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NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning ascent for the 34-year-old state lawmaker, who was set to become the city’s most liberal mayor in generations.

In a victory for the Democratic party’s progressive wing, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on ambitious — skeptics say unrealistic — campaign promises.

With the victory, the democratic socialist will etch his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office Jan. 1.

Mamdani’s unlikely rise gives credence to Democrats who have urged the party to embrace more progressive, left-wing candidates instead of rallying behind centrists in hopes of winning back swing voters who have abandoned the party.

It was one of three victories by Democrats in high-profile races for elective office that were being viewed as a gauge of public sentiment toward President Trump in his second term. In California, voters were expected to approve Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50, a redistricting measure aimed at boosting Democrats’ chances in the midterm elections.

In New Jersey, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill was elected New Jersey governor over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by Trump.

New Jersey Democratic Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill speaks during an election night party in East Brunswick, N.J., on Tuesday.

(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

Sherrill, a 53-year-old Navy veteran who represented a northern New Jersey district in the U.S. House for four terms, will be the state’s second female governor.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor’s race, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to give Democrats a key victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and make history as the first woman to lead the commonwealth.

Spanberger, 46, is a center-left Democrat and former CIA case officer who helped her party win a House majority during Trump’s first presidency.

Economic worries were the dominant concern as voters cast ballots for Tuesday’s elections, according to preliminary findings from the AP Voter Poll.

The results of the expansive survey of more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City suggested the public was troubled by an economy that seems trapped by higher prices and fewer job opportunities.

Supporters celebrate during the election night watch party for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger as she is projected to win the race at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Mamdani has already faced scrutiny from national Republicans, including Trump, who have eagerly cast him as a threat and the face of what they say is a more radical Democratic Party.

The contest drove the biggest turnout in a mayoral race in more than 50 years, with more than 2 million New Yorkers casting ballots, according to the city’s Board of Elections.

Mamdani’s grassroots campaign centered on affordability, and his charisma spoiled Cuomo’s attempted political comeback. The former governor, who resigned four years ago following allegations of sexual harassment that he continues to deny, was dogged by his past throughout the race and was criticized for running a negative campaign.

There’s also the question of how he will deal with Trump, who threatened to take over the city and to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won. Mamdani was born in Uganda, where he spent his early childhood, but was raised in New York City and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.

New Yorkers celebrate as NY1 projects Zohran Mamdani the winner in the mayoral election at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden on Tuesday.

(Jeremy Weine / Getty Images)

Mamdani, who was criticized throughout the campaign for his thin resume, will now have to begin staffing his incoming administration before taking office next year and game out how he plans to accomplish the ambitious but polarizing agenda that drove him to victory.

Among the campaign’s promises are free child care, free city bus service, city-run grocery stores and a new Department of Community Safety that would send mental health care workers to handle certain emergency calls rather than police officers. It is unclear how Mamdani will pay for such initiatives, given Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s steadfast opposition to his calls to raise taxes on wealthy people.

His decisions around the leadership of the New York Police Department will also be closely watched. Mamdani was a fierce critic of the department in 2020, calling for “this rogue agency” to be defunded and slamming it as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.” He has since apologized for those comments and has said he will ask the current NYPD commissioner to stay on the job.

Mamdani’s campaign was driven by his optimistic view of the city and his promises to improve the quality of life for its middle and lower classes.

But Cuomo, Sliwa and other critics assailed him over his vehement criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Mamdani, a longtime advocate of Palestinian rights, has accused Israel of committing genocide and said he would honor an arrest warrant the International Criminal Court issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

New York Independent mayoral candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo votes at the High School of Art and Design on Tuesday in New York City.

(Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty Images)

Going into the Democratic primary, Cuomo was the presumed favorite, with near-universal name recognition and deep political connections. Cuomo’s chances were buoyed further when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams bowed out of the primary while dealing with the fallout of his now-dismissed federal corruption case.

But as the race progressed, Mamdani’s natural charm, catchy social media videos and populist economic platform energized voters in the notoriously expensive city. He also began drawing outside attention as his name ID grew.

In New Jersey, Sherrill built her campaign around pushing back against Trump. She recently seized on the administration’s decision to abruptly freeze funding for a multibillion-dollar project to replace the aging rail tunnels that connect New Jersey to New York City beneath the Hudson River.

Spanberger’s victory in Virginia will flip partisan control of the governor’s office when she succeeds outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“We sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow Americans across the country,” Spanberger told cheering supporters in Richmond. “We sent a message to the whole word that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.”

Izaguirre and Colvin write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mike Catalini, Adriana Gomez Licon, Olivia Diaz and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

The annual TV licence fee is set to rise in April 2026

Calls have been made to scrap the BBC TV licence fee and introduce either advertising or a paywall system before the annual price increase in April. A new online petition has urged the Government to make changes to the TV licence system.

The current fee stands at £174.50 and households must pay this if they watch or record live television, or face potential fines. This charge usually increases alongside September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate, which reached 3.8 per cent.

