Month: February 2026

Rory McIlroy shot a four-under-par 67 but it was not enough to overhaul winner Jacob Bridgeman, who won by one shot at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy started the day six shots off the lead but despite making five birdies he could not catch American Bridgeman, who got over the line with a one-over-par 72 to finish on 18 under.

Bridgeman, who held a seven-shot lead early in the day, held back tears on the 18th green before sinking a three-foot putt for his first PGA Tour title.

He is also the first man to win the prestigious event in his tournament debut since 1975.

Bridgeman’s victory continues his good start to the year having had two top-10 finishes in his opening four events, including last week’s eighth place at Pebble Beach.

The 26-year-old’s three bogies on the final day at the Riviera Country Club gave the chasing players hope, including countryman Kurt Kitayama, who finished tied for second with McIlroy on 17 under after carding a seven-under-par 64.

World number two McIlroy was even par after the first nine holes, but made four birdies on the back nine, including a brilliant hole-out from the greenside bunker on the 12th, to put pressure on Bridgeman.

A nervy closing three holes saw Bridgeman bogey 16 then leave his putt on 18 over three feet short, after McIlroy had drained a 30 footer to get within a shot, to ensure a tense final stroke in front of tournament host Tiger Woods.

Bridgeman held his nerve though to claim a first PGA Tour title in style, with victory at one of the Signature Events moving him inside the top 25 of the world rankings for the first time.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood shot a four-under-par 67 to finish joint-seventh on 12-under, which included a slam dunk eagle with his approach shot on 15 from 173 yards out.

World number one Scottie Scheffler made a flying finish with his 65 seeing him recover from his bad start on Thursday to finish in joint 12th.

That meant an end to Scheffler’s brilliant run of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour.

England’s Marco Penge, who was the joint-leader alongside Bridgeman after the second round, ended in tied for 16th place on 10 under.

Max Greyserman provided another big highlight of the day as he made a hole-in-one at the 14th, which illuminated an otherwise difficult day for him as he made four bogeys and a double bogey in his 73.

India were bowled out for 111 chasing 188-run target and must now win their next two games to qualify for the semifinals.

India have been handed a 76-run defeat by South Africa in their first cricket match of the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup and now must win their next two games to have a chance of reaching the semifinals.

The defending champions were bowled out for 111 in 18.5 overs while chasing a target of 188 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India on Sunday.

It was the cohosts’ first loss of the tournament and also ended their 12-match winning streak in the T20 World Cup that they had carried on from their title-winning run in 2024.

South Africa’s bowlers put on a near-perfect display against a strong Indian batting lineup, and were backed by their fielders to leave the pre-tournament favourites reeling.

India lost their in-form opener Ishan Kishan on the fourth ball of the innings to the offspin bowling of South Africa’s captain Aiden Markram while trying to hit against the spin.

One-down batter Tilak Varma was the next to fall as he was caught behind off the first ball of Marco Jansen’s over.

India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and out-of-form star batter Abhishek Sharma tried to rebuild their innings until Sharma fell in the fifth over after scoring 15 runs off 12 deliveries.

Incoming batter Washington Sundar and Yadav were the next two wickets to fall as India failed to build a big partnership in front of a large home crowd.

A 35-run partnership between all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube lifted the Indian run chase briefly, but South Africa’s disciplined bowling and near-faultless fielding resulted in regular dismissals for the home side.

When Dube fell for 42 off 37, India’s fate was sealed.

Jansen’s superb bowling earned him four wickets for 22 runs off 3.5 overs , while left-arm spin bowler Keshav Maharaj took three for 24 in his four overs.

All of South Africa’s bowlers were economical, with Lungi Ngidi leading the way by conceding only 15 runs in his four wicketless overs.

Earlier, player of the match David Miller’s crucial innings of 63 runs off 35 balls stabilised South Africa’s innings after they were reduced to 20-3 in four overs.

He shared a 97-run partnership with Dewald Brevis, who scored 45 off 29 balls, as the pair resurrected the Proteas after Markram decided to bat first after winning the toss in the first Super Eight match in Group 1.

Despite Miller’s dismissal in the 16th over, South Africa were able to post a formidable total of 187-7, thanks to a 24-ball 44 not out by Tristan Stubbs at the end of the innings.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up 3-15 off his four overs.

The loss propels South Africa to the top of Group 1 in the Super Eight stage, with India at the bottom with a net run rate of -3.80.

The defending champions must win their remaining two games to have a chance of qualifying for the semifinals.

West Indies and Zimbabwe are the other two teams in their group and will face each other on Monday.

South Africa face the West Indies on Thursday, while India play Zimbabwe on Friday.

The Afghanistan crisis is generally spoken of as a crisis of the hour in terms of the Taliban, outside power intervention, or an unsuccessful election season. Such framing is not as profound as the problem. The state and province conquests, bargaining, and coercion united Afghanistan, the state, but not a civic transaction between peoples. Although the significance of an actual national flag was yet to arrive, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras, Pashtuns, and minorities occupied different regions, related to regional leaders, tribal councils, and local trade routes. The power was not national but local and individual. The contemporary state emerged later, and at the inception of its emergence, it was naturally skewed in a manner that remained to fulfil the definition of politics.

The birth of Ahmad Shah Abdali, recalled as Ahmad Shah Durrani in the middle of the eighteenth century, could be recalled as one of the foundational legends. It was also when the military alliance of one community had become the core of the state’s strength. The shell of a state was built by Ahmad Shah through warfare, and the coalition of Pashtun tribes consolidated the territory and gained more lands, with the foundation of a heterogeneous and broad territory. The logic, however, was not inclusion. It was piety, preference, and blackmail. Peripheral territories like the non-Pashtun were to be ruled as they were expected to submit, pay, or surrender when the center was strong and to ignore when it was weak. That model had never killed with Ahmad Shah. It was a practice that has been emulated by other leaders who have come after and tried to play a stage of unity without building institutions that can be regarded as belonging to all groups.

The trend was established following the demise of Ahmad Shah. Kabul was rarely what it purported to be. Power moved around among leaders, but the leadership was generally stopped at metropolises, armies, and major highways. Large areas were something like semi-autonomous states, which cooperated with the state, fought it, or alternated in each of the seasons. When they say that Afghanistan has never had full rule of its own land, people are not hurting the country; they are saying a structural truth, which is that the center has never had sovereignty and has never received legitimacy on the full map. The actual authority was left to the ethnic groups, strongmen, clerics, and commanders. In that perspective, any change in Kabul became existential to the non-residents of the city, as the state was no competition referee but a prize.

Even the geography and the demography make this worse. Pashtuns have been estimated to be approximately 42 percent, Tajiks approximately 27 percent, and Hazaras and Uzbeks approximately 9 percent, and the rest are made up of Turkmen, Baloch, and others. Two official languages exist: Pashto and Dari, but the status of any language could never be a purely cultural one since it was always a political one. Even the name of the country, Afghanistan, is perceived by most Afghans as a loaded word, and that practice is tied to the Pashtun identity and leadership even when they are being applied as a national one. People are angry because of the gap between the way the label instructs us to feel and the way that people feel. Pleas of togetherness are empty when the name of a state is doubted even in real life.

The south, northeast, and many of the cities are then the Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, and Hazara distributions, respectively. These areas are not eliminated by violent migration, displacement in war, or careful political manipulation. Rather, the blurring would contribute to some new fault lines, and communities would need to be pushed into the interspace of their neighbors without an established system of solving disagreements without favoritism. The cross-border relationships include the Tajiks and Tajikistan, Uzbeks and Uzbekistan, and Pashtuns and Pakistan, and there is a stable tug-of-war that the neighbors and patrons can make use of. A low external and high center connection is a formula for continued disintegration.

This is the sphere where the aspect of security cannot be neglected. The decades of controversial control and open borders have transformed parts of Afghanistan into an attractive location for militants that occupy uncontrolled space. When the state cannot provide some kind of protection over territory, the armed networks take its position and deliver protection, taxation, ideology, and logistics. These networks do not have a localization. Training, financing, and planning have border-crossing characteristics, subjecting the region to an environment of a shared threat. At that, the question is not only a moral or historical one, but one of expediency: what are the political structures that may be implemented to make sure that Afghanistan will no longer remain a jihadist temptation to armed groups that can break the peace of its neighbors?

