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United States President Donald Trump has again stoked outrage over his online posts, this time for sharing a video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as apes.

The reposted clip came as part of a flurry of late-night messages on Trump’s Truth Social account.

By midday on Friday, the video had been removed — but not after an outpouring of bipartisan condemnation, slamming the post as blatantly racist.

In a post on the social media platform X, Tim Scott, the only Black Republican currently serving in the Senate, said he was “praying” that the video “was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.

“The president should remove it,” he added.

Another Republican, Representative Mike Lawler, also called on Trump to delete the post, calling it “incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake”.

Democrats, meanwhile, sought to tie the video to Trump’s history of insensitive remarks, and they called on Republicans to condemn this latest episode.

“President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country,” said Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the US House of Representatives.

“Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder. Why are GOP leaders like John Thune continuing to stand by this sick individual?”

The White House, for its part, initially defended the post as an “internet meme”. Later, it said the post had been shared “erroneously” by a White House staffer, not by the president.

Stoking outrage

Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with the Obamas, who became the first Black couple in US history to serve as president and first lady.

One of Trump’s first forays into national politics came during Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, when he pushed false claims that the Democratic leader had not been born in the US.

Trump, a Republican, is known to be a prolific social media user, and he co-founded Truth Social in February 2022 after being temporarily banned from other major social media sites.

There, he often reposts memes and videos generated through artificial intelligence that promote his public image and political platform.

The video that includes the Obamas came at 11:44pm Eastern US time (04:44 GMT) as part of a series of shared clips.

The image of the Obamas as apes comes about 59 seconds into a video that only lasts one minute and two seconds.

It appears dropped into a documentary-style segment that pushes baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was marred by malfeasance involving electronic voting machines. Trump has repeatedly spread lies denying his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in that race.

The video, which bears the watermark of a site called Patriot News Outlet, briefly pairs the doctored image of the Obamas with the 1961 song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Critics have regularly accused Trump of intentionally stoking outrage to distract from politically damaging domestic issues, including the recent release of millions of files related to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s name has featured in those files.

Midterms ahead

Some Republicans, like Lawler in New York, also face punishing re-election campaigns ahead as the country nears its November midterm elections.

Trump has warned that, if Republicans lose control of Congress, he could face new impeachment proceedings.

Initially, in the hours after the video was reposted on Trump’s Truth Social account, the White House dismissed the backlash as overblown.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told several US news outlets that the image of the Obamas was excerpted from an “internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King’”, a 1994 animated feature film.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” she said in a statement to ABC News.

But that explanation did not dampen the bipartisan push for Trump to renounce the video.

Republican Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska was also among those calling for the post to be taken down.

“Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this,” Ricketts wrote on X.

“The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.”

Democrats, meanwhile, questioned Trump’s fitness for the presidency. In a social media post, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi drew a line between the video and the long history of racist depictions of Black people in the US.

He pointed to similarly dehumanising illustrations that were shared during the Jim Crow era, a period from 1865 to the mid-20th century when Black people faced segregation and unequal rights following the abolishment of slavery.

“This kind of Jim Crow-style dehumanisation is pathetic and a disgrace to the office,” he wrote.

OLIVIA ATTWOOD has shared a cryptic post about the ‘price of staying where you are’ after her shock split from her husband Bradley Dack.

It was revealed two weeks ago that the husband and wife had split following a “breach of trust” on his part.

She’s since moved out of their marital home and moved into her own apartment.

The Loose Women star took to her Instagram stories this evening to repost a cryptic message from a quotes account.

It read: “If you’re worried about the cost of going for it you should see the price of staying exactly where you are.”

She’s been sharing a lot of quotes recently as she deals with the breakdown of her marriage to the footballer.

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The Love Island icon was left devastated after discovering her other half had broken her trust.

She’d been on a high after a “blissful” trip to the City of Love in the first week of January and felt surer than ever the marriage was back on track.

A source close to Olivia said: “Olivia’s been so open about their marriage struggles and everything she said on This Morning this month, and on her podcast, is true.

“She thought things were genuinely back on track and that Paris was a perfect break, it was blissful.

“She and Brad had proper, quality time together and they laughed and enjoyed each other like before.

“So to get back and discover he had breached her trust was a bolt from the blue.”

Olivia posted about moving house in December, and fans have speculated the couple actually secretly split months ago.

They had in fact sold their home in Cheshire to relocate closer to footballer Bradley’s club Gillingham FC and Oliva’s work in London.

But now they’ll look to sell up again as Olivia prepares to tackle life alone.

