Business

May 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will be accompanied by 16 senior executives of U.S. companies for his trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The White House on Monday shared a list of the executives, which include Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, among others.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins was unable to join the trip, however executives from Blackstone, Cargill, Citigroup, Coherent, GE Aerospace, Goldman Sachs, Illumina, Matstercard, Meta, Micron Technology, Qualcomm and Visa will also travel to China with Trump.

Trump is expected to discuss trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan and the Iran War, with the creation of a board of investment and a board of trade with China high on his list of goals for his meetings with Xi.

“We’re doing a lot of business [with China], but it’s smart business,” Trump told reporters during a press briefing in the Oval Office on Monday.

“We used to be taken advantage of for years with our previous presidents,” he said. “And now we’re doing great with China. We make a lot of Monday with China.”

The U.S. caravan will depart for Beijing on Tuesday, with meetings scheduled for the rest of the week between the two delegations.

Each of the executives traveling for the meetings has significant business interests in China, which is why they were asked to join Trump for the trip, White House officials have said.

BRITISH Airways’ multi-million pound superjumbo refit faces certification delays over fears crew cannot safely restrain drunk passengers in its new business class seats.

The airline is in the process of upgrading its Airbus A380 fleet with its latest Club Suite, which comes with a sliding privacy door.

But the makeover could hit delays because of concerns over how staff would deal with an air rage passenger on the upper deck.

BA plans to move a small section economy seats off the top floor and replace them with a larger Club World cabin.

Its passenger restraint kit is understood to be approved for economy and premium economy seats – not the new suite-style business seats.

That could leave crew with a major problem if a passenger became violent or disruptive upstairs.

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Sources said hauling a violent passenger down the A380’s narrow staircases could put crew and other passengers at risk.

The first aircraft are currently being worked on in Manila, Philippines, as part of the refurbishment programme.

Industry sources have also suggested there may be certification concerns over the weight of the new business seats, which include motors and sliding doors.

Extra weight on the upper deck could affect the plane’s payload limits.

However, any delay may also be linked to wider supply chain issues affecting premium aircraft seats across the industry.

British Airways said the A380 refit programme remains on schedule for 2026.

SEOUL, May 10 (UPI) — South Korea’s KB Financial Group unveiled a humanoid robot for senior care during AI EXPO Korea 2026 held in southern Seoul.

During the three-day event last week, KB Financial showcased the humanoid robot, named “GenP,” which was jointly developed with domestic AI company GENON.

KB Financial noted that GenP was specifically designed for senior care, as it is equipped with upgraded finger-module capabilities to perform precise movements suited for assisting elderly users.

During the exhibition, the humanoid robot carried out five demonstrations, including greeting visitors and delivering daily information, such as rehabilitation schedules.

The Seoul-based financial conglomerate said that the presentation demonstrated its transition from text-based agentic AI to physical AI geared toward engaging directly with the everyday lives of senior customers.

Next month, KB Financial’s affiliate plans to introduce an AI-powered care robot, dubbed “KeBi,” at a South Korean facility for senior citizens.

South Korea is widely regarded as having one of the world’s fastest-aging societies, as the proportion of people age 65 or older topped 20% of the population. As of the end of last year, it was 21.21%, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

“Starting with this demonstration, we plan to gradually verify the feasibility of applying physical AI to care settings. Based on those results, we will further expand our service scope and business operations,” KB Financial said in a statement.

“Going forward, we will concentrate our capabilities on realizing the future of senior care solutions, which combine advanced technology and compassionate care,” it said.

The share price of KB Financial rose 0.31% on the Seoul bourse Friday.

May 10 (UPI) — Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday the Trump administration is “open” to the possibility of suspending the federal tax on gasoline sales as prices spike amid the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

Wright said during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press he and Trump are “open to all ideas” to lower energy prices, including following the lead of some U.S. states in temporarily shelving taxes on gas at the pump amid the price surge.

“All measures that can be taken to lower the price at the pump and lower the prices for Americans, this administration is in support of,” he said. “We are constantly looking for different ideas.”

Citing previous measures such as releasing oil from the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves and “revising federal regulations on summer gasoline blends to make it easier for American refineries to produce more gasoline,” Wright said the suspension of the 18-cents-per-gallon federal tax on gas is also on the table.

“We are working every day to offset this rise in prices because of a critical conflict in Iran to drive prices down, and we’re open to all such ideas,” he said.

Wright’s comments came as the average national price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline stood at $4.52 per gallon as of Sunday, according to the Automobile Association of America.

U.S. drivers have seen sharp increases in pump prices in recent weeks after Iran blocked the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway connecting Persian Gulf oil and natural gas producers with world markets.

The move came in retaliation to a wave U.S.-Israeli bombing attacks on Iran beginning Feb. 28, which Washington and Tel Aviv claim were necessary to prevent the imminent development of a nuclear weapon by Iran’s rulers.

The price of regular gas last week surged 25 cents for the second consecutive week to $4.55 — $1.40 higher than they were a year ago and marking their highest level since 2022, the AAA reported.

Crude oil prices have dipped below $100 per barrel while a fragile cease-fire between the United States and Iran has been in place and negotiations to reopen the Strait have been ongoing. But with global oil supplies tightening, upwards pressure on pump prices continues.

In a separate appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Wright refused to predict were gas prices were heading.

“I don’t know the future of gas prices,” he said while admitting that “gasoline and diesel prices are up, and they will remain up while this conflict’s in place, and then they will come back down.

“And, ultimately, they’ll come back down lower than they were before.”

For Vince Gervasi, chief executive of Triscenic Production Services, it was yet another body blow.

His company, a leading supplier of set and scenery storage and transportation for the film industry, was poised for a turnaround after nearly three years of losing money.

Then, last week, he said a line producer on “Shark Tank,” one of his long-standing clients, called him to say the hit ABC reality show was relocating production from the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City to Atlanta.

“They said it was too expensive here to do anything,” Gervasi recalled being told. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ This show has money.’”

For the last six years, Triscenic had dedicated a 70,000-square-foot warehouse at its Santa Clarita facility to store the show’s items, transporting them in 30 custom made semitrucks between seasons.

Battered by the pandemic, the dual labor strikes, economic downturns and consolidations, Gervasi told The Times in 2024 that he had laid off 78 of his 85 employees and winnowed down his once-buzzing operations that housed sets and scenery across 2 million square feet in 41 buildings to half that, with the expectation that things would bounce back.

Like many other local film industry veterans, he is still waiting.

Vince Gervasi, at Triscenic Production Services, in Santa Clarita.

(Bob Doyle)

“I’ve been doing this for 41 years. I’ve seen the good and the bad — this is a complete decimation. It’s unprecedented.”

From florists to prop rentals to catering and beyond, production services and craft businesses are the hub and spoke of L.A.’s film and TV industry. But many of these businesses — some of which have been family-operated for generations — are struggling to weather a post-pandemic slump in film activity deepened by runaway production, media consolidation and the end of the streaming boom.

Film shoot days in the Los Angeles region have fallen nearly 50% since 2019, according to FilmLA data reviewed by The Times. Employment in Los Angeles County’s motion picture and sound recording industry has similarly plummeted, with a loss of some 57,000 jobs in the last four years, federal labor data show.

The slowdown has become a major issue in the L.A. mayoral race as evidence mounts of the economic toll on the city.

Just last month major industry vendor Quixote — whose Star Waggons trailers were once ubiquitous on the streets of L.A. — announced that it was winding down most of its sound stage business in Los Angeles, closing its operations in Atlanta and laying off 70 employees.

In a note to its clients and partners, Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., Quixote’s parent company, said that “we have persisted through the prolonged and ongoing slowdown in commercial, television and film production. But ultimately, industry conditions have forced difficult decisions.”

Between 2022 and 2025, more than 80 such businesses across Los Angeles have closed down, according to a list compiled by the ACME Directory, a production resource that connects TV and film professionals with specialized products and services.

“It’s, in many ways, a much bigger reflection of the contraction we’re seeing in the industry right now,” said Kevin Klowden, a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, focused on entertainment and technology. “The surge in demand for streaming and the consequential demand to catch up on content hid the fact that the industry was shrinking.”

Last October, the family-run Costume Rentals Corp. began liquidating its inventory after dressing film and television characters for 50 years. The North Hollywood firm provided costumes for “Forrest Gump,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Fast and Furious” and, more recently, the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown.”