The solution is suggested in a provocative manner, and that is the territorial restructuring, a peaceful partitioning of the state along ethnic and regional lines: Uzbek majority areas become Uzbekistan, Tajik majority areas become Tajikistan, Pashtun majority areas become Pakistan, another separate state is established called Hazaras, etc. The appeal is obvious. It will eliminate the sovereignty of a group, a distinct line of power, and smaller political units, which might be more efficient to govern. It also tries to compare borders to lives in stating that when people believe that the state is an extension of them and not the rulers of the state, then stability is achieved.

OLIVIA Attwood has begged fans to put her in touch with a higher power as she’s convinced her new London flat is cursed, amid the shock split from her ex Bradley Dack.

It was revealed back in January that ITV’s Olivia and her footballer husband Bradley, 32, had split over what was called “a breach of trust” on his part.

The stunning blonde recently moved in to a very stylish new pad in the wake of the split.

Olivia showed off her incredibly spacious home to fans as she begun a new life chapter.

She captioned the Instagram video: “2026.. a new home in the city I was born in.”

But now, despite her jaw-dropping open plan kitchen, pine oak floors and sensational floor to ceiling mirrors the star is convinced her new home is cursed.

Read More on Olivia Attwood

BEDROOM BATTLE

Olivia Attwood strips off to sheer bra after admitting struggle to orgasm

SPLIT UPDATE

Olivia Attwood hints she’s formally divorcing ex Bradley Dack

After having one too many accidents in the London abode, Olivia took to social media to get advice on whether she needed to move out.

The Loose Women panellist moved in just weeks ago however it seems she may already need to pack her bags.

Olivia asked her 2.5 million fans on Instagram: “Can someone who is contacted by a higher power talk to the universe and tell me if I need to move out of this apartment pls lol.

“Since I moved in something breaks EVERY single day, I actually feel like it’s cursed.”

Olivia appears to be having a string of bad luck in her new place and has now turned to fans for a helping hand.

This comes amid the stars sad split from her ex Bradley Dack. The pair had been on and off before they married in June 2023.

Olivia and Bradley married in a lavish affair at the luxury five-star hotel Bulgari in Knightsbridge.

The pair started dating before former model Olivia’s stint on Love Island in 2017 – which she has confessed she joined as revenge for his cheating on her.

Olivia recently dropped a huge hint she’s formerly divorcing her ex as she sat down for a chat with celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton.

Chris Appleton joked on her podcast Olivia’s House: “There’s nothing like a marriage to grow an ass, and nothing like a divorce to lose it, right?”

Olivia agreed: “Yeah and now I’m like whoop [flat] from the front to the back.”

Despite pals telling The Sun she was talking about divorce and it was all feeling very final for her, this was the first time the TV presenter has publicly acknowledgment a potential divorce.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball team beat Wisconsin 80-60 on Sunday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion. Lauren Betts recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds — including three in quick succession in the fourth quarter — as the Bruins celebrated their six graduates on Senior Day by winning their 21st game in a row. Five Bruins — all seniors — scored in double digits.

Gabriela Jaquez had 14 points and six rebounds in the first half for the Bruins, while the Badgers’ leading scorer, Dorja Zaja, had 10 points in the first half and 16 on the game.

While Jaquez led the way in the first half, Betts took over in the second, with a double-double in the second half alone.

After jumping out to a 14-4 lead just over three minutes into the game, UCLA (27-1 overall, 17-0 in the Big Ten) was held scoreless from the field for nearly five minutes, until a Betts basket ended the drought. Wisconsin (13-15, 5-12) cut the lead in half to 16-11 during that stretch, but UCLA extended it to 25-15 to end the first quarter.

The Badgers committed six fouls in the first quarter and the Bruins capitalized for seven points from the free-throw line.

Wisconsin held nearly even with UCLA on the scoreboard in the second quarter (15-14), while leading the rebound game 12-9.

The Badgers scored the first five points of the third quarter to tighten the gap to seven, but the Bruins took control from there and led 65-49 by the end of the quarter.

The Bruins won the fourth quarter 15-11, and they took time for the crowd to honor their seniors as the quarter came to a close.

UCLA has one remaining game in the regular season, against USC on March 1.

Feb. 22 (UPI) — A nuclear deal will be the subject of negotiations between Washington and Iran Thursday, officials say.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, in Geneva following receipt of the proposal, which is expected Tuesday.

“If Iran gives a draft proposal, the U.S. is ready to meet in Geneva in order to start detailed negotiations to see if we can get a nuclear deal,” officials said, per Axios.

President Donald Trump had previously suggested that failure to reach a deal would lead to “bad things.”

Araghchi is slated to finish that proposal by Monday, the outlet reported.

“So there is no need for any military buildup, and military buildup cannot help it and annot pressurize us,” Araghchi said, CBS News reported.

He added that “If the U.S. attacks us, then we have every right to defend ourselves. Our missiles cannot hit the American soil. So obviously we have to do something else. We have to hit, you know, the Americans’ base in the region.”

Authors: Ajay Kumar Mishra and Shraddha Rishi*

At the Davos World Economic Forum, Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, shared his thoughts on the hegemonic and subservient world order. When integration turns into a source of subordination, one cannot “live within the lie” of mutual benefit in the midst of a collapsing global order. The trading communities appear to have a hegemonic and subservient relationship as a result of the dollar’s adoption as the world’s reserve currency. Furthermore, the competing global order between the US and China appears to be caving in to Chinese modus operandi without investigating the reasons for US authoritarian dominance, which could result in the acceptance of Chinese domination. The recognition of the US dollar as the worldwide currency and its dominance over oil, one of the most traded commodities, have put the US in leadership of the world trading regime. Furthermore, it appears that China’s monopoly over rare earth elements (REEs) is giving the Chinese yuan the same reserve currency power. Therefore, the globe might witness a change of control from the US to China, thus jeopardizing the world trading system to the whims and fancies of the country holding the reserve currency.

:

According to this essay, the dollar’s reserve currency status is the true cause of the world order’s disintegration, which equates to allowing the US to take the only seat at the table. It contends that a multipolar currency is essential for a multipolar world order. This understanding is necessary to prevent the rule of any country based on currency supremacy. Diversifying the currency basket for trade transactions is encouraged. To show how the currency dominance of a reserve currency would rise to currency imperialism, this article looks into the petrodollar problem and the duality of reserve currency and trade deficit to delegitimize the necessity of the dollar as a reserve currency. Any currency in question is subject to the same reasoning. Thus, a multi-currency trading framework is advocated in this article.

Geoeconomics of the Petrodollar Crisis’s Spiral

The dollar controls trade, payments, and reserves. About 96 percent of trade in the Americas, 74 percent in the Asia-Pacific area, and 79 percent in the rest of the world is denominated in the currency. About 60 percent of international and foreign currency claims (mainly loans) and liabilities (mostly deposits) are in US dollars. Its proportion of foreign exchange transactions is roughly 90 percent. Approximately 60% of the world’s official foreign reserves are in US dollars. Furthermore, in Q1 2025, the US dollar’s percentage of global foreign exchange reserves dropped to 53.6%. Additionally, the 50-year security agreement with Saudi Arabia to price oil only in dollars and invest surpluses in U.S. Treasury bonds in exchange for military protection expired in 2024. This could result in a shift toward accepting different currencies, albeit it won’t happen right away. Additionally, countries like Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly using non-dollar currencies for energy trade, aiming to reduce reliance on Western financial networks.

To achieve its geoeconomic goals, US authorities have attempted to preserve the dollar’s reserve currency status in several ways, compensating for economic weaknesses such as a lack of competitiveness in particular. The US appears to be addressing the growing trade deficit by maintaining the dollar as the world’s currency and matching China’s hegemony over rare earth elements. The US’s current dominance over the trade regime is largely due to dollar-based trade. The oil trade in dollars gives the US significant influence to shape geopolitics globally, both bilaterally and multilaterally, as oil holds a premier position in the international trading landscape.One commodity (oil) and one currency (the US dollar) have the power to both destabilise and stabilise the global price system. Its “as good as gold” quality can only be maintained in a world where the dominant currency is no longer associated with gold if it is associated with oil, that is, if wealthy people have faith that oil prices won’t continue to rise relative to the US dollar. The US gains influence over the oil trade by controlling the petro-dollar trade.

