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Warner Bros. Discovery said Tuesday it has received a revised acquisition proposal from Paramount Skydance, even as the US media giant’s board reaffirmed its support for a previously announced buyout deal with Netflix.The sweetened offer was the latest instalment of a bidding war set to reshape Hollywood and US media, and has drawn White House attention, with President Donald Trump insisting he will have a say on the deal.”We received a revised (Paramount) proposal to acquire WBD, which we are reviewing in consultation with our financial and legal advisors,” the Warner Bros. board said, adding it would update shareholders once the review was complete.Terms of Paramount’s new offer were not disclosed, and the Warner Bros. board was careful to signal its preference for the rival Netflix deal.The deal with the streaming giant “remains in effect” and directors “continue to recommend in favor of the Netflix transaction,” the statement said.Warner Bros. shareholders were advised to take no action with respect to the Paramount offer while the review is ongoing.Paramount also confirmed the proposal and acknowledged that its sweetened bid could be countered by Netflix if the Warner Bros. board formally declared that Paramount’s offer is a “superior proposal.”In its previous bid, Paramount Skydance had sought to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery for $108 billion. Though that was rebuffed by Warner’s board, Paramount on Tuesday said it was still encouraging shareholders to back its offer, in what amounts to a hostile takeover attempt.Paramount has also launched a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over an alleged lack of transparency in its dealings with Netflix.Netflix is offering $83 billion for its more limited merger but is expected to be prepared to raise its offer to more closely match its rival’s new bid.The Netflix offer does not include Warner Bros. television properties such as CNN and Discovery, which would belong to a newly created publicly traded company if the deal is sealed.Trump has said he will be “involved” in any decision on the merger, and the US Department of Justice is currently reviewing Netflix’s proposed acquisition. European authorities and other regulators will also have their say.Questions are swirling over whether politics will influence the outcome of the battle, with Paramount run by David Ellison and financed largely by his father, Oracle tycoon Larry Ellison, a longtime Trump ally.A victory by Paramount would see CNN — often the target of Trump’s stinging threats and criticism — pass to Ellison family control, amid criticism that their takeover of Paramount-owned CBS brought changes to the news division more to the White House’s liking.Trump late Saturday called on Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice or “pay the consequences,” after she said Democrats would push for corporate accountability if they regain power in the November midterm elections.”He likes to do a lot of things on social media. This is a business deal. It’s not a political deal,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told BBC Radio 4, when asked about Trump’s threat.

The EU’s trade chief said Tuesday his US counterparts had told him Washington stands by a key trade deal with the bloc, following an adverse Supreme Court decision on President Donald Trump’s tariffs.After the Supreme Court ruled Friday Trump lacks authority to impose levies under a 1977 law, the US leader responded with fresh tariffs of 10 percent on imported goods — which Trump has vowed to hike further to 15 percent.That raised complex questions about what the new duties mean for the EU deal clinched last year with Trump, which set tariffs at 15 percent for most EU goods.”I have been in constant touch with my counterparts, and they both reassured me they stand by the deal with the European Union,” Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told EU lawmakers.Sefcovic later said he had been “very vocal” about how “difficult” the fresh tariffs announced by Trump would be for the EU during his calls.But he also acknowledged it was “a transitional period where they are figuring out how to deal with this really landmark court ruling”.The top trade negotiator touched on another sensitive topic in transatlantic ties: Trump’s 50 percent duties on steel and aluminium imports, which the EU has been pushing to bring down.The president expanded levies on the metals in August to include several hundred products which contain steel or aluminium.Sefcovic suggested there could be some good news for the EU “rather soon”.”I got reassurances from our US colleagues that they know that this is a big problem for us and that they’re looking into this matter,” he said.- ‘Deal is a deal’ -The bloc’s parliament put the EU-US deal on ice Monday as it sought more clarity on the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling, only a day before the committee was due to give its green light.Sefcovic said he understood the body’s decision, but added: “It is imperative we keep the process moving forward in implementing our commitments.”He urged the parliament to approve the deal in March “under the condition, of course, that we get more clarity from the United States”.EU member states’ representatives in Brussels heard from the EU executive Monday and a European diplomat said everyone agreed “a deal is a deal”.The EU executive told senior diplomats if imports face a blanket 10-percent levy, pre-existing duties mean some products could end up being taxed at a higher rate than the trade deal’s 15 percent.Another concern is Trump’s new flat levy could apply indifferently to the EU and to countries that made fewer trade concessions to Washington — and were therefore previously taxed at a much higher rate.”The EU now loses a comparative advantage vis-a-vis other countries, which was what made the deal palatable in the first place,” the diplomat told AFP.

Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukraine, its leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, as the Kremlin marked the start of the fifth year of its invasion by vowing to keep fighting Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II until it achieves its goals. Moscow had hoped to take Kyiv in days when it launched its invasion on February 24, 2022.Four years later — with hundreds of thousands dead, millions forced to flee, much of eastern Ukraine destroyed and US-led peace talks still deadlocked over territory — it conceded that it has not achieved all it wants in the country.”The goals haven’t been fully achieved yet, which is why the military operation continues,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to an AFP question.Ukraine, meanwhile, was ready to do “everything” it could to secure peace, Zelensky said in a video address that featured images of Ukrainians carrying out acts of resistance against Russian soldiers in the opening days of the conflict.But any settlement must not “betray” the price paid by Ukrainians throughout the conflict, he said. “Putin has not achieved his goals. He did not break the Ukrainians. He did not win this war. We have preserved Ukraine, and we will do everything to achieve peace — and to ensure there is justice,” Zelensky said.”We want peace. Strong, dignified, and lasting peace,” he said, but any deal must be “accepted by Ukrainians”.”Everything Ukraine has gone through. It must not be surrendered, forgotten, or betrayed,” he added.Several European leaders including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the anniversary.In an address to the EU parliament and speaking alongside visiting EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, Zelensky urged Brussels to accelerate Kyiv’s admission to the bloc, or face “decades” of Russian attempts to disrupt the process.Speaking in Moscow to agents of his FSB security service, Putin said Ukraine has “not managed to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield” and was upping its behind-the-lines sabotage attacks.- ‘Sirens and shrapnel’ -In the suburb of Irpin — where the bodies of hundreds of civilians were discovered in 2022 after it and the neighbouring suburb of Bucha were occupied by Russian forces — locals told AFP how the war had completely changed their lives, and the country.”We have become accustomed to sleeping under sirens and shrapnel,” said Yevgenia Antoniuk, 43.Recalling a moment in 2022 when she gave some bread to a hungry old man after the Russians abandoned Irpin, she said: “He burst into tears and began kissing my hands. At that moment, I hated Russians so deeply and strongly that I realised that neither I, nor my children, nor my grandchildren would ever forget or forgive them.”As in many places across the country, locals there had gathered for a ceremony to mark the four-year anniversary.Ukrainians are filled with a mix of fatigue at the relentless bombardments and mounting battlefield losses, and determination to resist.Whatever the outcome on the battlefield or at the negotiating table, “there will be no victory for us in this war,” said Valentyn Oleksiyenko, a 29-year-old wounded veteran.”The price we are paying for it is too high. Too many of our people have been killed,” he added.Hundreds of thousands have been killed since Moscow invaded. The UN has verified around 15,000 Ukrainian civilians killed, but says the true number is likely considerably higher.Others said the fact Ukraine had not fallen to the Russians was a victory in itself.”We have shown that no matter who the enemy is that comes to our land, we can repel them,” said Isakiy Zinkevich, a 38-year-old priest in Bucha, a Kyiv commuter town that became synonymous with atrocities committed by Russian troops.- Territory -The United States has been pushing to end the conflict, mediating talks this year in Geneva and Abu Dhabi between the two sides, but they remain at odds over the issue of territory.Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is fighting to gain full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal.Ukraine has rejected the demand and said it would not sign a deal without security guarantees from allies — including the US — to deter Russia from invading again.The grinding four-year war has devastated the country, with the cost of post-war reconstruction estimated at around $588 billion over the next decade, according to a joint World Bank, EU and UN report with Kyiv, published on Monday.

