News Desk

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton are set to testify in front of a congressional committee investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Alan Fisher looks at what to expect.

Arrest in town near the Ethiopian border follows Kenyan intelligence report revealing more than 1,000 citizens were trafficked for war.

Police in Kenya have arrested a man accused of being a member of a human trafficking scheme that lured Kenyans to Russia with false promises of work, only for them to end up fighting on the front lines of Ukrainian battlefields.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, Kenyan officials said Festus Arasa Omwamba was being detained in Moyale, a town in the country’s north bordering Ethiopia.

The 33-year-old “is believed to be a key player in a more extensive human trafficking syndicate that exploits vulnerable individuals by promising them legitimate employment opportunities in European countries”, read a statement from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on X. “However, upon arrival, these unsuspecting victims find themselves trapped in illegal and perilous jobs, stripping them of their dignity and safety.”

The suspect was in police custody, undergoing preparation for his “impending” court appearance, it added.

Quoting police spokesperson Michael Muchiri, NTV Kenya reported that Omwamba was arrested after arriving from Russia. He was detained for allegedly recruiting Kenyans into the Russian military, Muchiri said.

The arrest comes after Kenya’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) last week unveiled a report which said more than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited “to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war”, with 89 currently on the front line, 39 hospitalised, and 28 missing in action.

A day after the NIS released its report, dozens of families protested in Nairobi, demanding the government take action against the network of officials and syndicates tricking locals into joining the war. Many are still awaiting news about their loved ones’ whereabouts and when they might return.

Meanwhile, other families are grieving the deaths of their sons and brothers.

The Russian embassy in Nairobi denies the allegations, calling them in a statement last week “misleading propaganda”. It added that it never issued visas to Kenyan citizens who sought to travel to Russia with the aim to fight in Ukraine. However, the embassy added that Moscow does not preclude citizens of foreign countries from voluntarily enlisting in its armed forces.

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said he would travel to Russia in March to engage directly with the authorities and secure a safe return of Kenyans believed to be stranded there.

Fraudulent ‘schemes’ to lure foreign fighters

Reports of African men being fraudulently recruited and wilfully duped for work abroad to end up on the front lines in Ukraine have also surfaced from South Africa, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa.

Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of using deception to recruit more than 1,700 Africans to join its war effort as the conflict drags into a fifth year.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha made the allegation during a news conference in Kyiv with his visiting Ghanaian counterpart, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. He accused Moscow of using fraudulent “schemes” to lure the foreign fighters.

A day earlier, South Africa’s presidency announced it had secured the return home of 11 of its nationals who were “lured” into fighting for Russia in Ukraine. The presidency had already repatriated four others.

Bridgerton season 4 unveiled some major developments in the final episodes of the Netflix show.

The final episodes of Bridgerton season 4 on Netflix were full of dramatic twists.

**WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BRIDGERTON SEASON 4**

Bridgerton season four has now come to an end on Netflix with the final four episodes offering plenty of unexpected bombshells.

The second half of the season picked up with Sophie Baek (played by Yerin Ha) finally rejecting Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) proposal that she become his mistress.

However, as much as she tried to distance herself, the pair’s undeniable chemistry appeared to get in the way at every given opportunity.

Away from the lead couple, Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung) did her best to get Sophie out of the picture once and for all, while Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) attempted to rebuild the broken bond with her sister Hyacinth (Florence Hunt).

Elsewhere, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) returned with his wife Kate (Simone Ashley) to give Benedict some stern words of advice, while their mother Violet (Ruth Gemmell) was having relationship issues of her own. Here are just a few of the major revelations in the latter half of the season.

Cressida Cowper returned

Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) was unveiled as the new Lady Penwood following her emotional exit in season three. After surprising Penelope Bridgerton (Nicola Coughlan), she revealed Lord Penwood was an old friend of her aunt Joanna’s, and had taken a liking to her when he was visiting the family in Wales.

Cressida had formed friendships with both Penelope and Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) for her own gain and had even threatened to unveil Penelope as Lady Whistledown if she did not help her restore her reputation.

Cressida had been forced to leave society after her father took away her dowry, and she did not have enough money to attract a suitor.

She and Joanna moved to the countryside in the hope she would be able to find someone outside of the ton. Thankfully, things seemed to work in her favour and she even reconciled with Eloise.

Penelope gave up Lady Whistledown

After realising she was holding too much power as Lady Whistledown and felt like she was destroying people’s lives, Penelope asked Queen Charlotte’s (Golda Rosheuvel) permission to give up her column.

At first, the Queen refused, saying she enjoyed the gossip too much to see Lady Whistledown buried once and for all.

However, the Queen had a change of heart towards the end of the season, realising she needed to let society live their lives, and allowed Penelope to step down.

Penelope unveiled Lady Whistledown’s final pamphlet at the Queen’s ball, but it transpired it was not the end of the gossiper after all.

As the season concluded, someone else had decided to step up to the plate, although their identity is yet to be revealed.

The Queen set Lady Danbury free

After denying Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) the right to leave society and visit her homeland, the friends were both left in an unhappy place.

However, the Queen eventually learned she could not trap her friend for the sake of her own contentment, and with a nudge from those closest to her, she agreed Lady Danbury could leave.

While Lady Danbury stressed she would not be gone forever, there were a lot of emotional goodbyes as she had forged some priceless friendships over the years.

Fans will have to wait and see whether she appears in season five.

John Stirling died

For those who have read author Julia Quinn’s novels, they will know the ultimate fate of Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) husband was drawing closer.

After spending some leisure time with his wife and his cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza), John said he wished to have a nap as he had a headache.

He had asked Francesca to wake him, but when Francesca went to stir her husband, he did not respond and she quickly realised he had died in his sleep.

A funeral was held, followed by a celebration of his life at their family home.

While the series does not say how John died, Quinn explains in the books he had a brain aneurysm.

Sophie discovered the truth about her inheritance

Some major revelations came about for Benedict and Sophie after the second Bridgerton son finally realised the maid he had fallen in love with was in fact the Lady in Silver all along.

He made the connection after finding Sophie’s mother’s necklace, which she had lost, and realised the mysterious woman from the ball had been wearing the same piece of jewellery.

Believing Araminta had been lying to Sophie about her inheritance, Benedict urged her to locate her father’s will so she could find out whether Lady Gun was telling the truth.

After locating the will, Sophie learned her father had left equal portions of the dowry to Sophie and Araminta’s two daughters. She was also able to use this to confirm she came from nobility and could therefore marry Benedict without being shunned.

At the Queen’s ball, Benedict and his mother Violet forced Araminta to come to an arrangement with Sophie, so neither of them would need to go to prison.

Araminta’s allegations were dropped and in return, the Bridgerton’s did not reveal she had lied and stolen Sophie’s inheritance.

A post-credit scene saw Sophie and Benedict finally tie the knot after he proposed to her at the Queen’s ball.

Bridgerton season 4 is on Netflix

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London, United Kingdom – “People here are tired, scared and feel forgotten,” says Nabila*, a Muslim mother of two in Basildon, a town in the English county of Essex.

Sitting in her living room with a mug of tea, a Qur’an visible on the bookshelf and Japanese prints hanging to its right, she recalls a string of incidents in recent months: Glass thrown from a residential building at Muslim children, a racist attack on the local mosque where red crosses were daubed across its walls alongside the words “Christ is King” and “This is England”, and reports of drivers accelerating as Muslim women cross the road with their children.

According to the 2021 census, Basildon is 93 percent white, and Muslims make up less than 2 percent of the population. Campaigners have warned that in areas where ethnic minority communities are smaller and more geographically isolated, they face heightened risks, as visibility increases vulnerability.

A single mother working full time, Nabila has been documenting incidents of racism, supporting victims and organising meetings with local authorities.

She said she no longer feels safe in the place she calls home.

After being racially abused while walking through her favourite park, she stopped going there altogether. Women, she said, are increasingly changing their daily routines, constantly watching over their shoulders. Racism now permeates every aspect of their lives, she added.

At a women’s listening circle organised by Nabila in collaboration with the local authority at the Wat Tyler Centre, another Muslim woman, Zarka*, spoke about her experiences as a young mother in Basildon who wears the hijab.

After being told to “take that rag off your head” during the school run by a passer-by, she stopped taking her children to school for two weeks. Beyond verbal abuse, she described the cumulative effect of everyday hostility, from cars failing to stop at zebra crossings and hostile looks from passersby.

‘I can’t do this any more, Mum.’

Hundreds of miles north, similar experiences are unfolding in Scottish classrooms.

Etka Marwaha’s daughter Anisa was seven when she first experienced racist taunting at her primary school in Glasgow.

Marwaha said Anisa became quiet and withdrawn. She was isolated on the playground and subjected to racial slurs. Months later, she broke down in tears in front of her mother, explaining the abuse she had suffered.

On multiple occasions, Marwaha contacted the school, urging them to take action, even offering her own support on understanding racism. But, she said, they failed in their duty of care, and the extent of the problem was kept hidden.

It went on for two years before Etka felt compelled to take her daughter out of the school.

“The plan was never to move her into a different school,” she told Al Jazeera. “But she was refusing to go to school; she would come home very, very upset. She was isolated.

