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  • Paramount chief executive David Ellison breaks silence on Warner Bros mega merger

    Paramount chief executive David Ellison breaks silence on Warner Bros mega merger

    The high-stakes battle over one of the biggest media mergers in entertainment history has entered a new chapter, as Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has publicly defended his firm’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for the first time. In a lengthy op-ed published by *The New York Times*, Ellison pushed back against widespread opposition to the mega-deal, arguing that critics are clinging to an outdated vision of Hollywood that no longer aligns with the modern media landscape.

    Ellison’s intervention comes at a critical moment: the merger, which has already received formal backing from the U.S. Department of Justice and European Union regulators, has been put on an indefinite hold following a wave of domestic antitrust legal challenges. The most prominent lawsuits were filed in July by 12 state attorneys general, led by California’s top law enforcement official Rob Bonta, alongside the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The challengers argue the combined media entity would violate the U.S. Clayton Antitrust Act, stifle market competition, and cut professional opportunities for working writers in Hollywood. As a result of these challenges, federal court proceedings have been paused, with a trial not scheduled to begin until March 2, 2027, effectively freezing all progress toward closing the transaction in the U.S.

    A core point of criticism from opponents has centered on two concerns: that a merged Paramount-Warner would hold too much market power, and that it would undermine the editorial independence of the companies’ major news outlets, Paramount’s CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN. Ellison directly addressed both concerns in his op-ed. He stressed that the two legacy news brands would retain full editorial independence and remain strictly non-partisan, committed to delivering balanced, unbiased reporting “straight down the middle.”

    To counter broader antitrust claims that the merger would create an unassailable media monopoly, Ellison presented market share data to refute the idea of excessive market control. He noted that even after the merger, the combined company would capture less than 20% of total television watch time in the United States. When major streaming and digital platforms like YouTube are included in the calculation, that share drops to roughly 13%—far smaller than the collective market power held by major tech and streaming giants such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple. Ellison emphasized that the resources of these big tech competitors “dwarf ours,” meaning the merged Paramount-Warner would still operate as a far smaller player in a crowded, competitive global media market.

    Ellison also outlined the strategic benefits the merger would bring to creative workers and content production. He committed that the combined company would invest more than $30 billion annually into new content, producing 30 wide-release theatrical films and 170 original television series each year. In an era where algorithm-driven digital platforms have reshaped how content is created and consumed, he argued that scaling up content investment through the merger is critical to supporting and sustaining creative workers across the industry. Even as he laid out this ambitious vision, Ellison acknowledged that audience preference is unpredictable, noting that “nobody can dictate what audiences will love.”

    Despite the regulatory approvals the deal has already secured at the federal and international levels, domestic legal challenges have become a major roadblock. While the DOJ and EU have signed off on the transaction, state-level lawsuits and court delays have halted all momentum for closing, leaving the future of one of Hollywood’s largest ever combinations of media assets up in the air.

  • ‘Like a bomb’ – Residents react after Spokane fires destroy hundreds of homes

    ‘Like a bomb’ – Residents react after Spokane fires destroy hundreds of homes

    The small, tight-knit communities surrounding Spokane, Washington have been left reeling in the wake of an unprecedented destructive wildfire that has reduced more than 700 residential structures to ash, leaving thousands of residents displaced and grappling with overwhelming loss.

    Local residents describe the sudden, devastating scale of the disaster as feeling like a catastrophic bomb has detonated across their neighborhoods, wiping out lifelong family homes, cherished personal mementos, and stable communities in mere hours. Many residents escaped the fast-moving flames with little more than the clothes on their backs, forced to watch from nearby evacuation centers as their properties were consumed by the blaze.

    In a significant development in the ongoing investigation, law enforcement officials have confirmed that one suspect has been taken into custody and is facing formal first-degree arson charges connected to the ignition of the fire. Investigators have not yet released further details about the suspect’s identity or potential motives, as they continue to piece together the sequence of events that led to the massive blaze.

    Emergency response teams, local nonprofits, and government agencies have deployed extensive resources to the region, setting up emergency shelters, distributing food and basic supplies, and beginning the long process of damage assessment. Community organizations have also launched donation drives to support displaced families, as regional leaders declare the disaster one of the most destructive residential wildfire events in the area’s recent history.

