Over the last two decades, the Horn of Africa has witnessed an increase of foreigntroops in Djibouti, a rise in investments along the Red Sea, and more pronounced engagement in its internal affairs by confirmed and emerging powers all of which showcase the geopolitical appetite for influence in the region. Yet current crises – the war in Sudan, persisting insecurity in Somalia, renewed tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and contentious relations between countries – underscore an uncertain future that could make the volatile region even more prone to external influence. Will local leadership step up to the task of preserving stability through improved regional relations or leave its most pressing issues unresolved?
An analysis by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, Mwachofi Singo, and Hallelujah Wondimu published earlier this year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies provides key insights on the risk posed by the absence of a clear pillar state(s) to push for peace and security within the region which could worsen its vulnerability to competing middle powers.
The three experts on African geopolitics argue that given its history of conflicts and ongoing tensions, the region demands the rise of Ethiopia and Kenya as stronger leaders able to drive reform initiatives aimed at protecting the interests of the Horn of Africa. As such, the two nations offer strong, suitable and strategic advantages for the region despite facing their own internal and regional challenges which they must also attend to.
The CSIS report view Ethiopia’s role as central to transforming the region towards a stable and self-sufficient neighborhood capable of addressing its own tensions, preserving peace and promoting economic development. Whether Ethiopia intends to assume this role, however, rests on the success of its current transition that began since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power in 2018 following decades of Tigray dominance over the country. Yet the envisioned reinforcement of the federal structure led by a strong central government has had setbacks in the last few years with the occurrence of the violent war in Tigray and ongoing security concerns over autonomy seeking movements.
This suggests that Ethiopia will inevitably have significant nation building to do to preserve the unity of the country hence the recent inward focus to stabilize domestic tensions. The achievement of the Renaissance Dam stands as good symbol of national harmony that could be replicated across other sectors of society to reinforce inclusion and equity. This image of improved and steady stability in Ethiopia is crucial to consolidate its leadership position in the region.
According to the researchers, Ethiopia’s (re)emergence as a leader in the Horn is also closely linked to its capacity to improve its relations with neighbors which have deteriorated the last few years. They cite the territorial dispute with Sudan, the sudden outreach to Somaliland irritating Somalia and Djibouti or one could add renewed animosity with Eritrea. Ironically, these frictions could lead to Ethiopia’s further rapprochement with external emerging actors eager to increase their influence in the region that will further complicate regional cooperation imperative for stability. This signals a pressing need for the country to reset its relations with its neighbors as the current trajectory could end up being an obstacle towards its economic development. Again, the Grand Renaissance Dam which is already a major component of Ethiopia’s trade policy in the region could be the catalyst needed to reinvigorate diplomatic ties.
While Ethiopia remains focused on its introspection and on pursuing a more bilateral approach to regional diplomacy, Kenya could seize the opportunity to accentuate its leadership position and diplomatic consistency. Kenya’s relatively peaceful independence transition and constant display of neutrality when engaging mediation processes forged its image as a credible leader for the region. The report also highlights a long history of proactive foreign policy by successive Kenyan presidents which emphasized economic development through regional trade integration. However, Kenya’s recent actions with regards to the Sudan conflict and the war in the DRC might alter its reputation and ability to conduct peace initiatives in the region while similar moves may instead translate an incoherent foreign strategy.
Nevertheless, it would be hard to imagine Kenya further jeopardize its stabilizing role as the country’s own development ambitions largely rests on its capacity to promote regional stability crucial to economic trade with its neighbors. This underscores the need for Nairobi to remain committed to its traditional diplomatic playbook to support impartial interventions while preserving its leverage and reputation throughout such processes.
In addition, Kenyan legacy could be further undermined by internal challenges in light of the gen z movement which may be a decisive political factor ahead of the 2027 elections. Latest developments in Morrocco or Madagascar could give a glimpse of the consequences of such social efforts in Kenya. Whether or not Kenyan youth are able to shake the government, political leaders should implement policies responding to the youth socioeconomic concerns as prolong unrests could diminish its global influence capacity so dear to the current administration.
In a rapidly shifting world order where middle powers are keen on exerting their own vision in the Horn of Africa, it becomes imperative for local leadership to assert regional autonomy to solve issues. Stability and improved inter-state relations should then discourage governments from seeking external support when pursuing domestic interests.
Kenya and Ethiopia both retain significant assets to affirm their influence in the Horn despite their own challenges. However, their capacity to assume an independent leading position might be more uncertain. The almost complete monopolization of the conflict resolution processes in Sudan or the DRC by the United States and the Gulf States clearly reveals the consequences of weak regional leadership. Kenya and Ethiopia could instead harmonize their regional policies through platforms such as the East African Community and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Ultimately, Kenya and Ethiopia’s ability to intensify their strategic partnerships could lay the foundation for regional autonomy and stability.
The English Football League has criticised the “undermining” of the Carabao Cup after it was forced to compromise on the date of Crystal Palace’s quarter-final because of fixture congestion.
Palace will now face Arsenal in the last eight at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, 23 December at 20:00 GMT.
The other three quarter-finals take place the previous week but the Eagles’ commitments in the Uefa Conference League – they host Finnish club KuPS at Selhurst Park on 18 December – has left them with four games in nine days.
Palace host Manchester City on 14 December and are away to Leeds on 21 December, either side of the KuPS game.
A statement from the EFL was critical of the “expansion of European cup competitions” which it believes was “implemented without adequate consultation with domestic leagues”.
The EFL said it had “shown a willingness to compromise” but scheduling conflicts are “now entirely unavoidable”.
“To continue making endless concessions only serves to undermine the reputation of the EFL Cup,” said the statement.
“It also challenges the traditional scheduling of the English football calendar and strength of our domestic game.”
Uefa’s European calendar now stretches across 10 midweeks, rather than the six of two seasons ago, with the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League each given a standalone week for exposure.
It has caused a huge logistical headache, with the third round of the EFL Cup having to be seeded and played across two weeks to keep clubs in the Champions League and Europa League apart.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner said last week it would be “irresponsible” if the club were forced to play two games in three days.
The EFL said it shared the “frustration and concern” of managers and players concerning the congested programme which deprived clubs of the “necessary time for preparation” and ability to “field their strongest line-ups” in the EFL Cup.
Boxing Day fixtures have been a long-standing tradition in English football but this year the only Premier League game will be Manchester United’s home match with Newcastle United (20:00 GMT).
This article could be made up entirely of Chelsea players given the success their youngsters had in a 5-1 demolition of Ajax.
The Blues gave minutes to 10 players aged 21 or younger, while they became the first team in Champions League history to have three teenage scorers.
Marc Guiu was first on the scoresheet, with the 19-year-old Spaniard – known as a powerful, quick number nine – poking home to briefly become the club’s youngest goalscorer in the competition.
His record on Wednesday night lasted for just 33 minutes with Estevao Willian, who is one year, three months and 20 days younger, netting a penalty.
Already a Brazil international with nine caps, Estevao was described as a “special talent” by ex-England striker Wayne Rooney when he scored a late winner against Liverpool earlier this month, while his Chelsea team-mate Jorrel Hato – another teenager who started against Ajax – said Barca sensation Yamal is the only player of comparison.
English winger Tyrique George scored Chelsea’s fifth goal, although the 19-year-old is already a familiar name after a breakthrough season with the Blues last term when he played 750 minutes in their run to the Europa Conference League title.
Reggie Walsh, a technical, deep-lying playmaker who turned 17 on Monday, broke another record for the club by becoming youngest player in Europe’s top tier competition, while Jamie Gittens, 21,became the youngest Chelsea player to create five or more chances in a Champions League match – a record previously held by Eden Hazard.
These tech companies are benefiting from growing investment in AI chips and software.
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a major opportunity for businesses across industries to develop products faster and cheaper than ever before. The race to gain a data-driven edge on the competition is fueling massive investment across the entire tech supply chain from data centers to software.
Many of the key players enabling this new industrial revolution are already valued at over $1 trillion market caps. But as governments and businesses continue to invest in this technology, there are two AI enablers that are still valued under $500 billion that could be worth buying today. Here’s why growing competition in AI could propel these companies into the trillion-dollar club.
1. Palantir Technologies
Palantir(PLTR 0.11%) started as a government contractor, providing AI-powered software for intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. But now its software is experiencing insatiable demand in the private sector. Companies are seeing significant cost savings, which means Palantir can benefit from companies scrambling to adopt AI solutions to remain competitive.
If one company in an industry uses Palantir to gain operating efficiencies, it creates a competitive advantage. This pushes more businesses to consider investing in Palantir’s platforms or risk falling behind. This can explain in part why Palantir’s U.S. commercial revenue has exploded this year, nearly doubling year over year in the second quarter.
Palantir closed its highest quarter yet of total contract-value bookings of $2.3 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 140%. It is signing bigger deals while also seeing existing customers continue to spend more, leading to a healthy 128% net-dollar retention rate.
Palantir is effectively a tool that improves a company’s profits. Its software is expensive relative to alternative software vendors, but Palantir still expects accelerating growth next quarter. This signals it has a competitive edge. Palantir’s ontology-based system creates a digital twin of a company’s operations, helping managers make sense of unorganized data for better decision making.
Importantly, Palantir is converting revenue into very high margins that are driving robust growth in earnings and free cash flow. This is one reason why the stock has performed so well and may continue to outperform Wall Street’s expectations.
For what it’s worth, widely followed tech analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities sees Palantir stock hitting a market cap of $1 trillion in the next three years. Keep in mind, the stock trades at an expensive valuation, so market sentiment will play a role in how the stock performs in the near term. Given the potential for volatility in the share price, investors should plan on holding it for at least 10 years. Long term, the savings and efficiencies Palantir brings to other companies could make it one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Image source: Advanced Micro Devices.
2. Advanced Micro Devices
The companies providing the chips for AI continue to benefit from increasing competition among the leading model builders. OpenAI just announced a deal to deploy six gigawatts of chips, which amounts to hundreds of thousands, from Advanced Micro Devices(AMD -0.52%) over the next several years.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the most popular AI model with over 700 million weekly active users. But to meet growing demand, it has to expand its compute capacity to compete with rivals, including xAI’s Grok and Google Gemini, which also continue to invest in more infrastructure. This growing competition will benefit AMD.
OpenAI’s deal with AMD validates the capabilities of its upcoming pipeline of graphics processing units (GPUs). AMD’s data center business has not been growing as fast as Nvidia‘s, but it is expected to accelerate over the next year, and the deal with OpenAI is a catalyst.
While Nvidia’s GPUs have been widely used by data centers for powering large AI training loads, AMD’s chips have an advantage in handling small-to-medium-sized AI tasks. This is by design. AMD’s Instinct family of GPUs feature a high amount of memory bandwidth that makes them well suited for the AI inference market, which CEO Lisa Su believes is going to be much bigger than AI training.
OpenAI will deploy the first gigawatt of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs in the second half of 2026. Analysts currently expect AMD’s revenue to grow 28% in 2025 before increasing by 26% in 2026, according to Yahoo! Finance. Earnings should grow even faster due to the high margins of data center GPUs.
The stock currently has a market cap of $350 billion. Assuming the stock continues to trade around the same price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple, AMD has a good chance to reach a $1 trillion market cap by 2030. Wall Street analysts expect earnings to grow at an annualized rate of 34%, which is enough to generate outstanding returns for investors.
John Ballard has positions in Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Alongside a snap of her with Ross in their Movie Week outfits, Karen penned: “Absolutely gutted. Since the beginning of this show @therossking has been a rock for me and is one of the most genuine and funny people I’ve ever met.
“Have loved every minute of our @bbcstrictly journey and will miss you loads but know I’ll have a mate for life.”
Speaking on the Strictly results show, Ross said about his time on the show: “I have loved every single minute of it.
“I would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported us, all the people who voted – they’ve been amazing.
“I want to thank everyone here in this room, backstage, the judges, the crew – every single person here has made me so, so welcome.
“And, I want to thank a very special lady who has been with me through it all and has been absolutely everything: she’s been a mentor, teacher, carer and I could not have wished for a better partner, and I could not have wished to be on a better show. Thank you judges for all your remarks.”
Meanwhile, Jowita shared: “Thank you so much for all of your work. For everything you have done during rehearsals.
“We laugh a lot – but we also cried! Thank you so much, and I hope I’m going to be a little part in your life forever.”
Both Jowita and Ross will appear on It Takes Two on Monday in their first TV interview after their elimination.
Ross also shared a number of snaps from his time on the show on Instagram as he reflected on his journey.
Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday 18 October at 6:30pm, with the results show on Sunday 19 October at 7:15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Franklin Street Advisors disclosed in a Thursday regulatory filing that it sold Salesforce shares in an estimated $19.6 million transaction during the third quarter.
What Happened
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Thursday, Franklin Street Advisors sold 77,826 shares of Salesforce(CRM 1.97%) in the third quarter. The estimated transaction value was $19.6 million based on the average share price for the period ended September 30. Following the sale, the fund held 1,924 shares, with a reported value of $455,988 at quarter’s end.
What Else to Know
The sale reduced the Salesforce stake to just 0.03% of Franklin Street Advisors’ 13F reportable assets under management as of September 30.
Top holdings after the filing:
NVDA: $132.2 million (7.6% of AUM)
MSFT: $115.2 million (6.6% of AUM)
AAPL: $110.4 million (6.4% of AUM)
GOOGL: $91.2 million (5.3% of AUM)
AMZN: $72.5 million (4.2% of AUM)
As of Thursday afternoon, Salesforce shares were priced at $244.73, down 15% over the past year, far underperforming the S&P 500 by 31 percentage points during the same period.
Company Overview
Metric
Value
Revenue (TTM)
$39.5 billion
Net Income (TTM)
$6.7 billion
Dividend Yield
0.7%
Price (as of Thursday afternoon)
$244.73
Company Snapshot
Salesforce delivers cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, including the Customer 360 platform, Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, Tableau analytics, MuleSoft integration, and Slack collaboration tools.
The company provides enterprise software and related services to organizations worldwide.
It serves customers in financial services, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, and other industries.
Salesforce, Inc. is a global leader in CRM software, leveraging a comprehensive suite of cloud-based applications to drive digital transformation for its clients. Its scale and broad product portfolio reinforce its position in the enterprise software market. The company’s strategy centers on deepening customer engagement and expanding its platform ecosystem to maintain market leadership and sustain long-term growth.
Foolish Take
Franklin Street Advisors’ decision to nearly liquidate its Salesforce position—with a $19.6 million sale reducing holdings to just 0.03% of assets—reflects a sharp pivot away from one of tech’s weaker performers this year. Salesforce shares are down 15% over the past 12 months, while the fund’s top holdings—NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon—have each notched double-digit gains, underscoring the widening divide between AI winners and software incumbents still proving their growth story.
In its latest quarterly earnings release, Salesforce reported revenue of $10.2 billion, up 10% year-over-year, and a GAAP operating margin of 22.8%, its 10th straight quarter of margin expansion. Net income climbed to $1.9 billion, or $1.96 per share, as strong demand for Data Cloud and AI offerings lifted recurring revenue. However, investors have grown cautious amid slowing overall growth and mounting competition in enterprise AI integration.
CEO Marc Benioff called the quarter “outstanding,” highlighting the company’s vision for “agentic enterprises” blending human and AI workflows. Yet with steep competition, Salesforce may need to show faster innovation—and reignite investor enthusiasm—to reclaim its former momentum.
Glossary
13F reportable assets: Assets that institutional investment managers must report quarterly to the SEC, showing their holdings. Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients by a fund or firm. Transaction value: The total dollar amount received or paid in a specific buy or sell of securities. Stake: The portion or percentage of ownership an investor or fund holds in a company. Top holdings: The largest investments in a fund’s portfolio, typically ranked by market value. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Software and strategies used by companies to manage interactions with customers and prospects. Platform ecosystem: The network of products, services, and partners built around a company’s core software platform. Dividend yield: The annual dividend payment divided by the stock’s current price, expressed as a percentage. TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.
Jonathan Ponciano has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Salesforce. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino wants football to keep an “open mind” about when World Cups are played.
The tournament has traditionally been contested in the northern hemisphere’s summer months – though the 2022 competition, in Qatar, took place in December to avoid playing in the hottest conditions.
“We have summer and winter and in the world if you want to play at the same time everywhere you can play in March or in October,” said Infantino, who runs the sport’s world governing body.
“In December you cannot play in one part of the world and in July you cannot play in another part.
“We need to consider all these elements and let’s see how we can make it better for everyone.
“Maybe there are ways we can optimise the calendar. We are discussing. We have to have an open mind.”
The international match calendar is fixed until 2030, with the United States, Canada and Mexico hosting next year’s men’s World Cup in June and July.
Morocco, Portugal and Spain host the World Cup in 2030 – with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay holding matches to mark 100 years since the first World Cup was held in, and won by, Uruguay.
Saudi Arabia will host the tournament in 2034.
Meanwhile, Infantino also confirmed Fifa’s desire to further grow the Club World Cup.
The US hosted an expanded 32-team tournament during a major heatwave in the summer, with temperatures in New York reaching a record 39C in June.
This drew criticism from footballers and players’ unions, who raised issues over player welfare and the number of games adding to a packed calendar.
Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango said in July the competition was devaluing football.
Chelsea beat Paris St-Germain in New York to claim the title.
Infantino, speaking at the European Football Clubs’ general assembly in Rome, said: “When the Champions League was created the first revenue was 40m (euros), now it is 4bn (euros). If the first Club World Cup generated 2bn (euros) in 30 years we should generate 200bn (euros).
“This has created revenues for the clubs. Now we work together to see how we can make it better, bigger and more impactful in collaboration with the clubs and stakeholders because it will benefit everyone.
“I’m biased but it was a huge success from every possible angle. We had 2.5m spectators in the stadiums. We had an average [attendance] of 40,000 and only the Premier League is doing better.
“There is interest in the entire world and we need the interest to boost the national leagues, the European and global competitions.”
The Great British Bake Off finalist Dr Josh Smalley spoke to the Mirror recently about what it’s like to compete on the show, including sharing his thoughts on Alison Hammond
Bake Off finalist Josh Smalley spoke to the Mirror about the Channel 4 show earlier this week
Dr Josh Smalley has revealed what it was like filming the Great British Bake Off. The former contestant, who was a finalist on the Channel 4 show in 2023, shared behind-the-scenes details in an interview with the Mirror this week.
The chemistry researcher and science communicator, 29, competed on the fourteenth series of the show, which aired two years ago. He made it to the final of the baking contest after impressing the judges and was declared a runner-up, with Matty Edgell taking home the trophy instead.
Josh reflected on his experience in the iconic tent in an interview with us earlier this week, ahead of him delivering a talk at the New Scientist Live festival next month. He spoke about the two hosts of Bake Off, the hardest aspect of competing and revealed what happens to leftover cakes.
Josh, who said that he had applied for Bake Off as an opportunity to “challenge” himself, described taking part in the show as the “best experience”. The baker told us that he had dreamed of being on it but never thought he would.
He said that the twelve contestants, who have stayed in touch since filming ended, “instantly just got on”. Josh said that they met at their hotel prior to the first challenge but they only saw judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith “just before the first bake,” which he found to be “quite scary”.
Josh said about the competition: “The saddest part every week was that somebody was gonna have to go home.” He added: “You wanted everybody to do well, because you could see these incredible things coming together all around you. You just want everyone to do their best.”
Asked if he was surprised by any aspect of filming, Josh, who said he had watched the show since it began in 2010, teased that he had expected there to be more time for baking than the deadline viewers are told about. After suggesting that he had thought there to be a “quick break,” he said: “Nope, it’s 2 hours, that’s it!” He added: “It was very strict on that. So you don’t get extra time.”
He later said that the time limits are the “real challenge” for contestants. Josh told us: “All of the bakers on every series, if given unlimited time to make what they wanted to make … they would make an incredible bake. The real challenge is being able to squash all that into 2 hours.”
Speaking about the “stress” and temperature in the tent, he said: “There’s a lot of stressful moments as well [as the fun]. When you’re having to remake something for the third time because it’s not worked right it’s quite stressful.”
Josh also mentioned being critiqued in person by Paul and Prue. He said: “The pressure of having your food judged and being literally nose-to-nose with [the judges] as they dive into it and taste it, and then you’ve got to hear their instant feedback – that was a bit nervy as well.”
Discussing what happens to the leftover bakes that aren’t eaten by the judges, he said: “After a long day’s filming, and there’s a very hungry crew, and bakers, it soon disappears. Don’t worry about that. There’s no wastage at all.”
Josh added that he was keen to try his co-stars’ bakes after hearing any positive feedback from the judges. Speaking about trying each other’s cakes, he said: “We all got a piece of it brought afterwards so we got to try bits of it.”
He continued: “The majority of the bakes on the show are sweet [though], so there comes a point with all the practising as well, where you’ve just … you’re sort of sick of eating cake because you can’t take any more sugar.” He added that any savoury challenges, like bread week, were “the best”.
“They were the best ones because just like you were craving savoury,” he told us. Josh added: “So once it was one of those ones we just … we would all dive in and eat it all.”
Josh appeared on the first Bake Off series co-hosted by Alison Hammond, with her having joined Noel Fielding that year. He said: “She was incredible. She was so lovely and I think [together] they just bounce off each other.”
He said that Alison and Noel had a “great chemistry,” before saying: “I loved it when they came round. They always would come round at the worst time possible, deliberately so.” Josh added that Alison was a “welcomed addition” to the show and that she was on hand to “encourage” the bakers.
Since competing on the show, Josh has remained in the science field, with him now a postdoctoral research associate and science communication champion at the University of Leicester. He also founded the Science Kitchen, described as a “pioneering on-campus kitchen and laboratory” that provides a platform “to educate, entertain, and inspire,” at the university.