“She was in tears, saying, “I can’t do this any more, Mum.’ So she made the decision, at that young age, that ‘I want to get out of here.’”

The girl’s new school is not in the catchment area, nor is there a direct bus to it, causing further inconvenience. But it has a zero-tolerance approach to racism, and Anisa is happier.

At her new school, Anisa can speak about her experiences of racism and how it made her feel.

The ordeal brought back painful memories for Marwaha’s own experiences at school.

“The racist bullying, for me, started at secondary school. You’d think times have changed, that people have been educated, but I think things have changed for the worse when a seven-year-old can openly make a racist comment and that’s accepted by society, and parents don’t address it.”

Sam*, a doctor in northwest Scotland with dual heritage children, said he has been surprised by the level of racism in local schools.

“There has been a clear normalising of racist jokes and name-calling. Every one of our kids has been affected,” he said. “Perhaps the biggest surprise is how few other students stand up against racism. When I was growing up, if someone was racist, they would be the person being socially excluded. Now, silence. It has forced us to look at moving out of the UK.”

‘Racism is out of control’

In the latest incident of alleged and potentially dangerous racism, a man walked into Manchester Central Mosque on Tuesday, reportedly with an axe and weapons. The man was arrested. There had been 2,000 worshippers in the mosque at the time, for the evening tarawih prayers during Ramadan.

Official figures underline the scale of the problem.

In October 2025, the UK Home Office revealed that the number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales had risen for the first time in three years, including increases in racially and religiously motivated offences.

Religious hate crimes against Muslims rose by 19 percent, with a spike following the Southport murders and subsequent riots in mid-2025, the Home Office said.

The rise comes as hard-right politicians and activists, such as Reform leader Nigel Farage and the Islamophobic activist Tommy Robinson, rail against immigration. According to recent YouGov polling, if a general election were held tomorrow, Reform would lead with 24 percent.

Shabna Begum, head of Runnymede Trust, a race equality think tank, said, “Mainstream political and media actors have played in normalising and enabling racist narratives that have scapegoated migrants, people seeking asylum, Muslims and people of colour generally.”

In a report released last year, How Racism Affects Health, Runnymede highlighted the hypervigilance that people of colour have to operate with in order to guard their safety, and which causes long-term physiological damage, affecting life expectancy and mental health outcomes.

“For those that live in more disparate communities where they show up as minorities in a more visible way, that sense of threat is acute,” said Begum.

School suspensions for racist incidents have more than doubled in recent years, according to UK Department for Education data.

“Children as young as four are being sent home for racist behaviour,” Begum said. “This shows a society where racism is out of control, and that our school systems are failing to deal with the problem.

“They are making calculated decisions about where they will go, what travel routes they will take; withdrawing from regular social and community activities because they can no longer trust that those spaces will be safe for them.”

In the high-stakes world of private aviation, the acquisition of an aircraft is often celebrated as the ultimate achievement of corporate efficiency or personal success. It is the beginning of a journey defined by freedom and speed. However, the eventual divestment of that same asset is a process that is frequently underestimated, often to the financial detriment of the owner. Selling a complex machine that operates in a globally regulated environment is not merely a transaction; it is a multi-disciplinary project requiring legal, technical, and financial precision.

Unlike real estate or luxury automobiles, where value is relatively transparent and liquidity is somewhat predictable, the pre-owned jet market is opaque, fragmented, and notoriously unforgiving of unprepared sellers. A Gulfstream G650 or a Bombardier Challenger 350 does not have a “sticker price.” Its value is a floating target determined by its pedigree, its maintenance status, the geopolitical climate, and the specific micro-economics of its fleet type at the exact moment it hits the market. Navigating this exit requires a shift in mindset from “owner” to “vendor,” a transition that demands emotional detachment and rigorous attention to detail.

The Pre-Market Audit

Before a single photograph is taken or a listing is created, the aircraft must undergo a forensic internal audit. The most critical asset in a jet sale is not the leather seats or the paint job; it is the paperwork.

The Pedigree of Paper

In aviation, if a maintenance task is not documented, it effectively never happened. The value of an aircraft is inextricably tied to its logbooks. A missing logbook from ten years ago can devalue an airframe by millions of dollars. It raises the specter of “unknown damage history.” Sophisticated buyers will employ technical researchers to scan every page of the records. If they find gaps – missing 8130 forms for parts, undocumented engine cycles, or vague entries regarding repairs – they will either walk away or demand a price reduction that far exceeds the cost of the potential issue.

Therefore, the first step is digitizing and organizing the records. A seller must present a “clean bill of health” that traces the life of the aircraft from its birth on the assembly line to the present day. This includes organizing the “back-to-birth” trace for life-limited parts (LLPs). If you cannot prove the lineage of a landing gear strut, the buyer is forced to assume it is scrap metal, and the sale price will reflect that brutal reality.

Cosmetic Staging and the “Ramp Presence”

While the logs provide the technical value, the physical condition drives the emotional desire. A private jet is an emotional purchase. When a potential buyer walks up the airstairs, the sensory experience – the smell of the leather, the gleam of the woodwork, the clarity of the galley surfaces – sets the tone for the entire negotiation.

Sellers often neglect “ramp presence.” Faded paint on the wing leading edges, clouded cockpit windows, or worn carpet runners suggest a lack of care. If the owner skimped on the carpet, the buyer subconsciously wonders if they also skimped on the engine maintenance. Investing in professional detailing, wood veneer touch-ups, and even new carpet before listing can yield a return on investment of 3:1 or better. It removes the “low hanging fruit” that buyers use to justify lowball offers.

Valuation in a Fluid Market

Determining the asking price is an exercise in data analysis, not wishful thinking. Owners often fall into the trap of “book value” – what their accountant says the asset is worth – or “acquisition value” – what they paid for it plus the cost of upgrades. The market cares about neither.

The Influence of Engine Programs

One of the single largest determinants of value is the status of the engine maintenance programs. In the turbine world, these are often referred to as “Power by the Hour” programs (such as Rolls-Royce CorporateCare, JSSI, or Pratt & Whitney ESP). These programs act as a prepaid insurance policy for major engine overhauls.

An aircraft with engines “fully enrolled” on a program is a liquid asset. It transfers the liability of the next major overhaul (which can cost $2 million to $4 million per engine) from the buyer to the program provider. An aircraft that is “naked” (not on a program) is significantly harder to move. The seller must realize that if their engines are not covered, they will likely have to deduct the cost of the buy-in from the sale price, dollar for dollar.

Market Sentiment and Fleet Availability

Valuation also requires analyzing the “days on market” for comparable aircraft. If there are twenty Citation X jets for sale and only three have sold in the last six months, it is a buyer’s market. Pricing an aircraft at the top of the curve in such an environment ensures it will sit stagnant while incurring monthly hangar and insurance costs. A sharp, data-driven broker will provide a “Vref” or “Bluebook” value but will then adjust it based on real-time market intelligence, such as knowing that a competitor’s aircraft is about to drop its price by $500,000.

The Marketing Strategy

Once the aircraft is prepped and priced, the question becomes how to find a buyer. This is a small world. The strategy generally falls into two categories: On-Market and Off-Market.

The Broad Broadcast

Listing the aircraft on public-facing sites like Controller, AvBuyer, or JetNet is the standard approach. It maximizes exposure. However, it also signals to the world that the asset is available, which can sometimes be perceived as distress if it sits for too long. High-quality photography is non-negotiable here. Drone shots of the exterior, 3D walkthroughs of the cabin, and detailed shots of the galley amenities are standard expectations.

The Whisper Campaign

For ultra-high-net-worth individuals or corporations concerned with privacy, an “off-market” approach is preferred. The broker utilizes their personal network, calling other brokers and flight departments directly. “I have a turnkey Falcon 7X coming available next month, are you looking?” This creates an aura of exclusivity. It can drive a higher price because the buyer feels they are getting special access to an unlisted gem. However, it severely limits the buyer pool.

The Letter of Intent and the Deposit

When a buyer is found, the dance of documentation begins. The first major milestone is the Letter of Intent (LOI). This is a non-binding offer that outlines the price, the deposit amount (usually a refundable percentage held in escrow), and the timeline for the inspection.

The negotiation of the LOI is critical. It sets the “scope” of the Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI). A seller wants a limited scope – “kick the tires and light the fires.” A buyer wants a deep scope – “take the plane apart and look for corrosion.” The agreed-upon scope determines how much risk the seller is exposed to. If the seller agrees to a “corrosion inspection” on an older aircraft, they might be opening a Pandora’s box of repair bills.

The Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI): Where Deals Die

This is the most volatile phase of the transaction to sell a private jet successfully. The aircraft is flown to a neutral maintenance facility chosen by the buyer. For two to four weeks, technicians will open panels, borescope engines, and test avionics.

The Discrepancy List

The facility will produce a list of “discrepancies.” These are things that are broken or out of limits. The contract (Aircraft Purchase Agreement or APA) usually dictates that the seller is responsible for fixing “airworthy” items – things that make the plane illegal to fly. However, buyers will often try to include cosmetic items or “recommended” service bulletins in this list.

The “technical acceptance” phase is a second negotiation. The seller must decide whether to pay for the repairs, offer a credit, or refuse. If the repair bill is $50,000, it’s usually absorbed. If a major structural issue is found costing $500,000, the deal often hangs in the balance. This is where a strong technical manager on the seller’s side is vital to argue that “wear and tear” is not an airworthiness discrepancy.

