's the youngest man ever to win all four of the major titles in tennis, and he had to achieve what no man previously has done to complete the career Grand Slam in Australia.
The top-ranked Alcaraz dropped the first set of the Australian Open final in 33 minutes Sunday as Novak Djokovic went out hard in pursuit of an unprecedented 25th major title, but the young Spaniard dug deep to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.
“Means the world to me,” Alcaraz said. “It is a dream come true for me.”
Djokovic had won all 10 of his previous finals at Melbourne Park and, despite being 38, gave himself every chance of extending that streak to 11 when he needed only two sets to win.
Alcaraz rose to the challenge.
“Tennis can change on just one point. One point, one feeling, one shot can change the whole match completely,” he said. “I played well the first set, but you know, in front of me I had a great and inspired Novak, who was playing great, great shots.”
A couple of unforced errors from Djokovic early in the second set gave Alcaraz the confidence.
He scrambled to retrieve shots that usually would be winners for Djokovic, and he kept up intense pressure on the most decorated player in men's tennis history. There were extended rallies where each player hit enough brilliant shots to usually win a game.
Djokovic has made an artform of rallying from precarious positions. Despite trailing two sets to one, he went within the width of a ball in the fourth set's ninth game of turning this final around.
After fending off six break points in the set, he exhorted the crowd when he got to 30-30. The crowd responded with chants of “Nole, Nole, Nole!”
When Djokovic earned a breakpoint chance — his first since the second set — he whipped up his supporters again. But when Djokovic sent a forehand long on the next point, Alcaraz took it as a reprieve.
A short forehand winner, a mis-hit from Alcaraz, clipped the net and landed inside the line to give him game point. Then Djokovic hit another forehand long.
Alcaraz responded with a roar, and sealed victory by taking two of the next three games.
As he was leaving the court, Alcaraz signed the lens of the TV camera with a recognition: “Job finished. 4/4 Complete.”
After paying tribute at the trophy ceremony to Djokovic for being an inspiration, Alcaraz turned to his support team. He parted ways with longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero at the end of last season and Samuel Lopez stepped up to head the team.
“Nobody knows how hard I've been working to get this trophy. I just chased this moment so much,” Alcaraz said. “The pre-season was a bit of a rollercoaster emotionally.
“You were pushing me every day to do all the right things,” he added. “I'm just really grateful for everyone I have in my corner right now.”
Djokovic joked about this showdown setting up a rivalry over the next 10 years with Alcaraz, but then said it was only right to hand the floor over to the new, 16 years his junior, champion.
“What you've been doing, the best word to describe is historic, legendary,” he said. “So congratulations.”
Both players were coming off grueling five-set semifinal wins — Alcaraz held off No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Friday; Djokovic's win over two-time defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner ended after 1:30 a.m. Saturday — yet showed phenomenal fitness, athleticism and stamina for just over three hours in pursuit of their own historic achievements.
Djokovic won the last of his 24 Grand Slam singles titles at the 2023 U.S. Open, his push for an unprecedented 25th has now been blocked by Alcaraz or Sinner for nine majors.
Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played some epic matches, including the longest match ever at the Australian Open that lasted almost six hours in 2012.
Nadal was in the stands Sunday, and both players addressed the 22-time major winner.
“He's my idol, my role model,” Alcaraz said. To complete the career Slam “in front of him, it made even more special.”
Djokovic, addressing Nadal directly as the “legendary Rafa,” joked that there were “too many Spanish legends” in Rod Laver.
“It felt like it was two against one tonight,” he said.
At 22 years and 272 days, Alcaraz is the youngest man to complete a set of all four major singles titles. He broke the mark set by Don Budge in the 1938 French championships, when he was 22 years and 363 days.
He's the ninth man to achieve the career Grand Slam, a list that also includes Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer.
Alcaraz now has seven major titles — his first in Australia along with two each at Wimbledon and the French and U.S. Opens.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
NASA's Artemis II mission is set to launch as early as February 6, putting human spaceflight to the moon back in the spotlight after a 50-plus year hiatus which may inspire future filmmakers to explore the possibilities of space travel in their own work.
In celebration of our IRL return to the drama and wonder of space, we asked 11 astronauts to share their favorite space films that capture the thrill of leaving Earth behind. Did your favorite make it?
Directed by Ridley Scott and adapted from a book by Andy Weir, “The Martian” is at turns funny and perilous. Matt Damon, in the title character, portrays a stranded astronaut, alone on the Red Planet. He uses his botany and mechanical engineering skills to survive, but also the collective brain trust and courage of NASA and his fellow mission astronauts.
For Clayton C. Anderson, who spent five months aboard the International Space Station in 2007, the depiction of teamwork in “The Martian,” which also starred Jessica Chastain, hit close to home. “It shows the dedication of NASA's workforce, working together, sometimes at huge personal sacrifice, to get the job done,” he said.
Having completed a 152-day tour of duty in orbit, Anderson knows how essential that collaboration is. “That job starts with protecting the crew, the vehicle and mission objectives, with all three defining mission success,” he said.
Dr. Kate Rubins, who logged nearly 300 days in space and became the first person to sequence DNA beyond Earth, praised the Oscar-nominated film for its scientific realism. “It does a great job of showing how biology and chemistry can be used to make what you need from what you have on hand,” she said.
Scenes in which Damon's character must grow his own food felt especially authentic. For astronauts, resourcefulness isn't cinematic flair — it's mission-critical. Having to utilize what you are given is “critical during space missions, like growing food or making essential materials, instead of relying upon resupply from Earth,” Rubins added.
That same spirit of ingenuity and teamwork is at the heart of another astronaut favorite: “Apollo 13,” the true story of the nearly ill-fated moon mission, starring Ed Harris, Bill Paxton and Tom Hanks as the mission's commander Jim Lovell.
Four retired astronauts praised its realism, emotional impact and tribute to NASA's professional collaborations.
Nicole Stott, who flew two space shuttle missions and spent more than 100 days aboard the International Space Station, said the best picture nominee embodied lessons she learned early in her career as a NASA engineer. “To really make things happen, we have to adopt a ‘here's how we can, not why we can't' approach to everything,” she wrote via email.
The film's attention to detail left a lasting impression on Michael Massimino, who flew multiple shuttle missions and performed spacewalks to service the Hubble Space Telescope. He said the movie, which was inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2023, “paid well deserved tribute to the dedicated men and women of Mission Control.”
Others pointed to how accurately the film captured the true high stakes peril of spaceflight. “Ron Howard directed it to be as close to reality as he could, even using the real dialogue between the wounded Apollo capsule and Mission Control,” said Chris Hadfield, who commanded the ISS in 2013. “It intensely dramatizes the urgent, high-stakes, life-or-death reality of spaceflight.”
Howard “did an incredible job reflecting the real tension that both the crew and Mission Control felt during an extremely challenging scenario,” said Scott Altman who was the commander of the final two missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Even knowing how the story ends, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, another retired astronaut and educator who emphasizes STEM outreach, said, “it still makes me hold my breath every time I watch it.”
Not every astronaut's favorite film is grounded in realism. “Galaxy Quest,” staring Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Tim Allenigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Tim Allen, earns its place in space-lovers' hearts by capturing camaraderie, humor and the joy of exploration — even while poking fun at sci-fi tropes.
“It might not have the verisimilitude of ‘Apollo 13,' the gold standard for technical accuracy in a space movie, but it captures the wonder of space exploration … and it's very funny,” Garrett Reisman, a retired astronaut who flew on Space Shuttles Endeavour, Discovery and Atlantis, said.
Stott also said she gravitates toward films that focus on relationships over physics. “The human interaction between the characters, which felt so familiar to me,” she said of 1999's “Galaxy Quest” and another favorite of hers, 1997's “RocketMan,” starring Harland Williams.
Few films capture the daring spirit of the early space program quite like the 1983 film “The Right Stuff,” adapted from Tom Wolfe's best-selling book of the same title. Following the journey of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, the movie — which starred “Apollo 13's” Harris, as well as Sam Shepard and Scott Glenn — resonates with those who know what it means to push the limits.
The movie is not only Massimo's favorite but also a turning point in his career. After seeing it as a senior in college, it “rekindled my dream of becoming an astronaut,” he said.
Warner Brothers, which distributed “The Right Stuff” and “Interstellar,” is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
For some astronauts, cinematic ambition matters as much as story. Leroy Chiao, who spent more than 6 months in space and commanded Expedition 10 aboard the ISS, points to Stanley Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odyssey” for the visuals that were considered groundbreaking when it was released in 1968. “The way that Kubrick was able to film real-looking space scenes back then was fantastic,” said Chiao, the author of the memoir “Dinner with an Astronaut.”
He recommends reading the book, by Arthur C. Clarke, before watching the film, noting it can be difficult to follow otherwise. The payoff is worth it. “Once you understand it, wow!” he wrote in an email.
Christopher Nolan's 2014 “Intersteller” dramatizes a dystopian scenario where the climate crisis has dwindled Earth's food supply, necessitating a mission to find a habitable Planet B.
The movie, starring Matthew McConaughey and “Martian” star Chastain, nails both the science and emotional depth, according to Josh Cassada, who flew to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew-5 mission in 2022.
Dr. Sylvain Costes, a scientist at NASA Ames research center, lauded the film for showing how, in deep space, “time becomes a resource more precious than fuel.” The film, she added, “masterfully transforms the cold equations of General Relativity into a visceral human tragedy.”
Others emphasized the film's broader message. Michael Wong, who studies planetary atmospheres and habitability, said his brain was filled with “the grandeur of space exploration — a collective human endeavor both extremely difficult and uniquely fulfilling.” The film, he said, balanced “furthering science and art, at once.”
Caltech astro-visualizer Robert Hurt called “Interstellar” the “2001: A Space Odyssey” of our time, saying “it's ultimately about humanity taking charge of its own future.”
Of course, not all great space films need to rely on fiction. Terry Virts, a retired NASA astronaut, singled out the CNN documentary “Apollo 11” as a must-see.
“It has amazing newly discovered IMAX-quality footage, a great soundtrack, and when they showed the launch sequence,” Virts said, “my heart was racing faster than when I actually launched into space.”
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
Wes Moore struggles to describe how he'd feel if he falls short in his push to gerrymander another Democratic seat in his state and the US House of Representatives ends up staying Republican.
The easy smile and motivational speaker energy evaporate. The prepared lines disappear. His eyes close.
“So angry,” he says, after a beat.
The Maryland governor is so popular in his solidly blue state that former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who'd been eager to take another run at his old job, preemptively pulled the plug on a comeback campaign. Moore is a Rhodes Scholar and bestselling author. Oprah Winfrey spoke at Moore's 2022 inauguration, candidates around the country are already putting in requests for him to join them, and George Clooney keeps saying he wants Moore to run for president, even hosting the governor on his yacht off the coast of Italy last Labor Day.
But neither Moore nor national Democrats have swayed Bill Ferguson, the Baltimore-based president of the Maryland Senate. Ferguson is blocking Moore's push to redraw the state's US House maps and try to eliminate the only Republican-held seat out of eight, rejecting even holding a vote on a proposal that moved easily through the state House of Delegates.
Ferguson warns that going for an 8-0 map could backfire in court, potentially letting judges draw a map that costs Democrats a seat. He cautions against bowing to anger at President Donald Trump and his launching of the national battle to redraw maps ahead of the midterms.
Moore knows that if redistricting doesn't happen in Maryland, national Democrats who want a no-holds-barred approach to Trump won't blame state legislators whose names they don't even know.
For all that he can tout about bringing crime down and economic development up, the redistricting fight will be one measure of what Moore can deliver as a governor with full party control of his state heading into a potential 2028 White House run.
“If we end up with a Republican House and part of the reason is because Maryland did not move, none of that — forget politically, right?” Moore told CNN in an interview giving his most extensive comments about his own role in the redistricting battle. “For my soul, none of that will matter, because it just means that we kowtowed as a state.”
In part, what's happening in Maryland is a well-worn tale of state legislators rebuffing a governor from their own party whom they brush off as not knowing history or the way things really work around the capital. There are parallels to the Republican state senators in Indiana who rejected Trump's pushing them on redistricting last year.
But Moore also allowed Ferguson to get out in front of him to oppose Maryland redistricting, letting momentum and time dissipate. He waited to formally launch his redrawing effort until the morning after Gov. Gavin Newsom's big gerrymandering win in November's California ballot proposition.
Moore argues his delays were only about getting the process right.
“When I hear people say, ‘Don't worry about it, because we're going to win overwhelmingly anyway,' my answer always back is, ‘Says who?'” Moore said. “I would never forgive myself, nor anyone else, if we come up short and the reason that we have to keep on dealing with this is because we didn't do our job. That would be unforgivable.”
A single seat in Maryland takes on heightened importance for Democrats, who are three seats behind Republicans in the redistricting battles, according to CNN's analysis. Strategists in both parties believe that even in a so-called blue wave this fall given Trump's unpopularity, there will be far fewer competitive seats than usual, in part due to redistricting.
The bill that Moore and new House of Delegates Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk settled on would adopt new maps for 2026, targeting US Rep. Andy Harris, the sole Republican in the state's delegation. Those maps would then go before voters via ballot proposition to hold until the next regularly scheduled redistricting, after the 2030 census and Trump's second term is finished, with other measures about holding back state courts from overturning future maps also included.
Ferguson is an attorney, confident as much in his reading of the law as in his support from his fellow senators. He laughs off being called the most hated Democrat in America or having his manhood insulted by Virginia Senate Pro Tem L. Louise Lucas, who recently tweeted that Ferguson needs to “grow a pair and stand up to this President.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stood next to Moore in Statuary Hall in the Capitol, saying that Maryland needed to help stop the “scheme” to “artificially maintain the extremism that we see here from Republican members of Congress.” Ferguson's response was to tell local reporters, “I appreciate their thoughts and advice.”
He has advised Moore and anyone else who will listen that he, unlike the governor, was in Annapolis in 2021 when an attempt at a different 8-0 gerrymander was stopped by the state Supreme Court and the current map of 7-1 was created by legislative compromise.
Push forward with trying to go 8-0 and the five Hogan-appointed judges out of seven on the state Supreme Court could strike it down, Ferguson's team argues. They could be left with a map that's 6-2, instead giving Republicans an additional seat.
Moore “sees the same threat as Bill does, but he thinks it's worth the risk and we don't,” Ferguson's communications director, David Schuhlein, told CNN.
In a recent private meeting with the governor and Peña-Melnyk, Ferguson said again that he wouldn't move. He brushed off former state attorney general Brian Frosh – who is backing Moore in the effort – telling him in a closed hearing about the maps that his stated concerns about how courts, “if that argument was made in a law class, I'm sorry to say it wouldn't get an A, or even a B,” according to a person on the call.
Ferguson held his own press conference, repeating that he isn't interested in putting up for a vote a bill that he knows will fail.
“The world is uncertain, the world is crazy, and we have a limited amount of time and energy and focus — and we have to put it where it matters most,” Ferguson explained.
Moore's allies reject that: “We are moving redistricting legislation, immigration legislation and energy affordability all in one week,” said David Moon, the majority leader in the House of Delegates. “I feel like we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Like many legislative leaders in Annapolis and other state capitals, Ferguson has also made clear that he expects members dependent on him for their own power and bonuses to stick with him. He already pulled a chairmanship from one of the most pro-gerrymandering state senators, a move that was followed by his fellow Democratic state senators unanimously reelecting him to another term as leader.
Just let a vote happen, Moore and his allies have turned to saying. They want to dare state senators to stick to their “No” votes if they're not just private assurances to Ferguson but lit up next to their names on the electronic board up on the wall of the chamber.
“We should not just count this idea that because one person thinks something, that's what everybody thinks. And listen, my thing is this, prove me wrong,” he said.
As for Ferguson, Moore said, “I have not tried to psychoanalyze why he does not see the assault that I'm seeing or the urgency of this.”
Right now, though, Moore doesn't have the votes. Of Maryland's 47 state senators, 34 are Democrats. They need 24 to pass the plan. State senators involved say the most generous current count gives Moore's side 10, maybe 11.
As of this weekend, “nothing has changed on the Senate side. That's probably the way leadership wants it. They want it to be, ‘Nothing to see here, moving on,'” one Democratic state senator told CNN, asking to remain anonymous to discuss the internal conversations. But once the bill passes the House of Delegates and the clock ticks down on the end of February candidate filing deadline, the senator added, “I think it's really just a matter of time to see what the advocates will do to ramp up the pressure on senators.”
Last fall, Moore made a little news by ruling out running for president. Almost no one believes him, including a bunch of the people who work for him. He's continuing to meet with major donors, as he did on a recent trip to New York.
Most observers figure he'll get through what, without Hogan, is looking like a glide-path reelection in November and be ordering new campaign signs by early next year.
Several in Newsom's orbit are already savoring the contrast the California governor could make on a future debate stage. Newsom retaliated against Texas Republicans by creating five more likely Democratic seats via a ballot proposition that he pushed through and won.
Newsom himself was more diplomatic.
“We've been discussing his unique circumstances — including the fact (that) his calendar (is) different than ours,” Newsom told CNN in a text. “Bottom line: Trump is just winding up (on November vandalism). We all need to stand guard — lots more has to be done to counter.”
Caught between saying he just wants fair maps that under the new proposal would make every district more competitive and that he's doing this to help Democrats, Moore accuses Trump of “political redlining” and describing the special burden he feels as the only current Black governor in America. He waves away those who argue Maryland's moving forward would prompt other Republicans to retaliate, given that Gov. Ron DeSantis is already pushing ahead in Florida.
“I am not wondering or hoping anymore that somehow others will see better angels. They won't. They are very clear on what they want to do. And they're very clear they're not stopping,” Moore said. “And so I don't see how this idea that, ‘Oh, if we just sit quiet, the beatings will stop.'”
Moore says he gets why people talk about him running in 2028, but that he still doesn't look in the mirror and see a president. That has never been part of his thinking, he insists.
Asked what he says to Clooney and others who keep pressing him to run, Moore writes it off to the past year of this Trump presidency having “absolutely accelerated a hope for what comes next, because I think people are just desperate to get to know what comes next.”
With the story he tells of his beginnings, his military service in Afghanistan and the work he's been doing as governor, Moore says he knows that there are those who see him as the potential vessel for that hope.
“I don't want to feel despair. I don't want to turn on television to see this. I want to feel inspired. I want to feel hopeful. I want to feel that, you know what, this is going end up becoming just a really bad chapter of a really good book,” Moore said. “When you hear people say, ‘Thank God I'm in Maryland,' I kind of love that, because it means that we're taking this moment seriously. But I don't want to be the vessel for the frustration.”
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
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 'Ruthless Podcast' co-hosts discuss President Donald Trump's efforts to strike a deal on Greenland, Bill Maher, Dana Carvey and David Spade's conversation on the Democratic Party and more on 'One Nation.'
With President Donald Trump's interest in acquiring Greenland for national defense and security reasons, the country also offers an arctic escape for tourists young and old.
While about 80% of the land is covered in ice, Greenland is a hot spot for ice fjords, hot springs, outdoor activities, wildlife and museums. It's a "land of stark beauty and contrasts… [and] can feel like a world apart," according to Frommers.
The capital of Greenland, Nuuk, is the biggest city in the country, with less than 20,000 people. It boasts restaurants, fashion boutiques, unique architecture and several museums, according to Visit Greenland.
SECURITY ALERT ISSUED FOR TROPICAL DESTINATION AFTER MAJOR GANGS ATTACK POLICE
Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, as well as airports in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Seattle and San Francisco, all offer flights to Nuuk.
United Airlines launched the first-ever direct, seasonal flights from Newark to Nuuk last summer.
The capital of Greenland, Nuuk, is the biggest city in the country. (iStock)
Nuuk features the Greenland National Museum and Archives, the Nuuk Art Museum and the Katuaq Cultural Center.
Outside Nuuk in West Greenland is Ilulissat, home of the Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visitors can see massive icebergs while taking boat trips and going on hikes across the country. (iStock)
The area is home to Sermeq Kujalleq, which is one of the fastest and most active glaciers in the world, according to UNESCO.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
Visitors can see massive icebergs while taking boat trips and going on nearby hikes.
Disko Bay, with its iceberg-filled waters, is popular for whale watching in summer.
Nuuk is home to the Greenland National Museum and Archives, as well as the Nuuk Art Museum and the Katuaq Cultural Center. (Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
South Greenland has greener landscapes and is home to Kujataa.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES
A UNESCO cultural landscape, Kujataa is known for Norse and Inuit farming, hunting and fishing.
The Norse were Scandinavian Viking-era settlers who, led by Erik the Red from Iceland, established medieval farming colonies in southwestern Greenland around 985–986 CE, according to the Mariners' Museum and Park and other sources.
The Norse were Scandinavian Viking-era settlers who founded medieval farming colonies in southwestern Greenland. (iStock)
"Sheep farming, in particular, is central to the region's cultural landscape," writes UNESCO.
"Mild summers and long daylight hours foster high-quality grazing, producing wool and meat essential for local livelihoods."
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Southern Greenland is also popular for its 38-degree hot springs with crystal-clear waters — discovered over 1,000 years ago, according to Visit Greenland.
Greenland, the world's largest island, offers intrepid tourists an arctic escape with ice fjords, hot springs, wildlife and more. (iStock)
One of the most popular springs is the Uunartoq Hot Springs, which is surrounded by mountain peaks and drifting icebergs.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
In 2023, tourism to Greenland — including both arrivals by air and cruise passengers — reached an estimated 116,000 visitors, according to several sources.
Qaqortoq, a town in southern Greenland, is shown above. It has about 3,000 people and dates back to the 1700s. (Danuta Hamlin/Fox News)
Greenland's total visitors in 2024–2025 were projected to be in the 120,000–140,000 range annually.
Fox News Digital reached out to Visit Greenland and the Greenland Representation in Washington, D.C., for comment.
Ashley J. DiMella is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.
A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Rep. Josh Riley, D-N.Y., and Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., discuss ways both parties are trying to make the American dream achievable.
America is in the middle of a housing crisis, and it is not a mystery why. Home prices have surged far beyond wage growth, first-time buyers are locked out of the market and young families are increasingly forced to rent indefinitely or leave high-cost states altogether. This did not happen overnight, and it is the predictable result of decades of policy choices that made it harder and harder to build owner-occupied housing.
The data tells a clear story when viewed over time.
In 1950, the United States had 23.6 million owner-occupied housing units. By 2000, that number had climbed to roughly 70 million. That represents an increase of about 196% over 50 years. During that same period, the U.S. population grew from roughly 151 million to about 281 million, an increase of approximately 86%. For half a century, America was building owner-occupied housing at more than twice the rate of population growth. Housing supply was not merely keeping up with demand. It was staying well ahead of it.
That era is over.
CONSTRUCTION LABOR CRUNCH DRIVES UP COSTS AND DEEPENS AMERICA'S HOUSING AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
A row of houses in Hoboken, New Jersey, comes from an era when we built enough homes. (iStock)
At the end of the third quarter of 2025, the number of owner-occupied housing units had reached approximately 86.92 million. That is an increase of only about 24% since 2000. Over that same period, the U.S. population grew by roughly 22%. Housing growth and population growth are now moving almost in lockstep, which is a dramatic departure from the postwar model that made broad homeownership possible.
This slowdown is critical because population growth alone does not capture housing demand. Household formation, immigration, the number of families purchasing a second home and changing family structures all increase pressure on supply. When construction merely matches population growth, shortages become inevitable. When it falls behind, prices skyrocket.
One of the biggest reasons America is not building enough owner-occupied housing is regulation. In many cities and popular suburban areas, building codes are hundreds of pages long, and the number of regulations can reach the thousands.
TRUMP'S 50-YEAR MORTGAGE JUST INTRODUCES A NEW KIND OF DEBT
The massive regulatory burden weighing down homebuilders makes it harder and more expensive to construct new homes. In 2021, an economic analysis by the National Association of Home Builders found that regulations add nearly $94,000 to the cost of building a new home. That burden prices millions of families out of the market before construction even begins.
Zoning restrictions, environmental reviews, permitting delays and land-use rules combine to make building slower, riskier and far more expensive than necessary. These barriers overwhelmingly benefit entrenched interests while harming working families and first-time buyers.
Land-use regulations have become particularly burdensome. In many states, huge swaths of land are owned by the federal or state government. In other cases, land is privately owned, but local regulatory bodies have blocked developers and families from adding new homes. This has squeezed millions of homes into relatively small areas.
California offers a stark illustration. Roughly 90% of the state's population lives on just 5.1% of its land area.
Because zoning and land-use rules are largely imposed by state and local governments, Washington cannot solve the housing crisis by decree. But it is not powerless.
The massive regulatory burden weighing down homebuilders makes it harder and more expensive to construct new homes.
President Donald Trump and Congress should use federal leverage to force change. Federal dollars for education, infrastructure, transportation and housing should be conditioned on measurable progress toward expanding owner-occupied housing. States that refuse to loosen land-use restrictions and reduce regulatory barriers should not receive unlimited federal subsidies.
This approach respects federalism while acknowledging reality. The federal government should not draw zoning maps, but it also should not bankroll policies that artificially restrict housing supply and drive up costs nationwide.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
For America's entire history, home and land ownership have been essential to economic stability, family formation and upward mobility. In previous generations, Americans built accordingly. Today, that commitment has been undermined by regulatory systems that make new housing scarce by design.
Politicians in both parties have wrongly tried to solve these problems in recent years by calling for more subsidies or hatching schemes to make it easier for people to go deeper into debt to purchase a home. But this is terrible economics. When you increase the availability of money without decreasing demand or increasing supply, you end up causing prices to rise rapidly, and that is exactly what has occurred.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
If the housing crisis is going to be solved, states must be forced to change course. And for now, that pressure will have to come from Washington.
If the Trump administration and Congress want to solve the housing crisis, it is time they get tough with states.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JUSTIN HASKINS
Justin Haskins is a New York Times bestselling author and a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and Our Republic.
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
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.
Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reports that the Ukrainian president says he secured a security pledge from the United States if fighting stops as Russia remains firm on territorial demands and rejecting NATO troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that a new round of talks involving Ukraine, the United States and Russia will take place this week, as Kyiv presses for progress toward ending the war while Moscow continues strikes across the country.
Writing on X, Zelenskyy said the meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
"Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war," Zelenskyy wrote.
The announcement comes as Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy and logistics infrastructure, worsening conditions for civilians as winter temperatures plunge.
US ACCUSES RUSSIA OF 'DANGEROUS AND INEXPLICABLE ESCALATION' IN UKRAINE WAR DURING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Ukrainian officials say Moscow has repeatedly targeted power grids, heating and water systems throughout the nearly four-year war, a campaign Kyiv has described as an effort to use winter conditions as a weapon against the civilian population.
An elderly man looks out from his damaged balcony after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Authorities warned that Ukraine is facing one of its coldest stretches of the season, with temperatures in some areas expected to fall as low as minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.
President Donald Trump said late last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to temporarily halt strikes on Kyiv and other cities amid the extreme cold.
ZELENSKYY SAYS US SECURITY GUARANTEES DOCUMENT IS '100% READY' FOR SIGNING
"I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this… extraordinary cold," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, adding that Putin had "agreed to that."
The White House has not provided details on the timing or scope of the pause, and Ukrainian officials have expressed skepticism about Russia's intentions.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that key obstacles to a peace agreement remain unresolved, including the future of occupied Ukrainian territory and Moscow's demands for land it has not captured.
Firefighters work at the site of a private enterprise hit by an overnight Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2026. (Reuters)
Russia struck Ukrainian energy facilities in several regions on Thursday, Zelenskyy said, though he noted that no such strikes occurred overnight. He added that Russian drones and missiles have continued to hit residential areas and logistics hubs across Ukraine.
Trump has described Putin's acceptance of a pause as a concession, but Zelenskyy questioned whether Moscow is genuinely interested in ending the war as the invasion approaches its fourth anniversary on Feb. 24.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
"I do not believe that Russia wants to end the war. There is a great deal of evidence to the contrary," Zelenskyy said Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.
Fox News' Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world."
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and
agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can
opt-out at any time.
Subscribed
You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©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.
When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters. At Vox, our mission is to help you make sense of the world — and that work has never been more vital. But we can't do it on our own.
We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?
He's teaching some dangerous lessons to China and Russia.
It's no secret that President Donald Trump has global aspirations — despite his promises of focusing on “America First.” The past few weeks have seen US action in Venezuela; threats to Greenland, Europe, and Iran; and Trump's open solicitation of a Nobel Peace Prize.
The president's latest global push: the Board of Peace.
With its billion-dollar lifetime membership fee, the new body has been labeled a minor bid to replace the United Nations. So far the countries who have joined are relatively minor players on the world stage, including Belarus, Azerbaijan, and El Salvador.
But whether or not the board ends up successful in its mission to create “a more nimble and effective international peace-building body,” it's Trump's latest attempt to exert a new kind of international power, especially over America's neighbors.
“He's trying to reestablish the US sphere of influence, its control over the Western Hemisphere,” said Monica Duffy Toft, professor of international politics at Tufts' Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and director of the Center for Strategic Studies.
Today, Explained co-host Noel King spoke with Toft about where our idea of a “world order” came from and where it may be headed after Trump's shakeup. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There's much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
It is unbelievably still January of 2026, and we have had really significant events in Venezuela, over Greenland, with the EU and NATO. And all of this is leading people to say President Donald Trump is trying to remake the world order.
What is the world order?
So the world order was established after World War II. The United States and its Western allies decided to establish rules that would govern the international system and along with that a series of institutions, including, by the way, the United Nations. And what they were trying to do is set up a system of law — international law, norms, and rules in order to prevent a third world war.
The idea was that the use of force — the use of the military — was no longer going to be an acceptable form of international politicking on the global arena.
This is the thing that President Trump seeks to change or to undo or to disrupt. You've written about a philosophy that you think is relevant right now. What's the philosophy?
He's trying to reestablish the US sphere of influence, its control over the Western Hemisphere. And a sphere of influence, it's best understood as control without rule. States within a sphere are sovereign on paper; they have their own government, their own borders, their own money, and they have international recognition. But their strategic choices are restrained by the great power, and in this case, it's the United States.What [the US] is doing is saying, under President Trump and his administration, [countries within its sphere] can't freely choose alliances, trade partners without crossing lines or without getting agreement from the United States.
What's the sphere of influence that the US is seeking? We clearly want to have a lot of influence in Venezuela. Greenland, the president has been very clear there as well. But what other nations and regions do we see Trump wanting to have influence over? And what does he want them to do or not do?
We know that he wants the Western sphere under US control. This was part of the National Security Strategy that was released. And it's very clear that the United States is going to dominate the region. You can look at what is done in Venezuela, where it just said Venezuela can no longer have [formal trade] relations with China and with Russia.
But paradoxically, [the Trump administration] also wants to have global reach. And so now we're seeing the tensions. There's a flotilla moving to the Middle East in order to get Iran to behave. And then also the United States wants to maintain its leverage in Asia. It has allies there, of course: Japan and Taiwan and South Korea.
So on the one hand, it's really pressing its case in the Western Hemisphere, but then it's also insisting that it should have some leverage in these other regions. And the one that is probably most problematic is Asia. Because of course if the United States can have pointy elbows in its own sphere, China could make the argument, then why can't we?
This makes me wonder then: Who are the other great powers? Who are the other nations trying to influence the smaller nations here?
The top two are probably the Russian Federation, of course, which invaded Ukraine in 2014 and then again in 2022. And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's made it very clear that he wants to determine Ukrainians' foreign policy so much so that it doesn't want to join in the EU or NATO, and it doesn't want NATO expanded. So the Russian Federation is one.
And of course, the other one is China, whose economy is booming, as a huge population and a large landmass.
This makes me think of the way [China's leader] Xi [Jinping] and Putin talk about their objectives in the world. Let's go back to early January, after the United States spirited [Venezuelan President] Nicolas Maduro out of Venezuela.
Stephen Miller got on television and he said to CNN's Jake Tapper, “We live in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world — since the beginning of time.”
It was striking. It reminded me of the way Vladimir Putin talks about the world and the way Xi talks about the world.
Is the United States just doing what Russia and China are already doing?
Noel, that is a great way to put it. But what I would say is we were already there.
The United States superpower has always been [about] trade, and free trade. And so what's paradoxical here is that we did not need to use force to do that. Now we're using force, but at a time in history when we're finding that it's not as effective in securing our national strategic goals.
What's kind of a shame here is that the United States is, under President Trump — he seems to like this muscular foreign policy. You get the quick victories, [like] Venezuela. But over the longer term, it's eroding the American reputation. And over the longer term, it's actually undermining our interests.
What you're going to see is a balancing against the United States. You're already seeing the hedging, where you've got [Prime Minister] Mark Carney of Canada declaring,“We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it.” That we're in a new world order, and we cannot rely on our allies — we cannot rely on the United States. And he's not alone.
You said the United States is using force, and I wonder to what degree you think that's true. So Venezuela, yes, we did go in. It was a quick mission, I think we could put it that way. Greenland, we did not actually do anything, nor did we even end up levying tariffs on Europe over the whole Greenland fight. President Trump backed off.
So when you say we're using force, how do you see that? You're not talking boots on the ground, right?
Potentially.
The Trump administration did say with the Greenland operation, before it deescalated, thankfully, that they wouldn't discount putting American forces in there and reestablishing those bases.
I wasn't fully confident that the US wasn't going to deploy troops. And I'm pretty sure the Europeans feared that the US was going to take that step.
We love sanctions and Trump loves tariffs, and we're using them not only against adversaries, but against allies. Noel, that's the difference, right? Is that we're threatening our allies, and because the United States is so quick with the trigger, we can't be trusted that we're not going to use force.
It feels like we are barreling toward something in this moment. Trump's Board of Peace, at this juncture, is this minor bid to replace the United Nations. We've talked about the international norms that are being upended. What do you think we are barreling toward?
What's unnerving is that it really does seem to be one individual within this administration that has a lot of say about where we're headed.
But the question is: How far is the administration willing to push this? And my concern, Noel, is that [bombing] Iran [in June 2025] was a successful operation. At least, they've sold it as that. The experts say, “No, we didn't denude the nuclear capacity of Iran for that long,” but [the Trump administration] sees it as a victory.
And then secondarily, Venezuela was quick and dirty, right? We got in and we got out.
These mini successes may embolden them a little bit more. And the question is: How are our allies going to respond? And we see how they're responding; they're uniting. They're saying, we've got to keep this together because the United States is now not a reliable partner. They feel as if they're fighting for that Western liberal order and that Ukraine is the front line.
And then the adversaries — the Russian Federation and China — what lessons are they taking from this? China under President Xi is kind of thumping [its] chest and saying, “I'm the big boy in the room,” right? “We're stable. We're not going to use force.” And then Putin is looking at this smirking, thinking, “Great, if the United States can get away with these shenanigans, then I can too” — right?
We're in kind of a Wild West situation. And the question is: How are they going to respond to it?
Understand the world with a daily explainer, plus the most compelling stories of the day.
This is the title for the native ad
His followers are drifting toward Nick Fuentes, his onetime nemesis.
A MAGA diehard on ICE in Minneapolis, the Epstein files, and what Trump must do before the midterms.
2016 really wasn't that great. Why are we so nostalgic for it?
Alex Pretti's death has pushed more and more lawmakers into saying something must be done.
The sport feels unstoppable — yet also doomed.
Technology is rotting our brains — but there are ways to stop it.
This is the title for the native ad
© 2026 Vox Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved
EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN is using first names only in this story at the family's request to protect their privacy.
Her 3-year-old in tow, Franyelis stepped out of the repurposed budget hotel, its blue awning faded where the “Days Inn” logo once was.
Heading out of the shelter to pick up the family's oldest son from school, toddler Emmanuel – Emma, for short – ran circles around his mom, seven months pregnant with her third child.
“Es un varón,” she said in Spanish, smiling shyly. It's a boy.
Emma was oblivious to the cars, the don't-walk signs, even the cold on this windy, 34-degree afternoon. Nor did the toddler seem to sense his mom's anxiety.
Franyelis, 28, had never expected to get pregnant again when she got to the United States.
None of it was supposed to happen like this.
The American dream had belonged to her partner, her sons' dad. He was the one who'd spurred their move two years ago from Venezuela, bolstered by a new, smoother path to requesting asylum under the Biden administration.
“Let's go there. We'll be fine,” he'd told her, echoing the hopes his sister and other stateside relatives had stoked: “Come! You can get a better future for the boys here.”
A supportive, hardworking partner, Franyelis had gone along. But since then, President Donald Trump had changed not only the immigration rules of her new country but the political landscape of her native one, snagging Franyelis in a strange subplot of the US immigration enforcement crackdown.
As her due date neared, Franyelis kept coming back to the same thought: “I want to leave.”
She shook her head. Tears swelled. “I need to leave.”
But she wasn't sure that was possible. At least not in time.
* * *
Born and raised in Zulia state, along Venezuela's border with Colombia, Franyelis had met Yonquenide when she was 17. It was he who, when their first two children were old enough, decided it was time to dream bigger for their family.
“What I didn't have, I wanted to give to them, do you understand me?” he tells CNN. “For them to speak English, to make a new life. I dreamed they would study. In my childhood, I never… What they gave me was given to me with a lot of effort by my parents. I wanted it to be easier for me with my children.”
Extreme poverty, runaway inflation and political turmoil also gripped Venezuela, with nearly 8 million residents fleeing from 2014 to 2025, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The United States extended Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans to live and work legally in the US while their home country faced instability “due to the enduring humanitarian, security, political, and environmental conditions.”
When Franyelis and Yonquenide's eldest, Yoneifer, was 7 and Emma just 2, they set out on what turned into a three-month journey to the US-Mexico border. Like most Venezuelans, they had no passports – which can be ultraexpensive to get or renew – so the adults took their national ID cards, along with the boys' birth certificates. To cover the roughly $20,000 trip – much of it paid to smugglers – Yonquenide had sold a home he owned in Colombia, then worked along the way, he says.
Arriving in August 2024, they planned to do everything the right way, the legal way. With a cousin's help, they applied for entry via the CBP One app, a Biden-era tool that let undocumented immigrants schedule appointments for asylum claims at legal ports of entry. They claimed they'd been extorted by drug runners, Franyelis recalls.
“We came in on the bridge, not crossing the river or anything like that,” she says, referring to the Rio Grande that migrants often wade through or swim – an endeavor that killed one of her cousins in 2023 – to sneak into the United States.
After a month in Texas, Franyelis and Yonquenide bought flights for themselves and their sons to New York City, where his sister hosted them for a few weeks before their first immigration court appointment that November, the same month US voters re-elected Donald Trump. They confirmed at the virtual hearing before Immigration Judge Jonathan Reingold they were seeking asylum, both say.
The couple rented space in a shared home, and after their temporary work papers came through, Yonquenide worked to cover their rent and other costs.
“I am a person who is not the type to stay in the house sleeping,” he says. “I like to work. And you know, you learn as you go. Even if you are new to a job, at one point, you figure it out.” He made deliveries and used his work van to moonlight as a mover. He sold candy in the street. He earned about $900 a week.
“Having another child wasn't in the cards,” Yonquenide says. But by mid-2025, he and Franyelis were expecting their third.
“It is always a blessing,” he knew.
And the surprise pregnancy fit their surprising new life. Joy and wonder fill photos the couple took around that time: touristy shots at the Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square, candids by a lake in summer, just a few months before the kids would see their first snow.
Unseen were political winds that had begun to shift in this country they now called home.
* * *
Just as Trump began his oath last January, the CBP One app was effectively shut down and appointments made through it canceled as part of what would become a nationwide immigration enforcement crackdown. Franyelis and Yonquenide did not get orders to self-deport, they say.
Then, in early September, the United States initiated a bombing campaign against what it claimed were Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. That same month came the announcement of the revocation of the Temporary Protected Status that had protected hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans from deportation.
Days later, Franyelis and Yonquenide had a routine appointment with Reingold at the courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. By then, reports were multiplying of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining asylum seekers as they left hearings like this one; federal officials didn't reveal how immigrants' names land on agents' lists.
Yonquenide suggested they avoid the risk and go underground, joining the roughly 8 million foreigners living in the United States illegally. But Franyelis insisted. “I wanted to live a comfortable life here,” she recalls, “and that meant doing the right thing, legally, for our children.”
“Let's go,” she said. “God will protect us.”
So, mom and dad, with their two sons, reported that morning to Reingold's courtroom. They left around 9:40 a.m. with a letter confirming their next court date: July 2029.
Emma was asleep in Yonquenide's arms when it happened, right there in the hallway, just like they'd heard.
ICE agents swarmed.
“They were waiting for him,” Franyelis recalls.
“They showed us no mercy,” her partner says.
The agents forced Emma out of his father's arms. Father Eduardo Fabian Arias, a Lutheran priest who supports Spanish-speaking families in the courthouse, stepped in to help them make sense of what was happening.
“My husband started crying, begging for them not to separate him from his children,” Franyelis remembers, still not sure why she and the boys were spared.
The agents led Yonquenide down the hall into an emergency stairwell leading to the ICE holding cell. He became one of at least 14,822 Venezuelans arrested by ICE between January and mid-October 2025, according to an analysis by the Deportation Data Project, an academic effort that analyzes federal data; they were the fourth-most-targeted nationality of Trump's immigration enforcement push, and a large percentage of the latest wave of migrants to arrive under his predecessor.
Emma looked around, confused at the adults fussing around him and too young, perhaps, to grasp the severity of the scene.
“When he saw his father cry, he started to giggle,” his mom recalls.
But Yoneifer, then 8, caught all of it. He cried unconsolably.
After a 10-day transit through ICE facilities, Yonquenide landed in North Louisiana's Jackson Parish Correctional Center and was able to call Franyelis, who by then had connected with a lawyer via Fabian Arias' Manhattan parish, St. Peter's Church.
They began to help Yonquenide build a case for his next court hearing in December.
* * *
Once in detention, asylum seekers' cases restart on a separate track called detained court, where justice is notoriously more expeditious and harsher, with much lower asylum approval rates.
After a Sunday Mass in Spanish last October at St. Peter's, Franyelis joined hundreds of immigrants and their families at the church's free legal clinic. Held below the presbytery, it connected them with immigration attorneys, with the church sometimes using donations to cover legal fees for the most serious cases.
“It's hard, but I have to keep going. I can't get sad. When I am, I try not to show them,” Franyelis said, nodding toward her children as they played with her phone in a corner of the room.
Soon after Franyelis met with the lawyer, Yonquenide again called her from detention – a routine call, like from a parent away on a business trip but for the recorded voice stating the name of the detention center and the detainee and a prompt to press #1 to accept the call.
Yonquenide asked Yoneifer if he was behaving and what he had eaten that day.
“Nothing, we haven't eaten today,” the boy replied.
“You had empanadas,” Franyelis corrected him.
“Your mom is tough,” Yonquenide joked on the line. “She doesn't give you anything to eat.”
From the other end of the table, Emma called to his dad that he loved him very much.
“I love you, too,” Yonquenide replied, “hasta el cielo.” All the way to the sky.
The call was brief, much like – at least in Franyelis' mind – this whole episode: just an interruption, a sad glitch in their new American life. Yonquenide would be released soon, she figured, and since her and the boys' next court hearing wasn't until 2029, they would have plenty of time to keep building their dream.
“We just have to wait until they release him,” she thought, “because we cannot go back to Venezuela.”
* * *
Yonquenide's court hearing was moved up by a month, and the judge ruled on the spot: an immediate deportation order. If Yonquenide wanted to appeal, he'd have to wait another eight months in detention.
“I don't wish it upon anyone,” he tells CNN of being detained. “It's very ugly in there. The food is not good, and among the Latinos, people get hit and stuff like that.”
“No,” Yonquenide decided. “Eight months locked up? No… I prefer to go to my country.”
The next day, he signed his deportation papers.
Three weeks later, Franyelis's phone rang around 1 a.m.
“My love, they're going to transfer me,” Yonquenide told her. Then, the line went dead.
From Louisiana, he flew to El Paso, Texas, then to Phoenix. From there, the same White House that for months had insisted Venezuela was a dangerous country run by drug cartels dispatched him on yet another of last year's 76 deportation flights back to South America.
For two days, Franyelis had no news of Yonquenide. Then, finally, he called from Caracas.
“Honey, we descended from the cloud, and in the blink of an eye, I was back in Venezuela,” said her partner, now among at least 10,072 Venezuelans deported from January to mid-October 2025, according to the Deportation Data Project.
Back in New York, Franyelis was starting to think differently now that Yonquenide was a continent away: “I can't stay. I don't feel well here.”
As much as she had embraced their move to the US, she had never been its driving force. And now that her partner – the father of her two little boys and their little brother on the way – was gone, the thought repeated in her mind, often bringing her to tears.
Did she like it here? “Not anymore,” she said, “not since he was deported.”
* * *
When his deportation flight landed, “they removed the chains from our hands and feet,” Yonquenide recalls. “I thank God that I am no longer locked up.”
Similar arrivals were broadcast on TV and social media with exaggerated civility by Venezuela's intelligence service, the SEBIN, to welcome US deportees home – and malign the United States – as part of the government's “Great Mission Return to the Homeland.”
Children and their mothers got toys as they exited a plane, one video showed. Men wearing gray jumpsuits from ICE detention smiled and thanked then-President Nicolás Maduro, showed another.
Detainees with no criminal record got door-to-door rides to their desired destinations. Yonquenide was dropped off at his brothers' home in Maracaibo, some 430 miles by road east of the capital, but he slept at Franyelis' mother's house: “He gets scared being alone at night,” she says, smiling.
Yonquenide, of course, went back to work – but made just $70 to $80 per week in construction. “You don't earn a good living here,” he admits to CNN by phone. And he missed his children: “They are my inspiration for moving forward.”
“Being alone isn't very good. You become more negative,” Yonquenide tells CNN. “But, you know, I settled back in my country… Us Venezuelans, we are not bad people.”
But just as Yonquenide was finding stability again in his homeland, Venezuela was on the verge of its most volatile, course-altering weeks in at least three decades.
* * *
Through the months Yonquenide and Franyelis had navigated the US immigration system, the US boat-bombing campaign had intensified, along with Trump's rhetoric against Venezuela's government.
Then, on January 3, US forces executed a dramatic, nighttime capture of Maduro and his wife in their home before transferring them to the United States, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and other alleged crimes.
The arrests upended Venezuela, making the country's tense climate more dangerous. Fearing a US ground offensive, the nation's troops closed the borders and set up more checkpoints across the capital. Officials split over how to interact with the United States. The SEBIN was empowered to stop anyone and staunch political dissent for what the government called national security concerns.
Yonquenide wouldn't discuss any of it, not even the monthly hyperinflation of some 20% to 30% that made his small income almost worthless. “I'm going to tell you something: I can't talk much about it because here they record the calls and all that,” he said. Though CNN had no indication Venezuelan authorities were listening, reports of authorities searching civilians' phones for government criticism increased amid the state of emergency.
Franyelis knew the political situation in Venezuela was bad. She knew of the hours-long supermarket lines and electricity blackouts. But she had just spent Christmas and New Year's Day alone with her children at the shelter they moved into after Yonquenide's income vanished.
And she wanted to be back with her partner as soon as possible, especially as her April due date neared. Surely, it would be simple for her to leave the country that had deported her partner and deposed the leader of the nation to which she wanted to return.
Turns out: It was not.
* * *
In December, Franyelis began seeking motions for voluntary departure from the United States for herself and the boys. Her attorney filed the requests, he confirmed to CNN, with the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, the formal name of the US immigration court system.
If she and the boys left without a judge's approval, the court would issue their removal orders in absentia when they failed to show up to her next asylum hearing. Leaving the country without authorization could trigger a lengthy ban on re-entering the United States – a possibility she wanted to avoid.
Through the request, Franyelis renounced her claim to seek asylum in the United States and asked Reingold to let her self-deport. The move surprised even her lawyer, given they weren't due back in immigration court until 2029 and could work and receive social services until then.
“Most people want to stay,” says Saverio Lo Monaco, who has seen only three or four clients wish to self-deport among the roughly 250 asylum claims he's litigated. “Most people would say, ‘Beautiful, I have another three years to go, there will be another (presidential) administration by then.' Most people would wait.
“But she came to me and told me, ‘They removed my husband, so I don't want to keep fighting because I want to be with him,'” the attorney said.
The Trump administration last year began offering free flights and $1,000 to undocumented immigrants to voluntarily leave the US, a sum the Homeland Security secretary in January raised to $2,600, claiming “tens of thousands” of immigrants had self-deported via the program.
Immigrants who wanted to go needed a valid passport to travel by air – the only option Franyelis could see now, in her third trimester and with little kids. But she had never had one. And after the United States and Venezuela severed diplomatic ties in 2019, there had been no way for her to get one in the States.
Venezuelans in need of consular support in the US typically had to travel to a third country, like Canada or Mexico, with another acceptable form of documentation to get it; that's even what the International Organization for Migration advised.
Franyelis had none. The Homeland Security Department did not respond to CNN's questions about options for Venezuelans with no passport who wish to self-deport.
“Legally, it's an impasse,” Lo Monaco says. “The best-case scenario is that they approve her request (to self-deport.) Then, she would have to leave the country.
“But I don't know exactly how.”
* * *
Franyelis turned the problem over and over in her mind as she came and went from the New York shelter, almost always with Emma. On a Friday afternoon in January, the two headed out to Yoneifer's public school a few blocks away, where they stood at the gates in a herd of hooded parkas speaking softly in English and Spanish.
The toddler danced around, incapable of containing his energy. Franyelis' coat just barely fit over her midsection, stretching at the waist. “It's not that big, really,” she said, stroking her belly. “Better that way.”
When a school attendant unlocked the iron gates, parents and siblings walked onto the blue playground turf, scanning children grouped mostly by class. Franyelis walked slowly, smiling shyly at the teachers she recognized. Emma spotted his brother first, then sprinted at him, arms outstretched, into a waist-high bear hug that Yoneifer – now a mature 9 – returned awkwardly, half-smiling.
Together, the trio walked back toward the street, Franyelis calling out to Emma as he zigzagged among adults and older children. She wished he would stay near her, where she could see him. She was too pregnant to run after him.
In school, Yoneifer was learning English fast, understanding basic expressions and responding in Spanish, his mom says. He didn't want to go back to Venezuela, but he missed its warm beaches.
“The water is cold here,” he said.
Yoneifer wished all four of them could be reunited. He missed his father, the outgoing one. “I'm more of a homebody,” Franyelis says. “He is the one who would take them out to play soccer in the park or on a soccer field.”
With the temperature below freezing, she couldn't take them to the park, but it wasn't far to the public library, with books in Spanish and a row of computers with games in English or Spanish. It was easy to keep Emma entertained with books, coloring and toys, but Yoneifer was more despondent, often on his mom's phone or playing computer games.
Unable to work a traditional job and with a toddler to care for, money also was a constant concern for Franyelis, making her return to Venezuela all the more urgent. A photographer who saw Yonquenide get detained had set up a GoFundMe account for her, and the $2,100 or so it had collected bought Emma a haircut and both boys new off-brand sneakers, plus clothes and other necessities, their mom says.
Franyelis also started babysitting three times a week, earning $50 per shift watching the children of a friend who worked nights, along with her own kids, at their place. For now, she could keep her boys safe, Franyelis knew. But the clock was ticking to her April due date.
“I can't give birth here,” in the United States, she said. “Who would take care of my two oldest when I'm in the hospital?”
* * *
With immigration cases backlogged by the millions, Franyelis knew she might not get a response soon to her request for voluntary departure. For many immigrants, having an American baby – with a constitutional right to citizenship – was a dream come true. But her dream's focus had shifted.
“That's what bothers me,” she said, touching her belly. “When I will feel the pain, I will have to bring them somewhere to be watched over, and with the pain, it is going to be very complicated.”
Yonquenide understood why his partner wanted to leave. “I would like her to stay there and give my children a future, but she wants to be next to me,” he says from Venezuela. “I think she needs help with the pregnancy and with the children.
“She is only one person, and she's not going to be able to handle all this.”
There was at least one other option for immigrants without travel documents: traveling by land to Panama, then by boat to Colombia to avoid the dangerous Darien Gap. From last January to September, more than 18,000 migrants, most from Venezuela, had taken the route back, UNHCR reported.
“I would do it if it was just me,” Franyelis says, nodding toward her sons. “Like this, 7 months pregnant, I would do it.
“But I can't, not with them.”
“It takes a long time, and she doesn't have enough money to get here by land,” Yonquenide says. “Only with help or with a voluntary deportation flight can she get out of there.”
“The problem is new,” says her lawyer, Lo Monaco. “She is the first Venezuelan I encounter that wants to return. Does the government have a system for that? The only system that they have is to forcibly detain people and remove them that way.”
So, as her due date approached, Franyelis remained in geopolitical limbo: living with her young sons in the United States while longing to be back in Venezuela, where her growing family could be together.
This story was edited by Michelle Krupa.
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
In the wake of a horrific shooting that shocked the nation, President Donald Trump starkly broke with pro-gun groups in off-the-cuff remarks: “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said during a televised meeting with lawmakers.
That was nearly eight years ago — after a 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people. Trump floated stronger laws for background checks and raising the minimum age to purchase certain firearms. But after the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups objected, he backed down.
Last week, Trump once again put gun groups on the defensive when he said Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti should not have had a gun when he was fatally shot by federal agents.
“You can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns. You just can't,” Trump told reporters outside the White House, seeming to blame Pretti for having a gun on his waistband when he was shot and killed.
Trump, who has called himself “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House,” received a swift rebuke from gun-rights advocates, who argued that Pretti had a clear Second Amendment right to protest while carrying a gun. Some groups criticized the president outright, while the NRA, the biggest gun-rights group in the US, didn't mention the president or his comments directly.
“The NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right to keep and bear arms anywhere they have a legal right to be,” the NRA wrote on X last week.
Trump's comments were all the more notable because they came after pushback from pro-gun groups against top Trump officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who suggested in the immediate aftermath that Pretti was a threat because he had a gun.
It was just the latest instance in which the president's actions and rhetoric have put him at odds with gun-rights groups — even if his administration's record is largely on the side of gun rights — scrambling the politics over firearms and sometimes creating strange bedfellows.
“Trump has always been a bit of a moving target when it comes to gun rights,” said Rob Doar, president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center, who has pushed back against Trump officials' claims that Pretti was violating Minnesota law by carrying a gun.
“I think advocates are always a little bit tepid to trusting Trump as a strong mouthpiece for the Second Amendment. His administration, on the other hand, has done some really strong things,” Doar told CNN.
Trump's views on guns have shifted from supporting an assault weapons ban in 2000 to a 2016 presidential campaign in which the NRA spent millions to help him get elected.
But a lot has changed since Trump's first election. The NRA is no longer the lobbying powerhouse it once was, having been weakened by financial scandals and years of internal conflict that led to the 2024 resignation of President Wayne LaPierre.
A Republican strategist who works directly with multiple lawmakers on Capitol Hill described the NRA's self-insertion in the conversation around Pretti's shooting as the organization's attempt to stay relevant.
“I have not heard of the NRA calling lawmakers to get them to lobby the White House” over Trump's remarks following the shooting, the strategist said. “They just don't have the juice they used to.”
A White House official told CNN the NRA's pushback caught their attention and that the administration has been in direct contact with the group in the aftermath of the shooting.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that Trump “supports the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens. Absolutely.”
“While Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations,” Leavitt said.
Of course, pro-gun groups still have plenty of influence in the Trump administration, which they've flexed knocking down several proposals over the past year — including some opposed by liberal groups.
Trump has reversed Biden-era gun regulations and cut funding for gun-violence research over the past year, but the Trump administration also crossed gun-rights groups with a proposal to merge the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Pro-gun groups feared such a move would empower the agency's gun-related efforts, not weaken them, and the idea was quietly abandoned. (Gun-control advocates also opposed the move for fear it would sideline the agency.)
Last fall, when CNN and others reported that the Justice Department was considering whether it could restrict the ability of transgender Americans from buying guns, both the NRA and the LGBTQ-rights group Human Rights Campaign opposed the idea.
And while Trump officials and Republicans rushed to cast blame on Pretti — even as video evidence contradicted them — Democrats defended his right to carry a gun at a protest under Minnesota law.
“It feels like we're in a bizarro world,” said University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Adam Winkler, an expert on constitutional law and the Second Amendment. “Republicans are saying, ‘Don't bring your guns to protests,' after 10 years of saying, ‘Of course you can bring guns to protests.' And many liberals saying, ‘You have a right to bring a gun to protest,' even though they've been saying for years it would be irresponsible to bring a gun to a protest.”
Some Republicans have relished the fact that gun-control advocates like Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom are defending Pretti's right to protest while carrying a gun. Newsom, who accused the Trump administration of not believing in the Second Amendment, has signed legislation in California restricting where guns can be legally carried (though a federal appellate court ruled against California's gun control laws last month).
“It's been great to watch all these Democrats crying out for gun rights,” one Republican congressman told CNN with a smirk.
Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence prevention group, acknowledged that the politics of the fatal shooting in Minnesota were “a little bit upside-down.” But she argued Pretti's killing pierced the NRA's narrative that guns are a “risk-free value proposition” — and its long-held warnings that Democratic administrations would trample on the rights of gun owners.
“The reality here is the NRA also warned gun owners for years and years about ‘jack-booted thugs' coming for their guns,” Brown said. “It turns out they were right — it's just ICE, as currently deployed, is going after the people with the firearms and apparently shooting them for it.”
When Trump first ran for president, the NRA was considered one of the strongest lobbying forces in Washington. During the 2016 campaign season — when the balance of the Supreme Court was at stake — the NRA spent $50 million on independent expenditures, including more than $30 million on Trump's campaign, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Today, not only does the NRA wield less power, it spends less money. In the 2024 election cycle, the group spent just $10 million on independent expenditures, according to the CRP.
“The NRA is still the largest gun-rights group in the country, but they're significantly smaller than they used to be,” said Stephen Gutowski, founder and editor of The Reload, a news site focused on firearms. “It's not clear exactly how much behind-the-scenes influence they have with the White House.”
A MAGA-aligned Republican operative told CNN the NRA is among many “legacy GOP groups” that no longer hold the same sway in Washington.
Another Republican adviser said the NRA had lost power after the scandals and noted there are more organizations in the gun space now. “The National Sportsman Shooting Foundation and Gun Owners of America have filled the void and grown in credibility,” the adviser said.
The NRA did not respond to a request for comment.
While the gun lobby is more diffuse in Washington, the issue still animates Trump's MAGA base.
“The gun lobby has been weakened because the NRA no longer has the resources to play the dominant role in elections the way it has in recent decades,” Winkler said. “But it's also the strength of the gun-rights movement that has never been solely or primarily a function of the NRA. It's a function of a lot of single-issue, pro-gun voters out there.”
In Trump's first term, he broke with gun-rights advocates several times in response to mass shootings, though he often didn't follow through with policy changes.
The Trump administration banned bump stocks on semiautomatic weapons after the devices were used by the shooter who killed 58 at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017. (The measure was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2024.)
The year after the Parkland mass shooting, Trump again floated expanded background checks, suggesting the NRA would come around on the issue. Trump and LaPierre spoke several times on the matter, and the NRA warned the president against supporting stronger background checks.
But while campaigning in the 2024 GOP primary, Trump touted the fact that no significant gun laws were changed during his first administration.
“During my four years nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn't yield,” Trump said in February 2024 at an NRA expo.
In the second Trump administration, gun-rights advocates say the administration has been quite supportive. They point to his appointees like Harmeet Dhillon at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, and provisions in Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” to cut fees on some firearms equipment like silencers.
There also has been some friction over steps the Trump administration has taken. Gutowski wrote last August about objections from gun-rights groups over the deployment of dozens of ATF agents in Washington, DC, as part of Trump's law enforcement crackdown in the city.
