Page’s quest for Welsh Open glory was ended by former world champion Luca Brecel in 2025.

The Welshman was beaten 5-2 by the Belgian in the quarter-finals, ending his best run in the competition to date.

And the pair now meet in the first round of the 2026 Welsh Open, with Page eyeing revenge against the 30-year-old.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Page.

“Luca beat me in the quarter-finals last year, so I owe him one in the way.”

Page came to prominence in the Welsh Open as a 15-year-old in 2017, beating Jason Weston and John Astley before losing to Judd Trump in the third round.

And while Page says he is yet to reach the heights he had dreamed of as a teenager, he still believes he can turn things around.

“I’ve done alright but I’m nowhere near where I want to be, I want to be the best and I still think I can do it,” said Page.

“I’ve had a pretty bad season, it’s not been very good, so I need to kick on.

“Obviously last year was a great year, so I’m trying to turn it around to get confidence in myself and perform like I know I can.

“I’m sure I’ll get there.”

Feb. 22 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s industrial sector said there is no immediate change in tariff rates but warned that uncertainty has grown after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled plans to impose new global tariffs.

Trump said Friday he would raise the proposed “global tariff” rate from 10% to 15% following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down his earlier reciprocal tariffs. The 15% duties previously applied to South Korea are expected to reappear under the new global tariff framework.

Industry officials said item-specific tariffs on automobiles, steel and semiconductors have not been directly addressed in the latest announcement, leaving companies cautious about possible next steps.

Major exporters are closely monitoring developments as Washington has yet to finalize detailed tariff guidelines.

Semiconductors, one of South Korea’s top export items, are currently subject to product-specific tariff discussions but remain duty-free for now. However, companies have not ruled out the possibility that Washington could soon put semiconductor tariffs on the negotiating table or raise rates to offset revenue lost from the invalidated reciprocal tariffs.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said after attending the U.S. Trans-Pacific Dialogue that he would review the court ruling before commenting further, reflecting the cautious stance of corporate leaders.

Automobile and steel tariffs are expected to remain in place regardless of the court decision. Automobiles and auto parts currently face a 15% tariff, while steel and aluminum were hit with a 50% tariff last year. Analysts said additional increases in those sectors appear unlikely in the near term.

For food, cosmetics, home appliances and chemical products, a 15% global tariff would largely mirror the current reciprocal tariff level. If the rate were set at 10% instead, exporters could see a modest reduction compared with the existing 15% rate.

While companies say there is no immediate operational impact, executives are concerned that Trump could invoke other trade authorities to introduce new measures, further complicating trade planning.

Industry officials said businesses are preparing contingency strategies as they await clearer guidance from Washington.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260222010006449

Iran signed a secret missile agreement worth approximately €500 million (approximately $589 million) with Russia in order to rebuild its air defense system, the Financial Times claimed in a report published on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

An agreement was signed between Iran and Russia in Moscow in Dec. 2025, according to information obtained by the newspaper.

Under the agreement, Russia is expected to deliver 500 Verba portable launch units and 2,500 9M336-type missiles to Iran within three years.

As part of the roughly €500 million deal, the missiles are planned to be delivered to Iran in three separate phases between 2027 and 2029.

Some sources indicated that certain systems may have been delivered to Iran earlier than the scheduled timeline, according to the daily.

Following the attacks carried out by Israel and the US against Iran in June 2025 and the 12-day war that ensued, it was claimed that the Tehran administration formally requested these defense systems from Russia in July 2025.

Iran made this request in order to boost its defense capacity and protect its strategic facilities following the attacks.

The Verba is known as one of Russia’s most modern air defense systems.

The system can be used effectively against cruise missiles and low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

This Disney+ crime thriller is a must-watch for fans of Netflix’s You, with one standout difference that sets this stalker series apart from the rest.

With streaming services flooded with thrillers, crime, and mystery programmes, the storylines can occasionally feel repetitive and formulaic. There hasn’t been a riveting thriller that has captured the nation’s attention quite like Netflix’s You (2018).

However, Disney+ is venturing into this sinister realm with its new stalker thriller entitled Watching You (2025). The series delivers a nerve-wracking, gripping narrative packed with twists and shocking revelations. Audiences can anticipate intricate characters whose hidden truths gradually emerge, maintaining the tension throughout.

Yet, there’s one distinctive feature that distinguishes this programme and renders it essential viewing for thriller devotees.

What is Watching You about?

Protagonist Lina has a one-night stand, which is secretly filmed by a mystery person. However, Lina is engaged to someone else, meaning this one night of passion is an affair.

Lina is subsequently blackmailed by this enigmatic individual who appears to be monitoring her every action. Intent on exposing the stalker threatening her existence, she quickly discovers the peril may be considerably nearer than she ever suspected.

There’s murder and domestic violence in this thriller with layered characters. Whilst it may not feature the most twists and turns, the programme expertly keeps you on edge as secrets steadily emerge, given that no character is entirely blameless.

Similarities to Netflix’s You

Both programmes portray domestic violence, threats against women, stalking and murder. The villains in both shows conceal their true identity while manipulating women.

The only difference is that in Netflix’s You, stalker Joe is the main character and more charismatic than the villain in Watching You. Spoilers ahead.

However, both men are completely unhinged and will do anything to keep their secret whilst convincing themselves they are relentlessly, madly in love with the women they are obsessed with.

One reason you should watch

Watching You does a brilliant job of addressing domestic violence. Unlike Netflix’s You, this show is from the perspective and follows the actions of Lina. Though she is flawed, the show does not excuse what happened to her as a victim.

Her fight against the abuser is fierce, intense and complicated, but it is well written and delivered. Netflix’s You has been criticised for the “romanticisation” of male violence against women, as seen from Refinery29, Our Wave, and feminists.co, but Watching You intensifies the feeling of danger and suspense.

Early ratings

Commenting on IMDB, one person said: “It’s a refreshing and paychpatic watch. All the characters are stupid and follow questionable and illogical choices. But haven’t we all been there? The series reminds me of ‘You’ to a certain degree.

“It’s the plot of stalking someone and manipulating them into loving you. That’s about it with the similarities. The acting could be better; there’s some nudity, which I am not appalled by, but sometimes it makes no sense. Anyway, it’s not vulgar or anything. All in all, it’s a good show. But judge for yourselves.”

Another viewer commented: “I was very entertained by the first 3 episodes. Steamy show, interesting relationship dynamics, good performances. Despite the plot being more than obvious, I enjoyed watching the story unravel.”

They continued: “After the fourth episode, the story started getting more and more ridiculous. Characters were making one stupid decision after another, and the final episode was a letdown, the way it ended. Was that even justice being served? I doubt so.