Such a rise would push the licence fee up by £6.65 to £181.15 for the 2026/27 financial year. The Daily Record reports that this isn’t guaranteed and awaits confirmation from the UK Government later this month, typically around the Autumn Budget on November 26.

From April 1, 2024, the UK Government determined the licence fee would increase annually with CPI inflation for the Charter period’s remaining four years. The BBC’s current Charter continues until the end of 2027.

Campaigner David Gilmore contends that “even if you don’t watch the BBC you still have to pay for it”. He continued: “You don’t have to pay for content put on by theatres or cinemas if you don’t watch it so why should you be required to pay the BBC if you don’t watch their content?”

The petition titled “Scrap the BBC TV licence and replace funding with adverts or paywall” appears on the UK Government’s petitions-parliament website. At the time of reporting, it had over 1,300 signatures.

The petition needs 10,000 signatures to receive a written response and at 100,000 signatures, it would be considered for debate in Parliament. The petition can be viewed online here.

Other calls to change the TV licence

Over 15,200 people have signed a similar petition, urging the UK Government to cover the TV licence fee for all State Pensioners and those who reach the current official retirement age of 66. As per the current rules, only those over the age of 75 who are receiving Pension Credit are entitled to a free TV licence, saving them £174.50 on the annual fee.

Michael Thompson, the creator of the petition, argues that “many pensioners live on the breadline with only the TV for company”.

He further stated: “With the cost of food soaring and utility bills ever higher, we feel there is a desperate need to provide all pensioners with at least this concession.”

Mr Thompson added: “We feel it is a double outrage that those who have given their all to this country in taxes and raising children have to pay a TV licence fee and are only exempt if they receive means-tested Pension Credit. Meanwhile, some media figures draw huge salaries.”

The “Fund free TV licences for all pensioners” petition can also be seen on the UK Government’s petitions-parliament website.

The government has asked the media regulator to revisit its rules on phone companies raising their prices in the middle of a contract, after O2 unexpectedly announced it was raising prices by £2.50 a month.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said O2’s higher than expected price increase is “disappointing given the current pressures on consumers”.

“I believe we need to go further, faster. I am keen that we look at in-contract price rises again,” she wrote in a letter to the media regulator.

Ofcom said it shared the government’s concern “customers who face price rises must be treated fairly by mobile providers”.

O2 said in a statement: “We appreciate that price changes are never welcome, but we have been fully transparent with our customers about this change, writing directly to them and providing the right to exit without penalty if they wish.”

Ofcom has been given until 7 November to respond to Ms Kendall’s letter, and said it would respond to her specific questions shortly.

In January, new rules came in which cracked down on phone and broadband providers increasing prices in the middle of a contract without warning.

However, last week O2 announced it would be raising its monthly prices by more than originally promised.

It was able to do this because the increase was not linked to inflation, and it has given customers 30 days to leave without penalty – so long as they pay off the cost of their device in full.

The company said it has not gone against the regulation and Ofcom’s rules do not stop providers from raising prices.

“A price increase equivalent to 8p per day is greatly outweighed by the £700m we invest each year into our mobile network, with UK consumers benefitting from an extremely competitive market and some of the lowest prices compared to international peers,” it said.

Ms Kendall said O2 went “against the spirit” of the rules in her letter to Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.

She has asked Ofcom to look into whether the 30-day switching period makes it easy enough for consumers to move to another provider.

“I would welcome your undertaking a rapid review on how easy it is for customers to switch providers,” she said.

“If companies are determined to increase pricing, it is beholden on us to make sure that customers are able to go elsewhere as easily as possible.”

She has also asked for an assessment into whether the January rules give consumers enough transparency into price rises during their contracts.

Ofcom’s rules require companies to tell customers how much their bills will rise by in pounds and pence before their contract starts.

O2 initially said its monthly prices would increase by £1.80 a month in April 2026 for current customers.

But the firm now says they will go up by £2.50 instead.

Ms Kendall said she wants phone providers to inform all their customers – including those whose contracts started before the new rules – how much their monthly prices will go up by.

“We’ve always said fixed should mean fixed,” said Tom MacInnes, director of policy at the Citizens Advice charity, and added the current rule “hasn’t gone far enough to protect customers”.

“If one company is able to get away with this, other providers could follow suit,” he said.

“The time has come for the regulator to banish mid-contract price rises for good.”

Meanwhile, telecoms analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said UK network operators are “cash-strapped as margins are being squeezed”.

He added: “Striking the right balance between raising much-needed funds and investing in next-generation networks is never easy.”

But he said while other providers would have usually followed in announcing similar prices rises, “it seems highly unlikely that rivals will follow suit, given the consumer backlash and awareness generated thus far”.

European benchmarks began the week with gains. Oil and gold prices increased, but the euro weakened against the dollar. Sentiment was influenced by OPEC+’s decision to pause production hikes in the first quarter of next year, which led to a modest rise in oil prices as fears of oversupply eased. Gains were, however, mostly lost by late morning.

The international benchmark, Brent crude futures, traded at $64.76, while US West Texas Intermediate cost $60.92 a barrel.

