Joined by survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuses, US Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer introduced legislation to end the federal statute of limitations that has shielded sex traffickers. It’s named for Virginia Giuffre, one of the late sex offender’s most prominent accusers.

BILLIONAIRE socialite Petra Ecclestone has been blasted for posting footage of her family’s visit to a controversial Dubai animal ‘sanctuary’.

The 37-year-old faced backlash for sharing clips of her children bottle-feeding a captive tiger and holding hands with an orangutan forced into human clothing.

The poor ape can be seen dressed up in a short-sleeved T-shirt and denim shorts as he was paraded around for amusement.

The family can be seen petting tigers on leads and holding hands with a fully-dressed orangutan while visiting Animalia.

Petra captioned the montage: “When in Dubai.”

Animal rights advocates have slammed the cruel display, labelling the exploitation of the animals as ‘anything but ethical’.

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PETA‘s Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen said in a damning statement: “Putting cheetahs on leashes, bottle-feeding tigers or dressing orangutans in clothes pushes the shameful and dangerous idea that wild animals exist for human amusement. 

“These animals are not docile props. Without heavy tranquillisation, they are fully capable of maiming or killing a child – ask the survivors of big-cat attacks or the families of those who didn’t survive. 

“Social media posts like this normalise reckless, inappropriate human-wildlife interactions and fuel demand for exploitative attractions that treat animals as living playthings.”

She concluded: “We will be writing to Petra to urge her to delete this post and instead support genuine rehabilitation programmes that protect wild animals in their natural habitats, where they belong.”

Angry followers vented: “How can you think this is right if you are an animal lover/supporter?”

A second berated: “Can’t believe you would encourage your children to call this fun. What an example.”

A third begged: “Please do not support these places. I can’t believe these places still exist.”

“Those tigers must be drugged.. you’re lucky enough to be able to take your children anywhere in the world and you do this,” noted a fourth.

The ‘beachside sanctuary’ in the United Arab Emirates claims to ensure all the animals and creatures ‘enjoy the best possible’ life.

Petra is the daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone.

She is married to top broker Sam Palmer who she shares a daughter, Minnie, 5, with.

Petra also has 10-year-old twin boys – James and Andrew – and a 12-year-old daughter – Lavinia – with her ex-husband James Stunt, who she split with in 2017.

The billionaire relocated to Dubai from Los Angeles last year after claiming the ‘quality of life’ in California had ‘gone downhill’.

She said previously: “The crime in America is awful and we want a safe environment for our kids.”

The mother-of-four explained: “It’s the gun crime and the shootings.

“We ice-skated with our kids just before Christmas and a homeless person dropped dead next to us. And seeing people smoke crack is not an environment we want to be in.”

Her famous sister once had her own show – Tamara Ecclestone: Billion $$ Girl on Channel 5 and is worth an estimated £232million.

Last year she was left devastated when £50million worth of gems were stolen from her 57-room London home just hours after she left for a Christmas break.

Their father Bernie and his Brazilian wife Fabiana live a life of luxury which includes a £30million yacht and a total fortune worth £3billion.

Major League Baseball is making streaming options available for fans to watch in-market games of 20 teams, including the Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — a significant shift to respond to the fast-changing TV landscape.

The Angels on Tuesday announced its arrangement with the league to make its games more widely available. The club said the option — Angels.TV — would be available for purchase for $99.99 for the full season or $19.99 per month through the MLB app.

“We are excited to partner with Major League Baseball to bring Angels games to their streaming platform,” Angels President John Carpino said in a statement. “Our priority is making it as easy as possible for fans to watch Angels Baseball and MLB’s industry-leading app provides another great option to stay connected to the team.”

The league separately announced the move, which provides options for fans of other teams, through its MLB app. In-market games for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals will be provided through the app.

Games will still be available to traditional pay-TV subscribers.

Spectrum, owned by cable giant Charter Communications, which distributes the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA had previously made available Dodger games as a streaming option through a separate app.

On Tuesday, ESPN announced that it would become the new streaming home of MLB.TV, bringing out-of-market live games to the ESPN App and ESPN.com.

“With MLB.TV now available through ESPN, we’re taking a significant step forward in reinforcing ESPN as the home of the MLB regular season while deepening the value proposition of the ESPN Unlimited plan – giving fans even more flexibility in how and where they watch all season long,” Rosalyn Durant, Executive Vice President, ESPN Programming & Acquisitions, said in a statement.

The move comes as traditional regional sports networks struggle amid the exodus of pay-TV customers. Regional sports networks once were viewed as cash cows for teams and TV programming companies that owned them but, in recent years, at least one regional sports network owner has filed for bankruptcy. That pompted the MLB to step in to fill the gap.

The league said it also was taking over the television production of games for 14 teams, including the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Feb. 10 (UPI) — FBI Director Kash Patel posted doorbell camera photos of a suspect in the Arizona search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie.

The post said the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working to recover images from a disabled security camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home. It said that a video was recovered from residual data in backend systems.

“Working with our partners — as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” the post said.

The post asks anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Savannah Guthrie released a new video late Monday pleading for the public’s help in finding her kidnapped mother.

“I’m coming on just to ask you, not just for your prayers, but no matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement,” Savannah Guthrie said in a post on Instagram. “We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help.”

Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing since Jan. 31, and police believe she was taken from her Tucson, Ariz., home. The Guthrie family, including Savannah Guthrie and her brother, Camron Guthrie, and sister, Annie Guthrie, have made three other videos pleading for their mother’s safe return.

Monday at 5 p.m. MST was a ransom deadline that was given in a note, but the time passed with no contact from the kidnappers. Police haven’t verified that the ransom note is authentic. It was sent to several news outlets and demanded $6 million in Bitcoin.

The FBI said there is no ongoing contact between the family and the believed kidnappers. It said in a statement that the FBI is “not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers, nor have we identified a suspect or person of interest in this case at this time.”

The agency is sending staff to Tucson from other field offices.

“We are currently operating a 24-hour command post that includes crisis management experts, analytic support, and investigative teams. But we still need the public’s help.

“Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home. We need that person to share what they know. Please call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI.”

A source close to the family told NBC News that Nancy Guthrie had planned to go to a friend’s house the morning she went missing to watch a church service online. When she didn’t arrive on Feb. 1, friends called Annie Guthrie.

Michael Rudzena, pastor of Good Shepherd New York, told NBC’s Today show that Nancy Guthrie would visit the church before the pandemic. But during the lockdown, the church started streaming online services.

Nancy Guthrie is a “strong woman, and she is fiercely loving,” Rudzena said. “Over the years, we’ve gotten to know what makes her tick.”

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Nancy Guthrie does not have cognitive issues, calling her “sharp as a tack.” But she has limited mobility and needs to take medication daily, or “it could be fatal,” NBC News reported.