A year earlier, Valentino’s Costume Group closed its doors after two decades in business and sold off its 400,000 items. At the time, Shon LeBlanc, the North Hollywood shop’s last owner standing, said he had endured a “perfect storm” of calamities and was drowning in debt following the cancellation of 15 shows in a single week.

Even the legendary Western Costume, which has been in business since 1912, has been hurt by the slowdown. During the 2023 strikes by writers and actors, Western Costume furloughed 43 employees, or about two-thirds of its staff. Recently, the North Hollywood costume mecca, which has supplied such classic films as “Gone with the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Sound of Music” and the TV series “Mad Men,” furloughed an unspecified number of its workers, said two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

A representative of Western Costume did not respond to a request for comment.

Marc Meyer, the owner of Faux Library Studio Props, had strained to stay in business through the pandemic shutdown and the 2023 labor strikes — laying off 11 of his 13 employees.

By the start of 2024, Meyer, a set decorator who was credited with inventing the fake movie book, was drastically behind on rent, owing $500,000, he said.

Marc Meyer, closed the doors on Faux Library Studio Props in North Hollywood after almost 25 years in business.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Meyer’s landlord had given him a week to come up with more than $100,000 in unpaid rent or vacate the 89,000-square-foot warehouse in North Hollywood filled with props, books, antique furniture and other items that have decorated such film and TV sets as “Angels & Demons” and “The X-Files” for almost a quarter-century.

Meyer came up with $45,000 to mollify his landlord, garnering a month’s reprieve. A GoFundMe was set up during the strikes and a host of industry colleagues such as “Top Gun: Maverick” set decorator Jan Pascale stepped up, buying props to help fill his coffers.

A year later, Meyer was out of business, selling off Faux Library for parts in a massive auction. He died last July at 77.

“The change in our city is palpable,” said writer and director Sarah Adina Smith, a co-founder of Stay in LA’s, a grassroots campaign aimed at increasing film and television production in Los Angeles. “It’s not just that so many crafts and artists are out of work, but you see small businesses, too. In L.A., we’re an ecosystem fed in large part by creative jobs, and that is quickly vanishing.”

Marlon Gilbert still waxes nostalgic about the days his Commerce-based company, Gilbert Production Service, stored and transported scenery and props for TV shows including “Dancing with the Stars” and feature films like “Batman.” At one time, he said, he was handling seven active TV shows in a single season.

“When it was still on Fox, the ‘American Idol’ finale, we had like 20 semitrucks going in and out. Money was flowing like crazy,” he said. “But eventually times got hard for them, and they cut back on their production stuff.”

By last year, Gilbert was down to just three clients. “It wasn’t sustainable,” he said.

In December, after three decades, the family-owned business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shut down too.

“I couldn’t pay rent on our warehouse lease, I blew through my savings and my 401(k),” he said. After his wife was hospitalized following multiple strokes in 2023, he said, “I didn’t have the energy to beat the bush for new business.”

“I would’ve liked to have gone out with more panache and made a big splash and money selling the business. But there was nothing left to sell.”

Scott Niner, president and owner of Dangling Carrot Creative, checks on a robotic machine as it fabricates at his shop in North Hollywood.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Scott Niner, president and owner of Dangling Carrot Creative, offers a case study in how production service businesses have navigated the tidal wave of upheavals.

After 18 years in business creating graphic signage, custom flooring and wallpaper to make sets look exactly as art directors dreamed up, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last April.

Before the pandemic, Niner’s Valencia-based business was thriving.

In 2014, he opened a Georgia satellite office to service the film and TV productions that had migrated to take advantage of the state’s generous tax credits. He steadily expanded his workforce to 32 employees in L.A. and Georgia.

Production was so plentiful that he even branched into the bakery business in 2018, delivering graphics and cupcakes in the same order. At its peak, Dangling Carrot generated $800,000 a month.

When the pandemic shutdown hit, Niner’s monthly revenue dropped to $50,000, he said. He kept his workers employed by making face shields that he donated to hospitals.

“I hung in there, and it was painful,” said Niner, who received some government assistance.

During the strikes in 2023, he drained his 401(k) and his union pension to keep his shop open and his workers employed.

Niner said he deployed a strategy of “pivoting and praying.” He shifted his business to focus more on fabrication, making giant 3-D-printed items for movie premieres, 25-foot-long, 8-foot-tall and 8-foot-deep ammo chests for a “Call of Duty” promotion and even graphics at airports.

Last last month, Niner sold off his Georgia business as filming in that state shifted to the U.K. He downsized his home and moved his business from Valencia to a much smaller building in North Hollywood. He is now down to 11 employees.

“I have a very bright outlook on the future, especially because we’re getting phone calls from people who never would have called us because all the other guys are out of business,” he said. “There’s something to be said about the last man standing. But I’m the last man standing on $2 million in debt. I’m more like lying down.”

The industry got a reprieve last week when CBS announced that it was relocating its hit drama “Tracker” to Los Angeles from Vancouver, Canada, after receiving a $48-million tax credit. Many view such moves, however, as small wins over comprehensive ones.

“There’s been a fundamental change happening here over the past five years,” said Cale Thomas, a makeup artist who has worked on “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” and the recent biopic “Michael.”

Thomas, who is a member of Stay in LA, acknowledges that California’s step last year to double its tax incentives has helped to spur an uptick in local production, but that has not stopped the outflow of productions or resolved a host of restrictions and costs that have hampered the industry.

He worked on “The Mandalorian” and other Lucasfilm series that stream on Disney+ for five years. “We shot in Manhattan Beach Studios,” he said, but noted that Lucasfilm has since moved one show to the U.K. and produced two others there.

“This has been devastating for our industry,” he said. “Hundreds of generational family businesses aren’t being used anymore.”

The pain points are not confined to Hollywood.

Last year, Marvel Studios — which had made Georgia, known as Hollywood of the South, its primary filming center for such major franchises as “Avengers: Infinity War” — relocated much of its production to the U.K.

The impact has meant even fewer domestic productions causing an even bigger ripple effect.

Among the high-profile casualties was Hackman Capital Partners, which aggressively snapped up studios, acquiring $10 billion in assets under management before production activity plummeted nationwide.

In January, the company defaulted on its $1.1-billion mortgage on Radford Studio Center, the historic lot where “Seinfeld” and “Gunsmoke” were filmed and which gave Studio City its name.

Earlier this year, Hackman Capital Partners defaulted on its $1.1-billion mortgage on Radford Studio Center, the historic lot where “Seinfeld” and “Gunsmoke” were filmed.

(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

Three months later, lender Deutsche Bank filed a foreclosure complaint on the also-historic Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, N.Y., home to “Sesame Street” and “Succession.”

Kaufman, also owned by Hackman Capital Partners, defaulted on an outstanding loan balance of $359 million that was due to be paid last fall, according to CRE Daily.

Gregg Bilson sold ISS Props, the Sunland-based company his father founded in 1977, to Manhattan Beach Studios, part of Hackman Capital Partners, five years ago, staying on as CEO to help run and expand the company.

After 40 years in the business, he retired last August with a little more than a year and a half left on his contract.

Bilson now sees himself as a Hollywood relic.

“Many of my contemporaries and I have had conversations where we say we saw the best of the film and TV industry when it was an art form,” Bilson said. “It will never be the same.”

Caught between rising inflation and slowing growth, the United States Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are keeping interest rates and borrowing costs steady.

That’s despite rising energy bills, fuel and food costs squeezing businesses and households worldwide.

The International Monetary Fund is warning of a global slowdown, and no one knows how long the energy shock set off by the US-Israel war on Iran will last.

The impact will be felt hardest in emerging markets and developing nations. Central banks face a tough choice: fight rising prices or support a weakening economy.

May 8 (UPI) — Consumer sentiment in the United States has hit another record low as Americans worry about the cost of life as gas prices continue to rise amid the war in Iran.

A monthly University of Michigan survey found that consumer sentiment dropped 3.2% in the last month — from 49.8 to 48.2 — and was down 7.7% over the course of the year, the university’s Institute for Social Research said on Friday.

Joanne Hsu, director of the university’s Surveys of Consumers, said that consumer sentiment is “essentially unchanged” from April, while the current economic conditions survey dropped 9% because of high prices affecting personal finances and whether people will make major purchases.

The decline in the current economic conditions survey was down nearly 19% from last year.

She pegged the survey results to the effects of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, and specifically the widespread effects that Iranian and U.S. blockades of the Strait of Hormuz have had on the global economy.

