Beleaguered actor Justin Baldoni has quietly listed his sprawling California compound for $8.88 million, months before he is due to go head to head in a legal battle against his former costar Blake Lively.
Beleaguered actor Justin Baldoni has quietly listed his sprawling California compound for $8.88 million, months before he is due to go head to head in a legal battle against his former costar Blake Lively.
Under President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, Arab countries and the European Union are supposed to train a new police force in the Gaza Strip. But U.S. plans have run into serious challenges. (Image credit: Majdi Mohammed)
Under President Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, Arab countries and the European Union are supposed to train a new police force in the Gaza Strip. But U.S. plans have run into serious challenges. (Image credit: Majdi Mohammed)
My praise for the movie Send Help drew brickbats. If it’s new Puritans versus liberal cavaliers, I know which side I’m on Ravi Holy is the vicar of Wye in Kent and a standup comedian I posted a rave review of the new Sam Raimi film, Send Help, the other day and triggered a debate I didn’t expect: is it OK for Christians to watch horror films? Send Help – a “gore-laced plane-crash survival face-off...
My praise for the movie Send Help drew brickbats. If it’s new Puritans versus liberal cavaliers, I know which side I’m on Ravi Holy is the vicar of Wye in Kent and a standup comedian I posted a rave review of the new Sam Raimi film, Send Help, the other day and triggered a debate I didn’t expect: is it OK for Christians to watch horror films? Send Help – a “gore-laced plane-crash survival face-off”, according to the Guardian review (which was less kind than mine) – is more comedy-horror than horror, or maybe horror/thriller. But there’s definitely horror there – you get the point. The most extreme response was the man who said that not only are horror movies verboten, Christians shouldn’t even watch soap operas. So, for him, Emmerdale is as bad as The Exorcist – which itself seems a bizarre film to rule out, given its hero is a priest. Who rediscovers his faith after an encounter with evil. Which he wins. I call that a positive religious message. Ravi Holy is the vicar of Wye in Kent and a standup comedian Continue reading...
The final stretch of the JP Morgan Chase chief’s career is a bumpy one, as Trump himself demands prosecutors investigate Epstein’s ties to Dimon’s bank Continue reading...
The final stretch of the JP Morgan Chase chief’s career is a bumpy one, as Trump himself demands prosecutors investigate Epstein’s ties to Dimon’s bank Continue reading...
Cordless or corded, bagged or bagless – whatever vacuum you use, help is at hand to tackle blockages, trapped hair and loss of suction • The best cordless vacuum cleaners, tested No household gadget works harder to keep our homes spick and span than the vacuum cleaner. Most models can deal with all manner of everyday household dirt, but as with any tool or appliance, you can give yours a longer an...
Cordless or corded, bagged or bagless – whatever vacuum you use, help is at hand to tackle blockages, trapped hair and loss of suction • The best cordless vacuum cleaners, tested No household gadget works harder to keep our homes spick and span than the vacuum cleaner. Most models can deal with all manner of everyday household dirt, but as with any tool or appliance, you can give yours a longer and more fruitful life by performing a few regular maintenance jobs. Iwan Carrington, author of Clean in 15 and the cleaning expert from BBC’s Sort Your Life Out, explained to me that you should “give your vacuum a quick check before each use to avoid problems such as clogging or low power”. We’ll go through the list of things to look for below. Continue reading...
The higher you toss it, the more luck you’ll have this new lunar year. Chopsticks at the ready … This Tuesday marks the start of the lunar new year and the year of the fire horse, which represents fresh opportunities, personal growth and good fortune. I, for one, am keen to usher that horse in, and to celebrate I’ll be making this noodle salad, which is a variation on one I first ate at Mandy Yin’...