  • Sheriff: Spokane arson suspect in custody

    Sheriff: Spokane arson suspect in custody

    A suspected arsonist has been placed behind bars in Spokane County, following on-scene observations and evidence recovered by local law enforcement. According to statements released by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Aaron Farinacci was spotted in suspicious circumstances at the location where the fire broke out. Witness accounts and deputy observations confirm that Farinacci was seen kneeling close to patches of dry grass at the fire’s origin point, a position that raised immediate red flags for responding authorities. After taking the suspect into custody, law enforcement officers conducted a lawful search and recovered common incendiary tools – a set of matches and a disposable lighter – in Farinacci’s possession. The Sheriff’s office has not yet released additional details about the extent of damage caused by the fire, potential motives for the alleged arson, or upcoming court dates for Farinacci. The investigation remains active as authorities continue to piece together the full sequence of events surrounding the blaze.

  • What is Trump Media’s Truth API and why is it controversial?

    What is Trump Media’s Truth API and why is it controversial?

    When former (and current presidential candidate) Donald Trump releases a public statement, financial market traders do not just pay attention—they act within seconds. Every word Trump utters, from trade policy announcements to geopolitical rhetoric, has the proven power to swing asset prices, shifting billions of dollars in market value in minutes. It is little wonder then that teams of human analysts and automated algorithmic trading systems have long monitored his communications nonstop to capitalize on market-moving news before rivals can react. Now, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Trump’s own social media platform Truth Social, is looking to turn this high-stakes information demand into a new steady revenue stream—by charging Wall Street firms and institutional investors for the fastest possible access to posts from the platform’s most high-profile accounts.

    Dubbed Truth API, the newly launched service provides a real-time data feed that delivers posts from Truth Social’s top accounts to paying subscribers in milliseconds. TMTG has not explicitly confirmed that the service includes early access to Donald Trump’s personal Truth Social account, which boasts more than 13 million followers—making it by far the most followed and influential account on the platform. Industry analysts widely agree that Trump’s posts will be the primary selling point for the premium service, which was scheduled to roll out to institutional customers on August 1. According to reporting from the Financial Times, the highest tier of high-speed access could cost subscribing firms as much as $100,000 per month, a figure TMTG has not publicly confirmed or denied.

    For the loss-making TMTG, the new service is framed as a much-needed new source of recurring revenue. While the offering is open to any paying customer, it is explicitly tailored to high-frequency and algorithmic trading firms—entities that TMTG acknowledges are hit hardest by delays to market-moving information. As financial services firm Charles Schwab explains, high-frequency trading (HFT) relies on automated algorithmic systems that execute trades far faster and at far larger volumes than any human trader could manage, turning a tiny per-transaction profit into massive aggregate returns through sheer speed and transaction volume. In this sector, even a millisecond delay can cost a firm millions in lost profits.

    To date, TMTG has remained completely silent on how many firms have pre-registered or signed up for the service. Multiple major U.S. investment banks and HFT firms contacted by the BBC, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citadel Securities, and Jane Street, all declined to comment on whether they planned to subscribe, a silence that industry insiders say is expected. Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of independent trading firm Themis Trading, argues that the service is effectively worthless for any trading firm that does not already maintain a complex, multi-million-dollar infrastructure built for nanosecond-speed transaction execution. For HFTs that do have that infrastructure in place, Saluzzi notes the incentive to subscribe is high not just for potential profits, but out of competitive pressure: “if I don’t do it, somebody else will.” Saluzzi emphasizes that the offering is not targeted at retail investors or even most traditional institutional investors—it is built exclusively for the small cohort of ultra-fast trading firms with the existing systems to capitalize on the early access.

    The launch of Truth API has ignited a firestorm of legal criticism and ethical debate, centered on one core conflict: TMTG is majority-owned by the Trump family trust, which means Donald Trump himself (who holds roughly a 41% stake in the company) stands to personally profit from selling access to his own public statements, which often relate to U.S. government policy and official business. Two of Trump’s most prominent political critics, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, have sent an official letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for a formal investigation into whether the service violates federal securities law. The SEC has confirmed it received the letter but has declined to comment on whether it will open an investigation.

    A core point of contention is the risk of improper insider trading, the illegal practice of executing market trades based on information that is not available to the general public. In their letter, Warren and Schiff called the plan “an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders.”