But Robert Spitzer, a professor at the State University of New York at Cortland and author of several books on guns and politics, said Trump's splits with pro-gun groups tend to be short-lived, even if his latest comments about the Minnesota shooting are particularly notable.
“His instincts aren't necessarily with the gun-rights people, but the people that are running the relevant agencies and departments are the gun people,” Spitzer said. “I think in the long term, he's not going to really have any problems with the gun-rights side. But this is a pretty disruptive moment.”
© 2026 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.
Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
President Donald Trump, right, meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A woman aims a rifle aboard a naval vessel during a public day in Nuuk, Greenland, on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People wave national flags for Greenland Minister for Foreign Affairs and Research Vivian Motzfeldt as she arrives at the airport in Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, center, addresses the Security and Defence Committee at the European Parliament in Brussels, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European allies and Canada are pouring billions of dollars into helping Ukraine, and they have pledged to massively boost their budgets to defend their territories.
But despite those efforts, NATO's credibility as a unified force under U.S. leadership has taken a huge hit over the past year as trust within the 32-nation military organization dissolved.
The rift has been most glaring over U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. More recently, Trump's disparaging remarks about his NATO allies' troops in Afghanistan drew another outcry.
While the heat on Greenland has subsided for now, the infighting has seriously undercut the ability of the world's biggest security alliance to deter adversaries, analysts say.
“The episode matters because it crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed,” Sophia Besch from the Carnegie Europe think tank said in a report on the Greenland crisis. “Even without force or sanctions, that breach weakens the alliance in a lasting way.”
The tensions haven't gone unnoticed in Russia, NATO's biggest threat.
Any deterrence of Russia relies on ensuring that President Vladimir Putin is convinced that NATO will retaliate should he expand his war beyond Ukraine. Right now, that does not seem to be the case.
“It's a major upheaval for Europe, and we are watching it,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted last week.
Criticized by U.S. leaders for decades over low defense spending, and lashed relentlessly under Trump, European allies and Canada agreed in July to significantly up their game and start investing 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.
The pledge was aimed at taking the whip out of Trump's hand. The allies would spend as much of their economic output on core defense as the United States — around 3.5% of GDP — by 2035, plus a further 1.5% on security-related projects like upgrading bridges, air and seaports.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has hailed those pledges as a sign of NATO's robust health and military might. He recently said that “fundamentally thanks to Donald J. Trump, NATO is stronger than it ever was.”
Though a big part of his job is to ensure that Trump does not pull the U.S. out of NATO, as Trump has occasionally threatened, his flattery of the American leader has sometimes raised concern. Rutte has pointedly refused to speak about the rift over Greenland.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 to counter the security threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and its deterrence is underpinned by a strong American troop presence in Europe.
The alliance is built on the political pledge that an attack on one ally must be met with a response from them all — the collective security guarantee enshrined in Article 5 of its rule book.
It hinges on the belief that the territories of all 32 allies must remain inviolate. Trump's designs on Greenland attack that very principle, even though Article 5 does not apply in internal disputes because it can only be triggered unanimously.
“Instead of strengthening our alliances, threats against Greenland and NATO are undermining America's own interests,” two U.S. senators, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Lisa Murkowski, wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
“Suggestions that the United States would seize or coerce allies to sell territory do not project strength. They signal unpredictability, weaken deterrence and hand our adversaries exactly what they want: proof that democratic alliances are fragile and unreliable,” they said.
Even before Trump escalated his threats to seize control of Greenland, his European allies were never entirely convinced that he would defend them should they come under attack.
Trump has said that he doesn't believe the allies would help him either, and he recently drew more anger when he questioned the role of European and Canadian troops who fought and died alongside Americans in Afghanistan. The president later partially reversed his remarks.
In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed criticism that Trump has undermined the alliance.
“The stronger our partners are in NATO, the more flexibility the United States will have to secure our interests in different parts of the world,” he said. “That's not an abandonment of NATO. That is a reality of the 21st century and a world that's changing now.”
Despite NATO's talk of increased spending, Moscow seems undeterred. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said this week that “it has become painfully clear that Russia will remain a major security threat for the long term.”
“We are fending off cyberattacks, sabotage against critical infrastructure, foreign interference and information manipulation, military intimidation, territorial threats and political meddling,” she said Wednesday.
Officials across Europe have reported acts of sabotage and mysterious drone flights over airports and military bases. Identifying the culprits is difficult, and Russia denies responsibility.
In a year-end address, Rutte warned that Europe is at imminent risk.
“Russia has brought war back to Europe, and we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured,” he said.
Meanwhile in Russia, Lavrov said the dispute over Greenland heralded a “deep crisis” for NATO.
“It was hard to imagine before that such a thing could happen,” Lavrov told reporters, as he contemplated the possibility that “one NATO member is going to attack another NATO member.”
Russian state media mocked Europe's “impotent rage” over Trump's designs on Greenland, and Putin's presidential envoy declared that “trans-Atlantic unity is over.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due to meet with his counterparts at NATO on Feb. 12. A year ago, he startled the allies by warning that America's security priorities lie elsewhere and that Europe must look after itself now.
Security in the Arctic region, where Greenland lies, will be high on the agenda. It's unclear whether Hegseth will announce a new drawdown of U.S. troops in Europe, who are central to NATO's deterrence.
Lack of clarity about this has also fueled doubt about the U.S. commitment to its allies. In October, NATO learned that up to 1,500 American troops would be withdrawn from an area bordering Ukraine, angering ally Romania.
A report from the European Union Institute for Security Studies warned last week that although U.S. troops are unlikely to vanish overnight, doubts about U.S. commitment to European security means “the deterrence edifice becomes shakier.”
“Europe is being forced to confront a harsher reality,” wrote the authors, Veronica Anghel and Giuseppe Spatafora. “Adversaries start believing they can probe, sabotage and escalate without triggering a unified response.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The Justice Department says it's releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest Jeffrey Epstein disclosure
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that if any member of Congress would like to see materials in their unredacted form, they can make arrangements with the department to do so.
The Justice Department says it's releasing 3 million pages of documents in the latest Jeffrey Epstein disclosure, along with 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.
Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
An email that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, and shows the cell where Epstein was found unresponsive. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch arrives for NFL owners meetings, in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
An email that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, and shows a 2009 order of no contact in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
NEW YORK (AP) — Newly disclosed U.S. government files on Jeffrey Epstein have prompted the resignation of a top official in Slovakia and revived calls in Britain for a former prince to share what he knows with authorities about Epstein's links to powerful individuals around the world.
The fallout comes just a day after the Justice Department began releasing a massive trove of files that offers more details about Epstein's interactions with the rich and famous after he served time for sex crimes in Florida.
The prime minister of Slovakia accepted the resignation on Saturday of an official, Miroslav Lajcak, who once had a yearlong term as president of the U.N. General Assembly. Lajcak wasn't accused of wrongdoing but left his position after photos and emails revealed he had met with Epstein in the years after Epstein was released from jail.
The disclosures also have revived questions about whether long-time Epstein friend Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, should cooperate with U.S. authorities investigating Epstein.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday suggested Mountbatten-Windsor should tell American investigators whatever he knows about Epstein's activities. The former prince has so far ignored a request from members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee for a “transcribed interview” about his “long-standing friendship” with Epstein.
President Donald Trump's Justice Department said it would be releasing more than 3 million pages of documents along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images under a law intended to reveal most of the material it collected during two decades of investigations involving the wealthy financier.
Making his first public comments about the release, Trump cast the documents as a vindication of his actions.
“I didn't see it myself but I was told by some very important people that not only does it absolve me, it's the opposite of what people were hoping, you know, the radical left,” he told reporters Saturday night as he flew to Florida.
The files, posted to the department's website, included documents involving Epstein's friendship with Mountbatten-Windsor, and Epstein's email correspondence with onetime Trump adviser Steve Bannon, New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and other prominent contacts with people in political, business and philanthropic circles, such as billionaires Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
Other documents offered a window into various investigations, including ones that led to sex trafficking charges against Epstein in 2019 and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell in 2021, and an earlier inquiry that found evidence of Epstein abusing underage girls but never led to federal charges.
Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister, said Saturday that he had accepted the resignation of Lajcak, his national security adviser.
Lajcak, a former Slovak foreign minister, hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing, but emails showed that Epstein had invited him to dinner and other meetings in 2018.
The records also include a March 2018 email from Epstein's office to former Obama White House general counsel Kathy Ruemmler, inviting her to a get-together with Epstein, Lajcak and Bannon, the conservative activist who served as Trump's White House strategist in 2017.
Lajcak said his contacts with Epstein were part of his diplomatic duties. Pressure mounted for his ouster from opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico's governing coalition.
The FBI started investigating Epstein in July 2006 and agents expected him to be indicted in May 2007, according to the newly records released. A prosecutor wrote up a proposed indictment after multiple underage girls told police and the FBI that they had been paid to give Epstein sexualized massages.
The draft indicated prosecutors were preparing to charge not just Epstein but also three people who worked for him as personal assistants.
According to interview notes released Friday, an employee at Epstein's Florida estate told the FBI in 2007 that Epstein once had him buy flowers and deliver them to a student at Royal Palm Beach High School to commemorate her performance in a school play.
The employee, whose name was blacked out, said some of his duties were fanning $100 bills on a table near Epstein's bed, placing a gun between the mattresses in his bedroom and cleaning up after Epstein's frequent massages with young girls, including disposing of used condoms.
Ultimately, the U.S. attorney in Miami at the time, Alexander Acosta, signed off on a deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution. Epstein pleaded guilty instead to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from someone under age 18 and got an 18-month jail sentence. Acosta was Trump's first labor secretary in his earlier term.
The records have thousands of references to Trump, including emails in which Epstein and others shared news articles, commented on his policies, or gossiped about him and his family.
Mountbatten-Windsor's name appears at least several hundred times, including in Epstein's private emails. In a 2010 exchange, Epstein appeared to set him up for a date.
“I have a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with,” Epstein wrote.
Mountbatten-Windsor replied that he “would be delighted to see her.”
Epstein, whose emails often contain typographical errors, wrote later in the exchange: “She 26, russian, clevere beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email.”
The Justice Department is facing criticism over how it handled the latest disclosure.
One group of Epstein accusers said in a statement that the new documents made it too easy to identify those he abused but not those who might have been involved in Epstein's criminal activity.
“As survivors, we should never be the ones named, scrutinized, and retraumatized while Epstein's enablers continue to benefit from secrecy,” it said.
Meanwhile, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, pressed the department to let lawmakers review unredacted versions of the files as soon as Sunday. He said in a statement that Congress must assess whether the redactions were lawful or improperly shielded people from scrutiny.
Department officials have acknowledged that many records in its files are duplicates, and it was clear from the documents that reviewers took different degrees of care or exercised different standards while blacking out names and other identifying information.
There were multiple documents where a name was left exposed in one copy, but redacted in another.
The released records reinforced the Epstein was, at least before he ran into legal trouble, friendly with Trump and former President Bill Clinton. None of Epstein's victims who have gone public has accused Trump, a Republican, or Clinton, a Democrat, of wrongdoing. Both men said they had no knowledge Epstein was abusing underage girls.
Epstein killed himself in a New York jail in August 2019, a month after being indicted.
In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone else in connection with Epstein's abuse. One victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, sued Mountbatten-Windsor, saying she had sexual encounters with him starting at age 17. The now-former prince denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.
Giuffre died by suicide last year at age 41.
——
The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from Versant, CBS and NBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
___
Kirka reported from London. Finley reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Will Weissert aboard Air Force One and journalists from around the country contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Britain's Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, looks round as he leaves after attending the Easter Matins Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch arrives for NFL owners meetings, in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and foreign dignitaries, a who's who of powerful men make appearances in the huge trove of documents released Friday by the Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein.
Many have denied having close ties to the late financier, or at least having anything to do with his alleged sexual abuse of girls and young women that led to his arrest on sex trafficking charges.
None have been charged with a crime connected to the investigation. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Yet some of them maintained friendships with Epstein, or developed them anew, even after he became known as a predator of young girls and registered sex offender.
Here's a primer on some of the notable names in the Epstein files:
The man formerly known as Britain's Prince Andrew has long been dogged by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by Epstein and instructed to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor when she was 17.
The former prince has repeatedly denied that it happened, but his brother, King Charles III, still stripped him of his royal titles late last year, including the right to be called a prince and the Duke of York.
Mountbatten-Windsor's name appears at least several hundred times in Friday's document release, including in Epstein's private emails.
Among the correspondence is an invitation for Epstein to dine at Buckingham Palace, Epstein's offer to introduce Mountbatten-Windsor to a 26-year-old Russian woman, and photos that appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling over an unidentified woman lying on the floor.
The billionaire Tesla founder turns up at least a few times in Friday's document release, notably in email exchanges in 2012 and 2013 in which he discussed visiting Epstein's infamous Caribbean island compound.
But it's not immediately clear if the island visits took place. Spokespersons for Musk's companies, Tesla and X, didn't respond to emails seeking comment Friday or Saturday.
Musk has maintained that he repeatedly turned down the disgraced financier's overtures. “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED,” he posted on X in 2025.
The billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, a global conglomerate, exchanged numerous emails with Epstein in the years after he pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a minor and agreed to register as a sex offender in Florida in 2008.
In a 2013 exchange, Branson invited Epstein to his own private Caribbean island, which regularly hosts large conferences, charity events and business meetings.
“Any time you're in the area would love to see you,” he wrote. “As long as you bring your harem!”
In another message that year, he suggested Epstein rehabilitate his image by convincing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to tell the public how Epstein had “been a brilliant adviser to him” and had “more than learnt your lesson and have done nothing that's against the law since.”
The company stressed in a statement Saturday that there was no wrongdoing on Branson's part and that any dealings with Epstein were “limited to group or business settings” more than a decade ago.
Branson also declined a charitable donation and decided not to meet or speak with him again after his team “uncovered serious allegations,” the company said.
“Had they had the full picture and information, there would have been no contact whatsoever,” the statement reads. “Richard believes that Epstein's actions were abhorrent and supports the right to justice for his many victims.”
The New York Giants co-owner is mentioned more than 400 times in the files released Friday. Correspondence between the two shows Epstein offered to connect Tisch to numerous women over the years.
In one 2013 email exchange with the subject line “Ukrainian girl,” Epstein encouraged Tisch to contact a particular woman, whose physical beauty he praised in crude terms.
“Pro or civilian?” Tisch asked in reply.
Tisch, a scion of a powerful New York family that founded the Loews Corporation, has acknowledged knowing Epstein but denied ever going to his infamous Caribbean island.
“We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments,” said Tisch, who also won an Academy Award in 1994 for producing “Forrest Gump.” “As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”
The president of the committee for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles exchanged flirty emails with Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, Friday's document release shows.
In a 2003 exchange, Wasserman wrote to Maxwell: “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
In another, Maxwell asks whether it will be foggy enough during an upcoming visit “so that you can float naked down the beach and no one can see you unless they are close up?”
Wasserman released a statement Saturday saying he never had a personal or business relationship with Epstein and that he regretted the correspondence with Maxwell, which he said came “long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking and abuse of minors.
The former Israeli prime minister and his wife turn up frequently in the documents released Friday, showing they stayed in regular contact with Epstein for years, including well after his 2008 guilty plea for sex crimes in Florida.
Among the correspondence are plans for a 2017 stay at Epstein's New York residence. Other missives discuss mundane logistics for other visits, meetings and phone calls with Epstein.
Barak has acknowledged regularly visiting Epstein on his trips to New York and flying on his private plane, but maintains he never observed any inappropriate behavior or parties.
Barak served as Israel's prime minister from 1999 to 2001 and later served as its defense minister.
President Donald Trump's commerce secretary visited Epstein's private Caribbean island with his family on at least one occasion, records released Friday show.
That appears to contradict prior statements he's made claiming he cut ties with the disgraced financier, who he's called “gross,” decades ago.
But emails show Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December 2012 and planned to arrive by yacht with their children.
The former chairman of Newmark, a major commercial real estate firm, also had drinks on another occasion in 2011 with Epstein and corresponded with him about the construction of a building across the street from both of their homes.
The Commerce Department, in a statement, said Lutnick had “limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”
The billionaire Google co-founder made plans to meet with Epstein and Maxwell at his townhouse in New York years before he was publicly accused of sexually abusing underage girls, emails show.
In one exchange in 2003, Maxwell invited him to join her at a screening of the Renee Zellweger film “Down with Love” in New York.
She followed up a few weeks later to invite him to a “happily casual and relaxed” dinner at Epstein's house. Brin offered to bring along Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt.
Spokespersons for Google didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.
The one-time adviser to Trump exchanged hundreds of friendly texts with Epstein, some sent months before his 2019 arrest and jailhouse suicide.
The two discussed politics, travel and a documentary Bannon was said to be planning that would help salvage Epstein's reputation.
One 2018 exchange, for example, focused on Trump's threats at the time to oust Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a 2019 message, Bannon asked Epstein if he could supply his plane to pick him up in Rome.
Bannon hasn't responded to emails seeking comment.
A national security adviser to the Slovakian prime minister, Lajcak resigned Saturday after his past communications with Epstein appeared in Friday's document release.
Opposition parties and a nationalist partner in Fico's governing coalition had called for him to step down.
Lajcak, a former Slovak foreign minister and a onetime president of the U.N. General Assembly, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but was photographed meeting with Epstein in the years between his initial release from jail and his subsequent indictment in 2019 on sex trafficking charges.
He said his correspondence with Epstein were part of his diplomatic duties.
___
Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
President Donald Trump has moved to pull back federal law enforcement from Democratic-run cities dealing with anti-ICE riots, saying they will only be deployed if requested by local officials.
“I have instructed Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, that under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Those future requests would also come with one condition, according to Trump.
“Therefore, to all complaining Local Governments, Governors, and Mayors, let us know when you are ready, and we will be there — But, before we do so, you must use the word, ‘PLEASE,'” he said.
If federal agents are deployed, including from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, Trump suggested they would now get more leeway in their use of force.
“Please be aware that I have instructed ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property. There will be no spitting in the faces of our Officers, there will be no punching or kicking the headlights of our cars, and there will be no rock or brick throwing at our vehicles, or at our Patriot Warriors. If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence,” he said.
That warning comes in spite of the significant scrutiny of CBP and ICE's tactics after the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Trump vowed that agents would still be “extremely powerful and tough” in dealing with rioters damaging federal property, expressing ire over recent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and Eugene, Oregon.
“We will not allow our Courthouses, Federal Buildings, or anything else under our protection, to be damaged in any way, shape, or form. I was elected on a Policy of Border Control (which has now been perfected!), National Security, and LAW AND ORDER — That's what America wants, and that's what America is getting!” he concluded.
“ICE Out” protests began just ahead of the weekend, with some of those turning violent.
LEFT-WING AGITATORS ATTACK OFFICERS IN LOS ANGELES AS BASS WARNS CONDUCT MAY BRING MILITARY BACK INTO CITY
In Los Angeles, rioters attacked LAPD officers as they tried to break into a federal courthouse, leading to dispersal orders and multiple arrests. According to CBS News, they threw bottles and rocks at the officers, vandalized parts of the building, and later set fire to a nearby dumpster.
Anti-ICE rioters also descended on Eugene, with hundreds demonstrating outside a federal building. Some reportedly entered and vandalized it, leading to both federal and local law enforcement seeking to disperse the crowd with tear gas, pepper balls, and flash-bangs.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Casey Wasserman, LA28 chairperson and president, takes questions from the media during a news conference in Los Angeles, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Casey Wasserman, LA28 Chairperson and President, speaks at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum ahead of the launch for ticket registration to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest collection of government files released on Jeffrey Epstein include emails from 2003 between Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, and Epstein's one-time girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Among the exchanges included Wasserman telling Maxwell “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
There is also an email exchange about massages and one in which Maxwell asks whether it will be foggy enough during an upcoming visit “so that you can float naked down the beach and no one can see you unless they are close up?”
Wasserman responds, “or something like that.”
In a statement released Saturday, Wasserman said “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” which he said occurred “long before her horrific crimes came to light.”
“I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them,” he said.
In 2021, Maxwell was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The documents were disclosed as mandated by a law passed requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Maxwell. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Wasserman built a sports and talent agency that represents top players in football, basketball and baseball, along with big-name actors such as Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt.
He has grabbed more headlines recently as the frontman for the LA Olympic effort; his lobbying played a big role in bringing the Summer Olympics back to the U.S. in 2028. Los Angeles previously hosted in 1984 and this will be the first Summer Games in the United States since Atlanta in 1996.
In 2021, Wasserman divorced his wife of 20 years, Laura Ziffren Wasserman.
___
https://apnews.com/sports
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas U.S. House seat in a special election Saturday that will narrow Republicans' already-slim majority, telling President Donald Trump that the Democratic district "topples corrupt presidencies."
Menefee, the Harris County attorney, prevailed in a runoff against Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member. He will replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.
The seat representing the heavily Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for nearly a year.
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott didn't schedule the first round of voting until November. Menefee and Edwards were the top vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. They advanced to a runoff because no candidate won a majority of the vote.
Speaking to supporters at his victory party, Menefee promised to fight for universal health insurance, seek to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and "tear ICE up from the roots."
He also addressed Trump directly, noting that one of the district's most storied representatives, Democrat Barbara Jordan, was an eloquent voice for President Richard Nixon's impeachment before his 1974 resignation.
"The results here tonight are a mandate for me to work as hard as I can to oppose your agenda, to fight back against where you're taking this country and to investigate your crimes," Menefee said.
Menefee will fill the remainder of Turner's term, which ends when a new Congress is sworn in to office in January 2027.
Abbott had argued that Houston officials needed the six months between Turner's death and the first round of voting to prepare for the special election, but Democrats criticized the long wait as a move designed to give the GOP a slightly bigger cushion in the House for difficult votes.
While campaigning Saturday, Edwards, 44, referenced the long vacancy in a video she posted to social media, saying voters have gone too long without a voice in Washington. Later, she told supporters at her watch party that the race "never was about winning a particular seat."
"This journey has always been about creating a community where every single person in it, no matter what their background, no matter where they were from, no matter where they lived, would have the opportunity to thrive," she said. "That means access to health care. That means education. That means economics."
Menefee, 37, was endorsed by several prominent Texas Democrats, including former congressman Beto O'Rourke and Rep. Jasmine Crockett. He was joinedon Saturday by Crockett, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Menefee ousted an incumbent in 2020 to become Harris County's first Black county attorney, representing the county in civil cases, and he has joined legal challenges to Trump's immigration executive orders.
Edwards served four years on the Houston City Council starting in 2016. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 but finished fifth in a 12-person primary. She unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the 2024 primary, and when Lee died that July, local Democrats narrowly nominated Turner over Edwards as Lee's replacement.
Menefee finished ahead of Edwards in the primary, but Edwards picked up the endorsement of the third-place finisher, state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who said Edwards had skills "best suited to go against Trump."
After Saturday, yet another election lies ahead in little over a month. Both Menefee and Edwards are on the ballot again on March 3, when they will face Democratic Rep. Al Green in another election — this one a Democratic primary in a newly drawn 18th congressional district, for the full term that starts in 2027.
GOP lawmakers who control the Texas state government drew a new map last summer for this year's midterms, pushed by Trump to create five more winnable seats for Republicans to help preserve their majority.
Winter weather added to voters' confusion, forcing local officials to cancel two days of advance voting this week, prompting a civil rights group to go to court to win a two-day extension into Thursday.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
To learn more about the CNBC CFO Council, visit cnbccouncils.com/cfo
In today's K-shaped economy, lower-income consumers headed out to shop may be hitting Dollar General or a post-bankruptcy Big Lots, but affluent Americans are increasingly headed for the shopping center private club. Membership clubs are increasingly being seen as retail revitalizers, whether that's in a traditional mall, open-air shopping center, or as a stand-alone commercial real estate tenant.
Like their country club cousins, private clubs require monthly dues and often an initiation fee. For instance, Dallas's Highland Park Village, which boasts shops like Hermès, Fendi and Brunello Cucinelli, is also home to Park House, a private club offering fine dining, a wine bar, and art experiences. Resident memberships can be had for a $7,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $292 monthly (a spouse can join for $4,000). The Moore House in Miami's open air Design District has a $5,000 initiation fee and monthly dues over $400. In addition to dining and product curation, it offers overnight accommodations if needed.
Data is scarce because they are so new, but R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, says that the popularity of these clubs as part of existing shopping destinations is increasing and tracking with other trends in retail, such as malls that have been increasingly populating themselves with gyms, co-working spaces, and retail clubs with dues replacing discounts as the draw. Both street level retail and malls are discovering that memberships boost business and drive traffic to retail centers like Highland Park Village.
"We have seen an increase in these. They appeal to high-end consumers. The idea is it's another place, a status symbol. It is exclusivity," Hottovy said. He added that in the post-Covid era, Placer.ai's research also shows more diners gravitating toward country clubs and fewer to restaurants. Private clubs offer a similar "safe space" for people to gather.
The clubs, once confined to the coastal elite, are increasingly finding their way into flyover country. The Social House, a club with a $4,000 initiation fee and monthly dues, recently opened adjacent to The Banks, a busy open-air retail area in Cincinnati. A vacant building in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be transformed into The Commerce Club, a private club featuring a cafe, event space, coworking areas, and a speakeasy. Scheduled to open in November 2026, co-founder Jeff Lambert says it will help revitalize an area near downtown. "The idea is to take a building that has been vacant for over a decade and turn it into a hub of activity," Lambert said of the 55,000-square foot space.
Lambert, a local developer, was inspired by similar private clubs overseas or in larger U.S. cities, and he says mid-sized cities across the U.S. are seeing the biggest growth in the private club market. Even as recently as five years ago, he says, Grand Rapids would have had trouble supporting a private club, but the entrepreneurial class in the city has reached a critical mass. "We deserve something like this that you can experience in Madrid, LA, New York and we can support it. We can create an experience that feels metro but that it is very much local," Lambert said.
Developers, whether they are in a mall or elsewhere, have strong incentives to embrace membership-based businesses, according to Jia Li, associate professor of marketing at Wake Forest University. "Many malls face challenges filling vacant anchor spaces or underutilized upper floors. A private club can absorb a large footprint while generating steady and recurring traffic," Li said.
For high-end malls, private clubs are especially appealing because they allow owners to fill significant space without diluting the brand — and in many cases, enhance it. "A well-curated, members-only club can reinforce a mall's positioning as an exclusive lifestyle destination, rather than a purely transactional retail center," Li said. In some ways, that brings malls full circle to their original social purpose. "Although today we often associate malls primarily with shopping, early shopping malls in postwar suburban America were explicitly envisioned as 'community and civic centers,' not merely retail machines," Li said.
Daniel Spiegel, senior vice president and managing director at Coldwell Banker Commercial, says while the private club concept has decades of history, they are gaining new traction. "Private social and dining clubs were very popular from the 1950s through the 1990s, and we may be seeing a comeback in different forms," Spiegel said. In some cases, fitness clubs, co-working concepts, and social spaces which recently were common in office properties are now taking space in retail centers. Some of the spaces Coldwell Banker represents are in very typical malls like Scottsdale, Arizona's Fashion Square, where clubs like Industrious serve as combination work and social spaces.
"These membership-based operators offer landlords attractive characteristics like longer-term leases, consistent foot traffic during off-peak hours, and members with discretionary income that benefits the surrounding tenants," Spiegel said. The build-out costs can be substantial, and the economics need to work in markets with sufficient density and demographics. "But it reflects a broader shift where successful retail properties are becoming destinations that offer experiences beyond traditional shopping," he added.
In recent years, retail landlords have pursued many options for empty square footage and to increase foot traffic, from conversion to housing to a greater focus on experiences, to even mega-churches as tenants.
Sam Vise, CEO and co-founder at Optimum Retailing — and also a member of New York City-based private club Soho House — says clubs are becoming more attractive to developers looking to boost traffic to their properties because while a typical mall anchor store might bring a customer in a couple of times a week, a private club can bring customers to the same property multiple times a week. "As malls and retail centers rethink their role post-ecommerce, these clubs introduce a built-in, high-frequency customer who values experience, community, and time spent on site – all things traditional retail has struggled to deliver on its own," Vise said.
In addition to landlords looking for tenants that generate repeat visits, younger consumers prioritizing social connection over pure consumption and transactional footfall are driving the trend. "It creates a reason to return weekly, sometimes daily, and that spillover benefits surrounding food, wellness, and retail concepts," Vise said. He added that the club trend is already opening doors for digitally native brands and emerging concepts to test physical retail in high-engagement environments through buzz-generating pop-ups.
"When executed well, private social clubs act as a catalyst, raising the bar for how surrounding retail engages customers and drives repeat visits," Vise said. The downside is that these clubs don't automatically translate to broader accessibility. "Retailers nearby need to be intentional about how they engage — aligning assortment, service, and in-store experience with a customer who expects curation and hospitality, not just convenience," Vise added.
Clubs are prone to their own boom and bust cycles. Some of the most well-known club brands, including Soho House, have seen mixed results from recent expansion attempts. Since a 2021 initial public offering, Soho House has pursued plans to open more locations, including across the U.S. Now it is being taken private at a similar valuation to its five-year-old IPO price.
Private clubs do bring to retail centers something in addition to cachet that is coveted: dwell time. "The more amount of time a human being stays on a property, the more money they will spend," said Charlie Koniver, a principal at Odyssey Retail Advisors, a New York City-based real estate consultant which works with luxury and contemporary retailers in creating upscale shopping destinations.
A members-only club can act as a commercial real estate anchor, but Koniver says the clubs aren't a fit for every mall or retail center. A private club isn't necessarily a good candidate for an empty Sears box, and they often make for more appealing stand-alone retail destinations. The clubs tend to have smaller footprints, and when they are in malls or retail villages, they are seen as upscale mainstay tenants. "When they are part of the retail environment, they tend to be ones that don't have traditional anchors," Koniver said.
The private club phenomenon is an extension of a consumer need that has existed all along, according to Greg Zakowicz, an ecommerce and retail advisor at Omnisend. "Let's not forget that high-end shoppers are often members of other private clubs, such as golf and swim clubs, and even airport lounges. Now brands are taking that model and applying it to retail by providing curated products and experiences in a high-end, private setting," Zakowicz said.
In the current economic environment, with upper-income households continuing to spend, even as middle- and lower-income households reduce discretionary spending, it becomes even more important to capture these customers, Zakowicz said. But he doesn't believe this is critical across the retail landscape. "With retail, styles and preferences change, and concepts like this are sure to evolve with them. But that's OK. I don't think retailers need to have them be sustainable in the long term to survive," he added.
David Loranger, assistant professor of fashion marketing and merchandising at Sacred Heart University, says the phenomenon is probably a byproduct of the K-shaped economy, with many Americans holding stock portfolios and in professional lines of work able to afford luxuries. But he suggests there is perhaps a bit of a political persuasion in the private club trend, too. There is the MAGA-friendly Executive Branch which opened last year on the bottom level of the Georgetown Mall outside of Washington D.C. The club was co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and is by invitation only. "It might also be some type of Mar-a-Lago halo effect where those who see themselves in (or aspire to) the echelon of Trump, Bezos, and other CEO-types are becoming interested in belonging to such a club," Loranger said.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Corporate earnings along with geopolitical concerns have swayed investor sentiment in recent trading sessions. But investors seeking consistent income against a volatile backdrop can always add attractive dividend-paying stocks to their portfolios.
For discerning investors, top Wall Street analysts can help select the right stocks, backed by strong cash flows to support consistent dividend payments.
Here are three dividend-paying stocks that are highlighted by Wall Street's top pros, as tracked by TipRanks, a platform that ranks analysts based on their past performance.
Viper Energy (VNOM), a subsidiary of Diamondback Energy, is focused on owning and acquiring mineral and royalty interests in oil-weighted basins, primarily the Permian in West Texas. Considering the base and variable dividends paid over the past year, VNOM stock offers a dividend yield of 5.53%.
Ahead of Viper's Q4 2025 results in February, Roth Capital analyst Leo Mariani reiterated a buy rating on VNOM stock with a price target of $48. The analyst is bullish on VNOM based on its high "organic growth rate vs. peers, a solid and growing dividend, strong free cash flow even at lower oil prices and a multi-year line of sight on its operations not had by its peers."
Mariani expects Viper Energy to deliver strong Q4 results with oil production of 66,552 barrels of oil per day (Bopd), about 1% above the Street estimate. He expects total production of 129,424 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boepd) for Q4 2025, or almost 2% above the consensus estimate. Mariani also anticipates that Viper will report solid oil price realizations for Q4 2025, but weaker gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) realizations.
The 5-star analyst expects Viper to announce a cash distribution to shareholders of $0.57 for Q4 2025, reflecting a sequential decline of 2%. But he expects $95 million worth of share buybacks in Q4 2025, up from $90 million in the third quarter. Mariani expects share buybacks to play a larger role in Viper's capital return plans, especially compared with a subdued oil backdrop.
Mariani also describes Viper as more insulated than its peers if 2026 drilling and completion activity is cut due to weak oil prices. That's because Diamondback operates about 60% of its production and can scale back cut activity outside VNOM's mineral acreage, helping protect volumes. Moreover, VNOM's non-operated activity is led by top-tier operators like Exxon Mobil, Occidental, EOG Resources, ConocoPhillips, and Ovintiv, which lowers the risk of sharply lower activity, as they control about two-thirds of Viper's non-Diamondback acreage.
Mariani ranks No. 124 among more than 12,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 60% of the time, delivering an average return of 27.1%. See Viper Energy Statistics on TipRanks.
The week's second dividend pick is oilfield services provider SLB (SLB). The company recently reported better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of 2025. Moreover, SLB announced a 3.5% hike in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.295 per share. SLB pays a dividend yield of 2.41%.
Following the Q4 print, JPMorgan analyst Arun Jayaram reiterated a buy rating on SLB and raised his price target to $54 from $43. The analyst noted that SLB's 2026 guidance was in line with consensus expectations, adding that encouraging insights from the earnings call reflect management's optimism about improvement in three international areas — Saudi Arabia, Mexico and deepwater — which hurt the company's 2025 performance.
SLB expects its international segment to gain from business in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia in 2026, partially offset by a modest fall in revenue in Europe and Africa, the 5-star analyst said. SLB is also expected to benefit from the revitalization of Venezuela's oil industry, as it's the only Western oil field services company currently operating in the country as part of Chevron's operating license.
Meanwhile, SLB's Gulf of Mexico presence and growth in the Data Center Solutions segment are expected to drive revenue in North America. "The growth dynamics of Digital and Data Center Solutions remain key longer-term catalysts for SLB," said Jayaram.
Overall, Jayaram expects SLB to deliver solid cash flow growth, driven by the company's international footprint, project integration capabilities and robust digital adoption. The analyst expects SLB to generate free cash flow of about $4.2 billion in 2026 and return nearly $4.3 billion in cash to shareholders through $1.7 billion of base dividends and $2.6 billion of buybacks.
Jayaram ranks No. 673 among more than 12,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been profitable 58% of the time, delivering an average return of 11%. See SLB Stock Buybacks on TipRanks.
Another dividend-paying energy company this week is EOG Resources (EOG). The crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company offers a quarterly dividend of $1.02 per share. At an annualized dividend of $4.08 per share, EOG's dividend yield stands at 3.68%.
Ahead of Q4 earnings, Siebert Williams Shank analyst Gabriele Sorbara reaffirmed a buy rating on EOG stock with a price target of $150. The analyst expects EOG to deliver upbeat Q4 results on both operational and financial fronts. Sorbara expects the company to report oil production of 545.7 Mbbls/d (thousand barrels per day), in line with the Street's estimate and within the company's guidance of 542.5 to 547.5 Mbbls/d. Additionally, Sorbara expects total production of 1,369 Mboe/d (million barrels of oil equivalent per day), almost in line with the consensus estimate of 1,371 Mboe/d.
The 5-star analyst thinks that investors will focus on EOG's 2026 guidance and early updates on its international projects in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as management's commentary on capital efficiencies in the Utica Shale and Delaware Basin.
"EOG stands out with the potential for peer-leading shareholder returns (at least 70% of FCF returned to shareholders annually) supported by its strong free cash flow generation and best-in-class balance sheet," said Sorbara.
Specifically, Sorbara expects EOG to make opportunistic buybacks, with $4 billion still available under an existing authorization as of the end of the third quarter of 2025. The analyst estimates $457.4 million in Q4 2025 share buybacks. Including the base dividend, Sorbara estimates $1.0 billion of total capital returns, reflecting 98.4% of EOG's free cash flow.
Sorbara ranks No. 511 among more than 12,000 analysts tracked by TipRanks. His ratings have been successful 53% of the time, delivering an average return of 15.9%. See EOG Resources Technical Analysis on TipRanks.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
OPEC+ agreed to keep its oil output unchanged for March at a meeting, the producer group said on Sunday, even after crude prices hit six-month highs on concern the U.S. could launch a military strike on OPEC member Iran.
The meeting of eight OPEC+ members comes as Brent crude futures settled at $70.69 a barrel, down 2 cents or 0.03%, on Friday, close to the six-month high of $71.89 it hit on Thursday. The March contract expired on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $65.21 a barrel, down 21 cents or 0.32%.
The drop in prices came despite speculation that a supply glut in 2026 would push prices lower.
The eight producers — Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Oman — raised production quotas by about 2.9 million barrels per day from April through December 2025, roughly 3% of global demand.
In November, they froze planned increases for January through March 2026 due to seasonally weaker consumption.
Sunday's brief meeting reaffirmed that decision for March, after earlier gatherings did the same for January and February.
Sunday's statement made no mention of what OPEC+ could decide for specific months beyond March, and the lack of forward guidance is significant, said Jorge Leon, a former OPEC official who now works as head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy.
"With rising uncertainty around Iran and U.S. tensions, the group is keeping all options firmly on the table," he said.
"OPEC's own numbers point to a lower call on OPEC+ crude in the second quarter, which could limit the scope for production increases," Leon added.
OPEC+ includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), plus Russia and other allies. The full OPEC+ group accounts for about half of the world's oil.
A separate OPEC+ panel, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, also met on Sunday. The JMMC does not have decision-making authority on production policy.
The JMMC stressed the importance of achieving full compliance with OPEC+ output agreements, according to a statement on OPEC's website.
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing options on Iran that include targeted strikes against security forces and leaders, aiming to inspire protesters, multiple sources said on Thursday.
Washington has imposed extensive sanctions on Tehran to choke off its oil revenue, a crucial source of state funding. Both the U.S. and Iran have since signalled willingness to engage in dialogue, but Tehran on Friday said its defense capabilities should not be included in any talks.
Oil prices have also been supported by supply losses in Kazakhstan, where the oil sector has suffered a series of disruptions in recent months. Kazakhstan said on Wednesday it was restarting the huge Tengiz oilfield in stages.
The eight countries plan to hold their next meeting on March 1 and the JMMC on April 5, the statements showed.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Latin America's media landscape is being reshaped by a new suite of entertainment producers, as short drama platforms, often with business ties to China, command an increasingly large share of the region's video streaming market.
According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower's State of Mobile 2026 report published last week, demand for short dramas is driving a "structural shift in consumer attention", with such content thriving in Latin America.
Globally, the number of downloads of short-drama platforms surged by 186% year-on-year, to 733 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, surpassing those of video-streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+, at 658 million, according to the report.
Short dramas, also known as "micro", or "mini" dramas, refer to vertically-shot serials featuring episodes typically no longer than three minutes long.
"The appeal of short dramas lies in their ability to deliver emotional intensity and stimulation, which is also what allowed the format to rise so rapidly in popularity", says Wenjia Tang, research associate from the University of Sydney's Media and Communications department.
First popularized in China on short-form content-sharing apps like Douyin, a sister app of TikTok, and Kuaishou, short dramas have found international appeal, with popular platforms such as ReelShort and DramaBox now producing content dubbed in English, Spanish and French, among others.
Although short dramas are increasingly expected to meet higher standards of production quality and professionalism, their original narrative style has largely been retained - delivering low-effort, low-commitment entertainment that requires neither deep thought nor extended attention, Tang told CNBC.
Such content is often "easier to digest" for consumers accustomed to watching short-form content like TikTok videos and Instagram reels, as opposed to longer-form content from streaming platforms like Netflix, according to Seema Shah, Vice President of Insights at Sensor Tower.
Sensor Tower reports that although there is a significant global uptick in consumption of short-drama content, Latin America is "emerging as the fastest-growing region for engagement" with these videos.
Latin American downloads of the top 20 short drama apps have increased by roughly 402% year-on-year in 2025, on top of a 4,300% year-on-year increase from 2024, according to Shah.
Not only do Latin American users overwhelmingly consume entertainment content on their mobile phones, there are also strong similarities between short dramas and telenovelas - a genre of serialized drama popular in Latin American countries, according to Maria Rua Aguete, Head of Media and Entertainment at research firm Omdia.
Short drama platforms DramaBox and ReelShort consistently ranked as two of the region's most downloaded video entertainment apps, with ReelShort's 77 million downloads in 2025 slightly edging out Dramabox's 74 million downloads, according to figures provided by Shah.
While officially based abroad, both platforms have business ties to China.
ReelShort is owned by Crazy Maple Studio, a content creation and distribution enterprise founded in 2017 in San Francisco. Despite having offices in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, Crazy Maple Studio remains a subsidiary of the COL Digital Publishing Group - a Chinese media conglomerate.
Similarly, while officially headed by the Singapore-based Storymatrix Pte. Ltd, DramaBox's content remains the intellectual property of China's DianZhong Technology, according to a copyright infringement claim that it filed against Crazy Maple Studio in 2025.
ReelShort and DramaBox are part of a suite of entertainment firms competing for a stake in Latin America's growing video streaming market.
Omdia estimates that the total revenue generated by the Latin American market grew by 9.1% between 2024 to 2025 - more than triple the revenue growth in the U.S. over the same period. That growth is projected to accelerate to 10.7% in 2026.
Latin America's expanding middle class is driving the growth in demand for short-video streaming, along with retail and ride-sharing services, according to Shah.
Short-drama platforms aren't the only beneficiaries of the growing Latin American market. The region is also an important source of revenue growth for streaming giants like Netflix, which saw the fastest revenue growth on an FX-neutral basis from Latin America, according to its Q4 2025 earnings report.
While the download figures of short-drama platforms have begun surpassing those of longer-form providers, experts do not see these new short video streaming platforms as credible threats to market leaders like Netflix.
"Not now, and it is not their targets either. They are aiming for different audiences, and their profit manners are different," Tang told CNBC.
While short-drama platforms have lower production costs and can produce content at a much higher rate than more traditional studios, their business models are generally contingent on advertising revenue and pay-per-view income, which does not necessarily translate into higher margins, according to Omdia's Rua Aguete.
Omdia estimates that the total revenue for all short-drama streaming platforms generated from outside China will amount to $3 billion in 2026. In comparison, Netflix reported $12 billion in revenue in Q4 2025.
Nonetheless, as demand for short-drama content grows in Latin America and beyond, it is likely that these platforms will produce an increasingly diversified video-streaming market.
"I don't believe short-drama apps are a complete replacement for streaming. They are, however, additional competition for consumers' attention and dollars," says Sensor Tower's Shah.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
In this article
Pharma giant AstraZeneca will list on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, days after it announced big commitments on the other side of the world.
Like the rest of Big Pharma, the company has a balancing act. It wants a close relationship with the U.S., its biggest market, and the listing is intended to boost investment there.
Meanwhile, innovation-friendly China is attracting pharma companies that urgently need to develop new medicines to replace blockbuster drugs whose patents are set to expire in the next few years. Pricing challenges in the U.S. add to the pressure.
AstraZeneca has announced it's investing billions in China and partnering with a Chinese biotech on weight-loss drugs, just before its shares list in the U.S on Monday.
The developments come at a critical time for the pharma industry as companies are increasingly looking east for innovation to replace the revenue of current blockbuster medicines going off patent in the next couple of years. Pricing challenges in the U.S. market, which accounts for the bulk of profits for most big pharma companies, are adding to the pressure on Big Pharma.
On Thursday, AstraZeneca said it plans to invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand both manufacturing and research and development, as Keir Starmer became the first UK prime minister to visit the country for eight years.
"These investments span the value chain, from drug discovery and clinical development to manufacturing, and bring Chinese innovation to the world," the company said, while highlighting a flurry of other partnerships with other biotechs in the region.
In a separate announcement on Friday, the UK's largest company would partner up with Hong Kong-listed CSPC Pharmaceuticals to strengthen its obesity portfolio. The collaboration agreement includes eight of CSPC's preclinical and early-stage programs, including a once-monthly injectable. CSP stock fell 10.2% on the announcement.
AstraZeneca will pay CSPC $1.2 billion upfront, and an additional $17.3 billion if certain regulatory, research and sales milestones are met, an AstraZeneca spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Friday. The company declined to comment further on its geographic priorities.
The announcements came just before the listing of AstraZeneca shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, as well as its recently announced $50 billion U.S. investment to waive off U.S. pharma tariffs.
"What we can discern from this is that the US and China will be the two most important regions for the company for the foreseeable future," Camilla Oxhamre, portfolio manager at Rhenman & Partners, told CNBC via email.
The U.S. is AstraZeneca's by far largest market, and the company said last year it would end its American depositary shares program to pursue a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, keeping its listings also in London and Stockholm, saying it wanted a more global investor base.
"It's the largest pharma company [in China] and when they decide to list in the U.S., there would always be a question about the commitment in the minds of some to China, and the fact that they had a few investigations last year," HSBC's Rajesh Kumar, head of European life sciences and healthcare equity research, told CNBC. In 2025, Astrazeneca faced several probes by Chinese regulators into unpaid import duties.
"So they are, in effect, telling you very clearly that they are committed to China by this action," Kumar added.
China is also AstraZeneca's second-largest market. Oxhamre, whose fund has a large long position in Astra, added that the Chinese market would "continue to grow in importance over time, both in terms of revenue and research."
And Astra isn't the only pharma company looking to China for new, innovative assets. London-listed GSK inked a deal with Hengrui Pharma worth up to $12 billion in July, most of it tied to achieving certain development and commercial milestones.
Licensing deals between Big Pharma and Chinese biotechs, like the one between AstraZeneca and CSPC, have increased sharply in recent years, with 57 such deals in 2025, according to Biopharma Dive data.
"These deals demonstrate the success of China's long-running effort to move up the biopharma value chain, from fast followers to differentiated assets that can compete globally," said PitchBook analysts in a report published last month.
China's emergence as a leader in preclinical and early-stage development comes as biotech funding elsewhere has suffered in recent years, and is helped by the speed at which early human trials can be conducted there. A reverse brain drain, where Chinese scientists are returning to the country, is also helping the country's biotech sector, according to Kumar.
"China's biopharma sector has reshaped itself around next-generation therapeutics paired with efficient clinical-trial infrastructure to de-risk these assets," the PitchBook analysts said.
"Multinational and mid-cap biopharma companies are sourcing assets from China at growing rates, spanning both headline megadeals and smaller licensing deals. Importantly, this activity is skewing toward complex biologics rather than legacy modalities."
A Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs report from June suggested "China has the most immediate opportunity to overtake the United States in biotechnology" and that this could "quickly shift the global balance of power."
But late 2025 saw a meaningful pickup in U.S. biotech funding.
"There will always be innovation coming from both geographies," Kumar said. "The world has changed… China was catching up with the U.S., [the] U.S. will re-accelerate."
— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
India's government plans a modest improvement in its fiscal picture in the coming financial year, with reductions in the fiscal deficit and debt, while boosting manufacturing in sectors ranging from textiles to chips.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her ninth consecutive budget speech, said on Sunday that the government sees its fiscal deficit falling to 4.3% of GDP in the 2026-27 financial year, down from 4.4% in 2025-26.
Sitharaman said the government expects India's debt-to-GDP ratio to fall to 55.6% in the coming financial year from 56.1% in 2025-26.
The finance minister pointed to the wider uncertainties facing India.
"Today, we face an external environment in which trade and multilateralism are imperilled and access to resources and supply chains are disrupted," Sitharaman said. "New technologies are transforming production systems while sharply increasing demands on water, energy and critical minerals."
The government plans to encourage manufacturing in seven key sectors, including semiconductors, rare-earth magnets, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, capital goods, textiles and sports goods.
India's benchmark Nifty 50 stock index was down about 1.7% shortly after Sitharaman's speech to parliament and closed 1.96% lower.
In its economic survey for the financial year 2026 released on Thursday, India said it sees its economy growing between 6.8% to 7.2% in the fiscal year 2027, outpacing most other major economies.
"As a growing economy with expanding trade and capital needs, India must also remain deeply integrated with global markets, exporting more and attracting stable long-term investment," Sitharaman said.
Consultancy firm PwC India said the budget places the country "at a crossroads to push the nation into its next phase of transformation".
"The Union Budget 2026-27 holds opportunities to set India's role towards financial stability, while boosting businesses to be future ready — especially as they navigate the opportunities of AI adoption alongside challenges around talent, infrastructure, governance and trust," PwC India said in an online commentary.
Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.
Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.
© 2026 Versant Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Versant Media Company.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data
and Analysis.
Data also provided by
Every time Katherine publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Enter your email
By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's
Terms of Service and
Privacy Policy.
Bill Gates, through a spokesperson, issued a strongly worded denial Friday on the latest allegations to emerge about his relationship with disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The Department of Justice, as part of more than 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein, released on Friday, unsealed 2013 emails Epstein wrote to himself.
They appear to be notes he was drafting for a person named Boris, who worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to send to Bill Gates after a dispute.
One of the emails, with the subject line "bill," suggests that Bill Gates had requested medication for a sexually transmitted disease to "surreptitiously" give to his now ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
Another email said Boris had helped Bill Gates "get drugs," and helped facilitate "illicit trysts" between the billionaire Microsoft founder and "Russian girls" as well as "married women."
The emails contain no corroboration of the claims.
"These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false," a spokesperson for Bill Gates told Business Insider in a statement. "The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein's frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame."
It's unknown whether the emails' text was ever sent to Gates, the founder of Microsoft, a global philanthropist, and once the richest man in the world. Since Epstein's 2019 suicide at a federal jail, Gates has faced questions about the extent of their relationship.
In the past, Gates has said he attended several dinners with Epstein for philanthropic reasons and now regrets spending time with him.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that Melinda Gates began seeking divorce counsel in 2019, around the time news of Bill's meetings with Epstein surfaced publicly. She told CBS in 2022 that her ex-husband's ties to Epstein were a factor in their split.
Correction: January 31, 2026 — An earlier version of this story indicated that Gates' philanthropic foundation issued a statement. It was made by a personal spokesperson.
Jump to
Circle, best known as the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is pushing further into core financial plumbing with Arc and a federally overseen trust bank structure. For you as an investor, this sits at the intersection of blockchain infrastructure and regulated digital money, an area that has attracted attention from both traditional financial institutions and crypto focused firms. The Arc roadmap and trust bank approval place NYSE:CRCL in a segment where regulatory clarity and enterprise grade systems have significance that can be at least as great as token prices.
The key questions include how quickly enterprises adopt Arc for real world payment and settlement use cases, and how regulators shape the operating conditions for the new digital currency bank. If you are tracking NYSE:CRCL, it may be useful to monitor future disclosures on institutional partnerships, reserve management policies for USDC, and how the firm balances its roles as a blockchain builder and regulated financial entity.
Stay updated on the most important news stories for Circle Internet Group by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Circle Internet Group.
How Circle Internet Group stacks up against its biggest competitors
Check out Simply Wall St's
in depth valuation analysis for Circle Internet Group.
For the full picture including more risks and rewards, check out the
complete Circle Internet Group analysis.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Our new AI Stock Screener scans the market every day to uncover opportunities.
• Dividend Powerhouses (3%+ Yield)• Undervalued Small Caps with Insider Buying• High growth Tech and AI CompaniesOr build your own from over 50 metrics.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
Operates as a platform, network, and market infrastructure for stablecoin and blockchain applications.
Flawless balance sheet with high growth potential.
Financial Data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC, analysis provided by Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd. Copyright © 2026, S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. All rights reserved.
Markets
Investing Ideas
Features
Simply Wall St
Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd (ACN 600 056 611), is a Corporate Authorised Representative (Authorised Representative Number: 467183) of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 337927). Any advice contained in this website is general advice only and has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should not rely on any advice and/or information contained in this website and before making any investment decision we recommend that you consider whether it is appropriate for your situation and seek appropriate financial, taxation and legal advice. Please read our Financial Services Guide before deciding whether to obtain financial services from us.
© 2026 Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd, US Design Patent #29/544/281, Community and European Design Registration #2845206
In a rapidly evolving financial landscape where digital assets and traditional banking increasingly intersect, Switch Reward Card is positioning itself as a next-generation payment solution aimed at bridging the gap between everyday spending and decentralized finance.
Switch Reward Card presents itself not just as a debit card, but as part of a broader financial ecosystem that blends digital currency trading, rewards, and decentralized finance technologies. Users can manage funds in a mix of fiat and cryptocurrency — including holdings like Bitcoin and Ethereum — and transact globally with a single card or digital wallet.
At its core, the platform is designed to move beyond traditional banking limitations by offering what it calls an “innovative digital rewards system” that's tied to activity on the platform. Users can earn and swap digital rewards that are designed for use within the Switch system itself, potentially adding value to everyday transactions and financial engagement.
According to the company's online information and litepaper, the Switch ecosystem includes several components such as rewards and nodes, where digital “Switch Rewards” are earned by running a Switch Node, using the card, or referring new users. These rewards can then be used within the platform's marketplace and services.
While rewards and crypto exposure add appeal, officials stress that Switch Rewards are not sold as investment products and may not hold value outside the platform. Digital asset custody is provided by third-party partners, and these assets are not insured by FDIC or other governmental protections.
Employees describe Switch Reward Card as a blockchain-based financial ecosystem that seeks to serve both traditional and decentralized finance users. The company is rolling out domestic U.S. debit services in alpha testing, with broader availability planned.
On LinkedIn, company leadership has shared updates about partnerships aimed at improving compliance and user onboarding, reflecting efforts to strengthen infrastructure and regulatory controls as the platform scales.
The company emphasizes the platform's ease of use compared with typical crypto exchanges and its goal of simplifying entry into digital assets, particularly for those traditionally daunted by complexity. It also highlights efforts to lower barriers to participation within its ecosystem.
However, financial experts caution that crypto-linked financial products, including reward systems and debit cards tied to digital assets, carry risk due to volatility and lack of traditional banking protections. Analysts recommend that consumers carefully evaluate their financial condition before engaging with these services.
Switch Reward Card illustrates a growing trend in fintech: combining payment convenience with blockchain-based innovation. As established financial institutions test crypto integration and startups push the boundaries of decentralized services, platforms like Switch could reshape how consumers spend, earn, and interact with digital value — if they can effectively balance innovation with transparency and risk management.
Investing involves risk and your investment may lose value. Past performance gives no indication of future results. These statements do not constitute and cannot replace investment advice.
Digital Assets and Custody are provided by Ibanera LLC and Vault IST DMCC. Ibanera LLC amnd. Vault IST DMCC are not insured depository institutions or banks. Digital assets are not legal tender, are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), and are not subject to protections afforded to bank deposits. As with any asset, the value of digital assets can go up or down and there can be substantial risk that you lose money buying, selling, or holding, in digital assets. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.
To keep going please Log in.
Or sign in / sign up with password?
By submitting my information, I agree to
the Privacy Policy
and Terms of Service.
To keep going please Log in.
Or sign in / sign up with password?
By submitting my information, I agree to
the Privacy Policy
and Terms of Service.
To keep going please Log in.
Or sign in / sign up with password?
By submitting my information, I agree to
the Privacy Policy
and Terms of Service.
To keep going please Log in.
Or sign in / sign up with password?
By submitting my information, I agree to
the Privacy Policy
and Terms of Service.
The below article is Sponsored Content. Finbold does not verify any claims, statistics, or information contained in this article. Finbold does not conduct due diligence on featured projects nor endorse any investments mentioned and expressly disclaims any liability.
RISK WARNING: Cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. (Click
here to learn more about cryptocurrency risks.)
By accessing this Site, you acknowledge that you understand these risks and that Finbold bears no responsibility for any losses, damages, or consequences resulting from your use of the Site or reliance on Sponsored Content.
Click here to learn more.
The best presale crypto isn't the one with the loudest marketing. It's the one where technology meets opportunity at the exact right moment.
BlockDAG offers 15,000 transactions per second capability, full EVM compatibility, and a hybrid DAG + Proof-of-Work architecture that solves problems Ethereum still struggles with. And for the next few hours, you can buy it at $0.0005 before it launches with a $0.05 target.
That's 100x from entry to launch. On a network that actually works.
Most presales sell promises. White papers full of “will be” and “plans to” and “aiming for.” BlockDAG sells proven performance.
The Awakening Testnet has already demonstrated 1,400 TPS. Not theoretical. Not simulated. Actually measured transaction throughput on a live testing environment.
For context:
The network you're buying at $0.0005 is already faster than Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano combined. Before it even launches.
But speed without security is worthless. This is where BlockDAG's hybrid architecture matters.
Traditional blockchains process transactions sequentially — one block after another in a linear chain. This creates bottlenecks. When network usage spikes, transactions queue up, fees increase, and users wait.
DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) architecture processes transactions in parallel. Multiple blocks can be validated simultaneously, eliminating the sequential bottleneck. This is how BlockDAG achieves high throughput without sacrificing decentralization.
But DAG alone has security trade-offs. So BlockDAG combines DAG structure with Proof-of-Work consensus — the same security model that's protected Bitcoin for 15 years.
The result: parallel processing speed + proven security model = scalable performance without compromising on the fundamentals that matter.
This is why BlockDAG is the best presale crypto from a technology standpoint. It's not inventing unproven concepts. It's combining proven elements in a superior architecture.
Technology means nothing without adoption. Adoption requires developers. Developers choose platforms based on ease of use.
BlockDAG is fully EVM compatible.
This single feature is worth understanding:
Ethereum has the largest developer ecosystem in crypto. Thousands of developers know Solidity (Ethereum's programming language). Thousands of dApps, DeFi protocols, and smart contracts are already written in Solidity.
Launching a new blockchain traditionally means:
BlockDAG skips all of that.
Developers can copy-paste their Ethereum smart contracts to BlockDAG with minimal modifications. The same tools (MetaMask, Hardhat, Truffle) work on both networks. The learning curve is zero.
This is how you bootstrap an ecosystem instantly. Instead of building from scratch, you inherit Ethereum's entire developer base. Every DeFi protocol, every NFT marketplace, every dApp that works on Ethereum can work on BlockDAG — but faster and cheaper.
When developers realize they can deploy the same code with 1,000x better performance, migration becomes inevitable.
This is why BlockDAG is the best presale crypto for long-term growth. The technology enables speed. EVM compatibility enables adoption. Together, they create a network positioned for rapid ecosystem expansion.
Here's an uncomfortable truth: most crypto projects are underfunded.
They raise a few million, launch with minimal liquidity, struggle to list on decent exchanges, can't afford marketing, and eventually fade away. The graveyard of failed projects is filled with “great technology” that couldn't afford to execute.
BlockDAG raised $450 million before launch.
This isn't just impressive — it's strategic advantage:
Exchange listings: Major exchanges charge $500K-$2M for listing fees. BlockDAG can afford every top-tier exchange without hesitation.
Liquidity provision: You need tens of millions in liquidity pools to prevent price slippage. BlockDAG has it.
Marketing budget: Sustained awareness campaigns cost millions monthly. BlockDAG can fund them for years.
This is why $450M raised isn't just a vanity metric — it's survival insurance. The best presale crypto needs both great technology AND sufficient capital to execute. BlockDAG has both.