The source added: “Olivia, as always, has an incredibly busy time ahead with work, with Getting Filthy Rich series four on air and the launch of her new ITV2 show The Heat coming soon.”

Olivia has unfollowed her husband on social media after news of their split was revealed by The Sun.

Olivia and Bradley weathered a rocky 2025 during which they faced constant divorce rumours.

“There are ups and downs, there are things on his side which haven’t been great, there’s a mix of things,” she said in an interview last year.

“I have f***ed up and done stuff, Brad has f***ed up.”

Olivia also recalled the past year on her podcast Olivia’s House.

She said: “At the end of the day marriage is really f***ing hard. The rumour mill was in full swing. We really weren’t getting on very well.”

The pair first met and dated prior to her Love Island stint and ended up reconnecting after her split with Chris Hughes.

They got engaged in 2019 and after having to cancel their wedding plans due to coronavirus, they finally tied the knot in a ceremony at the Bulgari Hotel in June 2023.

THE Brooklyn family drama seems to have spilled over into another famous clan.

Brooklyn Beckham made headlines last month with a bombshell statement saying he would never reconcile with his parents, David and Victoria Beckham.

He blamed a range of issues, but singled out Victoria for allegedly dancing inappropriately with him at his 2022 wedding to American actress, Nicola Peltz.

Now it seems Anaïs Gallagher – the daughter of Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher – has caught some strays in the family saga.

Brooklyn has blocked his entire family on social media, and reportedly blocked his close friend Anaïs as well.

Fans speculated, “Did Brooklyn block you as well?”.

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She shared a cryptic post online that showed screenshot of a message exchange between her and a friend.

The text stated: “Mate have you seen BLANK story.”

To which Anaïs replied: “No I’m blocked. Please show me.”

She had blacked out the name of the person they were talking about, but it did not stop fans asking if it was Brooklyn.

One person commented on her post: “Did Brooklyn Beckham block you as well?”

Anaïs seemed to confirm her fans’ suspicions when she liked one of the comments about being blocked that read, “the ‘no I’m blocked’ is so real.”

The famous nepo babies grew close while studying at the Fine Arts College in London, and were even rumoured to be dating.

They had grown apart in recent years, but Anaïs did attend Brooklyn and Nicola’s 2022 nuptials.

However, earlier that same year she slammed his photography book, What I See, despite attending its launch event in 2017.

She posted, “I genuinely find this book offensive,” under a TikTok mocking Brooklyn’s What I See photography book, but it is not known if she meant the comment in jest.

Even though she was at their wedding in 2022, she was not in attendance when Brooklyn and Nicola renewed their vows last year.

Brooklyn explained why they renewed their vows in his scathing statement against his family.

“We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment,” he wrote.

This week, Brooklyn and Nicola ignored their ongoing family spat pictured kissing in front of the LA skyline.

In new snaps shared to Brooklyn’s Instagram, the couple could be seen sitting on a chair together kissing in front of a floor-to-ceiling glass window with the Los Angeles skyline behind them.

He captioned one black and white snap “My girl x”, while a colour shot saw them sitting with their limbs entwined on the chair as they both wore shades indoors.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that he will move to close Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years starting in July for construction, his latest proposal to upend the storied venue since returning to the White House.

Trump’s announcement on social media follows a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups since the president ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building. Trump made no mention in his post of the recent cancellations.

His proposal, announced days after the premiere of “Melania,” a documentary about the first lady, was shown at the center, is subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his handpicked allies. Trump chairs the center’s board of trustees.

“This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad condition, both financially and structurally for many years, and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment,” Trump wrote in his post.

Neither Trump nor Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell, a Trump ally, have provided evidence to back up their claims about the building being in disrepair, and in October, Trump had pledged the center would remain open during renovations. In Sunday’s announcement, he said the center will close July 4, when he said the construction would begin.

“Our goal has always been to not only save and permanently preserve the Center, but to make it the finest Arts Institution in the world,” Grenell said in a post, citing funds Congress approved for repairs.

“This will be a brief closure,” Grenell said. “It desperately needs this renovation and temporarily closing the Center just makes sense — it will enable us to better invest our resources, think bigger and make the historic renovations more comprehensive. It also means we will be finished faster.”

The sudden decision to close and reconstruct the Kennedy Center is certain to spark blowback as Trump revamps the popular venue. The building began as a national cultural center and Congress renamed it as a “living memorial” to President Kennedy — a champion of the arts during his administration — in 1964, in the aftermath of his assassination.