“Overall, it’s a nice show for a binge, easy to follow despite being predictable. The finale just wasn’t to my taste. It wouldn’t hurt you to watch it.”

Nicolás Fernández scored on a penalty kick in the second half and New York City FC tied the Galaxy 1-1 in a season opener on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 30,510 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Newcomer João Klauss needed 90 seconds to win the hearts of Galaxy fans, scoring with assists from Marco Reus and Joseph Paintsil for a 1-0 lead. L.A. worked a cash-for-player trade with St. Louis City to acquire Klauss on a one-year deal, hoping he’ll ease the loss of superstar Riqui Puig for a second straight season after complications from a torn ACL.

Los Angeles maintained the lead until Emiro Garces was sent off the field for a second yellow card, setting up a successful PK for Fernández that tied it in the 66th minute and left the Galaxy a man short. Fernández scored five goals in 19 appearances with L.A. last season.

Novak Micovic did not have a save in his 25th career start for the Galaxy — 20 of them coming last season when the 24-year-old allowed 37 goals.

Matt Freese, the reigning goalkeeper of the year, saved six shots for NYCFC — four in the first half. Freese had eight clean sheets in 31 starts last season on his way to the award.

NYCFC is coming off a loss to eventual MLS Cup champion Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference Final last season.

The Galaxy are hoping to rebound from a disastrous season that saw them endure a league-record 16-match winless streak — one year after beating the New York Red Bulls to win the MLS Cup.

Feb. 22 (Asia Today) — Major Japanese newspapers welcomed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs as illegal, but they diverged on whether Tokyo should reconsider its large-scale investment in the United States.

The court ruled Thursday that Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act violated Congress’s constitutional authority to levy taxes. As a result, Japan’s 15% reciprocal tariff lost its legal effect.

Trump, however, invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act and issued an executive order imposing an additional 10% tariff on all imports beginning Monday.

The conservative Yomiuri Shimbun said the ruling effectively curbed the “weaponization” of tariffs and could force Trump to recalibrate his deal-focused diplomacy. Citing Edward Fishman of the Council on Foreign Relations, the paper said using emergency economic powers to impose tariffs has now become “virtually impossible.”

The conservative Sankei Shimbun also welcomed the decision as a check on indiscriminate high tariffs on allies. However, it warned of “new turbulence” in U.S.-Japan trade ties as Trump moves forward with fresh duties under other trade provisions.

In a Feb. 22 editorial, Sankei urged the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to safeguard national interests at a planned summit in March. The paper called for reaffirming Japan’s $550 billion investment package in the United States, preventing additional unfavorable conditions and clarifying tariff refund procedures for Japanese firms.

William Cho, deputy director for Japan at the Hudson Institute, told Sankei in an interview that renegotiating the investment agreement in light of the court ruling would be unwise, describing projects such as natural gas power generation as both economic and political in nature.

By contrast, the liberal Asahi Shimbun characterized the ruling as a victory for the separation of powers, saying even a conservative Supreme Court had reaffirmed constitutional limits on executive authority. The paper urged Trump to withdraw tariff measures immediately and restore free trade principles, while calling on Tokyo to review the $550 billion investment deal.

The Mainichi Shimbun criticized what it described as Trump’s expansive legal interpretation of presidential authority and warned that continued reliance on Section 122 could undermine the premise of Japan’s 80 trillion yen investment plan.

Despite differing views on investment policy, the four major dailies – Yomiuri, Sankei, Asahi and Mainichi – described the ruling as a welcome brake on high tariffs.

On investment strategy, however, the dominant view expressed by Yomiuri and Sankei favors maintaining and managing U.S. investments in line with national interests, a stance that mirrors the Japanese government’s position.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa recently reaffirmed that there is no change to the $550 billion investment agreement during talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. A government official also said Japan’s overall investment plan remains intact.

With Takaichi planning a March visit to Washington and Trump expected to visit China around the same time, Japanese media are closely watching how Tokyo balances national interests within the evolving U.S.-Japan-China dynamic.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260222010006426

While Kim has remained at the top of North Korean leadership, the party congress’s presidium – its executive committee – has been reshuffled since the last meeting in 2021. More than half of its 39 members have been replaced, according to state media.

ACTRESS Alexandra Daddario has split from her hubby after their marriage “fizzled out”.

The White Lotus star, 39, has a 15-month-old son with film producer Andrew Form, 57.

New York court records show she filed for divorce on Friday.

Her rep said: “They have made the decision to end their marriage.

“The decision was made with love and respect.”

Insiders claimed their marriage started “hot and heavy” but cooled due to work schedules, eventually suffering a “consistent loss of love”.

A source said: “Alexandra and Andrew slowly grew apart.

“Raising a child was a reason to carry on but they weren’t even doing that together often and their married life slowly disintegrated.”

Alexandra was nominated for an Emmy for her role in The White Lotus alongside Sydney Sweeney.

She has also appeared in Baywatch and True Detective.

She and Form met by chance in New York before marrying in 2022.

Form’s movies include Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Purge and A Quiet Place.

Alexandra slammed critics of her acting last year, saying: “Sometimes I’m lit poorly, but I’m not a bad actress.

“I got an Emmy nomination.”

Rory McIlroy shot a four-under-par 67 but it was not enough to overhaul winner Jacob Bridgeman, who won by one shot at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy started the day six shots off the lead but despite making five birdies he could not catch American Bridgeman, who got over the line with a one-over-par 72 to finish on 18 under.

Bridgeman, who held a seven-shot lead early in the day, held back tears on the 18th green before sinking a three-foot putt for his first PGA Tour title.

He is also the first man to win the prestigious event in his tournament debut since 1975.

Bridgeman’s victory continues his good start to the year having had two top-10 finishes in his opening four events, including last week’s eighth place at Pebble Beach.

The 26-year-old’s three bogies on the final day at the Riviera Country Club gave the chasing players hope, including countryman Kurt Kitayama, who finished tied for second with McIlroy on 17 under after carding a seven-under-par 64.

World number two McIlroy was even par after the first nine holes, but made four birdies on the back nine, including a brilliant hole-out from the greenside bunker on the 12th, to put pressure on Bridgeman.

A nervy closing three holes saw Bridgeman bogey 16 then leave his putt on 18 over three feet short, after McIlroy had drained a 30 footer to get within a shot, to ensure a tense final stroke in front of tournament host Tiger Woods.

Bridgeman held his nerve though to claim a first PGA Tour title in style, with victory at one of the Signature Events moving him inside the top 25 of the world rankings for the first time.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood shot a four-under-par 67 to finish joint-seventh on 12-under, which included a slam dunk eagle with his approach shot on 15 from 173 yards out.

World number one Scottie Scheffler made a flying finish with his 65 seeing him recover from his bad start on Thursday to finish in joint 12th.