She has a pacemaker, but it disconnected from its monitoring app on her phone early Feb. 1.

Lance Leising, former FBI agent, told USA Today he noticed that in the video Savannah Guthrie shared on Monday that it focused on the plea for public help.

“That could indicate a transition away from the ransom note lead and back to traditional-lead investigation. I get a sense that investigators worry that the public is too focused on the ransom lead and if that is fraudulent, then the public is not providing tips,” he said.

Paramount Skydance has sweetened its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, adding a $2.8 billion “break fee” for Netflix and a payment to shareholders set to increase for every quarter after January 1, 2027 that the transaction does not close.

However, it’s not clear the latest move will do much to sway Warner Bros. Discovery’s board, which has endorsed a rival bid from Netflix.

The David Ellison-led company sent notice Tuesday of its revised offer to the Warner Bros. Discovery board, adding that it was open to further negotiation.

“While we have tried to be as constructive as possible in formulating these solutions, several of these items would benefit from collaborative discussion to finalize,” the letter states. “If granted a short window of engagement, we will work with you to refine these solutions to ensure they address any and all of your concerns.”

Paramount’s all-cash offer still stands at $30 a share. In addition to the termination payment and so-called “ticking fee” for shareholders of 25 cents per share — which the company said would total about $650 million in cash value each quarter — Paramount also said it would “eliminate” Warner’s $1.5 billion financing cost associated with its debt exchange offer.

The company also said it would “provide flexibility” for Warner to refinance its existing $15 billion bridge loan.

Ellison said the new additions to Paramount’s bid “underscore our strong and unwavering commitment to delivering the full value [Warner Bros. Discovery] shareholders deserve for their investment.”

“We are making meaningful enhancements — backing this offer with billions of dollars, providing shareholders with certainty in value, a clear regulatory path, and protection against market volatility,” he said in a statement.

Warner confirmed it received Paramount’s new offer and said in a statement Tuesday that it would “carefully review and consider” the revised bid.

However, the Warner board is “not modifying its recommendation” on its agreement to sell its studios, HBO and HBO Max to Netflix, and advised shareholders not to take “any action at this time” on Paramount’s tender offer to shareholders.

MILAN — Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse became the first U.S. curlers to medal in Olympic mixed doubles competition Tuesday, but the medal wasn’t the one they were trying to achieve.

The American pair lost in a dramatic final, 6-5, to the Swedish brother-sister combo of Isabella and Rasmus Wrana at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Dropkin and Thiesse led going into the final throw of the match.

A team skipped by John Shuster won gold in 2018, the last time the U.S. reached the medal podium in the sport. Shuster was also part of the only other U.S. medal-winning team, in 2006. That team was skipped by Peter Fenson.

Dropkin and Thiesse are the first Americans to win a medal in mixed doubles, which joined the Olympic calendar in 2018, while Thiesse is the first American woman to win a curling medal.

The U.S. reached the final when an incredible shot by Thiesse on the final delivery of Monday’s semifinal scored two points, turning a deficit into a 9-8 upset of Italy, a team that had beat the Americans in round-robin play. Sweden routed Britain 9-3 in its semifinal. Italy defeated Britain 5-3 for the bronze medal.

Feb. 10 (UPI) — Officials for the Environmental Protection Agency said they are working to end a 2009 declaration that says climate change is a danger to public health.

During the weekend, EPA officials submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule revoking the 2009 endangerment finding that guided U.S. climate and greenhouse gas regulations.

The EPA did not say when the endangerment finding officially would be revoked, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested it would happen this week.

“This week at the White House, President [Donald] Trump will be taking the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs,” Leavitt said in a prepared statement.

Revoking the endangerment finding removes the EPA’s statutory authority to regulate motor vehicle emissions that was provided via Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act of 1970, an EPA spokesperson told The Hill.

The endangerment finding is “one of the most damaging decisions in modern history,” the Leavitt said.

The Clean Air Act forces the EPA to regulate vehicle emissions that produce any pollutant that are reasonably thought to pose a danger to public health or welfare.

A 2007 Supreme Court ruling determined that greenhouse gas emissions that are thought to contribute to global warming meet the standard for air pollutants that require regulation due to their potential for harming public health.

The Obama administration in 2009 issued the endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions, which the prior Supreme Court ruling said requires the EPA to regulate them.

The EPA that year decided that greenhouse gas emissions likely would cause widespread “serious adverse health effects in large-population areas” due to increased ambient ozone over many areas of the United States.

“The impact on mortality and morbidity associated with increases in average temperatures, which increase the likelihood of heat waves, also provides support for a public health endangerment finding,” the EPA said in its endangerment finding.

“The evidence concerning how human-induced climate change may alter extreme weather events also clearly supports a finding of endangerment,” the EPA said, while acknowledging that the conclusion was based on “consensus.”

The finding said carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases are fueling storms, drought, heat waves, wildfires and rising seas, which pose a threat to public health.

Because the finding determined emissions from the burning of coal, gas and oil were said to contribute to climate change, the EPA undertook regulations of power plants, vehicles and other sources of greenhouse gas emissions, including gas stoves, ovens, water heaters and heating systems.

Revoking the endangerment finding ends those regulations, which could be reversed if a future administration reinstates the finding.

The head of U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) has downplayed the current significance of Chinese efforts to develop new long-range strike aircraft with more global reach. He said that China remains, at best, a regional bomber force, though it continues to “aggressively” pursue new capabilities in this regard, like the long-awaited H-20 stealth bomber.

AFGSC commander Gen. Stephen Davis talked about Chinese bombers and other aviation developments with TWZ‘s Howard Altman last month. In that same interview, he also discussed his command’s role in any future conflict in the Pacific region, as well as new U.S. strategic capabilities that are in the works now, such as the B-21 Raider stealth bomber and the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), among other topics. This was Davis’ first interview since taking command of AFGSC in November 2025.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) recruitment video below from 2021 includes a teaser for the H-20 at the very end.

中国空军2021年度招飞宣传片完整版震撼发布！易烊千玺 吴京倾情加盟演绎强军路上精彩人生！「逐梦青春」| 军迷天下

“I can certainly understand their [the Chinese] desire to have a long-range strike capability like the United States, and I know that they’re pursuing it aggressively,” Davis said when asked for his thoughts on the H-20, as well as two very large stealthy flying wing-type drones that emerged in China last year. TWZ was first to report on the emegence of both of these designs, which appear to be at least in the initial flight test phase of development.

The H-20 is understood to be a stealthy flying wing-type bomber, very roughly analogous to the U.S. B-2 Spirit, and its development is said to trace back to the early 2000s. The U.S. military has previously estimated that it could have a maximum unrefueled range of close to 6,214 miles (10,000 kilometers), and noted that its reach could be further extended through aerial refueling. Past reports have also said that it might be able to carry up to 10 tons of ordnance, including land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles.

“What I can tell you is they’re just not there yet,” Davis continued. “I think our adversaries look at our long-range strike capabilities, and … want to mimic them, but they can’t.”

“There’s no other country in the world [besides the United States] that can take and deliver a long-range strike platform pretty much on any day, in any time and place that they’re choosing, right?” he added. “Really, China is a regional bomber force at best. I think they’re trying to continue to develop that.”

China’s bomber force currently consists of variants of the H-6, the core design of which was originally derived from the Soviet Tu-16 Badger. The H-6N version, which made its official debut in 2019, has enabled the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to re-establish a strategic nuclear triad. The N model is primarily designed to carry a single very large air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) under its fuselage and is one of the H-6 types that is capable of being refueled in flight. How many different types of missiles have been integrated onto the H-6N to date is unclear, but its arsenal does include the nuclear-capable Jinglei-1 (JL-1), as you can read more about here.

Gen. Davis’ comments are in line with past statements from U.S. officials on the H-20, specifically.

In 2024, an unnamed U.S. intelligence official said the H-20 Stealth Bomber was “not really” a concern, according to a report at the time from Breaking Defense.

“The thing with the H-20 is when you actually look at the system design, it’s probably nowhere near as good as U.S. LO [low-observable] platforms, particularly more advanced ones that we have coming down,” the same official said. “They’ve run into a lot of engineering design challenges, in terms of how do you actually make that system capability function in a similar way to, like, a B-2 or a B-21.”

“The H-20 … may debut sometime in the next decade,” the Pentagon subsequently wrote in its annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments later in 2024. That report also highlighted ongoing efforts in China to develop a stealthy medium-range bomber, which has been referred to in the past as the JH-XX.

The Pentagon’s most recent annual China report, published in December 2025, notably makes no mention at all, directly or indirectly, of the H-20 or JH-XX. That report did note that “of China’s currently fielded systems, the DF-26 IRBM [intermediate range ballistic missile and the H-6N’s ALBM are both highly precise theater weapons that would be well suited for delivering a low-yield nuclear weapon.” This underscores Gen. Davis’ comments about the continuing regional limitations of the Chinese bomber force.

Despite past PLA pronouncements that the program is on track, the current status of the H-20 is unclear. The present state of work related to the JH-XX, and whether it may have carried over into other programs, like the J-36 advanced tailless tactical combat aircraft, is also unknown. Starting in the late 2010s, there had been a surge in official and semi-official statements about how the H-20 was ‘coming soon,’ but this looks to have largely subsided in the past year or so.

This is despite a flurry in other very high-profile Chinese military aviation developments, including the aforementioned large flying wing-type drones, as well as the J-36 and J-XDS sixth-generation stealth fighters, the GJ-11 uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV), the KJ-3000 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and more. The PLA Navy (PLAN) has also made major strides in advancing its carrier-based aviation capabilities in the past year or so.

As TWZ has noted in the past, a platform like the H-20 would give the PLA the ability to hold entirely new swaths of the Indo-Pacific region, including in parts of the continental United States, at risk. An expanded long-range strike aviation force would also expand China’s ability to target highly strategic outlying areas, including the U.S. island territory of Guam and Hawaii, as well as threaten regional competitors like Japan and India. If fielded, the aforementioned JH-XX could also have an important role in future regional operations.

The PLA has already been working to expand its routine bomber operations in the Western ends of the Pacific, especially around Taiwan and in the hotly contested South China Sea. Chinese bombers also now regularly integrate with their Russian counterparts and have made use of bases in that country for joint patrols. H-6K missile carrier aircraft flew in international airspace near Alaska for the first time ever during one of these joint operations back in 2024.

China and Russia conduct joint air strategic patrol over Bering Sea on July 25. This marks the eighth air strategic patrol organized by the two militaries since 2019.

Photos from China PLA Air Force Weibo accounthttps://t.co/g9w27FRnnM pic.twitter.com/oeZA4cUQR9

— Ryan Chan 陳家翹 (@ryankakiuchan) July 25, 2024

In his recent interview with TWZ, AFGSC commander Gen. Davis similarly highlighted the continued importance of American bombers in the Pacific.

“We have a requirement to be able to do that, day-to-day, for the President. We have to be able to penetrate adversary air defenses and deliver capabilities as directed,” Davis said when asked about the ever-growing threats posed by Chinese anti-access and area-denial capabilities. “We’ll continue to do that, as I said, by essentially, you know, taking all the information we can get, and integrating the B-21. Obviously, one of the great things about the B-21 is it’s going to be much more capable, it will have more sensors, it will have more inputs to it that will make it even stronger and more capable as a penetrating bomber.”

“Long-range strike, I think, contributes to every important mission set that we have in the Department of War,” the AFGSC commander also said when asked about how bombers could be employed against Chinese naval forces, specifically. “Obviously, one of the attributes of the modern force is the weapons they can carry, the variety of weapons they can carry, and the number and types of targets they can attack.”

“I think in any major confrontation that the U.S. would find itself in, you’re going to find your bomber forces are participating in bringing those skill sets to bear,” he added.

With this in mind, China is also still pursuing new long-range strike aviation capabilities, though it remains to be seen when the H-20 might finally emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

It has been a roller coaster week for theme parks boss Josh D’Amaro, who was named the next chief executive of Walt Disney Co. last week.

Once he officially takes the helm of the Mouse House in mid-March, he must tackle several key areas to chart the future of the 102-year-old media and entertainment giant.

For one, he’ll need to bolster Disney’s pipeline of content. As the saying goes, “content is king.”

The Burbank company already has a strong stable of franchises and stories that power its entertainment and streaming businesses, theme parks, merchandise and cruise ships, but Disney will need to keep building on that.

Strong sequels like last year’s “Zootopia 2” and live-action adaptations such as “Lilo & Stitch” — both of which grossed more than $1 billion in worldwide box office revenue — show that good stories can keep paying dividends in new ways, Moffett Nathanson senior research analyst Robert Fishman wrote in a note to clients last week.

On the bright side: This year’s film lineup has several historically strong franchise contenders, including Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” and Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday.” (Marvel, however, has struggled in recent years to pump out consistent hits at the box office.)

But Disney also needs to develop new stories — which has been more of a struggle.

Disney and Pixar’s “Elio” misfired at the box office last year, as original animated movies have had a harder time bringing in the massive audiences they once did because of the drop-off in theater attendance since the pandemic.

That puts more pressure on Disney and Pixar’s upcoming “Hoppers,” an original animated film out in March. The film has gotten strong early traction in online trailer views, Fishman wrote.