Opened in 1971, it serves as a public showcase year-round for the arts, including the National Symphony Orchestra.

Since Trump returned to the White House, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term. He demolished the East Wing of the White House and launched a massive $400-million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.

Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances at the Kennedy Center, most recently composer Philip Glass, who announced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 “Lincoln” because he said the values of the center today are in “direct conflict” with the message of the piece.

Last month, the Washington National Opera announced that it will move performances away from the Kennedy Center in another high-profile departure after Trump’s takeover of the U.S. capital’s leading performing arts venue.

The head of artistic programming for the center abruptly left his post last week, less than two weeks after being named to the job.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center could not immediately be reached and did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Late last year, as Trump announced his plan to rename the building — adding his name to the building’s main front ahead of that of Kennedy — he drew sharp opposition from members of Congress, and some Kennedy family members.

Kerry Kennedy, a niece of John F. Kennedy, said in a social post on X at the time that she will remove Trump’s name herself with a pickax when his term ends.

Another family member, Maria Shriver, said at the time that it is “beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy,” her uncle. “It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not.”

Late Sunday evening, Shriver posted a new comment mimicking Trump’s own voice and style, and suggesting the closure of the venue was meant to deflect from the cancellations.

She said that “entertainers are canceling left and right” and the president has determined that “since the name change no one wants to perform there any longer.”

Trump has decided, she said, it’s best “to close this center down and rebuild a new center” that will bear his name. She asked, “Right?”

One lawmaker, Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex-officio trustee of the center’s board, sued in December, arguing that “only Congress has the authority to rename the Kennedy Center.”

Price and Mascaro write for the Associated Press. AP writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Actor John Leguizamo, a longtime vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, says he’s showing a section of his social media following the door amid the federal government’s relentless crackdown on immigration.

The “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge!” acting veteran, who is Latino, on Wednesday issued a brief and blunt Instagram video message to followers who also support the immigration agency. “If you follow ICE, unfollow me,” he said in his post.

“Don’t come to my shows, don’t watch my movies,” he added. Leguizamo, an Emmy winner, captioned his post: “Abolish ice!”

The actor-comedian, also known for the “Ice Age” films and cult classic “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” is among the Hollywood stars vehemently speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents amid recent killings. An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in Minneapolis, where Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24 shot and killed Alex Pretti. An off-duty federal immigration agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. in Northridge on Dec. 31. They are among the 20-plus people who have died in a wave of aggressive immigration operations launched by the Trump administration last year.

Fellow actors also using social media to speak out against ICE and other federal immigration agents are Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo and Ayo Edebiri. Musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Billie Eilishand Tyler, the Creator have also condemned federal officers.

White House border policy advisor Tom Homan said Thursday during a press conference that street operations in Minneapolis would wind down if agents were allowed into local jails instead and asserted the federal government was not backing down on its aggressive immigration agenda.

“We are not surrendering our mission at all,” he said. “We are not surrendering the president’s mission of immigration enforcement: Let’s make that clear.”

Staff writers Malia Mendez and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (UPI) — South Korea’s two semiconductor giants, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, posted record performances last year, driven by the rising demand for memory chips amid the AI boom.

Samsung Electronics announced Thursday that its fourth-quarter operating profit more than doubled year-on-year to $14 billion on sales of $65.6 billion, up 23.8%. Both were all-time highs.

For the full year 2025, revenue rose 10.9% from a year earlier to $233.4 billion, while operating income climbed 33.2% to $30.5 billion.

The strong showing came a day after SK hynix released its strong earnings.

In the final quarter of 2025, SK hynix posted $23 billion in sales, up 66% from a year before, for an operating profit of $13.4 billion, a 137% surge.

For the full year, its turnover and operating income increased 47% and 101% to $68 billion and $33 billion, respectively.

The 2026 outlook for both companies remains bright amid continued expansion in the AI industry.

“Looking ahead to Q1 2026, the DS Division expects AI and server demand to continue increasing, leading to more opportunities for structural growth. In response, the division will continue to focus on profitability via a strong emphasis on high-performance products,” Samsung said in a statement.

“In 2026 as a whole, the DS Division aims to lead the AI era with product competitiveness amid a rapidly growing demand environment, particularly by expanding the sales of AI-related offerings in both DRAM and NAND,” it added.

Short for device solutions, Samsung’s DS Division deals with semiconductors and components. By contrast, its device experience part handles mobile phones, home appliances and network equipment.

“As the AI market shifts from training to inference while demand for distributed architectures expands, the role of memory will become increasingly critical,” SK hynix said in a statement.

“Accordingly, not only demand for high-performance memory such as HBM is expected to grow continuously, but also for overall memory products including server DRAM and NAND as well,” it said.

Semiconductor super-cycle and DRAM beggars

In line with the upbeat prospect, brokerage houses project that Samsung’s bottom line will near $90 billion this year, while that of SK hynix will surpass $70 billion.

SK Securities even forecasts that Samsung and SK hynix each will rack up more than $100 billion in profits this year.

Soaring semiconductor prices and outstanding earnings of chipmakers have fueled talk of a “semiconductor super-cycle.”

Business tracker TrendForce predicts that DRAM prices will rocket more than 55% in the first three months of 2026 compared to the previous quarter. Those of NAND flash are also expected to climb over 30% over the same period.

SK Securities analyst Han Dong-hee also said that supply shortages are spreading across all product segments, including advanced high-bandwidth memory, which is essential for AI applications, as well as commodity DRAM used in mobile devices or computers.

“For customers, the top priority has become securing stable volumes through long-term agreements, while suppliers are expected to pursue profit maximization and stable growth by optimizing the share of long-term contracts,” Han said in a report.

Sungkyunkwan University semiconductor professor Choi Byoung-deog said that there are “DRAM beggars,” or executives from major global tech companiesm who have been traveling to Korea to beg for chips from Samsung and SK hynix.

“The super-cycle in memory will eventually come to an end. As global tech giants keep pouring massive investments into AI, however, the current upcycle is likely to last two or three years,” Choi told UPI. “That’s why desperate buyers are flying to Korea to plead for memory chip supplies.”

Sungkyunkwan University semiconductor professor Han Tae-hee struck a more cautious tone, though.

“I also expect that the present super-cycle will continue through this summer. But beyond that, any unexpected events could take place to weigh on the semiconductor industry,” Han said in a phone interview.

“Six months ago, we could not predict today’s booming memory chip sales. Likewise, we cannot know for sure what will happen six months later.”

The share price of Samsung Electronics fell 1.05% on the Seoul bourse Thursday, while SK hynix rose 2.38%.

Last year, Spotify paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry, bringing the company’s total payouts since launch to nearly $70 billion.

The milestone year reflected the “largest annual payment to music from any retailer in history,” the company announced on Wednesday in a post. In 2025, Spotify’s payout amount grew by over 10%, making the Sweden-based streamer one of the industry’s main revenue drivers.

“Big, industry-wide numbers can feel abstract, but that growth is showing up in tangible ways,” wrote Charlie Hellman, the company’s new head of music. “Despite rampant misinformation about how streaming is working today, the reality is that this is an era full of more success stories and promise than at any point in history.”

When music streaming was first introduced, there was some controversy about how much artists earn from streams. According to Spotify, independent artists and labels accounted for half of all royalties. Additionally, the company said there are currently more artists earning over $100,000 a year from Spotify alone than were getting stocked on shelves at the height of the compact disc era.

Founded in 2006, the company, with a large presence in L.A.’s Arts District, has become the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. The platform offers access to over 100 million tracks, podcasts and audiobooks in over 180 markets.

At the top of the year, founder Daniel Ek moved from his CEO position to become executive chairman. Spotify named two co-CEOs, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, in his place.

This month, Spotify raised prices for its premium subscribers in the U.S., bringing the costto $12.99 per month. Hellman disclosed that as Spotify’s audience continues to grow, the higher prices are designed to help with the company’s ongoing expansion. According to the post, Spotify makes up roughly 30% of recorded music revenue and pays out two-thirds of all music revenue to the industry. The other third gets invested back into the company to maintain an “unrivaled listening experience.”

Recently, the streamer has been focused on growing its podcasting division by opening a new recording studio in Hollywood, premiering several shows in partnership with Netflix and expanding its creator monetization program.

Separately, Spotify said it is hoping to counter new developments in AI by reinforcing a human connection between artists and fans. This includes an emphasis on more artist-powered videos, continuing to promote artists’ live shows on the platform and expanding the role of the company’s music curators. The streamer also has plans to crack down on AI-driven artists on the platform.

“AI is being exploited by bad actors to flood streaming services with low-quality slop to game the system and attempt to divert royalties away from authentic artists,” said Hellman. “We’re going to introduce changes to the systems for artist verification, song credits, and protecting artist identity. It’s critical to ensuring listeners and rightsholders can trust who made the music they’re hearing.”