    TMTG has pushed back aggressively against these criticisms, arguing that Senate Democrats have mischaracterized the service. A company spokesperson claimed the critics either misunderstand the difference between public and non-public information out of ideological opposition to free markets, or both. TMTG argues that all content distributed via Truth API is already public information, so framing the service as enabling insider trading is a misrepresentation of the offering.

    However, former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who served in the George W. Bush administration, told the BBC that selling access to official U.S. government-related statements from the president before they are available to the general public could legally qualify as insider trading. “If I were commissioner of the SEC, I would threaten to resign unless they put a stop to this plan or promise that no posts that have to do with US government business will be included,” Painter said.

    Industry analyst Saluzzi acknowledges that similar premium early-access data services are already common across the financial industry, operated by major news organizations, stock exchanges, and third-party data providers, creating a legal precedent for TMTG’s model. But even he admits that the ethical calculus is very different in this case, given that the president himself stands to profit directly from selling early access to his own official public statements.

  • Arson arrest made over largest of Washington state’s wildfires

    Arson arrest made over largest of Washington state’s wildfires

    In what Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has called the worst natural disaster in Spokane’s recorded history, a series of fast-moving wildfires burning across Washington state’s second-largest city have displaced more than 60,000 residents, destroyed hundreds of structures, and led to the arrest of a local man on suspicion of arson for the largest blaze.

    Three major wildfires — named Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lane — ignited around Spokane over the weekend, part of a total 16 active wildfires burning across the northwestern U.S. state, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. As of Tuesday, firefighters continued working to contain the spread, after making incremental progress on two of the three main blazes. While forecast lighter winds and cooler temperatures were expected to bring brief relief on Tuesday, officials warn rising temperatures later in the week will likely reintroduce dangerous fire conditions.

    Thirty-seven-year-old Aaron Farinacci, a Spokane resident with a prior manslaughter conviction, has been charged with first-degree arson in connection with the Old Trails fire, the largest of the three blazes. Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels told reporters witnesses saw Farinacci kneeling near dry grass at the fire’s starting point, and responding law enforcement later found him in possession of matches and a lighter. He is currently being held on a $1 million bond.

    The damage to Spokane communities has been catastrophic. Before-and-after imagery of the burn zone confirms widespread destruction: hundreds of homes and vehicles have been reduced to ash, with more than 700 buildings confirmed destroyed and another 400 structures still awaiting damage assessment. Thousands of acres of dry, brush-covered land have also been consumed by the flames.

    As of Tuesday morning, no deaths or injuries have been officially confirmed, though 14 people remain unaccounted for via mobile phone. Authorities emphasize that the 14 people have not been classified as missing, noting most may have evacuated successfully but lost cellular connectivity or drained their phone batteries during escape. Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown warned that the risk of fatalities remains high, and it is still too early to estimate when evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes.

    Local residents who escaped the flames shared harrowing accounts of the destruction. Anna Andreachi, who lost her entire home in the fire, told reporters that all her personal belongings — including mementos of her recently deceased father, still stored at the property — were gone. Another resident, Joe Cvancara, managed to save his home by digging a defensive fire line around the property, but he described feeling intense survivor’s guilt after his neighbor’s home burned to the ground. Cvancara added that he and his family are opening their home to displaced neighbors, noting that the long process of rebuilding will take months, if not years. Photographs from the disaster zone show residents recovering small, intact personal items — including a stone angel statue salvaged from the wreckage of a burned-out home.

    In response to the crisis, Governor Ferguson has issued a statewide ban on all open outdoor fires to prevent new ignitions. More than 900 firefighters are already assigned to the state’s active wildfires, with additional reinforcements scheduled to arrive from neighboring states in the coming days. Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove emphasized that firefighting resources are already stretched beyond capacity across the state, warning that the tinder-dry landscape leaves the entire region vulnerable to new blazes. “Our firefighters are already stretched thin across the state, and with more heat and wind expected this weekend and for the rest of the summer, any new spark on our tinder dry landscapes can lead to another devastating wildfire. I’m urging all Washingtonians to not be that spark,” Upthegrove said.

    The disaster aligns with longstanding warnings from climate scientists, who have documented that human-caused climate change amplifies the warm, dry conditions that create ideal wildfire fuel, while also increasing the frequency and intensity of summer heatwaves and droughts across the Western United States.