The higher you toss it, the more luck you’ll have this new lunar year. Chopsticks at the ready … This Tuesday marks the start of the lunar new year and the year of the fire horse, which represents fresh opportunities, personal growth and good fortune. I, for one, am keen to usher that horse in, and to celebrate I’ll be making this noodle salad, which is a variation on one I first ate at Mandy Yin’s restaurant, Sambal Shiok . It’s a dish that’s eaten across Malaysia and Singapore, and the idea is that everyone around the table tosses the salad high into the air at the same time: the superstition goes that the higher the salad is tossed, the more luck will ensue. Come on, Nelly. Continue reading...
Beijing has for the first time revealed the intricate composition of China’s consumer price index (CPI) basket, and a fresh recalibration sees it shift more weight towards services and new types of consumption goods. The basket adjustment itself, conducted every five years, comes as the Chinese leadership seeks to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of deflationary pressure while avoiding...
Beijing has for the first time revealed the intricate composition of China’s consumer price index (CPI) basket, and a fresh recalibration sees it shift more weight towards services and new types of consumption goods. The basket adjustment itself, conducted every five years, comes as the Chinese leadership seeks to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of deflationary pressure while avoiding a prolonged Japan-style spiralling of prices. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has...
Tesla Inc. has long been an odd member of the ‘Magnificent 7.’ Strangely, its renewed efforts to fit in better only exacerbate that condition. The term was coined in 2023 to describe seven stocks leading gains in the S&P 500 Index: Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Tesla. That first year was the only one in which they lived up to the...
Tesla Inc. has long been an odd member of the ‘Magnificent 7.’ Strangely, its renewed efforts to fit in better only exacerbate that condition. The term was coined in 2023 to describe seven stocks leading gains in the S&P 500 Index: Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Tesla. That first year was the only one in which they lived up to their billing, holding all seven of the top spots. By 2025, some looked decidedly less magnificent than others. The obvious lesson here is that this designation — like ‘FAANG’, ‘Nifty 50’, and the lyrical ‘MANAMANA’ before it — is past its prime. Yet Tesla’s intensifying pivot into artificial intelligence, and the parallel reorganization of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk ’s business empire, lend the label a newfound usefulness, if only because it shows what Tesla is not. While centered on stock performance, the Magnificent 7 became synonymous with Big Tech. This also makes Tesla’s inclusion incongruous since it is, primarily, a maker and seller of electric vehicles and, increasingly, battery packs. Sure, Apple also makes money from selling discretionary consumer products, and Amazon’s giant e-commerce platform feels closer to retail than AI. But both are undeniably information technology giants, and profitable ones at that. While Tesla does boast technological chops, especially in terms of EV design and advanced driver assistance systems, its more recognizably tech efforts — robotaxis, humanoid robots, chipmaking plans — are more like research and development than actual commercial businesses. The thing that put Tesla into the Magnificent 7, its valuation, also signals that it isn’t like the others. Here’s Tesla’s forward earnings multiple compared to a simple average for the other six. A soaring multiple is an investor’s dream, but in this case it mostly reflects a growing disconnect with deteriorating fundamentals: Two-thirds of that expansion over the past three years is...
Tesla Inc. has long been an odd member of the ‘Magnificent 7.’ Strangely, its renewed efforts to fit in better only exacerbate that condition. The term was coined in 2023 to describe seven stocks leading gains in the S&P 500 Index: Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Tesla. That first year was the only one in which they lived up to the...