The Mechanics of Closing

Once the aircraft is technically accepted, the focus shifts to the legal and financial closing. This is rarely a handshake and a check. It is a choreographed movement of funds and title transfers, often across international borders.

The International Registry

Most modern transactions fall under the purview of the “Cape Town Convention,” an international treaty intended to standardize the registration of mobile assets like aircraft. Closing requires registering the sale on the International Registry (IR). This protects the buyer’s title and the lender’s lien. If the seller has existing liens on the aircraft – perhaps a loan from a bank or unpaid maintenance bills – these must be cleared precisely at the moment of funding.

Escrow Agents

An aviation-specific escrow agent (like IATS or Insured Aircraft Title Service) acts as the traffic controller. They hold the buyer’s money and the seller’s bill of sale. They only release the money to the seller once they have confirmed that the title is clear and the registration has been filed with the FAA (or relevant civil aviation authority).

Tax Implications and Depreciation Recapture

For corporate sellers, the sale is a taxable event. If the aircraft has been fully depreciated for tax purposes (written off to zero value over five years, for example), the proceeds from the sale are considered “depreciation recapture” and are taxed as ordinary income. This can be a massive tax bill.

Sellers often utilize a “1031 Exchange” (in the US context) to defer this tax by rolling the proceeds immediately into the purchase of a replacement aircraft. However, the timing rules for a 1031 Exchange are rigid. The replacement asset must be identified within 45 days and closed within 180 days. Failing to meet these windows triggers the tax liability.

Sales and Use Tax

Furthermore, the physical location of the aircraft at the moment of closing matters. Closing in a state or country with high sales tax can trigger a liability for the buyer, which they may try to pass on or negotiate. Delivery locations are often chosen specifically for their tax-neutral status (e.g., closing while the aircraft is flying over international waters or in a state with a specific “fly-away” exemption).

The Post-Closing Detachment

Once the wire hits the account, the seller’s responsibility is largely over, but not entirely. There is the matter of insurance cancellation, hangar lease termination, and crew severance or reassignment.

If the crew is being retained by the buyer, a smooth transition of employment contracts is needed. If the aircraft is leaving the country, it must be deregistered from the national registry (e.g., the N-number removed) so it can be re-registered in its new home.

The Strategic Imperative of Patience

The timeline for a transaction of this magnitude typically runs from three to nine months. Sellers who enter the market with unrealistic expectations regarding price or timeline are often punished by the market. The “stigma of the stale listing” is real. If a jet sits on the market for 300 days, buyers assume there is something wrong with it, and the offers get progressively lower.

The most successful sellers are those who treat the divestment with the same rigor as the initial acquisition. They maintain the asset perfectly until the day it leaves, they assemble a team of specialized brokers and lawyers, and they remove emotion from the negotiation. In the end, the goal is not just to sell a plane; it is to exit a liability cleanly, maximizing capital retrieval to fuel the next mission, whether that is another acquisition or a reinvestment into the core business. The art of the exit is, ultimately, the art of preparation.

Matthew Lillard has been campaigning for a while.

He wanted to get back into the “Scream” franchise. Of course his character, Stu Macher, could survive a television being dropped on his head (though it’s said that he was electrocuted). Lillard even thought about dropping an actual TV on his head to prove that it was possible. Luckily, he didn’t go through with it, becausea lot of TV figuratively dropped on his head anyway.

The “Scooby-Doo” actor has been cast in several high-profile projects. He’s on “Cross,” the Amazon Prime show starring Aldis Hodge as a homicide detective and forensic psychologist. He will be in the eight-episode “Carrie” miniseries — yes, that Carrie — developed by filmmaker Mike Flanagan for Amazon MGM Studios. He’s dipping his toes in the Marvel cinematic pond with a role in Netflix’s “Daredevil: Born Again.”

On the big screen, he’s prepping for a third “Five Nights at Freddy’s.”

And his campaign paid off: He’s in the newest chapter of the popular “Scream” franchise — which just released its final trailer earlier this week.

All of this from an actor whom Quentin Tarantino (speaking on “The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast”) “doesn’t care for.” Lillard has answered questions about and commented on Tarantino’s viral comments often in the last few months. An actor for almost four decades, Lillard says he has built up a thick skin, but the comments were hurtful.

He talks about those comments, along with his recent projects, working with friends and his constant desire to say “F— ICE.”

So. Tarantino said some things about your (and Paul Dano’s) acting prowess …

Look, candidly, it was a weird moment. It was a bummer. It was a drag at the beginning. But I’ll say this — I have never felt so seen by this industry. My entire career, I felt like a blue-collar working-class actor trying to be in the best movies and do the best work I possibly can. In that moment, along comes an industry that I’ve served now for 35 years, rising up and saying really lovely things. I said, in the past, it felt like I was living through my own wake. You don’t normally see that outpouring of love until after somebody passes. At the end of the day, it ends up being a really beautiful moment for me.

It’s not like I’m this fragile little thing. I’ve been around a long time. Did it suck? Sure.

This Quentin Tarantino thing … I’m good. I love his films. It also sucked because I was like, “Oh, I would love to get in there and kick ass for him.” But whatever. It is not about the box office wins that week. It’s about a body of work, a community of friends, and longevity that really defines. Which is the goal, and it defines a life well spent.

You mentioned longevity, and a quick IMDb search shows that Shaggy is your world! There’s so much “Scooby–Doo.” Straight-to-video. Live-action. Video games.

Yeah. Isn’t that crazy?

Looking back, how did you approach doing the voice work and being in the movies, and what was your thought process when that first came to you?

My first thought process was, “I’m getting that job.” I’m like, “I will kill that.” The way I got into the voice was that I would have to scream myself hoarse. I’ll never forget coming down and being in the car, an empty Warner Bros. lot, screaming to prepare my voice for the audition, and having Chuck Roven, the producer, walk by and knock on the window and be like, “Dude, are you OK?”

The first movie was so successful that I felt like I was launched. James Gunn and I went in and pitched “Plastic Man” at Warner Bros. I felt like, “Oh, I’m now an option to be No. 1 on a call sheet.” Then “Scooby-Doo 2” came out, didn’t do great, and started a reset of my career that took a couple of years.

I look back now at 56 years old and think, without that, I wouldn’t be in this career. I don’t know if I would have been around long enough to get this comeback that I’m in the middle of and enjoying.

“Scream 7” revisits one of the most successful horror franchises ever. How did you feel about being approached to come back? Can you say much about your role?

Ghostface in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s “Scream.”

(Brownie Harris / Paramount Pictures / Spyglass Media Group)

I’m not going to lie, I was over the moon. At some point, right before I got the offer, probably three or four months before I got the offer, [“Scream” franchise creator] Kevin Williamson put it out in the world that the “Scream” franchise does not need Matthew Lillard. I remember reading that and thinking to myself, “Why don’t you just leave me alone? I’m planning on getting back in.”

[Film producers] Radio Silence had set up in [the fifth and sixth films] the potential or the whisperings that Stu was still alive. So I was like, “We’re trending in the right direction here. Why is Kevin Williamson kicking me in the teeth?” And the funny thing is, he called me in the middle of the afternoon and he’s like, “Are you interested in coming back?” I was super excited. And … there’s not a lot I can say about the movie, for obvious reasons. But I think that people are going to be really excited.

You’re continuing in the horror field with “Carrie.” No release date yet, but what can you say about it?

I had a small scene [in “Life of Chuck”], but the scene’s great and the movie’s beautiful. I saw Kevin Williamson at [“Life of Chuck” and “Carrie” producer] Mike Flanagan’s house because we were playing a game of “Mafia.” I was doing “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and I was sitting talking to Mike and he was talking about doing “Carrie” and everything he’s got coming up. After he and I did “Life of Chuck,” he’s like, “Well, congratulations. You’re now in the Flanafam.” He works a lot with the same actors.

I finally got up the courage to say, “Hey, listen, what is that? I mean, if I’m in the Flanafam, what does that mean? How does that work? Am I supposed to tell you my schedule?” He’s like, “Oh, no, no, no. I have a part for you in ‘Carrie.’ I want you to come and do ‘Carrie’ if you’re interested.”

Everyone knows the story. Carrie, pig blood, all that. But that De Palma version only uses certain specific aspects of the book. The thing I’m excited about is that Mike Flanagan pulls in elements of the book that are not necessarily in the first film, and then adds headlines ripped from today’s day and age in terms of bullying and things we’re seeing in social media and all of that. So he’s giving it a new lens to look at what bullying looks like for kids today. I saw the first three episodes — the entire cast gathered at a screening room — and it blew me away.

Summer Howell plays Carrie, and she’s incredible, and Sam Sloyan plays her mother. There’s three basic parties. There’s the kids, there’s the parents, and then there’s the faculty. I play the principal at the school, watching the entire thing fall apart around them.

You’re also dipping your toes in the world of Marvel with “Daredevil: Born Again.”