Let's remove all complexity and show simple scenarios:
Scenario A — You invest $5,000 at $0.0005:
Scenario B — You invest $5,000 on open market at $0.05:
Scenario C — You invest $5,000 on open market at $0.10 (if FOMO drives price up):
Same $5,000 investment. Wildly different outcomes based purely on timing.
The best presale crypto advantage isn't just the project — it's the entry point. And the best entry point in BlockDAG's history is available for a few more hours at $0.0005.
In 12 months, one of two scenarios will be true:
Scenario 1: You bought BDAG at $0.0005, the project launched successfully, and you're sitting on significant gains from the lowest entry price that ever existed.
Scenario 2: You didn't buy, the project launched successfully, and you're watching others profit from an opportunity you had access to but didn't act on.
Both scenarios involve the same project. The same launch. The same outcome.
The only difference is whether you participated during the few hours when $0.0005 was available.
This is why BlockDAG is the best presale crypto right now. Not because it might work. But because it combines proven technology, massive funding, real adoption, and the lowest entry price in its history — all with a countdown measured in hours.
Presale: https://purchase.blockdag.network
Website: https://blockdag.network
Telegram: https://t.me/blockDAGnetworkOfficial
Discord: https://discord.gg/Q7BxghMVyu
Please be aware that the content of this website is not financial advice. Finbold.com is not a financial advisor. The information and services provided are not intended for, and should not be accessed or used by, residents of the United Kingdom.
In the United Kingdom, crypto assets are classified as restricted mass market investments. This classification means that such assets are considered high-risk investments and are not suitable for retail investors.
If you are a resident of the United Kingdom, please exit this site immediately.
By continuing to use or access this website, you acknowledge that you are not a resident of the UK and understand the risks associated with high-risk investments, including the potential total loss of your investment.
Or copy link
Copyright © 2026 Finbold.com. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.
Finbold is a news and information website. This Site may contain sponsored content, advertisements, and third-party materials, for which Finbold expressly disclaims any liability.
RISK WARNING: Cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. (Click
here to learn more about cryptocurrency risks.)
By accessing this Site, you acknowledge that you understand these risks and that Finbold bears no responsibility for any losses, damages, or consequences resulting from your use of the Site or reliance on its content.
Click here to learn more.
Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Made $70K Betting Against 'Crazy Mode' on Polymarket
$77,745.00
$2,341.24
$760.97
$1.61
$0.999611
$103.09
$0.286005
$2,339.89
$0.105056
$1.00
$50.03
$0.289425
$522.21
$2,869.17
$77,536.00
$1.00
$0.998989
$2,548.62
$427.67
$2,544.37
$8.17
$29.80
$9.59
$0.985524
$0.172499
$77,757.00
$0.175631
$2,341.59
$0.998472
$294.47
$59.03
$0.998931
$1.084
$1.12
$9.96
$0.00000669
$0.08974
$1.21
$1.00
$0.125878
$4,808.64
$1.34
$0.00935552
$0.07939
$1.51
$3.88
$1.35
$0.696831
$0.993619
$3.05
$4,838.08
$125.55
$89.10
$191.47
$0.00000426
$1.00
$1.11
$0.00000173
$0.999626
$4.09
$0.00259215
$1.18
$9.60
$1.15
$129.62
$2.64
$2,342.28
$2,483.68
$0.061345
$0.158123
$0.280224
$103.13
$0.999596
$0.541521
$0.999
$0.999574
$761.10
$9.03
$0.02198356
$8.13
$112.64
$0.395809
$0.138276
$0.103975
$0.998939
$5.39
$68.60
$2,707.48
$1.25
$1.93
$4.16
$0.101861
$78,068.00
$0.998257
$0.999614
$77,970.00
$0.01004396
$10.97
$0.03129515
$1.11
$0.816588
$0.137937
$1.52
$1.05
$0.04692293
$0.998125
$1.024
$0.00828132
$1.097
$114.15
$30.11
$2,551.87
$0.0348189
$1.24
$2,468.86
$0.999804
$77,426.00
$0.00000711
$0.999624
$1.12
$77,404.00
$78,006.00
$0.078371
$0.01003293
$0.996634
$0.176512
$2,341.95
$1.093
$0.08549
$43.55
$2,488.81
$2,505.32
$1.61
$1.52
$0.998992
$120.02
$0.01268489
$0.461025
$1.41
$0.998273
$2,341.62
$0.00764888
$1.087
$77,617.00
$0.04591846
$0.997214
$0.255156
$0.229796
$0.100026
$87,884.00
$0.186391
$0.02366455
$0.282589
$1.18
$0.615799
$0.998698
$0.997811
$1.13
$2,342.86
$1.12
$156.24
$1.48
$0.106261
$0.04178793
$2,526.52
$3.53
$77,929.00
$1.74
$0.00000035
$0.412706
$0.38005
$139.45
$0.296079
$0.489387
$0.00003471
$0.00000034
$19.29
$2,624.65
$0.01727683
$2,370.51
$86.55
$0.03000944
$2,529.11
$0.363375
$0.054119
$124.66
$0.990264
$15.44
$0.071866
$0.999648
$114.21
$1.78
$0.051718
$0.055666
$77,576.00
$0.145921
$0.69403
$0.986297
$1.003
$0.00579958
$0.05543
$18.01
$2.24
$0.00279857
$0.991745
$0.291784
$0.00284301
$0.105081
$13.37
$0.100061
$6.88
$0.144899
$0.25808
$0.03548751
$1.57
$1.064
$77,980.00
$0.250566
$0.02880819
$1.53
$77,878.00
$1.031
$78,076.00
$2.39
$0.00236849
$20.87
$12.42
$806.07
$0.999699
$0.998412
$0.00475681
$77,387.00
$0.102958
$0.00000105
$3.12
$0.220587
$29.81
$0.999926
$0.987442
$1.14
$0.112841
$0.999608
$0.215964
$0.999486
$1.015
$0.00579318
$1.002
$2,341.87
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has disclosed the strategy he uses on the prediction marketplace Polymarket in a recent interview.
Buterin told Foresight News that he looks for markets in what he calls “crazy mode” and bets that “crazy things won't happen.”
“For example, there's a market betting on whether Trump will win the Nobel Peace Prize," he said. "Or some markets predict the dollar will go to zero next year during periods of extreme panic.”
Buterin claims he has made $70,000 on Polymarket in 2025 on a stake of $440,000, representing a gain of roughly 16%.
The Ethereum founder added that his strategy of betting against extreme market sentiment “usually makes money.” He encouraged bettors to seek out markets “where people are caught up in crazy and irrational predictions” if they want to profit.
Loxley Fernandes, CEO at prediction market Myriad (owned by Decrypt's parent company Dastan), argues that Buterin's profiting predicting that “obviously crazy things wouldn't happen” is “the most honest endorsement of prediction markets you can get.”
“When irrational sentiment and emotional extremes leak into markets, rational actors don't just make money, they pull prices back toward reality,” he said, adding that, “That's the social function that prediction markets are designed to serve, to provide signal in the midst of noise."
In the interview, Buterin also discussed what he sees as key issues currently affecting betting platforms like Polymarket, particularly around how oracles function. These oracles are third-party services that act as bridges, connecting real world data to the blockchain.
He cited an example involving a prediction market tied to the Russia—Ukraine conflict, which bet on whether the Russian army would control a specific city—in this case, Myrnohrad.
The oracle for the market was anchored to maps from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. nonprofit research institution, which were posted on X, which defined “control” based on which army controlled the city's train station.
After the institute's X account was hacked, its maps were suddenly updated to show Russian troops controlling the train station. The offending information was then removed the next day, according to an apology from the Institute. The exact volume of payouts was not officially disclosed, but Ukrainian local media reported that some bettors may have had payouts over 33,000%, with trading volume of roughly $1.3 million.
Buterin highlighted cases like this as evidence that prediction market oracles have “far too low security” standards.
“They never imagined that a single message they posted would determine the ownership of $1 million on the blockchain,” he told Foresight.
Buterin proposed multiple approaches to addressing oracle issues. The first, which he described as a centralized model, would involve trusting a reputable news provider such as Bloomberg to supply data.
The second approach involves token-based voting systems, such as those used by UMA.
“A reliable oracle is very important because almost every DeFi project now requires one,” Buterin said. “If you want to develop real-world applications—such as putting real estate on-chain or predicting elections—you need an oracle.”
Your gateway into the world of Web3
The latest news, articles, and resources, sent to your inbox weekly.
© A next-generation media company. 2026 Decrypt Media, Inc.
Altcoin season may still be ahead, according to a growing body of technical signals suggesting the market is preparing for another explosive expansion.
A new chart analysis shared by one market observer points to a familiar historical sequence that preceded major altcoin rallies, raising expectations that the next cycle could dwarf prior runs.
Data highlighted by analyst Mark Chadwick shows altcoins following the same structural pattern seen before the 2017 and 2021 surges. In both cases, the market formed a macro base, transitioned into a golden cross, and then entered a parabolic expansion phase.
The results were dramatic. Altcoins recorded gains of roughly 82x in 2017 and about 115x in 2021. This time, the setup is emerging after a multi-year compression period, with momentum reset and the broader trend structure still intact.
Chadwick suggests that early positioning feels uncomfortable, whereas late participation has historically felt obvious. This dynamic has often marked the beginning of past alt seasons.
In support, analyst Javon Marks cites altcoin dominance charts that typically evolve through three major phases. These phases often resemble wedge-like formations followed by decisive breakouts.
According to Marks, the second-phase breakout is when alt season typically begins in earnest. Current dominance levels are now hovering in an area consistent with another Phase Two breakout, implying that a third phase dominated by altcoins could follow.
However, metrics from Alphractal indicate that most altcoins now have a Long Short Ratio above 1, signaling crowded long positioning.
Even large-cap assets are affected. XRP, for instance, currently shows an LSR of 3.06, an unusually elevated reading.
The data also reveal a pattern in which long bias increases as market capitalization decreases, and this setup has historically preceded heightened volatility and pressure on long positions.
Ultimately, the charts suggest that while the structural conditions for an altcoin season may be forming, the path forward could be volatile before any sustained expansion unfolds.
Oops, something went wrong
MicroStrategy, an enterprise software firm turned Bitcoin treasury powerhouse, signaled its intention Sunday to deepen its bet on the flagship digital asset.
This move comes as the company's massive $55 billion hoard hovers just above its average purchase price.
In a post on the social media platform X, Executive Chairman Michael Saylor shared a graphic captioned "More Orange." Over the past months, the billionaire has long used similar phrases to hint at upcoming BTC acquisitions.
Notably, the company recently marked a milestone of 2,000 days since adopting its "Bitcoin Standard."
Meanwhile, this potential acquisition comes as the firm's balance sheet faces its most significant test in months.
Strategy's current holdings of 712,647 BTC were acquired at an average cost of $76,037 per coin. With BTC trading at approximately $78,000 on Sunday—a sharp retracement from the six-figure highs seen last autumn—the firm's unrealized gains have narrowed to less than 3%.
To fund the next phase of its purchases, Strategy moved to attract fresh capital by hiking the dividend on its Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) by 25 basis points. This adjustment brings the yield to 11.25% for February 2026.
The 11.25% payout represents a major premium over typical corporate bonds, reflecting both the company's hunger for capital and the inherent volatility of its bitcoin-centric model.
Notably, STRC is a variable-rate security that is part of a "fixed-income" suite that includes products like Strike, Stride, and Strife, has become the primary engine for the firm's capital raises.
Data shows that STRC sales alone have funded the acquisition of over 27,000 BTC since the product's November debut.
However, critics warn that the high cost of servicing these dividends could create a significant cash-flow squeeze. This risk is particularly acute if the BTC's price remains stagnant or dips below the firm's $76,000 waterline.
For now, Strategy appears undeterred. The firm still has billions in available capacity under its at-the-market offerings, and Saylor's latest signal suggests that for Strategy, the only response to market volatility is to buy more.
Read original story MicroStrategy Doubles Down on Bitcoin Despite Recent Price Struggles by Oluwapelumi Adejumo at beincrypto.com
Bitcoin BTC$78,358.92 is suffering from an identity crisis that has nothing to do with fundamentals and everything to do with shrinking attention spans.
While gold rallied more than 12% and the S&P 500 ticked higher in the past 30 days, bitcoin slid more than 10% in a market that appeared to pose no reason to shock the largest cryptocurrency. The real story, according to NYDIG's global head of research, Greg Cipolaro, is what he calls speculative cannibalization.
That is, the buzz of short-term speculation is creating a capital shortfall. The kind of instantly gratified, high-risk investment that once fueled bitcoin rallies is now moving to flashier alternatives like online sports betting, prediction markets and zero-day stock options that settle before the sun sets, Cipolaro said in NYDIG's latest weekly bitcoin update.
As Cipolaro outlines, three long-building trends — expanding access to speculative markets, rising demand for fast, lottery-style payoffs and the increasing speed of financial feedback — are converging to create an environment where slower, long-duration assets like bitcoin are at a disadvantage.
The capital isn't leaving risk entirely; it's just reallocating to platforms that deliver immediate stimulation.
Over the past decade, markets have grown to include a wide variety of high-frequency, high-volatility venues, from sports betting apps and in-game gambling to ultra-leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and equity options that expire within the day.
These arenas offer the kind of instant gratification that appeals to speculators looking for asymmetric upside without the burden of patience, Cipolaro noted. Within crypto itself, that trend saw activity in high-beta, or fast moving, segments like memecoin trading and leveraged perpetual swaps increase.
But even these crypto-native forms of speculation are losing out to markets that offer even faster feedback loops. This drains liquidity and reflexivity from the broader crypto ecosystem, softening price discovery and diminishing the impact of speculative flows that once lifted assets like bitcoin, Cipolaro wrote.
The problem isn't unique to crypto, it's indicative of a growing societal preference for winner-take-most environments.
Bitcoin, in contrast, increasingly resembles a slow asset in a fast market. While its long-term performance remains strong — historically, five-year holders have never realized a loss — its short-term appeal has faded for many who prefer the emotional loop of rapid bets and instant results.
Cipolaro argued that this doesn't undercut bitcoin's investment case, but does create headwinds in attracting marginal capital during periods of relative apathy or distraction.
“These dynamics disadvantage assets like bitcoin that, while capable of being traded at high frequency, are best suited to be held over long periods of time,” he wrote. “As attention and capital increasingly gravitate toward faster, more reactive markets, slower-moving investment theses struggle to compete for mindshare, even when their long-term return characteristics remain intact.”
The rise of spot crypto ETFs was expected to help reignite retail interest, but that thesis now appears complicated by this simple behavioral constraint.
“Markets that offer continuous engagement and immediate feedback attract speculative participation, even when expected returns are unfavorable,” Cipolaro wrote. “As a result, marginal risk-seeking capital is increasingly absorbed by faster, more reactive venues, reducing participation in long-term investments such as bitcoin.”
The Ethereum price has been under intense bearish pressure over the past few weeks, reflecting the overall fragile state of the cryptocurrency market. The altcoin lost nearly 20% of its value in the past week, free-falling under the psychological $3,000 level since Thursday, January 29th.
With the market still showing signs of further downside risk, there is no telling how deep the Ethereum price will fall in the current bearish setup. However, the latest on-chain data has offered insights into the next critical levels for the second-largest cryptocurrency.
ETH's Next Support Stands At $2,475: Glassnode
In a recent post on the X platform, crypto analyst Ali Martinez identified the next three on-chain support levels for the Ethereum price. This on-chain evaluation revolves around the UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD) metric, which helps to pinpoint strong resistance and support levels based on investor cost bases.
For context, an investor's cost basis refers to the actual price at which they purchased a particular cryptocurrency (Ethereum, in this scenario). Typically, the ability of a price level to function as an on-chain support or resistance zone depends on the number of investors who have their cost basis at the given level.
As inferred earlier, the UTXO Realized Price Distribution tracks the amount of a particular cryptocurrency that was acquired at a specific price level. Now, the price levels below the present spot value with significant trading activity are often considered as major support zones, as shown in the chart below.
The reasoning behind this expectation is that investors with their cost bases around these price levels are likely to double down on their positions and purchase more coins. This increased buying activity will, hence, offer a cushion for the Ethereum price to stay afloat and potentially bounce back.
Highlighting data from Glassnode, Martinez identified the $2,623, $2,475, and $1,881 levels as the next crucial support zones for the Ethereum price after losing the $2,772 mark. However, it appears that the altcoin's price has also lost the $2,623 and $2,475 support following its latest decline over the weekend.
Ethereum Price Overview
As of this writing, the price of ETH stands at around $2,410, reflecting an over 10% decline in the past 24 hours. With this latest decline, the altcoin's price seems to be hovering around the support cushion at around $2,475.
If ETH's stay below this support level is sustained, investors could see the Ethereum price fall to as low as $1,881. A fall of this magnitude would represent a 25% decline from the current price point and an over 60% correction from the cycle high.
Select market data provided by ICE Data Services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2026, American Bankers Association. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC fillings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2026 TradingView, Inc.
Bitcoin's BTC$78,358.92 price crash has shifted the market vibe, with bets on it sliding further now just as hot as moonshot plays over $100,000.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value has dropped nearly 10% this week, reaching nine-month lows below $78,000, according to CoinDesk data. The price swoon has traders scrambling for put options, those derivative contracts that shield against a potential decline in bitcoin, just like medical insurance covers someone if they get sick.
The result: the dollar value of the number of active bitcoin put options contracts at the $75,000 level listed on Deribit now stands at $1.159 billion, almost matching the so-called notional open interest of $1.168 billion locked in the $100,000 call option. Deribit is the world's largest crypto options exchange by volume and open interest, with one contract representing 1 BTC.
In other words, the $75,000 put, which represents a bet that bitcoin's spot price will fall below that level, is just as popular as the $100,000 call, which has been a dominant play for weeks. The latter is a bet that prices will rise into six figures.
"[There has been a] massive surge in put buying over the past 48h (sensitivity at peak), right as BTC spot crashed from 88k to 75k. Options traders/hedgers,/funds, had these exact price ranges targeted with clear playbooks in place," pseudonymous observer GravitySucks said in an X post.
While the $75,000 put is the most popular bearish play, significant open interest is also seen in puts at strikes of $70,000, $80,000, and $85,000, whereas higher-strike calls, except the one at $100,000, lack similar activity.
This stands in stark contrast to the pattern since President Donald Trump's victory, where higher-strike calls consistently drew more interest than lower-strike puts. The erstwhile bullish positioning likely stemmed from hopes that valuations would surge with Trump delivering on his campaign promises of pro-crypto regulations.
While the Trump administration delivered on much of that promise, BTC's price rally still fizzled out above $120,000 in early October and has been sliding ever since. Beyond the macro pressures, the delay in the crypto market structure bill has likely piled on the frustration.
Bitcoin's BTC$77,568.40 price crash has shifted the market vibe, with bets on it sliding further now just as hot as moonshot plays over $100,000.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value has dropped nearly 10% this week, reaching nine-month lows below $78,000, according to CoinDesk data. The price swoon has traders scrambling for put options, those derivative contracts that shield against a potential decline in bitcoin, just like medical insurance covers someone if they get sick.
The result: the dollar value of the number of active bitcoin put options contracts at the $75,000 level listed on Deribit now stands at $1.159 billion, almost matching the so-called notional open interest of $1.168 billion locked in the $100,000 call option. Deribit is the world's largest crypto options exchange by volume and open interest, with one contract representing 1 BTC.
In other words, the $75,000 put, which represents a bet that bitcoin's spot price will fall below that level, is just as popular as the $100,000 call, which has been a dominant play for weeks. The latter is a bet that prices will rise into six figures.
"[There has been a] massive surge in put buying over the past 48h (sensitivity at peak), right as BTC spot crashed from 88k to 75k. Options traders/hedgers,/funds, had these exact price ranges targeted with clear playbooks in place," pseudonymous observer GravitySucks said in an X post.
While the $75,000 put is the most popular bearish play, significant open interest is also seen in puts at strikes of $70,000, $80,000, and $85,000, whereas higher-strike calls, except the one at $100,000, lack similar activity.
This stands in stark contrast to the pattern since President Donald Trump's victory, where higher-strike calls consistently drew more interest than lower-strike puts. The erstwhile bullish positioning likely stemmed from hopes that valuations would surge with Trump delivering on his campaign promises of pro-crypto regulations.
While the Trump administration delivered on much of that promise, BTC's price rally still fizzled out above $120,000 in early October and has been sliding ever since. Beyond the macro pressures, the delay in the crypto market structure bill has likely piled on the frustration.
Cryptocurrency has come a long way from being a niche technology discussed only in online forums. Today, digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin are recognized across the globe, and one of the most visible signs of this growth is the rise of crypto ATMs. These machines, which resemble traditional bank ATMs, allow users to buy and sometimes sell cryptocurrency using cash or debit cards. Crypto ATMs are rapidly becoming a bridge between the digital economy and the physical world.
Unlike online exchanges that require lengthy registration processes and technical knowledge, crypto ATMs offer a simpler and more direct way for people to access digital currencies. For many newcomers, these machines serve as their first point of interaction with blockchain technology.
What Is a Crypto ATM?
A crypto ATM, also known as a Bitcoin ATM (BTM), is a kiosk that allows users to purchase cryptocurrency with cash or card. Some machines also enable users to sell cryptocurrency and receive cash in return. These ATMs connect directly to the blockchain rather than to a bank account, making transactions faster and more decentralized.
The process is relatively simple. A user selects the cryptocurrency they want to buy, enters the amount, scans their wallet's QR code, inserts cash or pays with a card, and the cryptocurrency is sent to their digital wallet within minutes. This convenience makes crypto ATMs appealing to both beginners and experienced investors.
Why Crypto ATMs Are Growing Worldwide
The global expansion of crypto ATMs reflects the increasing demand for accessible financial tools. In many countries, traditional banking services are limited or unavailable to large portions of the population. Crypto ATMs offer an alternative way to participate in the digital economy without requiring a bank account.
Another factor behind their growth is trust. While online exchanges can be intimidating for new users, a physical machine in a public location such as a shopping mall or gas station feels more familiar. People are often more comfortable inserting cash into a machine than navigating complex trading platforms.
In addition, crypto ATMs provide privacy compared to centralized exchanges. Although most machines now require some form of identity verification to comply with regulations, the process is often faster and less invasive than opening an exchange account.
Advantages of Using Crypto ATMs
One of the biggest advantages of crypto ATMs is accessibility. They are easy to use and require minimal technical knowledge. This makes cryptocurrency more inclusive, especially for individuals who are not comfortable with online financial platforms.
Speed is another benefit. Transactions through crypto ATMs are usually processed within minutes. There is no waiting period for bank transfers or lengthy verification processes.
Crypto ATMs also support financial independence. Users control their own wallets and funds instead of relying on third-party platforms to hold their assets. This aligns with the core philosophy of cryptocurrency: decentralization and personal control over money.
Challenges and Limitations
Despite their benefits, crypto ATMs are not without drawbacks. The most common criticism is high transaction fees. Compared to online exchanges, crypto ATMs often charge significantly higher fees, sometimes ranging from 7% to 15% per transaction. For frequent traders, this can be costly.
Another challenge is regulation. Governments around the world are still developing policies to oversee cryptocurrency usage. As a result, crypto ATM operators must navigate complex legal requirements, including identity verification and anti-money laundering laws. These regulations can slow expansion and limit availability in certain regions.
Security is also a concern. While the machines themselves are generally safe, users must remain cautious about scams and fraudulent activities. Education and awareness are essential to ensure people use crypto ATMs responsibly.
The Role of Crypto ATMs in Financial Inclusion
Crypto ATMs play an important role in promoting financial inclusion. In developing countries or rural areas where banks are scarce, these machines can provide access to digital currencies and global markets. This allows individuals to store value, send money internationally, and protect themselves from inflation in unstable economies.
For migrant workers, crypto ATMs can also offer a faster and cheaper way to send remittances home compared to traditional money transfer services. This practical use case highlights how crypto ATMs are not just tools for investors but also for everyday financial needs.
The Future of Crypto ATMs
As cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow, crypto ATMs are likely to become more common and more advanced. Future machines may support a wider range of digital assets, offer lower fees, and integrate with mobile wallets and biometric security features.
Some experts believe that crypto ATMs could eventually merge with traditional banking services, creating hybrid machines that support both fiat and digital currencies. This would further blur the line between conventional finance and blockchain-based systems.
With improved technology and clearer regulations, crypto ATMs have the potential to become a standard part of financial infrastructure, just like traditional ATMs today.
Conclusion
Crypto ATMs represent a significant step toward making cryptocurrency accessible to the general public. By providing a simple, physical way to buy and sell digital assets, they help bridge the gap between the virtual and real worlds. While challenges such as high fees and regulatory hurdles remain, the benefits of convenience, accessibility, and financial inclusion cannot be ignored.
As digital currencies continue to reshape the global economy, crypto ATMs will likely play a key role in introducing millions of people to the future of money. They are more than just machines—they are gateways to a new financial era.
Hi, I'm Sajida Sikandar, a passionate blogger with 3 years of experience in crafting engaging and insightful content. Join me as I share my thoughts, stories, and ideas on a variety of topics that matter to you.
How does it work?
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.
More stories from Sajida Sikandar and writers in Futurism and other communities.
Remember when the idea of a gaming PC for your living room felt futuristic? That dream is making a comeback — and it's called the Steam Machine.
By Sajida Sikandar3 months ago in Futurism
I want to start actively advocating on behalf of my own work, and the most valuable part of my canon is, without a doubt, Binding Prometheus, the play I have been working on since 2019 and only finished in 2023 as part of my MA. The play itself is an amalgamation of a million different inspirations. On one end, it evokes the Ancient Greek myth-play, deriving its own title from the earliest extant work of Western drama we have, Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound. On the other end, it borrows significantly from the sci-fi bulwarks from over the years, namely Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Karel Capek's Rossum's Universal Robots. The play could be an episode of Black Mirror, I fear. I don't know. I've only ever seen one episode of Black Mirror.
By Steven Christopher McKnightabout a month ago in Futurism
Visual search has become a part of everyday digital life. From identifying objects to understanding images instantly, people now expect technology to “see” the world the way humans do. For years, Google Lens has dominated this space. However, growing concerns around privacy, ads, and biased results have pushed users to look for better alternatives. This is where Chance AI enters the conversation. As 2026 unfolds, many users are asking a simple but important question: Is Chance AI the best Google Lens alternative for visual search?
By Maheep Makkarabout 23 hours ago in Futurism
Frankie Archer - The Demon Lover
As a rule, when it comes to folk fusion I tend to prefer more fusion and less folk. Frankie Archer, one of Northumberland's most distinctive contemporary voices, might agree.
By Andy Potts3 days ago in Beat
© 2026 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Oops, something went wrong
Never miss an important update on your stock portfolio and cut through the noise. Over 7 million investors trust Simply Wall St to stay informed where it matters for FREE.
Strategy Inc. (NasdaqGS:MSTR) recently acquired more than 2,900 BTC, funded through an at the market equity offering.
The company simultaneously raised the monthly dividend rate on its Stretch (STRC) preferred stock, marking the sixth increase since July 2025.
These moves come during significant bitcoin price declines and increased scrutiny of Strategy's bitcoin backed financial model.
Strategy is again leaning into its bitcoin centric approach at a time when its own shares and the crypto market have been under pressure. The stock closed at $149.71, with a 7 day return of an 8.2% decline and a 1 year return of a 55.3% decline, while still showing a very large gain over 3 years and an 85.7% gain over 5 years. That mix of sharp recent weakness and strong multi year performance helps explain why opinions are so divided on the company's current direction.
For you as a shareholder or potential investor, the combination of larger bitcoin holdings and higher preferred dividends sharpens the focus on risk, income and balance sheet flexibility. The key question from here is how well Strategy's bitcoin backed model and capital structure can handle further swings in both crypto and equity markets, and what that could mean for future dividend decisions and equity issuance.
Stay updated on the most important news stories for Strategy by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on Strategy.
Why Strategy could be great value
Strategy's latest move to issue equity and preferred stock in order to buy 2,932 BTC takes its holdings to 712,647 BTC and reinforces the company's identity as a bitcoin treasury vehicle rather than a traditional software firm. For you, that means shareholder returns are likely to stay closely tied to bitcoin price moves and to management's willingness to keep recycling equity and preferred capital into more coins, even when both crypto and the share price are under pressure.
This update lines up with the long-running thesis that Strategy is a bitcoin amplifier, using capital markets to increase BTC per share instead of focusing on core software growth. Successive increases in the Stretch preferred dividend, framed as a high yield, shorter duration cash instrument, show how the company is trying to attract different investor profiles than pure equity holders, in contrast to crypto-exposed peers like Coinbase or Robinhood that focus more on trading and platform revenues.
⚠️ Bitcoin remains the dominant driver of value, so sharp crypto downturns can quickly pressure both Strategy's equity and its perceived ability to fund preferred dividends.
⚠️ Ongoing equity issuance to fund BTC purchases can dilute existing shareholders if the stock trades at a discount to underlying holdings for a sustained period.
🎁 The Stretch preferred stock offers income-focused investors a high stated yield tied to a large, unencumbered bitcoin reserve, which some view as a differentiated way to gain BTC exposure.
🎁 Management highlights balance sheet flexibility from unencumbered BTC and convertible debt, which can help avoid forced selling during periods of market stress.
Looking ahead, the key things to track are how aggressively Strategy continues issuing equity and preferreds at current prices, how bitcoin volatility flows through upcoming results, and whether market sentiment starts to reward or penalize this high conviction model. If you want to see how different investors are thinking about that trade off, have a look at the community views and detailed theses on Strategy's narrative page on Simply Wall St.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include MSTR.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
Americana Appoints Harsh Bansal as Chief Operating Officer
Americana Appoints Harsh Bansal as Chief Operating Officer
Saudi banks' liabilities to the private sector reached SAR 3.14 trillion by the end of December
Zuckerberg Surpasses Bezos on Billionaires List Driven by Company Stock Performance
Instagram: New Feature Allows Users to Leave Close Friends Lists
AI is about to change healthcare. These 110 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10b in market cap - there's still time to get in early.
For BitMine, the investment case really comes down to whether you're comfortable owning a listed proxy on Ethereum plus an aggressive growth story inside a very new leadership framework. The short term catalysts investors had been watching were fairly clear: progress on the Made-in-America Validator Network, how the company deploys or defends its very large ETH stack, and any updates on the US$200,000,000 Beast Industries deal. Nelson's abrupt, no-cause exit adds another layer of turnover to a board and C-suite that already have limited tenure, but the package size and the board's statement of no disagreement suggest this move alone may not change the core Ethereum-centric thesis. The far bigger swing factor remains BitMine's concentrated 4.2 million ETH position, unrealized losses and the fresh capacity for massive share issuance after the jump to 50 billion authorized shares, which together sharpen both upside optionality and dilution or treasury risk.
Twenty five fair value views from the Simply Wall St Community span roughly US$0.18 to US$130 per share, showing just how far apart expectations sit. Set that against a company that has reported a multi billion dollar accounting loss tied to Ethereum volatility and now has room to issue a very large number of new shares, and you can see why opinions on BitMine's future performance diverge so widely. You are looking at a stock where both the balance sheet composition and corporate actions could matter as much as any traditional operating metric.
Explore 25 other fair value estimates on Bitmine Immersion Technologies - why the stock might be worth over 5x more than the current price!
Disagree with this assessment? Create your own narrative in under 3 minutes - extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.
Markets shift fast. These stocks won't stay hidden for long. Get the list while it matters:
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data
and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your
financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data.
Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Discover if Bitmine Immersion Technologies might be undervalued or overvalued with our detailed analysis, featuring fair value estimates, potential risks, dividends, insider trades, and its financial condition.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
Operates as a blockchain technology company primarily in the United States.
Flawless balance sheet with low risk.
Financial Data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC, analysis provided by Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd. Copyright © 2026, S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. All rights reserved.
Markets
Investing Ideas
Features
Simply Wall St
Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd (ACN 600 056 611), is a Corporate Authorised Representative (Authorised Representative Number: 467183) of Sanlam Private Wealth Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 337927). Any advice contained in this website is general advice only and has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should not rely on any advice and/or information contained in this website and before making any investment decision we recommend that you consider whether it is appropriate for your situation and seek appropriate financial, taxation and legal advice. Please read our Financial Services Guide before deciding whether to obtain financial services from us.
© 2026 Simply Wall Street Pty Ltd, US Design Patent #29/544/281, Community and European Design Registration #2845206
By
Naman Ramachandran
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, known for his roles in “The Queen's Gambit” and “Steal,” leads the cast of “Cloud 99,” a dystopian short from the National Film and Television School written and directed by Leila Murton Poole.
The film also stars Olivia Popica (“The Wheel of Time,” “Liaison”) and Jayda Eyles (“Breeders”) as Fortune-Lloyd's on-screen family, with Tim Berrington (“The Diplomat,” “Succession”) playing their eccentric neighbor.
Related Stories
'The Invite' Review: Olivia Wilde Directs and Stars in a Bravura Dinner-Party Dramedy That's like 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' Redone as Vintage Woody Allen
'I Want Your Sex' Review: Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman Are Hot for One Another in Gregg Araki's Unapologetically Randy Rom-Com
The story takes place in a community where residents pay for access to sunlight. A father goes to extreme lengths to support his daughter's entry in a school competition to grow sunflowers. The narrative combines intimate character drama with satirical social commentary on inequality, environmental disaster, and survival within exclusionary systems.
Popular on Variety
Milly Pope produces the project, her second collaboration with Murton Poole after their dystopian short “Earth,” which received a best student short nomination at the BAFTA-qualifying Norwich Film Festival and was selected for Manchester Film Festival.
“I'm drawn to exploring real-world issues in worlds that feel slightly askew – places that are recognisable yet unsettling,” said Murton Poole.
Simon Higgins handled casting. “The stories I tell live in stylized worlds that need to feel believable,” Murton Poole said. “Simon has an instinct for finding actors who can hold emotion and authenticity within heightened spaces.”
Murton Poole called the cast “an absolute joy” to work with, commending their ability to “bring grounded performances to a world that could so easily feel abstract.”
The production shot on 35mm at The Modern Appletree in Henley, where the crew converted a garden into two adjacent properties to create an outdoor set.
“Shooting on film was a top priority for me,” Murton Poole said. “In a world where sunlight is a character, film has an inimitable way of capturing it.”
Carolina Lobo Nunes served as cinematographer. “The shoot relied heavily on the Great British weather,” said Murton Poole, “and on our incredible cinematographer, Carolina Lobo Nunes, who somehow managed to control it.”
The film is completing post-production and will premiere at the NFTS 2026 graduation showcase at the British Film Institute in March before beginning its festival run.
A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast
The Business of Entertainment
About us
Copy link
Bitcoin has entered a bear market, with the market showing signs of “capitulation,” a price analyst has claimed — while other observers call for calm.
After falling below the $80,000 mark for the first time since April 2025 yesterday, Bitcoin continued to drop, bottoming out at just over $77,000 in the evening of January 31. The coin has since made a slow if undramatic recovery, moving back to near $79,000 at the time of writing on February 1.
“A sequence of breakdowns across major support levels reinforces the view that the market has shifted regime, indicating that Bitcoin has entered a bear market,” wrote Carmelo Alemán, a trader and an analyst at the crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant. Alemán said Bitcoin spot and futures trading patterns were now decidedly “bearish.”
He said the market was now in a phase of “capitulation,” whereby “a large share of market participants” would suffer losses.
The volatility comes as market observers talk of turbulent times ahead for Bitcoin, forecasting further falls to $75,000, or even as low as $10,000.
“Bitcoin is dropping as selling pressure persists, with no fresh capital coming in,” Ki Young Ju, CryptoQuant's CEO, wrote on X.
“When [the] market cap falls in that environment, it's not a bull market,” Ju said.
But while some predicted mass sell-offs and further market chaos, other analysts called for calm and suggested talk of a Bitcoin bear market was premature.
Price “corrections” of 35%-40% are “historically not unheard of for a Bitcoin bull run,” the Bitcoin analyst PlanC wrote on X. “$75,000–$80,000 is a 37% to 40% correction. [There's a] decent chance this will be the deepest pullback opportunity this Bitcoin bull run.”
“Never trust a Sunday dump in Bitcoin's price,” the Bitcoin price analyst Rajat Soni said on X.
Some have attributed Bitcoin's poor recent performance to President Donald Trump's call on Friday to nominate Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. The news of Warsh's nomination sent the prices of precious metals like silver into a nosedive.
However, some experts again called for calm. Analysts told Bloomberg that Warsh was unlikely to preside over an “aggressive easing cycle” of interest rate cuts.
“We advise against overdoing the Warsh hawkish trade across asset markets. We even see some risk of a whipsaw,” said Krishna Guha, the vice chair at Evercore ISI, an economic research firm. “We see Warsh as a pragmatist, not an ideological hawk in the tradition of the independent conservative central banker.”
Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.
The blockchain infrastructure sector faces a pivotal moment as enterprise-focused networks compete for institutional adoption. Casper Network, the proof-of-stake platform designed specifically for corporate use cases, finds itself at a critical juncture as leadership prepares to address stakeholders about strategic direction and technological advancement. On February 5, 2026, CTO and President Michael Steuer alongside CEO Matt Schaffnit will host a live discussion on X Space, marking a significant moment for transparency in a sector often criticized for opacity.
According to TradingView's CoinMarketCal, the executive session represents an opportunity for the Casper team to share substantive updates with the community and respond directly to questions from token holders and developers. This format reflects a broader industry trend toward direct communication channels, bypassing traditional media intermediaries to engage with technical audiences who demand granular detail about protocol development and business strategy.
The timing of this leadership address comes as enterprise blockchain adoption accelerates across multiple sectors. Casper Network distinguished itself from competitors by focusing exclusively on business applications rather than consumer-facing decentralized finance products. This strategic positioning has created both opportunities and challenges as corporations increasingly explore blockchain integration for supply chain management, digital identity verification, and tokenized asset management.
The Enterprise Blockchain Differentiation Strategy
Casper Network's architecture centers on developer accessibility and enterprise-grade features that traditional blockchain platforms often lack. The network employs a highway consensus protocol designed to achieve finality faster than conventional proof-of-stake systems, addressing one of the primary concerns corporate clients express about blockchain technology: transaction settlement speed and certainty. This technical foundation positions Casper as a viable infrastructure layer for applications requiring both decentralization and performance guarantees.
The platform's approach to upgradability represents another critical differentiator for institutional clients. Unlike networks where protocol changes require contentious hard forks, Casper implements a governance mechanism allowing seamless upgrades without disrupting existing applications. For enterprises investing significant resources in blockchain integration, this continuity proves essential for long-term planning and risk management. The February 5 discussion will likely address how recent protocol enhancements have improved network capabilities and what roadmap items remain in development.
Market Position Amid Competitive Pressures
The enterprise blockchain sector has witnessed significant consolidation and evolution since Casper's mainnet launch. Competitors including Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, and newer entrants have captured substantial market share in specific verticals. Casper's challenge lies in demonstrating tangible advantages that justify migration costs and integration complexity for potential corporate clients already exploring alternative platforms or building on established networks like Ethereum.
Token economics play a crucial role in enterprise blockchain viability, creating alignment between network security and business utility. CSPR token holders participate in network validation through staking mechanisms, generating yield while securing transaction processing. This model theoretically creates sustainable economics where network usage drives token demand, which incentivizes validation, which ensures security and performance. However, the practical implementation of this flywheel effect depends on achieving sufficient transaction volume from enterprise clients, a metric the upcoming X Space may address through concrete usage statistics.
Developer Ecosystem and Technical Adoption Metrics
The strength of any blockchain platform ultimately derives from its developer community and the applications they build. Casper has invested substantially in developer tools, documentation, and support infrastructure to lower barriers for teams building enterprise applications. The network supports WebAssembly, allowing developers to write smart contracts in familiar programming languages rather than learning blockchain-specific languages like Solidity. This accessibility factor could prove decisive as enterprises leverage existing engineering talent rather than recruiting specialized blockchain developers.
Recent network activity suggests varying levels of traction across different use case categories. While specific transaction volumes and active addresses fluctuate with market conditions, the more relevant metric for enterprise-focused platforms involves the number of production deployments and the business value those applications process. The executive discussion provides an opportunity for leadership to share concrete case studies demonstrating real-world value creation beyond speculative token trading.
Regulatory Considerations Shaping Enterprise Blockchain Deployment
Regulatory clarity has emerged as perhaps the most significant factor influencing enterprise blockchain adoption timelines. Corporations require certainty about compliance obligations, data privacy requirements, and liability frameworks before committing to blockchain infrastructure for critical business processes. Casper's architecture includes features designed to accommodate regulatory requirements, including permissioned network configurations and privacy-preserving computation capabilities.
The evolving regulatory environment in major markets including the United States, European Union, and Asia-Pacific regions creates both challenges and opportunities for enterprise blockchain platforms. Networks that can demonstrate compliance-ready features while maintaining decentralization benefits position themselves advantageously as regulatory frameworks solidify. The February 5 session may address how Casper navigates these regulatory considerations and what partnerships or certifications the network has pursued to ease enterprise adoption concerns.
Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem Expansion
Enterprise blockchain success depends heavily on strategic partnerships that provide credibility, distribution channels, and integration support. Casper has pursued collaborations with systems integrators, cloud service providers, and industry-specific solution providers to accelerate enterprise adoption. These partnerships serve multiple functions: validating the technology through association with established brands, providing implementation expertise that enterprises require, and creating reference architectures that reduce deployment risk for subsequent clients.
The network's approach to ecosystem development extends beyond technology partnerships to include academic collaborations, research initiatives, and participation in industry standards bodies. These efforts contribute to long-term platform viability by ensuring Casper's technology evolves alongside emerging best practices and maintains interoperability with complementary systems. The upcoming leadership discussion will likely highlight recent partnership announcements and explain how these relationships translate into network growth and token utility.
Financial Sustainability and Resource Allocation
The blockchain sector has witnessed numerous projects struggle with treasury management and sustainable business models. Enterprise-focused platforms face particular challenges because sales cycles extend over months or years, requiring substantial capital reserves to fund operations while building client pipelines. Casper's financial position and resource allocation strategy directly impact its ability to execute on technical roadmaps and business development initiatives.
Token holders and potential investors scrutinize how blockchain projects allocate resources between protocol development, business development, marketing, and operational expenses. Transparency around these decisions builds confidence in leadership's strategic priorities and execution capabilities. The X Space format allows for direct questioning about financial strategy, providing stakeholders insight into how the organization balances short-term operational needs against long-term strategic investments in technology and market development.
Technical Roadmap and Innovation Priorities
Blockchain technology continues evolving rapidly, with innovations in consensus mechanisms, privacy preservation, scalability solutions, and interoperability protocols emerging regularly. Casper must continuously enhance its platform to maintain competitive differentiation and meet evolving enterprise requirements. The technical roadmap represents a critical communication element, helping developers and enterprises plan their own initiatives around expected platform capabilities.
Key technical priorities for enterprise blockchain platforms include transaction throughput improvements, latency reductions, enhanced privacy features, and seamless integration with existing enterprise systems. Casper's highway consensus protocol provides a foundation for ongoing optimization, but realizing the full potential requires continued research and development investment. The February 5 discussion offers an opportunity for CTO Michael Steuer to detail specific technical enhancements under development and explain how these improvements address real-world enterprise pain points.
Community Engagement and Decentralization Balance
Enterprise blockchain platforms face an inherent tension between corporate client preferences for control and the decentralization principles underlying blockchain technology. Casper navigates this challenge through configurable network parameters that allow enterprises to implement appropriate governance models for their specific use cases while maintaining connection to the broader public network. This flexibility represents both a technical achievement and a philosophical approach to blockchain deployment.
The upcoming X Space exemplifies the community engagement practices that distinguish successful blockchain projects from those that fade into irrelevance. Direct communication between leadership and stakeholders builds trust, surfaces important concerns, and demonstrates accountability. As the blockchain sector matures, these practices become increasingly important for maintaining community support and attracting the talent and capital necessary for long-term success. The February 5 session will test leadership's ability to address difficult questions transparently while maintaining confidence in the project's strategic direction and execution capabilities.
The blockchain infrastructure sector faces a pivotal moment as enterprise-focused networks compete for institutional adoption. Casper Network, the proof-of-stake platform designed specifically for corporate use cases, finds itself at a critical juncture as leadership prepares to address stakeholders about strategic direction and technological advancement. On February 5, 2026, CTO and President Michael Steuer alongside CEO Matt Schaffnit will host a live discussion on X Space, marking a significant moment for transparency in a sector often criticized for opacity.
According to TradingView's CoinMarketCal, the executive session represents an opportunity for the Casper team to share substantive updates with the community and respond directly to questions from token holders and developers. This format reflects a broader industry trend toward direct communication channels, bypassing traditional media intermediaries to engage with technical audiences who demand granular detail about protocol development and business strategy.
The timing of this leadership address comes as enterprise blockchain adoption accelerates across multiple sectors. Casper Network distinguished itself from competitors by focusing exclusively on business applications rather than consumer-facing decentralized finance products. This strategic positioning has created both opportunities and challenges as corporations increasingly explore blockchain integration for supply chain management, digital identity verification, and tokenized asset management.
The Enterprise Blockchain Differentiation Strategy
Casper Network's architecture centers on developer accessibility and enterprise-grade features that traditional blockchain platforms often lack. The network employs a highway consensus protocol designed to achieve finality faster than conventional proof-of-stake systems, addressing one of the primary concerns corporate clients express about blockchain technology: transaction settlement speed and certainty. This technical foundation positions Casper as a viable infrastructure layer for applications requiring both decentralization and performance guarantees.
The platform's approach to upgradability represents another critical differentiator for institutional clients. Unlike networks where protocol changes require contentious hard forks, Casper implements a governance mechanism allowing seamless upgrades without disrupting existing applications. For enterprises investing significant resources in blockchain integration, this continuity proves essential for long-term planning and risk management. The February 5 discussion will likely address how recent protocol enhancements have improved network capabilities and what roadmap items remain in development.
Market Position Amid Competitive Pressures
The enterprise blockchain sector has witnessed significant consolidation and evolution since Casper's mainnet launch. Competitors including Hyperledger Fabric, R3 Corda, and newer entrants have captured substantial market share in specific verticals. Casper's challenge lies in demonstrating tangible advantages that justify migration costs and integration complexity for potential corporate clients already exploring alternative platforms or building on established networks like Ethereum.
Token economics play a crucial role in enterprise blockchain viability, creating alignment between network security and business utility. CSPR token holders participate in network validation through staking mechanisms, generating yield while securing transaction processing. This model theoretically creates sustainable economics where network usage drives token demand, which incentivizes validation, which ensures security and performance. However, the practical implementation of this flywheel effect depends on achieving sufficient transaction volume from enterprise clients, a metric the upcoming X Space may address through concrete usage statistics.
Developer Ecosystem and Technical Adoption Metrics
The strength of any blockchain platform ultimately derives from its developer community and the applications they build. Casper has invested substantially in developer tools, documentation, and support infrastructure to lower barriers for teams building enterprise applications. The network supports WebAssembly, allowing developers to write smart contracts in familiar programming languages rather than learning blockchain-specific languages like Solidity. This accessibility factor could prove decisive as enterprises leverage existing engineering talent rather than recruiting specialized blockchain developers.
Recent network activity suggests varying levels of traction across different use case categories. While specific transaction volumes and active addresses fluctuate with market conditions, the more relevant metric for enterprise-focused platforms involves the number of production deployments and the business value those applications process. The executive discussion provides an opportunity for leadership to share concrete case studies demonstrating real-world value creation beyond speculative token trading.
Regulatory Considerations Shaping Enterprise Blockchain Deployment
Regulatory clarity has emerged as perhaps the most significant factor influencing enterprise blockchain adoption timelines. Corporations require certainty about compliance obligations, data privacy requirements, and liability frameworks before committing to blockchain infrastructure for critical business processes. Casper's architecture includes features designed to accommodate regulatory requirements, including permissioned network configurations and privacy-preserving computation capabilities.
The evolving regulatory environment in major markets including the United States, European Union, and Asia-Pacific regions creates both challenges and opportunities for enterprise blockchain platforms. Networks that can demonstrate compliance-ready features while maintaining decentralization benefits position themselves advantageously as regulatory frameworks solidify. The February 5 session may address how Casper navigates these regulatory considerations and what partnerships or certifications the network has pursued to ease enterprise adoption concerns.
Strategic Partnerships and Ecosystem Expansion
Enterprise blockchain success depends heavily on strategic partnerships that provide credibility, distribution channels, and integration support. Casper has pursued collaborations with systems integrators, cloud service providers, and industry-specific solution providers to accelerate enterprise adoption. These partnerships serve multiple functions: validating the technology through association with established brands, providing implementation expertise that enterprises require, and creating reference architectures that reduce deployment risk for subsequent clients.
The network's approach to ecosystem development extends beyond technology partnerships to include academic collaborations, research initiatives, and participation in industry standards bodies. These efforts contribute to long-term platform viability by ensuring Casper's technology evolves alongside emerging best practices and maintains interoperability with complementary systems. The upcoming leadership discussion will likely highlight recent partnership announcements and explain how these relationships translate into network growth and token utility.
Financial Sustainability and Resource Allocation
The blockchain sector has witnessed numerous projects struggle with treasury management and sustainable business models. Enterprise-focused platforms face particular challenges because sales cycles extend over months or years, requiring substantial capital reserves to fund operations while building client pipelines. Casper's financial position and resource allocation strategy directly impact its ability to execute on technical roadmaps and business development initiatives.
Token holders and potential investors scrutinize how blockchain projects allocate resources between protocol development, business development, marketing, and operational expenses. Transparency around these decisions builds confidence in leadership's strategic priorities and execution capabilities. The X Space format allows for direct questioning about financial strategy, providing stakeholders insight into how the organization balances short-term operational needs against long-term strategic investments in technology and market development.
Technical Roadmap and Innovation Priorities
Blockchain technology continues evolving rapidly, with innovations in consensus mechanisms, privacy preservation, scalability solutions, and interoperability protocols emerging regularly. Casper must continuously enhance its platform to maintain competitive differentiation and meet evolving enterprise requirements. The technical roadmap represents a critical communication element, helping developers and enterprises plan their own initiatives around expected platform capabilities.
Key technical priorities for enterprise blockchain platforms include transaction throughput improvements, latency reductions, enhanced privacy features, and seamless integration with existing enterprise systems. Casper's highway consensus protocol provides a foundation for ongoing optimization, but realizing the full potential requires continued research and development investment. The February 5 discussion offers an opportunity for CTO Michael Steuer to detail specific technical enhancements under development and explain how these improvements address real-world enterprise pain points.
Community Engagement and Decentralization Balance
Enterprise blockchain platforms face an inherent tension between corporate client preferences for control and the decentralization principles underlying blockchain technology. Casper navigates this challenge through configurable network parameters that allow enterprises to implement appropriate governance models for their specific use cases while maintaining connection to the broader public network. This flexibility represents both a technical achievement and a philosophical approach to blockchain deployment.
The upcoming X Space exemplifies the community engagement practices that distinguish successful blockchain projects from those that fade into irrelevance. Direct communication between leadership and stakeholders builds trust, surfaces important concerns, and demonstrates accountability. As the blockchain sector matures, these practices become increasingly important for maintaining community support and attracting the talent and capital necessary for long-term success. The February 5 session will test leadership's ability to address difficult questions transparently while maintaining confidence in the project's strategic direction and execution capabilities.
Subscribe for Updates
The CTOUpdate Email Newsletter is a must-read for Chief Technology Officers. Perfect for CTOs driving innovation, tech leadership, and business growth.
Help us improve our content by reporting any issues you find.
Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers
Get our media kit
Deliver your marketing message directly to decision makers.
How can information move at incredible speeds, or electricity flow without wasting energy? Answering these questions has pushed scientists and technology companies toward quantum materials, whose behavior is governed by physics at the smallest scales. Building these advanced materials depends on understanding how atoms and electrons behave, an area where many mysteries remain.
Now, researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), working with colleagues at the University of Salerno and the CNR-SPIN Institute (Italy), have made a significant breakthrough. They identified a previously unseen geometric feature inside a quantum material that alters how electrons move, in a way similar to how gravity bends light. The findings, published in Science, point to new possibilities for next-generation quantum electronics.
Why Quantum Materials Matter
Modern technologies rely on materials with extraordinary performance, many of which arise from quantum physics. This field focuses on matter at microscopic scales, where particles behave in surprising ways. Over the past century, research into atoms, electrons, and photons led to the invention of transistors and the foundation of today's computers.
Even now, scientists continue to uncover quantum effects that challenge established theories. Recent research suggests that when huge numbers of particles interact inside certain materials, a kind of internal geometry can emerge. This structure can redirect electron motion, closely resembling how Einstein's theory of gravity describes the bending of light.
From Mathematical Idea to Measured Reality
This internal structure is known as the quantum metric. It describes the curvature of the quantum space through which electrons travel and influences many microscopic properties of materials. Despite its importance, proving its existence experimentally has been extremely difficult.
''The concept of quantum metric dates back about 20 years, but for a long time it was regarded purely as a theoretical construct. Only in recent years have scientists begun to explore its tangible effects on the properties of matter,'' explains Andrea Caviglia, full professor and director of the Department of Quantum Matter Physics at the UNIGE Faculty of Science.
Detecting a Hidden Geometry in Quantum Materials
In the new study, the research team led by UNIGE, together with Carmine Ortix, associate professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Salerno, detected the quantum metric at the boundary between two oxide materials, strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate. This interface is already known as a powerful platform for studying quantum behavior.
''Its presence can be revealed by observing how electron trajectories are distorted under the combined influence of quantum metric and intense magnetic fields applied to solids,'' explains Giacomo Sala, research associate in the Department of Quantum Matter Physics at the UNIGE Faculty of Science and lead author of the study.
Implications for Future Technologies
Being able to observe this effect allows scientists to measure a material's optical, electronic, and transport properties more accurately. The team also found that the quantum metric is a fundamental characteristic of many materials, rather than a rare exception as previously believed.
''These discoveries open up new avenues for exploring and harnessing quantum geometry in a wide range of materials, with major implications for future electronics operating at terahertz frequencies (a trillion hertz), as well as for superconductivity and light-matter interactions,'' concludes Andrea Caviglia.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Université de Genève. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Scientists Uncover a Hidden Early Stage of Alzheimer's That They Can Stop
Mysterious Beluga Family Trees Uncovered Beneath the Arctic Ice
Scientists Discover Vast, Ancient Freshwater Reservoir Hidden Beneath the Great Salt Lake
Radio Signals Reveal a Star's Final Years Before a Violent Supernova
Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader:
Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:
Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Researchers have discovered a way to coax the bacteria living in animals' digestive systems into acting like miniature factories that produce compounds linked to longer life. The findings point to a potential new approach for developing drugs that work by influencing gut microbes rather than directly targeting the body.
The work was led by Janelia Senior Group Leader Meng Wang, whose lab focuses on understanding the biology of aging. Her team wanted to find a practical way to translate their earlier discoveries about longevity-related compounds into something that could eventually be useful beyond the laboratory.
Using the Gut Microbiota to Produce Beneficial Compounds
The researchers explored whether they could prompt the body's gut microbiota (a collection of bacteria in the gut that produces many different compounds) to make substances that support health and longevity. They focused on colanic acid, a compound naturally produced by gut bacteria that had already been shown to extend lifespan in roundworms and fruit flies.
In their latest experiments, Wang's team found that gut bacteria produced much higher levels of colanic acids when exposed to low doses of the antibiotic cephaloridine. Roundworms given cephaloridine lived longer, linking the increase in this bacterial compound to improved longevity.
The researchers then tested the approach in mice. Low doses of cephaloridine activated gene expression in gut bacteria involved in making colanic acids. This led to noticeable shifts in age-related metabolism, including higher levels of good cholesterol and lower levels of bad cholesterol in male mice, along with reduced insulin levels in female mice.
Why the Approach Avoids Side Effects
Cephaloridine has an important advantage. When taken orally, it is not absorbed into the bloodstream. That means it can influence the gut microbiome without affecting the rest of the body, helping to avoid toxicity and unwanted side effects.
According to the researchers, the results highlight a promising strategy for promoting longevity using drugs that act on bacteria rather than human cells. They suggest this work could reshape how future medicines are designed, shifting the focus toward compounds that guide the microbiota to produce health-supporting molecules for their hosts.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:
Scientists Uncover a Hidden Early Stage of Alzheimer's That They Can Stop
Mysterious Beluga Family Trees Uncovered Beneath the Arctic Ice
Scientists Discover Vast, Ancient Freshwater Reservoir Hidden Beneath the Great Salt Lake
Radio Signals Reveal a Star's Final Years Before a Violent Supernova
Stay informed with ScienceDaily's free email newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or view our many newsfeeds in your RSS reader:
Keep up to date with the latest news from ScienceDaily via social networks:
Tell us what you think of ScienceDaily -- we welcome both positive and negative comments. Have any problems using the site? Questions?
Rather than banning AI, I'm showing students how to use it effectively as a personalized TA. I'm giving them this AGENTS.md file:https://gist.github.com/1cg/a6c6f2276a1fe5ee172282580a44a7acAnd showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. But it is obviously extremely dangerous as well."It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
https://gist.github.com/1cg/a6c6f2276a1fe5ee172282580a44a7acAnd showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. But it is obviously extremely dangerous as well."It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
And showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. But it is obviously extremely dangerous as well."It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. But it is obviously extremely dangerous as well."It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. But it is obviously extremely dangerous as well."It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
"It is impossible to design a system so perfect that no one needs to be good."
reply
Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves
This is the right thing to say, but even the ones who want to listen can get into bad habits in response to intense schedules. When push comes to shove and Multivariate Calculus exam prep needs to happen but you're stuck debugging frustrating pointer issues for your Data Structures project late into the night… well, I certainly would've caved far too much for my own good.IMO the natural fix is to expand your trusting, “this is for you” approach to the broader undergrad experience, but I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be trying to adapt while admin & senior professors refuse to reconsider the race for a “””prestigious””” place in a meta-rat race…For now, I guess I'd just recommend you try to think of ways to relax things and separate project completion from diligence/time management — in terms of vibes if not a 100% mark. Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :)
IMO the natural fix is to expand your trusting, “this is for you” approach to the broader undergrad experience, but I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be trying to adapt while admin & senior professors refuse to reconsider the race for a “””prestigious””” place in a meta-rat race…For now, I guess I'd just recommend you try to think of ways to relax things and separate project completion from diligence/time management — in terms of vibes if not a 100% mark. Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :)
For now, I guess I'd just recommend you try to think of ways to relax things and separate project completion from diligence/time management — in terms of vibes if not a 100% mark. Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :)
reply
This is why I'm going to in-person written quizzes to differentiate between the students who know the material and those who are just using AI to get through it.I do seven quizzes during the semester so each one is on relatively recent material and they aren't weighted too heavily. I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz. I hated the high-pressure midterms/finals of my undergrad, so I'm trying to remove that for them.
I do seven quizzes during the semester so each one is on relatively recent material and they aren't weighted too heavily. I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz. I hated the high-pressure midterms/finals of my undergrad, so I'm trying to remove that for them.
reply
The pressure was what got me to do the necessary work. Auditing classes never worked for me.> I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz.Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for?
> I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz.Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for?
Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for?
reply
reply
Competing with LLM software users, 'honest' students would seem strongly incentivized to use LLMs themeselves. Even if you don't grade on a curve, honest students will get worse grades which will look worse to graduate schools, grant and scholarship committees, etc., in addition to the strong emotional component that everyone feels seeing an A or C. You could give deserving 'honest' work an A but then all LLM users will get A's with ease. It seems like you need two scales, and how do you know who to put on which scale?And how do students collaborate on group projects? Again, it seems you have two different tracks of education, and they can't really work together. Edit: How do class discussions play out with these two tracks?Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Are the 'honest' students being shortchanged?