The globe is essentially on an “oil-dollar standard” during the post-Bretton Woods system, when currencies are meant to be “floating.” The US is under pressure to control oil sources, which it does through coercion or persuasion, to maintain wealth-holders’ faith in the value of the dollar, without which the global economy will experience severe financial turmoil, particularly given the ongoing US current account deficit. In a nutshell, war is a result of today’s necessity to preserve US financial stability. It does, however, produce a spiral effect. To control a significant oil source for financial stability, the US attacked oil-rich Iraq and, more recently, Venezuela. However, as a result of the opposition this strike provoked, oil prices skyrocketed, increasing the threat to financial stability and the temptation to wage war on other oil-rich nations like Iran. Additionally, the US would experience the same spiral consequences in a much more severe form if it decided to go to war with Iran.

The Reserve Currency and Trade Deficit “Trade-off”

Trade deficit and reserve currency operate in a trade-off scenario wherein a nation whose currency serves as the world’s reserve currency must maintain a trade deficit. It is based on two fundamental ideas. The first is the ‘policy trilemma’ or ‘impossible trinity’ thesis of economists Robert Mundell and Marcus Fleming. It contends that an economy cannot sustain unrestricted capital flow, a fixed exchange rate, and an autonomous monetary policy at the same time. The second paradox bears the name of Robert Triffin, an economist. This states that where their money works as the global reserve currency, a nation must run huge trade deficits to meet the demand for reserves. Any candidate for a new global reserve currency position must run significant current account deficits and risk an intolerable loss of economic control.

However, trade imbalances are thought to be self-correcting. A nation’s currency is predicted to lose value when it has a trade imbalance. Exports will then rise, while imports will fall, resulting in a reduction in the trade deficit. However, as the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, this idea does not apply to the US economy. A large portion of a country’s foreign exchange reserves is invested in US government securities. As a result, the dollar is overpriced. A chronic trade deficit results from higher imports and lower exports due to an overpriced dollar. Therefore, the US has a trade deficit not because it imports more goods, but rather because it supplies the world’s reserve currency.

In the face of “unfair” trade and an overpriced currency, how can the US bring manufacturing back and lower the country’s trade deficit? Enter duties on imports. Tariffs will decrease imports and increase their cost, lowering the trade imbalance. By shielding American manufacturers from import competition, they will promote domestic production. However, the US’s return to a more protectionist policy through tariffs has led to increased bilateral commerce in non-dollar currency. For instance, India-Russia oil trade and China’s increasing use of bilateral currency swaps with its trading partners have caused major concern for the US reserve currency supremacy. Moreover, it caused a spiral effect. For example, the reserve currency of the central banks has become less dollarized as a result of the recent US policy of reciprocal tariffs to safeguard trade transactions in dollars. It promotes asking about options for a reserve currency basket and the possibility of de-dollarization. Trump has made no secret about retaining the US dollar’s global supremacy, even threatening the BRICS nations with 100% additional tax should they move forward with a unified currency to “degenerate” and “destroy” the dollar. After all, de-dollarization has the potential to tip the scales against the United States and reduce its capacity to influence international financial markets and the global economy. Furthermore, to protect dollar dominance from the assault of renewable energy, the US withdrawal from India’s solar alliance must be considered.

Economists fear that tariffs go against the concept of economic efficiency. Tariffs, they warn, will imply greater expenses for American consumers, an increase in the inflation rate, and an inefficient manufacturing sector. Moreover, tariffs will encourage nations to undermine the dollar’s standing as a reserve currency by making imports more expensive. It will portend the trading of multiple currencies. Even when Trump managed the inevitability of a trade deficit because of having a reserve currency, the US was still faced with two additional problems: the increasing bilateral trade in member countries’ currencies and China’s control over modern-era gold, ‘rare earth minerals’ critical for key industries. China’s hegemony over REEs and chip production challenges the US dollar’s hegemony.

Conclusion

It reflects that the actual geo-economic strength of the US lies in the acceptability of its currency as a global reserve and its hold over one of the most traded commodities, oil. The rise of China and the evolving structure of international trade are changing the dynamics of this area, even though the US dollar continues to be the most important reserve currency. However, there wouldn’t be any surpluses to invest or deficits to finance if trade were more bilaterally balanced over time, which would lessen the demand for a reserve currency like dollars. The world looks to be headed towards a multi-currency structure for harmonious commercial ties. By encouraging alternate payment methods among trading nations and choosing the currency used for the IMF’s reserve holdings, for instance, it is necessary to end the US monopoly on currency arrangements. The structure can be extended to incorporate trading blocs, where imbalances net out amongst members when aggregated. It suggests a world with several reserve and trade currencies.

This bilateral or multilateral currency autarky might unleash the potential to trade freely as well as to obtain investment capital for emerging economies. Moreover, this strategy is embedded in the evolving industrial structure driven by economic sovereignty. Meanwhile, the US’s capacity to finance its ongoing budget and trade deficits would be impacted by the dollar’s declining value. Dollar interest rates may have to climb, and the currency may depreciate. The role of its capital markets and financial institutions would shrink. It would give more space for the formation of a multipolar currency regime.

*Shraddha Rishi teaches Political Science at Magadh University, Bodhgaya. She has obtained her PhD from the Centre for South Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi.

“LINDA looks so beautiful, so cool,” says Paul McCartney.

He’s just been watching a film about the decade of his life after The Beatles broke up — and it is filled with images of his much-missed first wife.

“The Linda stuff was very emotional,” he admits at the Man On The Run launch event in London.

“Linda, the kids, me and John [Lennon] — all these memories. It’s like my life flashing in front of me.”

Macca is talking to an intimate gathering that includes his daughter Stella, son James, superfan Noel Gallagher and the actor who will play him in a forthcoming biopic, Paul Mescal. Oh, and me.

He continues: “Seeing me and Linda interacting is special because, you know, she’s not here.

BAFTA GLAM

Maura Higgins and Sadie Sink leads stars at the Bafta film awards

WHINE & DINE

Brooklyn and Nicola’s life of nepo luxury… from £75k wine to supercar garage

“So is seeing the kids when they were little, because they’re not little any more. They’ve got kids of their own now.”

The film stirs memories of forming his own band, Wings, with Linda in 1971, prompting this from McCartney: “We tried to follow The Beatles — it’s mad!”

It also brings into sharp focus his relationship with Lennon, which broke down in the wake of The Beatles split but, as we see, they reconciled shortly before John’s death.

Directed by Oscar-winning Morgan Neville, Man On The Run is a masterpiece of ­documentary storytelling.

Rich in source material, partly because Linda was a professional photographer who also shot home movies, it is raw, heartfelt, funny, poignant and, crucially, not remotely sugar-coated.

Before the screening starts, Sir Paul, looking fit and well for his 83 years, strolls on to the stage and quips: “I just want to say thank you to Morgan for keeping in all the embarrassing moments that I asked him to take out.”

But let’s get back to the big ­question: How DO you follow The Beatles?

It was a conundrum that weighed heavily on McCartney as the ­Swinging Sixties drew to a close.

As he puts it himself in the movie, the first thing he did was “escape” and then he had to learn how “to grow up”.

He had married American Linda Eastman in March, 1969, at Marylebone Town Hall, London, and soon afterwards adopted her daughter Heather from a previous marriage.

McCartney was still only 27 when, on April 10, 1970, he told the world that he, John Lennon, George ­Harrison and Ringo Starr were going their separate ways.

The announcement came amid acrimony over the band’s crooked business manager Allen Klein, favoured at the time by John and the others but later described by Paul as “a sort of demon”.

It was all over for the band of four likely lads from Liverpool who changed popular culture for ever.

In private, McCartney had known for months that his songwriting partner Lennon was leaving.

“John broke up The Beatles,” Macca affirms in Man On The Run. “But I got the rap. And that’s a bit of a weight to bear.”

Around the same time as ­Lennon’s bombshell, in late 1969, there were rumours across the US and around the world that “Beatle Paul may be dead”.

There’s a hilarious moment in the film when his younger brother Mike is asked whether it’s true.

“It’s a hoax, it’s a con,” he exclaims, before being asked when was the last time he saw his brother.

Mike replies: “The last time? It was his funeral, I think!”