The content investment also extends to scripted series, which Fishman noted are a “critical component of success and cannot become an afterthought to theatrical.” He singled out Disney-owned FX as a “prestige outlet” that can contribute to both television and streaming lineups. The network has had a number of successes, including 2024’s “Shogun,” which was one of my favorites.

D’Amaro likely will get help on the content side from soon-to-be president and chief creative officer Dana Walden, a longtime television executive who is respected in Hollywood and well-versed in the entertainment knowledge he lacks.

D’Amaro’s area of expertise is Disney’s experiences sector, which includes the theme parks, cruise line, merchandise and Aulani resort and spa in Hawaii and brings in the lion’s share of operating income for the company. In the fiscal first quarter of this year, the experiences business hauled in a record $10 billion in revenue.

The challenge there will be maintaining Disney’s market dominance in the theme park space while continuing to invest to drive growth and managing attendance in the face of ongoing competition from arch rival Universal Studios.

On the investment front, Disney is all in. The experiences business is in the midst of a 10-year, $60-billion expansion project that would add new themed lands to parks around the world, including at Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort. The company also is building a park in Abu Dhabi and added new cruise ships.

In the near term, however, are concerns about “international visitation headwinds” at Disney’s U.S. parks. The company signaled in its most recent earnings call that those foreign visitor trends could contribute to “modest” operating income growth for the experiences division in the fiscal second quarter, along with pre-launch costs for a new cruise ship and an upcoming “Frozen” land in Disneyland Paris.

To keep attendance rates up, the company shifted its marketing and promotional focus to a more domestic audience, said Hugh Johnston, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, on the earnings call. But stock analysts — and D’Amaro — undoubtedly will be keeping an eye on international attendance rates and what that will mean for the theme parks going forward.

The part of the company with the potential to drive the most growth, analysts say, is its streaming business.

After recording billions of dollars in losses, Disney’s streaming services, which included Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, finally reached profitability in 2024. The company’s next goal is to reach 10% operating margins in its entertainment streaming business comprised of Disney+ and Hulu — a milestone that would give investors confidence in its vision.

To get there, continued investment in local language content will be a key priority to increase international subscriptions, as well as bolstering the tech that powers the platforms and provides recommendations.

In short, D’Amaro faces a choice.

“Some investors are thinking, ‘Will he choose to be the same? Or can he start a new era?’” asked Laurent Yoon, senior analyst at Bernstein.

At least one former Disney CEO has weighed in.

“My advice to Josh is continue Bob Iger’s strategy that creativity will handle profits, always protect the brand, and keep close the words of Walt Disney: ‘We love to entertain kings and queens, but the vital thing to remember is this — every guest receives the VIP treatment,’” Michael Eisner posted on social media last week.

But D’Amaro’s own words provide an idea of what he’s thinking. At a global town hall meeting with Disney employees last week, D’Amaro spoke about the company’s legacy — and its path forward.

“We are 100 years old, but we’re 100 years young as well, willing to embrace new technology, new creators and new markets,” he said. “That willingness to change and take risks is what keeps the brand going, and it’s something I intend to continue to push on.”

Stuff We Wrote

Film shoots

Number of the week

Post-apocalyptic horror film “Iron Lung” has grossed $34.3 million in worldwide box office revenue, a remarkable number given the film’s reported $3 million production budget and self-distribution route.

Written, directed and executive produced by YouTuber Mark Fischbach, who goes by the online alias of Markiplier and also stars in the film, “Iron Lung” follows the story of a convict who sails a blood ocean in a submarine. The movie had a $17.8-million opening during the weekend of Jan. 30, placing it right behind Disney’s 20th Century Studios’ “Send Help,” which grossed about $19.1 million in its debut. “Iron Lung” picked up an additional $6 million this past weekend.

Its success reignited the debate about self-distribution and the theatrical draw of content creators.

What I’m watching

Since the Olympics started last week, I’ve been all in on figure skating, a sport I’ve watched since I was a kid who marveled at the artistry and athleticism of stars like Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano and Michelle Kwan.

So I was supremely interested in this piece by my colleague Thuc Nhi Nguyen about the strength of the U.S. Olympic figure skating team this year, and the camaraderie between U.S. women Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito.

WASHINGTON — The leaders of the agencies enforcing President Trump’s immigration crackdown faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with one Democratic lawmaker asking the head of ICE if he would apologize to the families of two U.S. citizens killed by federal agents and called domestic terrorists by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Todd Lyons, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to apologize to the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during the hearing but said he welcomed the opportunity to speak to Good’s family in private.

“I’m not going to speak to any ongoing investigation,” Lyons said.

For the first time since the federal operation in Minneapolis led to the deaths of Good and Pretti, the heads of three immigration agencies testified before the House Homeland Security Committee.

Along with Lyons, the other witnesses were Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Rodney Scott, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Their agencies fall under the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats and some Republicans have called for increased oversight of the Trump administration’s immigration operations since the shootings last month of Good and Pretti, both 37, by federal agents.

In the aftermath of the shootings, the administration replaced Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official who led the charge in Minneapolis, with border policy advisor Tom Homan, a former ICE official. Officials also withdrew some agents and began requiring those in Minneapolis to wear body cameras.

“We must take the temperature down and look at the record of enforcement actions through rational eyes,” said the committee’s chair, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.).

Garbarino asked for commitment from the ICE and CBP leaders to give the committee the full reports and findings of the investigations into the shootings of Good and Pretti once those conclude. Scott and Lyons agreed.

Scott, the CBP commissioner, told the committee members that officers face an unprecedented increase in attacks by people who interfere with law enforcement action. He said these actions are “coordinated and well-funded.”

“This is not peaceful protest,” he said.

Lyons, the ICE leader, told lawmakers that his agency has removed more than 475,000 people from the U.S. and conducted nearly 379,000 arrests since President Trump returned to the White House. He said the agency has hired more than 12,000 officers and agents.

He condemned so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, which limit the collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE, as well as the rhetoric from public officials against ICE.

Lyons testified that 3,000 out of 13,000 ICE agents wear body cameras. Scott estimated that about 10,000 of 20,000 Border Patrol agents wear cameras, adding that “we’re building that program out.”

The agency heads faced intense questioning from Democrats on the committee, including those from California.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) asked Lyons about his comment last year that the deportation process should work “like Amazon Prime, but with human beings.”

Lyons said the comment had been taken out of context.

“I did say that we need to be more efficient when it comes to removing individuals from the United States, because ICE doesn’t detain people punitively — we detain to remove,” he said. “I don’t want to see people in custody.”

“Well, speaking of human beings, how many times has Amazon Prime shot a nurse 10 times in the back?” Swalwell responded.

Swalwell asked how many agents have been fired for their conduct under Lyons’ leadership. Lyons said he would get that data.

“Can you tell us if, at least — God, I hope at least one person has been fired for their conduct since these operations have begun,” Swalwell said.