“Taken together, consumers continue to feel buffeted by cost pressures, led by soaring prices at the pump,” Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, said in an analysis.

“Middle East developments are unlikely to meaningfully boost sentiment until supply disruptions have been fully resolved and energy prices fall,” she said.

Hsu noted that, in the surveys, “about one-third of consumers spontaneously mentioned gasoline prices, and about 30% mentioned tariffs.”

The index of consumer expectations did, however, show a 0.8% gain from last month, and is up 1.3% over last year.

May’s consumer sentiment survey is the lowest going back to 1952 — April also set a record — although markets did not react significantly after the institute published its preliminary data for this month’s surveys.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday also released its April jobs report, which showed that the economy gained 115,000 non-farm payroll jobs — more than double what Wall Street expected — but down from the 185,000 added in March.

For the 12 months ended in April, BLS noted that net payrolls were relatively unchanged.

The unemployment rate for April was unchanged from March at 4.3%.

May 8 (UPI) — President Donald Trump intends to fire Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary because he is frustrated with the agency.

Trump signed off on the decision to replace Makary as he has clashed with Trump, officials in the Department of Health and Human Services and other officials in the administration, multiple reports said on Friday.

The reports — from NBC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post — all were attributed to Trump administration sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the issue.

Makary, a former surgeon at Johns Hopkins, was confirmed to run the FDA in March 2025 on a vote the included two Democratic members of the Senate voting yes.

His nomination carried some controversy because, like several other Trump cabinet members and nominees, is a former Fox News contributor who preferred that society develop natural immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 instead of the CDC’s preferred method of using vaccine-induced immunity during the pandemic.

The reports suggest that Makary has struggled to run the FDA as long-time staff have left the agency and a range of healthcare, pharmaceutical and advocacy groups have been highly critical of its actions.

The Department of Health and Human Services and Makary have not commented on the reports, and sources for all four news organizations noted that the plan could change if Trump changes his mind.

SANTIAGO, Chile, May 8 (UPI) — An economic reform plan Chilean President José Antonio Kast announced to revive the country’s economy is drawing criticism over its potential short- and medium-term fiscal impact, as the International Monetary Fund lowered its growth projections for Chile.

The IMF’s World Economic Outlook report had estimated in mid-April that Chile’s gross domestic product would grow 2.4% in 2026 and 2.6% in 2027. However, the organization said this week it revised those projections to 2.2% this year and 2.5% in 2027 if external conditions and the country’s fiscal situation improve.

“Economic activity, driven by investment and exports in 2025, faces a period of heightened uncertainty,” the IMF said.

The report said higher copper production and prices support growth expectations, but warned of risks that include the crisis in the Middle East, rising oil prices and loss of domestic competitiveness tied to the sharp public spending cuts promoted by Kast.

The Chilean president’s plan includes proposals to reduce corporate taxes and cut bureaucracy in an effort to stimulate private investment. Congress is discussing tha proposal.

“Amid persistently high inequality, social discontent also remains a risk,” the IMF report said.

The IMF is not the only institution warning about the risks associated with the government’s National Reconstruction Plan.

Chile’s Autonomous Fiscal Council, an independent public agency tasked with monitoring the sustainability of fiscal policy, warned about the proposal’s possible impact on the country’s fiscal balance and public debt.

“The project commits fiscal spending with a high degree of certainty in the short term and reduces permanent revenue, while the positive effects depend on more uncertain future income associated with growth, which could lead to a deterioration in the fiscal balance if growth does not materialize at the estimated magnitude and speed,” the council said.

Jaime Bastías, director of the auditing school at Finis Terrae University, told UPI the IMF’s downgrade was “absolutely” expected because Chile’s central bank had already made a similar adjustment, while debate over financing the government’s proposal continues to intensify.

“The government’s plan can be an engine that helps us face the storm we are going through, but that is heavily conditioned on the state maintaining orderly public finances. The IMF says that if the proposed tax cuts are not offset through other channels, the country’s debt will grow too much, and that will create another problem,” Bastías warned.

Carlos Smith, a researcher at the Center for Business and Society Research at Universidad del Desarrollo, told UPI the IMF report shows that both external and domestic factors are likely to weaken household income and affect consumer spending.

“Consumption is one of the main drivers of Chile’s GDP. The IMF expects it to contract and that is already beginning to show, along with a very weak labor market. Chile is in a much weaker condition,” he said.

Smith said that although the IMF lowered its growth forecasts, the organization still appears optimistic about the long-term positive impact of the government’s proposed reforms.

“The impact will materialize more slowly than the finance minister expects. Therefore, the IMF is suggesting more efficient alternatives such as lower costs or more limited subsidies to create new jobs,” Smith said.

He added that while Ciles should adjust some aspects of the reform, he believes the plan is still moving in the right direction.

“I agree with the IMF that the proposal needs refinement and should focus on removing obstacles to investment projects without lowering the standards of our legislation or environmental protections. If that is achieved, I believe there is a possibility of reaching 3% growth by the end of the decade,” he said.

Bastías agreed, saying Chile could grow at 3% by 2030 if copper prices remain high, production increases and more private investment arrives.

“It is an optimistic scenario where we need to focus on stimulating those three factors. If that favorable future does not materialize, we will all pay the costs,” he said.

Candles flickered on long wooden tables beneath a sprawling mulberry tree as Matt French stepped in front of the doorway of his sleek Pioneertown home, holding a drink aloft. Dressed in fitted jeans and a dark western shirt, he welcomed the roughly 60 guests who had assembled in his front yard for the kickoff event of the High Desert Art Fair that would take over the 19-room Pioneertown Motel he owns with his brother Mike.

“We’re super honored to be hosting this event and hosting tonight,” said Matt, addressing a crowd that included local artists, musicians and well-heeled art world types from L.A. “This is the exact kind of event that we want to have in the desert.”

Although the French brothers were not directly involved in the art fair itself, the evening’s itinerary had their fingerprints all over it. Dinner was held in front of the expansive compound they share, and the food — perfectly grilled tri-tip with chimichurri, sourdough bread with cultured butter, flatbread pizzas — was prepared by the owners of the Old Town Public Market, a yet-to-open organic deli and wine bar that would soon occupy another building the brothers own in nearby Yucca Valley. After dessert, the ringing of an old-fashioned triangle bell alerted guests that it was time to cross the road to the Red Dog Saloon, another French brothers business, where Shepard Fairey was already DJing to a packed crowd that spilled onto the rustic porch, the cacophony of laughter, bass and cigarette smoke wafting down the town’s main drag.

It was just another dreamy, highly curated night in the high desert of Matt and Mike French’s making.

Vintage design details abound at the French brothers’ properties, including the Pioneertown Motel.

Few people have had more influence on the modern aesthetic of the sun-drenched desert near Joshua Tree National Park than the two brothers from Portland whose properties regularly pop up in travel publications, Instagram reels and “best of the desert” lists. Since buying the Pioneertown Motel in 2014, Matt, 42, and Mike, 37, have built a portfolio of businesses that tap into the mythology of the California desert — part cowboy, part Rat Pack, part cosmic traveler. Across historic restoration projects like the motel where Gene Autry once played cards all night, the Red Dog Saloon where 1940s film crews unwound after long days of shooting and the Copper Room, a restaurant and bar at the Yucca Valley airport that was a favorite of Gram Parsons, their properties give tourists and locals alike a taste of the desert’s history and glamour all while making it feel like patrons have just stumbled upon these magical spots themselves.

Now, the brothers, along with Eric Cheong, a designer and the third partner in their company Life & Times, are expanding their unique vision to other parts of the desert with two new projects. In late 2026, they will open Lord Fletcher Inn, a 1960s-era steak house in Rancho Mirage where Frank Sinatra occasionally stepped behind the bar. Miracle Hill, the brothers’ colorful take on a geothermal bath house in Desert Hot Springs, is slated to open at the end of 2027.

The French brothers purchased the 1960s-era restaurant Lord Fletcher’s in Rancho Mirage, where Frank Sinatra occasionally tended bar.

Designer Eric Cheong, left, on the porch of the Red Dog Saloon, with Matt and Mike French.

With these two new businesses, as well as an ambitious expansion of the Pioneertown Motel, including an extension of the Western facade of Mane Street that was approved in December, the brothers say they feel a renewed commitment to the desert community where they have lived and worked for more than a decade. Although they toyed with the idea of doing projects in other parts of the country, they ultimately decided that the world they have created in this dry desert landscape is too valuable to leave.

“The lady at the post office has treats for my dog and knows my dog’s name,” Mike said. “You can’t buy your way into community like that. You have to earn it.”

The French brothers’ story may sound like a desert fairy tale, but they insist it wasn’t always that way.

Although they’d been traveling to Palm Springs for family vacations since they were kids, it wasn’t until 2009 that Matt first drove up the rocky mountain pass to Pioneertown and fell in love with the funky desert community originally built in the 1940s as a working film set. After learning that the rundown motel across the street from Pioneertown’s iconic roadhouse and concert venue Pappy & Harriet’s was for sale, Matt, who was working for a boutique hotel company at the time, convinced Mike to join forces with him and buy it. It took five years of starts, stops, heartbreak and nearly giving up before the deal finally went through in 2014.

“Matt was really the driving force,” Mike said. “I was like, this is nuts, but I’m in.”

Those early days were challenging. One of their first orders of business was to evict the previous owner’s weed dealer who had been living in one of the rooms rent-free. The manager at the time was known to yell people off the property. Skilled workers were hard to find, and the desert’s popularity as a tourist destination had not yet ballooned.

Mike and Matt French are setting the stage for their next venture, Miracle Hill, a geothermal bath house in Desert Hot Springs.

“In retrospect it can look very obvious and very, like, ‘Oh, of course, the hotel’s cool and it’s right next to Pappy’s,’” said Matt. “But that is not what it felt like back then.”

The brothers also had to contend with a notoriously fierce local community that was deeply suspicious of the lanky millennials from out of town.

“We had our claws out and our guns cocked,” said David Miller, 81, a longtime local and the president of Friends of Pioneertown. “But it turned out that they are model citizens.”

For two years, the brothers ran the motel remotely while continuing to work other jobs — Matt for a real estate company that did large-scale development in Portland and Mike for a ticketing and events start-up in L.A. In 2017, they decided they needed a home base in town and bought a rundown house with an even more rundown barn a 10-minute walk from the motel. They have since renovated it into two homes just yards from each other with a shared backyard that includes a pool, sauna, cold plunge, hot tub and custom-built hammock that can hold up to 20 people. In 2018, they moved in full time.

A Pioneertown Motel pick-up truck, spotted outside the kitchen window of Matt French’s home.

Two years later, in August 2020, they opened the Red Dog Saloon, a full-scale renovation of the historic bar of the same name that originally opened in 1946. The brothers say they weren’t necessarily looking to open a new business — they just really wanted another place to eat and drink in town besides Pappy & Harriet’s. Their original plan was to create a 16-seat whiskey bar in a small building across from Pioneertown’s picturesque Post Office, but their partners, restaurateurs Adam Weisblatt of Last Word Hospitality who operates Hermon’s and Found Oyster and Eric Alperin from the Varnish, suggested they look at the much larger Red Dog Saloon instead.

“They were like, ‘You can actually make money that way,’” Mike said about the restaurant and bar that can serve as many 1,000 people a day. “And we were like, ‘Yes, that’s a great point.’”

The same team came together again to open the Copper Room, a higher-end, full-service restaurant at the Yucca Valley Airport that opened in 2022 on the site of a dive bar they used to frequent called Wine & Roses.

In 2020, the brothers opened the Red Dog Saloon, a full-scale renovation of the historic bar of the same name that originally opened in 1946.

“At the time we really weren’t sure if Yucca Valley could support that kind of dining experience,” Mike said. “Now we have a $200 tomahawk steak served tableside on the menu and they sell out. There is no way we could imagine that happening when we opened.”

As they did with the motel and the Red Dog, the brothers and Cheong leaned into the history of the space when designing the Copper Room. They kept the curved bar where Gram Parsons drank his last margarita intact but went with a 1950s vibe in the main dining room, with heavy brocade banquets and floral wallpaper, nodding to the restaurant’s opening in 1957.

Cheong said that across each project, he and the French brothers leaned heavily on the space’s unique history for design inspiration.

The vintage-style entrance into Red Dog Saloon.

“We really base it around story and lore,” Cheong said. “The spaces merge together because there is a similar strategy, but it’s not a style. It’s not a color palate. It’s like a feeling of respect and honor, but it’s also our twist on it.”

The brothers’ three businesses were thriving, but in 2023, they found themselves in a lull. “We were having trouble figuring out what to do next,” Matt said. “ We have a very specific criteria of what we want to do and we were like, maybe we look outside of the desert. Maybe things here are plateauing.”

The brothers already had one property outside of the desert — Captain Whidbey, a historic lodge and resort on Whidbey Island in Washington that was named one of the best hotels in the world by Travel + Leisure in 2020 — but ultimately they concluded that the price of leaving Pioneertown to start over somewhere new was too high to pay. They had invested years into building relationships with the high desert’s eclectic community. Somewhere along the way they had also come to feel like chosen family.

The French brothers and Eric Cheong leaned into the history of the space when designing the Copper Room.

“So many things were pulling us in different directions, but life is more personal than business,” Mike said. “So we committed to the desert, which was not just committing to doing business in the desert, but was really committing to living in the desert.”

Since then, more opportunities have opened up. The brothers purchased Lord Fletcher’s in 2025 after a real estate agent happened to mention a 1966-era steak house in Rancho Mirage was for sale. Miracle Hill came about in part because the town of Desert Hot Springs is eager to grow its reputation as a destination for geothermal bathing and offered to help them find a suitable location. For the brothers, it represents the first time they are creating a space from the ground up. Construction has yet to begin, but they have already crafted a story for the space that builds off the community’s early 20th century history and mystical geology.

“The core narrative is that it feels like an eccentric, gregarious host’s home that you are going into,” Mike said. “And the mountain alignment, the sun, the wind, the faults and the geothermal water are the five forces that create a vortex-type energetic field deal. So we’re kind of leaning into that.”

At the same time, Mike revived the community’s historic Pioneertown Gazette, which he originally started printing as an in-room publication but has since expanded to a weekly newsletter that enthusiastically highlights the growing calendar of events happening at several venues across the high desert. And in the next few years, the brothers plan to begin construction on the next phase of the Pioneertown Motel, which will include a swimming pool, restaurant and 47 new rooms.

A game of horseshoes at Pioneertown Motel.

Signage pointing to the Red Dog Saloon.

Pioneertown’s history buffs, and there are many of them, will tell you that the picturesque community has a long history of newcomers showing up with dollar signs in their eyes, hoping to make it big in the desert. But few, if any, have been as successful as the French brothers at making those businesses come to life. It helps that they have a good sense of design and an intuitive understanding of what people want. It also helps that they’ve attracted like-minded people like Jeffrey Baker, the warm and personable general manager at the Copper Room and future general manager of Lord Fletcher’s who excels at management (a self-described weak point for Matt and Mike) and makes everyone he meets feel like an instant friend.

But their true secret sauce might be that aside from the motel, their businesses are designed to cater to the local community at least as much as to tourists.

“People here love these restaurants,” Matt said. “They love the Red Dog, they love the Copper Room, they love the Gazette. So we felt that vibe shift of people being supportive and excited about what we’re doing.”

It also helps that over the last few years, some bad actors have demonstrated what the alternative might look like, with new management at Pappy’s that alienated locals from their longtime watering hole and a wannabe developer who floated much-maligned plans to build a concert venue and a massive glamping complex in Pioneertown. (Both parties have since left the area.)

“I think that has given some people some perspective that having locals do it right, and seeing that we are committed, has really made a difference,” Matt said.

Mike and Matt French walk down Pioneertown’s Mane Street.

It’s been a winning business formula, but if you believe the brothers, there’s more to it than that. Creating spaces where everyone from foreign tourists to drunken bachelorettes to crusty locals to families with young kids feels comfortable and welcomed is all part of the desert ideal they’ve been curating for more than a decade.

Mike said that there’s nothing like seeing Pioneertown old-timers drinking with their buddies at the Red Dog.

“It’s so good,” he said. “And then you find other people who get lit up by the same silly thing, and it’s like, maybe it’s not so silly. Maybe it’s the whole point.”

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) — South Korean online retailer Kurly has attracted fresh investment, while its bigger rival, Coupang Korea, struggles to grapple with the aftermath of a massive data breach disclosed late last year.

Kurly said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it would issue some 500,000 new shares worth $23 million, all of which will be acquired by the country’s internet giant, Naver.

Through the deal, which valued Kurly at around $1.9 billion, Naver will increase its stake in the e-commerce platform to 6.2% from 5.1%.

The Seoul-based company, which was founded in 2015, said that it would spend the funds to strengthen its long-term growth potential by expanding logistics infrastructure and pursuing new business initiatives.

“Starting with this investment, both companies plan to deepen their strategic partnership, focusing on generating tangible synergies and driving accelerated growth,” Kurly CEO Sophie Kim said in a statement.

By contrast, U.S.-listed Coupang Inc. has swung to a loss for the first time in seven quarters.

During the first three months of 2026, the e-commerce giant posted sales of $8.5 billion, up 8% from a year ago, but recorded an operating loss of $242 million compared with an operating income of $154 million a year ago.

Coupang Korea, which generates the vast majority of Coupang Inc.’s revenue, has faced criticism after unveiling a data leak last November involving tens of millions of its customers in South Korea.

To compensate customers following the accident, Coupang provided free vouchers worth more than $1 billion in early 2026, which has negatively affected the company’s earnings.

Coupang was trading at $17.25 a share at midday Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, down about 50% from its 12-month high. The company lost 15 cents a share in the first quarter of 2026.

Kurly is not publicly listed.

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) — South Korean game publisher Netmarble said Thursday that sales and profitability improved during the first three months of this year, driven by the solid performance of new titles.

The Seoul-based company noted that its first-quarter sales amounted to $450 million, up 4.5% from a year earlier, for an operating profit of $37 million, up 6.8%. Its net profit soared 163% to $146 million thanks to gains related to asset disposals.

Netmarble said that such new games as “Stone Age: Idle Adventure” and “The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin” boosted its results for the January-March period.

It said that international markets generated 79% of total revenue. North America accounted for the biggest share at 41%, followed by South Korea with 21%, Europe with 13%, and Southeast Asia with 12%.

The company expected stronger revenue momentum from the second quarter as newly published titles are set to contribute to earnings throughout the entire quarter.

“The release of our major games was concentrated toward the end of the first quarter, limiting their contribution to sales. But our business fundamentals remained stable as shown by the growth of both revenue and operating profit,” Netmarble CEO Kim Byung-gyu said in a statement.

“Based on our diversified portfolio, we expect to see both top-line growth and improved profitability starting in the second quarter as revenue from new titles begins to be reflected in earnest,” he added.

The share price of Netmarble declined 2.79% on the Seoul bourse Thursday.

May 7 (UPI) — As Washington and Hanoi enter a dense stretch of trade diplomacy, the coming weeks will test whether one of the Indo-Pacific’s most pragmatic economic partnerships can sustain its momentum or become entangled in the very frictions it has worked to avoid.

A series of meetings — including Section 301 hearings on industrial capacity from Tuesday to Friday this week, forced labor discussions April 28 to May 1 and bilateral consultations next Monday and Tuesday, arrives at a pivotal juncture.

They will help determine whether the United States and Vietnam can preserve a trade relationship that has become central to supply chain resilience, U.S. business interests and Vietnam’s continued economic ascent.

At its core, the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is grounded not in diplomacy alone, but also in economic logic.

Partnership built on complementarity

Over the past decade, Vietnam has emerged as one of the fastest-growing U.S. trading partners, driven by a convergence of structural interests. As American firms diversify production beyond China, Vietnam has become a preferred destination, offering cost competitiveness, political stability and deepening integration into global value chains.

U.S. data show Vietnam ran a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the United States last year — the fourth-largest imbalance after China, the European Union and Mexico. It is a figure that has drawn increasing scrutiny in Washington even as it reflects the depth of bilateral trade integration.

From electronics to apparel and consumer goods, Vietnam-based production is often embedded within supply chains designed and financed by U.S. and allied firms. American companies benefit from lower production costs and diversified risk, while Vietnamese exports sustain growth and employment at home.

Disrupting this ecosystem through blunt trade measures risks undermining the very businesses Washington seeks to protect.

Hanoi has consistently signaled a willingness to engage. It has approached trade tensions not with confrontation, but with negotiation — a posture that stands in contrast to more adversarial economic relationships. The upcoming consultations should reinforce that cooperative trajectory, not derail it.

Rethinking “overcapacity”

The debate over “overcapacity” has become a central issue in U.S. trade discussions, with concerns that the term is being applied broadly across different economic models.

In Vietnam’s case, officials and industry observers note that production growth is largely driven by market-based investment and global supply chain shifts rather than state-directed industrial surpluses.

“Vietnam’s overcapacity is much different from China’s,” said Murray Hiebert, head of research for Bower Group Asia. “China’s factories are producing huge surpluses that it dumps onto the world’s markets below market prices. Instead, Vietnam relies on foreign investment companies to produce for export.”

He noted that Vietnam’s export engine is overwhelmingly foreign-driven, with multinational firms, particularly from the United States and South Korea, accounting for roughly 80% of outbound shipments, while domestic producers contribute only about one-fifth.

“Vietnam’s economy is largely a manufacturing platform for foreign companies,” Hiebert said. “U.S. policymakers need to understand Vietnam did not create overcapacity by subsidizing manufacturing, but by courting foreign investors who used Vietnam as a low-cost base to serve global markets.”

Vietnam’s manufacturing expansion has been shaped by global supply chain realignment, accelerated by U.S.-China trade tensions and pandemic-era disruptions, rather than by state-led efforts to flood international markets. Many of the factories operating in Vietnam were relocated or expanded by multinational firms seeking to maintain access to U.S. consumers.

To conflate this model with subsidy-driven overproduction risks misdiagnosing the issue and penalizing a partner that has facilitated, rather than distorted, market outcomes.

Labor reforms and supply chain progress

Concerns over labor practices and supply chain integrity remain part of the policy conversation, particularly in the context of ongoing forced labor discussions. But these concerns should be weighed against Vietnam’s steady, if incremental, progress.

In recent years, Hanoi has undertaken significant labor reforms aligned with the International Labor Organization, including updates to its labor code, expanded worker representation rights and enhanced compliance mechanisms.

Vietnam has also prioritized traceability and transparency across key export sectors. From fisheries to manufacturing, authorities have invested in monitoring systems, strengthened inspections and improved regulatory oversight — steps aimed at meeting the expectations of international partners and markets.

This is an evolving process, not a completed one. But the trajectory is clear: Vietnam is moving toward higher standards, not retreating from them.

The case for market economy recognition

Another unresolved issue, Vietnam’s designation as a non-market economy under U.S. trade law, has become increasingly difficult to justify.

Vietnam operates within the framework of the World Trade Organization and has been recognized as a market economy by more than 70 countries. Its private sector has expanded rapidly, its regulatory environment continues to evolve and its integration into global markets is deepening.

Maintaining Vietnam’s current non-market economy designation under U.S. trade law has raised concerns among policymakers and business groups, who say it could affect the application of trade remedies and investor confidence. The issue comes as Washington seeks to expand economic partnerships across the Indo-Pacific.

Avoiding unintended consequences

Intellectual property has emerged as a new point of tension in U.S.-Vietnam trade relations. Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, has designated Vietnam as a “Priority Foreign Country” — its most serious classification — in its latest intellectual property rights report, opening the door to a potential Section 301 investigation within 30 days.

The designation, the first of its kind in more than a decade, reflects ongoing U.S. concerns over Vietnam’s intellectual property protections and could affect the trajectory of current trade negotiations.

Sweeping trade measures designed to address structural concerns could disrupt supply chains, raise costs for American businesses and consumers, and weaken a partnership that has delivered measurable benefits. In an already fragile global economy, such outcomes would be counterproductive.

Vietnam’s own incentives align with stability. Its growth depends on open markets, foreign investment and compliance with international standards. That alignment should be viewed as a strategic asset.

Washington should avoid applying a China-centric lens to Vietnam’s trade profile, said Dan Harris, a partner at the law firm Harris Sliwoski. Treating Vietnam as an “overcapacity” case without clear evidence risks penalizing U.S. firms that relocated production there in line with Washington’s own push to reduce reliance on China and strengthen supply chain resilience.

“We will end up punishing the companies that did what we asked,” Harris warned.

He added that the broader strategic context matters: Vietnam’s long history of conflict and mistrust with China sets it apart from Beijing, even as it emerges as an increasingly important U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific.