That meant an end to Scheffler’s brilliant run of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.

England’s Marco Penge, who was the joint-leader alongside Bridgeman after the second round, ended in tied for 16th place on 10 under.

Max Greyserman provided another big highlight of the day as he made a hole-in-one at the 14th, which illuminated an otherwise difficult day for him as he made four bogeys and a double bogey in his 73.

India were bowled out for 111 chasing 188-run target and must now win their next two games to qualify for the semifinals.

India have been handed a 76-run defeat by South Africa in their first cricket match of the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup and now must win their next two games to have a chance of reaching the semifinals.

The defending champions were bowled out for 111 in 18.5 overs while chasing a target of 188 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India on Sunday.

It was the cohosts’ first loss of the tournament and also ended their 12-match winning streak in the T20 World Cup that they had carried on from their title-winning run in 2024.

South Africa’s bowlers put on a near-perfect display against a strong Indian batting lineup, and were backed by their fielders to leave the pre-tournament favourites reeling.

India lost their in-form opener Ishan Kishan on the fourth ball of the innings to the offspin bowling of South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram while trying to hit against the spin.

One-down batter Tilak Varma was the next to fall as he was caught behind off the first ball of Marco Jansen’s over.

India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and out-of-form star batter Abhishek Sharma tried to rebuild their innings until Sharma fell in the fifth over after scoring 15 runs off 12 deliveries.

Incoming batter Washington Sundar and Yadav were the next two wickets to fall as India failed to build a big partnership in front of a large home crowd.

A 35-run partnership between all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube lifted the Indian run chase briefly, but South Africa’s disciplined bowling and near-faultless fielding resulted in regular dismissals for the home side.

When Dube fell for 42 off 37, India’s fate was sealed.

Jansen’s superb bowling earned him four wickets for 22 runs off 3.5 overs , while left-arm spin bowler Keshav Maharaj took three for 24 in his four overs.

All of South Africa’s bowlers were economical, with Lungi Ngidi leading the way by conceding only 15 runs in his four wicketless overs.

Earlier, player of the match David Miller’s crucial innings of 63 runs off 35 balls stabilised South Africa’s innings after they were reduced to 20-3 in four overs.

He shared a 97-run partnership with Dewald Brevis, who scored 45 off 29 balls, as the pair resurrected the Proteas after Markram decided to bat first after winning the toss in the first Super Eight match in Group 1.

Despite Miller’s dismissal in the 16th over, South Africa were able to post a formidable total of 187-7, thanks to a 24-ball 44 not out by Tristan Stubbs at the end of the innings.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up 3-15 off his four overs.

The loss propels South Africa to the top of Group 1 in the Super Eight stage, with India at the bottom with a net run rate of -3.80.

The defending champions must win their remaining two games to have a chance of qualifying for the semifinals.

West Indies and Zimbabwe are the other two teams in their group and will face each other on Monday.

South Africa face the West Indies on Thursday, while India play Zimbabwe on Friday.

The Afghanistan crisis is generally spoken of as a crisis of the hour in terms of the Taliban, outside power intervention, or an unsuccessful election season. Such framing is not as profound as the problem. The state and province conquests, bargaining, and coercion united Afghanistan, the state, but not a civic transaction between peoples. Although the significance of an actual national flag was yet to arrive, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Pashtuns, and minorities occupied different regions, related to regional leaders, tribal councils, and local trade routes. The power was not national but local and individual. The contemporary state emerged later, and at the inception of its emergence, it was naturally skewed in a manner that remained to fulfil the definition of politics.

The birth of Ahmad Shah Abdali, recalled as Ahmad Shah Durrani in the middle of the eighteenth century, could be recalled as one of the foundational legends. It was also when the military alliance of one community had become the core of the state’s strength. The shell of a state was built by Ahmad Shah through warfare, and the coalition of Pashtun tribes consolidated the territory and gained more lands, with the foundation of a heterogeneous and broad territory. The logic, however, was not inclusion. It was piety, preference, and blackmail. Peripheral territories like the non-Pashtun were to be ruled as they were expected to submit, pay, or surrender when the center was strong and to ignore when it was weak. That model had never killed with Ahmad Shah. It was a practice that has been emulated by other leaders who have come after and tried to play a stage of unity without building institutions that can be regarded as belonging to all groups.

The trend was established following the demise of Ahmad Shah. Kabul was rarely what it purported to be. Power moved around among leaders, but the leadership was generally stopped at metropolises, armies, and major highways. Large areas were something like semi-autonomous states, which cooperated with the state, fought it, or alternated in each of the seasons. When they say that Afghanistan has never had full rule of its own land, people are not hurting the country; they are saying a structural truth, which is that the center has never had sovereignty and has never received legitimacy on the full map. The actual authority was left to the ethnic groups, strongmen, clerics, and commanders. In that perspective, any change in Kabul became existential to the non-residents of the city, as the state was no competition referee but a prize.

Even the geography and the demography make this worse. Pashtuns have been estimated to be approximately 42 percent, Tajiks approximately 27 percent, and Hazaras and Uzbeks approximately 9 percent, and the rest are made up of Turkmen, Baloch, and others. Two official languages exist: Pashto and Dari, but the status of any language could never be a purely cultural one since it was always a political one. Even the name of the country, Afghanistan, is perceived by most Afghans as a loaded word, and that practice is tied to the Pashtun identity and leadership even when they are being applied as a national one. People are angry because of the gap between the way the label instructs us to feel and the way that people feel. Pleas of togetherness are empty when the name of a state is doubted even in real life.

The south, northeast, and many of the cities are then the Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara distributions, respectively. These areas are not eliminated by violent migration, displacement in war, or careful political manipulation. Rather, the blurring would contribute to some new fault lines, and communities would need to be pushed into the interspace of their neighbors without an established system of solving disagreements without favoritism. The cross-border relationships include the Tajiks and Tajikistan, Uzbeks and Uzbekistan, and Pashtuns and Pakistan, and there is a stable tug-of-war that the neighbors and patrons can make use of. A low external and high center connection is a formula for continued disintegration.

This is the sphere where the aspect of security cannot be neglected. The decades of controversial control and open borders have transformed parts of Afghanistan into an attractive location for militants that occupy uncontrolled space. When the state cannot provide some kind of protection over territory, the armed networks take its position and deliver protection, taxation, ideology, and logistics. These networks do not have a localization. Training, financing, and planning have border-crossing characteristics, subjecting the region to an environment of a shared threat. At that, the question is not only a moral or historical one, but one of expediency: what are the political structures that may be implemented to make sure that Afghanistan will no longer remain a jihadist temptation to armed groups that can break the peace of its neighbors?