And how do students collaborate on group projects? Again, it seems you have two different tracks of education, and they can't really work together. Edit: How do class discussions play out with these two tracks?Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Are the 'honest' students being shortchanged?
Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Are the 'honest' students being shortchanged?
reply
I find, as a parent, when I talk about it at the high school level I get very negative reactions from other parents. Specifically I want high schoolers to be skilled in the use of AI, and particular critical thinking skills around the tools, while simultaneously having skills assuming no AI. I don't want the school to be blindly “anti AI” as I'm aware it will be a part of the economy our kids are brought into.There are some head in the sands, very emotional attitudes about this stuff. (And obviously idiotically uncritical pro AI stances, but I doubt educators risk having those stances)
There are some head in the sands, very emotional attitudes about this stuff. (And obviously idiotically uncritical pro AI stances, but I doubt educators risk having those stances)
reply
That said I agree with all your points too: some version of this argument will apply to most white collar jobs now. I just think this is less clear to the general population and it's much more of a touchy emotional subject, in certain circles. Although I suppose there may be a point to be made about being more slightly cautious about introducing AI at the high school level, versus college.
reply
No, it's not.Nothing around AI past the next few months to a year is clear right now.It's very, very possible that within the next year or two, the bottom falls out of the market for mainstream/commercial LLM services, and then all the Copilot and Claude Code and similar services are going to dry up and blow away. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming.
Nothing around AI past the next few months to a year is clear right now.It's very, very possible that within the next year or two, the bottom falls out of the market for mainstream/commercial LLM services, and then all the Copilot and Claude Code and similar services are going to dry up and blow away. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming.
It's very, very possible that within the next year or two, the bottom falls out of the market for mainstream/commercial LLM services, and then all the Copilot and Claude Code and similar services are going to dry up and blow away. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming.
None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming.
reply
The genie is out of the bottle, never going backIt's a fantasy to think it will "dry up" and go awaySome other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS
It's a fantasy to think it will "dry up" and go awaySome other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS
Some other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS
reply
Show me actual studies that clearly demonstrate that not only does using an LLM code assistant help make code faster in the short term, it doesn't waste all that extra benefit by being that much harder to maintain in the long term.
reply
Plenty of tech becomes exploitative (or more exploitative).I don't know if you noticed but 80% of LLM improvements are actually procedural now: it's the software around them improving, not the core LLMs.Plus LLMs have huge potential for being exploitative. 10x what Google Search could do for ads.
I don't know if you noticed but 80% of LLM improvements are actually procedural now: it's the software around them improving, not the core LLMs.Plus LLMs have huge potential for being exploitative. 10x what Google Search could do for ads.
Plus LLMs have huge potential for being exploitative. 10x what Google Search could do for ads.
reply
reply
I think that Microsoft will not be willing to operate Copilot for free in perpetuity.I think that there has not yet been any meaningful large-scale study showing that it improves performance overall, and there have been some studies showing that it does the opposite, despite individuals' feeling that it helps them.I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job".
I think that there has not yet been any meaningful large-scale study showing that it improves performance overall, and there have been some studies showing that it does the opposite, despite individuals' feeling that it helps them.I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job".
I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job".
I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job".
reply
reply
1) AI companies make money on the tokens they sell through their APIs. At my company we run Claude Code by buying Claude Sonnet and Opus tokens from AWS Bedrock. AWS and Anthropic make money on those tokens. The unit economics are very good here; estimates are that Anthropic and OpenAI have a gross margin of 40% on selling tokens.2) Claude Code subscriptions are probably subsidized somewhat on a per token basis, for strategic reasons (Anthropic wants to capture the market). Although even this is complicated, as the usage distribution is such that Anthropic is making money on some subscribers and then subsidizing the ultra-heavy-usage vibe coders who max out their subscriptions. If they lowered the cap, most people with subscriptions would still not max out and they could start making money, but they'd probably upset a lot of the loudest ultra-heavy-usage influencer-types.3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. But that's a completely separate set of questions from what inference costs, which is what matters here.
2) Claude Code subscriptions are probably subsidized somewhat on a per token basis, for strategic reasons (Anthropic wants to capture the market). Although even this is complicated, as the usage distribution is such that Anthropic is making money on some subscribers and then subsidizing the ultra-heavy-usage vibe coders who max out their subscriptions. If they lowered the cap, most people with subscriptions would still not max out and they could start making money, but they'd probably upset a lot of the loudest ultra-heavy-usage influencer-types.3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. But that's a completely separate set of questions from what inference costs, which is what matters here.
3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. But that's a completely separate set of questions from what inference costs, which is what matters here.
reply
Our university is slowly stumbling towards "AI Literacy" being a skill we teach, but, frankly, most faculty here don't have the expertise and students often understand the tools better than teachers.I think there will be a painful adjustment period, I am trying to make it as painless as possible for my students (and sharing my approach and experience with my department) but I am just a lowly instructor.
I think there will be a painful adjustment period, I am trying to make it as painless as possible for my students (and sharing my approach and experience with my department) but I am just a lowly instructor.
reply
People need to learn to do research with LLMs, code with LLMs, how to evaluate artifacts created by AI. They need to learn how agents work at a high level, the limitations on context, that they hallucinate and become sycophantic. How they need guardrails and strict feedback mechanisms if let loose. AI Safety connecting to external systems etc etc.You're right that few high school educators would have any sense of all that.
You're right that few high school educators would have any sense of all that.
reply
I do know people who would get egregiously wrong answers from misusing a calculator and insisted it couldn't be wrong.
reply
Not to mention programming is a meta skill on top of “calculators”
reply
This is my exact experience as well and I find it frustrating.If current technology is creating an issue for teachers - it's the teachers that need to pivot, not block current technology so they can continue what they are comfortable with.Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Do we allow calculators into the abacus course? Should the abacus course be scrapped? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else?"AI" is changing society fundamentally forever and education needs to change fundamentally with it. I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents.
If current technology is creating an issue for teachers - it's the teachers that need to pivot, not block current technology so they can continue what they are comfortable with.Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Do we allow calculators into the abacus course? Should the abacus course be scrapped? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else?"AI" is changing society fundamentally forever and education needs to change fundamentally with it. I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents.
Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Do we allow calculators into the abacus course? Should the abacus course be scrapped? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else?"AI" is changing society fundamentally forever and education needs to change fundamentally with it. I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents.
It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Do we allow calculators into the abacus course? Should the abacus course be scrapped? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else?"AI" is changing society fundamentally forever and education needs to change fundamentally with it. I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents.
"AI" is changing society fundamentally forever and education needs to change fundamentally with it. I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents.
reply
I had a discussion with a recruiter on Friday, and I said I guess the issue with AI vs human is, if you give a human developer who is new to your company tasks, the first few times you'll check their work carefully to make sure the quality is good. After a while you can trust they'll do a good job and be more relaxed. With AI, you can never be sure at any time. Of course a human can also misunderstand the task and hallucinate, but perhaps discussing the issue and the fix before they start coding can alleviate that. You can discuss with an AI as much as you want, but to me, not checking the output would be an insane move...To return to the point, yeah, people will use AI anyway, so why not teach them about the risks. Also LLMs feel like Concorde: it'll get you to where you want to go very quickly, but at tremendous environmental cost (also it's very costly to the wallet, although the companies are now partially subsidizing your use with the hopes of getting you addicted)..
To return to the point, yeah, people will use AI anyway, so why not teach them about the risks. Also LLMs feel like Concorde: it'll get you to where you want to go very quickly, but at tremendous environmental cost (also it's very costly to the wallet, although the companies are now partially subsidizing your use with the hopes of getting you addicted)..
reply
I once got "implement a BCD decoder" with about a 1"x4" space to do it.
reply
I'm concerned about handwriting, which is a lost skill, and how hard that will be on the TAs who are grading the exams. I have stressed to students that they should write larger, slower and more carefully than normal. I have also given them examples of good answers: terse and to the point, using bulleted lists effectively, what good pseudo-code looks like, etc.It is an experiment in progress: I have rediscovered the joys of printing & the logistics moving large amounts of paper again. The printer decided half way through one run to start folding papers slightly at the corner, which screwed up stapling.I suppose this is why we are paid the big bucks.
It is an experiment in progress: I have rediscovered the joys of printing & the logistics moving large amounts of paper again. The printer decided half way through one run to start folding papers slightly at the corner, which screwed up stapling.I suppose this is why we are paid the big bucks.
I suppose this is why we are paid the big bucks.
reply
Oh man, this reminds me of one test I had in uni, back in the days when all our tests were in class, pen & paper (what's old is new again?). We had this weird class that taught something like security programming in unix. Or something. Anyway, all I remember is the first two questions being about security/firewall stuff, and the third question was "what is a socket". So I really liked the first two questions, and over-answered for about a page each. Enough text to both run out of paper and out of time. So my answer to the 3rd question was "a file descriptor". I don't know if they laughed at my terseness or just figured since I overanswered on the previous questions I knew what that was, but whoever graded my paper gave me full points.
reply
reply
reply
So how do you handle kids who can‘t write well? The same way we‘ve been handling them all along — have them get an assessment and determine exactly where they need support and what kind of support will be most helpful to that particular kid. AI might or might not be a part of that, but it‘s a huge mistake to assume that it has to be a part of that. People who assume that AI can just be thrown at disability support betray how little they actually know about disability support.
reply
reply
It's embarrassing to see this question downvoted on here. It's a valid question, there's a valid answer, and accessibility helps everyone.
reply
There's not such thing as "disabled people who can't write well", there's individuals with specific problems and needs.Maybe there's jessica who lost her right hand and is learning to write with the left who gets extra time. Maybe there's joe who has some form of nerve issue and uses a specialized pen that helps cancel out tremors. Maybe sarah is blind and has an aide who writes it or is allowed to use a keyboard or or or...
Maybe there's jessica who lost her right hand and is learning to write with the left who gets extra time. Maybe there's joe who has some form of nerve issue and uses a specialized pen that helps cancel out tremors. Maybe sarah is blind and has an aide who writes it or is allowed to use a keyboard or or or...
reply
reply
Reasonable accommodations absolutely should be made for children that need them.But also just because you're a bad parent and think the rules don't apply to you doesn't mean your crappy kid gets to cheat.Parents are the absolute worst snowflakes.
But also just because you're a bad parent and think the rules don't apply to you doesn't mean your crappy kid gets to cheat.Parents are the absolute worst snowflakes.
Parents are the absolute worst snowflakes.
reply
(◔_◔)
reply
reply
This is the key part. I'm doing a part-time graduate degree at a major university right now, and it's fascinating to watch the week-to-week pressure AI is putting on the education establishment. When your job as a student is to read case studies and think about them, but Google Drive says "here's an automatic summary of the key points" before you even open the file, it takes a very determined student to ignore that and actually read the material. And if no one reads the original material, the class discussion is a complete waste of time, with everyone bringing up the same trite points, and the whole exercise becomes a facade.Schools are struggling to figure out how to let students use AI tools to be more productive while still learning how to think. The students (especially undergrads) are incredibly good at doing as little work as possible. And until you get to the end-of-PhD level, there's basically nothing you encounter in your learning journey that ChatGPT can't perfectly summarize and analyze in 1 second, removing the requirement for you to do anything.This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". We still teach children how to add numbers before we give them calculators because it's a useful skill. But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. If the answer pops up in the sidebar before you even ask the question, what kind of masochist is going to bother learning how to read and think?
Schools are struggling to figure out how to let students use AI tools to be more productive while still learning how to think. The students (especially undergrads) are incredibly good at doing as little work as possible. And until you get to the end-of-PhD level, there's basically nothing you encounter in your learning journey that ChatGPT can't perfectly summarize and analyze in 1 second, removing the requirement for you to do anything.This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". We still teach children how to add numbers before we give them calculators because it's a useful skill. But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. If the answer pops up in the sidebar before you even ask the question, what kind of masochist is going to bother learning how to read and think?
This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". We still teach children how to add numbers before we give them calculators because it's a useful skill. But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. If the answer pops up in the sidebar before you even ask the question, what kind of masochist is going to bother learning how to read and think?
reply
In my first year of college my calculus teacher said something that stuck with me "you learn calculus getting cramps on your wrists", yeah, AI can help remember things and accelerate learning, but if you don't put the work to understand things you'll always be behind people that know at least with a bird eye view what's happening.
reply
Depends. You might end up going quite far without even opening up the hood of a car even when you drive the car everyday and depend on it for your livelihood.If you're the kind that likes to argue for a good laugh, you might say "well, I don't need to know how my car works as long as the engineer who designed it does or the mechanic who fixes it does" - and this is accurate but it's also accurate not everyone ended up being either the engineer or the mechanic. It's also untrue that if it turned out it would be extremely valuable to you to actually learn how the car worked, you wouldn't put in the effort to do so and be very successful at it.All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic.
If you're the kind that likes to argue for a good laugh, you might say "well, I don't need to know how my car works as long as the engineer who designed it does or the mechanic who fixes it does" - and this is accurate but it's also accurate not everyone ended up being either the engineer or the mechanic. It's also untrue that if it turned out it would be extremely valuable to you to actually learn how the car worked, you wouldn't put in the effort to do so and be very successful at it.All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic.
All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic.
Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic.
When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic.
reply
My argument is that when you have at least a basic knowledge of how things work (be it as a musician, a mechanical engineer or a scientist) you are in a much better place to know what you want/need.That said, smart and motivated people thrive if they are given the conditions to thrive, and I believe that physical interfaces have way less friction than digital interfaces, turning a knob is way less work than clicking a bunch of menus to set up a slider.If I were to summarize what I think about AI it would be something like "Let it help you. Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI
That said, smart and motivated people thrive if they are given the conditions to thrive, and I believe that physical interfaces have way less friction than digital interfaces, turning a knob is way less work than clicking a bunch of menus to set up a slider.If I were to summarize what I think about AI it would be something like "Let it help you. Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI
If I were to summarize what I think about AI it would be something like "Let it help you. Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI
My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI
reply
If the sole purpose of college is to rank students, and funnel them to high prestige jobs that have no use for what they actually learn in college then what the students are doing is rational.If however the student is actually there to learn, he knows that using ChatGPT accomplishes nothing. In fact all this proves is that most students in most colleges are not there to learn. Which begs the question why are they even going to college? Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companies.
If however the student is actually there to learn, he knows that using ChatGPT accomplishes nothing. In fact all this proves is that most students in most colleges are not there to learn. Which begs the question why are they even going to college? Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companies.
reply
College for the "consumer" student isn't worth much in comparison.
reply
reply
reply
This topic comes up all the time. Every method conceivable to rank job candidates gets eviscerated here as being counterproductive.And yet, if you have five candidates for one job, you're going to have to rank them somehow.
And yet, if you have five candidates for one job, you're going to have to rank them somehow.
reply
I do not. This is your problem, companies. Now, I am aware that I have to give out grades and so I walk through the motions of doing this to the extent expected. But my goal is to instruct and teach all students to the best of my abilities to try to get them all to be as educated/useful to society as possible. Sure, you can have my little assessment at the end if you like, but I work for the students, not for the companies.
reply
But I would have been pretty angry to have been educated in topics that did not turn out to be useful in industry. I deliberately selected courses that I figured would be the most useful in my career.
reply
I think this is mostly accurate. Schools have been able to say "We will test your memory on 3 specific Shakespeares, samples from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, etc" - the students who were able to perform on these with some creative dance, violin, piano or cello thrown in had very good chances at a scholarship from an elite college.This has been working extremely well except now you have AI agents that can do the same at a fraction of the cost.There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. For one, college has become extremely expensive. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. Big companies have been able to enjoy this arbitrage for a long time.> Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companiesNow that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
This has been working extremely well except now you have AI agents that can do the same at a fraction of the cost.There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. For one, college has become extremely expensive. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. Big companies have been able to enjoy this arbitrage for a long time.> Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companiesNow that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. For one, college has become extremely expensive. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. Big companies have been able to enjoy this arbitrage for a long time.> Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companiesNow that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. For one, college has become extremely expensive. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. Big companies have been able to enjoy this arbitrage for a long time.> Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companiesNow that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
> Maybe this institution is outdated. Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companiesNow that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
Now that everyone has access to labor cheaper than the cheapest English speaking country in the world, humanity will be forced to adapt, forcing us to rethink what has seemed to work in the past
reply
I didn't get it. How can printing avoid AI? And more importantly is this AI-resistance sustainable?
reply
Does this literally work? It adds slightly more friction, but you can still ask the robot to summarize pretty much anything that would appear on the syllabus. What it likely does it set expectations.This doesn't strike me as being anti-AI or "resistance" at all. But if you don't train your own brain to read and make thoughts, you won't have one.
This doesn't strike me as being anti-AI or "resistance" at all. But if you don't train your own brain to read and make thoughts, you won't have one.
reply
Hell, in Italy we used to have an editor called Bignami make summaries of every school topic.https://www.bignami.com/In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost.
https://www.bignami.com/In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost.
In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost.
School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
At this point auto AI summaries are so prevalent that it is the passive default. By shifting it to require an active choice, you've make it more likely for students to choose to do the work.
reply
reply
reply
It's not much more effort. The level of friction is minimal. But we're talking about the activation energy of students (in an undergrad English class, likely teenagers). It doesn't take much to swing the percentage of students who do the reading.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
"TYCO Print is a printing service where professors can upload course files for TYCO to print out for students as they order. Shorter packets can cost around $20, while longer packets can cost upwards of $150 when ordered with the cheapest binding option."And later in OA it states that the cost to a student is $0.12 per double sided sheet of printing.In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. The cost was rounding error compared to the cost of providing an hour of teaching in a classroom (wage costs, support staff costs, building costs including amortisation &c).How is this happening?
And later in OA it states that the cost to a student is $0.12 per double sided sheet of printing.In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. The cost was rounding error compared to the cost of providing an hour of teaching in a classroom (wage costs, support staff costs, building costs including amortisation &c).How is this happening?
In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. The cost was rounding error compared to the cost of providing an hour of teaching in a classroom (wage costs, support staff costs, building costs including amortisation &c).How is this happening?
How is this happening?
reply
Public universities are always underfunded.Universities can get more money by putting the cost on the students and then they cover it with gov grants and loans.
Universities can get more money by putting the cost on the students and then they cover it with gov grants and loans.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
> They don't care about students or education, they care about wasting resources and making a lot of money in the process.
reply
This obv isn't a push by parents because I can't imagine parents I know want their kids in front of a screen all day. At best they're indifferent. My only guess is the teachers unions that don't want teachers grading and creating lesson plans and all the other work they used to do.And since this trend kid scores or performance has not gotten better, so what gives?Can anyone comment if it's as bad as this and what's behind it.
And since this trend kid scores or performance has not gotten better, so what gives?Can anyone comment if it's as bad as this and what's behind it.
Can anyone comment if it's as bad as this and what's behind it.
reply
The older one has a chromebook and uses it for research and production of larger written projects and presents—the kind of things you'd expect. The younger one doesn't have any school-supplied device yet.Both kids have math exercises, language worksheets, short writing exercises, etc., all done on paper. This is the majority of homework.I'm fine with this system. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling.
Both kids have math exercises, language worksheets, short writing exercises, etc., all done on paper. This is the majority of homework.I'm fine with this system. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling.
I'm fine with this system. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling.
reply
* People needed to be taught digital skills that were in growing demand in the workplace.* The kids researching things online and word-processing their homework were doing well in class (because only upper-middle-class types could afford home PCs)* Some trials of digital learning produced good results. Teaching by the world's greatest teachers, exactly the pace every student needs, with continuous feedback and infinite patience.* Blocking distractions? How hard can that be?
* The kids researching things online and word-processing their homework were doing well in class (because only upper-middle-class types could afford home PCs)* Some trials of digital learning produced good results. Teaching by the world's greatest teachers, exactly the pace every student needs, with continuous feedback and infinite patience.* Blocking distractions? How hard can that be?
* Some trials of digital learning produced good results. Teaching by the world's greatest teachers, exactly the pace every student needs, with continuous feedback and infinite patience.* Blocking distractions? How hard can that be?
* Blocking distractions? How hard can that be?
reply
Writing with a word processor that just helps you type, format, and check spelling is great. Blocking distractions on a general-purpose computer (like a phone or a tablet) is as hard as handing locked-down devices set up for the purpose, and banning personal devices.
reply
reply
reply
Students have always looked for ways to minimize the work load, and often the response has been to increase the load. In some cases it has effectively become a way to tech you to get away with cheating (a lesson this even has some real-world utility).Keeping students from wasting their tuition is an age-old, Sisyphean task for parents. School is wasted on the young. Unfortunately youth is also when your brain is most receptive to it.
Keeping students from wasting their tuition is an age-old, Sisyphean task for parents. School is wasted on the young. Unfortunately youth is also when your brain is most receptive to it.
reply
reply
reply
reply
You see a policy, and your clever brains come up with a way to get around it, "proving" that the new methodology is not perfect and therefore not valuable.So wrong. Come on people, think about it -- to an extent ALL WE DO is "friction." Any shift towards difficulty can be gained, but also nearly all of the time it provides a valuable differentiator in terms of motivation, etc.
So wrong. Come on people, think about it -- to an extent ALL WE DO is "friction." Any shift towards difficulty can be gained, but also nearly all of the time it provides a valuable differentiator in terms of motivation, etc.
reply
reply
First, extremely cumbersome and error-prone to type compared to swipe-typing on a soft keyboard. Even highlighting a few sentences can be problematic when spanning across a page boundary.Second, navigation is also painful compared to a physical book. When reading non-fiction, it's vital to be able to jump around quickly, backtrack, and cross-reference material. Amazon has done some good work on the UX for this, but nothing is as simple as flipping through a physical book.Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on.
Second, navigation is also painful compared to a physical book. When reading non-fiction, it's vital to be able to jump around quickly, backtrack, and cross-reference material. Amazon has done some good work on the UX for this, but nothing is as simple as flipping through a physical book.Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on.
Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on.
My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on.
reply
reply
That said, I always thought exams should be the moment of truth.I had teachers that spoke broken english, but I'd do the homework and read the textbook in class. I learned many topics without the use of a teacher.
I had teachers that spoke broken english, but I'd do the homework and read the textbook in class. I learned many topics without the use of a teacher.
reply
This made sense a couple of decades ago. Today, it's just bizarre to be spending $150 on a phonebook-sized packet of reading materials. So much paper and toner.This is what iPads and Kindles are for.
This is what iPads and Kindles are for.
reply
To make it more palpable for an IT worker: "It's just bizarre to give a developer a room with a door, so much sheetrock and wood! Working with computers is what open-plan offices are for."
reply
What could it mean for an "option" to be "required"?
reply
reply
This isn't my article nor do I know this Educator but I like her approach and actions taken:https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5631779/ai-schools-teac...
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5631779/ai-schools-teac...
reply
1. Instead of putting up all sorts of barriers between students and ChatGPT, have students explicitly use ChatGPT to complete the homework2. Then compare the diversity in the ChatGPT output3. If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? What caused the diversity? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
2. Then compare the diversity in the ChatGPT output3. If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? What caused the diversity? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
3. If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? What caused the diversity? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? What caused the diversity? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
1. Write some test cases that could make that specific implementation of `quicksort` or `memcpy` fail2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
2. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
3. Is there an algorithm that would sort faster than quicksort for that specific input?4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
4. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority
reply
>Shorter packets can cost around $20, while longer packets can cost upwards of $150 when ordered with the cheapest binding optionDoes a student need to print out multiple TYCO Packets ? If so, only the very rich could afford this. I think educations should go back to printed books and submitting you work to the Prof. on paper.But submitting printed pages back to the Prof. for homework will avoid the school saying "Submit only Word Documents". That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. Or even a typewriter :)
Does a student need to print out multiple TYCO Packets ? If so, only the very rich could afford this. I think educations should go back to printed books and submitting you work to the Prof. on paper.But submitting printed pages back to the Prof. for homework will avoid the school saying "Submit only Word Documents". That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. Or even a typewriter :)
But submitting printed pages back to the Prof. for homework will avoid the school saying "Submit only Word Documents". That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. Or even a typewriter :)
reply
> TYCO Print is a printing service where professors can upload course files for TYCO to print out for students as they order. Shorter packets can cost around $20, while longer packets can cost upwards of $150 when ordered with the cheapest binding option.Lol $150 for reading packets? Not even textbooks? Seriously the whole system can fuck off.
Lol $150 for reading packets? Not even textbooks? Seriously the whole system can fuck off.
reply
A recent Russian satellite impact fragmentation event rekindles concerns about Kessler Syndrome.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
A SpaceX FCC filing said that it plans to put a million satellites in orbit to build an Orbital Data Center system. The company said in the document that these will support AI, machine learning, and edge computing applications, taking advantage of the sun's energy without interference from the Earth's atmosphere.
“Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization — one that can harness the Sun's full power — while supporting AI-driven application for billions of people today and ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future amongst the stars,” the company wrote in its filing.
The filing went on to explain, “To deliver the compute capacity required for large-scale AI inference and data center applications serving billions of users globally, SpaceX aims to deploy a system of up to one million satellites to operate within narrow orbiting shells spanning up to 50 km (over 31 miles) each (leaving sufficient room to deconflict against other systems with comparable ambitions). This system will operate between 500 km and 2,000 km (310 miles and nearly 1,250 miles) altitude and 30 degrees and sun-synchronous orbit inclinations.”
SpaceX claimed that a million tonnes of satellites generating 100kW of compute per tonne would deliver 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity without all the limitations of ground-based deployments, making orbiting data centers far more cost-efficient than their terrestrial counterparts.
100GW/year of solar-powered AI satellites requires 100GW/year of AI computers … https://t.co/KsnIeqbyEGJanuary 31, 2026
The Kardashev scale measures the advancement of a particular civilization based on how it harvests energy. A Type I civilization uses all available energy on its own planet, which barely puts humanity and its current technology just below this level. On the other hand, a Type II civilization directly harvests energy from its nearby star, while Type III captures all the energy produced inside its galaxy.
While Elon Musk's plans to launch a million satellites into orbit come into view, a former Russian geostationary satellite has reportedly broken up in space. According to Space.com, the Luch/Olympic satellite, which the Russians use to observe other satellites in orbit, has recently been decommissioned and brought up to a graveyard orbit above its former geostationary altitude of more than 35,000 km or nearly 22,000 miles.
A short time lapse of the fragmentation event on LUCH (OLYMP) #40258 that took place today, 2026-01-30 from 06:09:03.486 UTC. pic.twitter.com/0bwbNvlnCLJanuary 30, 2026
However, ground observers noticed the unit has fragmented, likely due to an external impact (see time-lapse video, embedded above). This incident produced more debris that is now orbiting the earth, which could collide with other satellites, further exacerbating the space junk problem.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Many experts are concerned about an event wherein multiple space collisions would produce so much debris that it would make it impossible to launch satellites or even keep them operating in orbit. SpaceX's current fleet of 9,000 satellites already has experts concerned, especially as its competitors are also considering launching their own constellations.
Musk's plan to launch a million satellites is likely a nightmare scenario for many scientists, as this would put the risk of a Kessler Syndrome event several magnitudes more plausible. Moreover, under such a cascade of space debris, humanity could effectively become trapped on Earth for generations, dashing the billionaire's dream of landing astronauts on Mars.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He's been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he's been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Another drawback with this device is that reading data is destructive.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
A computing enthusiast has assembled one of the most bizarre USB drives we have ever seen. Despite being the size of a dinner plate, this drive holds just 128 bytes of data. The incredibly poor data density is largely due to the use of the archaic Magnetic Core Memory technology, which predates integrated circuits. Moreover, data saved to this drive is non-volatile (good), but bits are erased during the read process (bad). Despite the drawbacks and impractical nature of this device, created by space science researcher @dyd_Nao on X (machine translation), we applaud the effort.
部品一通り載せ終わった ちゃんとUSB-A端子ついてるしどう見てもUSBメモリやな pic.twitter.com/LnpbrxmcznJanuary 31, 2026
The Japanese tech enthusiast has mixed this curiously old memory tech with modern ICs and interfaces to come up with this bizarre USB flash drive. Built around the central non-volatile core are modern components like driver chips, sense amplifiers, LEDs, and the USB functionality is provided by a Raspberry Pi Pico. The Pico also handles the rewrite cycle.
Of course, this project was more ‘can I?' rather than ‘should I,' as 128 bytes of kinda-NV-RAM on a very large USB drive is of no practical purpose that we can fathom. Actually, 128 bytes isn't even enough to store the full text from an old-school Twitter Tweet. One of the original post commenters notes that Magnetic Core Memory has good resistance to radiation. But what of all the supporting components…?
Magnetic Core Memory was used as RAM before the semiconductor DRAM breakthrough in the 1970s. You can read more about it at places like Wikipedia, but, in brief, it stored data on tiny ferric rings wrapped in wire. If you look at the example photos from @dyd_Nao, you'd observe the central grid-like structure, which is the core plane.
On the plus side, it was non-volatile RAM technology. However, amongst its many drawbacks were its expense, low density, and lack of scalability due to its sometimes hand-woven construction. Moreover, reading the data was ‘destructive' – or in other words, reading the data would erase the data, so a system would need to re-write it immediately if it wanted the data to persist post-read.
Magnetic Core Memory was first used by a computer in 1953, in MIT's Whirlwind computer. It is a memory technology that predates integrated circuits, and was actually a RAM standard from 1955 to the early 70s. Intel actually pioneered semiconductor DRAM with its 1103 DRAM ICs in late 1970, commercially debuting cheaper, faster, and denser computer memory tech.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
PicoIDE is a convenient alternative to worn out old drives and media priced from $69.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
PicoIDE launched earlier this week, touted as “an open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for vintage computers.” This single 3.5-inch bay fitting device can replace those aging optical drives (and media) and HDDs, that your retro-PC relies on, with the convenience and capacity that modern microSD cards provide. It uses an appropriate retro-design aesthetic (in beige or black). You can back this project for as little as $69 for the base model, will free shipping in the U.S. and an expected June 14 dispatch date.
Polpotronics LLC, the outfit behind the PicoIDE, highlights the increasing issue of “worn out lasers, crashed heads, or bad sectors,” that even the best maintained vintage PCs can be prone to. At the same time like-for-like hardware replacements are getting scarcer, so a modern retro-embracing, transparent, open-source alternative becomes a compelling project.
Two versions of the PicoIDE are being made available, the PicoIDE Base ($69, beige), and the PicoIDE Deluxe ($110, beige or black). Whichever you choose, you get the following features:
A killer convenience feature of the PicoIDE is its ability to hold multiple drive images, say with different DOS, Windows, OS/2 and other installations, and on-the-fly switch to load your chosen image at next-boot – all from a single micoSD card. Moreover, PicoIDE emulates a multitude of drive geometries.
PicoIDE is also truly open source. That permeates the hardware, firmware, and documentation. With all design and source files promised to be available via GitHub before the device begins shipping. Documentation is already there.
In the intro, we mentioned that you can back this project for as little as $69 for the base model, with free shipping in the U.S., and an expected June 14 dispatch date. But please remember that crowdfunding a project is not a guarantee of receiving a finished product within the timescale highlighted, if at all. Backing a crowdfunded project is more like an investment; you believe in the project and want it to succeed. You are not purchasing a retail product.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission.
Reading time 7 minutes
SwitchBot, which made its bones with a tiny button-pressing smart home robot, loves a niche. Sure, it makes its share of typical smart home devices, like sensors or robot vacuums. But it's the products like the SwitchBot Lock Ultra, a retrofit smart lock that in some cases doesn't make you ditch your existing lock hardware, where this company tends to stand out.
The $140 Lock Ultra works just like other retrofit smart locks if you're using it with a typical deadbolt. You swap it for the indoor thumb turn portion, and Bob is, as they say, your uncle. Where it differs is that for $20 more, it comes with an adapter kit that lets it work with jimmy-proof and mortise locks the same way the original SwitchBot lock worked with normal deadbolts—rather than replacing your lock hardware, it slips over it and operates it for you.
That's the part that piqued my interest. My detached garage's pedestrian door is outfitted with a jimmy-proof lock—that's the kind with interlocking loops on the door and its frame that are secured by thick bolts which slide vertically through them when they're lined up. I've wanted to smarten it up for years, and SwitchBot's fix is effectively my only option that doesn't involve major door surgery. (As far as I know, my only other option is a questionable adapter for the August Smart Lock Pro I once had on my back door.)
SwitchBot Lock Ultra
A versatile retrofit smart lock with good ideas about modularity but that isn't the best choice for a high-traffic door.
Pros
Cons
I like the Lock Ultra, either as a fix for my weird garage lock or a regular deadbolt thumb turn replacement. Having the smarts only on one side of your door has drawbacks, sure; like that you'll still have to use a physical key or otherwise be patient with fiddly smartphone-based unlocking. But if your needs are simple and you just aren't interested in a full smart lock, you could do far worse.
No residential door lock is impregnable, but it's nice to have options, and the Lock Ultra's included adapters let you use it with just about any existing deadbolt, likely including the one already on your door. That means the keys you've already given out to your family and friends still work, and you don't have to advertise to the neighborhood that you're the hoity-toity type who can afford a fancy techno-lock.
See Smart Lock Ultra at Amazon
The curvy, matte black design of the Lock Ultra looks nicer than most competing devices, too. Maybe a bit nicer than the garage door I tested it on deserves, in fact. It uses a rechargeable battery pack that's easily popped out after sliding the front cover up. SwitchBot says it takes about six hours to charge from fully drained, and that a charge lasts about a year, assuming 10 locks/unlocks per day. While you're charging the main battery, the Lock Ultra's backup battery can keep it going, minus certain features like auto-locking.
For a normal deadbolt, the Lock Ultra requires some disassembly, but is fairly straightforward and involves a mounting plate and whichever of its three adapters fits your specific deadbolt's spindle. Putting it on my garage's jimmy-proof lock was even simpler: I just had to slip a grippy adapter over the thumb turn, the lock over that, then attach a spacer that let me stick the whole thing to the door with the included adhesive. I'd worry about that adhesive holding firm in a hot summer, but the lock stayed put over the week-plus of upper Midwest winter I tested it in.
From the outside, my garage door worked just as it did before, only now I could tap a button in the SwitchBot app to unlock it. Doing so could take anywhere from one to 10 seconds, depending on whether I was already connected to the lock via Bluetooth. But at least that was reliable; when I tried to use it with Apple Home—using Matter, which is available if you have a SwitchBot Hub 3 or Hub Mini—it was very slow and often failed to work at all, whether I was asking Siri to do it or tapping a button in the Apple Home app. It's nice that the hubs give it Matter compatibility, but controlling the Lock Ultra from a third-party ecosystem was unreliable enough that I wouldn't recommend buying a SwitchBot hub for it alone. All of that is to say that it makes more sense to see controlling the Lock Ultra with your phone as a backup option when you don't have your physical key with you.
The SwitchBot app offers a few nice-to-have configurable settings. For instance, you can set up GPS-based auto-unlocking or have the Lock Ultra make noises when left unlocked for too long. You can also set it to lock itself after a set time, with options like doing so only when it detects the door is closed.
I liked some of the nit-pickier features like being able to change the rotation speed of the knob to a much slower and quieter turn. You can also deactivate the ring light around the knob so it doesn't illuminate when it's turning. Heck, you can even mute the Lock Ultra's speaker so it doesn't beep and boop when you use it. I love being able to turn that stuff off. Every device that has lights and makes noises should let you do this.
SwitchBot could be a bit more thorough about feature descriptions. Explanations and further options for certain toggles didn't appear until I turned them on, so I had no idea that “Quick Key” would let me tap the Lock Ultra's knob with my elbow to unlock it if my hands were full, or that “Night Mode” let me set up night-specific behaviors. Those are good features, and not every lock has them, but if I wasn't curious I might not realize they were there at all.
Annoyingly, you can't actually fiddle with any of the Lock Ultra's features without being connected to it. I suppose that makes sense—this being a Bluetooth lock, if your phone never connects to sync any changes, then those changes won't take. But even knowing that, I was annoyed every time I wanted to mess with the lock's settings and had to wait for my phone to connect to it.
You can add fancier smart lock features to the Lock Ultra by picking up one of SwitchBot's modular keypad devices, including the $100 SwitchBot Keypad Vision that the company also sent me to test. One of the most featureful of SwitchBot's keypads, it adds a number of unlocking methods, including fingerprint scanning and facial recognition (both on-device features), which means they work quickly… when they work, that is.
Barring some good firmware updates to fix things, you may find yourself mostly tapping in a passcode to unlock the door. In my testing, the keypad sometimes didn't respond to the fingerprint scanner. And facial recognition was fiddly as heck, at least for me, a bearded person. Out of the box, it kept telling me to uncover my face when I tried to register it. Within a couple of days, a new firmware update fixed that, but it took a few tries as the keypad repeatedly told me to stand up straight (you're not my dad!) and face the lock. Even after successfully registering, the keypad would ask me to step closer or farther away almost every time I approached the door to unlock it. If there was a sweet spot to stand in, I couldn't find it.
There's also a goofy HomeKey-like feature that lets you unlock the Lock Ultra by holding your phone up to it. But it's not HomeKey; it uses the Apple Wallet transit card Express Mode feature, which lets you hold your phone up to a subway or bus NFC reader without otherwise interacting with your phone. A clever and amusing workaround, but one that only works with certain Japanese transit cards after you load them up with at least 1,000 yen worth of credit (about $6.30 USD as of this writing). I briefly tried this, but after my credit card was rejected a few times, I decided it wasn't worth the extra troubleshooting effort.
Using the passcode or on the occasions that facial recognition or the fingerprint scanner worked well, the Keypad Vision consistently unlocked the Lock Ultra within a second or two. Maybe SwitchBot can fix the non-passcode authentication issues eventually, but for now, I wouldn't shell out extra money for facial recognition when the $40 cheaper Keypad Touch, which lacks that feature but does have a fingerprint sensor, is also available. (SwitchBot also sells a $50 keypad option if you want to save another 10 bucks.)
Last thing, since it's rare to get to test these things: thanks to an unusually cold weather pattern that settled in during my review, I can confirm that both the Keypad Vision and Lock Ultra continued to operate down to the lowest temperature they're rated for. (That's -4 degrees Fahrenheit and 14 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.) Out of curiosity, I let both keep going even beyond that, down to -12 degrees Fahrenheit. They stayed functional, although the Keypad Vision's facial recognition stopped working altogether at that point. Still, neither of these devices is guaranteed for temperatures that low without permanent damage, so bear that in mind if you live in an especially frigid climate.
Despite its warts, the $140 SwitchBot Lock Ultra could be exactly the right solution for some people. It offers the peace of mind of a smart lock, but with minimal installation. With SwitchBot's $20 Lock Ultra Adapter kit, it's also effectively the only out-of-the-box solution for smartening up jimmy-proof or mortise locks. Plus, it keeps the outside part of your door looking clean.
But almost none of us in the U.S. have anything other than a standard deadbolt, and plenty of folks don't mind the look of a keypad smart lock. Combined with a SwitchBot keypad, the Lock Ultra's cost scoots into (or beyond) the range of something like the $190 Aqara U100 or the $170 TCL D2 Pro, where it starts to lose any appeal it might have had.
Still, the Lock Ultra is a solid smart lock. Its modularity is still a big plus, letting you choose your own lock hardware or add a keypad later if you decide you want that after all. As it stands, I wouldn't put the Lock Ultra on my front door, but it made for a very welcome addition to my garage.
See Smart Lock Ultra at Amazon
Explore more on these topics
Share this story
Subscribe and interact with our community, get up to date with our customised Newsletters and much more.
Meta might have some real competition.
If new gadgets are your thing, then there's arguably not a more fruitful month than January.
If it's a measure of features for price, Creative Studio is one of the best options yet. Just ignore silly AI 'freemium' features in legacy apps.
Intel's Panther Lake shines, but more than that, this laptop proves two screens are better than one.
The voice-controlled, transforming robot is an objectively cool toy, but a little less than meets the eye in the sound department.
It's got an incredibly bright OLED screen with performance that will keep you from using it for much else than work.
©2025 GIZMODO USA LLC.
All rights reserved.
This Fiber Integrated Circuit (FIC) design was inspired by sushi rolls.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
A group of researchers has built a computer chip in a flexible fiber thinner than an average human hair. The team from Fudan University in Shanghai says that their Fiber Integrated Circuit (FIC) design can process information like a computer, yet is durable enough to be “stretched, twisted, and woven into everyday clothing.” Use cases touted by the authors of the paper include advancements in the fields of brain-computer interfaces, VR devices, and smart textiles. This cutting-edge FIC design was apparently inspired by the construction of the humble sushi roll.
Flexible electronics have come a long way in recent years, with malleable components for power, sensing, and display readily available. However, so-called flexible electronic devices and the wearables made from them still usually contain components fabricated from rigid silicon wafers, limiting their applications and comfort. The Fudan team says that their FIC can remove the last vestiges of electronic rigidity “by creating a fiber integrated circuit (FIC) with unprecedented microdevice density and multimodal processing capacity.”
Like a sushi roll, the Fudan researchers build their complex electronic circuits in thin layers on flexible substrates, then roll them up tightly. According to the news and scientific paper releases, the FIC takes the form of a “multilayered spiral architecture.” The finished fiber has a tiny diameter, measuring about 50um.
In the research paper, it is claimed that the integration density of the prepared samples reaches 100,000 transistors per centimeter (10 million per meter). That's enough for in-fiber digital and analog signal processing capabilities on a par with “typical commercial arithmetic chips,” and is good enough for “high-recognition-accuracy neural computing,” reckon the Fudan team.
Enthusiastic claims by the university blog assert that a 1-meter fiber “could hold millions of transistors, reaching the power levels of a standard desktop computer processor.” But, we had to go back as far as the Intel Pentium III or AMD K6-2 to find PC CPUs with so few transistors. Both those legendary CPUs launched in the late 1990s, and they feature a smidgen under 10 million transistors each.
Some of the durability test results shared by the Chinese researchers seem impressive. In the paper published by Nature, they claim that the FIC they produced could withstand harsh conditions “such as repeated bending and abrasion for 10,000 cycles, stretching to 30%, twisting at an angle of 180° cm−1, and even crushing by a container truck weighing 15.6 tons.” The research figures include an image of a truck parked on one of the FIC test fibers...
Cannily, the Chinese say that they have already found a viable method for mass-producing these FICs. As we mentioned in the intro, the scientists foresee device makers in fields such as brain-computer interfaces being interested in their tech. With the FICs being so thin and “as flexible as brain tissue,” they should work well. They also assert that FICs will be useful in VR gloves, which look and feel “indistinguishable from ordinary fabric.”
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
These parts have the least number of failures in Puget System's builds.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Puget Systems releases an annual reliability report detailing the reliability of the components that it uses for its systems. According to the data, Intel and AMD produce the best CPUs and are tied in reliability. The report also presents data on which motherboards, graphics cards, and memory modules have the lowest failure rates.
The tables have turned for 2025, as the company reports that the Intel Xeon W family of processors hasn't seen a single failure this year and only one the previous year. For consumer CPUs, AMD Ryzen 9000 and Intel Core Ultra 200S have neck-and-neck failure rates: 2.52% for AMD Ryzen and 2.49% for Intel Core Ultra. Beyond these chip families, one SKU stood out: the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with a 0.77% failure rate. AMD's X3D processors also delivered excellent performance, with a 1.51% failure rate, making them more reliable than the rest of AMD's 9000-series CPUs.
Asus ProArt and TUF GPUs took the reliability crown last year, but because the company did not sell enough cards from a specific product line this year, Puget Systems chose the most dependable GPU manufacturer instead. Nvidia Founders Edition GPUs are at the top of the list, with a 0.25% failure rate, while Asus and PNY followed closely behind with 0.40% and 0.45%, respectively. The system integrator also said that Nvidia's professional RTX Ada Generation and RTX Pro Blackwell GPUs were equally reliable, with low failure rates — except for the high-wattage RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition.
Motherboards typically have higher failure rates than CPUs and GPUs, around 5% to 6%, as Puget Systems notes, because they have complex systems with multiple failure points. Nevertheless, two motherboards stood out: Gigabyte B860M Aorus Elite WiFi 6E Ice, which had zero failures (though the sample size was just 100 units), and Asus Tuf B850M-Plus WiFi, which had only a single failure over the year.
As for memory and storage, Kingston received the overall reliability award, with its ValueRAM DDR5-5600 32GB reporting a 0.9% failure rate, while its KC3000 SSD failed just 0.22% of the time. Nevertheless, Samsung also received a mention for one SKU—the Samsung 870 QVO 8TB SATA SSD—which reported no failures in 2025 and a 0.19% overall failure rate—significantly below the 0.74% average SSD failure rate for Puget Systems. For power supplies, the company has primarily used Super Flower Leadex units, which have a 0.47% failure rate, except for SFF builds. For these systems, Corsair PSUs had zero failures in both in-house testing and field deployment.
The company said these numbers do not reflect the overall industry, given its limited sales relative to the market. Furthermore, every unit it builds undergoes extensive testing, enabling it to detect component failures that would otherwise go unseen and remain unreported. Still, these numbers indicate the quality and reliability of PC components, so if you want to build a desktop computer that is more likely to last several years, consider selecting parts that Puget Systems uses.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He's been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he's been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
It is hard to find the capacity to resist these electrifyingly artistic $15 PCBs.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has added some beautiful printed circuit board (PCB) style bookmarks to its souvenir store. Available with red, white, green, and black PCBs, the bookmarks appear to be populated with the usual miasma of copper traces and tiny surface-mount components that only an electronics wizard could make any sense of. However, look a little closer and each PCB bookmark is actually a Tokyo Metro map - stretching from Ofuna Station in the west to Narita Airport in the east.
厚さ0.3mmの本物の基板を使用している「東京回路線図 ブックマーク」販売中です🔖https://t.co/BBylFKyaOi pic.twitter.com/4EfwiyYOxuJanuary 25, 2026
According to the museum's official webstore (machine translated), the bookmarks were designed using “PCB‑specific CAD software.” It shows surprising dedication that a fine art or graphic designer would learn an electronics design tool for this job. Perhaps the museum found an artist & electronics engineer, a rare individual with talents that cross over these distinct realms. “Each trace is drawn by hand with a mouse, resulting in a meticulously crafted piece that blends electronic engineering with art,” explains the souvenir store blurb.
These PCB bookmarks also differentiate themselves from the more typical offerings with their unique texture. They aren't too textured, though. A real, fully populated PCB could make a mess of your precious books, with variable-sized and shaped surface components, and their spiky reverse, where through-hole components are fixed.
“The materials, processes, and manufacturing methods are exactly the same as those used for real circuit boards,” says the museum. “To prevent damage to books, planners, or your hands, 0.15mm of copper foil has been removed from the board's edges.” Moreover, close inspection of the PCBs shows that they are cleverly created but don't have any actual components on them.
Despite spotting this announcement on Sunday, January 25, when we visited the museum's online store the next day, all these PCB-a-like bookmarks had been sold. Hopefully, by the time you read this, the Museum will have restocked.
A PCB bookmark representation of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by Katsushika Hokusai, is another outstanding bookmark advertised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum store. It is also sold out, sadly, but it shows that these PCB fabrication method bookmarks don't have to look like PCBs.
All the bookmarks we have highlighted measure 140 x 32 x 0.45mm. That's about 6 inches long, about an inch and a quarter wide, and as slim as a circuit board.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 3, the roar of bombs dropping from the sky announced the US military attack on Venezuela, waking the sleeping residents of La Carlota, in Caracas, a neighborhood adjacent to the air base that was a target of Operation Absolute Resolve.
Marina G.'s first thought, as the floors, walls, and windows of her second-story apartment shook, was that it was an earthquake. Her cat scrambled and hid for hours, while the neighbors' dogs began to bark incessantly. But the persistence of the strange hum of engines (military aircraft flying low over the city, she would later learn), as well as seeing a group of cadets in T-shirts and shorts fleeing the Army headquarters, were signs that this was not an earthquake.
Marina couldn't rely on the typical media outlets that are easily accessible in most other countries to learn more. She didn't bother to turn on the television or radio in search of information about the attacks that began simultaneously at 11 military installations in Caracas and three other states. The government-run television station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) was broadcasting a report on the minister of culture's visit to Russia as the attack was taking place. Her cell phone, however, still had a signal and she began to receive dozens of messages on WhatsApp: “They're bombing Caracas!”
During the darkest moments of that confusing morning, there was no team of independent reporters able to go out and record what was happening on the streets. After years of harassment, censorship, and imprisonment of journalists by the government, there were instead only empty newsrooms, decimated resources, and a complete lack of security, which made it impossible to keep the public informed as the crisis was unfolding.
The fears felt by journalists were shared by many Venezuelans: the fears of arbitrary detention, of being imprisoned without cause, tortured, and extorted. These are fears that have led citizens in Venezuela to adopt some digital safeguards in order to survive. They have learned to restrict chats, move sensitive material to hidden folders, and automatically delete any “compromising” messages. Whenever possible, they leave their cell phones at home. If they have to take their phones with them, then before going out, they delete all photos, stickers, and memes that could possibly be interpreted as subversive. This state of collective paranoia has also, however, allowed Venezuelans to stay informed and not succumb to the dictatorship.
It is, largely, ordinary citizens who have created this information network. Soon after the bombs fell on January 3, the first videos began to circulate, recorded by people who had witnessed the explosions from their windows and balconies, or from the beach, where some were still celebrating the New Year. Even hikers camping at the summit of Cerro Ávila, in Waraira Repano National Park, managed to capture panoramic shots of the bombs exploding over the Caracas Valley. Shortly afterwards, international networks confirmed the news.
In the interior of the country, connectivity is even more complicated. In San Rafael de Mucuchíes, a peaceful village in the Andes in the state of Mérida, a group of hikers tried to keep up with the frantic pace of events with intermittent internet access at 10,300 feet above sea level. They learned the news from telephone calls via operators such as Movistar (Telefónica) and Digitel, not from the instant messaging app WhatsApp. They also overcame the challenges of the information desert they were in by using a portable Starlink satellite internet antenna that one of the travelers had in their luggage. During the crisis, the service developed by SpaceX was provided free to Venezuelans.
Three hours after the attacks, at 5:14 am, defense minister Vladimir Padrino López posted a video declaring that Venezuela had been the target of “the most criminal military aggression by the United States government.” He was the first official spokesperson to appear on screen.
The rumor that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured spread as fast as the videos and messages on social media. At 5:21 am, Trump confirmed on his Truth Social account (a platform that cannot be accessed within Venezuela) that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and transported out of the country.
Journalists announce Maduro's capture.
The information blackout on the US military operation that toppled Maduro was circumvented by a collaborative alliance of independent media outlets in Venezuela which sprang into action after the bombings of January 3. For almost 11 hours on YouTube, a group of Venezuelan journalists, some in exile and others within the country, with some hiding their identities for their own safety, jointly broadcast minute-by-minute coverage of an unprecedented event in the country's recent history (video above). This virtual newsroom was the first to inform Venezuelans of Trump's announcement that Maduro and his wife had been captured and transferred to the United States to stand trial.
Many Venezuelans, however, lost all connectivity that morning and only found out about the momentous events through word of mouth or much later, after they had managed to reconnect to the internet. Some areas of Caracas, especially those near the bombings like Fuerte Tiuna (the enormous military installation where Maduro's home and where he was taken by the Delta Force unit is located), suffered prolonged power and internet outages.
A lack of information on the intervention continued into the days following January 3. By order of the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, who had been Maduro's vice president, all radio stations in the country were forced to broadcast only solemn music in mourning for the Venezuelans who died during the military attack. To date, the new US-backed government has not published the final number of dead and wounded, nor their identities. Interior and Justice minister Diosdado Cabello said that more than 100 people died, while the army and militia posted 24 obituaries of uniformed personnel on their respective Instagram accounts.
Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, together with the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez (left), and the Interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, during a press conference on the release of political prisoners.
The Venezuelan people's determination to know the truth in the face of the information blackout that existed during the recent US military operation reflects more than two decades of navigating the many crises and chaotic moments under the Chavista regime. They have experienced a common education on how to circumvent censorship, misinformation, and fear so that people can both report on events and stay informed under an authoritarian regime.
To understand how Venezuelans have adapted to the deterioration of freedom of speech and the press in their country, we need to go back to 2014, a year that marked a turning point for Venezuelan journalism. At the same time that there was a wave of protests against Maduro's regime, many traditional print media outlets were sold to business groups loyal to the government and then changed their editorial stances. Many journalists left to establish digital platforms that would form a new ecosystem of independent media, perhaps with less reach and more limited resources, but with the determination to continue practicing journalism in an environment of growing censorship, threats, disinformation, and repression.
Also in 2014, Twitter (now X) emerged as a powerful alternative source of information especially as more than 400 media outlets disappeared over the course of two decades. That number includes some 285 radio stations across the country (71 percent of the media outlets that closed), according to the organization Espacio Público's annual report in 2023.
Internet restrictions in Venezuela, however, threatened this digital boom. According to the latest report from the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), released in 2022, Venezuela had an internet penetration rate of just 55 percent. According to the organization VE sin Filtro (or Venezuela Unfiltered), the country went from having a relatively competitive internet to one of the worst levels of service in the world.
Furthermore, internet crackdowns are implemented as part of state policy. According to a report by TOP10VPN, Venezuela is the second-most affected country after Russia by this extreme measure of government censorship, resulting in economic losses of up to $1.91 billion and more than 5,900 hours without connection, affecting 17.9 million people.
Censorship and digital shutdowns are added to other repressive practices such as arbitrary detentions (journalists arrested without a warrant, often held incommunicado and subjected to trials without due process); forced displacement (threats and intimidation forcing journalists to leave their homes and even go into exile for fear of reprisals); and judicial harassment (arbitrary application of laws to criminalize journalistic work), which have been well documented by organizations such as the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad Venezuela (IPYS Venezuela), in English, the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela.
Looking at this history, it becomes clear that Venezuela under Chavismo has become a laboratory for social control by the dictatorship through the domination of communications.
As public debate and media consumption shifted to the internet over the last decade, Maduro's government also began to establish mechanisms for controlling and monitoring the digital environment. The government forced internet providers in Venezuela to block independent media as part of its campaign of digital repression. This situation worsened in the context of the presidential elections on July 28, 2024, when the results that were clearly in favor of opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia were never recognized by Maduro. (An opposition coalition has presented evidence that González received 67 percent of the vote to Maduro's 30 percent, a figure in line with analyses by the Associated Press and other international media outlets and organizations. The government's official results claim that Maduro won with 51 percent of the vote to González's 44 percent.)
According to the organization VE sin Filtro, at least 61 independent digital media outlets remain blocked, affecting 90 domains. This does not include temporary restrictions on key platforms such as Signal, YouTube, TikTok, and Telegram, often imposed during political events such as elections or social protests.
Today many Venezuelans rely on a VPN, or virtual private network, to access X. The crisis triggered by the electoral fraud in 2024 led Maduro to tighten controls on communications. Among the measures taken at the time was to remove X from internet services for “inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, and conflict among Venezuelans.”
A Caracas resident turns to X for news.
Also in August 2024, Maduro urged his supporters to uninstall WhatsApp from their devices saying it posed a threat to the military, police, and Chavista community leaders. “Say no to WhatsApp,” exclaimed the now-deposed leader at the time, while also calling for people to abandon other platforms, specifically Meta's Instagram and TikTok, which he identified as the main instruments “amplifying hatred and fascism.” Maduro encouraged his supporters to switch to other networks, such as the Russian Telegram.
But once again, digital tools soon became available that would allow Venezuelans to circumvent the latest restrictions and access information. In 2024, VPN provider Proton AG offered their services free of charge to Venezuelans, allowing people to circumvent government blocks on social media, at least at times.
Three days after Maduro's fall, the apparent normality in the streets of Caracas contrasted with the joy, anguish, and uncertainty that was being expressed on social media, especially WhatsApp. But the illusion of a relatively free debate on social media ended on January 5, when the National Assembly was sworn in at the Legislative Palace in the historic center of Caracas. On that same day Delcy Rodríguez was also sworn in as Venezuela's acting president and 14 journalists covering the official ceremony were arrested and one of them was deported.
On January 3, the same day as the US bombing, a decree was issued declaring a state of external emergency with the force of law which, among other restrictions, suspended the right to demonstrate and assemble in public, put public services and the oil industry under control of the military, and mandated the arrest of anyone who promotes or supports “the armed attack by the United States against the Republic.”
The Venezuelan journalist Carlos Julio Rojas with his wife, Francisca Hernández, in a church in Caracas following his release from prison on January 14, 2026.
The decree took effect immediately in a show of force. A few hours after the US military operation, four men (two in the state of Mérida and two in Carabobo) were arrested for allegedly supporting the US attack on Venezuela. On January 12, a group of 15 teenagers who were celebrating Carnival in a neighborhood of Barcelona, in the state of Anzoátegui, were detained and charged in court with “incitement of hatred, treason, and criminal association.” Hours later, the minors were released.
Following the violence unleashed by the fraudulent election results of July 28, 2024, Venezuelans began to adopt a practice of self-regulation when it came to their online activities, out of fear of reprisals that could at times be physical. Agents from state security organizations and the colectivos (vigilante groups operating with the government's consent) were given license to randomly stop pedestrians and drivers and check the screens of their devices, even though this is technically illegal.
It remains to be seen whether the current state of surveillance will continue in post-Maduro Venezuela under the democratic transition that the United States has promised. For now, the interim president and other government officials have reactivated their X accounts, but the platform remains difficult for the broader public to access. On the one hand, 18 journalists were released from prison in a single day but, on the other, colectivos and police alike continue to detain people after checking their cell phones, sometimes even when they don't have any “problematic” content. For now, life has become only more complicated in Venezuela's digital cage.
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and was translated from Spanish by John Newton.
In your inbox: Maxwell Zeff's dispatch from the heart of AI
The best EVs coming in 2026
Big Story: Your first humanoid coworker will be Chinese
What to do if ICE invades your neighborhood
Special edition: You're already living in the Chinese century
© 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
reply
This started happening for me a few weeks ago.
reply
reply
Lately I discovered Firefox with background play and sponsor block extensions still work. If this stops working hopefully tubular will be a good backup.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
Except for on the TV (where I use SmartTube), all of my Youtube activity is done with web browsers.Otherwise: On both big computers and with my pocket supercomputer alike, that means Firefox and uBlock Origin. It works quite well for navigating Youtube's website and watching videos.An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all.
Otherwise: On both big computers and with my pocket supercomputer alike, that means Firefox and uBlock Origin. It works quite well for navigating Youtube's website and watching videos.An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all.
An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all.
It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all.
reply
You can download only the soundpart as mp4 or opus too.
reply
reply
reply
reply
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.junkfood.seal/
reply
reply
Same time, one can appreciate the YouTube business: once you give something away for free, people absolutely loose their fucking minds if you make it paid. Once you set the bar to zero for payment, people will murder in the streets and despise you if you reasonably charge for what could have been a paid product all along. So there's a psychological blocker to switching on payment that people are ready to go to war for. It's the same blocker that cripples "open source" sustainability. People quickly develop an entitlement-callous, and feel cheated if you require payment instead of just continuing to surrender value to them.It reminds of how a group of primates will kill a handler who gives cake to one, but not the group. This "free / paid" tension triggers some kind of deep-rooted human fairness wiring that is really tricky to extinguish once activated. That's why you should never open source your code and never give stuff away for free, if you plan to posslby make money from it somehow or make it paid in future. Because if you ever withhold the siphon of value related to ads or other 'you as a product' models, they will launch a jihad against you.I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. Live and learn, YouTube.
It reminds of how a group of primates will kill a handler who gives cake to one, but not the group. This "free / paid" tension triggers some kind of deep-rooted human fairness wiring that is really tricky to extinguish once activated. That's why you should never open source your code and never give stuff away for free, if you plan to posslby make money from it somehow or make it paid in future. Because if you ever withhold the siphon of value related to ads or other 'you as a product' models, they will launch a jihad against you.I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. Live and learn, YouTube.
I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. Live and learn, YouTube.
Oh well. Live and learn, YouTube.
reply
If YouTube allowed syndication with other websites, for example, so I could watch videos on whatever website I wanted (with an appropriate portion of the revenue going to YouTube), I would have no problems with them changing their monetization model.
reply
Hmmm, possible. How to test? Hard, given their monopoly status. Tho does Rumble offer paid subscriptions?A small but perhaps weak counter to your thesis is that if people were really unwilling to negotiate with YouTube over cost/experience, why would they then so vehemently attempt to eradicate ads, rather that accepting them as a lesser cost than the subscription fee?But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Not the ads. Not the USD9 (?) / mo subscription, however localized. Thus it's not free-then-paid, it's "bad pricing" that's arming the militia? Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. Emotional and ape logic, yes, but objective and economic rationality + empathy logic? No.
A small but perhaps weak counter to your thesis is that if people were really unwilling to negotiate with YouTube over cost/experience, why would they then so vehemently attempt to eradicate ads, rather that accepting them as a lesser cost than the subscription fee?But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Not the ads. Not the USD9 (?) / mo subscription, however localized. Thus it's not free-then-paid, it's "bad pricing" that's arming the militia? Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. Emotional and ape logic, yes, but objective and economic rationality + empathy logic? No.
But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Not the ads. Not the USD9 (?) / mo subscription, however localized. Thus it's not free-then-paid, it's "bad pricing" that's arming the militia? Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. Emotional and ape logic, yes, but objective and economic rationality + empathy logic? No.
Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. Emotional and ape logic, yes, but objective and economic rationality + empathy logic? No.
reply
Disney, Netflix, and HBO all fund the creation of and own the content they provide to users. Youtube does not. Youtube inserts itself as a middle-man taxing regular people sharing videos with other regular people. There is obviously a non-zero cost to infrastructure but their attempts to extract revenue go far, far beyond that, hence people feeling their prices are too high, whether the price is paid in ads or subscription fees.
reply
When you say "their attempts to extract revenue go far beyond that"(A) I feel I can't accept that on good faith, I'd need to see numbers. Also I doubt this kind of data is the thing most people reacting with "prices are unfair" or "payment is bad", are drawing on, instinctively or not. So it's hard for me to accept this thesis as the source of ills. Tho, maybe it is. Maybe people's innate sense of fairness really does cover this, somehow.I'm not aware of those numbers, so it doesn't seem that way to me, but maybe I'm just not across it. Can you give examples of your claim (A)?
I'm not aware of those numbers, so it doesn't seem that way to me, but maybe I'm just not across it. Can you give examples of your claim (A)?
reply
Another way we could measure it is by the value of an ad-view relative to the price of the subscription they offer. Ad views are auctioned and go for different prices based on category, demographics of viewers, etc., and aggregate statistics are not provided, but an ad-view typically tends to be in the range of US$0.01 per ad view. A subscription fee of US$9* to avoid ads, then, would require viewing 900 ads to justify the cost. I suspect in reality most people don't see more than 100 ads in a month, so Youtube is likely generating an 8x profit margin over costs of not showing ads to Premium users, give or take depending on how you work out the napkin math. If people had an option to buy an ad-free subscription with none of the other premium features for $1/mo, I suspect the uptake would be significantly higher and feel fair to the general population.*After looking it up, Youtube Premium apparently actually costs US$14.Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. I am not opposed to paying subscription fees to platforms, but when it feels extortionate, I won't. The same is likely true for many or most people.
*After looking it up, Youtube Premium apparently actually costs US$14.Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. I am not opposed to paying subscription fees to platforms, but when it feels extortionate, I won't. The same is likely true for many or most people.
Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. I am not opposed to paying subscription fees to platforms, but when it feels extortionate, I won't. The same is likely true for many or most people.
reply
reply
reply
Small strange nuance for me is when I switch to my corp account, and see an ad, sometimes I really enjoy the ad, because it's novel and creative. Sounds funny to say, and I probably wouldn't fele like that if I saw ads all the time. But some of the YT ads do seem pretty high quality.
reply
reply
I don't wanna trick anyone into showing me ad-free content, I just want a chance to choose.
reply
If you marry somebody and they suddenly become a totally different person and try to extort you a common reaction is to feel deceived and unhappy. They have cheated you in a sense of the opportunity cost of being able to marry someone else.That people might not understand that tells you something about them.
That people might not understand that tells you something about them.
reply
Anyway, in this case I think the analogy is a little overblown because the stakes are so different, but is revealing. You can way more easily divest of a software product than a marriage (presumably, tho that may differ locally). But, as in marriage, there's a interesting nuance: the stories we tell ourselves about what went wrong are so often one-sided, which lacks empathy for how the other person is probably just doing their best. A similar empahty mismatch with the entitlement of consumers who don't comprehend that the value they expect a person to provide them for free, should actually be compensated. As in, a free exchange.That someone might confuse those could tell you 'something about them.' Or it could just be an honest mistake, on their part. That we're all likely to make.Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up!
That someone might confuse those could tell you 'something about them.' Or it could just be an honest mistake, on their part. That we're all likely to make.Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up!
Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up!
Thanks for bringing it up!
reply
Arranged marriages are unpopular because we value choice. For the same reason we, westerners, abhor monopolies that transform society, wreck age old institutions, remove choice and limit access to what once was free.
reply
Aside from that - what age old institutions are wrecked by monopolies, or which ones are you talking about it? Genuinely curious.
reply
reply
I see your point now about monopoly. It's more sort of monopoly in the digital age and it's pretty coherent what you're saying, From the narrow point of view that you're meaning here, and it is a significant point. I think the only solution in that case is you have to treat them as institutions and they have to be run for the public benefit - but saying that sounds ridiculous and I don't think it could ever work so I guess our societies have to come up with some other solutions. But the problem, your point is referencing, is very real.
reply
Consumer laws should prevent Google doing this. We need an anti-DMCA to make circumvention, bypassing, or disabling of user's device or OS features illegal.
reply
reply
reply
It's almost dumping [1]: they gave a service away for free (even if they were losing a lot of money) just to make it unfeasible for any other company to start a competing service.Vimeo could have been a competitor, but then they pivoted to a professional market and now that Bending Spoons bought them [2], I'm not sure they will even have a future.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45197302
Vimeo could have been a competitor, but then they pivoted to a professional market and now that Bending Spoons bought them [2], I'm not sure they will even have a future.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45197302
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45197302
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
Browsers will “slow down” various aspects of pages when they're not visible, like animations or timers, to save on battery usage on laptops or phones.Even if your remove explicit APIs for backgrounding, pages can still use heuristics to detect anyway.
Even if your remove explicit APIs for backgrounding, pages can still use heuristics to detect anyway.
reply
That is what it means to have control over your own computing.
reply
Ah, see, there's the problem. The corpo apologists in the room don't want you to have that. The hardware you bought; err, licensed; to them, is their playground.
reply
reply
As an avid idle game player, I'm tired of opening games in different window and having main window not-fullscreen just for the game to play normallyThis "tab unloading" is great and all, but not giving us users any control to turn it off is awful
This "tab unloading" is great and all, but not giving us users any control to turn it off is awful
reply
https://github.com/revanced/revanced-managerRossmann's Grayjay app offers the same functionality in a separate standalone client. It has a paid pro mode, but is free software. I use this on devices that I haven't signed in with Google.https://grayjay.app/
Rossmann's Grayjay app offers the same functionality in a separate standalone client. It has a paid pro mode, but is free software. I use this on devices that I haven't signed in with Google.https://grayjay.app/
https://grayjay.app/
reply
reply
reply
This and ubo on android really make firefox a really great (the best imo) browser on android.
reply
reply
reply
Oh, absolutely. If someone is not seeing this writing on the wall, they must be blind.
reply
Otherwise the other option is to drag the tab out to a window of its own, they can't know it's not visible, at least that works for Twitch ads.
reply
Along the same line is that you can watch any hour long video without interruptions unless it is music where you will get interrupted every couple of minutes with "are you there?" dialogues.
reply
reply
Tell your favourite content-creators to consider alternatives alongside youtube (like peertube), and promote the alternative platforms, until the network effect pays off.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
This causes a fatalistic chain where the video has a captcha, and if you don't answer it in 5-15 seconds it goes to the next in the playlist and the process repeats. This turbo charges uncontrollably down the series of videos.The solution is within seconds remove the &pp= (or go back a few pages and do so) this gives you as much time as you need to solve the captcha. Or remember to copy the search result link instead of clicking on it and clean it up.I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try.
The solution is within seconds remove the &pp= (or go back a few pages and do so) this gives you as much time as you need to solve the captcha. Or remember to copy the search result link instead of clicking on it and clean it up.I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try.
I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try.
reply
reply
reply
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they can get some money from it, but maybe there's too much money now. Every time I hear about a YouTube creator quitting their job and going pro, I fear for the future quality of their output.
reply
reply
reply
reply
As an example: knowing that I won't be able to keep the sound playing for the 5 minutes in between two buses when I need to walk and pay attention, I'll probably just launch a podcast from the beginning of my hour of transportation so that I'm not interrupted. For these five minutes, they loose me for almost an hour.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
If you're thinking about content creators, you're just wrong. Most of them get almost nothing from YouTube ads, and for those who do, a few of them have no money have multiple revenue sources of which YouTube AdSense is very rarely the main one. Many do in-video product placements, which are not affected by being able to get audio only or having an ad blocker, and many have things like a Patreon, Tipeee, Ulule, of some sort. I pay monthly directly to the creators I watch the most on these platforms and who do not have millions of followers, because that's what they say help them the most.Really, thinking Google worsening our user experience is even remotely something they do in favor of content creators having a hard time at the end of the month is beyond naive.
Really, thinking Google worsening our user experience is even remotely something they do in favor of content creators having a hard time at the end of the month is beyond naive.
reply
reply
reply
reply
Dismantle the GAFAM. Death to them. They're evil, imperialistic, freedom-killing machines.
reply
reply
reply
reply
If you want something lighter for Firefox Android. There is also the Background Video Player extension.
reply
Termux > install mpv > mpv "[URL]" (or mpv --no-video "[URL]")Alternatively:Termux > proot-distro > set up audio > play in browser like firefox
Alternatively:Termux > proot-distro > set up audio > play in browser like firefox
Termux > proot-distro > set up audio > play in browser like firefox
reply
reply
[0] https://github.com/Xpra-org/xpra/
reply
reply
reply
What is much more worrying is how aggressively Google tries to abuse
its de-facto monopoly. I have said it before, I will say it again:
Google abusing everyone else is a bad situation. We need to make
Google smaller again.
reply
At least this is a loosing game for Google, since this is client side behaviour.
reply
reply
a) don't careb) were desperate enough at the time, then, like that damn videogame, it sucked him init's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad.
b) were desperate enough at the time, then, like that damn videogame, it sucked him init's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad.
it's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
Is the cleaner regularly removing poop stains from the personal toilet of a big and rich Google shareholder more useful than the qualified Google engineer working hard so a big number is very slightly bigger on one the shareholder's list of numbers? I think the cleaner has more impact.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
This is where their most brilliant engineers have bested you, because they control the client too.
reply
reply
reply
UPD found https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/video-backgro... elsewhere in the thread
reply
reply
There is no moral high-ground for YouTube to take here.
reply
reply
They were also somehow the only ones that offered music videos without being shut down.
reply
I guess the only thing you've done is create a massive cognitive dissonance instead of multiverse travel.
reply
reply
- fair use was also sot as permissive in that era! Web 2.0 coerced a legal shift -
reply
Problem is, there's no real alternative for YouTube. It's a monopoly.
reply
reply
reply
Vimeo? It's basically dead. DailyMotion? It could've been an alternative, but they've recently deleted most old videos. Peertube? Nice idea in theory, but lack of content.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
-----> Okay, so list which websites I can use to watch all kinds of content that I can find on YouTube.it serve this purpose.
> Okay, so list which websites I can use to watch all kinds of content that I can find on YouTube.it serve this purpose.
it serve this purpose.
reply
It is just an oligopoly like most other sectors.
reply
And then I realised people primarily consume shorts.
reply
That's not monetization that's exploitation.Would you feel the same if your phone suddenly updated so that your camera records in half quality unless you start paying monthly? It's their product, they can monetize it how they like.
Would you feel the same if your phone suddenly updated so that your camera records in half quality unless you start paying monthly? It's their product, they can monetize it how they like.
reply
Also wrt phone, it's different because I paid for the phone. But also I'd just use a different camera app?
reply
reply
Oh, I despise this tactic so much. It means the company has known from the start that they can't offer it for free in the long term, but decided to subsidize it in order to gain a dominant position and get rid of competition. This breaks the conditions needed for a free market dynamics to work. In other words, they win market share for reasons other than efficiency, quality, or innovation. That's why some forms of government subsidies are prohibited under certain agreements, for example. Some multinational corporations have annual revenues larger than the GDP of many countries and can easily subsidize negative pricing for years to undercut competitors, consolidate market share, and ultimately gain monopoly power.Also, the company has hinted false promises to the customer, as it signals that they have developed a business model where they can offer something for free. For example a two-sided marketplace where one side gets something for free to attract users and the other side pays (as it profits form these users). Users can't know something isn't sustainable unless the company explicitly states it in some way (e.g. this is a limited time offer).So from the user's perspective, this is a bait-and-switch tactic, where the company has used a free offer in order to manipulate the market.
Also, the company has hinted false promises to the customer, as it signals that they have developed a business model where they can offer something for free. For example a two-sided marketplace where one side gets something for free to attract users and the other side pays (as it profits form these users). Users can't know something isn't sustainable unless the company explicitly states it in some way (e.g. this is a limited time offer).So from the user's perspective, this is a bait-and-switch tactic, where the company has used a free offer in order to manipulate the market.
So from the user's perspective, this is a bait-and-switch tactic, where the company has used a free offer in order to manipulate the market.
reply
If they don't like users using their service how they deem improper, ban them? they know what accounts are doing it... There is a reason for this cat and mouse, and its not ending with youtube banning people.A lot of the current issues i see with it, is that it is treated like the go to service for video hosting...Just consider image hosting... If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... If they wanna lock that up? actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. This is a company posing as a public service, and occasionally deciding it hates how a % of the public is using their service. So they hand them a 10$ a month ticket that they pretend is required, but they will never take action on users who dont pay that ticket.
A lot of the current issues i see with it, is that it is treated like the go to service for video hosting...Just consider image hosting... If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... If they wanna lock that up? actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. This is a company posing as a public service, and occasionally deciding it hates how a % of the public is using their service. So they hand them a 10$ a month ticket that they pretend is required, but they will never take action on users who dont pay that ticket.
Just consider image hosting... If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... If they wanna lock that up? actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. This is a company posing as a public service, and occasionally deciding it hates how a % of the public is using their service. So they hand them a 10$ a month ticket that they pretend is required, but they will never take action on users who dont pay that ticket.
Service in my eyes here, is a public service. This is a company posing as a public service, and occasionally deciding it hates how a % of the public is using their service. So they hand them a 10$ a month ticket that they pretend is required, but they will never take action on users who dont pay that ticket.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
I would hope most people anywhere would see that as a bad thing, especially given the scams and harms that ads are pushing.I am not sure the best way to improve things, but anyone should be able to live a normal day of life without being forced to see any advertisement.
I am not sure the best way to improve things, but anyone should be able to live a normal day of life without being forced to see any advertisement.
reply
I am not sure those who work at Google are all brilliant - but it should
also not matter, because they support Evil here. They should be ashamed
for working for Evil. Guess if the money is right ...
reply
Maybe we should stop with that tired fallacious rhetoric? Just because you work at a massive company doesn't make you “brilliant”.
reply
The irony of your comment of accusing them of using fallacious rhetoric, is that your reply uses one of the most common fallacies of all: strawman fallacy
reply
Their argument isn't new, it's just a rehash of “the most brilliant minds of our generation are working on trying to get you to click on ads”. My criticism was directed at the general argument, which is simply wrong. That comment is based on nothing except those people working at those corporations.It is not a strawman because I am disagreeing with the conclusion as quoted, the reasoning being immaterial.
It is not a strawman because I am disagreeing with the conclusion as quoted, the reasoning being immaterial.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
juggling the phone to not only skip ads, but also forcing the phone screen to be active, is a hazard.In my case this loophole being closed, wouldn't make me pay for premium... but it would make a younger version of me certainly more dangerous on the road.
In my case this loophole being closed, wouldn't make me pay for premium... but it would make a younger version of me certainly more dangerous on the road.
reply
Multitasking is a basic OS feature, no matter what kind of device you're using. Gating it behind a paywall is user-hostile behavior at its finest.
reply
reply
reply
reply
I've noticed YouTube likes to A/B test a lot. If you use it signed out you pretty much get a new set of minor changes each time.
reply
Then they better have a 'correct' client for all platforms out there because they are filthy dominant at worldwide scale.In my personal space: I don't think they are competent enough to provide a 'correct' set of ELF64 binaries for elf/linux, you know 'wayland->x11' fallback, 'vulkan->CPU' fallback, OLD glibc ABI, etc (BTW, wayland+vulkan = android).
In my personal space: I don't think they are competent enough to provide a 'correct' set of ELF64 binaries for elf/linux, you know 'wayland->x11' fallback, 'vulkan->CPU' fallback, OLD glibc ABI, etc (BTW, wayland+vulkan = android).
reply
reply
reply
reply
Get fucked. I vote we remove API access to any focus state information.Fuck you google.
Fuck you google.
reply
reply
We'll see. Until then, it's cheap and works fine.
reply
reply
reply
reply
One might also say it was unsustainable from the start, video is incredibly expensive to host and especially moderate.All we're seeing right now is the beginning of the end of the ad-financed world. Someone has to pay the bills in the end and advertisement spending is on the way down, more and more of it is going to influencers/TTL instead of traditional ATL/BTL marketing.
All we're seeing right now is the beginning of the end of the ad-financed world. Someone has to pay the bills in the end and advertisement spending is on the way down, more and more of it is going to influencers/TTL instead of traditional ATL/BTL marketing.
reply
‘YouTube is failing because free tier is too expensive to be offset by ads' and ‘YouTube premium is overly expensive' can both be true. Shareholders care about maximising profits now, not overall product longevity.
reply
Agree in principle, but I'd raise the serious question if Youtube is profitable in the first place. Every minute, 500 hours of video are uploaded [1], so the storage growth given 1.5 GB/h is at least (not including compression, duplication across multiple DCs, edge nodes, whatever) 750 GB / minute, 45 TB / hour or 1.080 TB / day.At 10 $/TB (and that is a figure from before the AI boom making all costs explode) they have to spend 10.800 $ per day just in HDD costs, on top of that comes the server hardware, racks, switches, datacenter construction costs, and then the cost of running all of that - electricity for the servers, cooling, internet egress bandwidth (in total, all video sites made up 65% traffic of the entire Internet pre-AI boom).It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. From that, take off 10% for music licenses (estimated [5]), 25% for taxes (assuming for simplicity an average 20% corporate tax plus 5% VAT), that leaves 11.7 billion $. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. Certainly not enough to appeal to the stonk markets and beancounters, and that is what drives the ever increasing push for ads and premium.As a side question... I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all.[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
At 10 $/TB (and that is a figure from before the AI boom making all costs explode) they have to spend 10.800 $ per day just in HDD costs, on top of that comes the server hardware, racks, switches, datacenter construction costs, and then the cost of running all of that - electricity for the servers, cooling, internet egress bandwidth (in total, all video sites made up 65% traffic of the entire Internet pre-AI boom).It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. From that, take off 10% for music licenses (estimated [5]), 25% for taxes (assuming for simplicity an average 20% corporate tax plus 5% VAT), that leaves 11.7 billion $. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. Certainly not enough to appeal to the stonk markets and beancounters, and that is what drives the ever increasing push for ads and premium.As a side question... I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all.[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. From that, take off 10% for music licenses (estimated [5]), 25% for taxes (assuming for simplicity an average 20% corporate tax plus 5% VAT), that leaves 11.7 billion $. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. Certainly not enough to appeal to the stonk markets and beancounters, and that is what drives the ever increasing push for ads and premium.As a side question... I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all.[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. Certainly not enough to appeal to the stonk markets and beancounters, and that is what drives the ever increasing push for ads and premium.As a side question... I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all.[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
As a side question... I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all.[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[1] https://soax.com/research/how-many-hours-of-video-are-upload...[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[2] https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/01/20/sandvine-video-data-ba...[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[3] https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[4] https://digiday.com/marketing/what-it-takes-to-get-paid-by-y...[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[5] https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/gema-ts-104.html[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-still-doesnt-make-go...
reply
reply
What basic browser function is that? Video playback with the video tag? It's only been around for about 15 years and mainstream for 10 years.
reply
* tangiential rambling old-person side-note: RealPlayer was a weird early example of a piece of software that was actually _better_ on Linux: The windoze version was notorious for also installing a thousand other pieces of spyware/adware and other trash, taking over your system and making it worse, to the point that people avoided it like the plague... But none of that crapware supported Linux, so the Linux version was just this relatively clean player that came as a self-contained, easy to install rpm and worked pretty well. I used to use RealPlayer a fair bit back in my early Linux days. When I used to tie an onion my belt, which was the style at the time.
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
reply
Explore GOAL Betting with
Lionel Messi recreated an iconic scorpion kick with legendary goalkeeper Rene Higuita ahead of Inter Miami's latest friendly outing. The Herons, fresh from their historic MLS Cup triumph in 2025, are readying themselves for the start of a new campaign. Javier Mascherano's side are working their way through a pre-season programme in South America.
They suffered defeat in their first outing of 2026, but have now returned to winning ways. That is because they were able to battle past Atletico Nacional at Estadio Atanasio Girardot. Inter Miami fell behind in that fixture, but Luis Suarez restored parity 10 minutes into the second half and a stoppage-time own goal from Elkin Rivero settled the contest.
Before a ball was kicked in anger, Messi - making his first trip to Medellin in 15 years - rubbed shoulders with iconic former Colombia international Higuita. He famously made headlines during a friendly outing against England in 1995 - delivering an acrobatic scorpion kick to clear a ball lofted forward by Three Lions midfielder Jamie Redknapp.
Eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi signed a ball for Higuita, before prodding another towards Higuita that allowed him to recreate his memorable moment from more than three decades ago.
Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!
Messi was not on the field when Inter Miami forced their winner, having been replaced in the 75th-minute, but he gave the crowd what they came for. Atletico Nacional star Alfredo Morales was delighted to line up against the Argentine GOAT. He said: “He's No. 1 in the world.
“We know what he generates in our people here in Colombia. Wherever he goes, it will be the same thing. It was a privilege to have him here, and thankfully we were able to face him because it will help us grow as players and as a club.”
Mascherano said of the performance put in by his team, as German Berterame and Micael made their unofficial debuts for the club: “The team was much more recognisable as to who we are.
“You could also tell that we had another week working on things together. Today we competed well. “We still have much to improve on, but for large spells of the game we had the control and good play against a talented opponent.”
Herons winger Mateo Silvetti said: “We grew into the game little by little. We started finding the spaces and the game. I think we had more possession today than we did in the last game. Little by little we will continue getting better.
“We are taking advantage of having games like this that allow us to test ourselves and start competing again. These opponents are super competitive and serve us in our process to get ready for the start of the season.”
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
Inter Miami will continue their pre-season preparations next Saturday when heading to Ecuador for a meeting with Barcelona de Guayaquil at Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha. Messi will once again be on show there.
Explore GOAL Betting with
Explore GOAL Betting with
Manchester United's winning start to life under Michael Carrick continued in dramatic fashion as Benjamin Sesko's stoppage-time strike secured a 3-2 win over Fulham on Sunday. Goals from Casemiro and Matheus Cunha had the Red Devils cruising towards victory, only for late strikes from Raul Jimenez and Kevin to pull the visitors level. Sesko, however, had the last laugh when he lashed his shot into the top corner.
United made a bright start as Amad Diallo and Harry Maguire forced Bernd Leno into saves, though Senne Lammens had to show fine reactions to tip Joachim Andersen's close-range effort wide at the other end. Carrick's side then took the lead when, after VAR overturned a penalty award for a foul on Cunha due to the incident being outside the box, Casemiro rose highest at the back post to head in the resulting free-kick from Bruno Fernandes.
Clear chances were few and far between thereafter, and it was not until the second half that United came close to doubling their lead when Leno smothered Bryan Mbeumo as he ran through on goal. Lammens then got down well to keep out a Harry Wilson free-kick before Cunha doubled the Red Devils' lead when he ran onto Casemiro's through-ball and lashed into the top corner.
Fulham thought they had pulled a goal back when Jorge Cuenca found the net from inside the six-yard box, but Samuel Chukwueze was deemed to be offside in the build-up. Sesko then headed against the post with his first touch before Lammens again produced a fine save to keep Maguire from scoring an own goal.
Eventually the Belgian was beaten when Raul Jimenez scored from the penalty spot after a foul by Maguire, and United were then stunned by substitute Kevin, who rifled a shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner. However, just as it seemed like Carrick's team would have to settle for a point, Sesko swivelled inside the penalty area and left Leno motionless to send the Theatre of Dreams wild.
GOAL rates United's players from Old Trafford...
Senne Lammens (9/10):
Showed great reactions to keep out efforts from Andersen and Wilson, as well as a potential own goal from Maguire. Deserved a clean sheet but had no chance with either goal.
Diogo Dalot (5/10):
Struggled a little up against Chukwueze. Does look a little exposed in a more defensive role.
Harry Maguire (5/10):
Got himself in the way of plenty of balls into the box and won a couple of attacking headers, too. Did, however, concede a penalty after almost scoring an own goal by misjudging a ball over the top.
Lisandro Martinez (7/10):
Kept Jimenez very quiet in another impressive performance at the heart of the United backline. Uses his passing capabilities well, too.
Luke Shaw (6/10):
Did a solid job up against the dangerous Wilson. Not able to offer much going forward, though.
Casemiro (9/10):
United will miss performances like this when he leaves. Rose highest to open the scoring and then produced an outrageous no-look pass to create the second. Dominant in all aspects.
Kobbie Mainoo (7/10):
Grew into the game after a couple of sloppy early passes. Showed good defensive instincts on occasion, as well as his usual passing range.
Bruno Fernandes (7/10):
Added to his assist tally with a fine cross to the back post for Casemiro to head in before brilliantly teeing up Sesko, too. Showed good energy and the odd flash of quality.
Amad Diallo (7/10):
Tested Leno early on and looked a threat whenever he got on the ball in attack. Very good defensively, too, as he won plenty of challenges when tracking back.
Bryan Mbeumo (6/10):
Left a little isolated at times. Wasted a good early chance thanks to a poor first touch and then couldn't beat Leno after the break.
Matheus Cunha (7/10):
Was in and out of the game, but did have a hand in both goals. Did his best work when drifting into a right-central area, from which he won the free-kick for the opener and ran in behind to score the second.
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
Benjamin Sesko (8/10):
So unlucky not to score with his first touch when he headed against the post, but bounced back to produce the winner right at the death.
Manuel Ugarte (5/10):
Will feel he could have done more to keep Kevin from scoring the equaliser.
Noussair Mazraoui (5/10):
Didn't really help United defensively after replacing Dalot.
Leny Yoro (N/A):
Replaced Mbeumo in stoppage time.
Michael Carrick (7/10):
The least impressive performance of his three games in charge, but another victory to add to his growing portfolio is all that will count.
Explore GOAL Betting with
Manchester United moved - at least temporarily - up to second in the Women's Super League as Lisa Naalsund's double helped Marc Skinner's side beat Liverpool 3-1 on Sunday. The Norwegian midfielder struck either side of Alice Bergstrom's equaliser before Fridolina Rolfo bagged a late third to help United pick up their third win in a row and put pressure on Chelsea before the Blues' clash with Manchester City.
The first half was filled with frustration for United as they failed to move the ball quickly enough to trouble Liverpool. However, the game thankfully sparked into life with three goals in the opening 15 minutes of the second period.
Naalsund did well to lift a shot into the roof of the net for the opener, but Liverpool drew level thanks to a scramble in the box from a corner which eventually saw Bergstrom prod in from close range. However, the visitors weren't level for long as Naalsund got her second of the game soon after, cutting onto her right foot and firing beyond Jennifer Clark.
Liverpool struggled to find a way back into the game and the contest was sealed when substitute Rolfo produced a composed finish late on.
GOAL rates United's players from Leigh Sports Village Stadium...
Phallon Tullis-Joyce (5/10):
Couldn't do much to prevent the goal and wasn't called into action all that much by Liverpool's attackers.
Jayde Riviere (7/10):
Did well when up against Holland, winning most of their battles. Tenacious in the tackle regardless of the opponent.
Maya Le Tissier (7/10):
Heroically cleared the ball off the line twice before Bergstrom eventually turned it in. Made some important interventions.
Dominique Janssen (5/10):
A little too sloppy in possession, handing Liverpool promising positions with a series of bad passes, though she didn't end up getting punished for it.
Anna Sandberg (6/10):
Her end product was a little disappointing, but the Swede did all that was asked of her in defence.
Hinata Miyazawa (7/10):
Worked hard in the middle of the park and was frequently on hand to mop up any loose balls. Desperately wanted a goal late on but couldn't find the target.
Julia Zigiotti Olme (8/10):
Helped United turn over possession high up the pitch with her aggressive pressing and got herself an assist.
Lisa Naalsund (9/10):
Produced two quality finishes in what was ultimately a match-winning display from the 30-year-old, getting on the scoresheet for the first time since early November.
Jess Park (7/10):
Looked sharp in transition, especially in the second half, and set up Naalsund's first goal. Perhaps unlucky not to score herself.
Elisabeth Terland (6/10):
Nearly opened the scoring with an effort which was saved. Not at her most effective before being replaced.
Melvine Malard (6/10):
Booked after talking back to the referee but later played a great pass to put the gears in motion for the first goal.
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
Fridolina Rolfo (7/10):
Was a bit quiet initially after her introduction but wrapped up the points with a good finish for her seventh goal of the season.
Hanna Lundkvist (7/10):
Came on to shore things up at the back and got an assist for Rolfo's strike.
GabrielleGeorge (N/A):
Not much time to make an impact as an 85th-minute substitute.
Ellen Wangerheim (N/A):
Was also part of the late triple-change as United looked to run down the clock.
Lea Schuller (N/A):
Another late introduction and may have got on the scoresheet if United's late attacks had worked out.
Marc Skinner (7/10):
Didn't get the best out of his side in the first half but the performance improved in the second period and the game was eventually wrapped up in comfortable style.
La Liga
Denis Doyle/Getty Images
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham looks set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury early in Sunday's La Liga game at home to Rayo Vallecano at the Bernabeu.
Only nine minutes into the game, Bellingham ran forward onto a pass from Franco Mastantuono but pulled up mid-sprint holding his hand to the back of his upper left thigh.
Advertisement
Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa immediately called Brahim Diaz from the bench to enter as a replacement. Bellingham was able to get to his feet and walk around the pitch to the bench, but was in clear pain, holding his hand over his face in various moments.
The injury comes at a difficult moment for both Bellingham and Madrid — with the England international among those who were whistled by a Bernabeu crowd still upset after recent poor displays including Wednesday's 4-2 Champions League group defeat at Benfica.
Madrid confirmed a hamstring injury, while saying tests would be required to discover the extent of the problem. Bellingham looks set for a couple of weeks on the sidelines but an extended period out could disrupt the England international's run-up to the World Cup in the United States this summer.
On Sunday, his teammates did not appear to miss him too badly, with Vinicius Jr scoring a superb solo goal to put his team 1-0 on 15 minutes.
Next up for Madrid — who sit second in the La Liga standings behind Barcelona — are domestic league games at Valencia and at home to Real Sociedad.
Arbeloa would especially want to have Bellingham back fit for the Champions League play-off games against Benfica — the first leg is in Lisbon on Tuesday February 17 and the return at the Bernabeu the following Wednesday.
Personally for Bellingham the injury is likely to cause frustration, given how he had been looking to return to his best form and win over his critics among the Madrid fanbase, who appear to hold him partly responsible for the team's poor performances under previous coach Xabi Alonso.
Bellingham's previous appearance at the Bernabeu had been the 6-1 Champions League group stage win over Monaco, where he had celebrated a goal (his only strike in nine club games in 2026) with a ‘drinking' message to the crowd responding to social media rumours about his personal life.
Dermot joined The Athletic in 2020 and has been our main La Liga Correspondent up until now. Irish-born, he has spent more than a decade living in Madrid and writing about Spanish football for ESPN, the UK Independent and the Irish Examiner. Follow Dermot on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan
Nations considering a boycott of the 2026 World Cup over disagreements with the Donald Trump administration could face the prospect of being banned from future competitions due to a little-known FIFA rule. Preparations for the showpiece tournament of the beautiful game have repeatedly been thrown into uncertainty amid a tense political climate.
Initial concerns surrounding the event, hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada, centred on the fact that several countries were on the US president's ‘travel ban' list. Then came wider safety worries following airstrikes and subsequent kidnappings in Colombia, while Trump also drew attention for comments about the potential purchase of Greenland - territory owned by NATO country Denmark - which he suggested he would be willing to use “excessive force” to take control of.
European nations had already shown hesitation about travelling across the Atlantic to support their teams due to Trump's divisive policies, even before tensions rose further in recent weeks. However, the threat of potential sanctions could deter players and football associations themselves from following through with any boycott.
Donald Trump's actions have threatened to cause major disruption to this summer's World Cups as major nations mull over a boycott.
The Dutch government was recently forced to respond to a petition calling for the Netherlands to withdraw from the World Cup, while Germany, England and Spain are among other nations to have considered the idea for various reasons. However, a FIFA rule exists that could stop that appetite from growing any further.
As cited in a 2018 Sky Sports News report ahead of the World Cup in Russia, FIFA's rules at the time stated that the governing body could exclude boycotting nations from future competitions, and they could also be subject to liability claims. Regulations for the 2026 World Cup similarly state that if a participating member withdraws or is excluded from the tournament, FIFA may “take whatever action is deemed necessary.” FIFA also reserves the right to replace that member association with another.
Professor Simon Chadwick, who has previously worked as an advisor to FIFA and Barcelona, explained to SPORTbible how commercial agreements with partners, sponsors and broadcasters may also discourage nations from boycotting the tournament. He added that there are a further “million different hurdles” to overcome before a country gets close to actually following through with a boycott.
The exact stance that FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, will take amid the current turmoil the USA finds itself navigating with much of the rest of the world isn't entirely clear. But a fairly good guess can be made, given this is the same organisation that handed Trump the sycophantic gesture of an inaugural “Peace Prize” prior to the draw in December, while blindly promising that the “world will be welcomed” to the USA.
FIFA regulations state that the body “has the right to cancel, reschedule or relocate” matches at its sole discretion, including in cases of force majeure - unforeseeable circumstances that prevent a party from fulfilling a contract. But after Infantino previously said he “cannot solve geopolitical problems” following calls for Israel to be banned from FIFA-sanctioned events in October 2025, it seems unlikely he would go through the hassle of relocating the competition with just five months to go.
We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.
Your comment has not been saved
This thread is open for discussion.
Be the first to post your thoughts.
An East Rutherford hotel near MetLife Stadium is getting a $100 million redevelopment ahead of the World Cup this summer.
The World of Blue hotel, previously operated as a Sheraton and Hilton, is being transformed into an independent destination that developers say will benefit the Meadowlands region long after the 2026 FIFA World Cup concludes, according to a news release.
Renovations are moving quickly at the site, formerly called the Park Hotel.
“We're building something designed to last well beyond a single event, but there's no doubt that the World Cup created urgency and clarity around what the Meadowlands can become, and what East Rutherford deserves,” said Harvey Rosenblatt, CEO of P3 Properties, the real estate firm that purchased the property three weeks ago.
Rosenblatt told NJ Advance Media that every square inch of the facility will be redeveloped — from its 427 rooms to its large event center that hosts weddings and galas.
For the upcoming World Cup, Rosenblatt said the hotel will host live watch parties and offer a shuttle to MetLife Stadium, which is slated to have eight matches in June and July.
P3 Properties, which focuses on investing in “undervalued, forgotten” real estate, paid what Roseblatt described as a “steep discount” at $32 million to secure the property.
“Having the World cup here, which we envision will be quite profitable, allowed us the confidence to go ahead and invest and offset the upfront cost that we're putting out,” he said.
The hotel is prepared to host guests through the end of April and again beginning in June. May will be reserved for construction projects.
Jim Kirkos, president of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce, said the high-end hotel will be a major asset for the region.
“We're delighted that somebody's going to come in and invest, reinvigorate that property,” Kirkos told NJ Advance Media. “It's really important, especially as we're thinking about World Cup and entertaining guests and visitors from domestically and internationally.”
Kirkos said the community is excited that the region is becoming a “primary destination” for visitors.
“Projects like this show what's possible when the business community stays engaged — and we encourage more local partners to step forward, invest, and help shape the region's future,” Kirkos said in the news release.
The Advance Local Express Desk uses AI tools to assist in producing content, which is reviewed and edited by staff. Advance Local is the parent company of AL.com, Cleveland.com, lehighvalleylive.com,... more
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2026).
© 2026 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.
YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here.
Ad Choices
News
By From Staff Reports
With four months left before FIFA World Cup 2026 arrives in North Texas, Dallas officials say transportation coordination, community engagement and Fair Park activations are moving into high gear.
TRANSPORTATION: Assistant City Manager Robin Bentley, in a memo Friday, said the city is coordinating with regional partners and Dallas Area Rapid Transit on World Cup transportation. That includes pedestrian routes and alternative mobility options linking Arlington matches with Dallas events such as the Fair Park Fan Fest. A regional transportation plan will be submitted to FIFA by the end of March.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Residents and groups are being directed to the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee's Community Playbook at dallasfwc26.com for volunteer, business and other opportunities. The city also has shared a list of Dallas-area businesses and advocacy groups with FIFA to connect local firms to tournament-related work.
FAIR PARK: City officials are exploring World Cup-related activations at Fair Park and nearby South Dallas areas, with a focus on community benefit and economic opportunity. Park staff will assess additional spaces, including the Midway, and potential programming with existing tenants.
Join the conversation
Thank you for reading. We welcome your thoughts on this topic. Comments are moderated for adherence to our Community Guidelines. Please read the guidelines before participating.
Join The Club for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation plus sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Arsenal are in the final inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup final – what is it and how can you watch the game online and on TV?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works.
Watch Champions League winners Arsenal in the final of the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup, with all the broadcast details for the competition right here in this guide.
• Date: Sunday, 1 February 2026
• Kick-off: 6pm GMT / 1pm ET
• Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
• TV & Streaming: Sky Sports (UK), FIFA+ (select locations)
• FREE Stream: FIFA+
• Watch from anywhere: Get 70% off NordVPN
UEFA Women's Champions League winners Arsenal will feature in the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup, which takes place in London in January and February 2026.
The new global competition brings together the champions from each of the six continental confederations, as FIFA continue their attempted expansion of elite women's club football.
After beating Moroccan side AS FAR in the semi-final on Wednesday, the final sees the Gunners take on Brazilian side Corinthians at Emirates Stadium.
FourFourTwo has all the information on live streams and TV channels so you can watch the Women's Champions Cup online, on TV, and from anywhere.
You can watch the Women's Champions Cup final for free in certain locations through FIFA+.
FIFA+ is FIFA's own streaming operation – it is a free service but is only available in countries that don't have a dedicated broadcaster. That means users in the UK will be geo-blocked.
Away from home right now? That doesn't mean you have to miss out on watching the Women's Champions Cup. All you need is a VPN, a handy a piece of software that makes your devices appear to be in a different location.
Assuming it complies with your broadcaster's T&Cs, you can use a VPN to bypass geo-restrictions and unblock your usual streaming services when abroad. It's also brilliant for your general internet security.
FourFourTwo's colleagues TechRadar have tested hundreds of VPNs, and they say NordVPN is the best VPN you can get.
Get 70% off NordVPN
"Its speeds are superb, its unblocking capabilities are flawless, and it's got a full suite of airtight security measures" – TechRadar's NordVPN review.
The FIFA Women's Champions Cup final between Arsenal and Corinthians will be broadcast live in the UK by Sky Sports.
Watch the Premier League on Sky Sports
To get Sky Sports you either need to arrange a TV package, either direct through Sky for £35 per month, or another provider such as EE or Virgin. Or, for a more flexible and shorter-term, NowTV is Sky's streaming partner, with a day pass available for £14.99 or a monthly plan from £27.99.
Fans in the USA can watch the Women's Champions Cup for free on FIFA+.
You can also watch FIFA+ through DAZN on the free plan.
The Women's Champions Cup follows a similar format to the former men's Club World Cup, featuring the champions from UEFA, CAF, AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and OFC.
Arsenal are representing Europe after historically lifting the Women's Champions League in Lisbon last season. They beat Morocco's AS FAR, winners of the CAF Women's Champions League, in the semi-finals.
The other semi-final saw Brazilian side Corinthians, champions of the Copa Libertadores, overcome USA's Gotham FC, as the NWSL side won the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup in May.
The Gunners now face a Brazilian side, who are out of season, in the final of the first edition of this tournament, with a chance of a first piece of silverware of the season, alongside a hefty prize of USD 2.3 million.
The third-place play-off between Gotham FC and AS FAR kicks off at 14:45 GMT, while the final will take place at 18:00 GMT.
I predict an Arsenal victory at the Emirates.
Much has been made of the advantage Arsenal carry into this match, with Corinthians out of season and Arsenal backed by a home crowd.
If they capitalise on this, they should be well-placed to claim the inaugural title and the bragging rights that come with it.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Ayisha Gulati is the women's football writer at FourFourTwo. Fresh from a summer covering the Lionesses' triumphant Euro 2025 campaign in Switzerland, she brings a passion for all things WSL, UWCL, and international women's football. She has interviewed names including Alessia Russo and Aitana Bonmati and enjoys telling stories that capture the excitement on and off the pitch.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
FourFourTwo is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
Please login or signup to comment
Please wait...
An old Lionel Messi shirt sold for more than a Cristiano Ronaldo jersey as Chelsea legend John Terry parted with over 50 items in a recent auction. The pair are renowned as the two greatest players of their generation and have won a combined 13 Ballons d'Or, with Messi leading Ronaldo with eight of those awards. Terry reportedly sold items from across his career for just over $695,000, with a percentage of that figure going to the John Terry Foundation.
Messi and Ronaldo both had items from their careers present as Terry sold more than 50 of his personal possessions in a recent auction. It was Messi's match-worn shirt from a Champions League encounter between Chelsea and Barcelona back in 2006 which fetched the larger sum of cash, setting the buyer back $183,000 (£144,000/€168,000), according to ESPN, while a Ronaldo shirt from his Manchester United days cost $115,900 (£85,000/€99,000).
Writing about the Messi shirt, Terry posted on Instagram: "This is a very special shirt, it is from the great and one and only Lionel Messi, when he played at Stamford Bridge.
"It's the orange kit – that they didn't wear too often – so again very special. But because I was a defender and he was an attacker we were very close to each other throughout the whole game.
"So when there was a minute or two minutes to go I would get a little bit closer to him just so I could so I could get his shirt after the game."
Messi's jersey became the fourth-most expensive football shirt ever, easily surpassing the $116,000 (£91,750/€105,000) paid for Geoff Hurst's top from the 1966 World Cup final.
It wasn't just Messi and Ronaldo who were on show at the auction, which was held by American auction house Goldin. A Thierry Henry shirt which the France legend wore in Arsenal's 2-1 win over the Blues back in October 2003 - during the Gunners' 'Invincibles' campaign - went for $93,820 (£67,823/€79,146) and included the message: "To John, keep up the good work."
Plenty of Terry's own shirts were sold off, while bidders were also able to get their hands on jerseys from the likes of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Paolo Maldini, Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole, Gianfranco Zola, Samuel Eto'o and Rio Ferdinand among others.
Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!
As well as shirts, Terry also put a number of replica trophies up for sale, the priciest of which ended up being a copy of the 2007 FA Cup trophy which cost $26,840 (£20,150/€23,500). Among the other miscellaneous items sold included football boots and shin guards.
A large amount of the proceeds are expected to go to the John Terry Foundation, which helps disadvantaged young people in the United Kingdom.
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
Terry has worked as a part-time coach in Chelsea's academy of late, while he has also been involved in the Baller League. The former England captain did have his eyes on a managerial career but admitted in October he wasn't sure if he would ever get the opportunity to be a head coach.
He was also named in the Premier League's Hall of Fame just under two years ago.
Arsenal and Corinthians meet in the final of the Women's Champions Cup at Emirates Stadium on Sunday
History is guaranteed at Emirates Stadium on Sunday as Arsenal host Brazil's Corinthians in the first Women's Champions Cup final.
The winners of the new Fifa tournament, which pits continental champions against one another, will claim the biggest single cash prize in women's club football.
Whoever gets their hands on the trophy will walk away with $2.3m (£1.7m) while the runners-up will gain $1m (£735,000).
Arsenal go into the final as favourites, having booked their place in the title clash by dismantling African champions AS FAR Rabat of Morocco 6-0 on Wednesday.
Brazilian powerhouse Corinthians, meanwhile, progressed in contrasting fashion, shocking North American champions Gotham FC 1-0 in the other semi-final.
Now, Europe meets South America to decide the world's best club side of the year, with the competition set to run annually, except in seasons featuring the new Women's Club World Cup, which will debut in 2028.
Dutch manager Renee Slegers guided Arsenal to Champions League glory last season
For Arsenal, the Champions Cup is a welcome distraction from their Women's Super League (WSL) campaign that has failed to live up to expectations.
Having secured their first Champions League title in 18 years by stunning European giants Barcelona last May, the Gunners have failed to capitalise on a rare chance as serial winners Chelsea have faltered this season.
Having been knocked out in the League Cup semi-finals by Manchester United, in the Women's Super League they find themselves 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, though they moved one point behind Chelsea with a 2-0 win over the defending champions last weekend.
This game offers Arsenal a chance to add an international trophy to their cabinet and boost their morale for the second half of the season - not to mention the massive financial incentive.
Renee Slegers had to manage her squad carefully during the semi-final victory over AS FAR, which came four days after their triumph at Stamford Bridge.
Key stars like Alessia Russo, Emily Fox and Leah Williamson were left out of the starting line-up against the Moroccan side but Arsenal hardly broke a sweat to ease into the decider.
Managing minutes for her stars will be crucial for Slegers again on Sunday, with a massive league meeting against Andree Jeglertz's City looming next week.
Arsenal will have eyes firmly on the prize as they meet Corinthians and a win on home soil would be the perfect way to bring a spark to their season, with the Gunners still alive in the FA Cup and the Champions League last 16.
Champions Cup
28 January - 1 February 2026
Live text commentary on Arsenal v Corinthians on Sunday, 1 February from 18:00 GMT.
Brazil midfielder Gabi Zanotti has been at Corinthians since 2018
Arsenal may be favourites on home turf, but they face a Corinthians side who know exactly how to win trophies.
Known as Timao, which translates to 'the Great Team', they are the undisputed queens of Brazilian football and won the league title seven times, including six in a row between 2020 and 2025.
Their dominance extends across the continent, having qualified for the Champions Cup as the reigning champions of the Copa Libertadores - a tournament they have won five times in the past seven seasons.
Corinthians have already proven their quality by knocking out a star-studded Gotham side who boasted the likes of America legend Rose Lavelle and England defender Jess Carter in their starting line-up.
The winner came from their 40-year-old captain Gabi Zanotti, who beat former Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger in the 83rd minute at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.
For a South American club, the economics that Champions Cup offers would be transformative.
However, question marks remain over the tournament's timing with concerns about fixture congestion and player welfare.
While Arsenal benefit from no travel, Corinthians are playing during their off-season, but those concerns will be set aside for the final as the Brazilian side look to upset the odds again and prove they belong at the very top.
What do fans think of the Women's Champions Cup?
Record £1.7m prize money for Women's Champions Cup winners
Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie are back for another season of the Women's Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women's Super League and beyond on the Women's Football Weekly feed
Get the latest WSL news on our dedicated page
Premier League: Solanke scores as Spurs come from 2-0 down to level with Man City
Banton passes 50 as England close in on win over Sri Lanka
Sesko nets stoppage-time winner as Man Utd beat Fulham in thriller
What happens to our brains when we're under anesthesia?
Voyager's epic journey into deep space
Former Olympian Steve Cram CBE reveals the secrets to running
The most improbable hotel makeover of the Hebrides
Happy tennis, serious name - the making of Carlos Alcaraz
Why 2026 could be GB's most successful Winter Olympics
The most powerful woman in football - meet game's first female super agent
'Torres-like' Ekitike haunts long-term admirers Newcastle
Rybakina's rise to a Slam four years in the making
I never stopped believing - Calvert-Lewin
Your Winter Olympics need-to-know guide in six charts
Nine siblings and a dog called Zoomer - Wirtz in his own words
Djokovic steals show as Australian Open finally ignites
Barcelona 'shakedown' offers first hints of F1 2026
Cages, crushes and stabbings - is European away safety getting worse?
The NFL's 'Queen's Gambit' who helped create $1.5bn worth of talent
Record-breaking World Cup, so why no title sponsor for domestic league?
Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
Arsenal and Corinthians meet in the final of the Women's Champions Cup at Emirates Stadium on Sunday
History is guaranteed at Emirates Stadium on Sunday as Arsenal host Brazil's Corinthians in the first Women's Champions Cup final.
The winners of the new Fifa tournament, which pits continental champions against one another, will claim the biggest single cash prize in women's club football.
Whoever gets their hands on the trophy will walk away with $2.3m (£1.7m) while the runners-up will gain $1m (£735,000).
Arsenal go into the final as favourites, having booked their place in the title clash by dismantling African champions AS FAR Rabat of Morocco 6-0 on Wednesday.
Brazilian powerhouse Corinthians, meanwhile, progressed in contrasting fashion, shocking North American champions Gotham FC 1-0 in the other semi-final.
Now, Europe meets South America to decide the world's best club side of the year, with the competition set to run annually, except in seasons featuring the new Women's Club World Cup, which will debut in 2028.
Dutch manager Renee Slegers guided Arsenal to Champions League glory last season
For Arsenal, the Champions Cup is a welcome distraction from their Women's Super League (WSL) campaign that has failed to live up to expectations.
Having secured their first Champions League title in 18 years by stunning European giants Barcelona last May, the Gunners have failed to capitalise on a rare chance as serial winners Chelsea have faltered this season.
Having been knocked out in the League Cup semi-finals by Manchester United, in the Women's Super League they find themselves 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, though they moved one point behind Chelsea with a 2-0 win over the defending champions last weekend.
This game offers Arsenal a chance to add an international trophy to their cabinet and boost their morale for the second half of the season - not to mention the massive financial incentive.
Renee Slegers had to manage her squad carefully during the semi-final victory over AS FAR, which came four days after their triumph at Stamford Bridge.
Key stars like Alessia Russo, Emily Fox and Leah Williamson were left out of the starting line-up against the Moroccan side but Arsenal hardly broke a sweat to ease into the decider.
Managing minutes for her stars will be crucial for Slegers again on Sunday, with a massive league meeting against Andree Jeglertz's City looming next week.
Arsenal will have eyes firmly on the prize as they meet Corinthians and a win on home soil would be the perfect way to bring a spark to their season, with the Gunners still alive in the FA Cup and the Champions League last 16.
Champions Cup
28 January - 1 February 2026
Live text commentary on Arsenal v Corinthians on Sunday, 1 February from 18:00 GMT.
Brazil midfielder Gabi Zanotti has been at Corinthians since 2018
Arsenal may be favourites on home turf, but they face a Corinthians side who know exactly how to win trophies.
Known as Timao, which translates to 'the Great Team', they are the undisputed queens of Brazilian football and won the league title seven times, including six in a row between 2020 and 2025.
Their dominance extends across the continent, having qualified for the Champions Cup as the reigning champions of the Copa Libertadores - a tournament they have won five times in the past seven seasons.
Corinthians have already proven their quality by knocking out a star-studded Gotham side who boasted the likes of America legend Rose Lavelle and England defender Jess Carter in their starting line-up.
The winner came from their 40-year-old captain Gabi Zanotti, who beat former Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger in the 83rd minute at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.
For a South American club, the economics that Champions Cup offers would be transformative.
However, question marks remain over the tournament's timing with concerns about fixture congestion and player welfare.
While Arsenal benefit from no travel, Corinthians are playing during their off-season, but those concerns will be set aside for the final as the Brazilian side look to upset the odds again and prove they belong at the very top.
What do fans think of the Women's Champions Cup?
Record £1.7m prize money for Women's Champions Cup winners
Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie are back for another season of the Women's Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women's Super League and beyond on the Women's Football Weekly feed
Get the latest WSL news on our dedicated page
Premier League: Reaction as Tottenham fight back from 2-0 down to draw with Man City
Solanke stars as Spurs rally to draw with Man City
Banton whacks England to victory over Sri Lanka
What happens to our brains when we're under anesthesia?
Voyager's epic journey into deep space
Former Olympian Steve Cram CBE reveals the secrets to running
The most improbable hotel makeover of the Hebrides
Happy tennis, serious name - the making of Carlos Alcaraz
Why 2026 could be GB's most successful Winter Olympics
The most powerful woman in football - meet game's first female super agent
'Torres-like' Ekitike haunts long-term admirers Newcastle
Rybakina's rise to a Slam four years in the making
I never stopped believing - Calvert-Lewin
Your Winter Olympics need-to-know guide in six charts
Nine siblings and a dog called Zoomer - Wirtz in his own words
Djokovic steals show as Australian Open finally ignites
Barcelona 'shakedown' offers first hints of F1 2026
Cages, crushes and stabbings - is European away safety getting worse?
The NFL's 'Queen's Gambit' who helped create $1.5bn worth of talent
Record-breaking World Cup, so why no title sponsor for domestic league?
Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
Homeowners across Missouri and Kansas are looking at making hundreds to thousands of extra dollars this summer by hosting FIFA World Cup visitors.
KC2026 expects 650,000 people to visit for the six World Cup matches in Kansas City this summer. The first match kicks off June 16, with the last on July 11.
With all of those visitors, some cities are making it easier for homeowners to open their houses as short-term rentals.
The KC Short Term Rental Alliance and the MO Vacation Home Alliance are holding a crash course on what potential hosts should know.
The training is for anyone who's interested in the process. It offers education for beginners and more advanced topics for hosts already preparing.
Susan Brown, the president of the KC Short Term Rental Alliance, said the first course in late 2025 was very successful, and they've only had more people interested in being short-term rental hosts since.
Brown stopped by the KMBC9 studio Saturday morning to talk about what people can learn from the course and the huge demand for short-term rentals.
The workshop will cover key topics such as guest screening, compliance with local ordinances, property safety, pricing strategy, neighborhood relations and maximizing guest experiences. There will also be more information for people interested in hosting on the Kansas side of the metro.
The crash course is Feb. 6 and 7 at the MoHart Center at 3200 Wayne Ave., Kansas City, MO.
You're asked to register ahead of time at the Missouri Vacation Home Alliance website.
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.
Log in
Subscribe Now
Region
Search
Top News
Podcasts
Connections: Sports Edition
NFL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Fantasy
NFL Odds
NFL Picks
NFL Draft
Podcasts
Scoop City Newsletter
Super Bowl FAQs
NFL Player Poll
NFL Draft Order
Latest Mock Draft
NBA
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
The Bounce Newsletter
NBA Draft
Podcasts
Fantasy
NBA Odds
NBA Picks
Trade Deadline Live Updates
NBA's Bet On London
10 Years of The Athletic
2026 Cap Space Outlook
Trade Deadline News
MLB
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
The Windup Newsletter
Fantasy
MLB Prospects
MLB Odds
MLB Picks
Top Prospects
Trade Grades
Top 50 Free Agents
NHL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Fantasy
NHL Odds
NHL Picks
Team Projections
Red Light Newsletter
Trade Deadline News
Winter Olympics
Home
Winter Olympics Newsletter
Team USA Women's Hockey Roster
Team USA Hockey Roster
Team Canada Hockey Roster
NCAAF
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Newsletter
Recruiting
Odds
Picks
Top 25 for 2026
Final 136 Rankings
Portal QB Rankings
NCAAM
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
NCAAW
Home
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
Tennis
Home
Rybakina Wins Australian Open
WNBA
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Premier League
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Fantasy
The Athletic FC Newsletter
Podcasts
Mourinho's Special Moment
2026 Men's World Cup
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Golf
Home
Coming Soon to Your Inbox
Fantasy Football
Home
NFL Home
Scoop City
Betting
2026 Dynasty Rankings
Discord
Global Sports
College Sports
Soccer
Women's Soccer
Home
NWSL Schedule
Full Time Newsletter
Podcasts
NWSL
Women's World Cup
USWNT
College Sports
MLS
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
NWSL
Home
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Full Time newsletter
Podcasts
Peak
Formula 1
Home
Prime Tire newsletter
Schedule
Standings
McLaren
Ferrari
Red Bull
Mercedes
Aston Martin
Alpine
Haas
Racing Bulls
Williams
Sauber
Sports Business
Home
MoneyCall Newsletter
Sailing
Opinion
Home
Betting
Home
Fantasy Football
Odds
NFL Picks
UK Betting
Fantasy Baseball
Home
MLB Home
Rates & Barrels
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Hockey
Top Prospects
Terminology
Memorabilia and Collectibles
Culture
Home
Motorsports
Home
Podcasts
NASCAR
Women's Hockey
Home
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Teams
MMA
Home
Boxing
Home
Paul vs. Joshua Live
The Pulse Newsletter
Cities
Australian Open Men's Final
Blockbuster Media Deal
NBA Trade Intel
Giants Co-Owner in Epstein Files
Follow Winter Olympics Coverage
Connections: Sports Edition
Women's Soccer
Gabi Zanotti celebrates with Corinthians fans in their semifinal. Harriet Lander / Getty Images
On a cold Wednesday morning on the River Thames, where Brentford touches Kew Bridge, the clock ticks past 10:30 a.m., and the typical leafy riverside neighborhood in west London meets its visitors.
Joggers hug the Thames path. Geese and seagulls mudlark on the bank. Then suddenly, drums and flags fill the air. A mosaic of São Paulo soccer culture has arrived.
Advertisement
The plaza outside the old Victorian warehouse-turned-pub, One Over the Ait, is filling up with black-and-white-clad SC Corinthians Paulista fans from all over the world. It is still two hours before Corinthians kick off against NJ/NY Gotham FC in the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup semifinals at the Gtech Community Stadium, a short six-minute walk away.
The atmosphere is building as more fans congregate, pinning up their flags and banners, and joining in with the chorus of chants. Soon, a few hundred will march through the streets to the match.
Holding a 12-foot pole with the Corinthians flag at the top proudly flying high, Deborah, who lives in London but was born and raised in Brazil, says that around 400-500 Corinthians supporters are expected to be at the semifinal.
No matter the physical distance from Corinthians, the passion for the club endures. “We are born like this. We live Corinthians. Corinthians is our lifestyle. Corinthians is everything for us,” she said.
This is also not Corinthians' first rodeo. As many fans in London were keen to share, at the 2012 men's Club World Cup, they said more than 20,000 Corinthians traveled to Yokohama, Japan, to watch their 1-0 win over Chelsea in the final.
There is a small traveling contingent of Corinthians' largest supporters group from São Paulo, Gaviões da Fiel, founded in 1969, but the vast majority of the group attending the Women's Champions Cup are expats who have joined or created international chapters of Fiel.