Discussing his decision to remain in that industry, he said: “I just thought that it would be an amazing opportunity to try and use the platform of the Bake Off to be able to do what I’ve always done and just do it on another scale up. […] Now, I get to blend my two passions of the baking and the chemistry, and I get to go and do all sorts of online videos, and shows and talks all the way round the country and get to educate the public and young audiences all about science and baking, and hopefully make science, chemistry in particular, interesting, engaging, accessible but through the means of food, which we all love.”
He’s now preparing for a talk at New Scientist Live, which promises “talks, immersive exhibitions and boundary-pushing science experiences” at ExCeL, London, next month. Josh said that the event will have “an amazing array of speakers”.
Teasing his talk, the Spooktacular Science of Baking, which is being held on October 19, Josh said that it will feature a vomiting pumpkin and chemical reaction display. There will also be bakes and chemistry demostrations. Josh added: “Delving into and close up as to what’s actually going on in our bakes.”
Speaking about baking, he said: “You just follow the recipe and then you get the result at the end.” He added about introducing the science behind it: “You just see people’s reaction to actually then think, something that they have made or been doing for years and years and years, suddenly now someone has told them actually why we do that.”
He gave examples such as why a recipe may require room temperature butter or ingredients being used in a certain order. Josh said: “It’s really fun to be able to actually explain, from a chemistry point of view, what’s actually happening there.”
Further promoting his talk, he said: “We know we all love to be in the kitchen, either eating what we’ve made, or having a go and playing around experimenting. So if you like food, and you want to learn a little bit more about how baking and how cooking works, then this is the talk for you.”
Josh continued: “Also, you’re gonna get a little sprinkle of the science [behind it] as well.” He then added: “And it’s gonna have a few sort of like pops and bangs and fizzes and things so it will be a nice, immersive experience.”
Jeremy Clarkson appeared to take a swipe at Stacey Solomon during tonight’s NTAs as Clarkson’s Farm picked up the award for Factual Entertainment show
Jeremy Clarkson was thrilled as Clarksons Farm picked up the award for Factual Entertainment show at tonight’s NTAs – and he couldn’t help but throw a dig in towards Stacey Solomon in the winners room after.
The former X Factor star had not one, but two shows nominated in the category. Both her BBC shows Sort Your Life Out and Stacey & Joe were up but despite double the chance, Stacey unfortunately didn’t take home a gong.
Heading onto the stage, the former Top Gear star thanked everyone, before apologising his trousers were falling down because he was taking Mounjaro.
Stacey and Joe presented The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)
Celebrating in the winners room after picking up the gong, the star said: “It’s great that a farming show can beat a house cleaning show,” seemingly referencing Stacey’s Sort Your Life Out.
It wasn’t the only dig he made, as he claimed that his team “worked way harder than anyone else in this room”.
After overhearing Magic Radio presenters Tom Price and Lucy Horobin discussing what big fans they were of BBC reality show Stacey & Joe earlier today, Stacey decided to ring in to say thank you.
Lucy asked about Stacey & Joe and Sort Your Life Out going head to head in the Entertainment category tonight, Stacey said: “They’ve put Sort Your Life Out and Stacey & Joe in the same blummin’ category for some reason.
The star claimed that his team “worked way harder than anyone else in this room”.(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)
“We’re up against each other which is absolutely ludicrous! But you know what I’m so grateful to just be going, it’s so nice to be shortlisted and nominated knowing that it’s a public vote.”
It’s not the first time Stacey has hit out at an awards show, memorably slating the BAFTAs earlier this year after she once again missed out on a gong.
The mum of five once again missed out on Factual Entertainment for Sort Your Life Out there, with Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour taking the win.
Taking to her Instagram story the following Monday, Stacey said: “Good morning from the veg patch, about to do the morning water. We didn’t win a BAFTA and I know I’m supposed to take it gracefully like a champ but I’ll be honest I’m devastated.”
“I’m not handling it very well, I’m not taking it very gracefully. I’m devastated for our whole team like I’m so gutted for our team. Everyone got dressed up and were really hopeful because I think because they work so hard,” Stacey continued, as she said the Sort Your Life Out team deserved a BAFTA.
However, she clarified that she didn’t mean to say that others didn’t deserve a BAFTA as they “absolutely did.”
Resource competition has intensified between the two great powers, the US and China, due to trade and tariff wars. Recently, both the countries have made major policy shifts in the strategically significant rare earth sector.
China discreetly issued 2025 rare earth mining and smelting quotas to its state-owned enterprises, exhibiting deepening securitization of this sector. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) previously used to make the announcement public on their website.
The Pentagon became the largest shareholder in MP Materials after buying $400 million worth of stocks. It indicates expanding involvement of the US government in the domestic rare earth industry since MP Materials operates the sole mining facility in the US. This move faces severe backlash, with critics comparing it with China’s approach to market intervention.
Consequently, China has intensified its efforts to maintain overarching dominance over the global rare earth market, and the US strives to claw back its control over strategically important raw materials.
Quick guide to rare earth complexities
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen metallic elements. Their requirement in high-tech applications in medicine, the military, and green technologies is indispensable. The REEs are not so rare, as the name suggests. Yet the real limitation lies in locating them in clusters for economic viability. All the more difficult is smelting, separating, and processing these elements.
China is the net importer of REEs, mining 70%, with the rest being extracted by Myanmar, Australia, and the United States. However, China enjoys a near-monopoly in processing 90% of the rare earths globally.
Over the years, China has built self-sustaining rare earth supply chains domestically. That implies managing upstream extraction to midstream processing and, to a greater extent, even downstream manufacturing.
Just as access to oil shaped global geopolitics during the last century, access to rare earths is shaping current geopolitics in this great power competition. And China is weaponizing its preeminence over REE supply chains by tightening its control to offset the US.
China’s control over rare earths came with a huge brunt.
China discovered the strategic value of REEs in the formative years of building the country’s economic base. China has been investing heavily in the R&D since the discovery of rare earth deposits in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, in 1927. Today, it holds the rank of largest known deposit of REEs and constitutes over 90% of China’s entire reserves.
Deng Xiaoping’s signature policy of 1978 is credited for kick-starting the opening up of the Chinese economy and integrating China into the global market. As a cherry on top for Chinese authorities came the “environmental decade” in the 1970s in the United States, marked by dozens of environmental legislations.
Rare earth extraction and processing have severe environmental repercussions. Certainly, US private firms were in search of a scapegoat to outsource environmental costs and exploit cheap labor.
Chinese authorities were willing to face the brunt of ecological damage for speedy economic growth. It turned out that the short-term economic interests overshadowed the long-term strategic interests of America.
What exacerbated the matter was illegal and unregulated mining of rare earths. The parallel economy flourished as global consumption for rare earth multiplied year on year. Chinese authorities have taken cognizance but struggle to put a stop to these activities.
China has doubled down on its efforts to curb unlicensed extraction and harden the compliance systems facing immense pressure from Trump’s tariff war.
Chinese market manipulation tricks came in handy.
By the 1990s, bifurcating prices of rare earths for the Chinese domestic market and international market had compelled many US businesses to shut down.
China carried out price manipulation in two tiers. First, it made sure to service its domestic needs by selling at cheaper rates than the products that were being exported. Second, pricing it underneath the other global firms in the international market but higher than the domestic price levels.
In the beginning, this created incentive for international companies to establish their manufacturing units in China. But eventually almost all firms went bankrupt, losing their competitive edge against Chinese SOEs.
In addition, China has been consolidating its rare earth assets to raise its global competitiveness and pricing power. In Dec 2021, three mega SOEs were merged to form a megafirm, China Rare Earth Group. Today, only two mega conglomerates are operating: China Rare Earth Group and China Northern Rare Earth Group. In fact, export quotas are entrusted to only these two mega firms.
Export quotas introduced in 1999 have expanded and tightened over the years. Though year-wise mining and smelting quotas have increased, the annual growth rates see a downturn. This time not disclosing the quotas publicly for ‘security reasons’ will exacerbate uncertainties in the international market. It seems like a calculated strategy of Chinese authorities to maintain their stronghold over the global market of rare earths but making sure to provide enough to maintain dominance.
Some scholars do articulate China’s policies to clamp down on its rare earth industry from a different lens, essentially, to address domestic interests. The Chinese authoritarian state is caught up in securing control and increasing production efficiency.
Trump responding vigorously to counterbalance Chinese dominance
The Pentagon becoming the largest stakeholder of MP Materials to cushion a strategic sector is nothing unusual. The US government and its agencies have a history of getting involved in sectors of national and economic significance. This underscores the fact that great powers have historically used market distortions as a tool to uphold their supremacy.
Establishing a cutting-edge supply chain with like-minded states would take over a decade and cost well over a trillion dollars in that period. Americans have to catch up on the long road ahead that the Chinese took decades to build. Therefore, Trump initiated the first-of-their-kind policy measures to hasten up the catching-up process. These policy initiatives are aimed at enhancing collaboration for clean energy technologies, building resilient supply chains, and reducing dependencies.
On April 30, 2025, the US and Ukraine signed a long-awaited minerals deal. Trump’s ambition to gain control over Greenland, a strategically located island in the Arctic, to the extent of using military force wasn’t just about national security. Rather driven by desire to control rich untapped resources, including rare earth minerals, copper, gold, uranium, iron, oil, etc.
Trump’s efforts will take years to bear fruit. Prior to that, the US must build an investment-friendly environment. A report by consultancy S&P Global found that on average it takes nearly 29 years to build a new mine for the critical minerals in the US, the second-longest in the world. The process to obtain a mining permit is lengthy and confusing, which harms efforts to counterbalance China’s near-dominant positioning.
world of weaponized interdependence
Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman argue cold war animosity was replaced by a new world of networks that accentuated harmonious relationships. They suggest countries are more entwined than ever, but rather than easing hostilities, interdependence is used by states against their adversaries.
Great power competition is being increasingly impacted by what they called “weaponized interdependence.” China’s dominance over the supply lines of rare earths gives it the edge to fight this battle for long.
Destination X viewers were left outraged as as fan-favourite contestant as part of a shock twist as the competition nears the end
22:13, 20 Aug 2025Updated 22:13, 20 Aug 2025
A fan favourite has left Destination X(Image: BBC)
Destination X viewers were left outraged as as fan-favourite contestant left the competition amid a savage twist.
The BBC’s globetrotting reality series series follows a group of strangers hoping to to win £100,000 by correctly guessing where in the world they have been taken to. The programme hosted by Rob Brydon, sees the hopefuls dealt with various clues as to where they might be, ranging from languages written down and other key hints.
It has become something of a success with viewers, gaining around four million viewers per episode, and on Wednesday evening, fans tuned in to watch retired detective sergeant Claire, 51, Daren, 58, a taxi driver, and pilot Josh, 26, continue with their mission. They were joined by fellow contestants Judith 28, who works as a nuclear engineer, and endurance athlete Nick, 35, as well as marketing executive Saskia, 35.
Fans were left furious after the shock twist (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/TwoFour)
But viewers were shocked at the end of the episode when Nick was dumped from the competition at the last moment, just one week ahead of the grand finale that is set to air on 29 August. Taking to X/Twitter, one fan fumed: “i knew he was leaving as soon as he said what he spend the money on! ffs ! i pray saskia don’t win #destinationx.”
A second fan raged: “Knew Nick was gone with the clip about what he would use the money for if he won. #DestinationX” and a third fan pointed out: “Nick has to win this in order to open his dog sanctuary!! #destinationx“
In the episode, Nick correctly guessed they were in Pula but couldn’t find it on the map and thus was kicked out of the competition. He was the only person who had guessed correctly – but his incorrect place on the map meant he struggled.
Nick said goodbye to the bus and his fellow contestants(Image: BBC/TwoFour)
Last week, the contestants saw their loved ones but had to pretend they did not know them. Jackie’s surprise appearance on the BBC show left Daren struggling, as he admitted he’d found it “tough” to not interact with her. “Jackie P is 10 foot from me,” he said. “You don’t know how hard that is. It was really tough.”
His co-star Saskia was quick to notice his reaction too, saying: “As soon as I saw Daren shed a tear, I was like ‘Jackie P is in here’.” The contestants were tasked with matching portraits of each other with photos of their loved ones, as they attempted to guess who was linked to who. The winner would then get to spend some time with their loved one. Unfortunately, Daren failed to win the task, meaning he didn’t get to see his wife again.
Before he arrived at USC, Micah Banuelos was already pretty accustomed to playing through pain. As a standout offensive and defensive lineman at Kennedy Catholic High in Washington, his shoulder would pop out of its socket during almost every game. So Banuelos would check out, have his shoulder popped back in and then reenter the game like nothing changed.
“Then,” his father, Roy Banuelos, says, “he never said anything about it after.”
But when that shoulder injury lingered past high school and into his freshman season, there was no ignoring it anymore. Just weeks into his first fall at USC, the staff suggested Banuelos get surgery.
It would be a while before Banuelos made his way back — and even longer still before he’d be competing for a real role on USC’s offensive line. The shoulder injury robbed him of the following spring, then a knee issue nixed his second season after just a few games. But at the start of his third fall at USC, Banuelos has finally entered the mix at guard, a position at which USC is perilously unproven.
If a federal judge doesn’t grant an injunction Monday to transfer lineman DJ Wingfield in his lawsuit against the NCAA, then Banuelos will be one of many vying for the opening he leaves behind up front. Banuelos has taken considerable snaps through camp with the first-team offensive line, while redshirt freshmen Hayden Treter and Makai Saina and walk-on Kaylon Miller have also factored into the competition.
It’s the first time that USC coach Lincoln Riley has really gotten an extended look at Banuelos, despite the fact that he’s entering his third season in L.A.
“He was probably somebody we knew the least about, just because he was hurt so much,” Riley said. “He’s getting a ton of reps right now, and so far, he’s just carrying on from that. He has a lot of power. He can really move people. He can really play behind his hips. There’s a lot to like about what he does, and if he stays healthy, he’s really going to turn into a good player.”
Riley had similar praise for Treter, who has also dealt with injuries since coming to USC. The coach called Treter “one of the highlights of camp.”
The Trojans entered the offseason in need of more consistency from their offensive line, especially with a relatively new starting quarterback in Jayden Maiava.
The competition at USC’s open guard spot remains one of the closest battles on the team with just over two weeks remaining until its season opener. Even Alani Noa, who started 12 of USC’s 13 games, hasn’t been assured of a starting spot.
That uncertainty up front might be nerve-racking to some. Riley and offensive coordinator Luke Huard insist they don’t see it that way.
Huard said he feels “really, really good” about the current state of the offensive line, while Riley said he feels “much better” now about the depth at the position than he did in spring.
“Some of that young depth coming along, we needed that to happen,” Riley said. “Their ascent is important not just for this year, but for the future.”
It’s just as critical at offensive tackle, too, where redshirt freshman Justin Tauanuu has made his own case to be a part of USC’s starting front. It’s possible that he slots in at right tackle, while Tobias Raymond, the projected starter there, kicks into guard to fill the void left by Wingfield.
But coaches and teammates like what they’ve seen out of Banuelos.
“You can tell when a guy just wants to be out there and treats every day like his last,” left tackle Elijah Paige said. “He’s putting it all out here.”
For a while, Banuelos could only wait for his shoulder — and then his knee — to heal. That part was excruciating, his father says, stuck in place as others made moves up the depth chart.
“He was pretty down,” Roy Banuelos said. “I would call him and just tell him, ‘It’s OK, man. You’ll get your time. It’ll come.’”
Now, with USC in desperate need of someone stepping up at guard, that time may finally have arrived.
“All he wanted to do was play football,” Roy Banuelos said. “So his attitude now — it’s night and day.”
NEW ORLEANS — Hezly Rivera was the fresh face a year ago. The newcomer. The teenager on a team of 20-something Olympic gymnasts, doing her best to absorb what she could from Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles.
The one thing that stood out, even more than the sometimes otherworldly gymnastics, is the way her fellow gold-medal-winning teammates went about their business.
“They looked so confident,” Rivera said. “They’re like, ‘I’m going to go out and I’m going to hit.’ It gave me that confidence as well.”
Looks like it.
The now 17-year-old who says she’s paying no attention to the idea that she’s the leader of the women’s program in the early stages of the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics certainly looks the part.
Buoyed by a polished steadiness — and a beam routine that finally looked the way it does back home at her home gym in Texas — Rivera captured her first national title Sunday night at the U.S. Championships. Her two-day total of 112.000 was good enough to fend off a challenge from Leanne Wong and put her in excellent position to lead the four-woman American delegation at the world championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October.
Rivera, by far the youngest member of the five-woman team that finished atop the podium in Paris a year ago, bounced back from a shaky performance at the U.S. Classic last month with the kind of measured, refined gymnastics that she attributed to simply “letting go” of whatever pressure she might feel as the lone Olympic gold medalist in a remarkably young field.
“No matter how rough the competition is, I still can get back into the gym and work hard because all those months previously that I’ve been working hard, I know it’s going to show up eventually,” she said. “So it kind of just took a weight off my shoulders.”
Rivera, at the very least, locked up a spot in the world championship selection camp next month. So did Wong, a four-time world championship medalist, budding entrepreneur and pre-med student who shows no signs of slowing down despite years of competing collegiately and at the elite level simultaneously.
Asked how she juggles it all, the 21-year-old who insists she doesn’t keep a planner said she lives by the motto “there’s time for everything.”
Joscelyn Roberson, an Olympic alternate last summer, shook off an ankle injury suffered at the end of her floor routine to finish third as the three most internationally experienced athletes in the field looked ready to lead after spending most of the last Olympic quad learning from Biles and company.
“You go from, ‘Oh you’re so young, you’re so young,’ to, ‘Oh, you are the older kid,’” the 19-year-old Roberson said. “People say, ‘How are you feeling?’ Like, I honestly don’t feel that different.”
Two summers ago, Roberson was Biles’ bouncy sidekick. Now she’s among the leaders of the next wave.
“I felt like more responsible to let the little, smaller, less experienced kids know it’s not the end of the day if you have a bad day or if you had one fall,” Roberson said. “I want to help them grow instead of think ‘I have to be perfect.’”
Roberson then walked the walk. Or maybe limped the limp. She appeared ready to make it a three-woman race for first until she turned an ankle on the final tumbling pass of her floor routine.
The rising sophomore at Arkansas gingerly continued on anyway. She gritted her way through her vault dismount, though the five-tenths (0.5) deduction for using an additional pad for her protection took her out of contention for the all-around.
Hezly Rivera, center, stands next to Leanne Wong, left, and Joscelyn Roberson at the U.S. gymnastic championships on Sunday.
(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
Still, the victory hardly came easy for Rivera. She was pushed through four rotations by Wong, who started Sunday with a stuck Cheng vault and didn’t relent over the course of two hours.
Rivera responded each time — she posted the top scores on three of the four events — but it wasn’t until she walked off the podium following her floor routine with victory in hand that she could relax.
“Everything fell into place,” Rivera said. “I tried not to get too overwhelmed because nerves obviously can be there, especially when you know you’re in a spot to win a national title, but I just took all pressure off myself.”
Skye Blakely, who was injured at the Olympic Trials in both 2021 and 2024, was sublime on both uneven bars and balance beam to put herself in consideration to make the world team.
Novo Nordisk’s outgoing CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, has warned that layoffs at the Danish pharmaceutical giant could be unavoidable as competition heats up against its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy amid rising pressure from rival Eli Lilly.
Novo Nordisk – which became Europe’s most valuable company, worth $650bn, last year on booming sales of Wegovy – is facing a pivotal moment as the medicine loses market share and sees sales growth slow, especially in the United States.
It has warned of far slower growth this year, in part due to compounders who have been allowed to make copycat drugs based on the same ingredients as Wegovy due to shortages. Novo Nordisk, which according to its website has 77,000 employees, cut its full-year sales and profit forecasts last week, wiping $95bn off its market value since.
The slide is a vast and abrupt turnaround for the firm that has been one of the world’s hottest investment stories, which led to a rapid expansion of manufacturing and sales capacity. Now the company is eyeing potential cost-cutting measures.
Layoffs loom
“We probably won’t be able to avoid layoffs,” Jorgensen told Danish broadcaster DR. “When you have to adjust a company, there are some areas where you have to have fewer people, some [areas] where you have to be smaller.”
He added, though, that any decision on layoffs would be in the hands of the incoming CEO, company veteran Maziar Mike Doustdar, who takes over on Thursday.
On a media call, Jorgensen said the market for copycat versions of Wegovy’s class of drugs – known as GLP-1 receptor agonists – was of “equal size to our business” and compounded versions of Wegovy were sold at a “much lower price point”.
In May, Novo Nordisk said it expected many of the roughly one million US patients using compounded GLP-1 drugs to switch to branded treatments after a US Food and Drug Administration ban on compounded copies of Wegovy took effect on May 22, and it expected compounding to wind down in the third quarter.
However, finance chief Karsten Munk Knudsen said on Wednesday that more than one million US patients were still using compounded GLP-1s and that the company’s lowered outlook has “not assumed a reduction in compounding” this year.
“The obesity market is volatile,” Knudsen told analysts when asked under what circumstances the company could see negative growth in the last six months of the year. The low end of the firm’s new full-year guidance range would be for “unforeseen events”, such as stronger pricing pressure in the US than forecast, he said.
The lower end of the range would imply sales around 150 billion Danish krone ($23bn) in the second half of 2025, compared with 157 billion krone ($24.5bn) in the same period last year.
Knudsen reiterated that the company was pursuing multiple strategies, including lawsuits against compounding pharmacies, to halt unlawful mass compounding.
Jorgensen said the company was encouraged by the latest US prescription data for Wegovy. While the drug was overtaken earlier this year by rival Eli Lilly’s Zepbound in terms of US prescriptions, that lead has narrowed in the past month.
Second-quarter sales of Wegovy rose by 36 percent in the US and more than quadrupled in markets outside the US compared to a year ago, Novo Nordisk said.
While Wegovy’s US pricing held steady in the quarter, the company expected deeper erosion in the key US market in the second half, due to a greater portion of sales expected from the direct-to-consumer or cash-pay channel, as well as higher rebates and discounts to insurers, Knudsen said.