It turned out that McCartney had the perfect bolthole, in an archetypal middle of nowhere, to hide away and reset his life.

In 1966, he had bought High Park Farm, a 183-acre sheep farm on the Mull of Kintyre (yes, that explains the song) in Argyllshire, only reached via a “long and winding” track.

With its corrugated iron roof and general state of dilapidation, it was, as someone in the film points out, the sort of place a poor farm labourer might baulk at accepting.

But, as the Sixties ebbed to a close, Paul, Linda, their daughters, Heather and baby Mary, plus their Old English Sheepdog ­Martha decamped to the Scottish wilds.

In the movie, McCartney suggests, “We got up there to escape”, and ponders whether he would write “another note of music” before confessing to drowning himself in one wee dram of Scotch after another.

But, with the responsibility of supporting a young family on his shoulders, he realised that “it was a question of HAVING to grow up”.

At the Man On The Run launch, McCartney reflects: “With The Beatles, we were just lads. Everyone, all our management, used to call us ‘the boys’.

“Then I got married and then there was a baby [Mary] on the way.

“I had to grow up. I thought, ‘We can’t just be these ‘boys’ any more’. It was time to think about stuff.

“Even though the film is kind of madcap and you see all our insane decisions, in the background there were some sensible decisions, too.”

He remembers how Linda was his guiding light through those years.

“If there was an idea that was a little bit crazy, I’d say, ‘Should I do that? Could I do that?’ She’d say, ‘It’s allowed’. It was a brilliant philosophy in life.”

Director Neville picks up on this theme: “I looked into the questions Paul was trying to ask of himself, questions that I felt were universal.

“How do you deal with your own legacy and the expectations people have of you? How do you balance your career with your family?

“In Paul’s case, he made them one and the same. And that, I thought, was completely inspirational.”

Though Kintyre provided a necessary respite from the dazzling glare of publicity, Macca has never been far away from making music. It’s in his blood.

In 1970, he released his debut solo album, simply titled McCartney, with its intimate DIY aesthetic and featuring at least two songs with his beloved partner in mind — The Lovely Linda and Maybe I’m Amazed.

In 1971, he formed Wings with ex-Moody Blues musician Denny Laine and, controversially, Linda, who until that point had little or no experience, as core members.

Rehearsals for their debut album Wild Life took place at Macca’s converted barn in Scotland, dubbed Rude Studio.

It felt to him as if he was starting over, at the bottom of the pile.

“It was so impossible to do something like that,” he says today.

“Just go back to square one, show up at a university, don’t book hotels, take the dogs in a van. For some reason, we thought it was a great idea!”

If Wings took time to take flight, everything changed in 1973 when they released third album Band On The Run, loaded with classic tunes such as the title track, Jet and Let Me Roll It.

Recorded in extraordinary ­circumstances at EMI’s studio in Lagos, Nigeria, not far from where Paul and Linda were mugged at knifepoint, it paved the way for ­stadium-sized shows in America.

Without the McCartneys’ sojourn to Scotland, there would have been no Mull Of Kintyre, which, at the time of its release in 1977, became the biggest selling single of all time.

A “love song” to that remote idyll, it featured Great Highland bagpipes played so passionately by the local Campbeltown Pipe Band.

Yet, interwoven with stories of Wings’ upward trajectory, there are musings on McCartney’s strained relationship with Lennon during the Seventies.

We’re reminded of John’s caustic song How Do You Sleep?, directed at Paul with its line, “The only thing you done was yesterday”.

And there’s his old buddy left thinking, “Aside from Yesterday, what about Eleanor Rigby, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Let It Be and the rest?”

Macca says: “As it shows in the film, I knew John from a very early age — we were just a couple of rock and roll fans.

“We enjoyed hanging out together and we started writing little songs round at my place.

“My dad had a pipe in his drawer. So we thought we’d smoke it. We couldn’t find any tobacco so we smoked tea! We had all those ­memories in common.

“Then we went through the whole trajectory of The Beatles. But John was always just that guy to me, even when he was being really mean and I was having to take it.

“At the same time, it was like, ‘Yeah, it’s just John, he does that’. He’d always done that — so that made it a little bit easier.

“But I loved him, you know. I loved all the guys in The Beatles.

“I try and think of how else it could have been, but with just me, John, George and Ringo, it was a magic grouping. And we did OK!”

Near the end of Man On The Run, you see McCartney being confronted by camera crews about the shocking death of Lennon, who had been shot the day before outside the Dakota Building apartment he shared with partner Yoko Ono in New York.

Macca was criticised at the time for a rather cool, unemotional response — but one look in his eyes reveals his utter devastation.

As for the aforementioned “embarrassing moments” on display in the film, they are what make it so refreshing and endearing.

Hence you see McCartney singing Mary Had A Little Lamb wearing a red clown’s nose with Wings guitarist Henry McCullough looking as if he wants the earth to swallow him.

There’s a moustachioed Paul in a baggy pink suit performing the cabaret-style Gotta Sing Gotta Dance, complete with dancing girls, for his 1973 variety show.

And what about him getting ­busted by Japanese cops in 1980 for having 219g of cannabis in his luggage, spending nine days in custody before being booted out of the country?

McCartney was supposed to be embarking on a Wings tour of Japan but, as it turned out, they never played together again.

He says: “So many bits are embarrassing. The look on Henry McCullough’s face! He’s not happy.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe we could cut those bits, the dance routine, cool out my image’.

“But Morgan said, ‘No, let me keep them in. You’ll see all that stuff but because you overcame it all and found yourself, you won in the end’.”

Finally, McCartney takes a long hard look at himself — at the ­person “growing up” in Man On The Run and the man he is today.

He says: “You start to see yourself, not just in the mirror, but to realise what your character is like.

“It’s natural for me to be enthusiastic so I don’t always see pitfalls, With me, it’s, “Nah, nah, just do it’.”

VERONA, Italy — In fair Verona, L.A., unofficially, takes the torch.

While the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France at Sunday’s closing ceremony, handing off the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will burn next in L.A.

In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is surging in popularity but unsteady in a changing world, as the Games return to Los Angeles for the third time.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to rake in record TV numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers took in the United States’ thrilling overtime win over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014 with an average of 26.7 million viewers who also watched U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal for women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.

The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan just as 41-year-old mother of two Elana Meyers Taylor did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first gold medal in bobsled, jumping into the arms of her nanny and, through tears, signing to her deaf children, “Mommy won.”

No matter protests, politics or planning hurdles, the Olympics sought to remain a stage for those athletes to shine.

“You showed us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said to the Olympians in her speech while standing on a platform in the stands placed in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”

After record numbers from the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, accounting for 80% of the expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations,” Milano Cortina 2026 chief executive officer Andrea Varnier said at a news conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, at 14%, bought the second-most tickets.

Fans filled arenas that were finished just in time in Milan. They withstood snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath while multiple skiers got airlifted off the downhill course in Cortina.

The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours on trains and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally united in a single city known for love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games represented seemingly every Shakespearean theme.

Athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which went through an average of 365 kilograms of pasta and 10,000 eggs a day. A cheating scandal rocked curling.

The closing ceremony set at the Roman amphitheater at the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But beneath the glittering gold medals, there was pain.

Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified when he refused to compete without his helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who’ve been killed in the war with Russia.

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.

(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

Already holding the weight of their personal dreams, U.S. athletes faced additional pressure answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess he said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States at the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old “a real loser” on social media.

Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” to his forehead after his first qualifying run.

Athletes pleaded for assistance navigating an onslaught of social media threats as the Olympic spotlight grows with every Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a safeguarding unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were taken down during the Paris Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games hadn’t been finalized.

With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second-most medals with 33, including 12 golds, the most Olympic titles for the country at any single Winter Games. The total gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.

After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice in the next eight years. L.A. will host the 2028 Games and Utah will have the 2034 Winter Games.

Approaching the final stretch of an 11-year planning period, the L.A. Games confronted another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman’s resignation after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files. After initial hesitation, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.

But LA28 doubled down on his role. The executive committee of the LA28 board stood by Wasserman after a review from an outside legal firm found that the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”

As with his 2026 organizing committee counterpart Giovanni Malago, Wasserman would be expected to deliver speeches in 2028.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi has confirmed that further talks between the United States and Iran will take place on Thursday amid spiralling tensions between the two countries.