But the implications of Washington’s trade posture toward Hanoi extend far beyond economics. Vietnam’s export-driven growth, fueled primarily by multinational investment rather than state subsidies, has quietly elevated the country into a strategic linchpin in the Indo-Pacific.

A stable and prosperous Vietnam not only supports supply chain diversification, but also reinforces the rules-based order in the South China Sea.

Economic resilience in Vietnam is not peripheral to U.S. strategy. It is foundational to maintaining balance in contested Indo-Pacific waters. Trade policy cannot be divorced from strategic reality: A weakened Vietnamese economy would do more than disrupt production flows. It could undercut one of the region’s most important counterweights to China’s expanding maritime presence.

Balancing trade and security alignments

Rising risks of policy missteps could carry strategic costs. Analysts warn that overly punitive U.S. trade measures, particularly those misreading Vietnam’s market-driven model, may push Hanoi toward alternative economic alignments, reshaping regional supply chains and weakening U.S. influence in an increasingly competitive Indo-Pacific.

U.S. policymakers are weighing more targeted, cooperative measures in managing trade concerns with Vietnam, including a bilateral supply chain monitoring mechanism, expanded data-sharing on industrial capacity and the potential creation of a standing U.S.-Vietnam trade and standards working group.

The approach aims to address regulatory and transparency issues while maintaining stability in the broader economic partnership.

The challenge for Washington is alignment – translating economic logic into strategic necessity. That means recognizing Vietnam not as a trade problem to be managed, but rather as a partner whose economic trajectory is increasingly central to the region’s stability and security.

Beyond trade flows and investment figures, the U.S.-Vietnam economic relationship carries broader strategic significance. It reinforces a rules-based framework in the Indo-Pacific and supports cooperation across sectors ranging from technology to maritime security.

Any escalation in trade tensions between the United States and Vietnam could disrupt commercial ties and place broader strategic cooperation at risk, as both sides seek to sustain recent gains in economic and security engagement.

James Borton is a non-resident senior fellow at Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and the author of Harvesting the Waves: How Blue Parks Shape Policy, Politics, and Peacebuilding in the South China Sea. Borton is the editor-in-chief of the South China Sea NewsWire. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

May 6 (UPI) — The FBI raided the offices of and a cannabis business co-owned by L. Louise Lucas on Wednesday in Portsmouth, Va.

Lucas is a Virginia state senator, president pro tempore of the state Senate and a vocal leader of Virginia redistricting efforts.

Officials told The Washington Post that the investigation has to do with corruption and bribery allegations involving the business. Lucas was not arrested, and an FBI spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing.

Democrats called in question the motivation behind the raid; Lucas has often criticized President Donald Trump and was instrumental in the successful Virginia referendum in April to redraw the state’s congressional maps. However, The Washington Post, NBC News and The New York Times reported that sources familiar with the case claimed the investigation was opened during the Biden administration and has to do with the marijuana dispensary.

Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Va., said that the raid “occurs in the broader context of President Trump’s repeated abuse of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political opponents.”

Don Scott, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, emphasized that Lucas has not been charged with anything.

“I am deeply concerned by today’s raid,” he said, WAVY-TV reported. “Given the politicization of this administration — an FBI led by Kash Patel and a Justice Department led by President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney — I think people should take this with a grain of salt and allow the facts to come out before jumping to conclusions,” he said.

Scott said he spoke with Lucas after the search, The New York Times reported.

“She basically said, ‘They’re not going to find anything there and I didn’t do anything wrong,’ ” he said. “She’s very upset and she’s very angry and she won’t back down.”

Lucas was elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1991.

Ted Turner, the brash media mogul who created CNN and revolutionized how Americans watched television, and who wielded his media empire and wealth to pursue liberal global causes and land conservation, has died. He was 87.

Turner died Wednesday, according to his family.

In 2018, he revealed he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease, which had been progressing in recent years.

Turner’s outsized public persona — some called him the “Mouth from the South” for his free-wheeling trash talk — matched the Georgian’s influence on news, politics, sports and entertainment in the late 20th century. Turner repeatedly shook up established industries by invading quickly and expanding options for consumers, while railing against monolithic competitors who were less daring or nimble than his maverick Turner Broadcasting System.

Turner created the cable stations TBS and Turner Classic Movies; he owned the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and revitalized professional wrestling with World Championship Wrestling.

Turner was one of the first adopters of cable and satellite broadcasting technology, and for many rural Americans living beyond the tower signals of major cities, he was the first person to bring them interesting TV.

The media baron constantly generated headlines. He had a Clark Gable pencil mustache, raced sailboats, cavorted with the late communist leader Fidel Castro in Cuba, and at one point married Academy Award-winning actress and activist Jane Fonda. His wealth enabled him to become one of the largest private landowners and wealthiest philanthropists in the U.S.

July 1990 image of Ted Turner with Jane Fonda.

(Tony Duffy/Getty Images)

His crowning cultural achievement was the creation of the Cable News Network in 1980, which created the model for today’s cable news titans. The 24-hour news channel was not widely expected to be a success. All-night broadcasting had not been proven as a business model in an industry dominated nationally by corporate monoliths like ABC, NBC and CBS, where news programming was something that happened on a set schedule. And CNN’s headquarters weren’t in media centers like New York or Los Angeles, but Atlanta.

But Turner believed that “over-the-air networks would decline as audiences turned to videos and other outlets for entertainment on demand,” wrote the late journalist Daniel Schorr in a 2001 memoir.

“The network future belonged to whoever would deliver what was happening now — live news and live sports. That was why he wanted to be the first to deliver all news, all sports, all the time,” wrote Schorr, whom Turner courted to join CNN.

Within two years, CNN had more than 9 million subscribers. By the 2000s, Turner’s once far-flung idea for an around-the-clock news service had become so successful that it had attracted imitators like MSNBC (now called MS NOW) and Fox News.

“We not only became profitable, but also changed the nature of news — from watching something that happened to watching it as it happened,” Turner said of CNN in 2004. “If we needed more money for [broadcasting from] Kosovo or Baghdad, we’d find it. If we had to bust the budget, we busted the budget. We put journalism first, and that’s how we built CNN into something the world wanted to watch.”

Fox Corp. Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, who was both a rival and friend of Turner, said his “vision for 24-hour cable news transformed the media industry and gave viewers everywhere a front seat to witness history unfold. His impact as a trailblazer has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape.”

Turner recognized the value of global distribution long before his rivals, launching CNN’s international business in the mid-1980s. He bought his first western property, The Bar-None Ranch in Montana, and would eventually become one of the nation’s largest individual landowners with nearly 2 million acres, which provide habitat for threatened species and his beloved American bison.

“Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit, creative ambition and willingness to take risks changed the media industry forever,” David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, said Wednesday in a note to employees. “He believed deeply in the power of ideas, in doing things differently and in building platforms that could inform, inspire and connect people around the world.”

Robert Edward Turner III was born in Cincinnati on Nov. 19, 1938, and raised in Georgia. A mischievous child — who later became a mischievous adult despite attending the Georgia Military Academy — he had a tough childhood at the hands of his alcoholic father, Ed.

“Ninety percent of the arguments I had with Ed were over his beating Ted too hard,” Ted’s mother, Florence Turner, recalled later.

“My dad ran an old-fashioned household and he insisted that pretty much everything had to be his way,” Ted Turner said in a 2008 memoir. “My father and I had a complex relationship but I loved him.”

The younger Turner attended Brown University but dropped out before graduating. His savings had run out, his father had stopped financially supporting his tuition, and in his final days on campus, he was suspended for bringing a woman to his dorm room, according to his memoir.

He soon joined his father’s expanding billboard advertising company, Turner Advertising, where he had been working off and on for years since childhood.

He inherited the business at the age of 24 after his father died by suicide. By then, Turner had already had years of experience , and he worked furiously to reverse his father’s recent sale of part of the company to a competitor and paid down its daunting debt, an act that presaged the empire-building to come.

While growing the business, Turner also pursued his passion for competitive sailing, which is how he met his first wife, Judy Nye, in college. It’s also how their marriage ended. Turner intentionally hit his wife’s boat during a 1963 race to keep her from passing him, and the pair, who had two children, split immediately afterward.

It was to be the first of three divorces. . “My problem is I love every woman I meet,” Turner has said. He would go on to win the America’s Cup in 1977 while expanding his father’s company into a modern multimedia conglomerate.