The solution is suggested in a provocative manner, and that is the territorial restructuring, a peaceful partitioning of the state along ethnic and regional lines: Uzbek majority areas become Uzbekistan, Tajik majority areas become Tajikistan, Pashtun majority areas become Pakistan, another separate state is established called Hazaras, etc. The appeal is obvious. It will eliminate the sovereignty of a group, a distinct line of power, and smaller political units, which might be more efficient to govern. It also tries to compare borders to lives in stating that when people believe that the state is an extension of them and not the rulers of the state, then stability is achieved.

OLIVIA Attwood has begged fans to put her in touch with a higher power as she’s convinced her new London flat is cursed, amid the shock split from her ex Bradley Dack.

It was revealed back in January that ITV’s Olivia and her footballer husband Bradley, 32, had split over what was called “a breach of trust” on his part.

The stunning blonde recently moved in to a very stylish new pad in the wake of the split.

Olivia showed off her incredibly spacious home to fans as she begun a new life chapter.

She captioned the Instagram video: “2026.. a new home in the city I was born in.”

But now, despite her jaw-dropping open plan kitchen, pine oak floors and sensational floor to ceiling mirrors the star is convinced her new home is cursed.

Read More on Olivia Attwood

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After having one too many accidents in the London abode, Olivia took to social media to get advice on whether she needed to move out.

The Loose Women panellist moved in just weeks ago however it seems she may already need to pack her bags.

Olivia asked her 2.5 million fans on Instagram: “Can someone who is contacted by a higher power talk to the universe and tell me if I need to move out of this apartment pls lol.

“Since I moved in something breaks EVERY single day, I actually feel like it’s cursed.”

Olivia appears to be having a string of bad luck in her new place and has now turned to fans for a helping hand.

This comes amid the stars sad split from her ex Bradley Dack. The pair had been on and off before they married in June 2023.

Olivia and Bradley married in a lavish affair at the luxury five-star hotel Bulgari in Knightsbridge.

The pair started dating before former model Olivia’s stint on Love Island in 2017 – which she has confessed she joined as revenge for his cheating on her.

Olivia recently dropped a huge hint she’s formerly divorcing her ex as she sat down for a chat with celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton.

Chris Appleton joked on her podcast Olivia’s House: “There’s nothing like a marriage to grow an ass, and nothing like a divorce to lose it, right?”

Olivia agreed: “Yeah and now I’m like whoop [flat] from the front to the back.”

Despite pals telling The Sun she was talking about divorce and it was all feeling very final for her, this was the first time the TV presenter has publicly acknowledgment a potential divorce.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball team beat Wisconsin 80-60 on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. Lauren Betts recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds — including three in quick succession in the fourth quarter — as the Bruins celebrated their six graduates on Senior Day by winning their 21st game in a row. Five Bruins — all seniors — scored in double digits.

Gabriela Jaquez had 14 points and six rebounds in the first half for the Bruins, while the Badgers’ leading scorer, Dorja Zaja, had 10 points in the first half and 16 on the game.

While Jaquez led the way in the first half, Betts took over in the second, with a double-double in the second half alone.

After jumping out to a 14-4 lead just over three minutes into the game, UCLA (27-1 overall, 17-0 in the Big Ten) was held scoreless from the field for nearly five minutes, until a Betts basket ended the drought. Wisconsin (13-15, 5-12) cut the lead in half to 16-11 during that stretch, but UCLA extended it to 25-15 to end the first quarter.

The Badgers committed six fouls in the first quarter and the Bruins capitalized for seven points from the free-throw line.

Wisconsin held nearly even with UCLA on the scoreboard in the second quarter (15-14), while leading the rebound game 12-9.

The Badgers scored the first five points of the third quarter to tighten the gap to seven, but the Bruins took control from there and led 65-49 by the end of the quarter.

The Bruins won the fourth quarter 15-11, and they took time for the crowd to honor their seniors as the quarter came to a close.

UCLA has one remaining game in the regular season, against USC on March 1.

Feb. 22 (UPI) — A nuclear deal will be the subject of negotiations between Washington and Iran Thursday, officials say.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, in Geneva following receipt of the proposal, which is expected Tuesday.

“If Iran gives a draft proposal, the U.S. is ready to meet in Geneva in order to start detailed negotiations to see if we can get a nuclear deal,” officials said, per Axios.

President Donald Trump had previously suggested that failure to reach a deal would lead to “bad things.”

Araghchi is slated to finish that proposal by Monday, the outlet reported.

“So there is no need for any military buildup, and military buildup cannot help it and annot pressurize us,” Araghchi said, CBS News reported.

He added that “If the U.S. attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves. Our missiles cannot hit the American soil. So obviously we have to do something else. We have to hit, you know, the Americans’ base in the region.”

Authors: Ajay Kumar Mishra and Shraddha Rishi*

At the Davos World Economic Forum, Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, shared his thoughts on the hegemonic and subservient world order. When integration turns into a source of subordination, one cannot “live within the lie” of mutual benefit in the midst of a collapsing global order. The trading communities appear to have a hegemonic and subservient relationship as a result of the dollar’s adoption as the world’s reserve currency. Furthermore, the competing global order between the US and China appears to be caving in to Chinese modus operandi without investigating the reasons for US authoritarian dominance, which could result in the acceptance of Chinese domination. The recognition of the US dollar as the worldwide currency and its dominance over oil, one of the most traded commodities, have put the US in leadership of the world trading regime. Furthermore, it appears that China’s monopoly over rare earth elements (REEs) is giving the Chinese yuan the same reserve currency power. Therefore, the globe might witness a change of control from the US to China, thus jeopardizing the world trading system to the whims and fancies of the country holding the reserve currency.

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According to this essay, the dollar’s reserve currency status is the true cause of the world order’s disintegration, which equates to allowing the US to take the only seat at the table. It contends that a multipolar currency is essential for a multipolar world order. This understanding is necessary to prevent the rule of any country based on currency supremacy. Diversifying the currency basket for trade transactions is encouraged. To show how the currency dominance of a reserve currency would rise to currency imperialism, this article looks into the petrodollar problem and the duality of reserve currency and trade deficit to delegitimize the necessity of the dollar as a reserve currency. Any currency in question is subject to the same reasoning. Thus, a multi-currency trading framework is advocated in this article.

Geoeconomics of the Petrodollar Crisis’s Spiral

The dollar controls trade, payments, and reserves. About 96 percent of trade in the Americas, 74 percent in the Asia-Pacific area, and 79 percent in the rest of the world is denominated in the currency. About 60 percent of international and foreign currency claims (mainly loans) and liabilities (mostly deposits) are in US dollars. Its proportion of foreign exchange transactions is roughly 90 percent. Approximately 60% of the world’s official foreign reserves are in US dollars. Furthermore, in Q1 2025, the US dollar’s percentage of global foreign exchange reserves dropped to 53.6%. Additionally, the 50-year security agreement with Saudi Arabia to price oil only in dollars and invest surpluses in U.S. Treasury bonds in exchange for military protection expired in 2024. This could result in a shift toward accepting different currencies, albeit it won’t happen right away. Additionally, countries like Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly using non-dollar currencies for energy trade, aiming to reduce reliance on Western financial networks.

To achieve its geoeconomic goals, US authorities have attempted to preserve the dollar’s reserve currency status in several ways, compensating for economic weaknesses such as a lack of competitiveness in particular. The US appears to be addressing the growing trade deficit by maintaining the dollar as the world’s currency and matching China’s hegemony over rare earth elements. The US’s current dominance over the trade regime is largely due to dollar-based trade. The oil trade in dollars gives the US significant influence to shape geopolitics globally, both bilaterally and multilaterally, as oil holds a premier position in the international trading landscape.One commodity (oil) and one currency (the US dollar) have the power to both destabilise and stabilise the global price system. Its “as good as gold” quality can only be maintained in a world where the dominant currency is no longer associated with gold if it is associated with oil, that is, if wealthy people have faith that oil prices won’t continue to rise relative to the US dollar. The US gains influence over the oil trade by controlling the petro-dollar trade.

The globe is essentially on an “oil-dollar standard” during the post-Bretton Woods system, when currencies are meant to be “floating.” The US is under pressure to control oil sources, which it does through coercion or persuasion, to maintain wealth-holders’ faith in the value of the dollar, without which the global economy will experience severe financial turmoil, particularly given the ongoing US current account deficit. In a nutshell, war is a result of today’s necessity to preserve US financial stability. It does, however, produce a spiral effect. To control a significant oil source for financial stability, the US attacked oil-rich Iraq and, more recently, Venezuela. However, as a result of the opposition this strike provoked, oil prices skyrocketed, increasing the threat to financial stability and the temptation to wage war on other oil-rich nations like Iran. Additionally, the US would experience the same spiral consequences in a much more severe form if it decided to go to war with Iran.

The Reserve Currency and Trade Deficit “Trade-off”

Trade deficit and reserve currency operate in a trade-off scenario wherein a nation whose currency serves as the world’s reserve currency must maintain a trade deficit. It is based on two fundamental ideas. The first is the ‘policy trilemma’ or ‘impossible trinity’ thesis of economists Robert Mundell and Marcus Fleming. It contends that an economy cannot sustain unrestricted capital flow, a fixed exchange rate, and an autonomous monetary policy at the same time. The second paradox bears the name of Robert Triffin, an economist. This states that where their money works as the global reserve currency, a nation must run huge trade deficits to meet the demand for reserves. Any candidate for a new global reserve currency position must run significant current account deficits and risk an intolerable loss of economic control.

However, trade imbalances are thought to be self-correcting. A nation’s currency is predicted to lose value when it has a trade imbalance. Exports will then rise, while imports will fall, resulting in a reduction in the trade deficit. However, as the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, this idea does not apply to the US economy. A large portion of a country’s foreign exchange reserves is invested in US government securities. As a result, the dollar is overpriced. A chronic trade deficit results from higher imports and lower exports due to an overpriced dollar. Therefore, the US has a trade deficit not because it imports more goods, but rather because it supplies the world’s reserve currency.

In the face of “unfair” trade and an overpriced currency, how can the US bring manufacturing back and lower the country’s trade deficit? Enter duties on imports. Tariffs will decrease imports and increase their cost, lowering the trade imbalance. By shielding American manufacturers from import competition, they will promote domestic production. However, the US’s return to a more protectionist policy through tariffs has led to increased bilateral commerce in non-dollar currency. For instance, India-Russia oil trade and China’s increasing use of bilateral currency swaps with its trading partners have caused major concern for the US reserve currency supremacy. Moreover, it caused a spiral effect. For example, the reserve currency of the central banks has become less dollarized as a result of the recent US policy of reciprocal tariffs to safeguard trade transactions in dollars. It promotes asking about options for a reserve currency basket and the possibility of de-dollarization. Trump has made no secret about retaining the US dollar’s global supremacy, even threatening the BRICS nations with 100% additional tax should they move forward with a unified currency to “degenerate” and “destroy” the dollar. After all, de-dollarization has the potential to tip the scales against the United States and reduce its capacity to influence international financial markets and the global economy. Furthermore, to protect dollar dominance from the assault of renewable energy, the US withdrawal from India’s solar alliance must be considered.

Economists fear that tariffs go against the concept of economic efficiency. Tariffs, they warn, will imply greater expenses for American consumers, an increase in the inflation rate, and an inefficient manufacturing sector. Moreover, tariffs will encourage nations to undermine the dollar’s standing as a reserve currency by making imports more expensive. It will portend the trading of multiple currencies. Even when Trump managed the inevitability of a trade deficit because of having a reserve currency, the US was still faced with two additional problems: the increasing bilateral trade in member countries’ currencies and China’s control over modern-era gold, ‘rare earth minerals’ critical for key industries. China’s hegemony over REEs and chip production challenges the US dollar’s hegemony.

Conclusion

It reflects that the actual geo-economic strength of the US lies in the acceptability of its currency as a global reserve and its hold over one of the most traded commodities, oil. The rise of China and the evolving structure of international trade are changing the dynamics of this area, even though the US dollar continues to be the most important reserve currency. However, there wouldn’t be any surpluses to invest or deficits to finance if trade were more bilaterally balanced over time, which would lessen the demand for a reserve currency like dollars. The world looks to be headed towards a multi-currency structure for harmonious commercial ties. By encouraging alternate payment methods among trading nations and choosing the currency used for the IMF’s reserve holdings, for instance, it is necessary to end the US monopoly on currency arrangements. The structure can be extended to incorporate trading blocs, where imbalances net out amongst members when aggregated. It suggests a world with several reserve and trade currencies.

This bilateral or multilateral currency autarky might unleash the potential to trade freely as well as to obtain investment capital for emerging economies. Moreover, this strategy is embedded in the evolving industrial structure driven by economic sovereignty. Meanwhile, the US’s capacity to finance its ongoing budget and trade deficits would be impacted by the dollar’s declining value. Dollar interest rates may have to climb, and the currency may depreciate. The role of its capital markets and financial institutions would shrink. It would give more space for the formation of a multipolar currency regime.

*Shraddha Rishi teaches Political Science at Magadh University, Bodhgaya. She has obtained her PhD from the Centre for South Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi.

“LINDA looks so beautiful, so cool,” says Paul McCartney.

He’s just been watching a film about the decade of his life after The Beatles broke up — and it is filled with images of his much-missed first wife.