“There are fans from Europe, London, São Paulo, Dublin, Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, some people from Malta, a lot of places,” Deborah said.
Deborah and her cohort showed off another enormous banner, printed for this particular crusade, that read “As Brabas in London” (The fierce ones in London). Brabas is a popular Brazilian slang word referring to empowered women.
Advertisement
A Corinthians fan since birth, over the last few years, Deborah has become a keen follower of the women's team. On her hat is printed “Minas do Timão,” which translates loosely to a very local São Paulo slang word for “girls of the big team.” This is also the name of a popular fan-led media group that closely covers the Corinthians women's team.
A post shared by Rádio Coringão (@radiocoringao)
Meanwhile, Joao, a Corinthians fan who travelled especially for the game that morning from Dublin, Ireland, had never attended a women's match before and struggled to see the men's team while living in Europe. He said he wasn't going to miss his chance to support his team, no matter who adorned the crest.
“It doesn't matter if it's basketball or football, women's or men's, I'm a Corinthian supporter,” he said. “It's so special for me because Corinthians coming to play in Europe is so hard (rare).”
Many of the faithful are like Joao. They have taken a vow to Corinthians many years ago but for the first time are taking to the streets and a stadium for the women's team.
“I would fly miles and miles to support Corinthians. For me, it's just a train ride away,” said Natalia, based in London. “I wouldn't miss the chance to be here and support the girls, the very first Women's Champions Cup. I'm here. I watched the men in Brazil two years ago. Watching the women, it's my very first time.”
But there's more than one supporter group represented at the inaugural women's club competition. Camisas 12, which translates to the “shirts 12,” akin to the concept of a 12th player, is another Corinthians supporters group, founded in 1971, with members adorning custom white bomber jackets, complete with a small stitching of a young man and the number 12.
What are the differences between the two factions?
“We wear black, all black,” said Neto, from Dublin, referring to Gaviões da Fiel. “They wear white, sometimes white and black,” he said, referring to Camisas 12. “Both are crazy. They give their lives for this support.”
Advertisement
No matter the chapter, no matter the group, in London everything swells together like a great Brazilian monochromatic gumbo. As the banner for Fiel Londres read: “The favela is here.”
As more fans arrive, more banners are unfurled. Fiel Londres, Fiel Dublin, Fiel Drogheda, Fiel Porto, Fiel Lisbon, Fiel Malta and so on. Fiels' banners are all on black fabric with white lettering in yin and yang harmony with the white banners and black lettering that reads, “Fiel Torcida Jovem Camisa 12.”
The march to the stadium gets underway and soon the stadium security team is helping stop traffic on the A4 so this black and white parade can begin its cacophonous trot to the concourse. The streets outside the stadium are filled with a chorus of “Eu Nunca Vou Te Abandonar” (I will never abandon you), as the fan groups stop and perform.
Inside the Gtech Community Stadium, section N125 is the designated Corinthians fans section. For anyone attending the match, it becomes the epicenter of the action. Two of the best teams in global women's soccer may be on the pitch, but the phenomenon that is the traveling Corinthians quickly steals the show.
Just a few weeks into preseason, Gotham and Corinthians labor through a tense, low-quality semifinal. While the players on the pitch show plenty of rust, this patchwork tapestry of supporters groups, who are coalescing for the first time, appears orchestral.
There is unwavering support from the Corinthians fans. Steady drums, chants and adoration roll for 90 minutes. Certain big tackles, hopeful shots and fouls draw the odd reactive shriek, but this is a group that has come to sing for 90 minutes off the same hymn sheet.
The game is settled late in the second half, when Corinthians captain Gabi Zanotti produces the semifinal's best bit of quality and spins the ball into the net. Pandemonium ensues in section N125.
Advertisement
“I can't explain the feeling, this feeling inside. The love for this team,” said Deborah, when asked how she felt when Zanotti scored the only goal. “She (Zanotti) is amazing. She's the best woman in football now.”
After the full-time whistle, Zanotti and her teammates paid homage to the hundreds of Corinthians fans. They celebrated among them, took selfies, sang songs, all while Zanotti stood on the advertising hoardings, arms stretched out, like some sort of prodigal conductor.
“It had to be her, she is our queen,” said Sabrina, a Brazilian living in Munich, Germany.
Twenty minutes after the final whistle and Corinthians players lingered on the pitch while the fans continued to sing songs and hurl praise at the heroes. Eventually, the masses began to disassemble and head back to the pub on the river to celebrate.
But not all. About 60 fans waited outside the stadium by the Corinthians' team bus for over an hour to see the team depart after their historic victory. High-pitched cries and guttural roars began as each player walked on and waved to the crowd, some stopping for selfies and signatures. The loudest noise, of course, came for Zanotti.
One of the dedicated fans waiting was Nayara. She is one of the minority of fans who has not only traveled from São Paulo to see Corinthians but is also already invested in the women's team.
While Nayara is not surprised to see such tremendous support for Corinthians, she was moved by just how many chapters turned up.
“It means a lot,” she said. “They are amazing, the most passionate fans in Brazil. Yes, the most passionate fans. We follow connections everywhere. We can't explain. It's like religion.”
While many expat Brazilians traveled in groups based on their respective supporters groups, some fans came alone and soon made friends with strangers who shared the same passion for Corinthians. Tainara, a Brazilian based in Canada, and Sabrina, a Brazilian living in Germany, met in section N125, in adjacent seats.
The two had many things in common. Both have been following Corinthians and the women's team for many years. Neither felt they could miss the chance to be at the FIFA Women's Champions Cup, even if it meant traveling thousands of miles alone.
Advertisement
“We're always there. We're always supporting the Corinthians. Doesn't matter where or when, it's even one of our chants,” said Tainara.
Now fast friends, Tainara and Sabrina are looking forward to spending the rest of the week exploring London and preparing for Sunday's final against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. For Tainara, there is more than just pride and $2.3 million at stake for Corinthians.
“It would be proof of what's happening in women's football South America,” said Tainara. “It's so important.” Brazil will have its moment to shine even more when it hosts the 2027 Women's World Cup for the first time on the continent.
As the sun sets on the Thames, though, drums and songs fill the dimly lit rooms of One Over the Ait. The festivities feel like they could go on forever, but as evening turns to night, the crowd begins to dwindle for the first time.
The Fiels believe there will be thousands of Corinthians fans marching to the Emirates on Sunday. A 12:30 p.m. kick-off on a Wednesday versus a 6:00 p.m. kick-off on a Sunday would certainly give cause for that argument.
As the Women's Champions Cup battles to establish its own identity and purpose, the Corinthians supporters have already shown how much fans and the power of soccer bring people together from all over the world.
Theo Lloyd-Hughes is a Contributor for The Athletic based in London, UK. Prior to The
Athletic, he served as a freelance writer for The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and Equalizer.
Theo attended the University of Sussex and the University of Texas. He also produces The Athletic's Women's Soccer podcast, Full Time.
Log in
Subscribe Now
Region
Search
Top News
Podcasts
Connections: Sports Edition
NFL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Fantasy
NFL Odds
NFL Picks
NFL Draft
Podcasts
Scoop City Newsletter
Super Bowl FAQs
NFL Player Poll
NFL Draft Order
Latest Mock Draft
NBA
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
The Bounce Newsletter
NBA Draft
Podcasts
Fantasy
NBA Odds
NBA Picks
Trade Deadline Live Updates
NBA's Bet On London
10 Years of The Athletic
2026 Cap Space Outlook
Trade Deadline News
MLB
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
The Windup Newsletter
Fantasy
MLB Prospects
MLB Odds
MLB Picks
Top Prospects
Trade Grades
Top 50 Free Agents
NHL
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Fantasy
NHL Odds
NHL Picks
Team Projections
Red Light Newsletter
Trade Deadline News
Winter Olympics
Home
Winter Olympics Newsletter
Team USA Women's Hockey Roster
Team USA Hockey Roster
Team Canada Hockey Roster
NCAAF
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Newsletter
Recruiting
Odds
Picks
Top 25 for 2026
Final 136 Rankings
Portal QB Rankings
NCAAM
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
NCAAW
Home
Scores & Schedule
Bracket
Standings
Podcasts
Tennis
Home
Australian Open Men's Final
WNBA
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
Premier League
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Fantasy
The Athletic FC Newsletter
Podcasts
Arsenal's Bold Reaction
How to Leave a Football Club
Football's Trailblazer
2026 Men's World Cup
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Golf
Home
Coming Soon to Your Inbox
Fantasy Football
Home
NFL Home
Scoop City
Betting
2026 Dynasty Rankings
Discord
Global Sports
College Sports
Soccer
Women's Soccer
Home
NWSL Schedule
Full Time Newsletter
Podcasts
NWSL
Women's World Cup
USWNT
College Sports
MLS
Home
Teams
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Podcasts
NWSL
Home
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Full Time newsletter
Podcasts
Peak
Formula 1
Home
Prime Tire newsletter
Schedule
Standings
McLaren
Ferrari
Red Bull
Mercedes
Aston Martin
Alpine
Haas
Racing Bulls
Williams
Sauber
Sports Business
Home
MoneyCall Newsletter
Sailing
Opinion
Home
Betting
Home
Fantasy Football
Odds
NFL Picks
UK Betting
Fantasy Baseball
Home
MLB Home
Rates & Barrels
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Hockey
Top Prospects
Terminology
Memorabilia and Collectibles
Culture
Home
Motorsports
Home
Podcasts
NASCAR
Women's Hockey
Home
Scores & Schedule
Standings
Teams
MMA
Home
Boxing
Home
Paul vs. Joshua Live
The Pulse Newsletter
Cities
Australian Open Men's Final
Blockbuster Media Deal
NBA Trade Intel
Giants Co-Owner in Epstein Files
Follow Winter Olympics Coverage
Connections: Sports Edition
Women's Soccer
Gabi Zanotti celebrates with Corinthians fans in their semifinal. Harriet Lander / Getty Images
On a cold Wednesday morning on the River Thames, where Brentford touches Kew Bridge, the clock ticks past 10:30 a.m., and the typical leafy riverside neighborhood in west London meets its visitors.
Joggers hug the Thames path. Geese and seagulls mudlark on the bank. Then suddenly, drums and flags fill the air. A mosaic of São Paulo soccer culture has arrived.
Advertisement
The plaza outside the old Victorian warehouse-turned-pub, One Over the Ait, is filling up with black-and-white-clad SC Corinthians Paulista fans from all over the world. It is still two hours before Corinthians kick off against NJ/NY Gotham FC in the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup semifinals at the Gtech Community Stadium, a short six-minute walk away.
The atmosphere is building as more fans congregate, pinning up their flags and banners, and joining in with the chorus of chants. Soon, a few hundred will march through the streets to the match.
Holding a 12-foot pole with the Corinthians flag at the top proudly flying high, Deborah, who lives in London but was born and raised in Brazil, says that around 400-500 Corinthians supporters are expected to be at the semifinal.
No matter the physical distance from Corinthians, the passion for the club endures. “We are born like this. We live Corinthians. Corinthians is our lifestyle. Corinthians is everything for us,” she said.
This is also not Corinthians' first rodeo. As many fans in London were keen to share, at the 2012 men's Club World Cup, they said more than 20,000 Corinthians traveled to Yokohama, Japan, to watch their 1-0 win over Chelsea in the final.
There is a small traveling contingent of Corinthians' largest supporters group from São Paulo, Gaviões da Fiel, founded in 1969, but the vast majority of the group attending the Women's Champions Cup are expats who have joined or created international chapters of Fiel.
“There are fans from Europe, London, São Paulo, Dublin, Porto and Lisbon in Portugal, some people from Malta, a lot of places,” Deborah said.
Deborah and her cohort showed off another enormous banner, printed for this particular crusade, that read “As Brabas in London” (The fierce ones in London). Brabas is a popular Brazilian slang word referring to empowered women.
Advertisement
A Corinthians fan since birth, over the last few years, Deborah has become a keen follower of the women's team. On her hat is printed “Minas do Timão,” which translates loosely to a very local São Paulo slang word for “girls of the big team.” This is also the name of a popular fan-led media group that closely covers the Corinthians women's team.
A post shared by Rádio Coringão (@radiocoringao)
Meanwhile, Joao, a Corinthians fan who travelled especially for the game that morning from Dublin, Ireland, had never attended a women's match before and struggled to see the men's team while living in Europe. He said he wasn't going to miss his chance to support his team, no matter who adorned the crest.
“It doesn't matter if it's basketball or football, women's or men's, I'm a Corinthian supporter,” he said. “It's so special for me because Corinthians coming to play in Europe is so hard (rare).”
Many of the faithful are like Joao. They have taken a vow to Corinthians many years ago but for the first time are taking to the streets and a stadium for the women's team.
“I would fly miles and miles to support Corinthians. For me, it's just a train ride away,” said Natalia, based in London. “I wouldn't miss the chance to be here and support the girls, the very first Women's Champions Cup. I'm here. I watched the men in Brazil two years ago. Watching the women, it's my very first time.”
But there's more than one supporter group represented at the inaugural women's club competition. Camisas 12, which translates to the “shirts 12,” akin to the concept of a 12th player, is another Corinthians supporters group, founded in 1971, with members adorning custom white bomber jackets, complete with a small stitching of a young man and the number 12.
What are the differences between the two factions?
“We wear black, all black,” said Neto, from Dublin, referring to Gaviões da Fiel. “They wear white, sometimes white and black,” he said, referring to Camisas 12. “Both are crazy. They give their lives for this support.”
Advertisement
No matter the chapter, no matter the group, in London everything swells together like a great Brazilian monochromatic gumbo. As the banner for Fiel Londres read: “The favela is here.”
As more fans arrive, more banners are unfurled. Fiel Londres, Fiel Dublin, Fiel Drogheda, Fiel Porto, Fiel Lisbon, Fiel Malta and so on. Fiels' banners are all on black fabric with white lettering in yin and yang harmony with the white banners and black lettering that reads, “Fiel Torcida Jovem Camisa 12.”
The march to the stadium gets underway and soon the stadium security team is helping stop traffic on the A4 so this black and white parade can begin its cacophonous trot to the concourse. The streets outside the stadium are filled with a chorus of “Eu Nunca Vou Te Abandonar” (I will never abandon you), as the fan groups stop and perform.
Inside the Gtech Community Stadium, section N125 is the designated Corinthians fans section. For anyone attending the match, it becomes the epicenter of the action. Two of the best teams in global women's soccer may be on the pitch, but the phenomenon that is the traveling Corinthians quickly steals the show.
Just a few weeks into preseason, Gotham and Corinthians labor through a tense, low-quality semifinal. While the players on the pitch show plenty of rust, this patchwork tapestry of supporters groups, who are coalescing for the first time, appears orchestral.
There is unwavering support from the Corinthians fans. Steady drums, chants and adoration roll for 90 minutes. Certain big tackles, hopeful shots and fouls draw the odd reactive shriek, but this is a group that has come to sing for 90 minutes off the same hymn sheet.
The game is settled late in the second half, when Corinthians captain Gabi Zanotti produces the semifinal's best bit of quality and spins the ball into the net. Pandemonium ensues in section N125.
Advertisement
“I can't explain the feeling, this feeling inside. The love for this team,” said Deborah, when asked how she felt when Zanotti scored the only goal. “She (Zanotti) is amazing. She's the best woman in football now.”
After the full-time whistle, Zanotti and her teammates paid homage to the hundreds of Corinthians fans. They celebrated among them, took selfies, sang songs, all while Zanotti stood on the advertising hoardings, arms stretched out, like some sort of prodigal conductor.
“It had to be her, she is our queen,” said Sabrina, a Brazilian living in Munich, Germany.
Twenty minutes after the final whistle and Corinthians players lingered on the pitch while the fans continued to sing songs and hurl praise at the heroes. Eventually, the masses began to disassemble and head back to the pub on the river to celebrate.
But not all. About 60 fans waited outside the stadium by the Corinthians' team bus for over an hour to see the team depart after their historic victory. High-pitched cries and guttural roars began as each player walked on and waved to the crowd, some stopping for selfies and signatures. The loudest noise, of course, came for Zanotti.
One of the dedicated fans waiting was Nayara. She is one of the minority of fans who has not only traveled from São Paulo to see Corinthians but is also already invested in the women's team.
While Nayara is not surprised to see such tremendous support for Corinthians, she was moved by just how many chapters turned up.
“It means a lot,” she said. “They are amazing, the most passionate fans in Brazil. Yes, the most passionate fans. We follow connections everywhere. We can't explain. It's like religion.”
While many expat Brazilians traveled in groups based on their respective supporters groups, some fans came alone and soon made friends with strangers who shared the same passion for Corinthians. Tainara, a Brazilian based in Canada, and Sabrina, a Brazilian living in Germany, met in section N125, in adjacent seats.
The two had many things in common. Both have been following Corinthians and the women's team for many years. Neither felt they could miss the chance to be at the FIFA Women's Champions Cup, even if it meant traveling thousands of miles alone.
Advertisement
“We're always there. We're always supporting the Corinthians. Doesn't matter where or when, it's even one of our chants,” said Tainara.
Now fast friends, Tainara and Sabrina are looking forward to spending the rest of the week exploring London and preparing for Sunday's final against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. For Tainara, there is more than just pride and $2.3 million at stake for Corinthians.
“It would be proof of what's happening in women's football South America,” said Tainara. “It's so important.” Brazil will have its moment to shine even more when it hosts the 2027 Women's World Cup for the first time on the continent.
As the sun sets on the Thames, though, drums and songs fill the dimly lit rooms of One Over the Ait. The festivities feel like they could go on forever, but as evening turns to night, the crowd begins to dwindle for the first time.
The Fiels believe there will be thousands of Corinthians fans marching to the Emirates on Sunday. A 12:30 p.m. kick-off on a Wednesday versus a 6:00 p.m. kick-off on a Sunday would certainly give cause for that argument.
As the Women's Champions Cup battles to establish its own identity and purpose, the Corinthians supporters have already shown how much fans and the power of soccer bring people together from all over the world.
Theo Lloyd-Hughes is a Contributor for The Athletic based in London, UK. Prior to The
Athletic, he served as a freelance writer for The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and Equalizer.
Theo attended the University of Sussex and the University of Texas. He also produces The Athletic's Women's Soccer podcast, Full Time.
Philadelphia is ready to take centre stage as the FIFA World Cup arrives, combining world-class football with rich American history and unmatched fan energy. As one of the 16 North American host cities, it offers seamless connectivity, affordable stays, and a vibrant sports culture that turns every match into a celebration. From stadium thrills to historic landmarks, the Birthplace of America promises an unforgettable experience on and off the pitch
As qualifying teams prepare for the FIFA World Cup, all 16 North American host cities are gearing up with their unique appeal, but Philadelphia stands out with unmatched connectivity, affordability, and an undying passion for sports. The city will host five Group Stage matches and one Round of 16 game between June 14 and July 4 at Lincoln Financial Field, renamed Philadelphia Stadium, ultimately culminating in another milestone celebration: America's 250th anniversary. From attending games and being a part of the city's electric sports culture to exploring its endless attractions and witnessing the nation's historic birth celebration, that too in the Birthplace of America, there are more than enough reasons to visit Philadelphia this season.
Global Air Connectivity
With direct and connecting flights from more than 120 international destinations, Philadelphia is the best gateway to the East Coast of the US because of a more manageable airport experience for visitors from across the world. Philadelphia International Airport welcomed more than 30 million passengers last year, making it one of the busiest airports in the US. You can find direct service from a range of European destinations such as London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Athens, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Dublin, along with direct service from Doha, and any other airports within the country, such as New York or Boston, as well as rail connectivity with Amtrak.
Getting Around Philadelphia
Getting around Philadelphia is extremely easy thanks to the convenience and cost-effectiveness of the SEPTA B Subway Line (Orange Line) for all FIFA attendees, which runs from downtown Philadelphia to the front door of the city's sports complex. Even if you do not have a ticket, you will still want to follow the crowds to NRG Station (the last stop) to be part of the energy: Stateside Live!, the epicentre of entertainment in Philadelphia's stadium district, offering a range of pubs and beer halls, along with live music. Moreover, Philadelphia has been named the Most Walkable City in the U.S. for the past three years by USAToday 10Best, the 26-block stretch of Center City offers a chance to discover the rich history of the American Revolution, soak in some of the city's creative spirit in the Mural Capital of the World and raise a toast at some of the city's most beloved breweries and restaurants.
Availability of Hotels Across Budgets
High-end luxury accommodations like the Ritz-Carlton on Broad Street, budget-friendly boutique escapes like the Motto by Hilton in Rittenhouse Square, converted old row homes, brand new buildings and more — Philadelphia offers more than 14,400 hotel rooms that meet the needs of every type of traveller. Also, Live! Casino and Hotel and the Courtyard Marriott at Navy Yard are within walking distance of the stadium. For sweeping views of the city, stay at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, located on the top floors of the Comcast Technology Center, the highest building in Pennsylvania. For waterfront views, reserve a room at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn's Landing on the Delaware River. If you want a rooftop pool (a great option to have in the summer months), check into the Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square or the W Philadelphia. And if you are travelling with kids, both the Loews Philadelphia Hotel and The Rittenhouse offer family-friendly activities and packages.
Philadelphia's Undying Passion for Sports
Philadelphia's enduring love for sports runs deep, from celebrating touchdowns on a frigid December night for an Eagles game (the defending Super Bowl champions of the other kind of football) to home runs on a steamy July afternoon at a Phillies game; every day of the year here is an excuse to get out and cheer for a victory. When it comes to the World Cup, the city fervently supports the Philadelphia Union — the hometown Major League Soccer team and continually packs Philadelphia Stadium for international and club friendlies. Even if you struggle to secure a ticket to one of the World Cup matches, the volume outside of the stadium will be just as loud. Bars like Brauhaus Schmitz, Tir na Nog and McGillin's Old Ale House will all be packed to the brim with other fans. If you are looking for the roar of a bigger crowd, head to Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park, the site of Philly's FIFA Fan Festival. With free watch parties on game days and concerts on non-game days, the energy here will always be electric throughout the 39 days of the tournament.
Match Day Essentials Like the Locals
When you reach the stadium, expect to be part of Philadelphia's beloved tailgating culture with pre-match celebrations throughout many of the parking lots. In addition to knowing how to enjoy your time during the game, be ready with the after-match plans.
If you plan to hang around to enjoy the crowd, check out walkable destinations with food, drinks, and fun near the sports complex: Chickie's and Pete's, a local sports bar chain with world-famous Crabfries® or Philadium, a South Philly institution since 1971 that serves up pub eats and plenty of cheers.
Exploring Iconic Stops Between Matches
Between matches, Philadelphia's unique neighbourhoods and endless attractions offer plenty to see and do. In addition to the FIFA fever, Philadelphia, the USA's birthplace, is also getting ready to celebrate July 4 or America's Semiquincentennial, the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with the city at the centrepiece of this monumental birthday celebration. Stroll through America's Most Historic Square Mile, home to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Carpenters' Hall, the President's House Site, and more iconic landmarks. Then, run up the iconic Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art before exploring its world-class collection of art or stop by Robert Indiana's iconic LOVE sculpture. Also, do not forget to taste the classic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich at one of many Philadelphia institutions, such as Geno's, Pat's, or Jim's.
© 2024 Hyderabad Media House Limited / The Hans India. All rights reserved. Powered by www.bvmdigitalmedia.com
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in four sets Sunday evening to win the Australian Open and complete the Career Grand Slam. It did not take long for some of the biggest stars in tennis, including Rafael Nadal, to share their congratulations.
"Congratulations @carlosalcaraz for winning the Australian Open and conquering the Career Grand Slam!" Nadal wrote on X.
"Congratulations @DjokerNole on reaching another final in Melbourne and continuing to make history in our sport," Nadal added. "Thank you for your words during the ceremony!"
Enhorabuena @carlosalcaraz por ganar el @AustralianOpen y conquistar el Career Grand Slam! 👶👏🏻
Congratulations @DjokerNole on reaching another final in Melbourne and continuing to make history in our sport. Thank you for your words during the ceremony! pic.twitter.com/GSLr8pprQZ
Juan Martin del Potro, Ana Ivanovic, Rod Laver and Martina Navratilova were among the first to react to the final.
You May Also Like: Carlos Alcaraz's Career Grand Slam: Daring tennis, defining triumph
Gracias @DjokerNole por lo que hiciste. Tantas emociones nos hiciste vivir nuevamente. Sos único, te quiero mucho 💙
Grande Carlitos!!! Sos un capo total 🏆🙌@carlosalcaraz
Congratulations on your first AO crown and another major title, @carlosalcaraz. Your talent, courage and joy for the game light up our sport. @DjokerNole - what you continue to bring to tennis is beyond belief. Thank you for another remarkable fortnight and for setting the…
Amazing men's final! 🎾
Congrats, @carlosalcaraz on adding the @AustralianOpen title to your collection! 👏🏼
Incredible performance and tournament @DjokerNole - Showing everyone why you are the GOAT. #AO2026
Congrats to @carlosalcaraz for your win at the @AustralianOpen and making history!!! That's always special:). You make it look easy and oh so much fun!!!
Congratulations to the truly remarkable @carlosalcaraz, the 2026 Australian Open Men's Singles Champion!
And cheers to another incredible performance by @DjokerNole.
These two are so much fun to watch. https://t.co/o9nBkxLCvY
History. Congratulations @carlosalcaraz And inspiring from @DjokerNole to play that level as well.
holy toledo A career grand slam at 22 Escape from Alcaraz @carlosalcaraz amazing effort winning 1st @AustralianOpen 😎💪👍👊 🏆
Enhorabuena @carlosalcaraz por tu primero @AustralianOpen !!
Seguro que el primero de muchos
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/S4CMPXRPYL
Congratulations @carlosalcaraz on winning your first @AustralianOpen #title completing an incredible historical run at 22 years old.
Tonight's match was spectacular, with so much on the line on both sides of the court and you handled it with poise.
We knew you were special… https://t.co/75mwkDxogF
Plenty of celebrities from outside of the tennis world were also following the Australian Open closely.
Basketball legend Pau Gasol, actor Ben Stiller and more posted on social media after the match.
Celebrando desde Milán el primer Open de Australia de @carlosalcaraz 🏆🇦🇺
Enhorabuena, Charly! El más joven de la historia en completar el Career Grand Slam 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/aBA6JD57kn
🙌 https://t.co/YyFMFezNU0
What stood out at the Australian Open was Carlos Alcaraz's patience. In the longer rallies, he stayed composed, kept his opponent under pressure, and chose his moments smartly. And the way he covered the court, so quick and precise, was a joy to watch! Congratulations… pic.twitter.com/c2MBeBNjC6
At 22, playing with that kind of belief is special! Stepping onto the grand stage and taking down a legend takes heart! Massive respect to @carlosalcaraz 🫡 Congratulations and very well played 🔥 The game is in great hands 🎾 🏆 @AustralianOpen #Alcaraz #AlcarazDjokovic
Delayed post because I had to go back and rewatch what we all just saw between @carlosalcaraz and @DjokerNole!!! 🤯🤯🤯
Mind blowing at the show of grace, grit and greatness!!! Wow!!! #openaustralia #GrandSlam #historymade 🎾
I think I know what I want to do in my next life! 😂
Brutaaaaal 🙌🏼🙌🏼
Enhorabuena, @carlosalcaraz 👑 https://t.co/QvP20FG4kl
Histórico. Grand slam completado con sólo 22 años. Enhorabuena @carlosalcaraz 👏🍋 pic.twitter.com/9Y9cMoXOLg
Dear @carlosalcaraz, congratulations on your first @AustralianOpen, your seventh Grand Slam title. You remain number 1 and are the youngest player in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments. All of us madridistas are proud of you. Congratulations, champion!
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
There is stunning history that ties together the first Australian Open titles of Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. The trio's maiden triumphs at the season's first major have come at eerily similar times.
Alcaraz, Nadal and Federer each won the title for the first time aged 22 in their fifth appearance at the Australian Open, having never previously made the final of the tournament. Each of their victories came on 1 February.
You May Also Like: Carlos Alcaraz's Career Grand Slam: Daring tennis, defining triumph
Alcaraz joined the club on Sunday when he battled past 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the final. With his 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 victory, the Spaniard also completed the Career Grand Slam.
Nadal, who was present inside Rod Laver Arena Sunday, lifted his first Melbourne trophy in 2009. After winning a memorable five-set semi-final against Fernando Verdasco, the lefty defeated Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 to claim glory. He would then complete his Career Grand Slam the following year at the US Open.
Federer emerged victorious at the Australian Open for the first time in 2004. The Swiss beat three members of the ATP No. 1 Club en route to the crown: Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marat Safin. Federer surged past Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final before capturing his Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2009.
Alcaraz is now a seven-time major champion aged 22, while Nadal won 22 majors and Federer 20.
Sinner also won his first Australian Open aged 22 on his fifth appearance at the tournament, but on 28 January. The Italian emerged victorious in 2024, rallying from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. The Italian will try to complete his Career Grand Slam later this year at Roland Garros.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
The 22-year-old, who hadn't been past the quarterfinals in Melbourne before, topped Djokovic in Sunday's final.ByTENNIS.comPublished Feb 01, 2026 copy_link
Published Feb 01, 2026
© AFP or licensors
Carlos Alcaraz arrived in Melbourne to play his first tournament without long-time former coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.A few weeks later, he departs Australia as the youngest man with a Career Grand Slam in hand following an “unusual situation” during the off-season.Read More: Ferrero joins golfer Angel Ayora's team
A few weeks later, he departs Australia as the youngest man with a Career Grand Slam in hand following an “unusual situation” during the off-season.Read More: Ferrero joins golfer Angel Ayora's team
Read More: Ferrero joins golfer Angel Ayora's team
On Sunday, Alcaraz bested Novak Djokovic in four sets to win his first Australian Open title. While the 22-year-old said there wasn't extra motivation to show he could win without Ferrero by his side, Alcaraz was nevertheless content to silence any critics who questioned the change.“Just happy to prove all the people were wrong,” he stated to press.“A lot of people were talking about everything and having doubts about my level in this tournament.”
“Just happy to prove all the people were wrong,” he stated to press.“A lot of people were talking about everything and having doubts about my level in this tournament.”
“A lot of people were talking about everything and having doubts about my level in this tournament.”
I didn't think about those people that had doubts about it. I came here just playing for myself, playing for my team. We all know how hard I worked in the pre-season to be ready for this tournament. Carlos Alcaraz
With the season's first major checked off the list, Alcaraz for the first time will make a run for a calendar-year Grand Slam—a feat that hasn't been accomplished by a man since Rod Laver in 1969. The world No. 1 has triumphed on his past two visits to Roland Garros, won two of the past three Wimbledon finals and is the defending US Open champion,“It's going to be a big challenge. I just want it to be one at a time. Right now next one is French Open. I have great memories in that tournament. I feel really special every time that I go there,” he said.“So I don't want to put myself in a really pressure position to have to do it, but it's going to be great.”
“It's going to be a big challenge. I just want it to be one at a time. Right now next one is French Open. I have great memories in that tournament. I feel really special every time that I go there,” he said.“So I don't want to put myself in a really pressure position to have to do it, but it's going to be great.”
“So I don't want to put myself in a really pressure position to have to do it, but it's going to be great.”
Before making a run at that target, Alcaraz has some Grand Slam-related business to arrange. Fresh ink, a tradition to commemorate his greatest tennis successes.“I've said it's going to be a little kangaroo. It's going to be in the leg, for sure. I don't know the right, the left one,” he shared. “So I got to choose a good spot, but it's going to be for sure close to the French Open or Wimbledon.”
“I've said it's going to be a little kangaroo. It's going to be in the leg, for sure. I don't know the right, the left one,” he shared. “So I got to choose a good spot, but it's going to be for sure close to the French Open or Wimbledon.”
The belief that more major success lies ahead still burns brightly for Novak Djokovic, despite the Serbian suffering his first Australian Open final defeat on Sunday. The 38-year-old had beaten Jannik Sinner in a gruelling five-set semi-final, but ultimately could not overcome Carlos Alcaraz, who became the youngest man in history to complete the Career Grand Slam.
“I always believe I can,” Djokovic said when asked about whether he feels he can win a 25th Slam. “Otherwise, I wouldn't be competing, and I said this numerous times. It's great that I was able to beat Jannik in five and really battle Carlos in four close sets. I remain disappointed with the way I felt in second and third after an incredible start, and I felt great about myself and then things changed.
“It is what it is. That's sport, but of course, when you draw a line and you make an assessment of what happened over the last couple of weeks, it's an incredible achievement for me to be able to play finals, be couple of sets away maybe to win a championship. Of course, after a loss, it's a bitter feeling. But nevertheless, I have to be content with this result.”
Djokovic last won a major at the US Open in 2023. The record 24-time Slam champion reached the semi-finals at all four majors in 2025 but was unable to make the next step. He explained how adjusting his mindset in recent years has helped him manage the pressures of elite competition.
“I lowered my expectations the last couple of years, which also, I think, allows me to be able to let go of some of that unnecessary additional stress,” Djokovic explained. “It's always tension and stress and pressure, and I just don't want to be overwhelmed by it.
“It also feels good a little bit not being always the main favourite to win Slams. I think that kind of gives you a little bit of that extra motivation, I guess, when it comes down to the last rounds of the Slam.”
The Serbian won the opening set and stayed with Alcaraz for large periods of the fourth set before eventually falling after three hours and two minutes in Sunday's final. Alcaraz has now levelled the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 5-5, having won the three major finals they've played.
“The first set was one of the best sets I've played the last couple years,” Djokovic said. “Then I kind of regained my energy back and momentum in mid-fourth. I asked the crowd to get involved. They did.
“Just bad miss at 4-4 and break point, and that forehand, I had a good look at that forehand. My forehand broke down in important moments. That's what happens. One or two shots can change the momentum of the match and switch things around, which happened. I'm just very disappointed I wasn't able to maintain that kind of feeling that I had in the first set. A lot of what-if scenarios in my head, and I guess it is what it is. You have to just accept it as it is.”
Djokovic had won all 10 of his previous Australian Open finals. The 101-time tour-level titlist, who is up to No. 3 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, enjoyed a unique route to the last four, having received a fourth-round walkover from Jakub Mensik and benefitted from a quarter-final retirement from Lorenzo Musetti, who was leading Djokovic by two sets.
“Overall, for sure it's been a fantastic tournament,” Djokovic said. “I knew that I'd probably have to beat two of them on the way to the title. I beat one, which is great, so it's a step further than I have gone in Grand Slams than last year. Very nice, encouraging.”
By triumphing in Melbourne, Alcaraz captured his seventh major and completed the Career Grand Slam. Djokovic was full of praise for the 22-year-old Spaniard.
“The results are a testament to his already stellar career. I can't think of any other superlatives about him,” Djokovic said. “He deserves every bit of the praise that he gets from his peers, but also the whole tennis community.
“He's a very nice, young man. Good values, nice family. Of course, already a legendary tennis player that made already a huge mark in the history books of tennis, I mean, with only 22 years of age. It's super impressive.”
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
The 22-year-old Spaniard sealed the all-time record by battling past Novak Djokovic for his first Australian Open title—the only one of the four Grand Slam titles he was missing.ByTENNIS.comPublished Feb 01, 2026 copy_link
Published Feb 01, 2026
© 2026 Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz has already broken a lot of records in his young career, but in Melbourne on Sunday night he broke his biggest one yet.He battled past Novak Djokovic for his first Australian Open title, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, and having already won the other three Grand Slam events—twice each, no less—the 22-year-old Spaniard has become the youngest man in tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam.The previous record dates all the way back to 1938, when the late Don Budge, a slightly older 22 at the time, completed his set at Roland Garros.MEN TO COMPLETE THE CAREER SLAM (all-time, listed by age):22 years, 8 months: Carlos Alcaraz [at 2026 Australian Open]22 years, 11 months: Don Budge [at 1938 Roland Garros]24 years, 1 month: Rod Laver [at 1962 US Open]24 years, 3 months: Rafael Nadal [at 2010 US Open]26 years, 0 months: Fred Perry [at 1935 Roland Garros]27 years, 8 months: Roy Emerson [at 1964 Wimbledon]27 years, 9 months: Roger Federer [at 2009 Roland Garros]29 years, 0 months: Novak Djokovic [at 2016 Roland Garros]29 years, 1 month: Andre Agassi [at 1999 Roland Garros]
He battled past Novak Djokovic for his first Australian Open title, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, and having already won the other three Grand Slam events—twice each, no less—the 22-year-old Spaniard has become the youngest man in tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam.The previous record dates all the way back to 1938, when the late Don Budge, a slightly older 22 at the time, completed his set at Roland Garros.MEN TO COMPLETE THE CAREER SLAM (all-time, listed by age):22 years, 8 months: Carlos Alcaraz [at 2026 Australian Open]22 years, 11 months: Don Budge [at 1938 Roland Garros]24 years, 1 month: Rod Laver [at 1962 US Open]24 years, 3 months: Rafael Nadal [at 2010 US Open]26 years, 0 months: Fred Perry [at 1935 Roland Garros]27 years, 8 months: Roy Emerson [at 1964 Wimbledon]27 years, 9 months: Roger Federer [at 2009 Roland Garros]29 years, 0 months: Novak Djokovic [at 2016 Roland Garros]29 years, 1 month: Andre Agassi [at 1999 Roland Garros]
The previous record dates all the way back to 1938, when the late Don Budge, a slightly older 22 at the time, completed his set at Roland Garros.MEN TO COMPLETE THE CAREER SLAM (all-time, listed by age):22 years, 8 months: Carlos Alcaraz [at 2026 Australian Open]22 years, 11 months: Don Budge [at 1938 Roland Garros]24 years, 1 month: Rod Laver [at 1962 US Open]24 years, 3 months: Rafael Nadal [at 2010 US Open]26 years, 0 months: Fred Perry [at 1935 Roland Garros]27 years, 8 months: Roy Emerson [at 1964 Wimbledon]27 years, 9 months: Roger Federer [at 2009 Roland Garros]29 years, 0 months: Novak Djokovic [at 2016 Roland Garros]29 years, 1 month: Andre Agassi [at 1999 Roland Garros]
MEN TO COMPLETE THE CAREER SLAM (all-time, listed by age):22 years, 8 months: Carlos Alcaraz [at 2026 Australian Open]22 years, 11 months: Don Budge [at 1938 Roland Garros]24 years, 1 month: Rod Laver [at 1962 US Open]24 years, 3 months: Rafael Nadal [at 2010 US Open]26 years, 0 months: Fred Perry [at 1935 Roland Garros]27 years, 8 months: Roy Emerson [at 1964 Wimbledon]27 years, 9 months: Roger Federer [at 2009 Roland Garros]29 years, 0 months: Novak Djokovic [at 2016 Roland Garros]29 years, 1 month: Andre Agassi [at 1999 Roland Garros]
CAREER SLAM COMPLETE 🤯🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/OyJwC162qR
Having won his first US Open title at age 19, his first Wimbledon title at age 20 and his first Roland Garros title at age 21, it's only fitting that Alcaraz would win his first Australian Open title this year at age 22.The Happy Slam had been a thorn in his side, though, his best results coming into this year's edition being two quarterfinals—he fell to Alexander Zverev in that round in 2024 and to Djokovic in 2025.This year, after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur to finally get over the quarterfinal hump, the Spaniard got revenge against Zverev in the semifinals with a grueling 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory, overcoming cramping and battling back from 5-3 down in the fifth set to outlast the German after five hours and 27 minutes on court.
The Happy Slam had been a thorn in his side, though, his best results coming into this year's edition being two quarterfinals—he fell to Alexander Zverev in that round in 2024 and to Djokovic in 2025.This year, after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur to finally get over the quarterfinal hump, the Spaniard got revenge against Zverev in the semifinals with a grueling 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory, overcoming cramping and battling back from 5-3 down in the fifth set to outlast the German after five hours and 27 minutes on court.
This year, after a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Alex de Minaur to finally get over the quarterfinal hump, the Spaniard got revenge against Zverev in the semifinals with a grueling 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory, overcoming cramping and battling back from 5-3 down in the fifth set to outlast the German after five hours and 27 minutes on court.
PURE SORCERY 🎩🪄Just tennis at its best 😲pic.twitter.com/SL7x1i3XAs
Things looked dicey for a while against Djokovic in the final, as the 10-time Australian Open champion came out swinging, breaking twice and never facing a break point himself to clinch the first set in 33 minutes.But the momentum shifted from there, as Alcaraz started cutting down on the unforced errors—after hitting nine in the first set, he had 10 in the second and third sets combined—and he broke Djokovic twice in each of those next two sets, soon finding himself up two sets to one.After holding serve in the opening game of the fourth set, Alcaraz brought up six break points in the next game but couldn't convert, and the two fell into a holding pattern, trading games back and forth—Djokovic actually brought up a break point in Alcaraz's 4-all service game, but the Spaniard saved it and ended up holding.A few games later, with Djokovic serving at 5-6, Alcaraz generated his first match point when Djokovic missed a forehand into the net, and another forehand miss from the Serb on the next point sealed the win.
But the momentum shifted from there, as Alcaraz started cutting down on the unforced errors—after hitting nine in the first set, he had 10 in the second and third sets combined—and he broke Djokovic twice in each of those next two sets, soon finding himself up two sets to one.After holding serve in the opening game of the fourth set, Alcaraz brought up six break points in the next game but couldn't convert, and the two fell into a holding pattern, trading games back and forth—Djokovic actually brought up a break point in Alcaraz's 4-all service game, but the Spaniard saved it and ended up holding.A few games later, with Djokovic serving at 5-6, Alcaraz generated his first match point when Djokovic missed a forehand into the net, and another forehand miss from the Serb on the next point sealed the win.
After holding serve in the opening game of the fourth set, Alcaraz brought up six break points in the next game but couldn't convert, and the two fell into a holding pattern, trading games back and forth—Djokovic actually brought up a break point in Alcaraz's 4-all service game, but the Spaniard saved it and ended up holding.A few games later, with Djokovic serving at 5-6, Alcaraz generated his first match point when Djokovic missed a forehand into the net, and another forehand miss from the Serb on the next point sealed the win.
A few games later, with Djokovic serving at 5-6, Alcaraz generated his first match point when Djokovic missed a forehand into the net, and another forehand miss from the Serb on the next point sealed the win.
CAREER. SLAM. CHAMPION. @carlosalcaraz bravooo 👏 pic.twitter.com/w6f6THfBlg
Djokovic, who had reached the record-extending 38th Grand Slam final of his career in Melbourne this year—and who was going for a record-extending 25th major title, as well—congratulated Alcaraz right out of the gates during his speech at the on-court trophy ceremony.“What you've been doing, I think the best word to describe it is historic, legendary,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion said. “So congratulations, and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your career.“I mean, you're so young, you have a lot of time, like myself,” he added. “I'm sure we'll see each other many more times in the next 10 years!”Likewise, Alcaraz started his speech by congratulating Djokovic."Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play."Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
“What you've been doing, I think the best word to describe it is historic, legendary,” the 24-time Grand Slam champion said. “So congratulations, and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your career.“I mean, you're so young, you have a lot of time, like myself,” he added. “I'm sure we'll see each other many more times in the next 10 years!”Likewise, Alcaraz started his speech by congratulating Djokovic."Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play."Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
“I mean, you're so young, you have a lot of time, like myself,” he added. “I'm sure we'll see each other many more times in the next 10 years!”Likewise, Alcaraz started his speech by congratulating Djokovic."Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play."Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
Likewise, Alcaraz started his speech by congratulating Djokovic."Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play."Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
"Obviously, first of all, I just wanted to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation, for sure," the now-seven-time major winner said. "You're talking about how I'm doing the amazing things, but what you're doing is really inspiring, not only for the tennis players, but all the athletes and people around the world, and for me as well. Just putting the hard work every day with your team every tournament you go, and playing such great tennis, for me I just enjoy so much watching you playing. For me it's been an honor to share the locker, share the court and watching you play."Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
"Thank you very much for what you are doing. It's very inspiring to me."
A new reign down under 👑7x major champ at 22 👏🤯#AO26 pic.twitter.com/FhvsC9QYJB
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in the championship match of the Australian Open on Sunday to extend his lead over his great rival Jannik Sinner in their Big Titles battle.
The Spaniard kick-started his 2026 season by defeating record 10-time Melbourne champion Novak Djokovic for his maiden Australian Open crown. It is Alcaraz's 15th Big Title — a combination of Grand Slam championships, trophies at the Nitto ATP Finals and ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, and Olympic singles gold medals.
Alcaraz now leads Sinner by four Big Titles as they quickly add to their totals. Together, they have claimed the past nine major trophies beginning with the 2024 Australian Open, while Sinner has also triumphed at the past two editions of the Nitto ATP Finals.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz became just the sixth player to complete the Career Grand Slam with his Sunday triumph in Melbourne, and he is the youngest man to achieve that feat.
Big Titles Won: Alcaraz & Sinner
NATPF
With his Melbourne victory, Alcaraz moved into joint seventh on the all-time list of Grand Slam men's singles titles won in the Open Era. The Spaniard moved clear of his fellow ATP No. 1 Club members Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg (six titles each) to level with John McEnroe and Mats Wilander.
Alcaraz's victory in Melbourne is an important one for the Spaniard in the context of the Big Titles race after Sinner closed 2025 by triumphing at both the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. Alcaraz has now won three more Grand Slam trophies than the Italian (7-4).
Alcaraz has won a Big Title for every 3.7 tournaments he has played in his career. Only Djokovic (3.3) and Rafael Nadal (3.5) have won the tournaments at a higher rate.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Carlos Alcaraz forged a Melbourne milestone to secure tennis history on Sunday night at the Australian Open.
The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings overcame a shaky start to defeat Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 and claim his maiden title at the hard-court major in Melbourne. By inflicting a first defeat on Djokovic in 11 Australian Open finals, the 22-year-old Alcaraz became the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam — lifting the trophy at all four majors — in the Open Era.
“I think nobody knows how hard I have been working to get this trophy. I chased this moment so much,” said Alcaraz, who was contesting his first major since ending his partnership with his coach of seven years, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in December. “Preseason was a little bit of a rollercoaster emotionally… [My team] was just pushing me to do the right things every day, so I have to say I'm really grateful for everyone I have in my corner right now.”
You May Also Like: Carlos Alcaraz's Career Grand Slam: Daring tennis, defining triumph
After an uncharacteristically flat opening set in which Djokovic came out firing, Alcaraz locked in from the baseline to take control of his first Australian Open final. The Spaniard broke his rival's serve twice en route to the second set and appeared back to his free-flowing best in a third set featuring several stunning all-court exchanges.
Djokovic dug deep in typical fashion in the fourth, fending off six break points to hold in the second game. But the 38-year-old was unable to counter and maintain his perfect championship-match record on Rod Laver Arena. Alcaraz broke decisively in the 12th game of the fourth set to seal a three-hour, two-minute win and ensure Djokovic's wait for an all-time record 25th Grand Slam title goes on.
“Congratulations Carlos. An amazing tournament, an amazing couple of weeks. To your coach, to your family, to your team. What you have been doing, I think the best words to describe it are historic, legendary,” said Djokovic, before light-heartedly adding: “So congratulations and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the career. You are so young, you have a lot of time like myself. So I'm sure we will be seeing each other many more times in the next 10 years.”
Alcaraz added: “I want to talk about Novak. He deserves an ovation for sure. You talk about me doing amazing things, but what you are doing is really inspiring, not just for tennis players but athletes around the world. Just putting in the right work every day with your team at every tournament you go to, and playing such great tennis… For me it is an honour to share the locker room and the court [with you], and watching you play. Thank you very much for what you are doing.”
HISTORY MADE 🏆
Carlos Alcaraz becomes the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, capturing his first Australian Open title and his 7th Grand Slam 👑#AustralianOpen | #Alcaraz pic.twitter.com/3rH0InSC4C
Read More From Melbourne Park:
Alcaraz stretches Big Titles lead over Sinner with AO win
Nadal, Safin, McEnroe among ATP No. 1 Club members at final
Alcaraz vs Djokovic: The Rivalry
Alcaraz is now a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, moving him level with his fellow ATP No. 1 Club member John McEnroe and Mats Wilander on the all-time list. With the Spaniard's Melbourne victory, Alcaraz and great rival Jannik Sinner have now won the past nine Grand Slam titles between them, dating back to Djokovic's triumph at the 2023 US Open.
Before Sunday, the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam in the Open Era was Rafael Nadal, who was in the stands at Rod Laver Arena to watch his two former on-court rivals do battle.
“For me it's a little bit weird seeing Rafa in the stands. I think it's the first time [he has watched me play] professionally, if I'm not wrong,” said Alcaraz. “I know you watched me when I was 14 or 15 years old, so it's been a long time. It's such an honour playing in front of you. We had great battles on the court… Now seeing you watch my match, it's just a privilege.”
Most Grand Slam Men's Singles Titles (Open Era)
Player
Grand Slam Titles
Novak Djokovic
24
Rafael Nadal
22
Roger Federer
20
Pete Sampras
14
Bjorn Borg
11
Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl
8
Carlos Alcaraz, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander
7
Alcaraz and Djokovic were meeting for the second consecutive year at the Australian Open after Djokovic downed the Spaniard in four sets in the 2025 quarter-finals. With Sunday's victory, Alcaraz levelled the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 5-5, and he has now won all three major title matches he has played against Djokovic.
Appearing fresh despite his marathon five-set semi-final victory against 2024 and 2025 champion Jannik Sinner on Friday night, Djokovic pummelled the ball aggressively from the first game inside Rod Laver Arena. The 38-year-old, who was bidding to lift an all-time record 25th Grand Slam trophy and also become the oldest men's singles titlist at a major in the Open Era, barely put a foot wrong in a statement opening-set display.
Just as he had against Sinner, Djokovic came out determined to dictate play with his forehand, and the Serbian carved out the opening three break points of the set in the fourth game. Although Alcaraz held his nerve to fend off the first two, Djokovic prevailed in an extended baseline rally on the third to gain an early advantage.
Alcaraz himself contested the longest semi-final in tournament history on Friday against Alexander Zverev, and he did not show his typical high energy in the opening set. Djokovic expertly capitalised on his momentum by breaking his opponent's serve again in the eighth game to clinch a set in which he dropped just two points behind serve, according to Infosys Stats.
Needing to find a way to stop Djokovic's opening charge, Alcaraz benefitted from a slice of fortune en route to his first break of the match early in the second set. At 1-1, 15/15 on Djokovic's serve, the Spaniard fired a forehand that clipped the net cord, looped up and somehow landed spinning into the net on Djokovic's side of the court. The top seed went onto break his rival for a second time in the seventh game and he soon served out to level the match before letting out a roar.
Alcaraz's resurgence continued into the third set. Showing no signs of fatigue from his semi-final exertions against Zverev, the Spaniard relentlessly hared around the court to repel much of what Djokovic threw at him. The crowd was on its feet after Alcaraz won an electric first point of the fourth game, during which he barely believably returned a Djokovic around-the-net shot, and the top seed went on to win five in six games to move within a set of victory.
As expected from a man who has won a record 104 main-draw matches at the Australian Open, Djokovic did not depart Rod Laver Arena without a fight. He fended off six break points to hold serve in a marathon second game of the fourth set to the delight of his raucous fans, but he was unable to deny Alcaraz at 5-6. Djokovic fired a forehand long on Alcaraz's first match point to send the Spaniard tumbling to the ground with joy.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin and John McEnroe are among the members of the ATP No. 1 Club in attendance on the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday to watch the historic Australian Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Safin, a champion in Melbourne in 2005, presented the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup ahead of the men's singles final before he took his seat. Jim Courier, McEnroe and Mats Wilander have all been on commentary duty during the major and were in attendance for Sunday's championship showdown.
Nadal is attending the hard-court Slam for the first time since he retired in 2024. The Spaniard won the title in Melbourne in 2009 and 2022, tallying a 77-16 record at the tournament across his career, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
On the eve of the tournament last month, No. 1 Club members Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter were at Melbourne Park, taking part in a fun doubles exhibition on opening ceremony night.
On court on Sunday, two of the active ATP No. 1 Club members, Alcaraz and Djokovic, have put on a show through the opening three sets.
Click here to learn more about the ATP No. 1 Club and the stars who make up the elite group.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
The ATP Tour heads to Montpellier this week for indoor ATP 250 action at the Open Occitanie, where Top 10 star and defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime headlines the field.
The draw in southern France also includes Stan Wawrinka, competing in the final year of his career, and Top 30 stars Flavio Cobolli, Tallon Griekspoor and Tomas Machac. Meanwhile home favourite Arthur Fils makes his return to competitive action for the first time since last July.
ATPTour.com looks at five things to watch this week.
1) Felix seeks fast response: The No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Auger-Aliassime will aim to bounce back quickly after being forced to retire from his first-round match at the Australian Open due to cramp. The 25-year-old has plenty to be confident about in Montpellier: he is the defending champion there, and he has won seven of his eight ATP Tour crowns indoors. Auger-Aliassime's opening opponent in France will be Wawrinka or Hamad Medjedovic.
2) Fils returns after six months out: Home fans will welcome back one of France's top stars in Montpellier, where Arthur Fils will make his return to ATP Tour action after six months out due to a back injury. He takes on countryman Valentin Royer in the first round. The 21-year-old Fils reached the semi-finals on his only previous appearance in Montpellier in 2023, before he fell to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
3) Wild card Wawrinka: The Swiss began his final year on the ATP Tour with a series of battling performances across the United Cup and the Australian Open, where he reached the third round. The former World No. 3 Wawrinka now heads to Montpellier, where he will compete as a wild card and takes on Serbia's Medjedovic first up. Hubert Hurkacz, another former Top 10 star who went 4-1 in singles play to help Poland lift the United Cup, starts against a qualifier.
You May Also Like: Why Stan Wawrinka's last dance will be more salsa than slow waltz
4) Top 30 stars in action: Like Auger-Aliassime, Cobolli will hope to put a first-round exit in Australia behind him quickly under the roof in Montpellier. The Italian is the second seed in France, while Tallon Griekspoor is seeded third. Fourth seed Tomas Machac chases his second ATP 250 crown of the season after he triumphed in Adelaide in mid-January.
5) Home hopes Doumbia/Reboul lead doubles field: Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul lifted the Montpellier trophy together in 2024, and the French duo returns this year as the top seeds. Their rivals in the doubles draw include second seeds Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, while Wawrinka teams with big-serving home favourite Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
Get official marketing communications from the ATP and WTA! We'll send you newsletters keeping you informed about news, tournaments, competitions, ticketing, partner offers and more.
Your data will be used in accordance with the
ATP Privacy Policy
and
WTA Privacy Policy.
© Copyright 1994 - 2026 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Community Social Media Policy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies | Your Privacy Choices
Authentics
Store
Tickets
Hospitality
Experiences
Next
Upcoming
F1 Barcelona Shakedown 2026: Day 5 Highlights
Newey 'always teaching us something', says Fernando Alonso
How will Isack Hadjar stack up against Max Verstappen in comparison to the Red Bull driver's previous team mates?
Having achieved four World Championships, 71 wins, 127 podiums and 48 pole positions since his arrival in Formula 1 more than a decade ago, Max Verstappen has earned his place amongst the most successful drivers in the sport's history – which arguably makes the prospect of becoming his team mate slightly intimidating.
It is a challenge that Isack Hadjar is about to face, with the 21-year-old the next to race alongside Verstappen at Red Bull following the demotion of Yuki Tsunoda to a test and reserve role. Hadjar will be Verstappen's eighth team mate in F1 – but how will he stack up compared to those who held the role before him?
We've been taking a deep-dive through the statistics to see how each of the seven drivers to previously share a garage with Verstappen performed against the Dutchman…
Qualifying head-to-head: Sainz 10-9 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Sainz 7-10 Verstappen
Points scored: Sainz – 18 (36.8% of races finished in points), 15th in championship / Verstappen – 49 (52.6% of races finished in points), 12th in championship
Pole positions: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Wins: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
An all-rookie line-up joined Toro Rosso in 2015, consisting of Verstappen – who became the youngest driver to make their F1 debut, at 17 years and 164 days old – and Carlos Sainz. The latter made an early impression by scoring points in his first race, while Verstappen was forced to retire with an engine failure.
As the numbers show, the pair were closely matched in the head-to-heads throughout the season. Sainz suffered more mechanically-related retirements – particularly during the middle of the campaign – and Verstappen ultimately ended 2015 with more points.
Qualifying head-to-head: Sainz 1-3 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Sainz 2-2 Verstappen
Points scored: Sainz – 4 (50% of races finished in points), 12th in championship (points total 46 for whole season) / Verstappen – 13 (75% of races finished in points), fifth in championship (points total 204 for whole season)
Pole positions: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Wins: Sainz 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
It would turn out to be a much shorter tenure as team mates for Verstappen and Sainz in 2016, with Verstappen promoted to the main Red Bull outfit after just four races. But in those few Grands Prix together prior to the switch, the duo were again relatively well-matched.
Verstappen just beat Sainz in terms of points finishes on three to two, while both drivers suffered a DNF due to a technical issue.
Qualifying head-to-head: Ricciardo 11-6 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Ricciardo 10-7 Verstappen
Points scored: Ricciardo – 220 (100% of races finished in points), third in championship (points total 256 for whole season) / Verstappen – 191 (82.4% of races finished in points), fifth in championship (points total 204 for whole season)
Pole positions: Ricciardo 1 (5.9%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Ricciardo 8 (47.1%) / Verstappen 7 (41.2%)
Wins: Ricciardo 1 (5.9%) / Verstappen 1 (5.9%)
A new era unfolded for Verstappen when he made the step up to Red Bull just a few races into his sophomore season, with the Dutchman partnering Daniel Ricciardo while Daniil Kvyat was sent back to the Toro Rosso outfit.
It was a memorable arrival at the squad for Verstappen, the youngster promptly winning on his debut in Barcelona. While the more experienced Ricciardo triumphed in the head-to-heads – the Australian finishing a career-best third in the championship during a particularly strong year – Verstappen ended the campaign equal on wins with his team mate and only scored one less podium.
Qualifying head-to-head: Ricciardo 7-13 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Ricciardo 9-11 Verstappen
Points scored: Ricciardo – 200 (70% of races finished in points), fifth in championship / Verstappen – 168 (65% of races finished in points), sixth in championship
Pole positions: Ricciardo 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Ricciardo 9 (45%) / Verstappen 4 (20%)
Wins: Ricciardo 1 (5%) / Verstappen 2 (10%)
Red Bull endured a weaker season in 2017, one in which they often experienced reliability issues. Verstappen suffered more retirements than Ricciardo during the early stages of the campaign but went on to enjoy a stronger run towards the end, scoring two victories in the final six races.
Ricciardo again led the way in terms of points scored, but Verstappen got the better of his team mate in the Qualifying and race day head-to-heads as he continued to hone his skills.
Qualifying head-to-head: Ricciardo 7-14 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Ricciardo 5-14 Verstappen
Points scored: Ricciardo 170 (61.9% of races finished in points), sixth in championship / Verstappen – 249 (81% of races finished in points), fourth in championship
Pole positions: Ricciardo 2 (9.5%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Ricciardo 2 (9.5%) / Verstappen 11 (52.4%)
Wins: Ricciardo 2 (9.5%) / Verstappen 2 (9.5%)
The 2018 campaign seemed to mark a turning point in that the momentum appeared to switch in Verstappen's favour. Ricciardo grabbed two wins early in the season – a marked contrast to the difficult start faced by Verstappen – but these would prove to be the Australian's only podium finishes in 2018.
On the other side of the garage, Verstappen collected 11 rostrums and outscored his team mate on most counts, though the Dutchman was still yet to claim a pole position while Ricciardo had also suffered more mechanically-related DNFs. Both drivers failed to finish in Bahrain and Azerbaijan, the latter being due to an infamous collision between the Red Bull cars. Ricciardo later surprised the F1 world by leaving for Renault at the end of the season.