“Pleased to confirm US-Iran negotiations are now set for Geneva this Thursday, with a positive push to go the extra mile towards finalizing the deal,” Albusaidi said in a social media post on Sunday.

The announcement comes as the US continues to amass military assets in the Middle East, raising concerns about an all-out war against Iran.

Hours before Oman’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was ready to put in place a “full monitoring mechanism” to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme and ease tensions.

Asked by Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan why Iran would want to pursue enrichment on its soil rather than buy enriched uranium from abroad, given the US military build-up and risk of an escalation, Araghchi said the issue was a matter of “dignity and pride” for Iranians.

“We have developed this technology by ourselves, by our scientists, and it is very dear to us because we have created it – we have paid a huge expense for that,” he said.

Araghchi cited among the costs two decades of US sanctions, the targeted killings of Iranian scientists, and US-Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities in June.

“We’re not going to give [our nuclear programme] up; there is no legal reason to do that while everything is peaceful and safeguarded” by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Araghchi said.

As a “committed member” of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires non-nuclear-weapon states not to seek or acquire nuclear weapons, Iran is “ready to cooperate with the agency in full”, Araghchi added.

But he stressed that under the treaty, Tehran also has “every right to enjoy a peaceful nuclear energy, including enrichment”.

“Enrichment is a sensitive part of our negotiations. The American team knows about our position, and we know their position. We have already exchanged our concerns, and I think a solution is achievable,” the minister noted.

Enrichment is the process of isolating and garnering a rare variant, or isotope, of uranium that can produce nuclear fission. At low levels, enriched uranium can power electric plants. If enriched to approximately 90 percent, it can be used for nuclear weapons.

US officials, including President Donald Trump, have previously suggested that Washington is seeking “zero enrichment” by Tehran.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any deal with Iran would need to include agreements on ballistic missiles and support for its allies in the region.

Araghchi, however, said on Sunday that Iran was “negotiating only nuclear” at the present time.

“There is no other subject,” he told CBS News, adding that he was optimistic that a deal could be reached.

The second round of nuclear talks concluded in Geneva on February 17. The US and Iran also held indirect talks in Oman earlier this month.

The Iranian delegation is working ahead of the meeting to present a draft that includes “elements which can accommodate both sides’ concerns and interests” to reach a “fast deal”, Araghchi said.

The top Iranian diplomat added the agreement would likely be “better” than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated by former US President Barack Obama in 2015.

“There are elements that could be much better than the previous deal,” he said, without elaborating. “Right now, there is no need for too much detail. But we can agree on our nuclear programme to remain peaceful forever and at the same time, for more sanctions [to be] lifted.”

Some observers were less optimistic about the chances of striking a deal. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, told Al Jazeera that Iran is likely to put forward a proposal that goes beyond anything they ever offered, but even that may not be enough.

“Trump has been sold a narrative by the Israelis that portrays Iran far, far weaker than it actually is. As a result, he’s adopting maximalist capitulation positions that are simply unrealistic based on how the power reality actually looks,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.

“Unless this gets corrected, even if the Iranians put forward a very far-leaning proposal that is extremely attractive to the US, Trump may still say no because he’s under the false belief that he can get something even better.”

Lula says he wants to tell US President Trump that Brazil wishes for all countries to be treated ‘equally’.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says his country does not want a “new Cold War”, ahead of his visit to the United States.

“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country; we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told a news conference at the end of his three-day trip to India on Sunday.

The Brazilian president has refused to comment on Friday’s US Supreme Court decision, which struck down many of Trump’s tariffs on goods entering the US. In response to the Supreme Court decision, Trump said that 15 percent levies would replace it under a different law.

Still, Lula said he is “convinced that Brazil-US relations will go back to normalcy after our conversation”, adding that Brazil has only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve [the] lives of our people”.

“The world doesn’t need more turbulence; it needs peace,” he added.

Lula said he expects to meet Trump during the first week of March, and his agenda will include trade, immigration, and investment.

While Lula has differed with Trump on issues such as tariffs, Israel’s war on Gaza, the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and Trump’s Board of Peace – a group of nations assembled to plan Gaza’s future – US and Brazil ties appear to be mending.

In November, for instance, Trump’s administration exempted key Brazilian exports from the 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the country.

Brazil-India

On Saturday, Lula met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Brazilian leader arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to attend a summit on AI.

The two leaders agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths, looking to diversify their trade.

Lula and Modi agreed on a non-binding memorandum of understanding on rare earths, which establishes a framework for cooperation, focusing on reciprocal investment, exploration, mining and other issues.

They also agreed on legal frameworks and other topics, including entrepreneurship, health, scientific research and education.

Kylie Jenner did not look very impressed with one of Alan Cumming’s jokes at the BAFTA Film Awards, at which her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet lost out on the Best Actor award

Kylie Jenner was left squirming at a joke Alan Cumming made about her at the BAFTAs. The reality TV star did not look impressed with the awards’ host’s X-rated gag.

During the ceremony, Alan walked through the audience, offering them snacks. When he stopped by the seats that Kylie and her boyfriend Timothee Chalamet were sitting in, he asked the star: “Kylie, have you ever had your gums around a giant Jammie Dodger?”

Kylie shook her head and took the snack, looking visibly uncomfortable as she did so. She did not appear to be impressed by the double entendre, which earned only a few laughs from audience members.

READ MORE: Prince William delivers emotional BAFTA speech after ‘not calm’ commentREAD MORE: BAFTA viewers livid as heartbreaking memoriam segment ‘forgets’ huge stars

Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

Viewers at home also seemed to be unamused by Alan’s jokes. One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Alan Cummings’ jokes falling flat.” Another added: “Not funny. Not a good presenter. It’s just painful to watch and hear.”

“There is absolutely nothing funny about Alan Cumming? This whole opening monologue is toe-curlingly awkward,” a third fan said. A fourth added: “Alan Cumming is making me cringe already.” While a fifth said: “Will someone purleeze get Alan Cumming off the stage.”

The 60-year-old actor, writer and presenter – known for hosting the US version of The Traitors and starring in American drama The Good Wife – hosted the event at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London for the first time on Sunday.

Others said it was likely not Alan’s fault but that of the scriptwriters. “I’ve got a funny feeling Alan Cumming might have been lumbered with the same scriptwriter David Tennant had when he hosted- oh dear,” said one.

Though no more jokes were made about Kylie, the night did not improve for her boyfriend, as Timothee lost out on the Best Actor award. He had been nominated for his role as the titular character in Marty Supreme, but the award ended up going to Robert Aramayo, who won for his role as John Davidson in I Swear.

Robert also won the Rising Star award for the same role. That award is the only one voted for by the public, and by winning both that and Best Actor, Robert was the only actor of the night to win more than one award.

The other acting awards went to Jessie Buckley, who won Best Actress, Wunmi Mosaku, who won Best Supporting Actress, and Sean Penn, who won Best Supporting Actor but was not present to take home his award.

Though Kylie attended the awards, she was not seen on the red carpet and instead snuck in separately. The Kardashians star, 28, has been in a relationship with the actor, 30, since 2023. The couple have made a series of appearances during this year’s award season, including the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

It is believed Kylie often skips red carpets to avoid stealing her partner’s spotlight and also to keep their relationship private, opting instead to support him from the audience or enter through alternative, quieter, or back entrances. Last year, a source told Grazia Daily that another reason why the pair avoid walking the red carpet together could be that they want to keep their work and their personal relationship separate.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

It’s back! A fantastic offer saving you money on your travel with Northern valid until March 27, 2026 with their Hop On Hop Off train ticket

The Mirror has teamed up with Northern Trains, to offer excellent prices on unlimited day or weekend train travel with their Hop On Hop Off train ticket, available between February 23 and March 27, 2026.

All you have to do is collect two tokens from the North edition of the Mirror between Monday, February 23 and Sunday, March 1, 2026, download a registration form from the Northern website and take them to your local staffed ticket office on the Northern network to redeem.

The best part is you can use your tickets to hop on any train on the Northern network!* So, if you’re looking for the perfect excuse to ride the rails as the days start to get longer or travel by train to one of the many great cities of the North, then this could be the ticket for you.