  • What will happen when a SpaceX rocket collides with the Moon?

    What will happen when a SpaceX rocket collides with the Moon?

    For millions of years, Earth’s only natural satellite has endured a constant barrage of interstellar impacts. Asteroids and meteors have carved its iconic pockmarked landscape, leaving a sprawling network of craters that tell the story of our solar system’s violent history. In modern decades, human space exploration has added a new type of impact to the Moon’s surface, from intentional probe crashes to accidental collisions from discarded launch hardware. On August 5, the Moon is set to receive yet another human-made visitor: an abandoned upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, drifting through space at 2.43 kilometers per second (roughly 5,400 miles per hour), is on track to collide with the lunar surface.

    The prediction of this upcoming crash comes from NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), which confirmed the trajectory after independent astronomers used public launch data to identify the rogue rocket component. The discarded stage was left in orbit following a January 2025 joint U.S.-Japanese lunar mission, which carried two lunar landers and a suite of scientific instruments to lunar orbit. While SpaceX designs most Falcon 9 components to be reusable and return to Earth for future flights, upper stages are often jettisoned in space after completing their boost mission, left to drift in orbit until gravitational forces pull them toward a collision with a celestial body.

    Weighing in at no less than 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds) on Earth and roughly the size of a five-story building, this piece of space hardware is set to impact near the historic Einstein Crater, a location on the Moon’s Earth-facing side that will be bathed in daylight at the time of collision. Astronomer Bill Gray, the researcher who first identified the object’s collision trajectory, estimates the impact will carve a new crater more than 17 meters (56 feet) in diameter into the lunar surface. The collision is scheduled to occur at approximately 02:35 EDT (06:35 GMT) on August 5.

    NASA has stressed that the incoming rocket stage poses zero risk to populations or infrastructure on Earth. In a statement, agency spokesperson Jimi Russell noted that NASA will continue tracking the booster as a training exercise for near-Earth object monitoring, and will later study the fresh impact site to advance lunar science.

    The unplanned collision has drawn excitement from both amateur and professional astronomers around the world, who see it as a rare, free research opportunity that would be impossible to arrange intentionally. Dr. Matt Bothwell, public astronomer at the University of Cambridge, explained that the event will be far more dramatic than any similar impact on Earth, thanks to the Moon’s lack of atmosphere and much weaker gravitational pull. With no atmospheric drag to slow the incoming rocket, the entire 4,000-kilogram mass will hit the surface at full speed, throwing up an enormous plume of lunar dust that could reach 50 kilometers or higher into space, before spreading across the surrounding terrain. An estimated one million kilograms of rock and dust debris will be launched into space following the impact, a spectacle that cannot be replicated in controlled experiments on Earth.

    While the impact flash will not be visible to the naked eye from Earth, observers with access to high-powered professional or advanced amateur telescopes may be able to spot a brief flash of light on the lunar surface immediately after collision. A broad international collaborative effort is already in place to capture as much data as possible from the event: large ground-based telescopes across the Americas will monitor the impact, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri lunar probe will capture close-up observations of the flash, dust plume and newly formed crater, and a citizen science project is recruiting amateur astronomy enthusiasts to record the event as well.

    By observing the plume in real time and mapping the new crater after impact, researchers hope to turn this accidental collision into a groundbreaking scientific experiment. Tracking the volume of ejected material, the height of the plume, and how dust falls back to the surface will allow scientists to refine existing models of lunar impact processes. The crash will also expose fresh, unaltered subsurface material at the impact site, giving researchers a rare unplanned look at the composition of lunar rock just below the surface that has never been exposed to space weathering.

    Beyond the scientific gains, astronomers say the event also serves as a stark reminder of the growing problem of human-made space debris. “I think more people should be more worried about space debris,” Bothwell noted. “Every single year we put more stuff in orbit. Sometimes the satellites just collide, and they shatter into more pieces. I think there’s a worry about a runaway cascade, if we put so much stuff in orbit.” Data from the European Space Agency (ESA) underscores this concern: there are currently more than 54,000 human-made objects larger than 10 centimeters drifting in Earth and lunar orbit, and humans have launched a total of roughly 17,000 tonnes of hardware into space since the start of the Space Age in 1957.

    This is not the first time discarded human rocket hardware has impacted the Moon. The most recent prior incident occurred in 2022, when an upper stage of China’s Long March 3C rocket, left over from the 2014 Chang’e 5-T1 mission, crashed into the Moon’s far side, which is permanently turned away from Earth. Decades ago, NASA intentionally crashed multiple objects into the lunar surface to collect test data ahead of the historic Apollo crewed missions, demonstrating that even unplanned or intentional impacts can advance our understanding of Earth’s closest celestial neighbor.

  • Michigan to decide bitter Senate Democratic primary in test for divided party

    Michigan to decide bitter Senate Democratic primary in test for divided party

    As voters head to the polls on Tuesday in Michigan, one of the most closely watched and fractious Democratic Senate primaries in recent memory will finally deliver a verdict on a battle that lays bare the deep ideological rift splitting the Democratic Party ahead of November’s critical midterm elections. The fight for the open, retiring Democrat-held Senate seat pits establishment-backed four-term moderate congresswoman Haley Stevens against progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, a left-leaning challenger who has channeled widespread grassroots anger at the status quo in Washington.

    This race carries national stakes far beyond Michigan’s borders: as a pivotal Midwestern swing state that backed Joe Biden in 2020 before flipping to Donald Trump in 2024, holding the open seat is non-negotiable for Democrats if they hope to retain Senate control, build legislative gains, and block Trump’s policy agenda. The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face off against former Trump ally Mike Rogers in the general election on November 3, with polling locations opening at 7 a.m. EDT and closing at 8 p.m. EDT.

    For more than a year, the two candidates have campaigned on sharply contrasting visions for the state and the nation. El-Sayed, 41, the son of Egyptian immigrants, would make history as the first Muslim U.S. senator if he claims the seat. Endorsed by high-profile progressive leaders including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, El-Sayed has centered his platform on progressive priorities: Medicare for All, a wealth tax on billionaires, and the elimination of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has rejected the socialist label, despite aligning with many left-wing policy goals, and drawn strategic inspiration from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s successful 2025 campaign, which leveraged social media and a laser focus on cost-of-living issues to win over voters.

    For working-class voters like longstanding Democrat Les Lukacs, who remains uninsured amid soaring prices for groceries, gas and housing, El-Sayed’s focus on household affordability is the reason for his support. Lukacs has even said he will sit out the general election if El-Sayed loses the primary, arguing that the Democratic Party has failed to prioritize the needs of everyday Americans, a sentiment El-Sayed echoes on the campaign trail.

    The race has also become a flashpoint for national tensions over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Michigan is home to the second-largest Arab-American population in the U.S., and growing voter frustration with U.S. support for Israel in the Gaza conflict has boosted El-Sayed, who has called Israel’s military actions in Gaza a genocide – a claim Israel denies – and called for an end to unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel. He has repeatedly highlighted Stevens’ ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has spent nearly $30 million to support his opponent. Stevens, a moderate who identifies as staunchly pro-Israel but has publicly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, drawing a rebuke from him in a CNN interview, has stood by her support for continued U.S. aid to Israel. The split over the issue has put Michigan Democrats in a classic bind: the party has historically relied on support from both Jewish and Arab-American voters to win elections, according to University of Virginia Center for Politics director Larry Sabato, who notes that “both sides are trying to make it as painful as possible” for the party to choose a stance.

    For Stevens, the 43-year-old incumbent congresswoman has positioned herself as the pragmatic, electable alternative to El-Sayed’s far-left platform. Endorsed by popular Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and outgoing Senator Gary Peters, Stevens has centered her campaign on protecting Michigan’s core manufacturing jobs and argued that El-Sayed’s progressive stances will make him too weak a candidate to beat Mike Rogers in the general election. Her campaign says Stevens will “fight for all Michiganders from every zip code to lower costs, protect manufacturing jobs, and take on Donald Trump’s corruption and abuses of power.” She has also turned viral online mockery of her distinct Midwestern accent into a campaign talking point, dismissing commentators who dissect her voice as “coastal elites” who look down on Michigan voters. For undecided and centrist voters like 74-year-old Ferndale resident Colleen Houlihan, who plans to vote for Stevens, the priority in a volatile election year is putting forward a candidate who can win, even if it means putting off more radical change: “I want radical change in the country, but we’ve got to start with this administration and it’s got to be an electable candidate to get power back in sane hands.”

    While progressive candidates have notched a wave of primary victories across the country this summer, including in Colorado, it remains an open question whether the left wing of the party can successfully win back disillusioned working-class voters who shifted to Trump in the 2024 election. Tuesday’s result will send a clear signal about which direction the Democratic Party will lean ahead of November, with consequences that will reverberate through U.S. politics for years to come.

  • UFC loses $30m on Freedom 250 event at White House

    UFC loses $30m on Freedom 250 event at White House

    One of the most high-profile and unconventional events in mixed martial arts history, the UFC’s Freedom 250 held at the White House in June 2026, left parent company TKO Group Holdings with a $30 million pre-tax loss, company executives confirmed this week. But despite the steep one-off hit to the organization’s bottom line, TKO reports that UFC still delivered strong double-digit revenue growth for the second quarter of the year, defying early projections that the costly event would drag down full quarterly results.

    Invited to the exclusive outdoor event on the White House’s South Lawn were former U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and roughly 4,300 invited guests, with no open tickets sold to the general public. As a centerpiece of national celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, the event also aligned with Trump’s 80th birthday, capping off a decades-long friendship between the former president and UFC chief Dana White, who joined Trump for a pre-event meeting in the Oval Office. To accommodate public interest, organizers opened a free public viewing event at nearby Ellipse Park for spectators who could not secure invitations.

    Early cost projections for the custom event had pegged total expenses at more than $60 million, a figure far higher than any standard UFC fight night. To offset these costs, TKO and UFC secured a full slate of sold-out global sponsorship partnerships, media deals, and brand collaborations that cut the final net loss to $30 million. While industry reports in May suggested high-net-worth guests were charged $1.5 million for premium access packages, UFC spokespersons confirmed the existence of these exclusive ticket tiers but did not verify their exact pricing to BBC Sport.

    Despite the anticipated loss, the event delivered unprecedented viewership that positioned UFC for long-term revenue gains, company leaders say. The exclusive fight card, which was the first major UFC broadcast under the organization’s new 2026 media deal with Paramount, drew an average global audience of 34 million viewers, ranking it among the most-watched mixed martial arts events in history. Broadcast exclusively on Paramount’s subscription streaming platform Paramount+, the event served as a high-profile launch for the new seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal that went into effect this year.

    In an investor call Monday, TKO Group Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer noted that the outsize costs of Freedom 250 “partially offset” the gains from new sponsorship and media revenue. “Given the event’s profile, which as anticipated, resulted in an approximate $30m loss, our margins at UFC as well as on a consolidated basis were meaningfully impacted,” Schleimer told investors. Even with this hit, TKO’s quarterly financial results show UFC’s second-quarter 2026 revenue hit $535.7 million, a 29% jump compared to the same period last year. Nearly $64.7 million of that growth comes directly from new media revenue tied to the Paramount deal, underscoring the long-term financial upside of the high-risk White House event beyond the one-time quarter loss. Eight individuals were previously charged in July with conspiracy to carry out an attack on the White House during the event, though the plot was disrupted before any violence occurred.

  • US states sue to block Trump tariffs impacting dozens of countries

    US states sue to block Trump tariffs impacting dozens of countries

    In a direct legal challenge to the Trump White House’s latest trade agenda, a coalition of 25 Democratic-led U.S. states filed a lawsuit Monday against the administration over sweeping new tariffs imposed on trading partners across the globe. The levies, which set rates between 10% and 12.5%, went into effect last month, and the White House has defended the measures as a necessary response to the failure of major economies including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and China to crack down on forced labor in global supply chains.

    The legal filing, reviewed by the BBC, argues that the Trump administration’s tariff decision is “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.” The coalition goes further, accusing the White House of using forced labor concerns as a pretext to advance an illegal tariff scheme that exceeds the scope of existing U.S. trade legislation. According to the complaint, the breadth of the tariffs — which cover 99.4% of all U.S. imports, per data from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative — directly undermines the stated goal of targeting forced labor and renders the underlying 1974 Trade Act Section 301 authority the administration invoked meaningless.

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul, one of the lead voices behind the lawsuit, framed the measures as an unlawful tax that falls squarely on everyday American households. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield echoed that criticism, noting that both working families and domestic Oregon businesses are bearing the cost of the administration’s trade chaos, rather than the foreign governments the tariffs are meant to pressure.