“The Linda stuff was very emotional,” he admits at the Man On The Run launch event in London.

“Linda, the kids, me and John [Lennon] — all these memories. It’s like my life flashing in front of me.”

Macca is talking to an intimate gathering that includes his daughter Stella, son James, superfan Noel Gallagher and the actor who will play him in a forthcoming biopic, Paul Mescal. Oh, and me.

He continues: “Seeing me and Linda interacting is special because, you know, she’s not here.

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“So is seeing the kids when they were little, because they’re not little any more. They’ve got kids of their own now.”

The film stirs memories of forming his own band, Wings, with Linda in 1971, prompting this from McCartney: “We tried to follow The Beatles — it’s mad!”

It also brings into sharp focus his relationship with Lennon, which broke down in the wake of The Beatles split but, as we see, they reconciled shortly before John’s death.

Directed by Oscar-winning Morgan Neville, Man On The Run is a masterpiece of ­documentary storytelling.

Rich in source material, partly because Linda was a professional photographer who also shot home movies, it is raw, heartfelt, funny, poignant and, crucially, not remotely sugar-coated.

Before the screening starts, Sir Paul, looking fit and well for his 83 years, strolls on to the stage and quips: “I just want to say thank you to Morgan for keeping in all the embarrassing moments that I asked him to take out.”

But let’s get back to the big ­question: How DO you follow The Beatles?

It was a conundrum that weighed heavily on McCartney as the ­Swinging Sixties drew to a close.

As he puts it himself in the movie, the first thing he did was “escape” and then he had to learn how “to grow up”.

He had married American Linda Eastman in March, 1969, at Marylebone Town Hall, London, and soon afterwards adopted her daughter Heather from a previous marriage.

McCartney was still only 27 when, on April 10, 1970, he told the world that he, John Lennon, George ­Harrison and Ringo Starr were going their separate ways.

The announcement came amid acrimony over the band’s crooked business manager Allen Klein, favoured at the time by John and the others but later described by Paul as “a sort of demon”.

It was all over for the band of four likely lads from Liverpool who changed popular culture for ever.

In private, McCartney had known for months that his songwriting partner Lennon was leaving.

“John broke up The Beatles,” Macca affirms in Man On The Run. “But I got the rap. And that’s a bit of a weight to bear.”

Around the same time as ­Lennon’s bombshell, in late 1969, there were rumours across the US and around the world that “Beatle Paul may be dead”.

There’s a hilarious moment in the film when his younger brother Mike is asked whether it’s true.

“It’s a hoax, it’s a con,” he exclaims, before being asked when was the last time he saw his brother.

Mike replies: “The last time? It was his funeral, I think!”

It turned out that McCartney had the perfect bolthole, in an archetypal middle of nowhere, to hide away and reset his life.

In 1966, he had bought High Park Farm, a 183-acre sheep farm on the Mull of Kintyre (yes, that explains the song) in Argyllshire, only reached via a “long and winding” track.

With its corrugated iron roof and general state of dilapidation, it was, as someone in the film points out, the sort of place a poor farm labourer might baulk at accepting.

But, as the Sixties ebbed to a close, Paul, Linda, their daughters, Heather and baby Mary, plus their Old English Sheepdog ­Martha decamped to the Scottish wilds.

In the movie, McCartney suggests, “We got up there to escape”, and ponders whether he would write “another note of music” before confessing to drowning himself in one wee dram of Scotch after another.

But, with the responsibility of supporting a young family on his shoulders, he realised that “it was a question of HAVING to grow up”.

At the Man On The Run launch, McCartney reflects: “With The Beatles, we were just lads. Everyone, all our management, used to call us ‘the boys’.

“Then I got married and then there was a baby [Mary] on the way.

“I had to grow up. I thought, ‘We can’t just be these ‘boys’ any more’. It was time to think about stuff.

“Even though the film is kind of madcap and you see all our insane decisions, in the background there were some sensible decisions, too.”

He remembers how Linda was his guiding light through those years.

“If there was an idea that was a little bit crazy, I’d say, ‘Should I do that? Could I do that?’ She’d say, ‘It’s allowed’. It was a brilliant philosophy in life.”

Director Neville picks up on this theme: “I looked into the questions Paul was trying to ask of himself, questions that I felt were universal.

“How do you deal with your own legacy and the expectations people have of you? How do you balance your career with your family?

“In Paul’s case, he made them one and the same. And that, I thought, was completely inspirational.”

Though Kintyre provided a necessary respite from the dazzling glare of publicity, Macca has never been far away from making music. It’s in his blood.

In 1970, he released his debut solo album, simply titled McCartney, with its intimate DIY aesthetic and featuring at least two songs with his beloved partner in mind — The Lovely Linda and Maybe I’m Amazed.

In 1971, he formed Wings with ex-Moody Blues musician Denny Laine and, controversially, Linda, who until that point had little or no experience, as core members.

Rehearsals for their debut album Wild Life took place at Macca’s converted barn in Scotland, dubbed Rude Studio.

It felt to him as if he was starting over, at the bottom of the pile.

“It was so impossible to do something like that,” he says today.

“Just go back to square one, show up at a university, don’t book hotels, take the dogs in a van. For some reason, we thought it was a great idea!”

If Wings took time to take flight, everything changed in 1973 when they released third album Band On The Run, loaded with classic tunes such as the title track, Jet and Let Me Roll It.

Recorded in extraordinary ­circumstances at EMI’s studio in Lagos, Nigeria, not far from where Paul and Linda were mugged at knifepoint, it paved the way for ­stadium-sized shows in America.

Without the McCartneys’ sojourn to Scotland, there would have been no Mull Of Kintyre, which, at the time of its release in 1977, became the biggest selling single of all time.

A “love song” to that remote idyll, it featured Great Highland bagpipes played so passionately by the local Campbeltown Pipe Band.

Yet, interwoven with stories of Wings’ upward trajectory, there are musings on McCartney’s strained relationship with Lennon during the Seventies.

We’re reminded of John’s caustic song How Do You Sleep?, directed at Paul with its line, “The only thing you done was yesterday”.

And there’s his old buddy left thinking, “Aside from Yesterday, what about Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Let It Be and the rest?”

Macca says: “As it shows in the film, I knew John from a very early age — we were just a couple of rock and roll fans.

“We enjoyed hanging out together and we started writing little songs round at my place.

“My dad had a pipe in his drawer. So we thought we’d smoke it. We couldn’t find any tobacco so we smoked tea! We had all those ­memories in common.

“Then we went through the whole trajectory of The Beatles. But John was always just that guy to me, even when he was being really mean and I was having to take it.

“At the same time, it was like, ‘Yeah, it’s just John, he does that’. He’d always done that — so that made it a little bit easier.

“But I loved him, you know. I loved all the guys in The Beatles.