Qualifying head-to-head: Gasly 1-11 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Gasly 1-11 Verstappen
Points scored: Gasly – 63 (75% of races finished in points), seventh in championship (points total 95 for whole season) / Verstappen – 181 (100% of races finished in points), third in championship (points total 278 for whole season)
Pole positions: Gasly 0 (0%) / Verstappen 1 (8.3%)
Podiums: Gasly 0 (0%) / Verstappen 5 (41.7%)
Wins: Gasly 0 (0%) / Verstappen 2 (16.7%)
Following Ricciardo's exit, Red Bull opted to promote Pierre Gasly from Toro Rosso, making the Frenchman Verstappen's third F1 team mate.
While Gasly struggled to match the incumbent driver in the head-to-heads, the numbers suggest that he displayed decent consistency, having scored points in all but three of his races for the squad. This would not be enough to keep his place at the team, however, and Gasly was sent back to Toro Rosso for the remainder of the season after Round 12 in Hungary.
Qualifying head-to-head: Albon 1-8 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Albon 4-5 Verstappen
Points scored: Albon – 76 (88.9% of races finished in points), eighth in championship (points total 92 for whole season) / Verstappen – 97 (77.8% of races finished in points), third in championship (points total 278 for whole season)
Pole positions: Albon 0 (0%) / Verstappen 1 (11.1%)
Podiums: Albon 0 (0%) / Verstappen 4 (44.4%)
Wins: Albon 0 (0%) / Verstappen 1 (11.1%)
Alex Albon became the next to step up to Red Bull, the Thai driver swapping places with Gasly and enjoying a solid run in his nine races alongside Verstappen in 2019.
An impressive record saw Albon collect points in every race – with the only exception being Brazil, where he had looked on course for his debut podium before dropping down the order after contact with Lewis Hamilton – and his performances sealed his place at the Milton Keynes-based outfit for 2020.
Qualifying head-to-head: Albon 0-17 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Albon 5-12 Verstappen
Points scored: Albon – 105 (70.6% of races finished in points), seventh in championship / Verstappen – 214 (70.6% of races finished in points), third in championship
Pole positions: Albon 0 (0%) / Verstappen 1 (5.9%)
Podiums: Albon 2 (11.8%) / Verstappen 11 (64.7%)
Wins: Albon 0 (0%) / Verstappen 2 (11.8%)
In a shortened season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Albon faced a tougher outing in 2020, one in which Verstappen was dominant in Qualifying as well as outscoring his team mate on race days.
While Albon came away with his maiden podium at Mugello – as well as scoring a second in Bahrain – Red Bull again decided to make a change to their line-up, resulting in the Thai racer becoming a test and reserve driver for the squad in 2021.
Qualifying head-to-head: Perez 2-20 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Perez 3-19 Verstappen
Points scored: Perez – 190 (72.7% of races finished in points), fourth in championship / Verstappen – 395.5 (86.4% of races finished in points), first in championship
Pole positions: Perez 0 (0%) / Verstappen 10 (45.5%)
Podiums: Perez 5 (22.7%) / Verstappen 18 (81.8%)
Wins: Perez 1 (4.5%) / Verstappen 10 (45.5%)
Red Bull signed the experienced Sergio Perez for 2021, with the team taking the slightly unusual step of looking outside of their driver programme for their new recruit.
Though the Mexican could not prove a match for Verstappen, he fulfilled a solid supporting role in a season remembered for the tense title battle that played out between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. During the summer, it was confirmed that Perez would remain a Red Bull driver in 2022.
Qualifying head-to-head: Perez 5-17 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Perez 5-17 Verstappen
Points scored: Perez – 305 (86.4% of races finished in points), third in championship / Verstappen – 454 (90.9% of races finished in points), first in championship
Pole positions: Perez 1 (4.5%) / Verstappen 7 (31.8%)
Podiums: Perez 11 (50%) / Verstappen 17 (77.3%)
Wins: Perez 2 (9.1%) / Verstappen 15 (68.2%)
After a nightmare first race in which both drivers retired with the same mechanical issue, Red Bull quickly bounced back and went on to enjoy an increasingly dominant campaign in 2022.
The Drivers' Championship was claimed by Verstappen with four races to spare, while Perez built further on his 2021 season by doubling his number of podiums and wins, as well as taking a debut pole position.
Qualifying head-to-head: Perez 3-19 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Perez 2-20 Verstappen
Points scored: Perez – 285 (86.4% of races finished in points), second in championship / Verstappen – 575 (100% of races finished in points), first in championship
Pole positions: Perez 2 (8.7%) / Verstappen 12 (52.2%)
Podiums: Perez 9 (39.1%) / Verstappen 21 (91.3%)
Wins: Perez 2 (8.7%) / Verstappen 19 (82.6%)
The statistics from Verstappen's side in 2023 make for astonishing reading, with the Dutch driver scoring a record-breaking 19 wins out of 22 races en route to his most assured title yet.
Such was the level of Verstappen's performance that – despite Perez finishing a career-best second in the championship – the World Champion claimed 290 more points than his team mate.
Qualifying head-to-head: Perez 1-23 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Perez 1-23 Verstappen
Points scored: Perez – 152 (66.7% of races finished in points), eighth in championship / Verstappen – 437 (95.8% of races finished in points), first in championship
Pole positions: Perez 0 (0%) / Verstappen 8 (33.3%)
Podiums: Perez 4 (16.7%) / Verstappen 14 (58.3%)
Wins: Perez 0 (0%) / Verstappen 9 (37.5%)
It initially appeared that Red Bull's 2023 advantage over the rest of the field might repeat in 2024 following a 1-2 result for the squad at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. However, the picture proved very different as the campaign developed, with the squad's rivals dramatically closing the gap.
Despite the challenges, Verstappen held on to clinch his fourth title – but it was a nightmare campaign for Perez, the Mexican failing to stand on the podium again after Round 5 in China. Red Bull slipped backwards from first to third in the Teams' Championship, and it was announced after the season had concluded that the team and Perez had agreed to part ways with immediate effect.
Qualifying head-to-head: Lawson 0-2 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Lawson 0-2 Verstappen
Points scored: Lawson – 0 (0% of races finished in points), 14th in championship (points total 22 for whole season)/ Verstappen – 36 (100% of races finished in points), second in championship (points total 421 for whole season)
Pole positions: Lawson 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
Podiums: Lawson 0 (0%) / Verstappen 1 (50%)
Wins: Lawson 0 (0%) / Verstappen 0 (0%)
After the exit of Perez, Red Bull promoted Liam Lawson for the 2025 season – but his tenure as Verstappen's team mate would prove to be the shortest of all, the New Zealander struggling to get comfortable with the RB21 machine.
Having qualified at the back of the field during both of the opening races – and crashing out at the rain-affected Australian Grand Prix – Lawson was demoted back to Racing Bulls in time for the third round of the season.
Qualifying head-to-head: Tsunoda 0-22 Verstappen / Race head-to-head: Tsunoda 1-21 Verstappen
Points scored: Tsunoda – 30 (31.8% of races finished in points), 17th in championship (points total 33 for whole season) / Verstappen – 385 (95.5% of races finished in points), second in championship (points total 421 for whole season)
Pole positions: Tsunoda 0 (0%) / Verstappen 8 (36.4%)
Podiums: Tsunoda 0 (0%) / Verstappen 14 (63.6%)
Wins: Tsunoda 0 (0%) / Verstappen 8 (36.4%)
While Lawson returned to Racing Bulls, a direct swap saw Yuki Tsunoda become the next to pit himself against Verstappen at Red Bull. However, like Lawson, the Japanese driver also faced his fair share of difficulties in adapting to his new car.
Throughout their 22 races together, Verstappen beat Tsunoda in both head-to-heads – with Tsunoda's only better finish being in Austria, a race that Verstappen retired from on Lap 1 – and ended the season a whopping 15 places ahead in the Drivers' Championship.
Prior to the campaign finale in Abu Dhabi, it was announced that Tsunoda would move to a test and reserve role in 2026. Isack Hadjar, meanwhile, will be the latest to pair up with Verstappen as he makes the step up to Red Bull in the season ahead…
Next Up
© 2003-2026 Formula One World Championship Limited
By Anthony D'Alessandro
Editorial Director/Box Office Editor
Goliath dominated over David this weekend at the global box office as Disney 20th Century Studios' Send Help had the last laugh over YouTuber indie powerhouse Markiplier's Iron Lung with a $28.1M worldwide debut ($20M domestic, $8.1M overseas debut from 47 markets) the latter estimated at a $21.7M global start from 11 markets for 4th place.
That's a respectable start for Send Help, a movie which before P&A cost $40M. Also, the result is a win for a R-rated original movie. And c'mon, that's a fantastic result for the less than $3M production Iron Lung. We're hearing from foreign B.O. sources that there were several sellout shows abroad for Iron Lung.
Related Stories
News
'Send Help' $17.5M+ Ahead Of 'Iron Lung'; 'Melania' 'A' CinemaScore & $8M+ Record Docu Debut In Decade; Charli xcx's 'The Moment' Sings - Box Office
News
'Iron Lung' On Course To Steal The Show At UK Box Office "Proving That YouTube & Gen Z Aren't The Death Of Cinema"
Send Help takes Disney to its 10th consecutive week at the global B.O., and as of this moment, the Mouse House owns the top three spots with Avatar: Fire and Ash at $24.8M ($5.5M domestic/$19.3M from 52 markets, -34% drop abroad) and Zootopia 2 at $23.1M ($5.8M domestic, $17.3M overseas in 52 territories, -18% abroad). Global rises for Avatar 3 to $1.41 billion, the 18th highest grossing of all-time ahead of Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4B). The James Cameron movie with $1.0185B is the No. 12 MPA release of all-time at the foreign B.O. ahead of Fate of the Furious ($1.01B) and Jurassic World ($1.018B). Imax's global network delivered $3M to Avatar 3 for a running cume for the large format exhibitor on the Na'vi movie at $184M.
Watch on Deadline
Send Help opened No. 1 in Mexico ($1M), Kuwait, Thailand and Indonesia. It was No. 2 in Bahrain, Iceland, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia ($200K), UAE (non-local), Argentina, Brazil ($200K), Korea ($400K), India, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien movie opened #3 (non-local) in Australia ($800K), Japan ($400K) and Taiwan. Germany did $500K, Italy $400K, Spain $400K, and Netherlands $300K. Realize Send Help is in 80% of the foreign marketplace. It didn't play UK this weekend where Iron Lung planted its flag. The Sam Raimi-directed movie hits France on Feb. 11.
Zootopia 2 was up in its 10th weekend stateside at +9%. When does that ever happen for an animated movie on a non-holiday weekend? China was also up at +13%, still No. 1 there with the sequel's cume in the Middle Kingdom now at $631.2M. Zootopia 2 among non-local films in Japan was No.; pic's cume well north of $90M. The eighth highest MPA release at the worldwide B.O. stands at $1.77B with $408.8M from North American and $1.36B abroad. Other updated cumes are France ($74.6M), Korea ($56.2M), Germany ($48.5M), UK ($43.5M), Mexico ($40.2M), Australia ($27.9M), Brazil ($24.6M), and Taiwan $23.3M).
Meanwhile, Iron Lung is calling domestic at $17.8M with foreign B.O. sources estimating $3.9M overseas in a limited rollout including UK/Ireland ($1.2M, No. 4 behind The Housemaid, Hamnet and Shelter), Australia/New Zealand, Germany and Netherlands. That foreign start on Iron Lung is 10% ahead of Black Phone, 33% ahead of the start of The Monkey. From what we've gathered it made an estimated $800K in Australia, $1.2M including previews for a No. 1 rank across 230 sites (+6% ahead of Longlegs, +18% ahead of Black Phone). New Zealand was No. 1 with an estimated $118K. Germany meh at No. 11 with $300K. Denmark expected to ring up $241K with sold out shows nationwide. Sweden, I understand, was booked late in 65 locations, but took off with $226K.
Black Bear's Jason Statham movie Shelter did $7.5M overseas (at 12,971 locations and 27 territories) to $5.5M in North America for a global opening of $13M for the $50M production which was funded by foreign sales. I'm hearing that P&A domestic was around $15M, and if you want to go large with a Statham action pic, you gotta spend more (A Working Man was around $27M North American P&A).
Shelter played in UK & Ireland (it was No. 1 there with $1.3M ahead of Iron Lung and Primate, and 4% ahead of The Beekeeper and 43% ahead of A Working Man), Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, China, Netherlands, Greece, Israel, South Africa, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia/Bosnia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and West Indies. Shelter was No. 1 in Saudi Arabia ($928K ahead of Send Help, and 78% ahead of comp The Accountant 2), No. 1 in UAE ($707K ahead of Send Help, 7% ahead of Accountant 2). Overall, the Middle East did $2.3M which is 40% ahead of The Accountant and in sync with The Beekeeper. China was a No. 4 debut with $2M, -37% behind Statham's A Working Man and -53% behind The Beekeeper. The Netherlands bowed to No. 3 ahead of Send Help with $447K, 69% ahead of Accountant 2.
Amazon MGM Studios' Mercy did $5.6M abroad in 86 markets, with another $4.7M (-56%) in North American for a global second frame of $10.3M and running global cume of $41M ($21.5M of that foreign) for the net $60M Chris Pratt production (before P&A). France opened this weekend at 237 screens to $560K. Holdovers were China ($1.5M at 8K screens, cume $5.7M); Mexico ($360K from 1,031 screens, $1.6M total); Germany ($320K from 461 screens, $943K running total); UK ($264K from 437 sites, $1.5M total); Australia ($240K from 264 screens, cume $1.2M); Japan ($190K from 633 screens, cume $1.1M), Spain ($172K from 272 screens, cume $753K), and Netherlands ($165K at 98 sites, cume $570k). Up next Korea on Feb. 4 and Taiwan on Feb. 6.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.
Comment
Name
Email
Website
Δ
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Travis Kelce's ex Kayla Nicole put on a showstopping performance while dancing with Toni Braxton to the singer's 2000 track “He Wasn't Man Enough.”
The podcaster, who was accused of dissing Kelce's fiancée, Taylor Swift, when she performed the viral dance for Halloween last year, stepped out in a mini silver beaded dress at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday night.
The crowd roared as Nicole, Braxton and several background dancers dominated the stage, per clips shared via the influencer's Instagram Stories.
In a separate video shared by Braxton, 58, the hitmaker could be heard saying into the microphone mid-dance, “Kayla, is he man enough?”
Several people applauded Nicole's onstage performance, with one commenting under a video, “You're doing ✨amazing✨ Kayla 🫶🏾.”
“This is huge! Congrats baby!! 🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️,” a second wrote.
“The way I LOVEEE this! Toni did SO right by you 😍,” another gushed, as a fourth chimed in, “You are the IT GIRL for this song now✨.”
Nicole, 34, also shared a backstage video alongside the “Spanish Guitar” songstress, captioning it, “Still trying to find the words, but for now … T, THANK YOU.”
Additionally, the media personality posted a behind-the-scenes clip of herself inside Braxton's dressing room.
Start your day with Page Six Daily.
Please provide a valid email.
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Want celebrity news as it breaks?
Nicole, who dated Kelce from 2017 to 2022, was accused of taking a dig at Swift, 36, after she dressed as Braxton and recreated her “He Wasn't Man Enough” music video last October.
“She's an icon. She's a legend. She's @tonibraxton circa 2000,” she captioned the video.
Fans applauded Nicole's alleged diss, with one writing, “This is how you have the last laugh.”
Nicole, however, denied that the costume was a dig at the pop star.
At the time, the Grammy winner was also accused of shading Nicole in her “The Life of a Showgirl” track “Opalite.”
Braxton was later asked how she felt about Nicole dressing up as her for Halloween during an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.”
“I like to think that she was just paying homage to me and did it for Halloween,” she said, referring to the alleged drama between Nicole and Swift as “bitter.”
Kelce, also 36, has been dating the “Fortnight” songstress since 2023. They announced their engagement last August.
By Glenn Garner
Associate Editor
As another round of files in the Jeffrey Epstein case drops, Casey Wasserman is apologizing for his correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell.
On Sunday, the sports agent and LA Olympics chairman said in a statement that he's “terribly sorry” for associating with Maxwell back in 2002, years before she was arrested in 2020 and charged with assisting Epstein with his sexual abuse of minors.
“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light,” said Wasserman. “I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. As is well documented, I went on a humanitarian trip as part of a delegation with the Clinton Foundation in 2002 on the Epstein plane. I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”
Watch on Deadline
In the emails exposed in the latest Epstein file drop, Wasserman tells Maxwell, “I think of you all the time. So, what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?”
Meanwhile, Maxwell offered to give a then-married Wasserman a massage that can “drive a man wild,” The Guardian reported.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on five counts of sex trafficking and abuse of minors, for which she was given 20 years in prison.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.
Comment
Name
Email
Website
Δ
Me too.
We don't have all the files yet. What type of a humanitarian trip involves leather clad outfits and massages?
Another sleazebag “regrets”.
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
By Anthony D'Alessandro
Editorial Director/Box Office Editor
Was it packed houses or empty auditoriums juiced by group sales?
That's the obsession over the opening Amazon MGM Studios‘ $75M First Lady Melania documentary from director Brett Ratner which debuted to $7M, the biggest opening for a non-fiction feature in the last decade, outstripping Angel Studios' 2023 title, After Death ($5M opening), and ahead of the doc's $5M forecast. The per theater average was $3,96K. Amazon MGM Studios isn't expected to report foreign B.O., but when we get our hands on some figures, we'll let you.
Understand the following: when a movie goes out on close to 1,800 runs, it has the potential to do $30M. Melania‘s opening is above the recent norms for documentaries, but not to a crazy degree, read Am I Racist?, a recent conservative non-fiction pic distributed by SDG Releasing, which opened to $4.5M in mid-September 2024. Melania crushed it exactly where she was suppose to in red zone counties per box office metrics corp EntTelligence. Of her 600K admissions, 53% were from theaters in red zones, versus 47% in blue (not she had more programmed seats heading into the weekend in blue over red, 55% to 45%). Melania overperformed in Texas and Florida where Donald Trump‘s constituency lies with a number of cities in the Sunshine state popping in the top 10 (when do we ever see Ft. Myers/Naples in the top 10??), read 1.) Los Angeles (underperformed) 2.) New York (underperformed) 3. Dallas/Ft. Worth (overperformed) 4. Tampa (overperformed) 5. Orlando (overperformed) 6. Phoenix (overperformed) 7. Houston (overperformed) 8. Washington DC (even) 9. Ft. Myers (overperformed) 10. Philadelphia (even).
Related Stories
News
'Send Help' $17.5M+ Ahead Of 'Iron Lung'; 'Melania' 'A' CinemaScore & $8M+ Record Docu Debut In Decade; Charli xcx's 'The Moment' Sings - Box Office
Documentary
'Melania' Review: Amazon And Brett Ratner's Shallow Love Letter To The First Lady's White House Return Is Self-Serving And Dull
From the box office data alone, and from where Melania played, the odds are against any theory that a great degree of juicing went on at the box office. We told you earlier this week that Melania was set to triumph in rural areas (populations of 100k-500k). That happened with such population centers repping 39% of attendance to Urban/1M+ at 32%, medium sized markets (500K-1M) attracting 22% and highly rural (under 100k) only appealing to 7% per EntTelligence. Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak audience exits showed that Melania played like a faith-based movie: 72% female, 72% over 55. Women over 25 repped 69% of ticketbuyers. Republicans showed up at 49% and those identifying themselves as conservative turned up at 47%. CinemaScore was an ‘A' ala a faith-based movie.
Watch on Deadline
Before its release, Am I Racist? was programmed in 56% blue zone theaters versus red zone theaters.
It's been a while since we've seen loudspeaker wattage for a documentary from both the press and a studio in regards to its promotion–the last arguably being Michael Moore's 2004 Cannes Palme D'Or winner Fahrenheit 9/11 about how the Bush administration used 9/11 to catapult their agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. That Lionsgate release still reigns with the biggest opening for a documentary at $23.2M, and note that was achieved on 868 theaters along with a $27,5K theater average in late June 2024.
In addition to a big ad on Las Vegas' Sphere which was timed to the one-year anniversary of the inauguration on Jan. 20, Amazon MGM Studios per iSpot shelled out close to $4M in linear ads to Send Help‘s $20M and Black Bear's $3.4M for Shelter (again per iSpot metrics). The campaign for Melania reached a half billion with ads airing during NFL, The Five, The Ingraham Angle, America's Newsroom and Fox and Friends as well as on Hallmark, Fox, and ABC. Amazon MGM also secured ad spots during CBS's NFL AFC Wild Card game on Jan. 11 and Fox's divisional game on Jan. 17. There were outdoor placements for the First Lady's doc in Mexico City, Tokyo, London and more. Get this, there were also commemorative movie ticket and popcorn buckets at some theaters.
Regal Cinemas doesn't seem to be posting anywhere but a user on Reddit caught they made fucking Melania popcorn buckets… pic.twitter.com/M5ei8XOFbb
How can you declare that a documentary which cost $40M to license (by the way that also includes docuseries rights for Amazon MGM Studios) and $35M to market a success? Dummy, it's Amazon MGM Studios. As we saw last weekend in the underperformance of Mercy, the trillion-dollar company can afford to make rounding errors. “There's no stakes at Amazon,” an insider told us once about the studio's uninhibited financial ability to push its TV shows and movies. The financial plan is that when Melania arrives on Prime it will spur ad sales and sign-ups.
Melania was one of two titles in an unconventional weekend at the box office; the other notable movie being YouTuber Markiplier's genre pic Iron Lung which with a $17M second place fiercely went toe-to-toe with Sam Raimi's original island thriller Send Help (Disney calling a $20M No. 1).
In terms of overall attendance, Iron Lung had 21% of the foot traffic this weekend, Send Help pulled in 19% and Melania 10% per EntTelligence.
The Countdown Begins. Reserve Tickets Now.MELANIAJanuary 30, 2026 [Only In Theaters Worldwide] pic.twitter.com/ErZE7mxL55
Heading into the weekend, social media was consumed with spotting where Melania wasn't selling out.
Washingtonians probably aren't the target audience for Melania – and it shows by how few tickets have, so far, been sold for opening day. Here are Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema's showtimes tomorrow. Two of the showings have zero tickets sold currently. pic.twitter.com/yHwLSscqTn
One of the wildest things found online was a Craig's List Boston market post offering $50 and a free ticket to see Melania. It's Craig's List, so who the hell knows how legit this was. From our scope, we didn't find any other offers on Craig's List in other markets. Boston was Melania‘s No. 18 market and underperformed. Hence if that juicing ticket offer was true — well, it failed.
POTUS always saw a silver lining:
MELANIA, the Movie, is a MUST WATCH. Get your tickets today — Selling out, FAST!Photo: Regine Mahauxhttps://t.co/rjwd5Appkv pic.twitter.com/vFpXfV0Mg0
Amazon MGM Studios Head of Domestic Theatrical Distribution, Kevin Wilson said this morning, “We're very encouraged by the strong start and positive audience response, with early box office for Melania exceeding our expectations. This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service. We are confident in the long-term value this rollout will deliver to customers both in theaters, and for years to come on Prime Video.”
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.
Comment
Name
Email
Website
Δ
“biggest opening for a non-fiction feature in the last decade.”
Um, Taylor Swift's doc THE ERAS TOUR would like to have a word.
Maybe you are not paying attention to the juicing because it occurred where you expected there to be box office success. You can't find a needle if it is in a box of needles.
Money laundering scheme
That was my first thought too.
Rather have my eyes put out with knitting needles
How can anyone pretend Melania is doing well given it's budget? It's going to make next to nothing next weekend. Ìt has a 1.1/10 on imdb and will win multiple razzies
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Cardi B was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live last night (January 31), performing “Bodega Baddie” and “ErrTime” off her 2025 album Am I the Drama? On “Bodega Baddie,” the Bronx rapper was joined by renown Dominican accordionist El Prodigio. It was Cardi's first time performing on SNL since 2018. You can watch both performances below, as well as a Cardi cameo in a sketch alongside Marcello Hernandez and host Alexander Skarsgård.
“It's such a honor for me to perform on one of the most prestigious stages in America…SNL with THEE @elprodigiord !” she wrote on Instagram following her performance. “Bringing real Dominican sound, real Dominican culture, infused with the sounds and culture of the Bronx!”
Cardi will spend the next two months on the Little Miss Drama arena tour, her first since 2019. It kicks off February 11 in Palm Desert, California.
The musical guests on Saturday Night Live's 51st season so far have included Geese, A$AP Rocky, Doja Cat, Sabrina Carpenter, Brandi Carlile, Olivia Dean, Dijon, Lily Allen, and Cher. Bad Bunny also hosted an episode. Mumford & Sons are the musical guest on the next episode, airing February 28, with Connor Storrie set to host.
Read more about Cardi B in Pitchfork's the 100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far.
© 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices
CN Entertainment
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
With an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay to her name, Nicole Holofcener knows a good script when she sees one. So when she caught word of Lesley Arfin's “Worried” pilot, she made it clear that she wanted to direct it.
“We were at a party and we had a mutual friend who said ‘This woman wrote the best pilot I've ever read,'” Holofcener said in the IndieWire Studio, presented by Dropbox. “And I said ‘Can I direct it?' I mean, who doesn't want to direct the best pilot ever written?”
Holofcener was joined in the IndieWire Studio by Arfin, Alexander Tanner (who wrote the original novel that inspired the series), and stars Gideon Adlon and Rachel Kaly. The five women discussed the process that led to “Worried” becoming one of the hottest episodic projects of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Related Stories The Team Behind ‘Hot Water' Describes Making a Film That Was a ‘Road Trip First and Foremost, and a Movie Second' The ‘See You When I See You' Team on the Joy of Making Films — Even with Tragic Subject Matter
“'Worried' is a novel that I started working on in 2019 about the experience of sharing a 150 square foot studio apartment with my sibling,” Tanner said. “It's about two sisters that move in together. Poppy needs a place to stay, Jules is a beleaguered email job haver. And they have adventures and hijinks and they drive each other crazy. The book is set over the course of the year, but we're doing something different with the adaptation and layering things in.”
Arfin explained that she is picky with the material she chooses, and had never adapted someone else's work before, but the humor and relatability of Tanner's book was too good to pass up.
“It's so funny. I have a sister as well. I don't like a lot of the stuff that is sent to me to read, but I read ten pages of her book and I was like ‘Where is she?!' I didn't know if I was able to do anything with it. I had never adapted anything before. But I just think Alex is a phenomenal writer, a really funny writer and person. And the fact that it was sent to me made me feel good.”
Watch IndieWire's complete conversation with the “Worried” team above.
Dropbox is proud to partner with IndieWire and the Sundance Film Festival. In 2026, 68% of feature films premiering at Sundance used Dropbox during production. Dropbox helps filmmakers and creative teams find, organize, secure, and share the content that matters most to any project.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
The late Catherine O'Hara's “Wyatt Earp” co-star, Brett Cullen, visited her home a day after her heartbreaking passing.
Cullen, who played Saddle Tramp in the 1994 biographical Western drama film, appeared somber as he stopped by O'Hara's residence on Saturday.
In a photo shared by Page Six, the actor was spotted outside the late actress's home wearing a brown jacket and black jeans, along with a black baseball cap and dark sunglasses.
O'Hara played Allie Earp, the sister of Wyatt Earp, alongside Cullen and lead actor Kevin Costner. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
In the wake of Catherine O'Hara's death, some mourners paid their respects outside her home to honor the beloved actress.
In the photos shared by Page Six, a man wearing a shirt with an image of O'Hara placed a flower with a note on the home's steps. A woman was also spotted carrying a bouquet of flowers outside the actress's home.
Tributes also poured in on social media from fans and fellow celebrities. O'Hara's “Home Alone” son, Macaulay Culkin, shared a heartfelt message for his “mama.”
“Mama. I thought we had time,” the actor, 45, wrote on Instagram. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I'll see you later.”
O'Hara's family is set to bid a final farewell following her tragic passing on January 30.
Her representative confirmed in an obituary that a “private celebration of life will be held by the family.”
O'Hara is survived by her husband, Bo Welch, and sons, Matthew and Luke, along with siblings Michael O'Hara, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Maureen Jolley, Marcus O'Hara, Tom O'Hara, and Patricia Wallice.
Two weeks prior to her shocking death, O'Hara was reportedly in “great spirits” during one of her last outings.
According to the Daily Mail, the actress appeared to be in good shape during a brief appearance at an event for Supermodels Unlimited magazine, held at Lisa Vanderpump's SUR restaurant in West Hollywood, on January 13.
“As quickly as she was seen, she left, but she looked healthy for a 71 year old,” the source told the outlet.
Meanwhile, Page Six reported that the actress experienced “breathing difficulty” when first responders were called to her home at 4:48 a.m. She was then rushed to the hospital in a “serious condition.”
O'Hara passed away at 71.
Comment
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Δ
Previous
Next
Like EntertainmentNow?
Go here and check the boxnext to EntertainmentNow
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2026 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
The creatives behind the films, backed by the grant scheme unveiled last year by Cate Blanchett and IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund, also address displacement and identity.
By
Georg Szalai
Global Business Editor
Shahrbanoo Sadat, who fled Kabul, Afghanistan, to Germany in 2021 and will next month open the Berlin Film Festival with No Good Men, just world premiered her short film Super Afghan Gym at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). And Maryna Er Gorbach, the Ukrainian director of Klondike, debuted her short Rotation at Rotterdam.Both shorts were backed by the Displacement Film Fund, a scheme unveiled last year by Cate Blanchett and IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund to provide five displaced directors with €100,000 ($120,000) grants. The other grant recipients were Iranian auteur Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig), Syria's Hasan Kattan (Last Men in Aleppo), and Somali-Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe (The Village Next to Paradise).
Related Stories
Movies
'The Arab' Director on Moving From Docs to Fiction for the Story of an Unnamed Figure in Albert Camus' 'The Stranger': Rotterdam
Movies
Oscar-Nominated 'The Secret Agent' Director Decries "Outdated" Casting Practices in Rotterdam Fest Talk: "It's Not About Good Looks"
In a conversation with THR and during a Rotterdam press conference, Er Gorbach and Sadat discussed their inspirations and hopes for their respective films.
Related Video
The 12-minute-long Rotation is about a therapeutic hypnosis ritual experienced by a young Ukrainian woman who shifted from civilian life to military service due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. She needs support to adapt to the displaced reality she now lives in.
Er Gorbach tells THR that her film came “from this creative freedom we had, because there was no expectation for us. There was so much trust, and we were free to make what we felt strongly about.”
The starting point for Rotation was “my understanding of displacement,” explains the filmmaker. “Right now, I want to talk about the displacement of normality for people who were civilians and came into the army services. How do they adapt to that new reality?”
In her research, she talked to people with insight and learned a lot. “I found out that there are situations when newcomers to the army cannot manage the loss, the death,” explains Er Gorbach. “And sometimes they go to this therapeutic hypnosis where it is proposed that they forgive themselves for [the fact that] they could not save their friends or just say goodbye to them.” So, Rotation is not about physical but “metaphysical and emotional displacement.”
In the month-long casting process, Er Gorbach saw “so many women and men, because it was not only about performance, but about having the right person in the film.” She and her casting director ended up finding journalist Nadiia Karpova for the lead role. “She's now a war reporter, but she was an actress before the war,” the director explains. “So, she's basically living this kind of rotation, going to the frontline, shooting, and all that.”
Physical displacement is not the focus of Rotation, but the director decided to shoot it on physical film, namely Svema, a Ukrainian brand of film used for Soviet movies during the era of the Soviet Union. “My team found one of the last film stocks somewhere in a shelter,” Er Gorbach recalls. “After we shot, we put it in paper boxes. We could not bring it in metal boxes because [when we traveled] we had to go through an X-ray. So it was kind of a journey for us.”
Meanwhile, the 14-minute Super Afghan Gym is set in a gym in downtown Kabul, which features posters of muscular men on the walls, where a group of housewives come together during the one hour of the day reserved for women. “They train at lunchtime behind closed doors, talking about body norms and their daily life,” reads a synopsis.
Sadat's experience of displacement is more a form of “double displacement,” she explains. “My parents fled Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion back in the '70s. They fled to Iran, and I was born in Iran,” where she experienced “racism against Afghan refugees and immigrants.” Actually, “I experienced a high dose of racism as a child before I understood what racism meant,” she recalls. “I was taking it personally because I was not familiar with racism.”
Her experience also affected how she and other people thought about her identity. “In Iran, I was always called Afghan, even when I'd never been to Afghanistan, and I knew nothing about Afghanistan,” she says. “My parents never talked about it. So I was always trying my best to be Iranian. And then when I moved back to Afghanistan – my parents decided to move back – suddenly everyone called me Iranian.”
She lived there for 20 years, “and then, four years ago, when Kabil collapsed, a lot of people, including me and my family, evacuated to Germany,” recalls Sadat. “And I had a lot of friends [for whom] it was the first time to leave and really experience how life is for refugees. But I didn't feel that, because I never had the feeling that I belonged to a country. … I was always the other, the foreigner, the one who doesn't belong to this place.”
Sadat describes film as a form of therapy. “It is a therapy for finding my voice, finding myself, talking about things that matter in the way that I think they matter,” she shares. When she got the call from the Displacement Film Fund, “I just reached the conclusion that this identity of Iranian, Afghan, foreigner, the other person, the displaced person, or whatever, are just the identities that are exposed on me from outside. They're not coming from me, because from inside, I'm the same person. It doesn't matter what passport I'm holding. It doesn't matter if I'm Iranian or German or Afghan. I'm a human being with the experience of living in different places. So it was a kind of liberation for me to get rid of this.”
Super Afghan Gym also deals with questions of identity and home. “As a woman, I never really felt at home in my own body,” Sadat says. “And I think the first, the best, home of everyone is their body. This is very connected to how a woman's body should look, or what the beauty definition is. I know that is a universal topic. So, I just decided I was going to talk about that experience.”
Social media reactions to news of her short film were divided. “A lot of Afghan men were attacking me, saying I was fabricating this experience. ‘Women are not going into the gym in Kabul. You're just making this up.' At the same time, a lot of women were writing to me, saying, ‘We have been going to the gym secretly since the Taliban took over the country, because we cannot go to work, we cannot go to school.' There are these gyms, and this is the only excitement. This is the highlight of the day for so many women now in big cities. Of course, in villages, that's not possible.” Concluded Sadat: “It's been four years since their lives have been stopped. Imagine a lockdown for four years. And there's no news of how the situation is going to end.”
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
I've become so accustomed to Saturday Night Live episodes needing to get over multiple humps of weak cold opens, monologues that are often more cute or functional than laugh-out-loud funny, and/or the heavy sigh of a leadoff game-show sketch that when an episode actually starts strong, it can produce an outsized elation and inflated expectations. 20 minutes into Alexander Skarsgård's first hosting gig, it seemed like it might be one of those weird cases where a relatively low-expectation host, in this case one where maybe you have to repeatedly look up which one is this guy and which one is his brother who also acts because they've both played vampires, winds up presiding over a season highlight. You know, sort of like a normie boyfriend unexpectedly delivering twisted jokes for every occasion!
That's not even to say the cold open of this week's episode was an all-timer. But it wasn't Trump doing stand-up, and took some actual (if belated) shots at the poisonous ICE mentality, even if the writers—can we just be real and say Colin Jost here? The helpful writing-credit Reddit thread is always mysterious blank on the cold opens, but in the past often attributed Jost—simply cannot stop themselves from assigning a Voice of Reason where none exists. In this case, it was Pete Davidson somewhat pointlessly playing border czar Tom Homan; Davidson is too naturally likable (and even, in his way, sensible) to be of much use as a guy currently best-known for being somewhat less overly Nazi-coded than his predecessor. The cold open winked a little at the fact that Homan's philosophy doesn't actually differ radically from all the horrible shit ICE has been up to, but to do too much of that would violate the sane-person-explains-what's-crazy principle of so many political sketches. Still: This required seemingly more effort than usual, and what a relief to see James Austin Johnson freed from the Trump shtick that's become his gift/curse, instead offering deadpan “probably wrong” answers to simple questions.
Moreover, following a technically above-average cold open, the next few segments were top-notch, starting with a short, simple, and delightfully ridiculous monologue bit where Skarsgård, lacking some kind of immediately well-known persona to riff off, talked about wanting to put a spotlight on the house band for the show's 1,000th (!) episode. The band pretended to be annoyed by Skarsgård pretending to care about them and pretending to play the saxophone… all together, it was the kind of loose, silly monologue you might expect to see in the late '80s.
From there, Skarsgård backed off to play a relatively quiet dad in an exceedingly well-acted lead-off sketch about a mom (Ashley Padilla) announcing to her family that she has maybe kinda-sorta finally come around on Trump being bad for the country—a potentially hoary premise that might have felt mistimed at any point in the past, what, decade? Yet here it was so well-written, and benefited so mightily from Padilla's patience as a performer, her willingness to delay a punchline for the sake of precision, that it landed near-perfectly. The host also did fine teamwork in a Jane Wickline-centric pretape that punctured the reverence of Olympics ads, with Wickline as an athlete facing nothing but mortal terror at the prospect of competing. Again: simple premise, fantastic execution.
Sadly, that high didn't last, and the sketches got, well, sketchier after that—hit-and-miss within the sketches themselves, rather than just between them. After Skarsgård's free-floating, do-whatever goofiness earlier in the episode, it was a little surprising to see him circle back to check off stuff from his Wikipedia bio, even if the general audience might not remember that yes, he actually played Tarzan in a movie that, yes, was actually kind of a hit. (I had forgotten this until the Tarzan sketch aired, and I, well, saw it for work, apparently.) He did a variation on his Northman character in a Viking-raid pretape, passably amusing but coasting a bit on what have become standard CG gore effects that the show brings out about three times a year. Skarsgård did bring some genuine Scandinavian experience to the Scandinavian Film Set sketch that Glen Powell did a few months ago. And there was, naturally, one sketch treating his height as a sight gag.
Skarsgård didn't fully return to his essential yet less persona-specific strangeness until the very end of the night, when he played a “funny” boyfriend cribbing his “random” quips from Cards Against Humanity. By that point, some of the episode's heedless early joy had dissipated, though the Cards sketch delivered on its own terms. What lingered was the sense that the show doesn't need a legacy star or old cast member for an installment that feels vaguely like a throwback (complimentary). Given the lack of ceremony in the wake of the 50th season, that was probably the right energy for SNL crossing over into the four-digit episode count. Besides, most comedies don't really hit their stride until they've done at least three thousand.
As mentioned, that early stretch was terrific, including Wickline finally speaking for those of us who feel strongly that doing fast sports in the cold sounds, frankly, terrible. Again, I know she's divisive among some fans, but every time she's the focus of a segment like that, it's perfectly judged.
While the Tarzan and Cards Against Humanity sketches weren't quite as great as the early stuff, they both had an agreeable early '90s vibe, especially Tarzan, even if you felt like Kevin Nealon would have played it better.
It's hard to begrudge the show an occasional recurring sketch these days, given how infrequently they go there, but back-to-back returns of the Scandinavian Film Set and Immigrant Dad Talk Show, both featuring a droll cameo from the host's real-life dad Stellan Skarsgård, recalled a '90s episode in a bad way, and was maybe not the best strategy. Neither made me laugh much, but I'd give the edge in unfunniness to Immigrant Dad Talk Show. It's a much stronger recurring concept overall but already feels like it's running on fumes after three installments, even as the Skarsgård family brought in some minor variations.
Also, the sketch featuring Skarsgård as the awkwardly tall and ill-tempered Iowa transplant Agnes alienating her young peers felt like it wasn't quite there. Everyone in it was hitting their marks, with the possible exception of the always-dicey person-to-dummy transfer timing for the slapstickiest sections. But there was also a nagging wateriness about how old these girls were supposed to be; I'm not saying there aren't any kinds who like both Olivia Rodrigo and Bluey (I know, everyone loves Bluey) but between those details, the dialogue, and the general playdate situation, it was hard to tell where between the vast 5-to-10 spectrum the “normal” characters were supposed to be, which throws off their contrast to the outlier character. That might sound astonishingly literal-minded for a sketch where adults dress-up like kids, but that kind of uncertainty can make an outlandish premise harder to sell.
The best pure performance in the episode was pretty obviously Ashley Padilla in that first sketch and some of the biggest single laughs came from Jane Wickline, but the most overall fun in the episode belonged to Sarah Sherman, whether remote-reporting in a very cold-looking dress on Weekend Update, inspiring a grudge from Skarsgård's hulking little girl Agnes, or romantically paired with the host in two successive sketches. She also gets bonus points for plugging her recent stand-up special far fewer times than one of her colleagues has!
I was about ready to say that unless I spend the next month mainlining Heated Rivalry, Connor Storrie will rep the rare SNL host where his episode will be where I see him act for the first time. But I guess he was in the Joker sequel that I reviewed for this very website, so technically that isn't true. But close! Meanwhile, this will be the fourth musical-guest appearance from Mumford & Sons. Time!
Jesse Hassenger is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
Recommended for You1The Pitt slows back down for some competency porn2Here's what Sam Mendes' Beatles look like [Updated]3Bridgerton gets its mojo back in season 44Old school horror and new school survivalism clash in I Hate This Place5Jason Statham gives his bargain-bin Bourne some heart in Shelter
© 2026 Paste Media Group. All Rights Reserved
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Algerian history, colonialism and an Oedipal relationship play key roles in Malek Bensmaïl's fiction debut with Palestinian 'Succession' star Hiam Abbass, which world premiered at IFFR.
By
Georg Szalai
Global Business Editor
Albert Camus' novel The Stranger (L'étranger) recently got a cinema adaptation, under the same title, by French director François Ozon, which is part of the lineup of the 55th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). But another film related to the Camus classic world premiered in the Big Screen Competition of the festival on Saturday night: The Arab, the fiction feature debut by documentary maker Malek Bensmaïl (Checks and Balances, Alienations, The Battle of Algiers, a Film Within History).
The movie, directed by the filmmaker and written by him and Jacques Fieschi, reframes an unnamed figure from the book, a murdered man who is simply referred to as The Arab throughout the novel. In the film, his name is Moussa, and his story is told through the testimony of his aging brother Haroun to a journalist, making the film an exploration of memory, identity, and colonialism, given that Algeria was a French colony for 132 years until 1962.
Related Video
Related Stories
Movies
Oscar-Nominated 'The Secret Agent' Director Decries "Outdated" Casting Practices in Rotterdam Fest Talk: "It's Not About Good Looks"
Movies
'Father Mother Sister Brother' DOP on Working With Jim Jarmusch, "Nightmare" Shots, and Why Tilda Swinton Is More Than an Actress: Rotterdam
The Arab also references the Algerian Civil War, known in the country as the Black Decade or The Dirty War, which was fought between the Algerian government and Islamist rebel groups from 1992 until 2002.
The Arab is loosely based on the 2013 novel The Meursault Investigation by Algerian writer Kamel Daoud. Meursault is the narrator of Camus' The Stranger. The film shows Haroun recounting his version of what happened and how it reshaped his own life and that of the brothers' mother. It is a murder mystery without clear or easy answers.
Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass (Palestine 36, Munich), who is widely known for portraying Marcia Roy in the HBO hit drama Succession, plays the mother in The Arab, with the film also starring Nabil Asli, Ahmed Benaissa, Dali Benssalah, Thierry Raphaël, Brahim Derris, and Amina Ben Ismail. Production company Hikayet Films is handling sales.
During a Q&A following the world premiere of The Arab, Bensmaïl was asked about moving from doc to fiction film. “I make no difference between documentaries and fiction,” he shared via an interpreter. “But what was especially interesting in this case was to pull out features that the actors already had and to show their own political, and maybe also psychological, features. I did that in fiction the same way that I would also do it with a documentary.”
The director also explained that he put more focus on the mother-son relationship, with an Oedipal quality to it. “The mother actually becomes enthralled by this craziness of revenge,” said Bensmaïl. “And what is very interesting is that there's a parallel with the history of Algeria.”
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
By
William Vaillancourt
Cardi B returned to Saturday Night Live as musical guest to perform two songs from her latest album, Am I the Drama?
The rapper's long-awaited follow-up to 2018's Invasion of Privacy, Am I the Drama? reached the number one spot on the Billboard 200 and was widely acclaimed.
The 33-track album was a “massive comeback triumph” and a “fittingly grand return for a queen who never left the throne,” Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield wrote in a positive review. The production went on to place number 60 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 100 Best Albums of 2025.
The Bronx native, who last appeared on SNL the same year as Invasion of Privacy, opened with the merengue and dembow-influenced “Bodega Baddie.”
Popular on Rolling Stone
The artist has revealed some of what went on behind the scenes during the writing process for her newest work.
“I'm a different person every single day,” she told Rolling Stone in early 2024. “When I'm in a good mood and I'm with my friends, [I'm] like, ‘Damn, I want my shit to be played in this club.' But then I might be mad with my man, so it's like now I want to do this song. But then I want to do a pop record. I want to do my sing-y shit.”
Trending Stories
She Was the Jane Doe in R. Kelly's Infamous Tape. Now, ‘I'm Here Today as Reshona'
'SNL' Weekend Update Trashes Melania's Documentary, Kristi Noem's B.S. Claims
'SNL' Cold Open: Bumbling ICE Agents Reveal Just How Bad They Are at Their Jobs
‘Chaos': Behind the Scenes of Amazon's Melania Trump Doc
Cardi B's second song of the night was “ErrTime,” a nominee for Outstanding Hip Hop/Rap Song at the NAACP Image Awards later this month.
The rapper's first headline arena tour, Little Miss Drama, begins in February on the west coast. The 31-city tour ends in mid-April in Georgia.
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
By
William Vaillancourt
Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update took on the new Melania Trump documentary and Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's baseless claims about the Alex Pretti shooting.
The $75 million documentary about the first lady, which has been widely panned as a glorified infomercial, is titled simply, Melania. But, as co-anchor Colin Jost joked, a more fitting title would be “Wicked: For Real“—a play on last year's fantasy film co-starring Cynthia Erivo as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Michael Che then noted that the documentary, which some of its crew members want nothing to do with, was directed by Rush Hour‘s Brett Ratner.
“That explains this scene,” he said, rolling a clip of Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) badgering Jackie Chan's character—with Trump's face superimposed on him—about whether she speaks any English.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Che then turned to the fatal shooting last week in Minneapolis of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents.
“Homeland Security's initial review of the Alex Pretti shooting does not say that he attacked officers, which contradicts Kristi Noem's claims,” Che said. Noem had insisted that officers were justifed in shooting Pretti ten times in the back while unarmed, claiming, “This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
Trending Stories
She Was the Jane Doe in R. Kelly's Infamous Tape. Now, ‘I'm Here Today as Reshona'
'SNL' Weekend Update Trashes Melania's Documentary, Kristi Noem's B.S. Claims
'SNL' Cold Open: Bumbling ICE Agents Reveal Just How Bad They Are at Their Jobs
‘Chaos': Behind the Scenes of Amazon's Melania Trump Doc
Che joked about the DHS's finding: “None of that really matters to Kristi Noem. She'll open fire even if you're a good boy.”
Noem, of course, admitted in her memoir to shooting and killing a puppy of hers for misbehaving.
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
By
William Vaillancourt
On Saturday Night Live, Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, arrived in Minneapolis to remind a group of unqualified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents what they should and should not be doing.
Homan (Pete Davidson), who replaced top border patrol official Gregory Bovino after federal agents killed two people in Minneapolis in January, arrived on scene to discover that more than a change in leadership was required.
“We need to tighten up. That starts with remembering the mission objective. Now, who can tell me why we're here in Minneapolis?” he asked the eight or so agents, one of whom (Kenan Thompson) confidently answered: “Pass.”
Another (agent James Austin Johnson) weighed in: “This could be wrong, but: Army?”
When Homan revealed their duty—to detain and deport illegal immigrants who have committed crimes—one agent (Andrew Dismukes) admitted that that was the first time he had heard that.
Popular on Rolling Stone
Homan then asked them what they believed they should be doing. He was told simply: “Wildin' out.”
The agents should not be looking for any Epstein files, Homan added.
“We actually just released those to distract from this, which is ironic because we did this to distract from those,” he said.
Homan's test about when physical force should be used also didn't land with his audience. “Right away” was not the right answer, nor was “preemptively.”
“We actually don't want to use force. Remember, the job is ultimately about keeping America safe from—?” he asked.
“This could be wrong, but: Don Lemon?” one of the agents answered, referring to the former CNN host's arrest on Friday over his appearance at a Minneapolis church where anti-ICE protesters gathered.
Trending Stories
She Was the Jane Doe in R. Kelly's Infamous Tape. Now, ‘I'm Here Today as Reshona'
'SNL' Weekend Update Trashes Melania's Documentary, Kristi Noem's B.S. Claims
'SNL' Cold Open: Bumbling ICE Agents Reveal Just How Bad They Are at Their Jobs
‘Chaos': Behind the Scenes of Amazon's Melania Trump Doc
Homan also pointed out the hypocrisy of an agent who echoed Trump's line that protesters shouldn't have guns, noting that many right-wing, anti-government gatherings have included people exercising their Second Amendment right.
“You've got to do better,” Homan concluded. “I'm Tom Homan, okay? I'm the separating families at the border guy. I'm the on film taking a $50,000 bribe guy, and you all are making me look like the upstanding, reasonable adult in the room. That's crazy!”
We want to hear it. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
"I am literally the luckiest person in the world," Storrie wrote on his Instagram Story after the news was revealed during the Jan. 31 episode of the sketch-comedy series.
By Nicole Fell, McKinley Franklin
January 31, 2026 9:23pm
Heated Rivaly star Connor Storrie is set to host Saturday Night Live for the first time.
The 25-year-old actor has been announced as the host for the late night show's Feb. 28 episode alongside musical guest Mumford & Sons. The hosting gig is the latest in a long string of appearances for Storrie and his co-star Hudson Williams since the queer Canadian hockey drama took off last month.
“I am literally the luckiest person in the world,” Storrie wrote on his Instagram Story after the news was revealed during SNL‘s Jan. 31 show.
Related Stories
TV
Pete Davidson Joins 'Saturday Night Live' Cold Open to "Tighten Up" ICE Agents in Minneapolis
TV
Kenan Thompson Says He Thinks About Exiting 'SNL': "It's Gonna Suck"
Earlier this week, Storrie and Williams served as torchbearers ahead of the 2026 Olympic games. Storre, who signed with CAA earlier this month, also stopped by the front row of YSL's Paris Fashion Week show on Tuesday. He's also been busy on the television front, appearing on both Late Night With Seth Meyers and Today earlier this month. He and Williams were the talk of the Golden Globes, despite attending only to present an award, and the parties that preceded the awards show.
Heated Rivalry, hailing from Canadian streamer Crave and airing on HBO Max in the U.S., centers on a fictional hockey universe based on books by Rachel Reid. The show focuses on two rival professional players — Canada-born Shane Hollander (Williams) of the fictitious Montreal Metros and Russia-born Ilya Rozanov (Storrie) of the fictitious Boston Raiders — as they navigate a near-decade-long situationship turned relationship.
Crave renewed Heated Rivalry for a second season, and HBO Max confirmed it will continue to air the series. Reid has announced that she'll be publishing her seventh book in the Game Changers series, which Heated Rivalry and its sequel The Long Game belong to. The book, Unrivaled, will be the next chapter in Shane and Ilya's story.
To add to the recent esteem garnered by the series, New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, told residents of the city to consider staying home Sunday amid a large snow storm and instead read Reid's book series, which the library is offering free downloads of throughout the storm.
SNL previously already addressed the widespread success of the Crave series during the Jan. 17 show with the pre-taped Heated Wizardry sketch. In the bit, the night's host Finn Wolfhard and Ben Marshall step into the roles of Harry Potter characters Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, respectively.
It appeared to be a bit playing on the upcoming HBO series based on the film franchise, but things quickly took a heated turn.
“Coming soon to HBO, the beloved wizarding world of Harry Potter makes its television debut,” the sketch began with a voiceover before Wolfhard's Harry and Marshall's Ron crossed paths in a heated exchange on their first day at Hogwarts. “With an all new story hastily written after the success of a certain other HBO show…”
“You dropped your wand. It's lovely, by the way” Marshall's Ron said. “I'd love to see yours sometime,” Wolfhard's Harry responded, with Ron adding, “You would.”
Entitled Heated Wizardry, the bit went on to spotlight the two in a quidditch rivalry, instead of a hockey rivalry like the HBO show the sketch is based on, who are wrapped up in a behind-the-scenes romance.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
His 10 pointers were witty, pithy and very sound. Songwriters, listen up.
By
Paul Grein
Bernie Taupin has written dozens of hit songs across nearly six decades, so his tips about songwriting deserve close attention, by fledging songwriters and veterans alike. Taupin delivered them as he accepted a Trustees Award from the Recording Academy at their annual Special Merit Awards at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles on Monday (Jan. 31).
“I've been waiting 57 years to get one of these,” Taupin said in accepting the honorary Grammy. Indeed, rather incredibly, Taupin has yet to win a Grammy in competition. But Taupin's warm and generous speech showed that, in the life of a songwriter, the work is its own reward.
“I know that I'm blessed to do what I do in a world where so many people hate going to work, they don't want to go to work, they can't stand their jobs. Songwriters are the luckiest people in the world.
“From the first day that I ever wanted to write songs, it wasn't songs so much, I wanted to tell stories. I've always wanted to tell stories, but I always wanted to think outside of the box, and so what I was thinking about on the way here, I made a list of things that I've always tried to avoid. So hopefully you agree with me. I've always thought in writing songs:
Taupin's achievements have earned him the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, a dozen Ivor Novello Awards, an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and a Commander of the British Empire honor.
Taupin is this year's only Special Merit Award recipient who is also nominated for a competitive award at the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 1). He and his longtime collaborator Elton John, along with Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt, are nominated for best song written for visual media for co-writing “Never Too Late” from the music documentary Elton John: Never Too Late.
Taupin used the rest of the time at the podium to salute six songwriters he holds in especially high regard.
“There are so many songwriters that I admire, so many of them that have passed away. And I'm going all the way back to people like Cole Porter and Duke Ellington, the great Merle Haggard, and then recently, my good friend Brian Wilson, one of the greats; one of the few people I might add who can be labelled a genius, along with one of the only people, I think, that can be called a poet, and that's Leonard Cohen. We're not poets, we're songwriters, but Leonard Cohen was a poet.
“This brings me to the opportunity to salute someone who actually isn't here tonight, but is getting one of these awards [a lifetime achievement award]. And for me, I was going to think that he's probably one of, but I think he is the greatest American songwriter alive – exquisite melodies, extraordinary lyrics and ideas that transcend the stars. So, while I'm happy to get this award tonight, I am absolutely thrilled to be the shadow of Paul Simon. Thank you.”
Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By Natalie Oganesyan
Weekend Editor
The Studio team has withdrawn from Apple TV‘s press day, to be held early next week, following the death of star Catherine O'Hara.
“We are all heartbroken by the loss of Catherine O'Hara,” read an Apple and Lionsgate statement to members of the press. “An undeniable legend, icon, and incomparable talent, Catherine elevated every project she was a part of, including the singular genius she brought to her role on ‘The Studio,' and every transcendent performance she gifted to us. Her artistic accomplishments will forever bring humor, light, and love for generations to come, and her brilliance and generosity of spirit touched everyone around her. We will hold her in our hearts always, and extend our thoughts and deepest sympathies to her husband Bo, and children, Matthew and Luke.”
Related Stories
Late Night TV
'Saturday Night Live' Pays Tribute To Catherine O'Hara
News
Martin Short Toasts To "Sweetest Angel" Catherine O'Hara During Comedy Tour With Steve Martin
Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn and Chase Sui Wonders — the cast of the screwball industry comedy — were among dozens of panelists scheduled to participate in a streamer-wide press day held at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar Feb. 3. Per programming details, O'Hara was not slated to attend.
Watch on Deadline
The beloved and multi-talented comedian, writer and actress death Jan. 30 at the age of 71 following a brief illness was profoundly mourned by Hollywood and the world over. Her inimitable comedic timing gave rise to an extraordinary and varied career that gave audiences roles like Kate McCallister in Home Alone, Moira Rose in Schitt's Creek, Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Patty Leigh in The Studio. The two-time Emmy winner was also a skilled dramatic performer, most recently exemplified in her guest turn as Gail in HBO's The Last of Us.
Her co-stars on The Studio penned loving tributes to the veteran actor. Rogen, who co-created the series, which is currently in production for its second season, stated, “Really don't know what to say… I told O'Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I'd ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We're all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.
Comment
Name
Email
Website
Δ
Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks
We want to hear from you! Send us a tip using our annonymous form.
Sign up for our breaking news alerts
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 Deadline Hollywood, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Hughes died of a heart attack at 59 in 2009. He wrote and directed a myriad of beloved movies, including 'Sixteen Candles,' 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Pretty in Pink,' all of which Ringwald starred in.
By
McKinley Franklin
Molly Ringwald doesn't want to see any remakes of John Hughes‘ movies.
During an interview with People magazine at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, The Breakfast Club actress was asked her thoughts of a potential remake of a film originally helmed by the late director.
“Well, they can't be [remade] because they can't be made without the permission of [the late] John Hughes, and he didn't want the films to be remade,” she said. “And I don't think that they should be really.”
Related Stories
Guest Column
The Funniest Christmas Movie Is Also the Most Honest About Why the Holidays Are So Hard
Movies
'The Breakfast Club' Returning to Theaters in Celebration of 40th Anniversary (Exclusive)
Hughes died of a heart attack at 59 in 2009. He wrote and directed a myriad of beloved '80s films, including Sixteen Candles (1984); The Breakfast Club (1985); and Pretty in Pink (1986), all of which Ringwald starred in.
While the actress isn't interested in a direct remake of the 1985 film, she said she wouldn't mind a new “take” on The Breakfast Club‘s story.
“I feel like if somebody does something, I would prefer that they do something … that takes from Breakfast Club and then builds on [it], and represents this generation's issues rather than to try to recreate what was of a different time,” Ringwald noted.
The Run Amok star also shared the former cast members she crosses paths with: “I still see them from time to time. I seem to see Jon Cryer the most, but I love them all. Annie — I love Annie Potts — and I see Andrew McCarthy from time to time … It's hard to believe that it's been 40 years [since Pretty in Pink came out.]”
Ringwald shared a similar during a Breakfast Club reunion at Chicago's C2E2 convention in April 2025. “I personally don't believe in remaking that movie, because I think this movie is very much of its time,” she said.
“It resonates with people today, but I believe in making movies that are inspired by other movies, but build on it and represent what's going on today. You know it's very white, this movie. You don't see a lot of different ethnicities; we don't talk about gender, none of that, and I feel like that really doesn't represent our world today,” Ringwald added. “So I would like to see movies that are inspired by The Breakfast Club but take it in a different direction.”
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Justin Timberlake has returned to the stage for the first time since announcing his Lyme Disease diagnosis.
The “SexyBack” artist performed along with a list of other performers for a special tribute to Pharrell Williams at the Recording Academy Honors Presented by the Black Music Collective Thursday night.
“Anybody who's come in contact with or been in the same frequency with Pharrell Williams is changed forever,” Timberlake, 45, said between songs, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Advertisement
“He came into my life at a time when I was entering my own, and funny enough, he made me feel like I belonged. Your creativity is unparalleled, your energy is infectious…you changed my life. And I will forever be grateful,” Timberlake continued.
Williams was honored at the event with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award on Thursday.
Advertisement
Timberlake stepped away from his live performances after he wrapped his Forget Tomorrow tour last July. Shortly after, he revealed doctors had diagnosed him Lyme Disease.