    In an official response, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the policy, emphasizing that the U.S. is acting within its lawful authority to address unfair trade practices that harm American businesses. Desai added that allowing goods produced with forced labor to enter U.S. markets is unreasonable, and the administration is right to take action to curb the practice.

    The legal challenge comes amid growing international pushback against the new tariffs. Governments of Brazil and Japan have each labeled the measures unjustified, while China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed the forced labor framing as an excuse for political manipulation. The new tariffs come amid a long-running tit-for-tat trade war between Washington and Beijing that has been paused for months.

    Industry and trade analysts have also raised critical questions about the policy. Alex Capri, a business lecturer at the National University of Singapore, told the BBC the lawsuit poses a formidable challenge to the administration’s levies. Capri also noted that there is a lack of credible evidence supporting the administration’s claims that trading partners have harmed U.S. firms by failing to enforce forced labor regulations, and he expects the scope of the tariffs will gradually be narrowed through exemptions and rollbacks that reduce their economic impact.

    This latest legal fight is the continuation of a pattern of trade policy clashes that have followed Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January 2025. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the broad “Liberation Day” tariffs Trump rolled out in April 2025, a decision that required the government to issue tens of billions of dollars in refunds to U.S. companies that had paid the levies. After those tariffs were struck down, the administration replaced them with a temporary 10% levy on all global imports that expired in July, clearing the way for the current round of tariffs now facing legal challenge.

    Trump has consistently argued that tariffs are a critical tool to protect American workers and strengthen the U.S. economy. Looking ahead, more trade friction may be on the horizon: the administration is currently conducting investigations into 16 countries over allegations of manufacturing overcapacity, which could pave the way for additional tariffs in the coming months.

  • Ariana Grande says decision to step back ‘was not reactive or impulsive’

    Ariana Grande says decision to step back ‘was not reactive or impulsive’

    Global pop superstar Ariana Grande has broken her silence after her team confirmed over the weekend that she will step away from the public eye once her *Eternal Sunshine Tour* wraps up next month, addressing anxious fans directly during a recent Chicago performance and clearing up speculation around her planned break.

    Returning to the stage Monday night for the first of three back-to-back shows at Chicago’s United Center, Grande opened up to the packed crowd about the decision to step back, pushing back against rumors that her choice was triggered by recent negative press or public criticism. She told the audience that the plan to take a break after wrapping her tour had been in the works for a long time, developed quietly and intentionally rather than being a last-minute reaction to outside pressure.

    Acknowledging that fans had grown worried that uninvited public negativity had pushed her to step away, Grande emphasized that this assumption could not be further from the truth. “Boundaries need to be set, human beings do need a break sometimes,” she told the crowd, reading from pre-written notes to avoid forgetting her message out of nervousness. She stressed that her decision to take time off came from a place of intentional, empowered self-reflection, not distress.

    Grande also pushed back against distorted secondhand narratives around her break, noting that off-the-record announcements from third parties are often blown out of proportion in public discourse. Reaffirming her connection to supporters, she told the audience that no outside noise could ever overshadow the love she shares with fans, adding that outside criticism and speculation is not something she carries with her.

    In a statement to *People* magazine earlier this week, a representative for the star expanded on the break, confirming that the time off is well-earned, coming after years of endless, ongoing public scrutiny of the singer-actress. Grande has faced persistent uninvited speculation about her physical appearance and personal health in recent years, a pattern that has drawn widespread criticism from celebrity wellness advocates.

    The *Eternal Sunshine Tour* is set to conclude on September 1, following a 10-show residency at London’s O2 Arena starting August 15, which Grande described as one of the most healing, beautiful, correct and special experiences of her entire career. Following the weekend’s announcement of her upcoming break, fans flooded social media with messages of support and concern for the star, with the hashtag #weloveyouariana trending globally across platforms.

    The planned time off will also force Grande to step back from a previously announced high-profile theater role: she was set to star opposite her *Wicked* co-star Jonathan Bailey in a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s *Sunday in the Park with George* at London’s Barbican Centre next year. A spokesperson for the Barbican confirmed the news Monday, saying the venue sincerely hopes to welcome Grande when the timing is right for her, and that new casting updates will be shared with the public in the near future.