“I try and think of how else it could have been, but with just me, John, George and Ringo, it was a magic grouping. And we did OK!”

Near the end of Man On The Run, you see McCartney being confronted by camera crews about the shocking death of Lennon, who had been shot the day before outside the Dakota Building apartment he shared with partner Yoko Ono in New York.

Macca was criticised at the time for a rather cool, unemotional response — but one look in his eyes reveals his utter devastation.

As for the aforementioned “embarrassing moments” on display in the film, they are what make it so refreshing and endearing.

Hence you see McCartney singing Mary Had A Little Lamb wearing a red clown’s nose with Wings guitarist Henry McCullough looking as if he wants the earth to swallow him.

There’s a moustachioed Paul in a baggy pink suit performing the cabaret-style Gotta Sing Gotta Dance, complete with dancing girls, for his 1973 variety show.

And what about him getting ­busted by Japanese cops in 1980 for having 219g of cannabis in his luggage, spending nine days in custody before being booted out of the country?

McCartney was supposed to be embarking on a Wings tour of Japan but, as it turned out, they never played together again.

He says: “So many bits are embarrassing. The look on Henry McCullough’s face! He’s not happy.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe we could cut those bits, the dance routine, cool out my image’.

“But Morgan said, ‘No, let me keep them in. You’ll see all that stuff but because you overcame it all and found yourself, you won in the end’.”

Finally, McCartney takes a long hard look at himself — at the ­person “growing up” in Man On The Run and the man he is today.

He says: “You start to see yourself, not just in the mirror, but to realise what your character is like.

“It’s natural for me to be enthusiastic so I don’t always see pitfalls, With me, it’s, “Nah, nah, just do it’.”

VERONA, Italy — In fair Verona, L.A., unofficially, takes the torch.

While the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France at Sunday’s closing ceremony, handing off the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will burn next in L.A.

In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is surging in popularity but unsteady in a changing world, as the Games return to Los Angeles for the third time.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to rake in record TV numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers took in the United States’ thrilling overtime win over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014 with an average of 26.7 million viewers who also watched U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal for women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.

The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan just as 41-year-old mother of two Elana Meyers Taylor did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first gold medal in bobsled, jumping into the arms of her nanny and, through tears, signing to her deaf children, “Mommy won.”

No matter protests, politics or planning hurdles, the Olympics sought to remain a stage for those athletes to shine.

“You showed us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said to the Olympians in her speech while standing on a platform in the stands placed in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”

After record numbers from the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, accounting for 80% of the expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations,” Milano Cortina 2026 chief executive officer Andrea Varnier said at a news conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, at 14%, bought the second-most tickets.

Fans filled arenas that were finished just in time in Milan. They withstood snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath while multiple skiers got airlifted off the downhill course in Cortina.

The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours on trains and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally united in a single city known for love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games represented seemingly every Shakespearean theme.

Athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which went through an average of 365 kilograms of pasta and 10,000 eggs a day. A cheating scandal rocked curling.

The closing ceremony set at the Roman amphitheater at the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But beneath the glittering gold medals, there was pain.

Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified when he refused to compete without his helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who’ve been killed in the war with Russia.

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.

(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

Already holding the weight of their personal dreams, U.S. athletes faced additional pressure answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess he said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States at the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old “a real loser” on social media.

Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” to his forehead after his first qualifying run.

Athletes pleaded for assistance navigating an onslaught of social media threats as the Olympic spotlight grows with every Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a safeguarding unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were taken down during the Paris Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games hadn’t been finalized.

With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second-most medals with 33, including 12 golds, the most Olympic titles for the country at any single Winter Games. The total gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.

After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice in the next eight years. L.A. will host the 2028 Games and Utah will have the 2034 Winter Games.

Approaching the final stretch of an 11-year planning period, the L.A. Games confronted another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman’s resignation after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files. After initial hesitation, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.

But LA28 doubled down on his role. The executive committee of the LA28 board stood by Wasserman after a review from an outside legal firm found that the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”

As with his 2026 organizing committee counterpart Giovanni Malago, Wasserman would be expected to deliver speeches in 2028.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi has confirmed that further talks between the United States and Iran will take place on Thursday amid spiralling tensions between the two countries.

“Pleased to confirm US-Iran negotiations are now set for Geneva this Thursday, with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal,” Albusaidi said in a social media post on Sunday.

The announcement comes as the US continues to amass military assets in the Middle East, raising concerns about an all-out war against Iran.

Hours before Oman’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was ready to put in place a “full monitoring mechanism” to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme and ease tensions.

Asked by Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan why Iran would want to pursue enrichment on its soil rather than buy enriched uranium from abroad, given the US military build-up and risk of an escalation, Araghchi said the issue was a matter of “dignity and pride” for Iranians.

“We have developed this technology by ourselves, by our scientists, and it is very dear to us because we have created it – we have paid a huge expense for that,” he said.

Araghchi cited among the costs two decades of US sanctions, the targeted killings of Iranian scientists, and US-Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities in June.

“We’re not going to give [our nuclear programme] up; there is no legal reason to do that while everything is peaceful and safeguarded” by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Araghchi said.

As a “committed member” of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires non-nuclear-weapon states not to seek or acquire nuclear weapons, Iran is “ready to cooperate with the agency in full”, Araghchi added.

But he stressed that under the treaty, Tehran also has “every right to enjoy a peaceful nuclear energy, including enrichment”.

“Enrichment is a sensitive part of our negotiations. The American team knows about our position, and we know their position. We have already exchanged our concerns, and I think a solution is achievable,” the minister noted.

Enrichment is the process of isolating and garnering a rare variant, or isotope, of uranium that can produce nuclear fission. At low levels, enriched uranium can power electric plants. If enriched to approximately 90 percent, it can be used for nuclear weapons.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, have previously suggested that Washington is seeking “zero enrichment” by Tehran.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any deal with Iran would need to include agreements on ballistic missiles and support for its allies in the region.

Araghchi, however, said on Sunday that Iran was “negotiating only nuclear” at the present time.

“There is no other subject,” he told CBS News, adding that he was optimistic that a deal could be reached.

The second round of nuclear talks concluded in Geneva on February 17. The US and Iran also held indirect talks in Oman earlier this month.

The Iranian delegation is working ahead of the meeting to present a draft that includes “elements which can accommodate both sides’ concerns and interests” to reach a “fast deal”, Araghchi said.

The top Iranian diplomat added the agreement would likely be “better” than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated by former US President Barack Obama in 2015.

“There are elements that could be much better than the previous deal,” he said, without elaborating. “Right now, there is no need for too much detail. But we can agree on our nuclear programme to remain peaceful forever and at the same time, for more sanctions [to be] lifted.”

Some observers were less optimistic about the chances of striking a deal. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, told Al Jazeera that Iran is likely to put forward a proposal that goes beyond anything they ever offered, but even that may not be enough.

“Trump has been sold a narrative by the Israelis that portrays Iran far, far weaker than it actually is. As a result, he’s adopting maximalist capitulation positions that are simply unrealistic based on how the power reality actually looks,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.

“Unless this gets corrected, even if the Iranians put forward a very far-leaning proposal that is extremely attractive to the US, Trump may still say no because he’s under the false belief that he can get something even better.”

Lula says he wants to tell US President Trump that Brazil wishes for all countries to be treated ‘equally’.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says his country does not want a “new Cold War”, ahead of his visit to the United States.

“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country; we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told a news conference at the end of his three-day trip to India on Sunday.

The Brazilian president has refused to comment on Friday’s US Supreme Court decision, which struck down many of Trump’s tariffs on goods entering the US. In response to the Supreme Court decision, Trump said that 15 percent levies would replace it under a different law.

Still, Lula said he is “convinced that Brazil-US relations will go back to normalcy after our conversation”, adding that Brazil has only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve [the] lives of our people”.

“The world doesn’t need more turbulence; it needs peace,” he added.

Lula said he expects to meet Trump during the first week of March, and his agenda will include trade, immigration, and investment.

While Lula has differed with Trump on issues such as tariffs, Israel’s war on Gaza, the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and Trump’s Board of Peace – a group of nations assembled to plan Gaza’s future – US and Brazil ties appear to be mending.

In November, for instance, Trump’s administration exempted key Brazilian exports from the 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the country.

Brazil-India

On Saturday, Lula met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Brazilian leader arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to attend a summit on AI.

The two leaders agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths, looking to diversify their trade.

Lula and Modi agreed on a non-binding memorandum of understanding on rare earths, which establishes a framework for cooperation, focusing on reciprocal investment, exploration, mining and other issues.

They also agreed on legal frameworks and other topics, including entrepreneurship, health, scientific research and education.

Kylie Jenner did not look very impressed with one of Alan Cumming’s jokes at the BAFTA Film Awards, at which her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet lost out on the Best Actor award

Kylie Jenner was left squirming at a joke Alan Cumming made about her at the BAFTAs. The reality TV star did not look impressed with the awards’ host’s X-rated gag.

During the ceremony, Alan walked through the audience, offering them snacks. When he stopped by the seats that Kylie and her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet were sitting in, he asked the star: “Kylie, have you ever had your gums around a giant Jammie Dodger?”

Kylie shook her head and took the snack, looking visibly uncomfortable as she did so. She did not appear to be impressed by the double entendre, which earned only a few laughs from audience members.

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Viewers at home also seemed to be unamused by Alan’s jokes. One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Alan Cummings’ jokes falling flat.” Another added: “Not funny. Not a good presenter. It’s just painful to watch and hear.”

“There is absolutely nothing funny about Alan Cumming? This whole opening monologue is toe-curlingly awkward,” a third fan said. A fourth added: “Alan Cumming is making me cringe already.” While a fifth said: “Will someone purleeze get Alan Cumming off the stage.”

The 60-year-old actor, writer and presenter – known for hosting the US version of The Traitors and starring in American drama The Good Wife – hosted the event at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London for the first time on Sunday.

Others said it was likely not Alan’s fault but that of the scriptwriters. “I’ve got a funny feeling Alan Cumming might have been lumbered with the same scriptwriter David Tennant had when he hosted- oh dear,” said one.

Though no more jokes were made about Kylie, the night did not improve for her boyfriend, as Timothee lost out on the Best Actor award. He had been nominated for his role as the titular character in Marty Supreme, but the award ended up going to Robert Aramayo, who won for his role as John Davidson in I Swear.

Robert also won the Rising Star award for the same role. That award is the only one voted for by the public, and by winning both that and Best Actor, Robert was the only actor of the night to win more than one award.

The other acting awards went to Jessie Buckley, who won Best Actress, Wunmi Mosaku, who won Best Supporting Actress, and Sean Penn, who won Best Supporting Actor but was not present to take home his award.

Though Kylie attended the awards, she was not seen on the red carpet and instead snuck in separately. The Kardashians star, 28, has been in a relationship with the actor, 30, since 2023. The couple have made a series of appearances during this year’s award season, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

It is believed Kylie often skips red carpets to avoid stealing her partner’s spotlight and also to keep their relationship private, opting instead to support him from the audience or enter through alternative, quieter, or back entrances. Last year, a source told Grazia Daily that another reason why the pair avoid walking the red carpet together could be that they want to keep their work and their personal relationship separate.

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It’s back! A fantastic offer saving you money on your travel with Northern valid until March 27, 2026 with their Hop On Hop Off train ticket

The Mirror has teamed up with Northern Trains, to offer excellent prices on unlimited day or weekend train travel with their Hop On Hop Off train ticket, available between February 23 and March 27, 2026.

All you have to do is collect two tokens from the North edition of the Mirror between Monday, February 23 and Sunday, March 1, 2026, download a registration form from the Northern website and take them to your local staffed ticket office on the Northern network to redeem.

The best part is you can use your tickets to hop on any train on the Northern network!* So, if you’re looking for the perfect excuse to ride the rails as the days start to get longer or travel by train to one of the many great cities of the North, then this could be the ticket for you.

A great value train ticket that leaves you with more money in your pocket for that essential trip out treat! You can purchase either a Day ticket for £12 per adult or a Weekend ticket for £20 per adult. Don’t forget kids go half price on this offer, so you could take the whole family out for a fraction of the price!

The travel window will be open from February 23- March 27, 2026. (*No direct travel route available on Northern services between Newcastle and York).

Once you have your tokens, log in or register and complete the online form at northernrailway.co.uk/reachplc. Next, print the form, and hand it in at any local staffed ticket office on the Northern network to redeem. You will then be given the tickets to go do your thing!

Terms and Conditions: To qualify for this special offer, collect two tokens from the North edition of the Mirror between 23.02.26 and 01.03.26 and complete the online redemption form. Insert availability varies depending on title. Collect two tokens per redemption form. Two tokens allow you to buy up to four Northern Day Ranger tickets (£12 each) or four Weekend Rover Tickets (£20 each). Kids offer includes ages 5-15 years. Day Ranger ticket travel between 23.02.26 and 27.03.26. Weekend Rover ticket travel between 28.02.26 and 22.03.26. All tickets must be valid for travel on the same date. Tickets are valid on trains departing after 0845 Monday to Friday. Valid anytime at weekends, on Northern services only. *No direct travel route available on Northern services between Newcastle and York. Full t&c’s at northernrailway.co.uk/reachplc.