He said Novo Nordisk was expanding its US direct-to-consumer platform, NovoCare, launched in March, and may need to pursue similar “cash sales” directly to patients, outside of insurance channels, in some markets outside the US.
Cost cuts
Novo Nordisk reiterated its full-year earnings expectations on Wednesday after last week’s profit warning.
Jorgensen said the company was acting to “ensure efficiencies in our cost base” as it announced it would terminate eight research and development projects.
“There seems to be a larger R&D clean-out than usual, but we do not know if this reflects a strategic re-assessment or just a coincidence,” Jefferies analysts said in a note.
Investors have questioned whether the company can stay competitive in the booming weight-loss drug market. Several equity analysts have cut their price targets and recommendations on the stock since last week.
Shares in Novo Nordisk plunged 30 percent last week – their worst weekly performance in over two decades. The stock has continued to tumble since the market opened in New York. As of 12pm local time (16:00 GMT), the pharmaceutical giant was down by more than 3.3 percent.
Bake Off: The Professionals continues on Channel 4 tonight with chefs putting their careers on the line, while Helen, Jules and JB head to Pembrokeshire in their new Channel 5 show
Bake Off: The Professionals airs its semi-final tonight(Image: Channel 4 / Laura Palmer)
Bake Off: The Professionals continues on our screens tonight – and the chefs are set to take on the most demanding challenge yet. In tonight’s (Tuesday 22 July) episode of the Channel 4 show, the semi-final gets under way as they compete in the Bake Off spin-off.
Not only is the nation watching as their souffles sink, but if Cherish and Benoit belittle their Bakewell tarts they know their bosses will be taking notes at home too…
With their reputations on the line, four teams of pastry pros nervously approach the semi-final. Tonight’s challenges are chocolate-themed, and there will be extra scrutiny from guest judge Gabriella Cugno, who worked as the official chocolatier on the blockbuster film Wonka. Gabriella knows exactly how to make delicious choccies look magical, and that’s what will be required from the teams tonight.
Cherish and Benoit on Bake Off: The Professionals(Image: Channel 4 / Laura Palmer)
First up, they must craft two different types of chocolate bar from scratch, and with no recipe to follow they are free to unleash their imaginations. Fun as it sounds, it’s quite the test for these bakers, who usually deal in cake rather than confectionery. Then it’s onto one of the most demanding showpiece challenges in the show’s history – ‘Floating Cities’.
The judges require the teams to create an edible, ornate, sturdy vessel, that will float on water carrying 24 immaculate petit fours. Of course, the wondrous treats will need to taste spectacular too, and each dessert must be identical to its neighbour. It’s a tantalising prospect, and the results are sure to be stunning – but not everyone will make it through to next week’s final. Imagine spending hours labouring on a sugary boat of dreams, only to be sent home…
Bake Off: The Professionals airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4.
Coastal Adventures with Helen, Jules and JB
We’ve heard of whale watching, but tonight Jules Hudson is on the Pembrokeshire coast, trying to photograph porpoises. He’s taking part in a major conservation project run by Sea Trust Wales to protect the creatures, who prove quite difficult to spot.
Jules has definitely got the plum job this week, while poor Helen is thrown into cold waters, going surfing in Tynemouth. It turns out the North East is becoming quite the hotspot for the sport, and the quay is also home to wonderful fishing traditions, which she enjoys before tucking into a stunning seafood lunch – not such a short straw after all.
Later, JB reveals that Norfolk’s finest export, Colman’s mustard, owes its flavour to the sea air (who knew?), before setting sail from Burnham Overy Staithe. He hopes to emulate Nelson, but even with local skipper Ash giving him the best tuition, JB isn’t exactly a natural on the water…
Coastal Adventures with Helen, Jules & JB airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 5.
Mix Tape
Mix Tape has proven to be popular with TV fans(Image: BBC)
It’s finally time for Alison and Daniel to meet up in Sydney, as they bite the bullet and meet for dinner. The electricity is still there between them, but when he broaches the subject of why she did a runner all those years ago, Alison clams up and asks for the bill.
Daniel is left confused and frustrated. At the same time his marriage is dealt another blow as Kat reacts badly to his revelation that he’s in Australia for work. Who does Dan really want to be with – and do either of the loves of his life want to be with him anymore?
As Alison deals with seeing Dan again – and her manager begs her to travel to England for publicity – she considers whether it’s time to tell him what really happened in Sheffield. Meanwhile, flashbacks give us a glimpse of the turmoil Alison was facing at home in 1989.
Mix Tape airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Two.
Emmerdale
Robert and Kim are all set for a secret meeting to hand over Annie’s Field, but Robert senses something isn’t quite right. He backs out of the deal, leaving Kim exasperated. Robert does some digging.
John is frustrated that Cain is still miserable, despite the news about Owen. Struggling with his emotions, Cain grills Liam. Liam insists he can’t break patient confidentiality and the pair come to blows.
Later, John feels guilty after a conversation with Liam, and messages the helpline again.
EastEnders
Julie and Phil can’t seem to agree on what’s best for Nigel. Billy convinces Phil he needs to try harder with her, despite their differences.
Linda talks to Oscar and reveals the truth about Annie’s paternity. She panics when he wants to tell Max. Linda finds Lauren, and insists she needs to change Oscar’s mind.
Avani tries to tell Priya she’s pregnant, but holds back. Later, Suki spots Avani looking at a family planning website.
We’ve teamed up with interactive audio platform Yoto, who are giving away 10 travel bundles worth £150 each – to help keep the little ones entertained without a screen in sight. Enter now!
We’ve teamed up with Yoto to help keep the little ones entertained this summer(Image: YOTO)
As families prepare for six weeks of holiday fun, we’ve teamed up with interactive audio platform Yoto to help keep the little ones entertained on their journeys this summer.
Travelling with children often means managing meltdowns and battling boredom, but the Yoto Player can help make all the difference. And now, Yoto is giving away 10 amazing travel bundles, each worth over £150.
Each prize includes a Yoto Mini audio player, Yoto Wireless Headphones, a protective Adventure Jacket, Yoto Mini Travel Case, and the bestselling Gruffalo Yoto card by Julia Donaldson, one of the UK’s most beloved children’s authors.
Whether it’s a road trip, a rainy afternoon, or winding down after a long day at the beach, this bundle is packed with stories, songs and imagination that is sure to bring focus and wonder to busy little minds. It’s the perfect way to spark creativity and keep kids entertained, all without a screen in sight.
With physical cards that children can insert themselves, they stay engaged with tactile play while enjoying audio content that sparks curiosity. The on-the-go audio device makes the perfect companion, whether you’re travelling by car, plane, or train.
With hundreds of titles to choose from – including stories, music, and educational content – Yoto has something for every child. If you’re seeking a screen-free way to keep your children entertained this summer, don’t miss your chance – enter our unmissable competition today.
Simply fill in your details below to be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize. If you can’t see the form, click HERE.
The competition closes at midnight on Sunday, August 24 and the lucky winner will be selected at random. Good luck!
SAN FRANCISCO — Nvidia is already the world’s most valuable company being one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global artificial intelligence boom.
This week, the Santa Clara-based chip maker got another windfall.
The Jensen Huang-led technology giant on Monday received approval from the U.S. government to sell some of its AI chips in China, boosting Nvidia’s stock price by 4% to $170.70 a share on Tuesday. Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has received similar assurances from the government.
Nvidia’s valuation has risen dramatically over the last two years since generative artificial intelligence became a mainstream topic. Last week, the 32-year-old company became the first publicly traded firm to reach $4 trillion in market capitalization, beating tech titans including Microsoft and Apple.
Though it’s a largely symbolic moment, the milestone raised the stakes for competition in the AI space, which has attracted enormous amounts of capital from established tech players and start-up investors.
“Once you reach that level of market cap, everybody and their brother wants to be you,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with advisory services firm Enderle Group. “So that means that there’s going to be a huge focus on creating competitive technologies to Nvidia because it looks incredibly lucrative.”
Nvidia has become a primary force in the growth of AI technology, as many applications are built with Nvidia’s chips.
Prior to the AI boom, Nvidia was mostly known for creating premium graphics cards that were attractive to gamers in rendering high-speed visuals. Most recently, the company is known for selling powerful chips that help chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and self-driving cars process information quickly enough to make the technology useful. Nvidia said in its 2025 annual report that it powers more than 75% of the supercomputers on the TOP500 list, which ranks the 500 most powerful computer systems in the world.
What is powering Nvidia’s rise?
Founded in 1993, Nvidia has ridden many technology waves, including the crypto frenzy.
But lately, Nvidia has seen tremendous growth thanks to worldwide investor interest — and competition for dominance — in artificial intelligence.
Companies are eager to explore how AI can make processes more efficient and figure out complex problems. But getting the computing power behind AI can be expensive if companies are building hardware on their own. That’s where Nvidia comes in.
Nvidia’s sales increased 69% to $44.1 billion in its fiscal first quarter compared to a year ago. Net income was nearly $18.8 billion, up 26% from a year ago. In its fiscal year 2025, the company’s revenue more than doubled to about $130.5 billion compared to a year earlier, and net income increased 145% to nearly $72.9 billion compared to fiscal year 2024.
In the last 12 months, Nvidia’s shares have increased more than 30%. Since five years ago, the stock has risen more than 16-fold.
“It is clear AI is going to change the world and people want to get on that train, and Nvidia is the easiest entry point,” wrote Berna Barshay, a partner at online investment platform Wall Street Beats, in an email. Over time, new winners and formidable rivals may emerge, Barshay said. “But during this foundational period of infrastructure creation, Nvidia has certainly been king.”
Other companies were slower to innovate in AI, including Apple and Intel, and underestimated how quickly AI technology would advance, analysts said.
Who is Jensen Huang?
Huang, a former microprocessor designer, discussed the idea behind Nvidia inside a Denny’s in San Jose with fellow entrepreneurs Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The company’s name is partly based on the Latin word “invidia” — which means envy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Many businesses are certainly jealous of Nvidia’s success now, but in the 1990s, the company almost went out of business when its first chip, NV1, failed, according to media reports. Huang has said in public comments, including commencement speeches, that adversity can help people become better leaders.
Born in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1963, the onetime Denny’s dishwasher has become one of the industry’s most recognizable names, on par with Apple chief Tim Cook and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Thousands of people watch Huang’s keynote at Nvidia’s developer conference, as his vision could provide a road map for companies eager to expand investments in AI. Some analysts regularly refer to him as the “godfather of AI.”
What challenges lie ahead?
The biggest challenges facing Nvidia are trade wars and competition, analysts say.
Tariffs in the semiconductor industry could hurt companies like Nvidia, which manufacture and sell countless chips abroad. The company said in its annual report that 53% of its revenue in its 2025 fiscal year came from outside the U.S.
The company said that worldwide geopolitical tensions and conflicts in countries like China, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea and Taiwan, where the manufacturing of its product components and final assembly are concentrated, could disrupt its operations, product demand and profitability.
Several years ago, the U.S. restricted Nvidia’s sales of its chips in China due to concerns that its AI technology could be used to help the Chinese military. Huang has said that since the U.S. government could choose to apply restrictions, he didn’t think policymakers needed to be concerned about that and warned that allowing Nvidia to lose market share in China would cede a major advantage to Chinese tech company Huawei, according to Bloomberg.
While many analysts say Nvidia has a significant lead on competitors, it is possible over time they could catch up. OpenAI, which uses Nvidia products for ChatGPT, is developing its own chip design, according to Reuters.
There’s also the question of whether the power grid is robust enough to support the infrastructure needs of the fast-growing technology, which could slow down not just Nvidia but the larger AI ecosystem.
Despite the challenges, Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, is bullish on Nvidia, saying it is possible that the company could reach $5 trillion in market cap during the next 18 months.
“The world’s still catching up and the thing is, it’s going to take years for them to catch up,” he said. “As long as we’re looking at the AI revolution as a multidecade transformation, it’s going to be really hard to take Nvidia out of that position.”
LA28 released the first look at the 2028 Olympic competition schedule on Monday, exactly three years before the Games open on July 14, 2028. The slate is highlighted by a break in tradition to accommodate the organizing committee’s unique, dual-venue opening ceremony plan.
Instead of beginning the schedule with swimming, as has been customary in recent Games, track and field will instead take place during the first week of competition from July 15 to 24 at the Coliseum. Swimming will follow from July 22 to 30 at SoFi Stadium, where an indoor pool will be built after the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony, now officially scheduled for 5 p.m. PDT on July 14, 2028, will be shared between the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. Swimming will deliver the final competition of the 2028 Olympics as the last medal events are set to begin at 3 p.m. on July 30, 2028. Three hours later, the Olympic Games will conclude with the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. at the Coliseum.
Several sports will begin qualifying competitions before the opening ceremony, including cricket. The sport, which is returning to the Games for the first time since 1900, will be played at the Fairgrounds in Pomona and begin competition on July 12, along with soccer, handball, water polo, basketball, rugby and field hockey.
Making its Olympic debut, flag football will take place during the first week of competition from July 15 to 22 at BMO Stadium. The early competition could help reduce potential overlap with NFL training camps. Active NFL players are allowed to try out for Olympic national teams, but training camps typically begin in late July.
The sport will get a premier showcase opportunity in its Olympic debut as all flag football competitions are scheduled for afternoon and evening time slots. The men’s medal games are from from 6-8:30 p.m. on July 21, 2028 with the women’s finals beginning at 1 p.m. on July 22.
An artist’s rendering of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics swimming venue at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
(LA28)
Marquee events swimming, track and field, and artistic gymnastics (July 15-20, July 22-25) will dominate the prime-time windows in the United States as the Summer Games return to American soil for the first time since 1996.
U.S. viewership of the Olympics waned from 2018 to 2022 as three consecutive Games in Asian countries made for complicated time zone changes. Viewers in the Pacific Time Zone were 16 hours behind live coverage from Tokyo in 2021, when the pandemic-delayed Games averaged a record-low Olympic viewership for NBC. But numbers skyrocketed at the Paris Games, where evening sessions in Europe made for lunchtime viewing stateside, building interest just in time for L.A. to take the torch.
“We are energized by today’s milestones,” LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said in a statement Monday that also celebrated 1 million enrollments with the youth sports program PlayLA, “and remain focused on the work ahead as the Road to 2028 continues.”
A full list of times for specific events are expected to be released later this year.
LA28 announced its eighth sponsorship deal of the year last week, inking Uber and Uber Eats as the official rideshare and on-demand delivery partners, respectively. The private organizing group plans to release information for volunteer opportunities this year, and registration for the ticket lottery should follow in early 2026.