Lyons said he wouldn’t talk about personnel.

Swalwell was the one who asked Lyons if he would apologize to the families of Good and Pretti. He also asked if Lyons would resign from ICE. Lyons declined.

Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) questioned Lyons about whether carrying a U.S. passport is enough for people to avoid being detained or deported. An October report by ProPublica identified more than 170 instances of U.S. citizens who were detained at raids or protests.

Lyons said U.S. citizens shouldn’t feel the need to carry their passports.

“No American citizen will be arrested for being an American citizen,” Lyons said.

Correa said a number of U.S. citizens in his district, which is majority Latino, have been detained, some for several days.

Lyons said he wasn’t aware of any cases of detained American citizens.

“Are you surveilling U.S. citizens today?” Correa asked.

Lyons said there is no database for protesters.

“I can assure you there is no database that’s tracking down citizens,” he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

England’s men survived a fightback from Spain to secure a 4-2 win in Valencia and move level on points with leaders the Netherlands in the FIH Hockey Pro League table.

England went ahead after only three minutes through Jacob Payton before Sam Ward doubled their lead via a drag from a penalty corner.

A Jose Basterra brace either side of half-time pulled Spain level, before Stuart Rushmere edged England back in front.

Spain had a chance to equalise with two minutes to go but could not take advantage of a penalty corner, before England raced up the field on the counter to seal victory through Ward’s second goal.

England remain second in the table on goal difference behind the Netherlands, with both sides having secured 15 points from eight matches.

England’s women bounced back from defeat by the Netherlands on Monday with a 2-0 win against China.

Grace Balsdon put England ahead by dragging in from a penalty corner, before goalkeeper Miriam Pritchard kept out a flurry of attempts in the third quarter.

China piled on the pressure in the final quarter in search of an equaliser, but it was England who found the net again, this time via a Tessa Howard deflected strike.

The victory sees England remain fifth in the table on seven points.

After their shock defeat at the 2024 T20 World Cup, Pakistan exact revenge on USA with 32-run win at 2026 edition.

Opener Sahibzada Farhan hit a solid half-century while spinner Usman Tariq grabbed three wickets as Pakistan downed the United States by 32 runs in a T20 World Cup Group A game in Colombo.

The 29-year-old hit five sixes and six fours in his 41-ball 73 and was aided by a brilliant 32-ball 46 by Babar Azam (four fours, one six) to guide Pakistan to a strong 190-9 total on Tuesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground.

Their spinners then checked the inexperienced USA batting with Tariq taking 3-27 and Shadab Khan 2-26 to restrict their opponents to 158-8 in 20 overs.

The win avenged Pakistan’s shock defeat at the hands of the USA in the T20 World Cup two years ago and handed them a second win in as many games following their close three-wicket win over the Netherlands on Saturday.

For the USA, Shubham Ranjane top-scored with a valiant 30-ball 51, including three sixes and as many fours, before he fell to pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was playing his 100th T20 international.

Opener Shayan Jahangir muscled his way to an attractive 34-ball 49 studded with two sixes and five fours while Milind Kumar scored 29 before the United States were derailed from 123-3 to lose the match.

Earlier, Farhan and fellow opener Saim Ayub, who scored a 17-ball 19 with two sixes, put on 54 in five overs.

Pakistan then lost two wickets in the sixth over of their innings, bowled by Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Ayub was caught off a slower one while skipper Salman Agha holed out on the deep square-leg boundary for one.

Farhan and Azam took control with an 81-run third-wicket stand as Pakistan cut loose in the middle overs.

Farhan passed 1,000 T20 international runs in his 41st match before he was caught in the covers off spinner Harmeet Singh in the 16th over.

Shadab Khan launched an assault to score 30 off 12 balls before Pakistan lost five wickets for just 13 runs in the last two overs.

Schalkwyk was the best USA bowler with 4-25, following his four-wicket haul against India in the 29-run defeat on Saturday.

Departing for Washington, DC, Israeli prime minister hails his close ties to the US president amid nuclear talks with Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will present Donald Trump with “principles” for negotiating with Iran as he heads to Washington, DC, for his sixth official visit with the US president over the past year.

Netanyahu hailed the “unique closeness” between Israel and the United States and his own warm ties to Trump before leaving Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

“I will present Trump with principles for negotiations with Iran that are important not only to Israel but to everyone who wants peace and security,” Netanyahu told reporters, according to The Jerusalem Post newspaper.

“In my opinion, these are important principles for everyone who wants peace and security in the Middle East.”

His visit comes days after Washington and Tehran concluded a round of nuclear talks in Oman – the first negotiations since the June 2025 war that saw the US bomb Iran’s main nuclear facilities after waves of Israeli attacks.

Israel is not part of those talks, but Netanyahu has long sought to exert influence over US presidents to shape Washington’s policies in the region.

Netanyahu did not provide details about his “principles” for a potential Iran deal, but he has previously said Tehran should agree to full disarmament of heavy weapons, akin to Libya’s 2003 deal with the West.

Iran has ruled out negotiations over its missile programme, which it views as one of its most important deterrents against Israeli attacks.

When Israel launched its surprise assault against Iran in June of last year – killing several of the country’s top generals and nuclear scientists as well as hundreds of civilians – Tehran relied primarily on its missiles to respond after air defences were taken out.

Iran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel, dozens of which penetrated the country’s multilayered air defences, killing 28 people and causing significant damage.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Iran’s missile programme is a defence issue that is “never negotiable”.

Israel and the US may also push Iran to end support to its network of allied non-state actors in the region – including the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, and armed groups in Iraq.

But that alliance, known as the Axis of Resistance, has already been weakened by Israeli assaults over the past two years.

Another sticking issue in the talks is whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium domestically.

While Tehran has said it would agree to strict limits and monitoring of its nuclear activities, it has maintained that domestic enrichment is a sovereign national right.

Despite Washington’s talks with Tehran, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee – who is joining Netanyahu on his trip – has stressed Israel and the United States have the same red lines when it comes to Iran.

“I think there’s an extraordinary alignment between Israel and the United States. Everyone would love to see something that would resolve without a war, but it will be up to Iran,” he told reporters.

“If they insist on holding nuclear weaponry and enriched uranium, then I think the president made very clear that this is not acceptable.”

The United States has moved the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, destroyers, and fighter jets to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement. Tehran says it won’t be swayed by threats of war.

A NEW luxury train experience is coming to the UK later this year.

A new carriage will appear on the British Pullman named Celia, after the fictional character created by director Baz Luhrmann and cinematic designer Catherine Martin.

According to the duo, Celia is a West End icon from the 1930s who once played Titania in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Set in an original 1932 Pullman carriage, Celia will boast a cocktail bar, lounge, dining and entertainment area that feels as if you are heading back to the 1930s.

Up to 12 guests at a time can experience the carriage via private and bespoke events.

The carriage is designed to create a luxury private dining experience, as well as showcase the train carriage’s historical charm.

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During the day, Celia will be a reception carriage and then in the evening it will turn into the “most refined venue”.

When guests reserve Celia for an event, a Guest Experience Curator will plan each detail.

Passengers will also get private luxury transfers within Greater London to and from London Victoria.

And there will even be a personal chef, butler and steward.

On the menu, passengers can create their own brunch, lunch and dinner menus.

Welcome drinks, such as a seasonal cocktail or champagne, will also be provided.

And to elevate the experience even more, there will be bespoke activities available to book.

Baz Luhrmann said that Celia is based on a woman who, after a Sunday matinee of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, headed off with her friends to escape the crowds and head on the British Pullman.

Baz said: “From the moment someone receives an invitation, or chooses to board Celia, they should be drawn instantly into her world and be swept into the glamorous, mysterious life of the actress for whom the carriage was named.”

He added: “Celia also has the capacity to transform into a performance space; I have no doubt a musical artist could have great fun staging an unplugged session or making an album announcement there.

“And of course, we’ll be fitting out the carriage with a terrific sound system and speakers to support that.”

On the idea behind the carriage, Catherine Martin revealed that once they had Baz’s character of Celia, the interior design of the carriage was based on Celia’s life story.

Baz added: “We’re both devoted lovers of slow travel as there’s an undeniable magic and romance to these kinds of journeys.

“It’s a form of travel that lends itself to being told in the most evocative and cinematic ways.”

The Belmond British Pullman usually travels day and weekend journeys around Britain.

In other rail news, here’s the UK train journey that feels like the Hogwarts Express with stunning views along the way.

Plus, picturesque English town is getting new £27m train line for first time in 60 years – and it will cut journey times by an hour.

KATHERINE Ryan has revealed the results of her £16k full facelift which she underwent just weeks after giving birth to her fourth child.

The comedian, 42, who is known for her love tweakments like Botox and fillers, welcomed her daughter Holland in October.

In December, Katherine teased that she’d had “serious cosmetic surgery” and even taken her newborn along with her.

However, she didn’t reveal what work she’d had done, until now.

Today the Canadian-born star spilled the beans and revealed that she’d undergone a full facelift in York, North Yorkshire.

Speaking on the latest edition of her Telling Everybody Everything podcast, Katherine said: “The surgery was a facelift. Yes, a full facelift – a little bit of fat transfer to my cheekbone area, and a small bleph[aroplasty].

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“A bleph is when they take a tiny bit of your eyelid skin, though not too much, and then they’ll usually – to avoid hollowness, put a little bit of fat back in there too.

“So I had some fat put in like my upper face, my eyelids, and then I had a facelift.’

Explaining why she wanted to have the cosmetic procedure, Katherine said: “Almost metaphorically I needed to do something, to reclaim my identity, to reclaim my autonomy, to claw back the face that I had in, like, 2019,’ she said.

“I am not crazy. I’m not trying to wind it back to 2006. I’m just trying to look the way I did, like, pre-COVID, pre-six pregnancies in five years.”

Talking about how she felt afterwards, The Duchess star said: “The beauty is you’re pretty numb afterwards.

“I was bruised, and I was swollen, and I think I am still a little bit swollen. But basically, I just went about my daily life from day one.

“They sent me home with some paracetamol. If I had needed stronger drugs, I think that was available, but I didn’t. I took ibuprofen, paracetamol for like three days.”

As she had the surgery in December, Katherine then added: “I went to Christmas parties.

“I took the kids to Lapland. I went to the Royal Hall for carolling. I did all of the Christmas stuff. I looked after a newborn baby.”

Katherine previously teased her surgery in December and told fans she was in “no pain” following the procedure.

“I went to York, it was three and a half hours, I elected to take the baby with me because she just turned eight weeks that day and I’m still breastfeeding her, obviously, I will be for a long time,” she told her fans.

“You can’t breastfeed immediately after surgery but I could obviously spend the night with her before and breastfeed her then.

“I was thinking to myself, after I got this surgery – which, wait until you see it, is pretty serious surgery – I was like, ‘Katherine Ryan what is your damage? What the f*** are you doing? Why have you brought a baby to surgery.’

“But then i thought, up and down this country, worldwide, everyday, we are giving women C-sections and then saying, ‘Sweet, go keep these twins alive’.”

Katherine clarified that a C section is “much more serious” than the procedure she had.

She joked: “So, what’s an elective cosmetic procedure with a newborn?”

She says there is more information coming soon on the show.

Katherine’s husband, Bobby Kootstra revealed in October that the comedian welcomed their newborn in just 45 minutes.

She appeared to have a speedy bounce back, as Bobby even shared a snap of the star enjoying a flute of prosecco in hospital following he birth,

Alongside baby Holland, Katherine and bobby share children Fenna, two, and three-year-old Fred.

The comedian is also a mum to 15-year-old Violet, who she has from a previous relationship.

Published on 10/02/2026 – 17:37 GMT+1•Updated
17:51

The Vatican Bank has announced this Tuesday the launch of two equity indices, both in the US and in the eurozone, selecting stocks from firms that purportedly respect and adhere to Catholic tenets.

The initiative was set up in partnership with Morningstar and represents an abnormal association between the Vatican and the financial sector.

The Vatican Bank is officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) and these new indices are labelled as the Morningstar IOR US Catholic Principles and the Morningstar IOR Eurozone Catholic Principles.

Each of these indices holds 50 medium and large-cap companies, including Big Tech and major financial firms, that the Vatican Bank argues are “consistent with Catholic teachings on life issues, social responsibility and environmental protection”.

According to Morningstar, the fund’s top American holdings feature companies like Meta and Amazon, while its European counterpart includes firms such as ASML, Deutsche Telekom and SAP.

This partnership between the Vatican Bank and Morningstar comes after initiatives to rehabilitate the IOR’s image, which had been damaged over the years through various scandals involving fraudulent activities such as misappropriation of funds.

The late Pope Francis had already ratified a series of reforms to address those problems.

ESG outflows and Catholic-based investing

This move by the Vatican Bank also occurs during a period when ESG funds are experiencing substantial outflows.

However, the concept of Catholic-based investing is not new or unique. These new indices already face rivals in the sector.

For example, there is a US-based ETF named S&P 500 Catholic Values Index structured in a similar way and worth over $1bn (€840mn).

Additionally, a US-based family fund named Ave Maria Mutual Funds reported over $3.8bn (€3.2bn) in assets under management last year. This fund also claims to follow a Catholic-based investment strategy.

February’s first weekend produced a flurry of gestures that were quickly read as progress. A deeply flawed amnesty law was approved in the first round without even being seen, high-profile prisoners were released after months of disappearance, and the tone of official politics softened, at least on the surface. What emerged, however, was not a clearer transition but a clearer struggle over authorship, over who gets to define what this process is, and what it is allowed to become.

What the weekend revealed is that Venezuela’s transition is not being negotiated in a single place or under a single logic. It is being contested simultaneously across different arenas, each operating on its own incentives, timelines, and definitions of success.

The least visible of these battles is unfolding inside the governing coalition itself. Here, the question is not democracy versus repression but something more technical, and more cynical, how much openness can be performed without relinquishing control over coercion, adjudication, and resources.

Seen from this angle, the weekend’s choreography makes sense. Political prisoners were not simply released, their freedom was folded into a legislative ritual authored by the same political actors responsible for their detention, complete with announced deadlines, speeches heavy with the language of forgiveness, and even calls for applause. This was not the state binding itself, but an attempt to convert discretion into legitimacy.

Political prisoners in Venezuela could have been freed at any moment by executive decision. By embedding their release in a process the government controls, the regime preserved its core advantage, the ability to decide not just when to give, but what the giving means. The Guanipa episode made that logic explicit. A release could function as a signal, and its reversal or legal redefinition could function as discipline. Freedom, in this model, is not a right restored but a condition granted. Arbitrariness is not eliminated, it is rebranded.

If political prisoners are released into silence, surveillance, or renewed legal jeopardy, as we have already seen, then the transition exists largely on paper.

The later revelation that the families Jorge Rodríguez met outside Zona 7 were staged only reinforces the point. Real families introduce uncertainty, anger, memory, demands that do not respect sequencing. Staged ones deliver predictability and allow reconciliation to be performed rather than negotiated. That choice suggests a lack of confidence. A government secure in its legitimacy would not need to simulate social consent at the moment consent matters most.

A second battle is unfolding far from Caracas, inside Washington. It is not a fight over tactics so much as over objectives.

Recent reporting and congressional testimony suggest growing tension over what the Venezuela file is supposed to deliver. Is the goal stabilization, the appearance of calm streets, predictable governance, reduced migration pressure, reopened markets, or is it a democratic transition, with all the uncertainty and volatility that implies.

Those two goals are often rhetorically conflated. In practice, they can diverge.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony is revealing here. By emphasizing that the United States will pay attention not only to the release of political prisoners but to how they are treated after, whether they return to political life, whether they speak freely, whether they are harassed or re-detained, Rubio shifted the metric from gestures to behavior over time. That distinction matters. Releasing prisoners is a signal, allowing them to act politically afterwards is a concession.

The regime’s strategy appears aimed at satisfying the former while containing the latter. Speed becomes an asset. If the appearance of a transition advances quickly enough, attention fades, diplomatic costs accumulate, and renewed pressure begins to look disruptive rather than principled.

But stabilization without a genuine transfer of political authority is a fragile equilibrium. It depends on discretionary power remaining benevolent, conditional freedoms remaining honored, and social legitimacy remaining dormant. The events of this weekend, reversible releases, staged consent, selective recognition, suggest none of those conditions can be safely assumed.

This is where the US debate becomes consequential. A Venezuela that is calmer but still politically closed begins to resemble not a democratic transition but a familiar Pinochet-style authoritarian compromise, technocratic opening, crony capitalism, and political repression wrapped in legal form. Whether that outcome is treated as acceptable stabilization or failed transition remains an open question in Washington.

A transition conducted under regime terms prioritizes closure over accountability and order over pluralism. One conducted under society’s terms is slower, messier, and harder to manage, but it is also the only path to durable stability.

The third battle is the most visible and the most familiar. It is the struggle inside Venezuela itself over whether this moment produces a real political opening or merely a rearrangement of control.

Here, the opposition’s internal divide matters. One faction, already seated in the National Assembly, is pursuing legitimacy from the top down. Its wager is that institutional participation, procedural wins, and international recognition will eventually cascade downward to society.

Another current rests on the opposite theory, that legitimacy flows from society upward, and that institutions rebuilt without social consent remain hollow. It is no accident that this current is not attacked head-on but bracketed out of the official narrative. It is easier to exclude than to incorporate.

The treatment of released prisoners will be the clearest test of which logic prevails. If those freed are able to speak, organize, and contest power without fear, then something real is shifting. If they are released into silence, surveillance, or renewed legal jeopardy, as we have already seen, then the transition exists largely on paper.

What the February weekend demonstrated is not that Venezuela is transitioning, but that the fight over who gets to define that transition has intensified.

Inside chavismo, the battle is over how much can be conceded without surrender. In Washington, it is over whether stability is an acceptable substitute for democracy. Inside Venezuela, it is over whether political life will be genuinely reopened or carefully contained.

These battles are related, but they are not the same. They may not even resolve on the same timeline.

A transition conducted under regime terms prioritizes closure over accountability and order over pluralism. One conducted under society’s terms is slower, messier, and harder to manage, but it is also the only path to durable stability. The events of this weekend, far from settling that question, have made it unavoidable.

The youngest brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to setting fire to a Northern California post office last summer.

Richard Tillman, a 44-year-old San Jose resident, was arrested July 20 in connection with a fire at the Almaden Valley post office and charged with malicious destruction of government property.

“In pleading guilty, Tillman admitted that he intentionally set the fire in order to ‘make a point to the United States government,’” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.

It remains unclear what point Tillman was trying to make.

Tillman was accused of backing his vehicle through the front door of the post office during the early morning on July 20 and setting the vehicle ablaze after exiting it. Tillman had loaded the vehicle with fire logs and doused it with lighter fluid, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The fire quickly spread to the post office, completely destroying the lobby. No one was injured.

U.S. Postal Inspector Shannon Roark said in July that Tillman told officers at the scene that he had livestreamed the incident on YouTube.

Tillman is in federal custody and is scheduled to be sentenced at an April 27 hearing. He faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years, as well as a $250,000 fine.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat Tillman walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals and enlisted in the Army, along with his younger brother, Kevin.

On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. He was 27.

Following the post office fire last year, Kevin Tillman released a statement.

“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested. First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed,” Kevin Tillman said. “ … To be clear, it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years. He has been livestreaming, what I’ll call, his altered self on social media for anyone to witness.

“Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”

Feb. 10 (UPI) — Paramount Skydance announced enhancements to its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery as it tries to woo shareholders away from Netflix.

Paramount added a 25-cent-per-share ticking fee, adding up to $650 million cash value per quarter that the transaction doesn’t close beginning in January 2027. It also said it would pay the $2.8 billion termination fee that would be due to Netflix.

The sweetening of the Paramount deal is the latest in the ongoing battle against Netflix to buy the company, which includes Warner Bros. Studios, HBO and HBO Max, among other titles. WBD shareholders must vote to choose between Netflix and Paramount, and the merger must pass federal scrutiny.

In October, Warner Bros. said it was open to offers after getting unsolicited ones. On Dec. 5, after a bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros. said it would accept Netflix’s offer.

Then Paramount launched a hostile bid to buy WBD. The Warner Bros. board told shareholders not to accept the Paramount bid because Oracle creator Larry Ellison, father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, wasn’t backing the deal. On Dec. 22, Paramount said that it has Larry Ellison’s backing of $40 billion in equity. On Jan. 20, Netflix changed its offer to all cash to make it more attractive to shareholders.

In the new deal, Paramount would eliminate the potential $1.5 billion financing costs that would come with the debt exchange offer. Paramount would fully reimburse WBD shareholders for the $1.5 billion fee without reducing the $5.8 billion reverse termination fee if the deal doesn’t close.

Paramount said it will also cover WBD’s bridge loan if its financing sources won’t extend theirs, including covering the costs.

Paramount’s financing again includes an irrevocable personal guarantee from Larry Ellison of $43.3 billion, covering the equity financing for Paramount’s amended offer as well any damages claims against Paramount.

“The additional benefits of our superior $30 per share, all-cash offer clearly underscore our strong and unwavering commitment to delivering the full value WBD shareholders deserve for their investment,” said David Ellison, Paramount chair and CEO, in a statement. “We are making meaningful enhancements — backing this offer with billions of dollars, providing shareholders with certainty in value, a clear regulatory path, and protection against market volatility.”

On Feb. 4, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee on the merger. Paramount declined to participate.

TWO more UK airports have raised the price of their drop-off charges, in what is becoming an increasingly common trend for drivers.

Glasgow and Aberdeen airports have announced they are increasing their fees to £7 for up to 15 minutes, with Glasgow rising by £1 and Aberdeen up from £5.50.

AGS Airports, which operates both sites, said the increases reflect higher running costs and that the extra income will help the airports remain competitive and attract new routes.

It acknowledged the decision would not be popular, while some critics have described the wider rise in airport drop-off fees as “price gouging” and “a national disgrace”, as reported by Travel Tomorrow.

AGS has stressed that drivers have a free alternative at both airports, with up to one hour’s free parking in long-stay car parks and an on-demand shuttle service to and from the terminal.

They said: “It is important to keep in mind that there is always a free alternative where customers can park for up to one hour.

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“This is located in our long-stay car park, and passengers can use a free, on-demand shuttle service to and from the terminal.

“The pick-up and drop-off area is intended for short visits of up to 15 minutes only.

“We would encourage anyone who thinks they may be longer to use the free alternative or our short-stay car park.

“Valid Blue Badge holders continue to receive 30 minutes free in our Short-Stay Car Park.”

The increases also reflect a recent pattern across the UK, with airports such as Edinburgh having raised prices previously as well as other hubs charging comparable or higher rates.

These include Leeds, Luton, Heathrow and Stansted at £7, London City charging £8, Bristol at £8.50 and Gatwick increasing to £10 for 10 minutes.

London City introduced its charge for the first time at the start of the year, while Gatwick, Heathrow and Bristol also increased their fees.

Opponents, including Clive Wratten of the Business Travel Association, have argued that outside London, public transport is often not a practical substitute, meaning higher kerbside fees can simply shift costs onto passengers, workers, businesses and the taxi trade rather than changing behaviour.

There have also been calls for clearer, more transparent pricing, as well as proposals such as a cap – for example, £3 per drop-off – as well as a single daily charge to avoid people being hit by charges twice.

UK pricing has also been compared to several large European airports, including the Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt airports, where short drop-offs can be free for limited periods.

Pakistan’s decision to reverse its boycott of the match against India at the T20 World Cup has been welcomed by fans, players and coaches in both countries.

The highly anticipated confrontation between the archrivals was thrown into doubt for more than a week after Pakistan’s government ordered its team against taking the field for Sunday’s clash in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The reversal late on Monday brought relief to millions of fans on both sides of the countries’ shared border as well as tournament organisers and coaches.

The Indian camp said it would be “delighted” to play against a “quality side”.

“It’s great that the game is back on. We kind of never changed the preparation,” India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday.

India will play their second Group A match against Namibia on Thursday in New Delhi before flying to Colombo the following morning.

It means a quick turnaround for Sunday’s match, the biggest and most lucrative clash in world cricket.

“It’s going to be a challenge going to Colombo, where Pakistan have been for the last two weeks,” ten Doeschate added.

“We are fully focused on just bringing our best game to that fixture.”

‘Good for cricket’

Pakistan’s decision to go ahead with the game was hailed as an outbreak of “good sense” and “good for cricket”.

A frantic weekend of negotiations saw the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Bangladesh Cricket Board chiefs fly to Lahore on Sunday for talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board.

The governments of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both wrote to the Islamabad government on Monday, urging it to change its stance and allow the game to go ahead.

After “multilateral discussions, as well as the request of friendly countries, the Government of Pakistan hereby directs the Pakistan National Cricket Team to take the field on February 15”, the Islamabad government said on its official X account late on Monday.

The decision had been taken with the aim of “protecting the spirit of cricket”, it added.

Former India cricketer Madan Lal told the AFP news agency that the resumption was “good for cricket”.

“We want strong teams to play so that the charm of the World Cup is not lost,” he added.

Sri Lanka, who will host the match – which generates multimillions of dollars in advertising, broadcast rights, sponsorships and tourism – also praised the decision.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in a social media post thanked Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for “ensuring the game we all love goes on”.

Veteran Indian journalist Pradeep Magazine said, “Good sense has prevailed on all sides.”

Financial considerations would have been taken into account, he added.

“Everyone realised that losing the revenue from an India-Pakistan match would have been a loss-loss situation for all ICC member nations.”

‘No greater happiness’

For fans, it’s another chance to watch the bitter rivals face off at a global tournament.

Kafeel Ahmed, a cricket fan from Karachi, said Pakistan vs India matches were unique.

“There is a different intensity to it. If Pakistan wins by 12 runs, there is no ⁠greater happiness than that,” Ahmed told the Reuters news agency. “This happiness is not just about a challenge against a rival; it is the feeling that comes after defeating your opponent.”

India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2012-2013 due to their longstanding political rift.

“The benefit is not only that the public is happy or that young people who play cricket are happy; it also increases business and public interest,” cricket ‌fan Rai Fayaz said.

Rajeev Shukla, vice president of the Board of ‌Control for Cricket in India, said on Tuesday that it was good that a solution had been found.

“All kudos to the ICC for taking this initiative, resolving the whole issue and bringing cricket back to the forefront. This is a big achievement as far as the ICC is concerned,” he said.