A man sentenced to death nearly 40 years ago for the murder of a grocery store owner is to be executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday.Melvin Trotter, 65, was convicted of the 1986 murder of Virgie Langford, 70, during a robbery of her store in Palmetto, Florida.Trotter is scheduled to be executed at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) at the Florida state prison in Raiford.There have been three previous executions in the United States this year, one in Florida, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas.There were 47 executions in the United States last year, the most since 2009, when 52 inmates were put to death.Florida carried out the most executions in 2025 — 19 — followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, where there were five each.Thirty-nine of last year’s executions were carried out by lethal injection.Three were by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and has called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”

Europe has wide “shortfalls” in its military capabilities which leave it “ill-prepared” as the war in Ukraine grinds on, a new report said Tuesday.With the new security strategy of US President Donald Trump’s administration forcing European countries to rethink defence policies, four years of war in Ukraine has spurred efforts to boost military capabilities, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its annual report.The 2026 edition of the Military Balance report by the London-based institute notes that the United States is seeking to refocus its efforts on protecting its own territory.As a result, the US leader continues to push allies for “greater burden-sharing” in military spending, both in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region in response to China’s growing influence.- Military spending -In 2025, global military spending rose by 2.5 percent to $2.63 trillion, a slower pace than over the past five years.This was partly due to a drop in the US defence budget — a decline unlikely to last, with the Trump administration’s defence spending expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2026 for the first time.Part of that will notably fund America’s “Golden Dome” missile defence shield project, the IISS said.In contrast, military spending continued to grow at “record levels” in Europe, reaching $562.9 billion — up 12.6 percent in a year — driven by Germany.NATO countries, under pressure from America and facing an increased threat from Russia, have pledged to raise national defence budgets to 5.0 percent of GDP by 2035.But they could be constrained by their “limited fiscal headroom”, the IISS warned.- Ukraine war -The IISS report, published on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said it was difficult to imagine the war would end any time soon.”Western estimates of Russian personnel losses vary, but these may now total more than a million killed or wounded,” the report added.Despite that “Russia has been able to adapt, regenerate and maintain its capability”.Russia’s war in Ukraine has driven “rapid and continuous evolution in technologies — notably in the design and use of uninhabited systems and artificial intelligence — as well as in tactics and defence-production cycles,” according to the IISS.But any end to the conflict will depend on “decisions taken in foreign capitals” which will “play an important role in shaping the war’s trajectory”.This is especially “given both sides’ reliance on external support for materiel”.- NATO’s eastern flank -The IISS report highlighted NATO efforts to reinforce its eastern flank against a potential threat, pointing to drone incursions into Poland last September.”Unfortunately for European armed forces, (there) is a capability shortfall, leaving them ill-prepared for the kind of large scale attacks that Ukraine is facing,” it said.NATO chief Mark Rutte in June called for the alliance to hike its integrated air and missile defence by 400 percent.Calling it an “ambitious target”, the IISS concluded that “NATO has some way to go”.Moves to address these “deficiencies” were underway, including the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative, “which aims to close air-defence gaps with off-the-shelf procurement of systems”.The Baltic states and Poland have been joined by Finland in the Baltic Drone Wall programme announced in early 2025.And the same countries have announced they are withdrawing from a key treaty, in order to potentially renew their use of anti-personnel mines along their borders.- Iran weakened, China rises -Iran’s ambitions “have suffered major setbacks” since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel “and during the Twelve-Day War between Israel and Iran in June 2025,” the report stated.”It incurred significant damage to its nuclear and missile installations” during Israeli and US strikes in June 2025.This could lead it to seek closer cooperation with China and Russia to rebuild its capabilities, the IISS said.Iran’s traditional allies in the Middle East, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have also been weakened by Israeli military action.This raises “serious questions over whether Iran can sustain current levels of military spending — and indeed its stature in the balance of power in the region — while managing the economy and stemming civil unrest”.Meanwhile, China’s “defence budget outpaces the wider” Asia-Pacific region, accounting for some 44 percent of regional spending.A large military parade held on September 3 to mark 80 years since the end of World War II “sent both political and military-operational signals,” the institute said.For the first time it publicly confirmed Beijing’s “nuclear triad” of air, submarine and land capabilities.An anti-corruption purge in the army has also not deterred Beijing from increasing its number of incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone.

France moved on Monday to block US envoy Charles Kushner from having access to government ministers, after he failed to show up to explain comments about a killed far-right activist.The move is the latest instance of diplomatic friction between Paris and the United States under President Donald Trump, with Paris bristling at what it sees as repeated interference by Washington in domestic matters.Kushner, whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, has already been summoned once before over his criticism of France’s handling of antisemitism. He skipped that meeting as well, sending another official instead.Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned Kushner after the US embassy in Paris reposted comments by the Trump administration in Washington about slain far-right activist Quentin Deranque.Deranque, 23, died from head injuries following clashes between radical-left and far-right supporters on the sidelines of a February 12 protest against a politician from the left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) party in Lyon.Barrot denounced on Sunday any attempts to exploit the killing “for political ends” and summoned Kushner for a meeting at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) the following day.But a diplomatic source told AFP the ambassador cited “personal commitments” and sent a senior embassy official instead.”In light of this apparent failure to grasp the basic requirements of the ambassadorial mission and the honour of representing one’s country, the minister (Barrot) has requested that he (Kushner) no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government,” the foreign ministry said.Kushner would, however, be permitted to continue his diplomatic duties and have “exchanges” with officials, it added in a statement.Washington has not commented on this development.- On edge -Deranque’s death has put France on edge, igniting tensions between the left and right ahead of a 2027 presidential vote. More than 3,000 people marched in Lyon on Saturday in tribute to Deranque, with authorities deploying heavy security for fear of further clashes.On Friday, Sarah Rogers, the State Department under secretary for public diplomacy, said Deranque’s killing showed “why we treat political violence — terrorism — so harshly”. “Once you decide to kill people for their opinions instead of persuade them, you’ve opted out of civilization,” she wrote on X.The State Department’s bureau of counter-terrorism separately posted: “Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque’s death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.”The US embassy shared a French translation of the post on its account.Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also weighed in, triggering a war of words with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged her to stop “commenting on what happens in other countries”.Kushner, who took up his post in Paris last year, was previously summoned to the foreign ministry at the end of August, after the French government took exception to his criticism that Macron was not tackling antisemitism.The US charge d’affaires — the ambassador’s de facto deputy — attended that meeting.

