Disney said its amusement parks in the US will take a hit in the months ahead due to flagging numbers of international visitors. The company said it would offset this by marketing to US customers and still expected the parks business – a key profit driver – to deliver modest growth. The number of foreign visitors to the US dropped last year for the first time since 2020, with some analysts linking it to a backlash against President Donald Trump’s policies. Disney did not respond to a question about what was driving the shift but its comments add to concerns…
Author: Oki Bin Oki
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is taking over his artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, as the billionaire continues to unify some of his many business interests. SpaceX confirmed the deal to acquire xAI, a smaller firm known for its Grok chatbot, posting a memo from Musk about the merger on its website. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, a source familiar said it valued xAI at $125bn (£91bn) and SpaceX at $1tn, making it the most valuable private company ever. In his memo, Musk said the combination would form an “innovation engine” putting AI, rockets, space-based internet, and media under one…
Kenya’s central bank warned people to stop using banknotes to make floral-like bouquets and decorations, which has become a trend in the country. They are often ordered in the run-up to Valentine’s Day – and have been popularised by celebrities and online influencers, who share videos of themselves presenting such bouquets during celebrations. To make the cash bouquets, notes of different colours and value are rolled and then fastened together in a style that makes them look like a bunch of flowers. But the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says the creators are defacing the Kenyan currency and could face…
Police specialising in combating cyber-crime, assisted by Europol, have raided the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, in France. The Paris prosecutor said it related to an investigation into the content recommended by X’s algorithm, which had subsequently been widened to include its controversial AI chatbot, Grok. The prosecutor’s office added both Musk and former X chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino had been summoned to appear at hearings in April as part of its probe. It has previously described the investigation as an attack on free speech. The investigation into X began in January 2025 before being expanded…
Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration’s ongoing feud with the institution. The news comes after the New York Times reported that the US president’s administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university. Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for “feeding a lot of nonsense” to the New York Times. Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation. Harvard has been a…
An official in Fulton County, Georgia, has announced the county will challenge the legality of the FBI’s search and seizure of 2020 election records. Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said the effort will seek to “force the government to return the ballots taken.” Arrington said that the county’s attorneys are expected to file a motion in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia to fight the action of Trump’s Justice Department and the FBI. The FBI served a warrant last Wednesday at the Fulton County election office, near Atlanta, Georgia, taking 700 boxes of election materials as it probes alleged…
President Donald Trump on Monday announced he would reduce tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for, among other things, a promise to stop buying Russian oil. That will be a tall task: India has been importing roughly 1.5 million barrels of Russian oil each day — even months after Trump placed tariffs on Indian goods as punishment — according to Kpler, a global trade data provider. Russian oil makes up more than a third of India’s overall imports. Trump said in a social media post that he spoke Monday morning with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who agreed to replace…
Austro-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach is facing a sexual assault trial this week in Toronto that will be decided solely by a judge. Stronach, the 93-year-old founder of an international automotive parts company and one of Canada’s richest men, has been charged in relation to more than a dozen historical sexual assault allegations that span nearly a half-century. Prosecutors have split his case into two separate proceedings, with the Toronto trial set to begin first on Tuesday. A second trial in nearby York Region is scheduled for the spring. Stronach has pleaded not guilty to the 12 Toronto charges, and has…
The son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has been arrested by police on suspicion of assault, before he goes on trial in Oslo on Tuesday on 38 charges, including the rape of four women. Marius Borg Høiby, 29, was remanded in custody for four weeks. Police said the latest allegations against him involved wielding a knife and violating a restraining order, and there was a risk of reoffending. His arrest on Sunday is the fourth time he has been detained by police since August 2024, when he was accused of assaulting a woman he had been having a relationship with.…
A five-year-old boy and his father who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota have returned home, a US congressman has said. Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, announced on Sunday that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias had been released from a detention centre in Dilley, Texas and had travelled back to Minneapolis. “Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack,” Castro said. The detainment of the pair sparked protests outside the detention facility where they were being held and led to a national outcry. The Department of Homeland Security…
The US has declared a stark policy shift towards three West African countries which are battling Islamist insurgents and whose military governments have broken defence ties with France and turned towards Russia. The state department announced that Nick Checker, head of its Bureau of African Affairs, would visit Mali’s capital Bamako to convey the United States’ “respect for Mali’s sovereignty” and chart a “new course” in relations, moving “past policy missteps”. It adds that the US also looks forward to co-operating with Mali’s allies, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, “on shared security and economic interests”. Absent from the agenda is…
The government l rolled out a nationwide mobile identity registration programme aimed at ending historical marginalisation and easing access to citizenship documents, Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has said. Speaking on Monday during the launch of the Usajili Mashinani Mobile ID Registration and Sensitisation Drive in Kapenguria, West Pokot County, Murkomen said the initiative is designed to eliminate barriers that have long locked out vulnerable communities from accessing national identification documents and government services. “We are committed to ending historical marginalisation, inequality and exclusion from citizenship rights and government services,” Murkomen said. “That is why we are…
The mother of US news anchor Savannah Guthrie has gone missing, officials in Arizona said on Sunday. Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of the NBC News host, was last seen outside Tucson, Arizona, according to missing persons flyers. Her family reported her missing on Sunday afternoon, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, noting that parts of the scene at Nancy Guthrie’s home caused “grave concern”. “We can confirm this is a missing persons case, and the family is working closely with local law enforcement,” the Guthrie family said in a statement to NBC News. “This one stood out because of…
The Justice Department’s latest releaseof the Epstein files offers fresh insights into how former President Bill Clinton’s staff communicated with Jeffrey Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including sometimes-lewd email exchanges. The document dump comes just days before an expected House contempt vote against the Clintons after they rebuffeda subpoena to testify in a bipartisan probe into Epstein. The Republican-led House is expected to vote this week to hold both Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for failing to testify. House Oversight Republicans and even some Democrats voted in committee last month to hold the former president…
Demond Wilson, who found fame in the 1970s playing Lamont on “Sanford and Son” and went on to become a minister, has died. He was 79. Mark Goldman, a publicist for Wilson, confirmed to The Associated Press that he died following complications from cancer on Friday. “A devoted father, actor, author, and minister, Demond lived a life rooted in faith, service, and compassion. Through his work on screen, his writing, and his ministry, he sought to uplift others and leave a meaningful impact on the communities he served,” Goldman said in an emailed statement. Wilson was best known as the…