Tesla Inc. has long been an odd member of the ‘Magnificent 7.’ Strangely, its renewed efforts to fit in better only exacerbate that condition. The term was coined in 2023 to describe seven stocks leading gains in the S&P 500 Index: Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nvidia Corp. and Tesla. That first year was the only one in which they lived up to their billing, holding all seven of the top spots. By 2025, some looked decidedly less magnificent than others. The obvious lesson here is that this designation — like ‘FAANG’, ‘Nifty 50’, and the lyrical ‘MANAMANA’ before it — is past its prime. Yet Tesla’s intensifying pivot into artificial intelligence, and the parallel reorganization of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk ’s business empire, lend the label a newfound usefulness, if only because it shows what Tesla is not. While centered on stock performance, the Magnificent 7 became synonymous with Big Tech. This also makes Tesla’s inclusion incongruous since it is, primarily, a maker and seller of electric vehicles and, increasingly, battery packs. Sure, Apple also makes money from selling discretionary consumer products, and Amazon’s giant e-commerce platform feels closer to retail than AI. But both are undeniably information technology giants, and profitable ones at that. While Tesla does boast technological chops, especially in terms of EV design and advanced driver assistance systems, its more recognizably tech efforts — robotaxis, humanoid robots, chipmaking plans — are more like research and development than actual commercial businesses. The thing that put Tesla into the Magnificent 7, its valuation, also signals that it isn’t like the others. Here’s Tesla’s forward earnings multiple compared to a simple average for the other six. A soaring multiple is an investor’s dream, but in this case it mostly reflects a growing disconnect with deteriorating fundamentals: Two-thirds of that expansion over the past three years is...
Jeffrey Epstein tapped online reputation management firms to bury negative coverage of his 2008 sex offense conviction and flood the internet with favorable content in a years-long effort to rehabilitate his public image. Companies and individuals were either hired or submitted detailed action plans for the project, with fees as high as $12,500 per month, according to hundreds of pages of emails a...
Jeffrey Epstein tapped online reputation management firms to bury negative coverage of his 2008 sex offense conviction and flood the internet with favorable content in a years-long effort to rehabilitate his public image. Companies and individuals were either hired or submitted detailed action plans for the project, with fees as high as $12,500 per month, according to hundreds of pages of emails and documents released by the US Department of Justice last month. These companies, to varying degrees, offered to target news articles highlighting the financier’s status as a sex offender, edit his Wikipedia page, and pump out fluff pieces seeking to highlight his philanthropy that would skew search engine results, the documents show. “Nothing for me more important,” Epstein wrote to an associate in 2010, instructing him to find a reputation management firm. At other points, he said he needs “someone to redo my Wikipedia” and asked friends for advice on his “Google issues.” The documents expose the murky ecosystem of reputation laundering where obscure firms, often undaunted by clients’ unsavory histories, charge for the technical expertise needed to reshape public image online. Epstein sought to sanitize his digital footprint as he continued to cultivate relationships with billionaires, academics and public figures, betting that a cleaner online presence would smooth his return to the upper echelons of society. The proposed strategies also show how Epstein leveraged philanthropy to whitewash his reputation. Read More: Epstein Tapped Ex-Gates, Pershing Square PR Pro to Rebuild Image At the center of the strategy was Al Seckel, an optical illusions expert and brother-in-law of Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell . Seckel, who died in 2015, acted as a fixer and laid out a strategy for what amounted to a search engine optimization arms race to drown out reports relating to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for child sex offenses. In a 2010 email to a prospective contractor, Seckel ...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images A strong but turbulent start to the year Gold experienced one of its strongest Januarys in decades (Chart 1). It continually broke new ground, reaching 11 all-time highs during January and breaching decisively through key thresholds. Overall, the LBMA Gold Price PM in USD and the SHAUPM in RMB rose 14% and 19%, respectively, in the month. However, following a rapid a...
e-crow/iStock via Getty Images A strong but turbulent start to the year Gold experienced one of its strongest Januarys in decades (Chart 1). It continually broke new ground, reaching 11 all-time highs during January and breaching decisively through key thresholds. Overall, the LBMA Gold Price PM in USD and the SHAUPM in RMB rose 14% and 19%, respectively, in the month. However, following a rapid ascent for most of January, gold pulled back by the end of the month – likely impacted by a positive market reception of the Trump-nominated Fed Chair candidate, Kevin Warsh, followed by momentum-driven sales, and to some extent, selloffs in other commodities such as silver. Gold dipped briefly below US$4,500/oz (nearing RMB1,000/gram) in early February but has moved back above US$5,000/oz (RMB1,100/gram). 1 Consumers and investors have likely taken advantage of the lower price levels to enter the market, especially since the more fundamental factors driving demand for the past year remain in place. Chart 1: Despite month-end volatility, gold prices started 2026 at levels unseen in decades January returns of Chinese gold prices in RMB and LBMA Gold Price PM in USD* *Chinese gold price based on the SHAUPM between 2017 and 2026 and the Au99.99 between 2003 and 2016. (Source: Shanghai Gold Exchange, ICE Benchmark Administration, World Gold Council) Wholesale gold demand could have been stronger Banks, jewellery manufacturers and refiners withdrew 126t gold from the SGE during January, broadly in line with January 2025 and 11t higher m/m (Chart 2). We believe strong bullion sales, supported by the gold price rally and jeweller restocking ahead of the Spring Festival holiday – particularly during month end as they took advantage of the price dip – helped support demand. That said, the rapid price surge and rising volatility left some investors and retailers hesitant, worried about a price correction and the risk of holding such a high-cost investment/inventory. These, among other...
Helion's Polaris device hit 150 million degrees C recently, a milestone that nudges the company toward its commercial power plant that will sell electricity to Microsoft.
Helion's Polaris device hit 150 million degrees C recently, a milestone that nudges the company toward its commercial power plant that will sell electricity to Microsoft.
A bipartisan effort in Congress to restrain immigration enforcement tactics is flailing despite a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The pattern is increasingly familiar. (Image credit: Al Drago)
A bipartisan effort in Congress to restrain immigration enforcement tactics is flailing despite a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The pattern is increasingly familiar. (Image credit: Al Drago)
In his confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told U.S. senators that he would not cut funding for vaccine research or change the nation's official vaccine recommendations. He did both. (Image credit: Andrew Harnik)
In his confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told U.S. senators that he would not cut funding for vaccine research or change the nation's official vaccine recommendations. He did both. (Image credit: Andrew Harnik)
Google, Meta, and Amazon all belong to a cohort of large companies that are slashing their corporate tax bills this year as a result of the GOP tax law
Google, Meta, and Amazon all belong to a cohort of large companies that are slashing their corporate tax bills this year as a result of the GOP tax law
US Strategy In Armenia And Azerbaijan Includes Nuclear And AI Via Eurasianet.org, Vice President Vance's visit successfully broadened US economic and strategic engagement with Armenia and Azerbaijan, moving past the initial focus on the Middle Corridor trade route. In Baku, the US and Azerbaijan signed a Strategic Partnership Charter, pledging to expand cooperation in energy, aerospace, digital in...
US Strategy In Armenia And Azerbaijan Includes Nuclear And AI Via Eurasianet.org, Vice President Vance's visit successfully broadened US economic and strategic engagement with Armenia and Azerbaijan, moving past the initial focus on the Middle Corridor trade route. In Baku, the US and Azerbaijan signed a Strategic Partnership Charter, pledging to expand cooperation in energy, aerospace, digital infrastructure, AI, and defense, including the transfer of coastal defense vessels. The main outcome in Yerevan was a nuclear energy agreement that positions the US as the leading contender to build a new nuclear power plant in Armenia, alongside a major sale of surveillance and drone technology. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan succeeded in widening the scope of US economic engagement with the two South Caucasus nations. In the months immediately after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a provisional peace deal in Washington last August, the Trump administration’s focus was on the development of the Middle Corridor trade and logistics network. But now other sectors, including civilian nuclear energy, arms sales and artificial intelligence, are part of the discussion. Vance’s stop in Baku on February 10-11 included the signing of a US-Azerbaijani Charter on Strategic Partnership. While much of the document is devoted to maximizing the economic potential of TRIPP , or the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, there are numerous provisions indicating that the partnership aims to have a much broader foundation. The two sides pledge to “mobilize public and private sector investment” to expand not just TRIPP, but also Azerbaijan’s energy and aerospace sectors and the country’s digital infrastructure. The document additionally expresses an intention to “expand collaboration on developing AI partnerships.” Defense and security cooperation are also in play. Vance noted at the signing ceremony that the US will send an undisclosed number of coastal def...