A landmark social media addiction trial resumed Monday with a YouTube executive insisting that the Google-owned company’s aim was to give people value, not hook them on harmful binge-viewing.YouTube vice president of engineering Cristos Goodrow was pressed to defend the company’s self-styled “big, hairy, audacious goal,” set more than a decade ago, to increase viewer time to more than a billion hours a day by 2016.As he did last week when Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified in the same Los Angeles court, plaintiff’s attorney Mark Lanier told jurors that Goodrow’s compensation climbed with his company’s share price, meaning he profited personally from ramping up user engagement.”YouTube is not designed to maximize time,” Goodrow replied, as he was shown company documents indicating that viewer engagement was a priority for performance at the platform.”It’s designed to give people the most value…”As a counterpoint, Lanier had Goodrow detail the addition of features including viewing recommendations, auto-play for videos and ads, and a version of YouTube designed specifically for children.The lawyer said these efforts enticed users to a “treadmill of continuous checking” for new content.Goodrow contended “we don’t want anybody to be addicted to anything” as Lanier pressed him about YouTube features crafted to keep viewers watching.The executive pushed back against efforts by Lanier to put YouTube on par with social networks such as Facebook or Snapchat, stressing the platform was not a forum for friends to connect or for sharing vanishing messages.And YouTube would see relentless scrolling by users as a failure, not a success, according to Goodrow.”We want people to be able to watch what they want to watch as quickly as possible every time,” Goodrow told jurors.”If they scroll, they’ll get kind of frustrated.”Lots of scrolling would also mean YouTube’s vaunted recommendation software was not doing its job well, he added.Lanier pointed to internal YouTube documents referencing outside research that found harmful effects from spending too much time watching videos.Goodrow agreed that children should not be losing sleep watching YouTube, saying that is why the platform came up with features like view timers and prompts to take breaks.- Kaley to testify -The trial is set to last until late March, when the jury will decide whether Meta and YouTube bear responsibility for the mental health problems suffered by Kaley G.M., a 20-year-old California resident who has been a heavy social media user since childhood.Kaley G.M. started using YouTube at age six, Instagram at nine, and later TikTok and Snapchat.She is expected to testify this week — perhaps as early as Tuesday, according to her lawyers.Zuckerberg testified last week that he regretted Meta’s slow progress in identifying underage users on Instagram, as the plaintiff’s legal team sharply criticized the company for deliberately targeting children.The trial is the first in a series of lawsuits filed by American families against social media platforms and will determine whether Google and Meta deliberately designed their platforms to encourage compulsive use among young people.The case is expected to set a standard for resolving thousands of lawsuits that blame social media for fueling an epidemic of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide.TikTok and Snapchat, also named in the complaint, reached settlements with the plaintiff before the trial began.