Leveraging the billboard business, Turner started buying local radio stations across the South in the late 1960s. In 1970, he bought the Channel 17 television station in Atlanta, competing with local network affiliates by airing old movies whose rights were affordable and picking up programming dropped by the less nimble competition. He didn’t like putting news on prime time back then — too negative — and soon picked up broadcast rights for the Braves, Hawks and other local sports.

Oct. 1998 photo of former President Jimmy Carter, right, and Atlanta Braves team owner Ted Turner, during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta.

(PAT SULLIVAN/AP)

The Braves were a ratings hit, and when the team flailed and went up for sale, Turner’s company became its owner in 1976. The team continued to flail but Turner boosted its profile with gimmicks such as sewing “Channel 17” on the back of a pitcher’s jersey and dressing up as the team’s batboy and manager, to the league’s disdain. Turner bought the Hawks shortly after.

Facing entrenched local network affiliates, Turner expanded his independent station’s reach across the South and then the U.S. by embracing the new technologies of cable and satellite broadcasting. Channel 17 became nationally known as the “SuperStation,” with call letters WTBS, later shortened to TBS.

The quirky Atlanta station’s local broadcasts of old movies and sports games had become national broadcasts.

Still hungry for more, Turner finally turned his attention to news programming. He launched CNN in 1980 in a desperate bid to create a national 24-hour news channel before the broadcast titans ABC, NBC and CBS — and their gargantuan budgets — could beat him to it.

“The 24/7 genre started with Ted Turner,” veteran CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour said Wednesday on CNN. “He was the original, and he made us all proud, and he made us all hopeful, and he made us all strive for his vision of a better world.”

There were some lean early years. But the nascent channel fended off an attempt by ABC to create a competitor, and critics could see the value of an ever-present news channel, even if quality was a little thin at times.

“Non-viewers of CNN are missing a lot. There are so many reasons to watch,” Los Angeles Times critic Howard Rosenberg wrote in 1986, hailing the 6-year-old channel as an “institution.” “It’s not always good, but it’s always there.”

In 1986, CNN was the only broadcaster running live coverage when the Challenger shuttle liftoff ended in disaster. In 1991, the network gave Americans a live and uninterrupted look at the invasion of Iraq. American officials held news conferences knowing that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was watching them on CNN.

Americans had seen images of war before, but not broadcast nonstop into their homes.

“CNN seeks to be a stethoscope attached to the hypothetical heart of the war, and to present us with its hypothetical pulse,” the French theorist Jean Baudrillard wrote, critiquing the conflict as a media spectacle. Media scholars began to wonder whether a “CNN effect” was influencing government policy. Officials found that they now had to respond much more quickly to crises unfolding on live television.

Turner was not adversarial to communist countries of the era and even tried his own version of the Olympics, called the Goodwill Games, a bit of private-sector peace-craft that brought the Soviet Union and the U.S. out of their respective Olympic boycotts and back into direct competition in the 1989s. All on television, of course.

Turner also saw professional wrestling as part of his sports portfolio, at one point trying to pit his World Championship Wrestling program against competitor Vince McMahon’s wrestling empire, then called the World Wrestling Federation. Turner similarly tried to take a bite out of MTV with the Cable Music Channel, with a promise “to stay away from the excessive, violent or degrading clips to women that MTV is so fond of putting on.”

Moralism was a Turner hallmark. Turner had started his life as a conservative — Turner had met his second wife, Jane Smith, at a 1964 fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater — and turned toward more liberal-leaning causes, such as world peace, nuclear nonproliferation and fighting climate change, later in life.

At the 1990 American Humanist Assn.’s annual convention, Turner presented his “Ten Voluntary Initiatives” — his atheistic version of the Ten Commandments — which included pledges to world peace, environmentalism, nonviolence and “to have no more than two children, or no more than my nation suggests.” He would become a major private donor to the United Nations, pledging $1 billion and launching the United Nations Foundation nonprofit.

In 1991, a year marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first U.S. war against Iraq and the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Time magazine named Turner its “Man of the Year” for his “visionary” creation of CNN, which covered those events live. He also married Fonda that year (the ceremony was reported by CNN) and his Braves narrowly lost the World Series.

Time’s honorific was also a nice bit of corporate synergy. The magazine’s parent company, Time Warner, owned about 20% of Turner Broadcasting System stock.

Turner launched the Cartoon Network in 1992, which helped introduce his then-newly acquired Hanna-Barbera characters — including Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear and Scooby-Doo — to a new generation of viewers.

Adversaries thought that Turner’s ventures could be reckless and impulsive. Far-seeing accomplishments in national broadcasting and the creation of CNN were also paired with several expensive misadventures, including a failed attempt to buy CBS.

Turner had to unwind a purchase of the MGM film studio less than a year after buying it, though he held onto one valuable asset: The studio’s film library, which became the foundation of the Turner Classic Movies channel and, later, jewels in the Burbank-based Warner Bros. studio vault.

In 1996, Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner to form the world’s largest media company, marking the beginning of the end of Turner’s apex in corporate media. Time Warner’s 2000 merger with budding internet giant AOL, then the largest-ever corporate merger, ended in disaster. Turner, who had not been a key player in the negotiations and had made no secret of his disdain for that deal, was fired as an executive.

“Ted Turner was one of the rare leaders who truly changed the trajectory of an industry,” Versant Media Chief Executive Mark Lazarus, a former Turner underling, said in a statement. “I saw firsthand his willingness to take risks and his belief that media could be something bigger and more impactful.”

CNN Worldwide Chairman Mark Thompson added: “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand.”

Turner resigned from the AOL Time Warner board in 2003, and in 2007, announced he had sold his company shares. In his later days, one of his best-known ventures was his Ted’s Montana Grill restaurant chain. His philanthropy and land conservation efforts and protection of the American bison became guide posts during his retirement years.

While CNN maintains influence in the U.S. and abroad, its TV ratings have declined in recent years — a casualty of changing consumer behavior, the rise of social media, derision from President Trump — and several ownership changes.

During the past decade, CNN has had three different corporate owners. The company is poised to be sold again, this time to billionaire David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance. That proposed merger would bring CNN under the same roof as CBS News.

“I’ve often considered and joked about what I might want written on my tombstone,” Turner said in a 2008 memoir. “At one point, when I felt like I could get out of the way of the press, ‘You Can’t Interview Me Here’ was a leading candidate. … These days, I’m leaning toward, ‘I Have Nothing More to Say.’”

Turner is survived by his five children — Laura Turner Seydel (Rutherford), Robert Edward “Teddy” Turner IV (Blair), Rhett Turner, Beau Turner, Jennie Turner Garlington (Peek) — 14 grandchildren and a great granddaughter. The family plans a private and public service at a later date.

Pearce is a former Times reporter. Times Staff Writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.

SEOUL, May 6 (UPI) — World-leading non-ferrous metal maker Korea Zinc said Wednesday it posted record results during the first three months of this year despite a challenging business environment.

The Seoul-based company said its first-quarter sales were $4.2 billion, up 58.4% from a year before, while operating profit nearly tripled to $515 million year-on-year. Both were all-time quarterly highs.

Korea Zinc’s operating margin almost doubled to 12.3% during the January-March period. The company said said its diversified product portfolios and stable production capabilities led to the strong profit.

Robust demand for precious metals and critical minerals, including gold, silver and antimony, supported the company’s stellar performance, Korea Zinc said.

Separately, the company’s board approve Wednesday a first-quarter dividend of $3.46 per share, totaling $71 million, with payouts scheduled for early next month.

“Despite the sudden outbreak of war, rising raw material prices, and supply chain disruptions, we achieved record quarterly results thanks to our diverse product portfolio, stable production capacity, and growth in new business sectors,” Korea Zinc said in a statement.

“Down the road, we will keep putting forth efforts to maintain stable growth and solid profitability despite an uncertain global environment,” it added.

The company also said that it would focus corporate capabilities on the successful execution of Project Crucible, a $7.4 billion initiative to build an integrated smelter in Tennessee in partnership with the U.S. government.

The program aims to roll out 13 types of nonferrous metals, including 11 critical minerals, as well as semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid, beginning in 2029. Last month, Washington designated it under the FAST-41 permitting program for fast-track procedures.

The share price of Korea Zinc jumped 7.24% on the Seoul bourse Wednesday.

South Korean stocks shot up nearly 6.5 percent Wednesday, extending a record-breaking run to top the 7,300-point mark, driven by a semiconductor rally and optimism for a potential peace deal in the Middle East. The local currency also strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 447.57 points, or 6.45 percent, to a fresh record high of 7,384.56.