I can talk about “Daredevil” a little. I played Dungeon & Dragons with three incredible showrunners. Dario Scardapane, who runs “Daredevil,” Matt Nix, who’s doing the new “Baywatch,” and then Elwood Reid, who does “Tracker.” I’m their dungeon master. We play with Abraham Benrubi, this beautiful actor (“ER,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), a dear friend of mine. … Dario brought me in to play Mr. Charles [on “Daredevil: Born Again”], who’s like a CIA spook. He’s a guy that controls power from afar. He helps nations rise and fall, but he’s very clandestine. He is not impressed by the powers of [Vincent] D’Onofrio’s character [Kingpin] at all. He and I get into this really delicious struggle over power. It’s good. It’s fun.

Matthew Lillard taps “Scream” vibes with Ghost Face Vodka, whose release will coincide with the seventh installment of the film franchise.

(Andreas Branch)

You’ve combined storytelling with alcohol for your lines of whiskey, vodkas and the like. How did you decide to mix the two?

I started a Dungeons & Dragons company six years ago now called Beadle & Grimm’s. Somebody approached me about building a spirits company around Dungeons & Dragons.For me, what I heard in that was like, “Hey, build a luxury item for niche communities that people don’t always respect and know and understand.” My experience with Beadle & Grimm’s was very clear. They will come out and support it.

So we created Quest’s End Whiskey. Quest’s End is a 16-bottle drop over four years. Each bottle is a different character class, but each bottle delivers a new chapter of an ongoing saga. We sold out in the first two weeks. In a week, we had 25,000 people on the waiting list to purchase that first bottle.

I know the impact that “Scream” [has] had on the horror community. I realized that if we could license the [intellectual property] of [film villain] Ghostface that we could make something super badass that fans would go crazy for. It took us a while to secure those rights. But once we did, we built Ghost Face Vodka.Our hope was to sell 2,000 units of a collector’s edition. We had 40,000 people sign up for early access in the first 72 hours.

Ghost Face Vodka has a game on the back, a QR code. When you sit down, all your people can hit that QR code with their smartphones and load an automated game of “Mafia.” It’s a communal game. It’s like two or three of you are Mafia members, and you have to figure out who that is. And it’s super fun. Again, trying to build community. Our hope is that, launching around “Scream 7,” it’s going to catch the zeitgeist and blow up.

Lastly, we have “Cross,” your most current TV project.

Matthew Lillard in “Cross.”

(Ian Watson / Amazon MGM Studios Prime Video)

I’m in love with that creative team and Aldis Hodge and everything he represents. I don’t think people understand that that show did 40 million views in the first 20 days for Amazon. It is unapologetically a Black show that … it feels like it’s being ripped from the headlines. I think Aldis Hodge and the creative team do an incredible job representing a man who is a Black man as a detective in this world. The relationships, the friendships, the bonds he has with his community — just being around that creative team has been really inspiring, and [show creator] Ben Watkins is an incredible storyteller.

I think the thing about “Cross” is that it really challenges you, especially given what we’re living through in this moment. I have to say it — politically speaking, we’re in a s— storm. I went viral a month ago about saying, ‘F— ICE.’ But … f— ICE.

Could you describe your character?

Another dubious character. He’s a billionaire named Lance Durand, and he’s out to solve world hunger. Sometimes, a billionaire has very questionable scruples as to the best ways to go about things. Solve world hunger, kill all the people. That’s how you do it.

The whole series opens up with a bunch of middle-aged white men on an island doing horrible things to girls. So when I say “ripped from the freaking headlines” … It’s, like, crazy.

The 2025/26 Champions League playoff round has now concluded, with the likes of Real Madrid, defending champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and Atletico Madrid booking their places in the last 16.

The remaining teams will discover their opponents and potential route to the final on Friday when UEFA holds the last 16 draw.

Here is everything you need to know about the timing, format and seeding of the draw, as well as the teams still vying for glory in European football’s largest club competition.

When will UEFA hold the draw?

The draw is set to take place at 11:00 GMT on Friday, February 27, 2026, in Nyon, Switzerland.

It will determine which teams play each other in the last 16, quarterfinals and semifinals.

How does the draw work?

The eight winners of the playoffs will face the teams that finished in the top eight of the league phase in a knockout format.

The draw will determine the potential path to the final, as every team will know their possible quarterfinal and semifinal opponents.

The last 16, quarterfinal, and semifinal fixtures will be played over two legs, while the final will be a single match.

Which teams have made it through to the last 16?

Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Sporting Lisbon, and Tottenham Hotspur had already made it through to the last 16 as top-eight league stage finishers.

Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Bodo/Glimt, Galatasaray, Newcastle United, Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid made it through the playoffs.

When will the last-16 ties be played?

The first legs of the last 16 ties will take place on March 10-11, with the second legs scheduled for March 17-18.

When are the quarterfinals, semifinals and final?

The quarterfinals will take place on April 7-8 and April 14-15.

The semifinals will be held on April 28-29 and May 5-6.

The Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, will host the final on May 30.

Who could the biggest teams play in the last 16?

Real Madrid will face either Manchester City or Sporting Lisbon. If Man City are not drawn against Madrid, they will face Bodo/Glimt.

Paris Saint-Germain will face either Barcelona or Chelsea. Barcelona could also end up facing Newcastle United.

Liverpool will face either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray.

Arsenal or Bayern Munich will play Atalanta or Bayer Leverkusen.

Who are the surprise packages?

Norway’s Bodo/Glimt, a tiny club based in the Arctic Circle, made it through to the last 16 after beating Inter Milan in the playoffs and humbling Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in the league stage.

Turkish champions Galatasaray also reached the last 16 following thrilling playoff games against Juventus. The Istanbul club beat Juve 5-2 at home, before falling to a 3-0 deficit in the second leg – only to win the tie with two extra-time goals.

How does seeding affect the draw?

Seeded teams – those that finished in the top eight of the league stage – will have the supposed advantage of playing their second last 16 legs at home.

Where teams are placed in the league stage will also affect the seeding for subsequent rounds.

The teams that finished in the top four of the league stage – Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and Tottenham – would be given home advantage for the second legs of their quarterfinals, should they reach that stage.

As number one and two finishers in the league stage, Arsenal and Bayern would get the advantage of playing their semifinal second legs at home, should they get that far in the tournament.

If a seeded team does not reach the quarterfinal or semifinal stages, the team that knocks them out will gain their seeding.

Can teams from the same country play each other?

Yes, teams from the same country can play each other in the knockout rounds.

Clubs can also face sides they have already played against during the league phase.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio updated U.S. legislators on Iran just hours before President Donald Trump issued warnings over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in his State of the Union address. In the past days, U.S. military forces in the region have grown to the highest levels seen since the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. New assets that have arrived include U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors, reportedly in Israel, while F-16s have been deployed to Diego Garcia to protect the Indian Ocean outpost against potential Iranian attacks.

Rubio provided a rare intelligence briefing for congressional leaders — the so-called “gang of eight” — which includes the senior lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees. The contents of the briefing are classified, but it underscores the wider preparations for potential significant military action against Iran.

The “gang of eight” receives classified intelligence from the White House in the form of briefings, and their content can include preparations for military operations. It is notable that the last time Rubio publicly briefed the group was on January 5, one day after the U.S. military launched its successful operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

As he left yesterday’s briefing, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said: “This is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people.”

“I’m very concerned,” added Jim Himes, the ranking democrat on the House intelligence committee. “Wars in the Middle East don’t go well for presidents, for the country, and we have not heard articulated a single good reason for why now is the moment to launch yet another war in the Middle East.”

Rubio’s intel update preceded Trump’s State of the Union address last night, during which the U.S. president reaffirmed that Iran would never be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons.

In his address, Trump stated that he would rather handle rising tensions with Iran through diplomatic means. However, he also claimed that Tehran was developing ballistic missile technology that could potentially reach the United States, without providing further details.

“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas,” Trump said. “And they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”

The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman has landed her own talk show and it’s set to air very soon

The BBC has finally confirmed the start date of Claudia Winkleman’s new show after she joked that she’s “going to be awful” hosting her show.

The TV star – who stepped down from her Strictly Come Dancing hosting role last year – has landed her own BBC talk show and it has now been announced that it’s just a couple of weeks away, with the first instalment set to air on March 13.

Produced by So Television, which is part of ITV Studios, each episode will see Traitors presenter Claudia welcome some of the biggest names from the world of showbiz. She will interview them on the sofa in front of a studio audience.

“I can’t quite believe it and I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity,” she said as the series was confirmed. “I’m obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try.”

Claudia’s new project comes after she and fellow TV star Tess Daly quit Strictly Come Dancing after the last series of the BBC ballroom show. The pair announced in October that they would be leaving after that series – which was won by Karen Carney – telling fans that it “feels like the right time”.

In their farewell message on Instagram, Tess and Claudia penned: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day.”

“We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’ but we will continue to say it to each other,” they added.

“Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”

So far it isn’t known who will be talking over from the pair on Strictly, but there are several names rumoured to be in the mix, including The One Show’s Alex Jones, radio star Zoe Ball and Big Brother presenter Emma Willis.

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The Claudia Winkleman Show – which will be on BBC iPlayer and BBC One – starts at 10.40pm on Friday March 13.

German Chancellor visits eastern city, home to AI firm DeepSeek and e-commerce giant Alibaba, with business leaders.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has arrived in the tech hub of Hangzhou on the second day of his first official trip to China, flanked by a delegation of business leaders seeking contracts in the eastern city.

Merz travelled from Beijing to the city of some 12 million people on Thursday, where he was due to tour some leading companies, including Germany’s Siemens Energy and Unitree, a Chinese firm producing humanoid robots.

Hangzhou is a major hub in China’s tech sector, home to giants, including artificial intelligence company DeepSeek and e-commerce platform Alibaba.

Before leaving Beijing, Merz, who is being accompanied by a delegation, including executives of German car giants Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes, visited a Mercedes plant in the Chinese capital where he tested a self-driving vehicle.

‘Improved’ trade relationship sought

Merz’s trip to China, which became Germany’s largest trading partner last year, seeks to deepen decades-old economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy in the wake of tariffs imposed by the United States last year.

But he has also sought to address “challenges” in the relationship, most notably tackling the massive imbalance which saw Germany’s trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros ($105bn) last year, fuelling complaints from German businesses that Chinese competitors are flooding the market with cheaper goods.

In a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday, before he met Chinese President Xi Jinping, Merz said he wanted “to improve and make fair” the cooperation between the countries.

Following the talks with Xi and top Chinese leaders, Merz said China had agreed to buy up to 120 Airbus aircraft, and said other contracts were in the pipeline.

The two leaders stressed their commitment to developing closer strategic relations, with Xi telling Merz he was willing to take relations to “new levels”.

Ukraine, Taiwan discussed

The talks between Xi and Merz also touched on geopolitical issues, with the German leader saying any “reunification” with Taiwan, the self-ruled island China claims as its territory, must be done peacefully.

Merz also told reporters that he asked the Chinese government to use its influence with Russia to help end the war in Ukraine, amid frustrations among European leaders that Beijing was not doing enough to bring the war to an end.

“We know that signals from Beijing are taken very seriously in Moscow,” Merz said.

Following the meeting, the two countries released a joint statement saying they supported efforts to achieve a ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine, emphasising the importance of fair competition and mutual market access, and committing to resolving any concerns through dialogue, Chinese state media reported.

Merz is the latest in a string of Western leaders to visit Beijing in recent months, including the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian PM Mark Carney, amid the fallout from the Trump administration’s tariffs on long-established trade partners.

Parents who lost their son at 14 days old opened up on BBC Breakfast on Thursday (February 26)

A grieving mum has claimed her concerns were “shut down” as she opened up about the loss of her baby on BBC Breakfast.

Robyn Davis – whose son Orlando died at 14 days old – appeared on the BBC show on Thursday (February 26), where she said that she was made to feel “like I was going insane and that my concerns weren’t valid or real”.

She spoke out during a report about maternity service failings, with host Charlie Stayt explaining: “Maternity services in England are failing too many families with problems at every stage of maternity journey. It’s the interim conclusion of the national review being led by Baroness Amos.”

His fellow presenter Naga Munchetty continued: “It has identified six factors that impact care, including racism, staffing and culture. The health secretary Wes Streeting, who commissioned the review, has promised to act on Baroness Amos’ final recommendations which are due in April.”

The programme then cut to a report from reporter Michael Buchanan, who said: “When an inquiry in 2015 found that 11 babies and one mother had died avoidably at Furness General Hospital due to poor maternity care, the NHS promised the mistakes would never happen again. Over a decade later, more than 10,000 babies are estimated to have died in England due to maternity errors.”

He went on: “Orlando Davis died in 2021 at 14 days old. Maternity staff failed to recognise his mother had become ill in labour and Orlando was born in a poor condition.

“An inquest found his death had been contributed to by neglect.”

Orlando’s mum Robyn said: “They actually made me feel like I was going insane and that my concerns weren’t valid or real because every time I raised them, they were met with a quick shut down. And because of this, I genuinely believe that that’s why our son is not here.”

The baby’s father Jonathan Davis said: “The number of individuals that were involved in this situation, this wasn’t one or two, this was multiple midwives, multiple consultants and registrars across a prolonged area of time from in the community to in hospital. This was not a one event caused an outcome.”

The report said the family’s experience is supported by Baroness Amos, “who says problems occur at every stage of the maternity journey”.

It went on: “The issues, she says, are caused by cultural leadership of maternity units with midwives and obstetricians sometimes not cooperating, workforce with units not being fully or properly staffed, racism and discrimination, including against poor women, a lack of accountability when things go wrong and outdated and dilapidated buildings.”

The report said that the health secretary “has promised to ensure the review’s final recommendations due in April are enacted”.

“But a maternity safety task force that Wes Streeting also promised to establish by now hasn’t yet been created,” it said. “He says it will be shortly.”

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BBC Breakfast airs on BBC One from 6am.

Kyiv hopes progress in talks in Geneva will pave the way for a direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

Russia pounded Ukraine with a barrage of missile and drone attacks across the country overnight, wounding at least eight people, in advance of the latest high-level meeting between Kyiv and Washington aimed at ending the war, now in its fifth year.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the latest attacks on the capital in the early hours of Wednesday caused damage to a nine-storey residential building in the Darnytskyi district, and resulted in fires in a home and garages elsewhere in the city.

The strikes on the capital prompted the activation of air defence systems to counter the attack, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said, advising residents to remain in shelters until the assault was over. No casualties were reported in the capital.

Ukraine has faced regular overnight barrages as Russia targets cities with missiles and drones in harsh winter conditions in recent months, also targeting civilian energy infrastructure, even amid an ongoing push by Washington to try to negotiate an end to Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Attacks also took place in the regions of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk, with officials reporting seven wounded in Kharkiv and another in Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk, the AFP news agency reported.

US, Ukrainian delegations to meet

The strikes came before a scheduled meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva between Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, being held in advance of a full session of talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington expected in early March.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he had spoken with US President Donald Trump before the talks, with Witkoff and Kushner part of the 30-minute call, to discuss the issues that their representatives would cover in Geneva, “as well as preparations for the next meeting of the full negotiating teams in a trilateral format at the very beginning of March”.

Zelenskyy, who has repeatedly sought face-to-face meetings with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to resolve the most challenging issues, said he expected the meeting in Geneva would “create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level”.

“President Trump supports this sequence of steps,” he said. “This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war.”

Putin has dismissed such a meeting repeatedly in the past, calling into question Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader.

Meanwhile, Russian state news agency TASS reported the Kremlin’s economic affairs envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, was also due to be in Geneva on Thursday, where he would “pursue negotiations with the Americans on economic issues”.

Negotiations stalled

Despite Trump’s desire to bring an end to the conflict, one he claimed he could end in 24 hours after he retook office, the talks so far have failed to bear fruit.

Negotiations, based on a US plan unveiled late last year, have hit a roadblock over the thorniest territorial issues, such as control of the eastern Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been at the heart of the fiercest fighting.

Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, in the Donbas, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave in at the negotiating table.

But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again. The Ukrainian constitution also forbids the ceding of territory.

Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides are believed to have been killed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Whether or not the U.S. Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) will carry multiple warheads remains to be seen now that a key arms control treaty has expired. The service is otherwise hopeful that the Sentinel program is now on the right track after years of major delays and ballooning costs, driven heavily by costs and complexities associated with building new infrastructure. A particularly key issue has been the matter of silos, with the original plan to repurpose the ones that currently house Minuteman III ICBMs having been abandoned in favor of all-new construction.

Air Force and other U.S. military officials, as well as a representative from the Sentinel’s prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, shared new updates about the program with TWZ and other outlets at the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) annual Warfare Symposium today. Sentinel has been undergoing a complete restructuring since delays and cost overruns triggered a legal requirement for a full review back in 2024. The original plan had called for the new Sentinel ICBMs, also designated LGM-35As, to begin entering operational service in 2029. Minuteman III, of which there are 400 currently sitting in silos across five states, was to be phased out by 2036.

The setbacks also mean that ongoing work on Sentinel is now occurring free from the limits on America’s nuclear arsenal that were imposed by the New START treaty with Russia. That agreement sunset, as scheduled, earlier this month without a follow-on deal in place.

A Sentinel Program official declined to say how many warheads could be loaded onto a single Sentinel missile when asked at a press briefing earlier today. The publicly stated plan previously has been to load each missile with a single W87-1 warhead.

Each of the Minuteman III ICBMs in service today, which are also designated LGM-30Gs, is topped with either a single W78 or W87 warhead, the result of a succession of arms control agreements culminating in New START. The LGM-30G, which entered service in 1970, was originally designed to carry up to three warheads, and retains this so-called multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) capability.

“We have the ability to do that. That’s obviously a national-level decision that would go up to the President,” Navy Adm. Rich Correll, head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told TWZ and others at a separate roundtable today, speaking generally about the prospect of the U.S. fielding ICBMs in a MIRV configuration again. “Those policy levers, if needed, provide additional resiliency within the capabilities that we have.”

“Nothing’s changed since [the] expiration of the New START treaty. The threat environment that existed before [the] expiration of the New START Treaty exists today,” Correll added. “So that decision space is open, and discussions will occur at a senior policy-making level to make decisions with respect to that. I would reserve any recommendations I have for that discussion within the Department.”

Earlier this month, Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), under which the currently Minuteman III force falls, also told TWZ that it “maintains the capability and training to MIRV the Minuteman III ICBM force” and that it would be prepared to do so “if directed by the President.”

We do know that the Sentinel missile is a new design with a three-stage solid fuel rocket booster that has been described as slightly larger than the Minuteman III. Under the shroud on top is a payload bus with a liquid fuel propulsion system.

Enabling Peace Through Deterrence

“Our liquid propulsion system, this is what gives us the fine point that allows us to place the re-entry vehicle precisely on target, that greater accuracy that comes with the Sentinel system,” the Northrop Grumman official explained at today’s press briefing.

Beyond improved accuracy, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman have said that Sentinel will also offer greater range, as well as reliability and sustainability benefits, compared to the Cold War-era Minuteman III. Though more specific details about Sentinel’s capabilities are classified, developing a new ICBM does provide the opportunity to incorporate various new features and functionality, including when it comes to survivability.

“At this point, we have completed testing on all of the major elements of the missile system. … We met all of our primary objectives and are [on] a good course to first flight, which is why we have confidence that we’re going to hit that pad launch in 2027,” the Northrop Grumman official added. “What we’re working on now are additional tests just to give us confidence” when it comes to “reliability and integrating that system.”

The Air Force first announced it was targeting a Sentinel first flight in 2027, from a launch pad above ground, last week. The service has yet to share when it expects to conduct the first test launch from a silo. Northrop Grumman is now building a full-scale prototype silo facility in Promontory, Utah, but it is unclear whether that will be constructed in a way that would allow it to be used for test launches in the future. As an aside, the New START treaty had also imposed limits on deployed and non-deployed “launchers,” which included silos for ICBMs.

As mentioned, the topic of silos has been absolutely central to the Sentinel program and its troubles over the years. Originally, the Air Force expected to be able to reuse Minuteman III silos, but subsequently determined that this was not the optimal course of action. The plan now is to construct 450 entirely new silos. The Air Force hopes this will actually save time and money now, in part because of the ability to leverage modern modular construction methods from the start rather than trying to repurpose decades-old structures.

“The original acquisition strategy for Sentinel was to use and reuse the Minuteman III silos for the housing of the Sentinel missile, with some upgraded communication rooms and things next to it. Over the past year, we’ve gone through multiple assessments to figure out what the right strategy is as we look forward, and we’ve changed our acquisition strategy to go after building and constructing new silos for Sentinel,” the Sentinel Program official explained today. “That came out of really kind of two primary things. The first reason we looked at this is just the variability of refurbishing Minuteman III silos. The Minuteman III silos are amazing, and they are incredibly efficient at executing the mission today. But as we were going down the path of trying to plan, just like trying to renovate a house built in the [19]60s, there was variability in understanding how you would attack refurbishment, how you would understand the conditions, and the timing, and the cost associated with that.”

The Air Force also sees new silos as helping ease the transition process from Minuteman III to Sentinel. Both missiles will be in service simultaneously for a time to ensure the land-based leg of America’s nuclear deterrent triad remains credible throughout the process.

“As we were looking at opportunity space, we found a squadron at Malmstrom [Air Force Base in Montana], which was the first one, that was still owned Air Force land, but allowed us what I would call swing space,” the Sentinel Program official noted. “If we constructed there, how we sequence and how we choreograph, taking down Minuteman and bringing Sentinel up on alert, it allowed us the opportunity to do that without impacting operations today. And going after that swing space, it actually drove us to designing and constructing new silos, as there were not Minuteman III silos available to be reused on those sites.”

New silos “also captured a few things that we were working through on risk, primarily around human factors and some other things that were existing in the reuse of Minuteman, it allowed us to get those and reduce those as we went forward,” they added.

“We knew and had some assumptions at the beginning. We had to test out those assumptions,” they also said when asked about why these issues were not recognized earlier on. “As we’ve tested out those assumptions, some of them proved false, which is why we’ve been going down the path of laying in, prototyping, experimentation, and showing progress on how do we say, ‘Hey, this is a different way of approaching it.’”

“To suggest they weren’t thought about, I think that would be probably short-sighted. They were very much thought about. I think that we often forget that these are very challenging programs. This is something we have not done in over six decades,” Air Force Gen. Dale White, Director of Critical Major Weapon Systems and direct reporting portfolio manager to the Deputy Secretary of War, also said at the roundtable. “Some of the assumptions that did come to fruition have actually provided more operational advantages. We’ve made changes along the way.”

“With the decision to recapitalize the intersite communications and build new launch silos, it’s opened up a lot of additional possibilities,” AFGSC commander Air Force Gen. Stephen Davis also said at the roundtable. “And I would tell you, I don’t think we have the answer exactly how we’re doing that yet, but we have more flexibility.”

The aforementioned prototype silo in Utah is being built to help further burn down risk.

“There are many things that we’re looking to prove out through this risk reduction activity, excavation techniques, how we integrate the modular elements of the silo, too. How we protect from weather conditions and how we do transportation to and from the site – critically important,” the Northrop Grumman official said. “And we will ultimately use this as we start to integrate and perform operations around missile emplacement, those kinds of things.”

Despite the “swing space” found to exist on Air Force-owned land, the Sentinel program is still expected to require the use of other U.S. government-owned land and the acquisition of additional land from private entities. The full extent of those additional land requirements is still being assessed. What will happen to the decommissioned Minuteman III silos is still to be determined, as well.

Though they are the most important aspect, silos are only one part of the massive infrastructure development plans baked into the Sentinel program. A total of 24 new launch centers and three new missile wing command centers are also set to be built. The new ICBM force will be spread across 32,000 square miles in five states and linked together by more than 5,000 miles of new fiber optic lines.

“The wing command center is actually a new capability being provided by Sentinel that doesn’t exist today for Minuteman,” the Sentinel Program official said. “Today at Minuteman, the information is more siloed. The structure of Minuteman is built around the [missile] squadron, and there isn’t a sole place where the information is pulled together, to give you the battlespace awareness of the entire wing at one time.”

“So the wing command center is where that fiber backbone is incredibly important,” they continued. “The quantity of data that can be pushed on fiber, from my physical security monitoring for health and status of the missiles and of the launch facilities, all can be integrated here into a common picture that allows the operational commander the ability to see what is going on in the missile field and take the appropriate action and prioritize where they are using their resources, their Airmen, to tackle the problems and the solutions.”

The first of these facilities is now being built at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. That base is also set to host initial prototyping efforts related to the fiber optic cable laying, which is set to be a huge undertaking led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Air Force is now aiming to start fielding Sentinel sometime in the early 2030s. How long it will take to complete the transition from Minuteman III to the ICBMs is unclear. The service has said it is at least “feasible” to keep some number of Minuteman IIIs on alert until 2050, according to a past report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog.

The U.S. military continues to stress that the new Sentinel ICBMs and modernized infrastructure that will come with them are top national security priorities. Despite debates in the past about the utility of the land-based leg of the triad, it does remain the fastest nuclear response option in the Pentagon’s strategic portfolio. It also has a continued purpose to act as a ‘warhead sponge’ that would force any opponent to expend substantial resources on trying to neutralize it in a future nuclear exchange.

US Air Force launches Minuteman III ICBM from Vandenberg in unarmed test

The global geostrategic environment has also evolved in ways that further bolster the case for Sentinel, particularly when it comes to China drastically expanding its nuclear arsenal. Other global crises, including Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, together with other proliferation and strategic weapons development concerns, are factors, as well.

“The fact of the matter is that both the offense and defensive threats … have evolved significantly” since Minuteman III was fielded, Gen. Davis said today. “We’ve gotten all the capability that we can out of the Minuteman, but Sentinel will bring Air Force Global Strike Command and USSTRATCOM important new capabilities that we need to keep up with the threat and to stay ahead of it.”

There are many questions the Sentinel program clearly still has to answer, including how many warheads each missile should carry, as it moves toward finally reaching an operational capability in the next decade.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

ACTRESS Anya Taylor-Joy looks simply the vest as she styles things out on a night out.

The Queen’s Gambit star, 29, wore the white strappy top with a green satin skirt.

She and rocker hubby Malcolm McRae, 31, dined at the San Vicente Bungalows hotel in Los Angeles.

They were reported to have been joined at the luxury venue by The Godfather star Al Pacino, 85, as well as Deliverance actor Jon Voight, 87.

We revealed earlier this month how the crowbar-wielding robber who tried to smash into Anya Taylor-Joy’s bedroom as she barricaded herself inside has been jailed.

Kirk Holdrick, 43, was one of two masked men who smashed their way into the luxury property in London.

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RAID HELL

Thug tried to smash into Anya Taylor-Joy’s bedroom as she locked herself inside

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Anya Taylor-Joy ‘victim of burglary by raiders who tried to access BEDROOM’

Taylor-Joy’s husband Malcolm McRae confronted the intruders before barricading himself and his wife inside one of the bedrooms.

The robbers then tried to prise open the door with a crowbar during the terrifying raid in February 2023.

McRae was armed only with a lamp to defend himself but managed to scare the thieves off by shouting out: “I have a gun, I have a gun.”

They fled empty-handed but nine days later, Holdrick, who dated Towie star Hannah Voyan, tied up a mum and her daughter at gunpoint in another raid in Sandbanks, Dorset.