President Donald Trump’s administration gave Nayda Alvarez five days to decide whether to let a US-Mexico border wall run through her back yard.If she refuses, she says, her house along the Rio Grande in Texas will be expropriated, just like that.Trump’s obsession with keeping undocumented foreigners from entering the United States and expelling the ones already in it helped get him elected to a second term in 2024.That crackdown — including plans to seal the border with Mexico more tightly — is an essential part of the aggressively inward-looking, Americans-first policy that Trump will discuss in his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday night.Trump is now targeting the border in and around Laredo, Texas, a mostly Hispanic town of 250,000 located along the Rio Grande, which forms the natural border between the United States and Mexico.All along the river in Laredo are homes, parks, bike and jogging paths, fishing spots and even a cemetery. There is no wall. But this month at least 60 area homeowners received a letter from the federal government that read, “Notice of Interest – Property Located Near Planned Border Barrier Construction Projects.”Edgar Villasenor, an activist at the Rio Grande International Study Center, said “the issue in Laredo, Texas, and all of south Texas, and all of the riverfront properties along the Rio Grande, is that they’re basically doing a massive land grab.”The Trump administration plans to build a so-called “smart wall” along parts of the 3,000-km (1,900-mile) border with Mexico that remain unfenced.Trump did some wall-building during his first term. Between that and walls that predate him, a third of the border already had some kind of barrier when Trump started his second stint in January 2025, the government says. The new plan calls for physical walls or, depending on the area, water barriers, patrol roads and technology designed to catch people trying to sneak in from Mexico.AFP asked US Customs and Border Protection about the letters homeowners are receiving but got no answer.- Consider your options- “The wall would be in the backyard,” said Alvarez, a 54-year-old teacher who lives in La Rosita, a tiny town 87 miles (140 km) southeast of Laredo.She said the letter she received this month outlined her options: she could let the government build in her backyard for $1,000, or negotiate a deal to sell the house or rights to the backyard to the government.If she does neither, the letter said, the government would assert eminent domain — the right to take private property for public use, paying compensation for the seized assets. “Either you comply, you negotiate, or they’re gonna take it away,” Alvarez said, adding that she has not yet decided what to do. Although the five-day deadline has passed — the letter was dated February 13 — she has had no new word from the government. Villasenor’s advocacy group helps people understand their options and defend themselves. He said some homeowners have gone along with the government out of fear, pressure or ignorance, but most have refuse to sign.- Security first-“In President Trump’s first year back in office, we have delivered the most secure border in American history,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in early February.She said January was the ninth month in a row that border agents released zero undocumented people inside US territory. This is what the agency does with people who are not sent right back into Mexico and instead are awaiting a court date to determine if they can stay.The main park in the border town of Eagle Pass, 112 miles (180 km) northwest of Laredo, was militarized with troops in January 2024. They and a barrier of large orange buoys in the river are meant to deter illegal crossings. Access to the river is also blocked with barbed wire.This ruined 65-year-old Jessie Fuentes’ business offering kayak trips on the river.He said the administration cares only about security, not the environmental impact of what it is doing to keep people from crossing the river.”Like you see, it’s all dead behind me,” he said as he stood at a ten-foot (three-meter) fence blocking access to the water.Villasenor said claims by Trump and other conservatives that migrants who enter the United States illegally are criminals bent on causing harm to Americans are bogus.”The need for the wall is very false, but they’re saying this. The people that are saying this is people in Washington, DC,” said Villasenor.”The landowners, the people that live right there along the river, are not scared of anything,” he said.

Physician-turned-influencer Peter Attia has left television network CBS News following the publication of hundreds of emails the commentator exchanged with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, US media reported.Attia was part of a new group of contributors announced last month by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has clashed with the network’s news division over editorial matters.A spokesman for Attia told CNBC the longevity guru’s role had “not meaningfully begun” and he resigned to avoid becoming “a distraction from the important work being done at CBS.”Attia, who has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, wrote in a post on X earlier this month, “My interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.”But the released files revealed that Attia sent Epstein some vulgar notes about women, and in a June 24, 2015 email Attia wrote to Epstein that the “biggest problem” with being friends was “the life you lead is so outrageous and yet I can’t talk about it to anyone.”Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes with minors in 2008, and he was alleged to have been a purveyor of underage sex to some of the world’s most powerful men.Attia had more than a million subscribers on his YouTube channel, and the Washington Post reported that his name appears in hundreds of documents in the Epstein case.In the X post dated February 2, Attia described the Epstein he knew as “a funder of science” who “moved openly among credible institutions and public figures.” “In retrospect, the presence and credibility of such venerable people in different orbits led me to make assumptions about him that clouded my judgment in ways it shouldn’t have,” Attia wrote.Attia said he visited Epstein’s New York City home “seven or eight” times between 2014 and 2019 “regarding research studies and to meet others he introduced me to.”The departure from CBS makes Attia one of the few American public figures to face a consequence over consorting with Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison in New York while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minors. Other US-based Epstein penpals who have resigned since the Department of Justice began releasing his private emails include billionaire Thomas Pritzker, who left his executive chairman role at the Hyatt hotel group, and Kathryn Ruemmler, who left Goldman Sachs where she was general counsel. US justice officials have declined to pursue new charges since the files have been disclosed, stirring public outrage and raising more questions amid continued demands from alleged victims seeking justice. Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell has been successfully prosecuted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade.