Some of Jim Henson’s most memorable creations go under the hammer in California next week, with the first US auction of puppets and memorabilia from the late entertainer’s decades-long career.Highlights include a pair of shoes worn by the domineering Miss Piggy in a “Muppets” movie, as well as puppets from “Fraggle Rock” and characters from the Netflix series “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.”Fans will have the chance to bid on more than 400 items at the November 25 auction, which is also being held online on the Julien’s Auctions website.”This is the first time ever that you can buy an authorized, authentic piece of Jim Henson Company memorabilia,” said Roy Parker, pop culture specialist at the auction house. Henson, who died in 1990, revolutionized puppetry by making the rigid figures maneuverable, latterly through his Creature Shop, creating now-instantly recognizable characters like Kermit the Frog.He also imagined entire universes that came to life in films like “Labyrinth” (1986) and “The Dark Crystal” (1982). His creations are “very nostalgic, because they remind everybody of their childhood and when they first saw Kermit the Frog up on screen,” said Parker.The auction, which will be held in person in Los Angeles as well as online, commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Jim Henson Company and is expected to raise tens of thousands of dollars.

Fireworks and dancing erupted across Haiti in a reprieve from gang violence as people came together to celebrate their national team punching its ticket to the 2026 World Cup.Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, will be making its first appearance on international football’s biggest stage in more than 50 years, and only its second overall, after qualifying for the tournament on Tuesday night.”We need a national holiday to celebrate it, with schools closed. We need pleasure and joy. Unlock the country and eradicate the gangs,” an ecstatic fan in Port-au-Prince told AFP.But even the gangs joined in on the celebrations that stretched into Wednesday in the capital and other cities such as Cap-Haitien and Miragoane. Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherisier, the UN-sanctioned leader of a gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm (Living Together), was seen in videos posted to social media partying with residents in his neighborhood.Just three days earlier, the gang boss had announced his intention to confront the police as he urged residents of Port-au-Prince to stay indoors. In Haiti’s main city, thousands of people celebrated in the streets to the rhythm of popular songs and chants performed by rara bands, the country’s festive music.Several fans paraded shirtless, waving national flags amid applause and fireworks.”I shouldn’t be out on the street at this hour, but since it’s for Haiti, I’m doing it anyway,” said supporter Widenie Bruno. Because of security concerns stemming from the gang threat in Port-au-Prince, the national team had to play all of its qualifying home matches in the Caribbean island nation of Curacao.It was there that Haiti, known as the Grenadiers, beat Nicaragua 2-0 to clinch their spot in the World Cup, which will be staged in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.  Haitian fans, however, may not be able to travel to the US to watch their team play because, in June, President Donald Trump’s administration included Haiti among 12 countries whose citizens are banned from entering the United States.- ‘So proud’ – Haiti’s qualification brings a moment of relief for a population strained and exhausted by the violence of organized gangs, which control 90 percent of the capital.Those groups, accused of murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings, have contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis in Haiti, a small nation long burdened by political instability.The situation has worsened since early 2024, when gangs forced the then-prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.But on Tuesday night, everyone in the nation seemed focused on what was happening in Curacao.After the victory against Nicaragua, Haitian fans still had to wait for Costa Rica and Honduras to play to a scoreless draw before they could celebrate what had seemed impossible — Haiti’s first berth in the World Cup since 1974, when West Germany hosted the tournament. Another young fan of the Grenadiers said he planned to party all night long — whatever the cost.”I am so proud of Haiti that I will spend everything tonight,” he said. “I will wake up broke. We will spend the night in the streets.”

Nvidia shares climbed Wednesday after it beat quarterly earnings expectations on fierce demand for its sophisticated chips that power artificial intelligence.The solid results come amid increasing talk among Wall Street analysts of an AI bubble, with all eyes on how Nvidia, the industry’s bellwether company, will weather the doubts.”There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said on an earnings call.”From our vantage point, we see something very different.”Jensen reasoned that companies around the world are shifting from classical computing machines and software relying on CPUs to AI-infused systems needing graphics processing units (GPUs) that are Nvidia’s specialty.Add to that software programs rapidly adapting to the AI age and a trend of AI “agents” capable of independently tending to computer work, according to Jensen.”Nvidia is chosen because our singular architecture enables all three transitions across every phase of AI,” Jensen said.”Our customer financing is up to them. We see opportunity to grow for quite some time.”AI is already paying off for internet giants in the form of improved recommendation engines and efficiencies, according to Jensen.”The internet has trillions of pieces of content,” Jensen said.”How could they possibly figure out what to put in front of you and your tiny screen, unless they have really sophisticated recommender systems to do so well — that has gone generative AI.”AI industry rivals have been pouring billions of dollars into Nvidia’s prized GPUs to power the technology despite questions regarding how the investments will pay off.Wedbush analyst Dan Ives referred to Nvidia earnings as a “pop the champagne” moment for the tech sector and a sign that worries of an AI bubble are overstated.- China sales stalled -Nvidia reported profit of $31.9 billion on record-high quarterly revenue of $57 billion, sending shares up more than 5 percent.It also took in some 60 percent more money in the quarter than it did during the same period the prior year, according to earnings figures.”Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” Huang said, referring to the latest model of its state-of-the-art hardware.”The AI ecosystem is scaling fast — with more new foundation model makers, more AI startups, across more industries, and in more countries.”Revenue in the current quarter is expected to be $65.0 billion, nearly $3 billion more than forecast by Wall Street analysts.Most of the money brought in during the recently ended quarter came from Nvidia’s unit devoted to GPUs for data centers.Nvidia was valued at more than $4.5 trillion based on the number of outstanding shares.In the period, Nvidia announced strategic partnerships with OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of systems for next-generation AI infrastructure, while Anthropic will adopt one gigawatt of compute capacity using Nvidia’s latest systems.Nvidia is caught up in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, where Beijing has responded by expressing national security concerns about Nvidia chips and urging Chinese businesses to rely on local suppliers instead.Sales of H-20 GPUs, which are designed for the Chinese market due to US restrictions on exports of AI chips to that country, tallied only $50 million in the quarter, according to chief financial officer Colette Kress.”Sizable purchase orders never materialized in the quarter due to geopolitical issues and the increasingly competitive market in China,” Kress said on an earnings call.”To establish a sustainable leadership position in AI computing, America must win the support of every developer and be the platform of choice for every commercial business, including those in China.”