Advertisement
“I've been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don't say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I've been up against behind the scenes,” he said in a statement shared to his Instagram.
The former NSYNC member added that Lyme disease, which is a bacterial infection spread by ticks, “can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.”
Start your day with Page Six Daily.
Please provide a valid email.
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Want celebrity news as it breaks?
Being diagnosed helped the “shocked” Grammy winner understand “why [he] would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness.”
Advertisement
As a result, the “Mirrors” hitmaker was plagued with “a personal decision” — whether he would “stop touring” or “keep going and figure it out.”
He ultimately decided to keep performing, saying that the “joy” his work brings him “far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling.”
He closed, saying he is “so glad [he] kept going” to prove his “mental tenacity” and share “special moments” with fans.
Country singer Garth Brooks has publicly mourned the loss of his publicist, Nancy Seltzer, whom he cared for.
Brooks honored Seltzer with a lengthy post on his official website. Titled “Nancy Seltzer Has Passed — Quiet Hollywood Giant Leaves Legacy of Integrity and Class,” the post features a photo of Seltzer and a comment about who she was and what she did.
“Public relations legend Nancy Seltzer passed away after a brief hospital stay this week, leaving behind a legacy that shaped decades of entertainment history — often quietly, always with integrity, dogged determination, and purpose,” the statement reads.
The statement commented on Seltzer's career and celebrity clients, who included Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Robert Downey Jr., and Whitney Houston. “She worked at the highest levels of Hollywood, even running the Academy Awards red carpet for many years,” the statement reads. “She navigated moments of triumph and vulnerability with a steady hand and unwavering discretion.”
Although much of Seltzer's work was behind the scenes, she was hugely beneficial to her clients. She always had their best interests at heart. “She wore publicist black like a uniform and kept the focus exactly where she believed it belonged: on her clients,” the statement reads. “Her integrity was contagious, her protective instincts were legendary — maternal, fierce, and unflinching. Her wisdom, earned through decades of experience, was unmatched. Those who worked alongside her understood the gravitas that she carried — and the grace with which she carried it.”
The statement also includes a message from Brooks. “Public relations is the hardest job in show business,” he said. “She always handled every situation with the utmost class.” It is unclear how much of the message on his website he wrote. However, it is clear that Seltzer meant enough to him to share the news of her passing with a message that is an undeniable celebration of her life and her career.
The statement ends with a powerful message: “In an industry built on visibility, Nancy Seltzer chose discretion. In a business driven by ego, she led with loyalty. And in moments that demanded strength, she offered calm. Her absence will be deeply felt — not only for what she did, but for how she did it.”
Seltzer died on Wednesday, January 28, in Los Angeles, Variety reports. She was 79. Her firm shared a touching statement about her integrity as a publicist. “Ms. Seltzer was particularly known for her extraordinary trust. She created long lasting friendships with people from all over the world to whom she was also wonderful, kind, caring and fiercely loyal,” they shared.
Comment
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Δ
Previous
Next
Like EntertainmentNow?
Go here and check the boxnext to EntertainmentNow
About
Contact US
Privacy Policy
Terms Of Service
Editorial Guidelines
Sitemap
Copyright © 2026 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress VIP
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Melania Trump's new Amazon MGM documentary — the most expensive in history — is even beating out Jason Statham's new action for a third-place finish behind 'Send Help' and 'Iron Lung' after galvanizing older conservative females and earning an A-CinemaScore.
By
Pamela McClintock
Senior Film Writer
Following a campaign targeting targeting older conservatives that was topped off by Thursday night's premiere in Washington D.C. attended by President Donald Trump and packed with his acolytes, the first lady's documentary Melania is opening to the best numbers in a decade for a documentary with a better-than-expected $8 million or more.
If that sunny forecast holds, the film will come in No. 3 behind fellow newcomers Send Help and Iron Lung after icing out Jason Statham's new action pic, Shelter. No one saw that coming, with many suggesting Melania was a bomb before it even opened based on empty, or nearly empty, seat maps in cinemas across the country. The pic is galvanizing conservatives in the South and South-central part of the country, and specifically older females over the age of 55, who made up 72 percent of the opening-day audience. And a stunning 78 percent of all ticket buyers were 55 and older.
Related Stories
Movies
The 'Melania' Reviews Are Scathing: "Two Hours of Endless Hell"
Movies
'Melania' Doc Premieres in D.C. as Director Brett Ratner Says $75 Million Price Tag "Wasn't About Corruption"
Yet all bets are off when it comes to comparisons given the context around Melania, which is directed by the controversial filmmaker Brett Ratner. For one, Amazon MGM Studios plunked down $40 million for worldwide licensing rights in a deal widely seen as a move to cozy up to the White House. It's also a play for Amazon's streaming service, Prime, where it could debut close to President's Day weekend (it could remain in theaters as well). Whatever the case, it makes Melania the most expensive doc in history.
And that's before Amazon spent $35 million on a global marketing campaign for the PG-rated film. A domestic theatrical campaign for even the biggest docs generally runs no more than $5 million to $7 million. There are exceptions, including former vice president Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Sources say the domestic marketing spend was close to $15 million on each of those titles because of the awards factor, not adjusted for inflation. An Inconvenient Truth took home the best doc Oscar.
Almost two decades later, Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 remains the top-grossing doc of all time among any genre, not just political, and still holds the record for top openings. Fahrenheit debuted to $23.9 million domestically from 868 theaters on its way to a North American cume of $119.2 million and $222 million globally, not adjusted for inflation.
Melania is clearly benefiting by promotion from the bully pulpit, as the President Trump entreats his followers to see the film, while grassroots marketing campaigns from conservative groups are expected to send moviegoers to theaters in red-leaning states and top markets, such as Orange County in California.
Critics are trashing the doc, as reflected by its current 6 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Many box office pundits say Trump supporters expect negative reviews from what they consider to the left-leaning media. Indeed, audiences gave Melania an A Cinemascore, while its audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a stellar 98 percent, the highest of any film in the top 10 this weekend.
Heading into the weekend, tensions were high. Melania was tracking to open in the $5 million range from 1,778 theaters, or at least enough to beat the $5 million debut of Angel Studios' doc After Death from 2,645 theaters in 2023 and claim the best opening for a documentary in a decade. But exhibitors weren't so convinced, based on sluggish ticket sales and an endless stream of social posts showing auditoriums where only a smattering of tickets had been sold (it's hard to remember a non-concert doc that's been so scrutinized in terms of its opening number). Some cinema owners downgraded their projections to as low as $2 million to $4 million. By Friday afternoon, almost every Hollywood studio showed Melania coming in between $8 million to $9 million after looking at matinee and early evening grosses and consulting with exhibitors.
The decision to open Melania in more than 20 markets overseas, where Prime Video has a huge footprint, was a bold move, considering how controversial of a figure her husband is. He's presently in a tussle with South Africa, where a distributor pulled Melania from release earlier this week. And there's been a torrent of bad press coming out of Europe regarding empty theaters (just as in the U.S.).
From Amazon's point of view, ponying up $40 million and $35 million on marketing is part of making good on its promise to become a major theatrical player and help struggling cinemas with a varied slate of product, alongside servicing its streaming customers. Since it is a doc, Melania may only play exclusively in cinemas for two weekends (or at least 10 days). While Amazon is more inoculated from churn than rival streaming services, it still has to attract new subs, along with feeding its conservative-leaning Prime members. And it will get two marketing campaigns for the price of one by going relatively quickly to the home, a popular tactic across all of Hollywood.
Melania is opening opposite a slew of films, including 20th Century's Rachel McAdams thriller Send Help, the Sam Raimi-directed title that now looks to open $16 million or $18 million domestically, likewise ahead of expectations after earning a glowing 93 percent critics score and 89 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The darkly comic horror-thriller stars McAdams and Dylan O'Brien as coworkers stranded on a desert island. According to THR‘s review, the R-rated pic “boasts an audacious concept that is superbly realized by Raimi's filmmaking, which milks every bizarre situation for all it's worth.”
In a second twist, indie pic Iron Lung from Mark Fischbach (aka the Markiplier) of YouTube gaming fame, is also tipped to open in that range. At least one rival studio is showing it coming in ahead of Send Help; box office observers say it will all come down to how front-loaded Iron Lung is. The film, helmed by Fischbach in his directorial debut, is based on the submarine simulation horror game of the same name that was developed and published by David Szymanski, who helped with the film's screenplay and makes a cameo.
Disney's 2025 year-end holiday holdovers Zootopia 2 and Statham's Shelter, which is coming in on the low end of expectations with $5 million.
Jan. 31, 8:30 a.m.: Updated with revised grosses.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.
Ant McPartlin has said that a psychic was about to make him "cry" during a rather unusual chat(Image: ITV)
Ant McPartlin has said that a psychic was about to make him "cry" during a rather unusual chat about his personal life. In a recent instalment of his and long-time co-host Declan Donnelly's new podcast series, Hanging Out, on Monday, January 26, the beloved Geordie duo chatted to psychic Jayne Wallace.
In one segment, Ant took part in a psychic reading in which Jayne made assertions about him by interpreting crystals. Before they started, she asked him how personal he would like the reading to be, to which he replied, “As personal as you want.”
Jayne then instructed Ant to pick up his crystals and “pop” his energy into them. She warned him that she was going to tell him off, but reassured him that he shouldn't "take it personally" before proceeding with the reading.
She said: "The little one there's like an amethyst, so that's using your intuition more. You're doing a lot more meditation, more in touch with your spirituality, more breathwork.
Ant recently took part in a psychic reading
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
"So you're kinda getting time out where you think, 'Right, I just wanna learn to breathe again', which is good. Next one. Opalite is more about joyfulness, child-like energy, but it's also knowing that you don't always have to be childish."
Dec interjected by saying "yes", as Ant erupted into laughter in the background before presenting another crystal for Jayne to analyse.
Jayne said: “That's emotion, so that's trying to find your feet and grounding. So you've had a roller-coaster of a hell, and I don't think anyone really knows what you've been through,” to which Ant replied: “Yeah.”
Jayne added: “There's times where it's like, ‘I've given up', and times where ‘I'm fighting'. So you've gotta just keep going. Whatever way you look at it, you've got your family; they're your oxygen, and the babies are the reason why you breathe every day. Next one.”
Ant responded that she was going to make him “cry”. She confirmed that it was all about “self-belief”, before comforting Ant that he would be “alright”.
Jayne then concluded her reading, saying that Ant knows “everything” now, but Dec jumped in, saying not to tell him that for “God's sake”.
Jayne clarified that Ant knows where his "priorities lie"
(Image: Getty Images)
He added that Ant "already thought that", as Jayne clarified that he knows where his "priorities lie".
It comes after Ant revealed on a separate podcast episode that he has had to "curb" a certain habit at home, as he keeps getting "told off" by his partner, Anne-Marie Corbett.
Speaking to Fearne Cotton on the Happy Place podcast, Ant, who has a son named Wilder, said: "Well, my little one is 19 months now, so he's... all his words are starting to come slowly, but then... and I'm getting told off a lot for swearing in the house, so I have to curb the swearing."
He added: "So, what I'm not going to do, Fearne, is start swearing on a podcast. Yeah, so I need to... yeah, I need to curb it."
You can next catch the duo on Ant and Dec's Limitless Win on ITV on Sunday, February 1, from 8pm to 9pm.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Terms and Conditions.
Susan Lucci Gives High Marks to ‘Beyond the Gates' Noting It's ‘Fabulous' with ‘Terrific Storylines'
February Love on ‘General Hospital': Here's What's In Store For Several Couples
‘General Hospital's' James Patrick Stuart Recalls Profound Moment with Catherine O'Hara
Darin Brooks Hints at a Return to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,' Previews ‘The Roaring Game' and Status of ‘Blue Mountain State' Revival (Exclusive)
DAYS Rob Scott Wilson Appears in Super Bowl LX Ad for Michelob ULTRA
Jacob Young Talks On the Loss of Anthony Geary, Susan Flannery and Landing Role of Lucky Spencer, ‘All My Children' Reboot and Latest Film (Exclusive)
‘Beyond the Gates' Jordi Vilasuso Has ‘Wishful Casting' for Grayson's Mother, GL and OLTL Alum Saundra Santiago (Exclusive)
Greg Vaughan Talks on His ‘Beyond the Gates' Debut and the 411 on the New Character He Plays (Exclusive)
‘The Real Housewives of Potomac's' Gizelle Bryant Talks ‘Beyond the Gates' Guest Spot, Reality vs. Soaps, and Returning to Spice Up Vernon Dupree's Love Life (Exclusive)
Michael E. Knight Remembers His ‘All My Children' Parents and the Moments He'll Never Forget with Jill Larson and Ray MacDonnell (Exclusive)
AMERICAN IDOL: Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood All Returning as Judges for Upcoming Season
‘American Idol' Crowns Its Season 23 Winner with Record-Setting 26 Million Votes Cast
AMERICAN IDOL: Who Made Into The Final Three and Do You Agree?
Carrie Underwood Replaces Katy Perry as Judge for Upcoming Season of ‘American Idol' 20 Years after Winning the Title
AMERICAN IDOL: Abi Carter Crowned the Winner, Katy Perry Sheds Tears In Her Final Episode
Susan Lucci Gives High Marks to ‘Beyond the Gates' Noting It's ‘Fabulous' with ‘Terrific Storylines'
‘Beyond the Gates' Unveils Season Two Cast Photo
CBS Announces ‘Beyond the Gates' and ‘The Young and the Restless' Crossover with 6 Genoa City Residents Heading to Fairmont Crest
‘Beyond the Gates' Casts Cecelia Specht as Garland Memorial Hospital Chief of Staff, Dr. Lia Whitmore
2026 Writers Guild Awards: ‘Beyond the Gates,' ‘General Hospital' and ‘The Young and the Restless' Score Daytime Drama Nominations
DANCING WITH THE STARS: Robert Irwin's Mirrorball-Winning Season Finale Scores Highest Ratings in 9 Years
DANCING WITH THE STARS: An Epic Season Finale and Emotional Freestyle Round Crowns the Mirrorball Champions
DANCING WITH THE STARS: ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas Sent Home in Shocking Elimination
DANCING WITH THE STARS: Kelly Monaco, Cameron Mathison, Chrishell Stause and Tom Bergeron Return to the Ballroom for 20th Anniversary Episode
Tom Bergeron Returns to ‘Dancing with the Stars,' After Being “Shown the Front Door” Five Years Ago, for 20th Anniversary Episode
By Michael Fairman
Published
on
By
The road to WrestleMania 42 began by turning back to the OTC1, Roman Reigns, to lead the WWE into their Super Bowl of the year, when he survived the 30-man Royal Rumble on Saturday night, January 31 at the 2026. This year's Rumble emanated for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Earlier in the week, Reigns made a guest appearance on The Pat McAfee Show in a bit of foreshadowing where he put the WWE creative and roster on notice, that in his absence, they were not getting things done since none of the young guy's stepped up, so now he needs to step back in and right this wrong.
Reigns survived the final four of the stacked Men's Rumble. When the smoke cleared it was down to Gunther, Randy Orton, Logan Paul and the OTC. In the end, Reigns tossed Gunther over the top rope to secure the victory. Now, he has his pick of which WWE champion to face at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas come April.
If the championship picture stays as it is until then, Roman could go back after the belt he held for an historic four years, the Undisputed WWE Championship, now held by Drew McIntyre or the World Heavyweight Championship held by CM Punk.
Reigns' victory was only a part of the story coming out of Riyadh as the Royal Rumble left the WWE Universe with much to ponder. Let's run back these mysteries.
As entrant #2 Bron Breakker headed to the ring to face off with entrant #1 Oba Femi, a black hooded figure came out of nowhere tossing him outside the ring and giving him the ‘Seth Rollins'-like patented Curb Stomp. Next, he was tossed into the ring for Femi to then officially throw Breakker over the top rope and thus eliminated.
The hooded figure to us was slighter in build than potential suspects: Seth Rollins, Adam Pearce or even Austin Theory, who were all suspect. However, what if it is the ‘Vision's' own Logan Paul? Remember, earlier in the week, he was part of a backstage vignette saying that the clique will all help Breakker win the rumble.
Brock Lesnar came out accompanied by his former manager, Paul Heyman. Although, the two in Lesnar's recent appearances seem to have aligned. Femi, who has tossed out the first several participants easily, came up against the “Beast Incarnate” and went to Suplex City and was then eliminated. Eventually, Lesnar was taken out by L.A. Knight and Cody Rhodes.
Speaking of Roman Reigns, he was all for himself, eliminating his own cousins, Jey Uso and Jacob Fatu. Before Fatu was sent home, he was about to toss Rhodes over the top rope, when Drew McIntyre (who is not in the Rumble) came out of nowhere and Claymore'd him and thus he was eliminated too! Now, Cody's only current way back to WrestleMania is a win at the ‘Elimination Chamber' later this month
In the arrivals and returns department: AEW's former Powerhouse Hobbs entered the Rumble with his new WWE in-ring name of Royce Keys, Chad Gable returned as the Original El Grande Americano, La Parka (who had a run in WCW, but with the running gag of someone different in the skeleton leotard attire) showed up which felt very odd. Kudos to former NXT star Je'Von Evans who has now been called up to the main WWE Men's roster for a solid first Rumble performance.
Photo: WWE
The Women's Rumble kicked-off the card and in an intriguing plot twist, tag-team partners Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss were the number #1 and number #2 participants causing some drama. While they never really went “at” each other, things took a turn during the Rumble when Flair accidentally eliminated Bliss.
In the end, it was Judgment Day's Liv Morgan who took out the returning-from-injury Tiffany Stratton to win the Women's Rumble. After two previous second-place finishes, Morgan is heading to WrestleMania with a title shot in the very near future. However, on her way to victory, she double-crossed her former tag partner, and stablemate, Raquel Rodriguez by eliminating her from Rumble contention.
The big stars of the Women's Rumble were Lash Legend, who while getting so boo'd by the crowd, eliminated several key women and put on quite a show. In addition, props have to go to Sol Ruca, who wound up in the final three with Morgan and Stratton, and delivered her patented Sol Snatcher, only for it to fall apart from there when she was eliminated by Stratton.
The huge pop of the match came when Brie Bella entered at #29. She has been out of in-ring action since 2022's Rumble. Along with her sister, Nikki, they eliminated Bayley and Lyra Valkyria. Will the Bellas make another run for tag team gold? Stay tuned.
However, most everyone thought the #30 entrant would turn out to be Bianca Belair. The EST did not appear, raising questions and concerns if she will ever be able to be cleared to wrestle again, or if the WWE is holding her back for a huge pop on an upcoming RAW or SmackDown, or if she will be in Chicago later this month at Elimination Chamber.
Photo: WWE
AJ Styles, just like the Taylor Swift song lyric from her hit song, Style, says “Will Never Go Out of Style,” and that holds true for the Phenomenal One. Sadly, AJ lost with his WWE career on the line via a sleeper hold to “career killer” Gunther in their singles match up.
In the follow-up to last month's shocking end of John Cena's legendary career, where the 17-time champ tapped out to the “Ring General,” Styles just passed out. In a shocker, Style came too and was told by the ref, he lost. AJ received a standing ovation from the crowd.
However, this did not feel like the “official” end to Styles career. When it was time for him to remove his wrestling gloves or boots, as is customary when a wrestler says farewell and is retiring from in-ring performance, Styles stopped himself short of doing that. Time will tell if he moves on for another run at TNA or comes to AEW, or if some other thing is at play here.
It should be noted that multiple WWE superstars past and present took to social media including Cena himself, acknowledging Styles incredible work or how emotional it was backstage at the Rumble after he lost to Gunther.
Photo: WWE
In the weakest match of the night, Syrian-born Sami Zayn, for all intent and purposes the hometown favorite, lost another bid for the world championship to Drew McIntrye, who threw everything at the kitchen sink at Zayn to make him give up or stay down. It was hard to watch Zayn take the beat down, but it also was so monotonous.
With WrestleMania 43 coming to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2027, that may be the time that Zayn captures the big prize if the WWE can figure out an engrossing long-term storyline for him, that would give us all the feels around the world and not just in Saudi Arabia a year or so from now.
OVERALL 2026 ROYAL RUMBLE GRADE – B
Now below, check out the highlights from the Royal Rumble 2026, followed by the Michael Fairman Channel's “What's Up? Wrestling” post-show.
Then let us know, what did you think of Roman Reigns and Liv Morgan as this year's Royal Rumble winners? AJ Styles being retired by Gunther? What was your high and low point of this year's card? Weigh-in via the comment section below.
GENERAL HOSPITAL: Britt Tells Jason The Whole Truth; Josslyn Finds Evidence That Cullum's Behind Anna's Disappearance
Δ
Δ
Netflix Becomes Official Home of WWE Library in the U.S.
WWE ‘Monday Night Raw' 1-Year Anniversary on Netflix ‘Stranger Things'-Themed Preview, Plus is Tonight the Return of Chris Jericho?
Should Soap Operas Have a Docuseries Taking Viewers Behind the Scenes of the Writers' Room and How Creative Decisions are Made?
‘WWE UnReal' Season Two: Who's Featured, What Stories and More Images Revealed
WWE ‘Monday Night Raw': Gunther Gloats He Made John Cena Tap Out; Masked Man Revealed as Austin Theory
John Cena Loses to Gunther in Final WWE Match of Historic In-Ring Career on ‘Saturday Night's Main Event'
Published
on
By
On General Hospital, the Friday, January 30 episode showed some relationships finally being honest with each other, while others continued to deceive one another.
First, after Lulu (Alexa Havins Bruening) and Nathan (Ryan Paevey) share their first kiss, in a moment of realization, Lulu breaks the smooch, and tells Nathan that if her bestie, Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) knew about this, she would kill her. Nathan says they can't ignore their feelings for each other, and Maxie has moved on from him and built a life with her kids and Spinelli (Bradford Anderson).
Lulu points out that's only because she thought her husband was dead. Next, Lulu informs Nathan that Maxie never stopped loving him. Nathan brings up Dante (Dominic Zamprogna), which is another problem they share since Nathan works for him at the PCPD and he was married to Lulu. She explains that waking up from her coma after four years, they just couldn't get their relationship back on track. Lulu tells Nathan she sure enjoyed their kiss, but they have to keep it between them.
Courtesy/ABC
Carly (Laura Wright), who now has a new perspective on Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) tells him that he can sleep in the guest room instead of the attic tonight during the winter storm. She is certain no one will come out in this weather to the house and find him here, but Jack shows up at the door! Valentin hides back in the attic. Jack spots two whisky glasses on the table. Carly covers saying she poured it expecting Jason (Steve Burton) to stop by. When Jack gets a call on WSB business, he walks into the other room. Carly looks in the mirror in the foyer and convinces herself she can fake her way through making love with Jack, even though she currently cannot stand the guy. We think she finds Valentin far more intriguing at the moment.
Back at Wyndemere, after beating Cullum (Andrew Hawkes) at Chess, Josslyn (Eden McCoy) is being quizzed by Cullum at how she got so good at playing games. He gets up to leave the room and she goes through his jacket and finds the cigarillos used to spook Anna (Finola Hughes) as one of Faison's trademark mementos as well as the book that Faison wrote with the inscription and a face resembling Anna on its cover. When she asks about the novel, Cullum denies knowing Ann. To pass the time, Josslyn says she is going to read the book as he scowls at her while she sits back at her chair.
Then, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) finally opens up to Jason. She explains that after she thought she died in Port Charles, the first person she saw when she woke up at the Five Poppies was Cullum. She tells Jason the only reason she's alive is because they want her to finish Faison's final project and Cullum works for the WSB.
Courtesy/ABC
Britt explains she's working on cold fusion for the project in exchange for the medication. Britt says Faison created it, but died before he could use it on himself and it's still experimental, but it's helping her symptoms. Next, Britt tells Jason she saw Sidwell (Carlo Rota) shoot and kill Henry Dalton right in front of her and how dangerous the men involved are.
Jason promises to get her out of this, but she has to let him help her. Britt agrees, but to keep him safe they have to pretend they are not together in anyway, shape, or form. Since it will be the last night they will be together, they hit the sheets.
So, are you glad Britt told Jason the truth? Will Jason be the one to save the day and bring down Cullum and Sidwell and company? How long will it take when Maxie wakes up out of her coma for her to figure out that Lulu and Nathan are into each other? Is Josslyn in danger from Cullum? If so, what do you think he will do to her? Weigh-in via the comment section. But first, check out the scenes of the aftermath of Lulu and Nathan's kiss below.
Published
on
By
The Thursday, January 29 episode of General Hospital had social media abuzz, after who wound up in a smooch, plus gave us some bread crumbs for potential pairings that could shake up the canvas as the Port Charles blizzard continued to strand everyone from Spoon Island and everywhere in between.
Let's break down the duos of who are riding out the snow storm, and what we think of their future could be starting with a long-awaited moment and conversation between Martin (Michael E. Knight) and Tracy (Jane Elliot).
The two embroiled sworn enemies put their gloves down, sort of, and found common ground. From the well-written dialog in their scenes, it's clear to us that Martin and Tracy may just have a shot at romance, if things continue to thaw between them.
Courtesy/ABC
In story, while stuck at Drew's, Martin goes at Tracy for breaking up his relationship with Lucy Coe and making him believe she cheated on him with Scott Baldwin, which she wound up doing, anyways. Tracy points out Martin's ability to pick the wrong type of women who bleed him try. That's when Martin pipes up about Tracy's ex Luke Spencer (the late Anthony Geary) marrying her for her money. Tracy admits it may have started that way, but then laments about Luke.
Tracy recalled, “Later (in our relationship), we both realized that what we had was worth more than money and was worth fighting for. What Luke had with Laura had nothing to do with what he had with me. And I am so grateful that we found each other when we did. Luke and I found each other long after he and Laura had divorced. And nothing about our relationship was easy or convenient. It was just necessary. We had to have past loves and broken hearts and children of our own for us to see each other clearly and honestly. Martin, what I'm saying is that you are never going to have a lasting relationship until you can look at the woman you love and see her for who she is, not who you want her to be.”
Martin is cued into Tracy's words of wisdom. Does he realize he has feelings for her and vice-versa? In our recent livestream interview with Michael E. Knight. he theorized that Tracy and Martin would make an excellent pairing, because when you hate someone so much on the soaps, it must be love!
CHARLOTTE AND DANNY
Courtesy/ABC
Charlotte (Bluesy Burke) and Danny (Asher Antonyzyn) end up at the gatehouse at the Q's, since it was too stormy to get to Carly's. Next, Charlotte gets a text from Lulu and let's her mom know she's safe. As Danny talks about eating s'mores, and Charlotte talks about Valentin and things, some of the s'more is in the corner of Danny's mouth, which Charlotte goes to clean off, but the two wind up kissing.
Immediately, GH fans on X were outraged shouting that the two are actually cousins. However, when you look at their lineage, they are actually second cousins once removed. Still, will fans want to see them in a relationship together? It looks like this is where GH is headed with their teen romance story.
LULU AND NATHAN
Photo: ABC
After hearing that Charlotte is safe, Lulu (Alexa Havins) and Nathan (Ryan Paevey) decide to wait out the storm together. However, Lulu spices things when after looking for blankets, finds a bottle of booze and she suggests they play the drinking game, ‘Two Truths and a Lie.” Things take a turn, when Nathan is able to recite the periodic table of elements sharing that his father drilled it into him as a child. Lulu looks at Nathan a bit suspicious, and questions him, since he'd previously said his father never paid attention to him.
Clearing covering something up, Nathan says his dad pushed him into science, but that he lost interest when he wasn't smart enough to follow in his footsteps. Suddenly, the two hold hands when Lulu thanks Nathan for everything he did for her tonight and then the two share a passionate lip-lock. Oh no, Maxie! The only way out of this: It would have to be proven that this man is another son of Faison's, an identical twin of Nathan's, who fell for Lulu and isn't really Nathan at all. Thoughts?
CARLY AND VALENTIN
Courtesy/ABC
We kind of liked these two the best, because they shared a bond over it being unbearable to never see your child again, which Carly (Laura Wright) has experienced. That seemed to show Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) to her in a new light as he braved the blizzard for a short time to try to find his daughter, Charlotte, but ultimately had to turn back. At one point, Carly got her winter clothes to try to help him, whether she admitted it, or not. It would be very unexpected if they paired Valentin and Carly together, and more juicy because of Brennan's feelings for her, plus what if Anna Devane gets out of captivity and Valentin fell for Carly, would he still run to help Anna? (We think so) So, it's kind of messy in a good soapy way if this moves forward.
BRITT AND JASON
Courtesy/ABC
Jason (Steve Burton) finds Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) soaking wet and freezing, and gets her to the harbor master's cabin. She explains as she shivered that the boat she was on capsized on its way back to the mainland from Spoon Island. At that point, Jason says he really wants to help her as Britt says she's been lying to him this whole time, which Jason was prepared for. Now awaiting an explanation of what she had been dealing with, Britt tells Jason she's being forced to complete Faison's last project otherwise they'll let her die from Huntington's. Jason wants to know who “they” are and Britt looks concerned. Will she finally tell Jason, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help her God, or stall? We won't know till Friday as they episode came to its conclusion.
So, what did you think about Charlotte and Danny's kiss, Lulu and Nathan's make out sesh? Tracy and Martin and Valentin and Carly bonding, while Jason and Britt finally draw closer? Let us know via the comment section below.
Published
on
By
On the Wednesday, January 28 episode of General Hospital, the ABC daytime drama set up the pairings who will be stuck together during the blizzard with the lights out and more. Previously, this week's GH spoilers shared that on tomorrow's Thursday, January 29 airshow a couple shares a kiss for the first time, but who will it be?
Let's take a look at who is with whom: First, Tracy (Jane Elliot) snuck into Drew's house only to find her sworn enemy Martin Grey (Michael E. Knight) staying there. The two share snarky comments back and forth. Tracy wants to move out her family heirlooms tonight while Martin says that she won't make it very far given the roads are closed. Eventually, Martin offered to let Tracy stay, if she asked him nicely.
In a recent interview on the Michael Fairman Channel, Michael E. Knight shared that it is not so far-fetched to believe that Tracy and Martin could actually end up falling for each other. Is this the moment that all that bluster between them ignites into a passionate smooch?
The smart money has been on Nathan (Ryan Paevey) and Lulu (Alexa Havins Bruening) who are now stuck at his old mechanic garage. With Kirsten Storms on her way back to the show as Maxie Jones waking up out of her coma, and her bestie Lulu and Nathan, her husband (before he supposedly died), it makes the most sense in story that they would lock-lips, but is that too obvious?
Then, there is Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) and Carly (Laura Wright). After all, she's been hiding him in her attic and secretly working with him to bring down her current beau, Jack Brennan (Chris McKenna). While Valentin worries about his daughter, Charlotte's (Bluesy Burke) safety, Carly brings out a game of checkers for them to pass the time, with a bit of a flirty moment between them.
Carly challenged him to a game, and he smirked back that he bet she is a cheater. Carly responded, he would have to play to find out. With Valentin and Brennan hating each other guts, it would be a pretty good move to have Valentin and Carly share a kiss making the whole ‘taking down Brennan' story more juicy than it currently is!
Meanwhile, Danny (Asher Antonyzyn), who agreed to help Charlotte get to Carly's to see Valentin, receives a stay-in-place notification on his phone that no one should go outside because of the blizzard. Now alone at the Q's, they are spending time together. Later, Rocco (Finn Carr) walks in and sees Charlotte's sneakers and scarf by the fireplace, not knowing she took them off previously because of them being wet from the snow.
Elsewhere, Josslyn (Eden McCoy) has herself in hot water at Wyndemere after cutting power to the mansion. When she is snooping around with her flashlight, she runs into Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes). She double talks her way out of how she ended up on Spoon Island to visit her Uncle Lucas, while he shares a brandy with her. When a nervous Joss tell him, “What you see is what you get,” he responds, “Now why do I find that hard to believe?”
So, who do you think shares a lip-lock? Lulu and Nathan, Carly and Valentin, Danny and Charlotte, Tracy and Martin or will it be Jason and Britt, who weren't shown on today's episode? And how will Joss get out of her situation with Cullum? Weigh-in via the comment section below. But first, check out how Joss and Cullum came face to face for the first time during the blackout at Wyndemere, followed by the GH video teaser for tomorrow's episode.
‘General Hospital' to Broadcast Special Episode in Honor of Anthony Geary in February
RATINGS: ‘General Hospital' Back to Over 2 Million Total Viewers, ‘Beyond the Gates' Also Up Over 1.6 Million
‘General Hospital' Unveils Anthony Geary Montage with Remembrances by Genie Francis, Nancy Lee Grahn, and Laura Wright
Jacob Young Talks On the Loss of Anthony Geary, Susan Flannery and Landing Role of Lucky Spencer, ‘All My Children' Reboot and Latest Film (Exclusive)
2026 Writers Guild Awards: ‘Beyond the Gates,' ‘General Hospital' and ‘The Young and the Restless' Score Daytime Drama Nominations
CBS Announces ‘Beyond the Gates' and ‘The Young and the Restless' Crossover with 6 Genoa City Residents Heading to Fairmont Crest
Is ‘General Hospital”s Marco Rios Becoming the Biggest Turncoat of Them All?
‘The Bold and the Beautiful' Welcomes Back: Morgan Fairchild, Jim J. Bullock and Spencer Pratt
Copyright © 2024 The Michael Fairman Company.
At first glance, the $19 billion liquidity wipeout on Oct. 10 looked routine: a rapid chain of liquidations, or forced closures of trading positions, across major exchanges as bitcoin BTC$78,358.92, the largest cryptocurrency, tumbled.
It's what followed, and the lack of transparency over the day's events, that's made the largest single-day liquidation by dollar value in crypto history frustrating for traders and changed crypto trading fundamentally.
And one name has everyone's attention: Binance.
The world's largest crypto exchange has, for many, become the face of the crash, which saw bitcoin drop as much as 12.5%, the most in 14 months. That forced exchanges to close or liquidate leveraged positions that had run out of funds to remain open.
Whether because of Binance's scale, its dominance in derivatives trading or the lack of clarity about exactly what happened, on any given day, social media sports multiple accusations claiming the exchange was the biggest reason Oct. 10 (now known to many as 10/10) occurred.
Binance maintains to this day that the closures weren't the exchange's fault. The company did not respond to a CoinDesk request for comment on this article.
Still, without someone owning the narrative, it's easy to see why such an event has traders on edge.
In the months since the crash, liquidity across much of the market has remained noticeably thinner. Order books have not been fully rebuilt. Market depth (the ability to sustain relatively large market orders without significantly impacting the price) is patchier, while the spread between buyers' and sellers' pricing is wider. Many traders say the bruised market structure contributed to bitcoin's decline from $124,800 to $80,000 and eroded traders' trust.
Now, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood has added her voice to the clamor, attributing bitcoin's weakness to “a Binance software glitch.”
Wood spoke on Fox Business in late January, saying the glitch triggered roughly $28 billion in deleveraging.
Binance co-founder He Yi responded online, noting that Binance does not serve U.S. individuals, though the post was later deleted.
Competitors seized the opening. Star Xu, the founder of rival exchange OXK, wrote that Oct. 10 caused “real and lasting damage to the industry.” While he didn't refer to Binance, his comments were widely interpreted as a pointed critique of his rival's role.
Meanwhile, challengers such as decentralized exchange Hyperliquid highlighted gains in derivatives volume and liquidity depth, positioning themselves as alternatives as Binance faces reputational drag.
Binance maintains that Oct. 10 was not the result of an internal systems issue.
During an ask-me-anything event on Friday, co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ" Zhao said suggestions that Binance caused the crash were “far-fetched.”
The company described the event as driven by “market factors,” citing macroeconomic pressure, high leverage, illiquid conditions and congestion on the Ethereum network. Binance said its core systems remained operational and it paid roughly $283 million in compensation to affected users.
For some, that explanation isn't enough, particularly given the scale of liquidations, and the $19 billion figure has taken on an outsized symbolic weight. Binance's compensation figure is frequently framed less as restitution than as a fraction of the damage.
“This is a f***ing joke,” wrote the pseudonymous Bitcoin Realist on X. “You…liquidated 19 billion on 10/10 alone… This is like spitting in our faces.”
The anger reflects something broader than a single volatility event. For many, Oct. 10 has become a proxy for distrust in crypto market structure.
Not everyone agrees Binance deserves the role of villain, however.
“10/10 was very obviously not a ‘software glitch,'” Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of market maker Wintermute, wrote on X. “It was a flash crash on mega leveraged market on illiquid Friday night driven by macro news.”
He added: “Finding a scapegoat is comfy, but blaming this on one exchange is intellectually dishonest.”
The argument is straightforward: Crypto remains structurally leverage-heavy, and liquidity is often conditional. Market makers widen spreads or step back entirely during stress. In thin conditions, liquidations accelerate.
Binance may have been the largest venue where the crash played out, but it wasn't necessarily the source of the shock.
What's missing is a public review and official narrative. Critics argue that the absence of a detailed inquiry leaves room for speculation to snowball.
Salman Banaei, a former regulator at the U.S.'s Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), suggested Oct. 10 warrants investigation, even without alleging wrongdoing.
“Whether you love or hate crypto, there should be an investigation by regulators into Oct 10, 2025,” Banaei wrote, comparing it to the May 6, 2010, stock market flash crash. “A benefit of regulation is that the risk of such investigations deters manipulation.”
He was careful to note he was not claiming manipulation occurred. But the broader point is that crypto markets lack the formal post-mortems that traditional finance relies on after systemic shocks.
One trader, known as Flood, insinuated that a major exchange had been “relentlessly selling altcoins since 10/10,” feeding conspiracy theories about inventory overhang.
Whether true or not, such claims tend to flourish when liquidity disappears and confidence erodes.
Oct. 10 may ultimately be remembered less for the liquidation number than for what it revealed about market structure.
In a bull market, order books are thick, leverage builds quietly, and liquidity is abundant.
Bear markets expose the opposite. Liquidity thins, market makers retreat, volatility concentrates, and the next shock breaks through faster than expected.
Referring to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in 2022, Ether.fi CEO Mike Silagadze wrote on X that “this seems so much worse than the post FTX landscape. The fundamentals in some ways are stronger than ever, but price action has zero bids.”
Binance is the easiest scapegoat because it's the largest exchange and thus the most visible venue and obvious target.
But the deeper issue is structural. Crypto liquidity remains dependent on leverage, conditional market making and confidence, all of which have been lost in a void over the past four months.
"I don't know if Binance played a role in deliberately ruining the market in October, I would probably veer more towards the obvious which is; high amounts of leverage, low amounts of liquidity, generally useless or unwanted altcoin “technologies” is a recipe for a massacre and thats exactly what happened," said Eric Crown, former options trader at NYSE Arca.
"It was always a question of when, not if."
One Supernatural deleted scene would have completely reframed the strained relationship between John Winchester and Sam Winchester and affected Sam deeply, and it's kind of a shame it didn't happen. From the very first episode of Supernatural, it was clear that Sam and John did not get along. After all, Sam had been effectively cut off for going to college.
As the show progressed, the difficult dynamic between father and son only became even clearer, and although Sam eventually grew to understand his father better and even forgive him, that didn't change how painful parts of his childhood, and certainly his relationship with his father, had been.
Yet, Supernatural almost gave Sam a brand-new way of seeing both himself and his father, only for the scene to ultimately be cut.
On the Supernatural Then and Now podcast, hosted by Rob Benedict, who played Chuck/God, and Richard Speight Jr., who played Loki/the Trickster/Gabriel, it was revealed that John's own father, Henry Winchester, would have told Sam that he was more like John than Dean was. However, that scene was removed from the final cut.
What is particularly notable about this is not only that this would have come from John's dad, who knew him long before he got into hunting and who therefore would have had a unique perspective on John as a boy, but also that Henry was going to say Sam was more like John than Dean was.
Beyond just saying Sam was similar to John, this scene would have meant that Sam, who was frequently treated as an outsider in the Winchester family, had more in common with John than Dean did, despite the fact that Dean was often seen as emulating his father and following in his footsteps in so many ways.
Had this scene been included, it would have meant Sam seeing his father—and therefore his relationship with his father—in a new light. Sam long felt like a disappointment to his father and like there was something wrong with him. Yet, in this cut scene, John's own dad would have seen so much of John in him that it warranted this comment.
This is also interesting because Henry only knew John when he was young, not when he was a teenager or older, so this would have meant similarities between Sam and John before John ever became a hunter obsessed with tracking down the yellow-eyed demon, which is a version of John that Sam never got to see.
While this Supernatural scene wouldn't have addressed all the issues with Sam and John's relationship, about which audiences have plenty to say (primarily regarding the widespread sentiment in the fanbase that John was a bad father), it would have given Sam a new way of looking at himself, his father, and their father-son dynamic, and thus would have been profound.
We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.
Your comment has not been saved
This thread is open for discussion.
Be the first to post your thoughts.
Collider, as always, is the place to go for suggestions about series for your next Netflix binge. If you're a horror fan, and you'd rather stick pokers in your eyes than watch the romantic drama Finding Her Edge, have no interest in The Upshaws, and might think the Kevin Bacon-led series The Following is less horror, more psychological thriller. Then, we suggest a series that combines murder, kidnapping, a 1938 Rolls-Royce, an immortal antagonist that feeds on the souls of children, and Christmas: NOS4A2, a largely forgotten supernatural horror show that has garnered 39.5M+ hours on Netflix.
If NOS4A2 sounds familiar, it should: it's a phonetic spelling of the titular vampire's name in Nosferatu. Based on the Joe Hill novel, the name "NOS4A2" is purposeful, alluding to its modern reinterpretation of vampire lore. For example, the vampire of the piece doesn't drink blood, but rather feasts on children's souls. New concepts are also introduced, like personalized dreamscapes called "Inscapes," accessed by Strong Creatives through "Knives," personal objects that cut through the real world and into their Inscapes. The novel is a blend of fantasy and the supernatural, creating a truly unique horror work that comes across vividly in the AMC adaptation.
The series introduces Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto), an immortal 135-year-old "supernatural vampire." He kidnaps children from those he deems as unworthy parents, and takes them to his Inscape: Christmasland, where it's Christmas every day and unhappiness is against the law. Christmasland is far from a magical place, but rather a twisted pocket dimension where Christmas meets horror. The children are brought there via Charlie's Knife, a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, where he keeps his immortality by feasting on their souls, leaving them to turn into mindless, vampire-like creatures who find their legally-mandated happiness in killing and cruelty. Meanwhile, the parents of the children are left to Bing Partridge (Olafur Darri Olafsson), Charlie's "Renfield," a serial killer who helps Charlie abduct children before sexually assaulting the parents and killing them afterward.
He's challenged by Victoria "Vic" McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), an 18-year-old Strong Creative and aspiring artist whose Inscape is an old bridge torn down long before, known as "The Shorter Way," which she initially accesses through her Knife, a red motorbike. She's also able, inexplicably, to track Charlie and enter Christmasland. From another Strong Creative, Maggie Leigh (Jahkara Smith), she learns that she, too, is a chosen one, destined to find and rescue the lost children kidnapped by Charlie. Charlie senses it, however, setting up a long-running battle between the two that takes its toll on each of them.
And that only scratches the surface of the rich, deep mythology created for NOS4A2. The Knives of the Creatives come at a cost whenever they're used: for Charlie, he is deeply connected to his Wraith, and when the Wraith is damaged, so is he; for Vic, she suffers debilitating migraines and her left eye bleeds; and for Maggie, the use of her Scrabble tiles causes her at first to stutter, and eventually turns to seizures. The Christmas ornaments that hang on the trees near the Sleigh House represent the souls of the kidnapped children (think Lord Voldemort's horcruxes), and if they're destroyed, the children revert to normal. Plus, so much more.
It'll leave you at the edge of your seat.
But it's the stellar cast of NOS4A2 that keeps the series' fantastical elements grounded and instills the characters with a deepness that challenges the black vs. white convention of the genre. Quinto is masterful as Charlie Manx, invoking the chilling energy he brought to the villainous Sylar in Heroes while adding the complexity the series brings to the character. He truly believes he is, in his own way, protecting the children from the horrors that he himself endured at the hands of a pedophile when he was younger, but is lost to how his actions take away their innocence all the same. Cummings, too, is fantastic, navigating Vic through discovery, loss, crippling fear, and vengeful determination. The supporting cast, led by Ebon Moss-Bachrach's must-see performance as Vic's father, is also strong.
Thematically, too, NOS4A2 rises above its station. Family dynamics, the power of addiction, the dangers of emotional distance and isolation, and the effects of childhood trauma in adulthood, among others, are themes NOS4A2 addresses in ways both subtly and overt. It's not rare that a horror series might address one or two, but NOS4A2 stands out from its peers in addressing them all. Exceptionally well, at that, with writing that is smarter, and more profound, than most. The series also benefited by having an end goal in sight, wrapping up after two seasons, having adapted the entire storyline of the original novel. It's well worth the binge — you can trust your friends at Collider.
We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.
Your comment has not been saved
This thread is open for discussion.
Be the first to post your thoughts.
Liquid water might not need a perfect location to exist, and neither might alien life. Researchers now believe that planets well outside the so-called Goldilocks zone could still host habitable conditions, a discovery that may reshape the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life.
Traditionally, scientists have focused their search for life-supporting worlds within the habitable zone, a narrow region around a star where temperatures are just right for liquid water to exist on a planet's surface. But new climate modeling and recent observations suggest that this conservative definition may overlook a far broader array of potentially livable environments.
This reassessment arrives alongside compelling evidence from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has detected water vapor and volatile gases in the atmospheres of super-Earths orbiting close to M dwarf stars, well inside what was once considered too hot for habitability. According to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal on January 12, liquid water might persist on planets orbiting both closer and farther from their stars than previously thought, under the right atmospheric and thermal conditions.
One of the most significant insights comes from planets that are tidally locked, meaning the same side of the planet always faces its star. This configuration raised early concerns about extreme heat on the day side and atmospheric collapse on the dark side. But those assumptions are now being re-evaluated. According to the new study, “3D climate models have demonstrated that given a sufficient atmospheric pressure, or the presence of an ocean, efficient heat redistribution between the day and night sides can stabilize temperatures and maintain habitable conditions.”
In fact, the research shows that under certain conditions, the permanent night side of such a planet could maintain temperatures that allow liquid water to persist, despite being much closer to their host star than Earth is to the Sun. This heat redistribution mechanism enables the formation of stable thermal environments, even in seemingly inhospitable orbital zones. As a result, the inner edge of the habitable zone may extend inward significantly for planets around M and K dwarf stars.
The JWST has recently detected signs of water vapor in planets that appear to lie inside the classical inner edge of the habitable zone. “Signs of water vapor and volatiles have been detected in JWST transmission spectra of small exoplanets,” the researchers explain, adding that “some of these exoplanets are closer to their M dwarf hosts than the inner [habitable zone] boundary.” These findings raise questions about how such planets retain their atmospheres and moisture despite their proximity to harsh stellar radiation.
According to the same study published in The Astrophysical Journal, even under high radiative flux, liquid water can remain stable in substellar or even off-stellar zones, particularly when atmospheric conditions such as greenhouse heating and albedo effects are taken into account. One proposed explanation is that a low heat-transport parameter, a factor that controls how effectively heat moves across the planet's surface, allows the nightside to remain cool enough for water to condense, even as the dayside remains scorched.
It's not just the inner edge of the habitable zone that's being rethought. The research also outlines how cold, distant exoplanets (well beyond the classical outer limits) could harbor habitable conditions beneath thick layers of ice. “Liquid water can exist beneath thick ice layers, as subglacial lakes or through internal heating,” the team writes, citing environments like Antarctica's subglacial lakes on Earth as real-world analogs.
These findings align with previous hypotheses about moons such as Europa and Enceladus, where tidal heating maintains subsurface oceans. In the exoplanet context, geothermal or tidal heating could similarly allow for liquid water well outside traditional habitable zones, without any need for sunlight-driven warmth. The paper suggests that evidence from Mars' south pole, where radar data indicates a possible intraglacial lake, supports the plausibility of this model for distant exoplanets.
The implications are significant: expanding the habitable zone in both directions, closer and farther, means a far greater number of planets may now qualify as potentially life-supporting. According to the researchers, this could mean that “the number of habitable planets within the extended HZ of M and K dwarfs may be bigger by a factor of 50” compared with classical estimates for Sun-like stars. While it remains unknown whether these environments actually host life, the findings mark a pivotal shift in how scientists define habitability. What once seemed too hot or too cold might, under the right circumstances, be just right.
Master's graduate in Automation and Industrial Computing (2022), combining strong technical expertise with a keen interest in writing and communication. Contributor to Econostrum, an economics website, where I bridge the worlds of technology, industry, and economics through clear, insightful, and engaging content.
Indian Defence Review is an independent media. Support us by adding us to your Google News favorites:
Comment
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
© 2024 | Indian Defence Review | All rights reserved
Ryan Wedding has been arrested. But many of the biggest open questions in his case remain unanswered.
Ryan Wedding has been arrested. But many of the biggest open questions in his case remain unanswered.
Ryan Wedding, 44, has been arrested. But many of the biggest questions of his case remain unanswered.
SANTA ANA, Calif.—Ryan Wedding walked into a California courtroom with a sneer, eyeing investigators in the front row and a swarm of journalists packing the gallery.
Once a top FBI fugitive, Wedding finally faced a U.S. judge in federal court this week, where he pleaded not guilty to 17 felony charges — including murder, drug trafficking and other alleged crimes.
It was a pivotal moment in the years-long pursuit of a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder authorities have labelled one of the most violent criminals in the world, and the first step in what promises to be a sweeping prosecution involving dozens of co-defendants.
Mexican and American authorities had cast a wide dragnet to catch the fugitive, and now they have their target.
Still, many of the biggest mysteries in this unfolding crime story remain unanswered. Here's a closer look at the key open questions in the Ryan Wedding case:
Notorious fugitive Ryan Wedding was arrested in Mexico January 22, 2026
It's been over two years since Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, were killed in an attack allegedly orchestrated by Wedding.
The couple were gunned down at their kids' rental home in Caledon, Ont., on the night of Nov. 20, 2023. Their daughter, Jaspreet, was shot 13 times but survived.
Authorities later revealed the hit men were allegedly hired by Wedding to kill an Ontario trucker who stole a cocaine shipment from his organization — the killers had the wrong people.
Since then, the question of how exactly the gunmen got it so wrong has been one of the central mysteries of the case.
The name of the intended target has never been reported; the Star is withholding details of his identity due to ongoing concerns for his safety.
What is known is that the man worked for trucking companies in the Peel Region and has since been given some element of protection from local police, though the exact details of this are unknown.
It would be natural to assume the man may have previously rented the home where the attack occurred, but local police and American authorities have not confirmed this.
While some arrests have been made in other local shootings loosely linked to the case, police have yet to identify or lay charges against any gunmen in the Sidhus' murders.
“We sympathize with the Sidhu family, who continues to grieve their loved ones as they await answers,” OPP Det. Insp. Brian McDermott told the Star in a statement this week.
He said the probe remains active and ongoing. “We cannot speculate on whether developments in other regions, including arrests, may support the investigation but we remain committed to bringing answers to the family by identifying and arresting the individual(s) responsible for taking the lives of two innocent people,” McDermott said, urging anyone with information to contact police.
“Remember one thing,” her dad told her the morning of his murder. “The day your father will die, he'll tell himself, ‘I love my daughter the most
“Remember one thing,” her dad told her the morning of his murder. “The day your father will die, he'll tell himself, ‘I love my daughter the most
Wedding's capture has become a major diplomatic flashpoint between two governments. At issue: What exactly did U.S. agents do inside Mexico?
According to Mexican officials, Wedding voluntarily surrendered himself to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
If you ask American law enforcement leaders, and Wedding's lawyer, they'd tell you that's wrong; he was nabbed in what the FBI Director Kash Patel has called a “high-stakes” tactical operation by U.S. agents.
The problem is that from the Mexican perspective, the FBI isn't supposed to be operating on Mexican soil. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum has challenged Patel's description, saying her government would never allow a foreign power to execute such an operation.
Only adding to the confusion, Sheinbaum also publicly pointed to a faked Instagram photo as proof that Wedding had, indeed, surrendered. In the image, a man resembling the six-foot-four Canadian can be seen in front of a U.S. embassy building in the heart of Mexico City in the same outfit he'd later be seen wearing on his FBI perp walk — jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, a Moncler puffer vest and a cap with a distinctive “L.A.” design.
A fake Instagram account shows a man who looks like Ryan Wedding in front of a decommissioned U.S. Embassy building in Mexico City with a caption claiming he surrendered.
But the photo shows clear signs it was created artificially, including a distorted design on the cap and the fact that the actual embassy moved to a brand-new building in November.
While the FBI has declined to share more details about the nature of his arrest, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Mexican security forces were closing in when they were joined by U.S. authorities who, following an intense negotiation, apprehended Wedding.
It remains unclear if we'll ever learn the truth.
If Wedding did surrender, it could signal he'd become more of a liability than an asset to the Mexican cartels.
Authorities have nabbing the guys behind the drug distribution, his alleged money man, and even his so-called “cocaine lawyer.” They've also placed immense public pressure on the fugitive and his inner circle after adding him to the FBI's most wanted list and dangling an enormous $15-million reward.
That's a lot of heat; the cartel could have told Wedding, “Look, either give yourself up or, worse, we're not protecting you anymore,” said retired FBI agent Brett Kalina, who once arrested the Canadian on drug trafficking charges in California in 2008.
In a scenario in which Wedding has lost the favour of the Sinaloa Cartel — once run by Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán — a U.S. prison may be the only place he's safe from his former associates.
If Wedding is willing to co-operate, Kalina suggested he wouldn't necessarily turn on people in the cartels, but rather their partners around the world.
But that would be a dangerous choice, Kalina said — “He will not survive prison if he gives up the wrong people.”
The possibility that the Canadian co-operates “remains open,” said Martin Estrada, the former U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, who led the Wedding prosecution until he retired in January 2025. The Star interviewed Estrada this week at his Los Angeles law firm, where he now works as a trial attorney.
Striking a deal with any defendant “requires a measured, thoughtful approach and decision by the government,” Estrada said.
However, he added, some people simply should not be afforded the opportunity because their crimes are too severe. “They need to be held accountable.”
The Netflix pitch for the Ryan Wedding story couldn't be more straightforward: Olympic athlete turns Scarface.
But the known timeline of his rise to becoming an alleged international drug lord has some surprisingly large gaps.
The FBI first caught wind of Wedding in 2008, when he and a low-level drug dealer flew from Vancouver to California to purchase 24 kilograms of cocaine from an informant. Wedding was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to four years in prison.
Not long after his release in December 2011, Wedding was back in Canada. By 2013, undercover agents with the RCMP had infiltrated his network. They'd spend the next two years uncovering various schemes by Wedding and his associates to allegedly buy and import tons of cocaine linked to Colombian and Mexican cartels into Canada.
Around then, court records obtained by the Star paint a picture of Wedding as a cartel middleman, allegedly co-ordinating drug shipments from the Caribbean with men tied to El Chapo. In 2015, the RCMP charged Wedding and more than a dozen others in the undercover sting dubbed Operation Harrington — but Wedding was never arrested.
A decade later, the U.S. indictments from 2024 and 2025 suggest Wedding spent the intervening time building up a billion-dollar-a-year organization. First, the drugs would be cooked and tested in “cocaine kitchens” run with the help of Colombian neo-paramilitary groups. Next, they'd ship the cocaine by boat and plane into Mexico, hundreds of kilos at a time. Then it was onto semi-trucks destined for California stash houses. And finally, it was loaded onto trucks driven by GTA truckers bound for Ontario.
The logistics of the case are impressive. Still, it's a huge leap to go from a mid-level cartel figure in the mid-2010s to an alleged top boss — and we don't know how he got there.
Wedding, left, in court with his defence attorney Anthony Colombo.
If you ask Patel, the FBI director, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, they'll tell you Wedding is the modern-day version of two of Latin America's most notorious drug lords, Sinaloa's El Chapo and Colombia's Pablo Escobar.
Those comparisons are clearly an exaggeration — but by how much?
“I don't make comparisons like that,” Estrada said; he thinks each defendant should be looked at “based on their particular conduct.” With Wedding, it's “really, a tragic story,” he continued, “not just squandering his opportunities, but rejecting them, wholly to go in the opposite direction and really become a scourge on his own nation and other nations.”
But how bad, exactly? U.S. authorities have said that Wedding is behind “dozens” of murders, but the indictments link his organization only to five killings.
Comparisons to some of the most-notorious drug lords in the history of Latin America are, at best, an exaggeration.
Comparisons to some of the most-notorious drug lords in the history of Latin America are, at best, an exaggeration.
Wedding himself has been charged with three killings near Toronto, including the Sidhus', and the assassination of a federal witness in Colombia. His alleged second in command, Andrew Clark, is also charged in the Caledon killings and another murder in Niagara Falls.
Attorneys stick to what they can prove, Estrada notes.
“It would not shock me to see that there were other (murders), but when you're prosecuting cases on behalf of the United States government, it'd be very precise and stick to the facts,” the former prosecutor said.
The discrepancy boils down to the intersection of evidence and intelligence, said Calvin Chrustie, a former senior operations officer for transnational organized crime within the RCMP.
Investigators will have “significant” amounts of credible intelligence that may not be attached to any criminal proceeding due to a lack of substantive evidence that meets the threshold of usability, Chrustie said. As well, some evidence cannot be entered in court because “it's too sensitive.”
In short, we just don't yet know how close Wedding was to being what Bondi and Patel claim.
While he was on the run, Wedding was living a life of luxury — high-end clothing, motorcycles, cars and fancy artwork — under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.
The FBI released photos of items believed to be owned by Ryan Wedding that were seized in December by Mexican law enforcement partners.
His exact whereabouts in Sinaloa have not been made public, but his address was listed as Los Mochis, a coastal city in the state's northwest, in a Mexican court filing last year. (The court records, first reported by local media, show Wedding tried to prevent law enforcement from executing a warrant for his arrest and extradition in mid-February 2025 — just weeks after the assassination of the federal witness.)
That life is over now, but his network hasn't yet been fully dismantled.
Fewer than 10 Mercedes CLK-GTR roadsters were ever made, with the example seized by the FBI worth an estimated $13 million (U.S.).
Fewer than 10 Mercedes CLK-GTR roadsters were ever made, with the example seized by the FBI worth an estimated $13 million (U.S.).
Authorities are still looking for multiple associates, including the suspects who killed the witness, Jonathan Acebedo Garcia, at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, on Jan. 31, 2025.
The victim, a Montrealer who met Wedding in prison before working with him, was set to testify at trial.
And while Wedding's days on the run are over, it remains to be seen what will happen in court — and how, or if, the death of Acebedo Garcia hurts the prosecution.
As for the outstanding Canadian charges from the mid-2010s, the RCMP could, technically, seek Wedding's extradition. But the chances of him facing trial on those offences are incredibly small if he is convicted in the U.S.
Calvi Leon is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for
the Star. Reach her via email: cleon@thestar.ca
Error! There was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
Account processing issue - the email address may already exist
Sign up with
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Sign in with
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Secure transaction.
Secure transaction. Cancel anytime.
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful!
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.
The stage version, which premiered in England and is now in Washington, is set in the same fictional world as the horror movie franchise.
Ghost sightings in the theater usually mean Henrik Ibsen or a despondent Danish prince. A total fleece, in other words, if you're a kid or can still think like one. But “Paranormal Activity,” an itinerant amusement at Shakespeare Theatre Company's Harman Hall that's as much a carnival-style haunted house as a domestic drama about a troubled marriage, will give even the most lizard-brained aesthetes among us their money's worth and then some. If you're game to have your soul harrow'd up and yer young blood froze by something other than the news, you are invited.