A great value train ticket that leaves you with more money in your pocket for that essential trip out treat! You can purchase either a Day ticket for £12 per adult or a Weekend ticket for £20 per adult. Don’t forget kids go half price on this offer, so you could take the whole family out for a fraction of the price!

The travel window will be open from February 23- March 27, 2026. (*No direct travel route available on Northern services between Newcastle and York).

Once you have your tokens, log in or register and complete the online form at northernrailway.co.uk/reachplc. Next, print the form, and hand it in at any local staffed ticket office on the Northern network to redeem. You will then be given the tickets to go do your thing!

Terms and Conditions: To qualify for this special offer, collect two tokens from the North edition of the Mirror between 23.02.26 and 01.03.26 and complete the online redemption form. Insert availability varies depending on title. Collect two tokens per redemption form. Two tokens allow you to buy up to four Northern Day Ranger tickets (£12 each) or four Weekend Rover Tickets (£20 each). Kids offer includes ages 5-15 years. Day Ranger ticket travel between 23.02.26 and 27.03.26. Weekend Rover ticket travel between 28.02.26 and 22.03.26. All tickets must be valid for travel on the same date. Tickets are valid on trains departing after 0845 Monday to Friday. Valid anytime at weekends, on Northern services only. *No direct travel route available on Northern services between Newcastle and York. Full t&c’s at northernrailway.co.uk/reachplc.

SAN FRANCISCO — While united against a common political enemy in the White House, the California Democratic Party remains deeply divided over how to address the state’s affordability crisis and who is best suited to lead the state in this turbulent era of President Trump.

Those fractures revealed themselves during the party’s annual convention in California’s liberal epicenter, San Francisco, where a slate of Democrats running to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom pitched very different visions for the state.

Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and wealthy financier Tom Steyer were among the top candidates who swung left, with Porter vowing to enact free childcare and tuition-free college and Steyer backing a proposed new tax on billionaires. Both candidates also support universal healthcare.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the newest major candidate to enter the race, hewed toward partisan middle ground, chastising leaders in Sacramento for allowing the state budget to balloon without tangible improvements to housing affordability, homelessness and public schools.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), a vociferous critic and constant target of the Trump administration, emerged from the convention with the greatest momentum after receiving the most votes for the California Democratic Party’s endorsement, with 24% of delegates backing him.

“The next governor has two jobs: one, to keep Donald Trump and ICE out of our streets and out of our lives, and two, to lower your costs on healthcare, on housing, on utilities,” Swalwell said. “Californians need a fighter and protector, and for the last 10 years, I’ve gone on offense against the worst president ever.”

Still, none of the top Democrats running for governor received the 60% vote needed to capture the endorsement, indicating just how uncertain the race remains just months away from the June primary.

Betty Yee, a former state controller and party vice chair, placed second in the endorsement vote with 17%; former U.S. Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra had 14%; and Steyer had 13%. The remaining candidates had single-digit levels of support from among the more than 2,300 delegates who cast endorsement votes.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) takes a selfie with supporters during the California Democratic Party’s annual convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Saturday.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Despite anxiety and infighting over the governor’s race, many in the party agreed that the most effective way to fight Trump is to win back control of the House in November’s midterm elections.

“We’re going to win the House. There’s absolutely no question we will win the House,” said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) at a Young Dems event on Friday evening. “We’re going to protect the election, we’re going to win the election, and we’re going to tell people the difference that we will make.”

Thousands of delegates, party allies and guests attended the weekend California Democratic Party convention at Moscone Center in the South of Market neighborhood. The gathering included a tribute to Pelosi as she serves her final term.

Party leaders did coalesce behind one of the Democrats running to replace Pelosi, Scott Wiener, a liberal state senator who is vying be the first openly gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress.

The convention comes as party members and leaders continue to soul search after Trump’s second election. California remains a stronghold of opposition to the president, but its next governor will also have to face a growing cost-of-living crisis in a state where utility costs keep climbing and the median single-family home price is more than double what it is nationally.

Under growing pressure, the candidates for governor went on the offensive at the party gathering. Candidates sniped at each other — though rarely by name — for being too rich, too beholden to special interests or for voting in the past in support of ICE and border wall funding.

While largely panned by delegates who tend to lean further left than the typical California Democratic voter, Mahan has jolted the race by quickly raising millions from tech industry leaders and targeting moderate voters with a message of getting the state “back to basics.”

“We are at risk of losing the trust of the people of California if we don’t hold ourselves accountable for delivering better results on public education, home building, public safety,” Mahan said. “We’re not getting the outcomes we need for the dollars we’re spending.”

Mahan has raised more than $7.3 million since entering the contest in late January, according to campaign finance disclosures of large contributions. Many of the donors are tied to the tech industry, such as Y Combinator, Doordash, Amazon and Thumbtack. Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso has also contributed the maximum allowed to Mahan’s campaign.

Technology businessman Dennis Bress, from Newport Beach, wears a pin supporting Planned Parenthood and a Yes on Proposition 50 shirt at the California Democratic Party convention at the Moscone Center on Friday in San Francisco.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Other candidates have raised concerns about the cash infusion, particularly Steyer, who has already dropped more than $37 million into his self-funded campaign and is pitching himself as a “billionaire who will take on the billionaires.”

“Here’s the thing about big donors: If you take their money, you have to take their calls,” Steyer said during his floor speech.

Delegates and party leaders said California’s next governor will have to continue leading the state’s aggressive opposition to Trump while dealing with the issues at home.

“I think people want a fighter,” said Rep. Dave Min (D-Irvine), who represents Porter’s former congressional district and has endorsed her in the governor’s race. “They want someone who’s going to stand up to Donald Trump but also fight to help average people who feel like they’re getting a raw deal in today’s America.”

Several of the candidates made the case that they could do both.

During her speech, Porter held up a whiteboard — her signature prop when grilling CEOs and Trump administration officials while she served in Congress — with “F— Trump” written on it.

“I’ll stand up to Trump and his cronies just like I did in Congress,” she said. “But this election for governor is about far more than defeating Trump.”

Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, called on Democrats to “send a message about democracy by rejecting billionaires and corporate-backed candidates.” She also rolled out a long list of “true affordability measures” including free child care, free tuition at public universities, and single-payer healthcare, though she did not specify how she would pay for them.

Fighting back against Trump is “the floor,” said 29-year-old Gregory Hutchins, an academic labor researcher from Riverside. “We need to go higher than the floor — what can you do for the people of California? We all recognize that this is a beautiful and wonderful state, but it is very difficult to afford living here.”

Even some delegates — often the most politically active members of a party — have yet to make up their minds in the governor’s race. Nearly 9% opted not to endorse a particular candidate at the convention.

“You want that perfect candidate. You want that like, yes, this is the person,” said Sean Frame, a school labor organizer from Sacramento who is running for state Senate. “And I don’t feel like there is one candidate for me that fits all that.”

For all the focus on affordability, there were undertones of growing frustration from even reliable Democratic allies over a lack of tangible results in a state where the median home price is more than $823,000. SEIU California president David Huerta said workers have “been deferring our power to elected leadership” for too long.

“I think we need to be the ones who set the agenda and hold them accountable to that agenda,” Huerta said. “And they need to be leading from the direction of working people.”

It’s a constant battle with Democrats at state and local levels to get fair pay, said Mary Grace Barrios, who left a career in insurance to take care of her disabled adult daughter.

Barrios makes $19 an hour as an in-home caregiver to other clients in Los Angeles County. When Newsom signed a law to raise wages for most healthcare workers to $25 an hour by 2030, in-home support staff like Barrios were not included.

“It’s so important that we be given the respect and pay we need to live because we can’t live on that amount,” she said, adding that it feels like a “constant attack by people in our own party that we supported, that forgot us.”

“As citizens, you get what you vote for, right? So we have to do it. We have to make the change.”

PHOENIX — Dalton Rushing’s first year in the big leagues with the Dodgers didn’t go quite as planned.

Over 53 games after his May call-up, the highly-regarded prospect batted .204 with a .258 on-base percentage, .582 OPS, four home runs and 24 RBI. It was the only time in his baseball life — aside from his freshman year at the University of Louisville — that Rushing was not a regular fixture in his team’s lineup.

“It was very, very up and down,” Rushing said. “It was some good, some bad, some ugly. A lot of things were new to me, the scattering [of] playing time was tough. It was a little tough being able to stay on top of compete mode, keep the swing in a good spot.”

But it still yielded a rather satisfying end result.

“Overall, I got to win a World Series with this team,” Rushing said. “And it’s hard to look back and think, ‘I’d take this back or I’d take that back.’ It went exactly how it was planned.”

With three-time All-Star catcher Will Smith in front of him, Rushing’s role is clear: he is the Dodgers’ backup catcher. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts feels good about Rushing’s progression going into 2026.

“Dalton’s in a good spot right now,” Roberts said last week. “I want him to understand his role as a backup catcher, what that entails, really learn the pitchers, learn the swing that works for playing a couple times a week. He’s used to playing a lot more. But I think, that [he’s] still maturing, because it’s not easy to not play every day when you’re used to [playing regularly]. I think that he grew last year, and I like where he’s at.”

Roberts plans to use Rushing at first base, if Freddie Freeman comes out of the game or needs a day off. Rushing will not, however, play in the outfield, where he saw some run in the minor leagues.

“Outfield’s not on the table”, Roberts said. “I do think that there’s going to be some spots for him to come into games if Freddie’s out or if there’s a game he doesn’t play, we’ll see how that lines up. And I think right now for me, just seeing how the roster plays out as far as what are the options we might have at first base, but I do want to get him at-bats when I can.”

Rushing started Saturday’s Cactus League opener against the Angels, driving in a run on a sacrifice fly in his three at-bats. The 25-year-old said he’s fully embracing his spot on a club vying for its third consecutive championship.

“For me, if I can keep myself ready to play two or three times a week, then it’s going to be easy to keep myself ready to play five or six,” Rushing said. “To be able to go through something like this early in my career, where I have to not only earn the time on the field, but also navigate my way through my career, I think it’s a really good start to my career, to be able to understand how this game works.”

Rushing also views playing behind Smith as a valuable opportunity to learn from one baseball’s best catchers, something he believes will help him grow as a player.

“I have a spot to work behind the best catcher in baseball,” Rushing said. “And from there, I’m going to be given opportunities to see more time on the field, to get my bat in there as much as possible, and it’s up to me to take advantage of those opportunities and continue to put myself on the field as much as possible.”

Rushing says he does not have any personal goals or accolades that he hopes to reach in 2026. This season is about team success and winning.

“The main goal especially with this role is I’m going to win as many [games as] possible,” Rushing said. “Every game I’m on the field, I want to win. I want to win 110 games in the regular season as a Dodger. We’re fully capable of it. I think that’s a good goal to put for ourselves and it just makes each and every game that much important.”

Shohei Ohtani throws live BP before departing for WBC

Before the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the San Diego Padres in Peoria, Ariz., on Sunday, Shohei Ohtani had a live batting practice session at Camelback Ranch in which he threw 33 pitches and struck out Freeman and Mookie Betts.

“I felt pretty good about today in terms of volume,” Ohtani said via interpreter Will Ireton after his session. “While in Japan, I plan to do some sort of live BP/bullpen/some kind of simulation.”

After the game, Roberts revealed the star two-way player is expected to depart either Sunday night or on Monday to join Team Japan for preparations for next month’s World Baseball Classic.

A series of warnings from artificial intelligence (AI) industry insiders shows how the debate around AI drives extreme news cycles, swinging between hype and alarm.

The result is media coverage that overlooks the intricacies of this technology and its impact on everyday life. We examine the real risks, what’s being overstated, and what major tech companies stand to gain from all the fearmongering.

Contributors:
Rumman Chowdhury – Founder, Humane Intelligence
Mutale Nkonde – Founder, AI for the People
Chris Stokel-Walker – Author of the book How AI Ate the World

On our radar

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has found herself in the middle of a political firestorm, all because of comments she never actually made.

After a manipulated video of Albanese calling Israel the “enemy of humanity” went viral,  there were calls for her resignation across Europe. The UN has labelled these allegations part of a wider smear campaign to discredit Albanese and the UN itself.

A curated view of Israel for African journalists

For decades, the Israeli government and pro-Israel organisations have sponsored trips for politicians, celebrities and journalists, inviting them to visit and, as they put it, tell the “real story” about Israel. In the past, those invitations largely targeted figures from Western countries. But since October 7th, there has been a noticeable shift towards African journalists and social media influencers.

The objective is clear: to shape coverage in African media and influence audiences across the continent.

The Listening Post’s Nic Muirhead reports on the African journalists taking part in these fully funded, tightly managed visits to Israel.

Featuring:
Hassen Lorgat – Media critic and activist
Makhudu Sefara – Editor, Sunday Times
Timnit Gebru – Founder, the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)
Njahira Gitahi – Reporter, The Standard

Mexican security forces have killed Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, the notorious drug lord widely known as “El Mencho”, in a major military operation, the country’s Secretariat of National Defence confirmed.

The Mexican government said that seven members of Oseguera’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were killed in the raid in Tapalpa on Sunday.

Reports of road blocking and violence by drug cartels emerged in Jalisco and other states after news of the operation became public.

“At this time, elements of the Mexican National Guard and Mexican Army troops from the centre of the country and states neighbouring Jalisco are mobilising to reinforce the security of this state,” the Defence Secretariat said in a statement.

“With these actions, the Secretariat of National Defence reaffirms its commitment to contributing to the strengthening of Mexico’s security.”

Oseguera, the leader of the powerful CJNG, one of Mexico’s most violent and dominant criminal organisations, spent decades evading justice.

Washington, which had a $15m reward for information leading to Oseguera’s arrest, was quick to laud the raid.

“I’ve just been informed that Mexican security forces have killed ‘El Mencho,’ one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a post on X, calling the operation “a great development for Mexico, the US, Latin America, and the world”.

Of the seven cartel members killed on Sunday, four had been injured but later succumbed to their wounds. Three others were arrested, according to the Secretariat of National Defence.

Three military personnel were wounded during the operation and hospitalised, according to the statement.

As news of the killing spread, cartel-linked violence erupted in response, with reports of roadblocks, burning vehicles, and other acts of intimidation in Jalisco and surrounding areas – tactics the CJNG has used in the past to disrupt security operations.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was responding to the unrest, stressing that in the “vast majority of the national territory, activities are proceeding with complete normality”.

“There is absolute coordination with the governments of all states; we must remain informed and calm,” Sheinbaum wrote on X.

According to The New York Times, the violence erupted in at least five Mexican states, and
the Spanish newspaper El Pais also reported “blockades” in central Mexico.

An Al Jazeera witness shared photos of a burned-out bus on a major highway in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, which will host several matches in the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

The US Embassy in Mexico warned American citizens in Jalisco and other central states to stay at home until further notice due “to ongoing security operations, associated roadblocks and related criminal activity”.

Landau, the US diplomat, also expressed concern about the events. “It’s not surprising that the bad guys are responding with terror. But we must never lose our nerve,” he said.

While airports across Mexico remain operational, the US embassy later noted that “some domestic and international flights cancelled” in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, a coastal city in Jalisco.

The Reuters news agency reported that several major airlines, including Air Canada and United, have temporarily halted flights to Puerto Vallarta.

Oseguera’s fall was a priority target for the US, and is the biggest blow to drug trafficking in recent years.

Oseguera had built an aura of mystery around himself, drawing on the overwhelming power of the CJNG and his limited media presence: All photos of him were decades old, according to Al Pais.

Oseguera crossed over the border in the US several times in the late 80s, and lived illegally in San Francisco.

At the age of 19, he was arrested for the first time by local police for stolen property and carrying a loaded gun.

In 1989, he was arrested again and deported to Mexico. But he re-entered the US and was again arrested on drug charges in 1992 . He was prosecuted and sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty.

After spending three years in a federal US prison, El Mencho was released on parole and deported to Mexico, where he joined the local police.

A former police officer and avocado farmer, he rose through the ranks of the Milenio Cartel before founding the CJNG.

The FBI has described him as one of the most wanted fugitives in Mexico, and the CJNG as one of the most violent cartels in the country.

“It has been assessed to have the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity in Mexico, and over the past few years, includes the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States,” the FBI said in a 2024 statement.

“Under Oseguera Cervantes’ leadership, CJNG has been responsible for many homicides against rival trafficking groups and Mexican law enforcement officers.”

