Israel has continued to attack Lebanon, despite Iran saying it was included in a potential memorandum of understanding with the US. Fresh forced displacement orders were issued on Saturday morning, following Israeli bombardment throughout Friday night on towns and villages in the south.
Published On 13 Jun 202613 Jun 2026
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The U.S. Justice Department has cleared the way for Paramount Skydance’s $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery — a major milestone that moves David Ellison closer to his goal.
After a months-long review, Justice Department antitrust regulators on Friday concluded the combination would not violate federal anticompetition laws. Approval had been expected because President Trump — who has friendly ties with Ellison and his father, tech billionaire Larry Ellison — favors the deal.
The government stopped short of asking Paramount to make concessions or divestitures.
Buying Warner Bros. would allow Paramount — Hollywood’s smallest major company — to bulk up with such prestigious properties as HBO, CNN, HGTV and Food Network. Those would be combined with properties Paramount already owns, including CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.
The deal would put two historic film studios and two prominent news organizations under the same roof. It would give Paramount four streaming services, including HBO Max, and dozens of cable channels.
In its four-page closing statement, the Justice Department emphasized that career antitrust regulators — not political appointees — had performed a rigorous review, sifting through some two million documents the government received from dozens of sources, including third-party organizations.
They conducted meetings and deposed senior-level executives and other witnesses.
“These investigative efforts all led to the same conclusion: the film and television industry is highly dynamic, and the proposed transaction is not likely to harm competition or American consumers,” Justice Department regulators wrote in their summary.
Regulators zeroed in on three potential areas of concern. They looked at whether the merger would give Paramount too much power in the streaming video-on-demand market; the traditional linear television channel space; as well as in “studio development, production, or distribution of films for theatrical release,” the Justice Department said.
Competition in streaming would not be crimped, according to the regulators.
“To the contrary, the combined firm is likely to increase competition by offering consumers a more robust competitive alternative to the larger [streaming] offerings,” they wrote.
The antitrust division also found that theatrical distribution and opportunities for creators, including writers and actors, would not be harmed as long as the combined company maintained current production levels.
Ellison has promised to continue releasing 30 films a year with a combined Warner Bros.-Paramount studio. He also has said he would protect the HBO brand.
The proposed merger is controversial because many in Hollywood fear it will bring thousands of job losses, which was the result of past consolidations, including Walt Disney Co.’s 2019 takeover of Fox entertainment properties. More than 5,000 entertainment industry workers, including Jane Fonda, J.J. Abrams, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo, have signed an open letter calling for the merger to be blocked.
There’s a political dimension as well. Paramount’s standing with the Trump administration (Paramount+ is set to televise Sunday’s UFC fight spectacle at the White House to celebrate Trump’s birthday as part of the company’s relationship with the UFC) has given left-leaning groups pause.
They worry about collapsing CNN and CBS News into one unit, particularly after all the turmoil that has ensued at CBS News since the Ellison family bought Paramount in August and installed Bari Weiss as CBS News editor in chief.
This month witnessed a dramatic shakeup at the iconic “60 Minutes,” with top executives and three well-known correspondents tossed out.
“We’ve already seen how far Paramount and the Ellison family are willing to go to diminish a once-proud network and news organization like CBS,” Craig Aaron, co-chief executive of the progressive group Free Press, said in a statement. His group fears the Ellisons would “do worse if they get their hands on Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and all the rest.”
Paramount, for its part, said it was grateful for “the Department of Justice’s thorough review of this transaction, as well as the work of the other agencies that have completed their reviews and provided clearance to date.”
“This deal is pro-competitive, resulting in a stronger company better positioned to compete against dominant technology platforms in an industry increasingly defined by intense competition for audiences, talent, technology, and investment,” Paramount said. “We remain focused on completing the transaction as soon as possible and delivering its benefits to consumers, creators, and the entertainment industry as a whole.”
Paramount wants to finalize its purchase by September.
With Friday’s victory, Paramount is staying on that timetable, but regulators in Europe and Britain have opened their own regulatory investigations and are expected to make their own determinations in the coming months.
Separately, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and other state attorneys general have been scrutinizing the proposed merger, and are widely expected to file a lawsuit, perhaps as early as this month, to try to block it.
Paramount applied for Justice Department approval in December — more than two months before it edged out Netflix in the Warner sweepstakes.
In its statement, the Justice Department said it began its review last fall when it was clear Warner Bros. was in play. Regulators said they were familiar with Warner’s businesses, because the division had scrutinized four other mergers involving the company, dating back to the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger in 2001.
Paramount’s deal would mark the third time Warner has changed hands in the last decade. AT&T bought the company in 2018 and then sold it to the smaller Discovery four years later. That deal left Warner Bros. burdened by debt, setting the stage for the Ellison takeover.
Justice Department approval could complicate efforts by Bonta and other state attorneys general to block the deal. Should Bonta or others sue, they would have to convince a judge that the nation’s top antitrust regulators failed to make a proper finding despite their lengthy review.
That may pose a high bar for the state officials, who are facing political pressure to stop the deal.
“State AGs must block this merger,” U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement Friday, adding that the Justice Department’s approval was “terrible news for every American who doesn’t want Trump-aligned billionaires to control what they watch and how much they pay.”
The Justice Department said state attorney general offices had participated in its investigation, which allowed federal and state officials “to share information with each other and for the States to attend and participate in the [antitrust] Division’s depositions.”
Last month, David Ellison appeared before the regulators in a two-hour session.