Holdrick was jailed for life in 2005 for armed robberies on a security van transporting cash and a jewellers.

He was recalled to prison to continue serving his life sentence after his latest offences and, last November, he was jailed for 12 years for the Sandbanks robbery.

Holdrick has now been handed a further three-year prison sentence for the burglary involving Taylor-Joy and her husband.

Robinson is notorious in the UK where he has been accused of promoting hatred against Muslims and organising mass anti-migrant protests.

British far-right activist Tommy Robinson says he visited the United States Department of State as part of a recent trip to Washington, DC, where he was welcomed by government officials and supporters of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

“In America making alliances & friendships, today I had the privilege of an invite to the @StateDept,” Robinson posted on X on Wednesday, alongside a photo of himself next to a US flag.

Robinson is a household name in the UK, notorious for his anti-Muslim rhetoric and multiple prison terms. He was also a cofounder of the now-defunct far-right English Defence League – a street protest movement.

US State Department official Joe Rittenhouse, who is a senior adviser for the department’s Consular Affairs bureau, said he met with Robinson, calling him a “free speech warrior”.

“Honored to have free speech warrior @TRobinsonNewEra at Department of State today. The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy. Good to see you my friend!” Rittenhouse said in an X post.

Rittenhouse posted photos of what appeared to be Robinson touring the State Department.

The State Department did not answer questions from the Reuters news agency on who else Robinson met, what was discussed and what the objective of his visit was.

A representative for the United Kingdom’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has become an icon for British nationalists and one of the UK’s most high-profile anti-migration campaigners, organising a large rally last September in London attended by about 150,000 people.

Social media posts show that during his trip to Washington, Robinson also met far-right US influencer Jack Posobiec and filmed a video with Congressman Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, who has a history of anti-Muslim rhetoric. Robinson said on X that he will next travel to Florida.

Robinson’s visit to the US State Department follows a surge in support from the administration of President Donald Trump for far-right activists in the UK and Europe under the pretext of protecting “free speech”.

In December, the Trump administration accused Europe of engaging in “civilisational erasure” due to demographic and cultural changes from what Washington has described as weak immigration policies.

US Vice President JD Vance took aim at European countries during his first international trip last year, accusing the region’s leaders of stifling free speech – particularly voices from the far right – and being lax on migration to the detriment of their societies.

“No voter on this continent went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants,” Vance said in remarks that shocked European leaders.

The UK and European countries have stronger rules on hate speech than the US, and the European Union has taken a proactive stance on regulating social media and internet content – positions that have angered the White House.

Robinson was banned from Twitter in 2018, but his account was restored in 2022 following its acquisition by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began last week, the Iraqi city of Mosul regained its spiritual and cultural vibrancy, with religious rituals blending with cultural activities that reflect the city’s heritage, identity and collective memory after years of war and devastation.

On the first night of Ramadan, immediately after the Maghrib call to prayer, the chant “Majina ya Majina”, a traditional Ramadan song, echoes through the old neighbourhoods. Children in traditional clothing roam the streets singing Ramadan songs, in a scene that revives longstanding customs.

“This gathering of children revives Mosuli and Iraqi heritage and teaches them the values of sharing and celebrating the holy month,” said Yasser Goyani, 31, a member of the Bytna Foundation for Culture, Arts and Heritage

Tarawih prayers, performed at night during Ramadan, have also returned to the Grand al-Nuri Mosque and its iconic leaning minaret, al-Hadba, for the first time in nearly nine years, just before the bombing of the mosque in 2017 by ISIL (ISIS) fighters at the peak of an Iraqi government campaign against the group that had taken control of the city.

“I feel great joy performing prayers again in the mosque after its restoration and reopening, which reflects its spiritual and historical importance,” adds Goyani.

The traditional storyteller, or hakawati, has also re-emerged during Ramadan evenings, recounting stories from Mosul’s past.

“The hakawati represents a link between the past and the present. We narrate stories about how life in Mosul used to be, especially during the holy month of Ramadan. Despite technological development, people still love returning to their old memories,” explained Abeer al-Ghanem, 52, who plays the storyteller.

Meanwhile, the musaharati – the traditional predawn caller who wakes people up for a small meal to help them cope with the daylong fast – still walks through neighbourhoods in the Old City of Mosul before dawn.

Ghufran Thamer, 34, who performs the role, says, “The musaharati reminds people of authentic Ramadan rituals and keeps the nights of Ramadan alive, despite the changes in modern life.”

Traditional games remain a key part of the Ramadan atmosphere.

“We have been playing the siniya game since the 1980s. It is closely associated with Ramadan and creates a warm and joyful atmosphere among participants during the nights,” said Fahad Mohammed Kashmoula, 55.

Mosul’s markets, particularly the historic Bab al-Saray, come alive during Ramadan as residents flock to buy seasonal staples. Dates are especially in demand, providing a quick source of energy for those fasting. Khalil Mahmoud, 65, who has been selling dates in Bab al-Saray for nearly 40 years, says date sales increase significantly during Ramadan, especially in this market.

“Dates are highly sought after by those fasting, because they help compensate for the sugar lost during the day,” he said

Raisin juice, another Ramadan drink, is also popular across the city.

“The juice is prepared from high-quality raisins and fresh mint from the mountains of Kurdistan. The raisins are soaked, strained, crushed and strained again before being poured into bags for sale. Shops become crowded as people seek to replenish their energy after fasting,” said Hussein Muwaffaq, a raisin juice maker.

Alongside religious and cultural activities, the city also sees growing humanitarian initiatives during Ramadan, including paying off the debts of people in need, distributing food baskets, setting up free iftar meals, and promoting the values of social solidarity.

D4vd is the “target” of a Los Angeles County criminal jury investigation into the death of a teenage girl. The singer’s star was on the rise, with a global tour in his future, before the discovery of the girl’s remains in the front trunk of his Tesla.

The singer, whose real name is David Burke, has been the subject of the probe since November, months after the dismembered body of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez was found in the car after it was towed off a street in Hollywood.

According to a grand jury subpoena seeking to have Burke’s father, mother and brother testify in L.A., the musician is described as “Target David Burke,” who may have committed a criminal offense in California, “to wit: One count of Murder.”

The document was part of a legal challenge to the subpoenas filed by the singer’s family in Texas. The newly unsealed documents reveal that, when Los Angeles police opened up the Tesla trunk, they found “a black cadaver bag covered with insects and a strong odor of decay” inside. Investigators had been granted a search warrant to look in the vehicle Sept. 8 after a tow yard worker noticed a rotting smell emanating from the vehicle.

According to the document, detectives partially unzipped the bag and found “a decomposed head and torso.”

Criminalists and medical examiners then processed the body.

“Upon removing the cadaver bag from the front storage compartment, it was discovered the arms and legs had been severed from the body,” the subpoenas noted. “A second black bag was discovered underneath the cadaver bag. Upon opening the second bag, the dismembered body parts were discovered.”

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman issued the subpoenas on Jan. 15, with Superior Court judge Craig Richman approving them.

The First Court of Appeals in Texas on Feb. 9 denied petitions from the three Burke family members to ignore the subpoenas.

Months have passed since the gruesome discovery of the remains of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Although the LAPD has publicly declined to characterize the girl’s death as a homicide, an LAPD detective referred to the case as a murder investigation in a court filing.

In November, prosecutors began presenting evidence to a grand jury, described at the time as an investigative grand jury, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with the media.

Since then, numerous witnesses have been called in to testify, among those, one of the musician’s managers. A friend of D4vd, Neo Langston, was arrested in Montana after ignoring a subpoena and was recently forced to return to L.A. to testify.

In a Texas appeals court footnote, the court refers specifically to the singer’s true name. The court states that the “underlying case” is “The People of the State of California v. David Burke,” pending in the 506th District Court of Waller County, Texas, with Judge Gary W. Chaney presiding. There is no public case with that name, but grand jury proceedings are confidential.

The singer’s father, Dawud, mother, Colleen, and brother, Caleb, reside in Texas, according to court records. Lawyers for the trio could not be reached for comment.

Detectives have spent months investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death, as well as her relationship with D4vd.

His Tesla sat abandoned on a street in the Hollywood Hills for several weeks — potentially months — before its removal.

Authorities uncovered Celeste’s body the day after her 15th birthday. Her family had previously reported her missing.

L.A. Police Capt. Scot Williams, who leads the Robbery-Homicide Division, said the girl had been “dead for at least several weeks.” Williams said the body had not been decapitated or frozen, as some news outlets have reported.

Detectives determined that the Tesla had been parked on Bluebird Avenue since late July — around the time D4vd began a national tour. The tour was canceled soon after the death investigation drew worldwide media attention.

Surprise ruling comes weeks after the media mogul was convicted and jailed for 20 years on national security charges.

A Hong Kong appellate court has overturned a fraud conviction against pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a surprise ruling weeks after his jailing for 20 years on a separate national security charge.

The ruling by the Court of First Instance on Thursday said that it allowed the appeal from Lai and ⁠another defendant in the case to proceed as a lower court judge had “erred”.

“[We] allow the appeals, quash the convictions and set aside the sentences,” the judges wrote.

The conviction that was overturned was from an earlier fraud case in which prosecutors alleged that a consultancy firm operated by Lai, 78, for his personal use had taken up office space that his now defunct media business – Apple Daily – rented for publication and printing purposes.