LEONARDO DiCaprio treated his model girlfriend to a private pre-Bafta shopping trip.

The Hollywood legend, 51, and Vittoria Ceretti, 27, were given exclusive late-night access to the Princes Arcade shopping district in London’s Mayfair on Saturday.

Bosses made the special arrangement so the couple could browse independent designer store Segun Adelaja away from fans.

It is a fancy independent designer store where shirts start at £140.

Leo attended last night’s Baftas with his 83-year-old mum Irmelin Indenbirken.

At one point he lost her on the busy red carpet — and refused to go inside until he found her.

SNACK TIME

Kylie Jenner squirms at the BAFTAs as Alan Cummings makes filthy joke about her

SHOUT OUT

BAFTAs slammed as Alan Cumming’s opening falls flat as audience member shouts out

An onlooker said: “Leo got cut off from his mum.

“He asked his team, ‘Where is my mum?

“‘Is she OK?’.

“She’d hurt her leg.

“So he waited to help get her up the stairs.

“It was really sweet.”

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents.

The new law takes effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure, but the Legislature’s GOP supermajorities overrode it last week as Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued another round of measures to roll back transgender rights.

The bill prohibits documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender identity. Florida, Tennessee and Texas also don’t allow driver’s licenses to reflect a trans person’s gender identity, and at least eight states besides Kansas have policies that bar trans residents from changing their birth certificates.

But only Kansas’ law requires reversing changes previously made for trans residents. Kansas officials expect to cancel about 1,700 driver’s licenses and issue new birth certificates for up to 1,800 people.

“It tells me that Kansas Republicans are interested in being on the vanguard of the culture war and in a race to the bottom,” said Democratic state Rep. Abi Boatman, a transgender Air Force veteran appointed in January to fill a vacant Wichita seat.

Kansas’ new law enjoyed nearly unanimous GOP support. It is the latest development in what has become an annual effort to further roll back transgender rights by Republicans in statehouses across the U.S., bolstered by policies and rhetoric from President Trump’s administration.

Trump and other Republicans attack research-backed conclusions that gender can change or be fluid, which they frame as radical “gender ideology.” GOP lawmakers in Kansas regularly describe transgender girls and women as male, and say that in doing so they are protecting women.

Like other Republicans, Kansas Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi said Trump’s reelection and other GOP victories in 2024 show that voters want “to return to common sense” on gender.

“When I go home, people believe there are just two sexes, male and female,” Blasi said. “It’s basic biology I learned in high school.”

Kelly supports transgender rights, but GOP lawmakers have overridden her vetoes three of the last four years. Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors and bars transgender women and girls from female sports teams, kindergarten through college.

Transgender people can’t use public restrooms, locker rooms or other single-sex facilities associated with their gender identities, though there was no enforcement mechanism until this year’s law added tough new provisions.

Transgender people have said carrying IDs that misgender them opens them to intrusive questions, harassment and even violence when they show it to police, merchants and others.

In 2023, Republicans halted changes in Kansas birth certificates and driver’s licenses by enacting a measure ending the state’s legal recognition of trans residents’ gender identities. Though the law didn’t mention either document, it legally defined male and female by a person’s “biological reproductive system” at birth.

However, a lawsuit led to state court decisions that permitted driver’s license changes to resume last year.

Legislators in at least seven other states are considering bills to prevent transgender people from changing one or both documents, according to a search using the bill-tracking software Plural.

But none would reverse past changes.

The extra step by Kansas legislators reinforces a message “that trans people aren’t welcome,” said Anthony Alvarez, a transgender University of Kansas student who works for an LGBTQ+ rights group.

Kansas is likely to notify transgender residents by mail that their driver’s licenses are no longer valid and they need to go to a local licensing office to get a new one, said Zachary Denney, spokesperson for the agency that issues them.

The Legislature hasn’t earmarked funds to cover the cost, so each person will be charged for it — $26 for a standard license.

Alvarez already has had four IDs in four years as he’s changed his name, changed his gender marker and turned 21.

He’s always planned to stay in his native Kansas after receiving his history degree this spring.

But, he said, “they’re just making it harder and harder for me to live in the state that I love.”

Hanna writes for the Associated Press.

A look at The Times’ high school top 25 baseball rankings for the Southland after the first week of the season:

Rk. School (Rec.); Comment; ranking last week

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (0-0): Twins James and Miles Clark commit to Duke; 1

2. ORANGE LUTHERAN (0-0): Lancers begin season Friday against Crespi; 2

3. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (2-0): Texas commit Ira Rootman hits two home runs, gets six RBIs; 3

4. HUNTINGTON BEACH (1-0-1): Jared Grindlinger reclassifies to become potential first-round draft pick; 4

5. CORONA (1-0): Danny DeLaTorre hits two home runs in opening game; 5

6. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (2-0): Three pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts in opening win; 6

7. ROYAL (1-0): Face Santa Monica on Tuesday; 8

8. NORCO (2-0): Dylan Seward is already hot at the plate; 14

9. CYPRESS (1-1): Face Harvard-Westlake on Friday; 9

10. SIERRA CANYON (1-1): Host Huntington Beach on Tuesday; 10

11. MATER DEI (0-0): Open on the road on Tuesday against Capistrano Valley; 12

12. EL DORADO (1-0): Win over Sierra Canyon shows off pitching; 18

13. ARCADIA (0-1); Was blanked by Charter Oak in opener; 11

14. AQUINAS (0-0): Open against Grand Terrace on Tuesday; 13

15. LA MIRADA (1-0): Two hits to start season for freshman Blake Barberena; 16

16. CORONA CENTENNIAL (0-1): 3-1 loss to Garden Grove Pacifica; 15

17. SOUTH HILLS (2-0): So far, so good with the pitching; 17

18. OAKS CHRISTIAN (2-0): Carson Sheffer begins season with two doubles, home run; 19

19. JSERRA (0-0): It’s time to get first look at outfielder Blake Bowen; 20

20. LOYOLA (1-0-1): Matthew Favela starts with three hits; 21

21. AYALA (1-0): Caleb Trugman debuts with eight strikeouts; 22

22. BONITA (1-0): Four scoreless innings from Ryder Gibson; 23

23. GAHR (1-0): Hitters came through in 16-3 win; 24

24. VILLA PARK (1-0): Jack McGuire starts with seven strikeouts in five innings; 25

25. MIRA COSTA (3-0): Strong pitching depth to start season; NR

Feb. 22 (UPI) — New York City, Long Island, Delaware and New Jersey are under a blizzard warning ahead of a massive winter storm.

“This is likely to be the worst storm we have seen since 1996. It is a serious storm. Please take it seriously. Stay inside. Don’t travel tonight,” said New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, who has also issued a state of emergency.

“This storm is too serious to have people and workers out on public transit in the worst of it,” Sherrill said.

Commercial vehicles are currently banned all highways but the New Jersey Turnpike, and buses will stop running at 6 p.m. Trains are also expected to shut down.

New Jersey residents living on the coast could also experience flooding, officials said.

“Remember, if you see a roadway that may be flooded: turn around, don’t drown,” said New Jersey State Police acting superintendent David Sierotowicz.

New York City has also declared a state of emergency, with some 24 inches of snow expected.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has placed a ban on travel beginning at 9 p.m., while Governor Kathy Hochul has issued a travel ban for Westchester and Long Island.

To be considered a blizzard, a storm must dump at least 13 inches of snow and include winds up to 55 miles per hour, NBC New York reported.

New York, Connecticut and Delaware are also in a state of emergency.

“I’m declaring a state of emergency and activating every available state resource to ensure Delawareans are protected as this blizzard blankets our communities, including increased risks for coastal flooding. Prepare now, please stay off the roads once the storm begins, and look out for your neighbors,” said Delaware Governor Matthew Meyer in a statement.

“We will continue working around the clock to keep every Delawarean safe,” he said.

Some 2,900 flights were canceled Sunday, Axios reported.

The cancelations coincided with confusion about whether TSA PreCheck would be closed amid the partial government shutdown.

PreCheck remains operational despite earlier Department of Homeland Security reports that it would be shut down, the outlet reportedal despite earlier Department of Homeland Security reports that it would be shut down, officials said.

The U.S. and Canadian hockey teams returning from the Olympic Games were due to fly in to New York, but were rerouted to Miami ahead of the Nor’easter.