Paramount’s Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim, who previously served as the nation’s top antitrust regulator during the first Trump administration, also was busy quarterbacking Paramount’s outreach with regulators.
Four activists from Palestine Action jailed by a British court over protest raid on Israeli arms firm in UK.
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U. S. President Donald Trump expressed on Friday that Iran’s comments about a potential deal do not match what has been agreed in writing. He described their statement as weak and claimed they are not trustworthy in negotiations. Trump emphasized the urgency for Iran to “get their act together. “
On Thursday, Trump had decided against new strikes on Iran, believing a deal had been made. According to Iranian officials, the deal would meet many of their demands, while Trump did not achieve much besides the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed following attacks he ordered in February.
A senior Iranian source stated that the draft deal would lift sanctions on Iran’s oil, unfreeze billions of dollars of Iranian assets, and require an end to hostilities in various regions, including Lebanon. Discussions on nuclear issues would be postponed. The U. S. aims for a deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, while Iran insists it does not seek such weapons. The source did not mention what Iran might offer in return.
With information from Reuters
June 12 (UPI) — Iran said it had yet to make a final decision on an agreement with the United States to end the war, despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying it was a done deal that could be signed as early as this weekend.
Speaking on Thursday night, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran was reviewing a proposal brokered by Qatar and Pakistan but dismissed reports agreement had been reached as “speculation,” adding that “nothing has been finalized.”
“So far, Iran has not reached a final conclusion on the agreement. Whenever we reach a conclusion that the text of the [memorandum of] understanding is in the interest of the Iranian nation, we will announce it.
“The status of negotiations was clear to us from the beginning and a major part of the text had been finalized, but the Americans kept changing their positions,” said Baqaei who stressed Iran would never retreat from or compromise “on what it defines as its red lines.”
Baqaei’s comments came hours after Trump called off planned large-scale strikes against Iran, including Kharg Island, from which 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports are shipped, saying the Iranian leadership, and other regional powers, had approved “final points” of a deal to end the war.
“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump said Thursday afternoon.
Trump later said the deal was “subject to finalization of documents, which should get done, over the next few days” and that there would “probably” be a signing ceremony, with Europe the most likely location.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz was also in contention with an announcement by U.S. Central Command that the key shipping route was not controlled by Iran and was “open for transit” to all vessels not in breach of the U.S. blockade of Iran, contradicted by Baqaei.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains closed due to illegal U.S. actions,” he said.
Trump has stated an agreement to end the fighting was imminent on multiple occasions since a cease-fire, originally for two weeks, came into force on April 28.
The deal being negotiated is a memorandum of understanding extending the cease-fire for 60 days to allow larger negotiations on the main issues, including Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium and its nuclear program.
Oil prices reacted strongly to the developments overnight with both Brent crude, the international benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, falling sharply in the global market. The Brent contract for August delivery was down $3.83 a barrel at $86.54 in mid-morning trade in London on Friday while American crude for July delivery was changing hands at $83.88 a barrel, down $3.83.
Wall Street and Asian markets rally on hopes for an end to the US-Israel war on Iran.
Published On 12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026
Stock markets have surged following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he called off planned strikes against Iran and a peace deal with Tehran is imminent.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P500 index finished nearly 1.8 percent higher on Thursday, ending a three-day streak of losses for the biggest single-day gain since April.
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The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.5 percent, while the older, blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 1.9 percent.
The rally continued in the Asia Pacific on Friday, with markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia racking up gains.
South Korea’s Kospi, the best-performing major index this year, surged more than 8 percent in morning trading, while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose as much as 4 percent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX gained about 2.4 percent, and Australia’s ASX 200 rose about 1.8 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up more than 1 percent.
Brent crude, the primary international benchmark for oil prices, fell about 1 percent to below $89.50 a barrel on hopes for a return to normality in the Strait of Hormuz, which in peacetime carries about one-fifth of global energy supplies.
The market rebound came after Trump on Thursday suggested that a deal to end the war on Iran could be signed as soon as this weekend.
“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran… subject to finalisation of documents,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.
Iran has not publicly confirmed Trump’s claims, but a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman told reporters a memorandum of understanding with the US is “under consideration”.
“For the rally to be sustained, investors will want to not only see the actual deal being signed, but a complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Khoon Goh, head of Asia research for ANZ Bank, told Al Jazeera.
“Only then will we see the gains extend.”
Fabien Yip, a market analyst at the online broker IG Group in Sydney, Australia, said the rally reflected a “meaningful easing of geopolitical risk”, as well as anticipation over Friday’s market debut of SpaceX, set to be the largest of its kind in history.
“The broader read on today’s Asian follow-through is that dip-buying interest remains genuine,” Yip told Al Jazeera.
“That matters for how you characterise what’s happened over the past week.
“This looks less like a structural break in the bull market and more like a healthy reset after a rapid, near-straight-line advance, the kind of consolidation that can potentially extend a rally’s longevity.”
The Ellison family-controlled Harbor Lights Entertainment has sold its Showcase Cinemas theater chain to a major European cinema group in a $30-million deal.
Belgium-based Kinepolis will soon operate 13 cinemas across the United States. Seven are in Massachusetts, four in New York, one in Ohio and one in Rhode Island.
David Ellison, who is now in charge of Paramount Skydance, acquired National Amusements last year from the Redstone family. He renamed the company Harbor Lights. National Amusements was the start of Redstone’s media empire, which at one point included control of CBS, Paramount and Viacom.