It marked the second-largest daily gain in terms of points following 490.36 points reached on March 5.

Trade volume was heavy at 984.4 million shares worth 58.2 trillion won (US$40 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 199 to 677.

Foreigners bought 3.1 trillion won worth of local shares, while institutions and individuals dumped a net 2.3 trillion won and 571.2 billion won, respectively.

Overnight, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would pause operations to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz as part of efforts to reach a final agreement with Iran.

The KOSPI opened 2.25 percent higher to surpass the landmark 7,000-point threshold for the first time and extended the gains throughout the session.

The main index has been on a bullish run in recent months, surpassing the 5,000-point mark in late January and topping another milestone of 6,000 points in February.

After recouping its losses in March following the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war in late February, the KOSPI breached the 7,000-point level on continued optimism over the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and hopes for the reopening of the key waterway.

“Global tech giants’ strong performances and the strengthened value chain for AI data centers boosted the AI-related shares,” Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said. “In particular, the market’s top-three shares of Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and SK Square led the rally.”

Top-cap Samsung Electronics surged 14.41 percent to close at 266,000 won, pushing its market capitalization above 1.5 quadrillion won and becoming the second Asian company to surpass the $1 trillion milestone after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

SK hynix soared 10.64 percent to 1.6 million won, and AI investment firm SK Square jumped 9.89 percent to 1.1 million won.

Hanmi Semiconductor, a chip manufacturing company, rose 4.37 percent to 394,500 won, and LG Electronics vaulted 8.17 percent to 154,900 won.

However, shipbuilding and defense shares dropped. Major shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 4.71 percent to 648,000 won, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace lost 2.18 percent to 1.4 million won.

Leading biotech firm Samsung Biologics declined 0.34 percent to 1.48 million won, and top mobile carrier SK Telecom backtracked 1.95 percent to 95,500 won.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,455.1 won against the U.S. dollar at 3:30 p.m., up 7.7 won from the previous session.

The quotation marks the highest since February 27, when the currency closed at 1,439.7 to the greenback.

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May 5 (UPI) — The Center for AI Standards and Innovation, part of a U.S.government agency, announced Tuesday that it will test artificial intelligence models from some top firms before release to vet them for security risks.

CAISI has deals with Microsoft, xAI and Google DeepMind for this testing and targeted research “to better assess frontier AI capabilities and advance the state of AI security,” it said in a release. The center is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This follows similar deals in 2024, under the Biden administration, with prominent AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic, which have been “renegotiated” to fit Trump administration directives, Politico reported.

The government has increasingly shown interest in matters of AI technology and security. CNBC also reported Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering an executive order to create a process for AI oversight by the White House.

Some of this interest has been heightened by the announcement last month of Anthropic’s new Mythos AI model. The company described the model as excelling “at identifying weaknesses and security flaws within software” and limited its initial use to certain companies. These companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, will use it as part of defensive security work and as part of Project Glasswing, a cybersecurity initiative, Anthropic said.

The announcement Tuesday from CAISI said that the center has completed more than 40 evaluations of AI models so far.

“Independent, vigorous measurement science is essential to understanding frontier AI and its national security implications,” CAISI director Chris Fell said in a statement. “These expanded industry collaborations help us scale our work in the public interest in a critical moment.”

May 5 (UPI) — Colombian singer Shakira drew an estimated 2 million people to a free concert on Copacabana beach, generating an estimated $160 million economic impact, according to data from the city government and municipal agencies.

The show, held Saturday in front of the Copacabana Palace hotel, was part of the third edition of the “Todo Mundo no Rio” program, an initiative led by the Rio city government to attract tourism and economic activity during May, traditionally a low season.

According to Riotur and the Municipal Secretariat of Economic Development, the event boosted sectors such as hospitality, food services, transportation and retail. The city deployed a comprehensive operation covering security, logistics and public services, with the Operations and Resilience Center running at full capacity.

The concert opened with a show of 1,500 drones — described as one of the largest displays of its kind at a music event — forming a she-wolf in the sky, a symbol associated with the artist. Minutes later, Shakira appeared on stage dressed in the colors of Brazil.

During the show, the artist spoke in Portuguese and recalled her early years in the country.

“Brazil, I love you. It is magical to see millions of souls together, ready to sing, feel and dance,” she told the crowd.

The performance included more than two hours of hits spanning different stages of her career, along with segments dedicated to women.

“Women don’t cry anymore. Alone we may be more vulnerable, but together we are invincible,” she said.

The show also featured appearances by well-known Brazilian artists, such as Anitta, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania and Ivete Sangalo.

The “Todo Mundo no Rio” program aims to position Rio as a global destination for large-scale events. It was launched in 2024 with Madonna, who drew 1.6 million people, and continued in 2025 with Lady Gaga, who attracted 2.5 million.

Copacabana has also hosted some of the largest concerts in the world. Rod Stewart drew 3.5 million people in 1994, The Rolling Stones, about 1.5 million in 2006, and Stevie Wonder, some 2 million in 2012.

According to official data released by Agencia Brasil, medical services handled about 400 cases during the event, with 64 transfers to hospitals due to general discomfort, minor injuries and alcohol consumption. Cleanup crews collected about 362 tons of waste, with nearly 2,000 workers deployed.

After her stop in Brazil, Shakira will head to the North American leg of her tour, with concerts in the United States between June and July. These include dates in Inglewood, Palm Desert and San Jose, Calif., Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore, Boston, Newark, N.J., and New York, before ending this leg in Atlantic City, N.J. on July 25.

May 5 (UPI) — Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, announced the company is downsizing about 14% of its workforce.

Armstrong posted a memo to employees on X saying he had made “the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase” by approximately 14%, explaining it is the result of “two forces” that “are converging at the same time.”

The first of the “forces” at play is the current downturn in the crypto market, leading to a “need to adjust our cost structure now so that we emerge from this period leaner, faster and more efficient for our next phase of growth.”

The second reason cited by Armstrong is the rise of AI “changing how we work.”

“All of this has led us to an inflection point, not just for Coinbase, but for every company. The biggest risk now is not taking action. We are adjusting early and deliberately to rebuild Coinbase to be lean, fast, and AI-native. We need to return to the speed and focus of our startup founding, with AI at our core,” Armstrong wrote.

Coinbase is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings on Saturday, with shares up nearly 4% in premarket trading.

The announcement follows other companies including Block, Pinterest, CrowdStrike and Chegg making the decision to cut jobs as a result of AI integration.

May 4 (UPI) — Elon Musk on Monday settled a lawsuit filed against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission for $1.5 million after the agency accused him of breaking securities laws.

The SEC alleged in January 2025 that Musk cost Twitter shareholders $150 million because he delayed disclosing his purchase of more than 5% of shares in the company within the 10 days required by law.

Musk’s purchase of Twitter led to a series of lawsuits because of how he purchased the company, which has since been renamed to X, which saw him become its biggest shareholder before he launched a successful hostile takeover, The Washington Post reported.

In the settlement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, would see Musk pay a $1.5 million penalty while allowing him to admit no wrongdoing, CNBC reported.

“A trust vehicle has agreed to a small fine for being late on one filing,” Musk attorney Alex Spiro said of the agreement, which will see one of his client’s revocable trusts paying the fine.

Musk made a play to buy Twitter in 2022, first buy purchasing more than 5% of the company, which he did not disclose and was the reason the SEC filed suit, which allowed him to put other investors in a poor position before he launched his takeover.

May 4 (UPI) — Retail giant Amazon announced Monday that it will open its supply chain networks to other businesses as part of its new Amazon Supply Chain Services, which includes freight, distribution, fulfillment and shipping aspects.

Stocks for FedEx and UPS, both competitors in this field, sank about 10% Monday afternoon in response, CNBC reported, while Amazon stocks stayed steady.

The announcement from Amazon said the company has built “one of the most reliable and efficient supply chains on Earth — from freight that moves cargo across air, land and sea, to fulfillment centers that pick and pack millions of orders a day, and a parcel shipping network that delivers packages every day of the week.”

It listed the company’s more than 80,000 trailers, more than 24,000 intermodal containers and more than 100 aircraft operated with carrier partners and said that services will be offered to businesses of all types and sizes.

As part of Monday’s announcement, Amazon also announced that companies Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle Outfitters have signed on to use Amazon Supply Chain Services.