This was in breach of the terms of the lease Apple Daily signed with a government company and amounted to fraud, prosecutors said.

Lai had been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in 2022 on the two fraud charges.

Former Apple Daily executive Wong Wai-keung was also charged in the same case and jailed for 21 months.

Judges at the Court of Appeal wrote in their judgement that while Apple Daily Printing had breached the lease terms by allowing the firm to use part of the space, it didn’t owe a duty to disclose its breach. They said even if it had owed and breached that duty, the same could not be attributed to Lai and Wong as a matter of law.

The trial judges’ “reasoning in concluding that the applicants were liable for the concealment as the prosecution contended is unsupportable”, they said.

Neither defendant appeared in court.

The ruling would slightly reduce Lai’s total prison time. The judges handling Lai’s national security case allowed the two sentences to be served concurrently for only two years, with the other 18 years to be added after the fraud sentence.

The lengthy sentence – over ‌two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one for publishing seditious materials – has raised concerns that he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Lai’s children have expressed hopes that a visit by United States President Donald Trump to Beijing could help secure the release of their father, a British citizen. The White House has confirmed that Trump will travel to China on March 31 through April 2 to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Lai was sentenced for exercising his right to freedom of expression and called on the Hong Kong authorities to release him on humanitarian grounds.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have defended Lai’s sentencing in the national security case, saying it reflected the spirit of the rule of law. They also insisted the security law is necessary for the city’s stability.

In a separate ruling on Thursday, a Hong Kong court sentenced the father of a wanted pro-democracy activist to eight months in prison under the city’s national security law for attempting to withdraw funds belonging to an “absconder”.

Kwok Yin-sang, 69, was found guilty on February 11 for “attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources” after he tried to terminate his daughter Anna Kwok’s insurance policy and withdraw the funds.

He is the first person in the city to be charged and convicted of the offence.

He had pleaded not guilty and did not testify at the trial.

Caracas, February 25, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan rice producers have staged demonstrations in recent days, demanding responses from authorities to secure fair prices for their harvests.

Campesino organizations from Barinas, Cojedes, Guárico, and Portuguesa states have held meetings with their respective governors and local representatives of the Agriculture Ministry to denounce pressure from agribusiness conglomerates imposing lower prices for their crops.

Victor Martínez, a rice producer and representative from a rural association in Portuguesa state, told Venezuelanalysis that there is an urgent need to establish appropriate crop prices with harvesting set to begin in the coming days.

“We are calling on the Venezuelan government, from Acting President Delcy Rodríguez to Agriculture Minister Julio León Heredia, to intervene and help set fair prices for rice that take into account our production costs,” he explained. “We cannot have the agroindustrial conglomerates imposing prices unilaterally.”

According to Martínez, rural producers sold rice crops at $0.50-0.55 per kilogram last year, and presently the Iancarina group, the biggest agribusiness firm in Portuguesa state, is offering $0.32-0.38 per kilo. Iancarina holds significant market shares nationwide in corn flour and rice distribution with its “Mary” brand and has ties to the US-based transnational commodities marketer GSI Food.

“These prices would mean the extinction of rice production, jeopardizing thousands of jobs in the countryside,” Martínez continued. “We urge authorities to establish dialogue mechanisms that take our production costs into account.”

The rice growers additionally denounced that corporations have recently imported rice to drive down crop prices and that Venezuelan producers cannot compete with international prices due to “exorbitant production costs.” AgroPatria, a state-owned company that supplied agricultural inputs to campesinos, was turned over to private group AgroLlano in 2020.

Martínez stated that $0.70 per kilo of rice is the price Portuguesa producers have set as a target in negotiations.

“There are too many hurdles to produce right now, from very expensive inputs to a lack of access to credit,” he went on to add. “The same agroindustry corporations offer financing but with draconian conditions and our profit margins vanish.”

According to Martínez, current financing agreements see companies supply inputs and then collect as much as 60 percent of the crop as payment. 

“Agribusiness oligopolies say that they are better off just importing rice, which carries no risk for them. But no country can survive without agriculture.” He concluded with a call for halting imports and extending state support to campesino producers.

In recent days, rural collectives in different states have shared their production costs and come up with different proposals for Venezuelan authorities. They are likewise weighing the possibility of staging a rally in Caracas to demand the intervention of the Agriculture Ministry. Venezuelan government officials have yet to comment on the controversy.

In recent years, with the economy heavily constrained by US sanctions, the Nicolás Maduro government moved to liberalize agricultural policies, transferring former state competencies to the private sector, including provisioning of seed and fertilizer inputs and access to tractors. Fuel subsidies have likewise been phased out, with small-scale producers denouncing it as a major factor driving up production costs.

Campesino collectives have repeatedly drawn attention to a growing agribusiness influence both in the supply of inputs and the commercialization of harvests. Food conglomerates have used their control of silos and retail channels as well as imports during harvest season, to drive up profit margins by imposing lower prices on producers.

Apart from rice, farmers have condemned similar coercive practices with sugar and coffee. Standoffs have traditionally led to mediation from state authorities and a temporary agreement on prices. However, campesinos have repeatedly alerted that agribusiness firms stop honoring established prices or delay payments to take advantage of the Venezuelan currency devaluation.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Fusagasugá, Colombia.

AMANDA Holden temporarily brought her radio show to a halt after co-star Jamie Theakston mentioned her rival Phillip Schofield.

The Heart Breakfast hosts, both 55, had Brit Awards host Jack Whitehall in the studio ahead of Sunday’s ceremony at the Manchester Co-op Live.

The banter was innocent enough, with Amanda quizzing Jack about the type of socks he’s planning on wearing.

Suggesting he won’t be going for the type of outlandish pair favoured by his dad, Michael, Jack said: “Well, I don’t want to be upstaged by a sock.”

Amanda turned to Jamie and said: “Well, Jamie, I rest my case.”

Unsure why she was sticking the boot in about socks, he replied: “What are you talking about? Children’s television? That wasn’t me, that was Phillip Schofield.”

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Amanda then took a dig at her long-running rival, saying: “Oh God, please, let’s not mention that name on air, it’s a family show!”

Phillip and Amanda’s feud is rumoured to have begun when she was passed over for a hosting gig in favour of Phil’s first choice, Rochelle Humes.

Amanda had been tipped to stand in for Holly Willoughby on This Morning during her time away hosting I’m A Celebrity in 2018 but The Saturdays star Rochelle booked the job instead.

A former daytime TV executive told The Sun at the time: “Phillip actively campaigned for Rochelle to get the job despite Amanda being more experienced — and having been told privately she’d got the gig.

“She feels Phil unfairly used his powers of persuasion. She was told he’d chosen Rochelle because she was easier to ‘manage’ on air – and understandably that incensed her.”

An ITV spokesperson denied the claims at the time and released a statement of support for Phillip.

The statement read: “Presenter line-ups on This Morning change regularly. Final decisions are made by producers, not presenters.

“Phillip is a much-loved broadcaster and part of the ITV family. He’s a consummate professional and held in high regard at ITV.

“Amanda is also held in high regard as a judge on one of our biggest shows.”

Shortly after Rochelle was confirmed as Holly’s replacement, Amanda appeared on This Morning to talk about her work with pregnancy and baby loss charity, Tommy’s.

During an ad break on the October 2018 episode, Amanda reportedly confronted Phil about her suspicions that he had campaigned for Rochelle to replace Holly instead of her.

A source told The Sun: “She made it clear that she felt very let down.

“He was lost for words but didn’t have much time to respond to Amanda’s claims because the show was going back on air.

“Neither of them realised that Amanda could be overheard by most of the team because she was still wearing her mic pack.”

In 2019, Amanda confirmed her and Phillip’s feud to Jamie Theakston on Heart and insisted they’ll never reconcile.

She said she asked to meet Phillip in a bid to clear the air but was ghosted by the star.

“I’ve moved on from it Jamie, you need to move on from it,” she said.

He replied: “You might have moved on but I just wanted to know, is there any more to the story?”

She then revealed: “I did offer to meet him for a coffee months ago, he didn’t reply to my text. What can I say?”

Jamie pushed again: “The olive branch had been extended.”

“Oh, yes,” Amanda replied.

Referring to the famous photo of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift hugging while dressed up as fast food after they’d resolved their own feud, Jamie asks Amanda if there will be a “burger and fries moment” – but Amanda said “no”.

Phillip has not directly addressed his rumoured fallout with Amanda but, prior to the alleged end of their friendship, he had revealed what it was like to work with her.

In 2015, he spoke to Heat magazine about his former co-worker, saying: “She kept me on my toes.

“She has a faulty edit button and she forgets she’s on the telly, which is enormously endearing and funny, but occasionally quite scary.”

He also appeared to reference the rumours surrounding his relationship with Amanda after The Sun reported that she had made a formal complaint to ITV boss Kevin Lygo about the This Morning hiring incident.

Phil addressed the speculation on Twitter, saying: “The end of another really sad weekend.

“When you try for 35 years to be the easiest, most fun person to work with and you read such hurtful and wildly untrue stories from nameless ‘sources’.

“Obviously I’ll take it on the chin.. .I just hope you know me better.”