Paramount is in the process of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111-billion deal. Under the proposal, Ellison has said the two studios will release 30 films per year. But he and his team would also have to make $6 billion in cuts and take on $79 billion in deal debt.
The deal is awaiting regulatory approval, but officials in several state states recently announced plans to try to block the merger. The potential lawsuit would seek to challenge the proposed merger on antitrust grounds, arguing it would decrease competition, lower wages and lead to widespread job losses.
With the sale of the theaters, Kinepolis will add 164 screens to its portfolio. The company was formed in 1997 and currently operates 63 cinemas in Europe and nearly 60 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
The newly acquired theaters welcomed about 4 million visitors and generated more than $90 million in revenue last year.
“This acquisition allows us to expand our market position in the U.S. from Michigan to the East Coast with an asset and a team that enable us to implement Kinepolis’ operational model and corporate strategy, ultimately enhancing the experience for moviegoers in these markets,” Eddy Duquenne, Kinepolis’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The company said Showcase Cinemas would retain its name. It expects the acquisition to be complete by the end of the summer.
Times staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.
World governing body Fifa has struck a landmark deal with global players’ union Fifpro that means players will be represented when major decisions affecting the game are agreed.
Faced with a number of separate legal claims around player welfare, Fifa has agreed a memorandum of understanding with Fifpro, which it says “marks [a] paradigm shift in governance of professional football, with transfer system and player welfare standards”.
For the first time, Fifpro will have a veto over key areas of the game’s governance and also observer access, with speaking rights, at the powerful Fifa Council, the decision-making body of global football.
Fifa says it has struck the deal on the condition that all legal proceedings against it, initiated by Fifpro, are withdrawn.
In October 2024, Fifpro filed an “abuse of dominance” claim against Fifa around the overcrowded match calendar.
Earlier this week, former France midfielder Lassana Diarra reached a settlement, external in his damages claim, initially for 65 million euros (£56.1m), against Fifa and the Belgian Football Association after his contract was cancelled by Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow and he was subsequently denied a transfer to Charleroi in 2014.
One of the key elements of the agreement is that players will have greater protection from what are regarded as abusive practices, including forcing them to train on their own, withholding passports or abusing registration procedures.
In those circumstances, players will be able to cancel their contracts and still receive the payments they are due under those contracts, claim compensation for justifiable expenses and potentially demand an extra six months’ pay in damages.
Clubs that fail to respect their contractual obligations will face swifter and more effective sporting and financial consequences.
Fifpro president Sergio Marchi said: “This agreement represents an important step forward for football. Ensuring that players and their representatives have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their careers is not only beneficial for footballers, but for the game as a whole.”
Speaking at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City a day before the World Cup begins, Fifa president Gianno Infantino hailed the agreement.
“It’s about unity, about bringing everyone together,” he said.
“We’ve always been having dialogues. Now, sometimes you don’t agree, when you don’t agree, well, you can go and say it to everyone, or you can sit down and discuss and see what makes sense.
“So, we signed a memorandum of understanding with Fifpro, everything is agreed.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. retaliatory strikes against Iran will continue after its forces shot down an American helicopter, President Trump said Wednesday, accusing the Islamic Republic of stringing him along over months of negotiations to end the war.
The prospect of a renewed U.S. air campaign cast fresh doubt on the viability of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran that has largely held since April, when the two sides reached a tenuous truce, pausing weeks of fighting. Trump’s decision to resume attacks comes after an exchange of fire between Israel and Iran threatened to spiral into open war over the weekend.
The administration has presented Trump with options to expand U.S. targets beyond the immediate area around the Strait of Hormuz to Iranian power plants across the country, an escalation that will open the president up to accusations he is targeting civilian infrastructure, according to a defense official familiar with the matter.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump encouraged the Iranians to accept a framework agreement negotiated between the two sides, and suggested that additional military action might compel Tehran to accept a final truce.
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re gonna hit ‘em again hard today,” Trump said. “And we’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along — they keep playing us for suckers.”
The president’s remarks came a few hours after Trump posted on his social media website that Iran “will have to pay the price” for taking too long in negotiating a peace deal.
When pressed by reporters to elaborate, Trump said he meant that bombing would resume but declined to say whether that would include strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, a threat he has repeatedly issued during the war.
The ongoing conflict, which is in its fourth month, has left a mark on the global and domestic economy. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that inflation accelerated in May, driven by a surge in energy prices linked to the war with Iran.
The consumer price index rose 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis — the largest monthly increase in three years — pushing the annual inflation rate to 4.2%.
Asked whether he was concerned about the inflation numbers, Trump told reporters that the “numbers were great.”
“You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over…,” Trump said, without finishing the thought.
The remark prompted near instantaneous news releases from Democratic operatives, as well as the party war room, which sent out a statement accusing Trump of mishandling a reckless war that has devastated the economy in the process.
“Donald Trump’s disastrous economic agenda and deadly and costly war with Iran have made life unbearable for millions of Americans,” Kendall Witmer, the Democratic National Committee’s rapid response director, said in a statement.
“Working families are shouldering skyrocketing costs for basic goods, with their wages being eaten up by Trump’s soaring inflation,” she added. “On the campaign trail, Trump promised to ‘defeat inflation,’ and to lower costs on ‘Day One,’ but two years later, Trump can’t get a handle on his war of choice with Iran as he tanks the economy back home.”
Trump then told reporters about a secret military mission to ensure safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important commercial waterways. He said the operation had secured the passage of more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait since it began.
“We took out, the other night, 22 ships late at night with no lights because they don’t have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it,” Trump said.
A couple of hours later, Trump wrote in another post that the military operation had been “wildly successful,” and that it proved the United States — not Iran — was in control of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Their military is defeated, and their economy is lost,” he wrote. “It’s over for Iran!”
Over months of diplomacy with Iran, Trump has sought to avoid a return to conflict, often seeking de-escalation when fighting has flared — and repeatedly pressuring Israel to minimize its attacks in Lebanon, where it continues to battle the militant group Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran.
Israeli strikes continued Wednesday, according to local news reports, while Hezbollah said it carried out attacks on Israeli troops stationed in southern Lebanon.
Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, the president implied he was losing patience with Iranian tactics at the negotiating table.
“I gave them a break, at the request of Pakistan,” he said. “They still are working on trying them to do what’s right. But we want a deal that’s meaningful. We want a deal that works.”
“It was just tap, tap, tap,” the president added. “I don’t know what they’re doing.”
The Director’s Guild of America has struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, completing the negotiation cycle for Hollywood’s major unions.
SAG-AFTRA ratified its contract last week, the Writers Guild approved its deal back in April, and the DGA has similarly landed on a new contract, after nearly a month of negotiations. The latest deal with major film and TV studios was announced on Tuesday, but its terms have not yet been disclosed.
The Directors Guild, led by its president Christopher Nolan, reportedly entered negotiations in hopes of improving conditions to create new jobs, bulk up its health fund, and increase protections against generative AI.
“The tentative agreement will be presented to the DGA National Board for approval,” the DGA said in a statement. “Consistent with the Guild’s longstanding practice, terms of the agreement will not be released publicly until the National Board has completed its review.”
Negotiations started on May 11, and the current contract is set to expire on June 30. Once the DGA National Board approves the new contract, it will be sent to its members for a ratification vote. The union represents nearly 20,000 helmers, assistant directors, associate directors, unit production managers and stage managers.
The studios said they were pleased to have reached this latest tentative agreement with DGA.
“We appreciate the hard work and commitment of our guild partners in achieving a fair deal that helps advance a stable and successful entertainment industry,” AMPTP said in a statement.
The DGA’s tentative contract marks the last few steps of the current Hollywood union negotiation cycle. The previous one in 2023 was marked by the industry-stopping strikes from SAG-AFTRA and WGA, and the industry is still feeling the impact from them. But this year’s bargaining season was much quieter and uncontroversial. SAG-AFTRA and WGA will reconvene with the studios for bargaining in 2030, as they all signed four-year contracts.
DUBAI — The U.S. military said Tuesday it has begun strikes against Iran following the crash of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman that President Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic.
In a statement posted to social media, U.S. Central Command said the strikes would be “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.” It comes after Trump blamed Iran for downing the helicopter and vowed that the U.S. would respond.
Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump had blamed Iran for shooting down a helicopter close to the Strait of Hormuz and said the United States must respond. Iran’s top diplomat said foreign military forces near the country’s territory “are at constant risk.”
The Apache helicopter that crashed went down after colliding with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional, and official statements only said the crash is under investigation. CNN, CBS News and other outlets earlier reported the Iranian drone collision.
Trump said Iran shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the Strait of Hormuz and declared that the U.S. “must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” in a post to social media.
The U.S. military later announced that it had begun strikes against Iran.
In the first known operation of its kind by the American military, a drone boat rescued the two aviators who were aboard the Apache attack helicopter when it went down near the critical shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed during its war with the U.S. and Israel.
Trump said in a social media post that military officials told him “the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters.” Both service members “are safe and uninjured,” he added.
“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” Trump wrote.
A woman walks past a mural depicting a U.S. aircraft carrier under missile attack in downtown Tehran, Iran on Monday.
(Vahid Salemi / Associated Press)
Soon after Trump made his accusation, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post that the strait is “thousands of miles away from U.S. shores.”
“Foreign forces in proximity to our territory are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plain accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire,” Araghchi wrote. “To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave.”
The downing of the helicopter further strained a two-month ceasefire a day after Iran and Israel exchanged fire for the first time since the fragile truce took effect. Iranian state television said Tuesday that the Israeli attacks killed at least two members of the country’s air-defense units.
Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive.
Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
Army crew members picked up by drone boat
The Army aviators were rescued at 3:30 a.m. local time Tuesday, about two hours after their helicopter went down during a patrol off the coast of Oman, U.S. Central Command said.
The U.S. service members were spotted and picked up by a drone boat that took them to another location on the water, where they were picked up by a helicopter, said Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. Hawkins initially said the drone took the two to shore, and he did not elaborate on the updated timeline.
It was the first known drone rescue at sea by the U.S. military, Hawkins said.
AH-64 Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking to pressure Tehran into a deal. The helicopters have also been used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones.
The drone used to perform the rescue was a 24-foot vessel called a Corsair, Hawkins said. It’s manufactured by Saronic Technologies.
The drone was assigned to the Navy’s Task Force 59, established in 2021 as the Navy’s first uncrewed and artificial intelligence unit that focuses on maritime security in the Middle East, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal.
Trump insists an Iran deal is coming
Before he accused Iran of downing the U.S. helicopter, Trump had expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.
“We have a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days,” Trump said late Monday. But he did not provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism. In the two months since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire, Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near.
“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” the president said.
Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the U.S. have taken hard-line positions.
The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be entombed in the aftermath of American airstrikes that happened during the 12-day war in 2025. But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.
Before Trump’s comments on negotiations, Qalibaf said Monday that Trump’s remarks so far on a possible deal “contradicted the agreed-upon sections,” showing that the U.S. is “neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.”
The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is still a top Iranian priority as well. Lebanon’s army chief, Gen. Rodolphe Haykal, traveled to Pakistan on Tuesday. There, he met Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the Iran-U.S. talks.
Haykal’s visit comes as Lebanon’s government takes an increasingly hard line on Hezbollah but remains unable to disarm the powerful militia. Hezbollah thanked Iran on Tuesday for attacking Israel “in defense of our Lebanese people,” suggesting that Lebanon’s government should take this opportunity to improve relations with Tehran.
Israel issues a warning for Tyre, Lebanon
Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, which has so far been spared from airstrikes on the city.
Last week, Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that it believed Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas as Israeli strikes hammered the Mediterranean coastal area over the past two weeks.
After last week’s warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area. But Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, posted on X on Monday that the Israeli military “will have to act against their terrorist activities in the neighborhood soon.”
Gambrell, Superville and Toropin write for the Associated Press. Superville and Toropin reported from Washington. AP writers Michelle L. Price in New York, Will Weissert in Washington, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., contributed to this report.
A month away from its closure, onetime gambling oasis Primm, Nev., located along the state border with Southern California, has a new lease on life.
The Primm family, owners of the land that includes three casino resorts and other businesses along the 15 Freeway, announced Tuesday a partnership intended to save the struggling state-line strip and hundreds of jobs.
The deal allows Las Vegas-based Terrible’s, owned by the Herbst family and perhaps most famous for a string of gas stations and convenience stores, to operate the properties.
“What we saw with them is the same energy that we had in rebuilding Primm,” said Cory Clemetson, describing the new deal with Terrible’s in an interview with The Times. Clemetson is president of Primm South Real Estate Co. and a grandson of Primm founder Ernie Primm, who made a name for himself in Southern California in the 1930s and ’40s with his Gardena card rooms.
In the summer of 2025, signage blocks an entrance at Primm Mall, a once-popular site along with the trio of casinos at the California-Nevada state line.
(Bridget Bennett / For The Times)
“Primm has long been one of Nevada’s most recognizable destinations,” said Tim Herbst, president of Terrible’s, in a statement. “This partnership reflects our commitment to preserving that legacy while creating new opportunities for growth, investment, and tourism for decades to come.”
Terrible’s takes over for Affinity Gaming, owned by private equity company Z Capital Partners, in the full-circle world of southern Nevada gaming. In 2010, Herbst Gaming declared bankruptcy and saw Primm taken over by Z Capital Partners.
An email to representatives for Affinity Gaming was not immediately returned.
The process for the return of Terrible’s to Primm kick-started May 5, when Affinity confirmed the closure of Primm Valley Casino Resorts.
Affinity’s subsidiary, Primadonna Co. LLC, sent termination notices to more than 300 employees effective July 4.
The closure was devastating, Clemetson said.
“It felt like a gut punch,” he said. “I mean, you’ve got to be kidding me that they would announce something like that for the Fourth of July. Laying off in excess of 300 Nevadans who are mostly paycheck to paycheck with nowhere to go didn’t sit well with my family.”
Primm Valley was the last of three resorts built between 1977 and 1994 at the site that remained in full operation.
Buffalo Bill’s, the largest of the three resorts, closed 24-7 operations in July 2025, after Whiskey Pete’s, the original casino, shuttered in December 2024.
Affinity Gaming declined multiple requests from The Times to speak about Primm’s struggles.
In a letter presented at a Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting, Erin Barnett, Affinity’s vice president and general counsel, wrote in October 2024 that “traffic at the state line has proved to be heavily weighted towards weekend activity and is insufficient to support three full-time casino properties.”
Scott Butera, Affinity’s chief executive and president, offered a few comments about the closure at the May 21 Nevada Gaming Commission meeting.
“As a tenant with a difficult lease and an expensive property and increased competition every day in California … it just became a very difficult thing,” he said, “and we’ve been losing money for years there.”
Clemetson said that Affinity asked for help over the years, such as potential rent reductions, but that the Primm family was unaware of Affinity’s finances.
As for the future, Clemetson said Terrible’s was in the process of reacquiring a gaming license for Primm, which he hoped would happen in the next three weeks.
He also said it was the goal of the Herbst and Primm families to try to keep all workers who received a termination notice employed.
Clemetson said he was excited about Primm’s future under Terrible’s and chalked up its bankruptcy in 2010 to the Great Recession.
“They suffered a similar fate of many big brands like MGM and Caesar’s,” Clemetson said.
“They’re very well thought of in Nevada and they’re a very successful family who’s done well,” he added.
Speaking of Primm’s chances of regaining its former glory, Clemetson reached back into his own past as a young sports agent for players on the L.A. Galaxy soccer team.
“I can’t tell you how many people told me I was dumb to get involved representing soccer players because soccer would never make it here,” he said. “Now, Major League Soccer has a few franchises over a billion dollars.”
As for Tim Herbst and his family, “we believe Primm’s best days are still ahead.”
WASHINGTON — A Treasury inspector general report raises concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ability to safeguard taxpayer information after ICE and the Internal Revenue Service agreed in 2025 to share taxpayer data for the purpose of immigration investigations.
The recently released report provides the first official accounting of the scale of the IRS-ICE information transfer and documents security concerns surrounding an arrangement that has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and significant controversy inside both agencies.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that the 2025 data-sharing agreement between ICE and the Treasury Department — which allowed ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants in the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records — resulted in inconsistent formatting in ICE’s data and the IRS’ matching criteria, which led to errors.
The deal led the then-acting commissioner of the IRS to resign.
The report says that after the agreement was signed, ICE requested address information on more than 1.2 million people, and that the IRS ultimately provided last-known addresses for about 47,000 people.
The inspector general concluded that the IRS’ automated matching process was flawed. Inconsistent formatting in ICE’s data led to questionable matches, including in cases in which incomplete or inaccurate addresses were labeled as valid, the report says.
Representatives from the Treasury Department and the IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
The plan to cross-verify tax and immigration data is part of President Trump’s agenda to secure U.S. borders and his nationwide immigration crackdown, which has resulted in deportations, workplace raids and the use of an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants.
However, this is not the first time it’s been revealed that tens of thousands of taxpayers’ information was revealed to ICE.
In February, a federal judge said the IRS broke the law by disclosing confidential taxpayer information to ICE, referring to the same 47,000 disclosures that the inspector general points out.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found that the IRS had erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the 2025 agreement.
No recommendations were made in the new inspector general report, according to a letter by Nancy A. LaManna, deputy inspector general for inspections and evaluations.
“However, we plan to share some concerns we identified during our review with the DHS Office of Inspector General,” her letter says.
Hussein writes for the Associated Press.
The state of California is leading an effort to prepare a possible lawsuit that could thwart Paramount Skydance Corp.’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a potential obstacle for the $111 billion deal.
The lawsuit, which could be filed as early as this month, would likely involve multiple states, according to a source familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to comment publicly.
The litigation would seek to challenge the proposed merger on antitrust grounds, arguing it would thwart competition, lower wages and lead to widespread job losses.
“The Paramount acquisition of Warner Brothers remains an active investigation, and we do not have any updates to share at this time,” said California Atty. General Rob Bonta’s office in a statement.
In a statement, Paramount said it “will continue to fight against any attempt to derail a deal that plainly benefits consumers, creators and the industry as whole.”
“Opposing this deal means opposing expanded consumer choice, new opportunities for creators and workers, and greater competition throughout the creative ecosystem — the opposite of what antitrust law is meant to achieve,” the company added.
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders in April approved the sale of the company to Paramount after Netflix dropped out of the auction.
Under Paramount Chairman David Ellison’s proposal, Warner investors would receive $31 a share, nearly four times the price of the company’s stock in April 2025. He also said he will keep both studios’ release schedules of 15 movies a year for a total of 30 films a year.
Nonetheless, Ellison and his team have vowed to make $6 billion in cuts following the merger, which requires regulatory approval. The combined company would have to contend with $79 billion in deal debt.
The prospect of substantial job cuts during a period of downsizing in Hollywood has ignited widespread opposition to the sale.
Thousands of people who work in the TV and film industry, including actor Joaquin Phoenix and director-writer-producer JJ Abrams signed an open letter opposing Paramount’s planned acquisition of WBD, saying it would lead to fewer production jobs and fewer choices for consumers. Others have also raised concerns about the impact it could have on content.
“The consequences would be felt nationwide, from destroying CNN the way that Ellisons have devastated CBS to entertainment industry job losses and consumers losing access to independent voices and a competitive market,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, one of the groups that organized the open letter. “State attorneys general have both the authority and the responsibility to act when a transaction of this scale directly threatens the public’s interest, and I hope states across the country will join any effort to challenge this deal,” Eisen said in a statement.
The potential lawsuit, first reported by Bloomberg and Reuters, is being considered by other states, including New York and Colorado.
“Paramount and Warner Bros. haven’t cleared regulatory scrutiny,” Bonta told The Times in March. “My office has an open investigation into [the deal] and we intend to be vigorous in our review.”
Despite the potential obstacle, Raymond James equity analysts said in a note on Thursday that they “still believe the deal is likely to close.”
Last month, Paramount hired antitrust attorney Jeffrey Kessler to defend its planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Kessler recently led a case for state attorney generals against concert promoter and ticketing firm Live Nation, resulting in a win for states, including California.
“We also think there are win/win solutions to be had particularly in California given exodus of production from CA in recent years and efforts to bring production back to Hollywood,” the analyst said in their note.
SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly approved a four-year TV and film deal with major studios including Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday night, increasing minimum wages and addressing concerns about the use of AI performers.
The deal, which was expected to be approved, received the support of 91% of SAG-AFTRA members who voted on the agreement, which starts July 1 and ends June 30, 2030. The union represents 160,000 performers, including actors, stunt performers and influencers.
“This agreement builds on the foundation members fought to establish and carries that work into the next chapter of our industry,” said SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin in a statement. “It delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members’ benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today.”
Under the new deal, the length of the agreement between SAG-AFTRA and major studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expands from three years to four years.
It also boosts minimum wage by 3% annually, increases contributions to the health plan by 1% and expands the bonus to the union’s Success Bonus Distribution Fund based on residuals that performers get for popular streaming programs.
The contract also addresses concerns about the growing use of artificial intelligence in TV and film and its impact on actor jobs. Last year, many actors spoke out about Tilly Norwood, a computer-generated “actor” and whether synthetic characters like her could threaten their livelihoods. Some performers have also advocated for getting paid if their likenesses are used to create such characters made through AI systems.
Not all members were in favor of the contract, saying it did not go far enough in protecting performers against AI.
“It normalizes the use of AI replicas and synthetic performers rather than drawing a firm line protecting human performers and their jobs,” said Chuck Slavin, a background actor and performer.
Slavin, a former New England local board member, ran against Astin for SAG-AFTRA president last year.
Producers agreed to “a principle strongly favoring human performances” and that producers would only use a synthetic if it “brings significant additional value to the motion picture.” If a producer decided to use a synthetic in a role that could be done by a human, they would need to notify the union and bargain in good faith.
Additionally, the contract merges the pension plans of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which were previously separate but combined in 2012 to form SAG-AFTRA.
Their health plans were consolidated in 2017, but the pensions have remained separate . That was a major sticking point with members, some of whom couldn’t qualify for benefits as their contributions were split between two plans. Studios agreed to boost their overall contributions to the combined plan by 1%.
SAG-AFTRA’s deal comes after the Writers Guild of America members also approved an agreement with the AMPTP in April.
The groups were able to agree on contracts this year, without striking as they did in 2023.
“SAG-AFTRA’s leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions that support its long-term stability,” AMPTP said in a statement.
The Directors Guild of America began negotiations with AMPTP last month, with its contract expiring on June 30.
Staff writer Cerys Davies contributed to this report.
EXPLAINER
Israel strikes Lebanon despite ceasefire, while Hezbollah rejects deal as death toll tops 3,500.
Published On 5 Jun 20265 Jun 2026
Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes across Lebanon despite the announcement of a new US-brokered ceasefire agreement reached by Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington, DC.
The violence has pushed the number of casualties higher, with Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health reporting that at least 3,526 people have been killed and 10,733 wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has dismissed the ceasefire as a “farce”, warning that northern Israel will remain a target as long as Israeli forces continue bombing Lebanon, raising more doubts about the prospects for a lasting truce.
Here is what we know:
Hezbollah has condemned a US-brokered ceasefire framework accepted by Israel and Lebanon, describing it as harmful to Lebanon’s interests. The plan would establish Lebanese army-controlled security zones near the border, contingent on Hezbollah withdrawing its fighters.
Published On 4 Jun 20264 Jun 2026
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WASHINGTON — Former Trump administration national security advisor John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified information, including diary-like notes from his time in government that officials say he shared with his family members as he was preparing a memoir about his time in office.
Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25-million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that had not been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.
The case against Bolton, filed weeks after prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, unfolded against the backdrop of concerns that the Justice Department was using its law enforcement powers to pursue perceived adversaries of President Trump. The investigation burst into public view last August when FBI agents served search warrants at his Maryland home and Washington office, but it had been well underway by the time Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Bolton is a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on U.S. power. He served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before being fired in 2019 and publishing a critical book that portrayed the Republican president as deeply misinformed, an unflattering portrait of his leadership and decision-making.
Trump’s administration fought unsuccessfully to block the publication of “The Room Where it Happened” on the grounds that the book risked disclosing classified information. The plea deal that Bolton will enter covers the notes he shared with relatives as opposed to information published in the tell-all book.
A rearraignment, which typically signals a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Md.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
The indictment’s 18 counts carried a threat of a substantial prison sentence in the event of conviction.
Court documents alleged that he shared with two family members “diary-like” entries with information classified as high as top secret that he had learned from meetings with other U.S. government officials, from intelligence briefings or talks with foreign leaders. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of his relatives wrote, “Shhhhh,” prosecutors said.
The indictment said that among the material shared was information about foreign adversaries that in some cases revealed details about sources and methods used by the U.S. government to collect intelligence. One document related to a foreign adversary’s plans for a missile launch, while another detailed U.S. government plans for covert action and included intelligence blaming an adversary for an attack, court papers say.
In a statement released after his indictment, Bolton described the charges as part of an “intensive effort” by Trump to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”
Bolton also served in the Department of Justice during President Reagan’s administration and was a State Department point person on arms control during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Bolton was nominated by Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the strong supporter of the Iraq war was unable to win Senate confirmation. He resigned after serving 17 months through a recess appointment that allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate approval.
In 2018, Bolton was appointed to serve as Trump’s third national security advisor. His brief tenure was characterized by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine.
Those rifts ultimately led to Bolton’s departure, with Trump announcing on social media in September 2019 that he had accepted Bolton’s resignation.
Bolton subsequently criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, alleging that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine to that country’s willingness to conduct investigations into Joe Biden, who was soon to be Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2020 presidential election, and members of the Biden family.
Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a “washed-up guy” and a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”
Tucker writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
MAYA Jama has turned up the heat as she models swimwear in a sizzling clip after signing a huge deal with Agent Provocateur.
It was revealed last month that the Love Island presenter, 31, had become the face of the lingerie brand for their AP Swim 2026 campaign.
She sizzled in the first photoshoot and now the brand has released a video for fans to marvel at.
In the clip, Maya is seen raising the temperature in a variety of different swimwear and bikini sets as she larks around in Ibiza.
At one point, she lays back on a chair in a sexy black two-piece as she seduces the camera with her sex appeal.
Another clip sees her strutting her stuff in an eye-catching leopard print bikini set as as she shows off her incredibly slim figure.
The television personality lays in a pool in a blue two-piece before being seen in a black nightie with lace detailing.
The brand shared the video on Instagram as they penned: “On set in Ibiza.”
Maya became the face of the sexy yet sophisticated lingerie brand last month, adding to her already impressive career milestones.
She signed to replace Kate Moss as the face of Rimmel London in March 2023, which Maya said was “such an honour, and I feel so lucky to be even in the same kind of pathway”.
As well as this, he is said to have banked a six figure sum as the face of hair-extension brand Beauty Works, plus thousands more for lending her name to campaigns by designer fashion label Self Portrait, Maybelline, Adidas and Gordon’s Gin.
It doesn’t appear to be slowing down for the ITV star as she landed the cover of British Vogue in July 2024.
And she was also the face of Dolce & Gabbana’s A/W ’23/24 collection.
Maya returned to our television screens on Monday as she ushered a new batch of contestants into the Love Island villa.
The 12 new faces watched in awe as Maya strutted her stuff into the villa in an eye-catching white bra top and ruffled skirt.
For the first time in the show’s history, she hosted the first episode at night time.
After watching the islanders couple up with one another, it wasn’t the only Maya action fans got in the first episode.
She returned at the end to tell new bombshells George and Yasmin that they had to pick two islanders to dump 24 hours later.
Manchester United have agreed a £35m (40.5m euros) deal with Italian side Atalanta for Brazil midfielder Ederson.
The 26-year-old will sign a four-year deal at United, with the option to extend it by a further 12 months.
Ederson is still to have a medical, with sources saying the transfer should be completed in early July before United’s return to pre-season training begins.
He will become the club’s first signing since Michael Carrick was appointed permanent head coach last month.
The deal will also be subject to £3.9m (€4.5m) in additional payments.
It is the first of what could be up to three central midfield additions to Carrick’s squad this summer.
United are prioritising that area of the field, which has been weakened by the exit of Ederson’s compatriot Casemiro, 34, whose contract expires at the end of the month.
Ederson, who has three internaional caps, was named in Brazil’s 55-man expanded World Cup squad but missed out on manager Carlo Ancelotti’s final selection.
United are also keen on West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes, although the relegated London outfit are looking for a substantial profit on the Portugal midfeidler who cost them in excess of £40m when he joined from Southampton last summer.
United also covet England’s Elliot Anderson, although the Nottingham Forest player would prefer to join Manchester City.
In addition to strengthening their midfield, United are also looking to bring in a left-sided player, with Newcastle’s Lewis Hall among the players on their radar, and striking support for Benjamin Sesko.
They are also still to decide on the precise make-up of their goalkeeping team, which could include Radek Vitek, who enjoyed a superb campaign on loan at Bristol City, where he won all their player of the year prizes.
The 22-year-old Czech told BBC Sport in April he is open minded about the future but wants to play regularly, suggesting he will not return to Old Trafford as back-up to Senne Lammens.
It is understood former first-choice Andre Onana has been told he can find another club, although it is not clear how easily the Cameroon international’s wage demands will be met given he will benefit in an increase from United qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Ederson, 26, has proved adaptable across a number of central midfield roles for Atalanta, scoring 16 goals in 180 games for the Serie A outfit in all competitions.
Driven by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United have revamped their data analysis operation under Michael Sansoni and the former high-ranking Mercedes Formula One has had significant involvement in identifying the right targets, working alongside director of football Jason Wilcox.
Carrick confirmed he had been involved in recruitment meetings from the point he was named as Ruben Amorim’s temporary successor in January.
Stephen Curry is a free agent no more.
A sneaker free agent, that is.
The four-time NBA champion has spent his entire playing career with the Golden State Warriors and is under contract through the end of next season.
He has been playing without a shoe deal, however, since parting ways with Under Armour in November.
That won’t be the case when Curry starts his 18th NBA season in the fall. The man who holds the NBA record for most career three-pointers announced on Monday that his Curry Brand is teaming with Chinese sportswear and athletic equipment company Li-Ning for a partnership that is “bigger than a shoe deal” and “bigger than a signature series.”
”This is the partnership of a lifetime. The future of Curry Brand is with Li-Ning,” Curry wrote in a post announcing the deal on his Thirty Ink site. “I couldn’t be more proud to build a long-term vision with Li-Ning that will fuel Curry Brand for years to come and unlock the full potential of this company on a global scale.”
ESPN reports that the deal is for 10 years. Terms were not released.
Curry signed with Nike for the first four seasons of his career before switching to Under Armour in 2013. After announcing his sneaker free agency early in the 2025-26 season, Curry wore shoes from a variety of companies during warmups and games. In April, Curry auctioned off more than 70 pairs of those shoes through Sotheby’s, raising more than $1.7 million for his charitable foundation.
While many of his shoe choices had special significance — like when he honored Kobe and Gianna Bryant by warming up in Nike Kobe 6 Protro “Mambacita” sneakers — Curry also was doing his due diligence as a businessman.
“Throughout my sneaker free agency, I was impressed by the quality, comfort and performance of Li-Ning’s shoes,” Curry said. “It was during that time playing in Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler’s sneakers, that I knew that Li-Ning could be the right partner that can deliver on the innovation and design that I want Curry Brand to stand for.”
Li-Ning (the company) was founded by Li Ning — the Chinese gymnast who won six medals, including three gold, during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics — in 1990. A handful of NBA players have signed with the company , starting with then-Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones in 2006 and also including former Clippers guard Baron Davis and future Hall of Famers Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.
In addition to Curry’s Golden State teammate Butler, other current NBA stars signed with Li-Ning include Atlanta’s C.J. McCollum and Washington’s D’Angelo Russell.
According to Curry, Li-Ning will open Curry Brand stores in the United States and China.
“We’ll be proudly building Curry Brand into a future leading company that will leave its mark in Basketball, in Golf and across the lifestyle space,” Curry wrote.
“We’ll aim to create game-changing products, launch elevated platforms and bring storytelling that will inspire young boys and girls around the globe. My hope is for young athletes to find the same purpose, joy and drive through sports that I’ve long enjoyed throughout this journey.”