Alongside pauses in the new year, OPEC+ countries agreed on Sunday to increase output by a small 137,000 barrels per day in December, maintaining the pace set for October and November.

Meanwhile, investors expect fresh Western sanctions on Russia, targeting Rosneft and Lukoil, to hinder the country’s ability to boost production further.

At the same time, major Western oil companies are benefitting from the disrupted supply of Russian refined fuels due to attacks and sanctions. Refining margins have risen substantially, giving the oil majors a boost. Both BP and Shell share prices were slightly up on Monday before noon in Europe.

“The decision by producers’ cartel OPEC+ to pause further output hikes at the start of next year, amid concerns about a glut of supply, helped give oil prices a lift and, in turn, boosted UK market heavyweights BP and Shell,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

The movements also came as BP announced it had agreed to divest stakes in US shale assets to Sixth Street investment firm on Monday.

Winners in Europe

At 11:00 CET, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up by a few points. The DAX in Frankfurt was leading the gains, up 0.8% after an initial stutter. The CAC 40 in Paris started climbing, reaching gains of nearly 0.2%. The lift in France came despite national budget uncertainties and the release of negative PMI data, which showed that the country’s manufacturing sector was still contracting in October.

US futures were positive around the same time, rising between 0.1% and 0.5%.

Meanwhile, the earnings season continues. A number of European companies are reporting this week, including AstraZeneca, BP, BMW, and Commerzbank.

Ryanair opened the week by posting stronger-than-expected results for the first half of its financial year, spanning April to September. Revenues rose 13% to €9.82bn, as traffic grew 3% and fares increased by 13%. Over the same period, profit rose by 42% year-on-year to €2.54bn, driven by a strong Easter season.

The airline’s shares were up 2.90% in Dublin at around midday.

Looking ahead, Ryanair’s outspoken CEO Michael O’Leary criticised countries in Europe where airlines face high taxes, including environmental duties. In an interview with CNBC, he threatened to move capacity outside the UK should the new budget include such a levy.

“Ryanair is also one of several airline operators with an eagle eye on taxes and costs. It is no longer putting up with unfavourable tax systems, preferring to switch flights and routes to less punitive locations,” Mould commented.

In other markets, the euro weakened against the US dollar by more than 0.2%, hitting a rate of $1.1517 by 11:00 CET. At the same time, the Japanese yen and the British pound were also losing ground against the greenback, with the dollar trading at ¥154.15 and the pound costing $1.3136.

Gold traded just above $4,000, rising slightly by 0.3%.

At a Starbucks in downtown Culver City, Amit Jain pulls out his iPad Pro and presses play. On-screen, one of his employees at Luma AI — the Silicon Valley startup behind a new wave of generative video tools, which he co-founded and now runs — lumbers through the company’s Palo Alto office, arms swinging, shoulders hunched, pretending to be a monkey. Jain swipes to a second version of the same clip. Same movement, same hallway, but now he is a monkey. Fully rendered and believable, and created in seconds.

“The tagline for this would be, like, iPhone to cinema,” Jain says, flipping through other uncanny clips shared on his company’s Slack. “But, of course, it’s not full cinema yet.” He says it offhandedly — as if he weren’t describing a transformation that could upend not just how movies are made but what Hollywood is even for. If anyone can summon cinematic spectacle with a few taps, what becomes of the place that once called it magic?

Luma’s generative AI platform, Dream Machine, debuted last year and points toward a new kind of moviemaking, one where anyone can make release-grade footage with a few words. Type “a cowboy riding a velociraptor through Times Square,” and it builds the scene from scratch. Feed it a still photo and it brings the frozen moment to life: A dog stirs from a nap, trees ripple in the breeze.

Dream Machine’s latest tool, Modify Video, was launched in June. Instead of generating new footage, it redraws what’s already there. Upload a clip, describe what you want changed and the system reimagines the scene: A hoodie becomes a superhero cape, a sunny street turns snowy, a person transforms into a talking banana or a medieval knight. No green screen, no VFX team, no code. “Just ask,” the company’s website says.

For now, clips max out around 10 seconds, a limit set by the technology’s still-heavy computing demands. But as Jain points out, “The average shot in a movie is only eight seconds.”

A series on how the AI revolution is reshaping the creative foundations of Hollywood — from storytelling and performance to production, labor and power.

Jain’s long-term vision is even more radical: a world of fully personalized entertainment, generated on demand. Not mass-market blockbusters, but stories tailored to each individual: a comedy about your co-workers, a thriller set in your hometown, a sci-fi epic starring someone who looks like you, or simply anything you want to see. He insists he’s not trying to replace cinema but expand it, shifting from one-size-fits-all stories to something more personal, flexible and scalable.

“Today, videos are made for 100 million people at a time — they have to hit the lowest common denominator,” Jain says. “A video made just for you or me is better than one made for two unrelated people. That’s the problem we’re trying to solve… My intention is to get to a place where two hours of video can be generated for every human every day.”

It’s a staggering goal that Jain acknowledges is still aspirational. “That will happen, but when the prices are about a thousand times cheaper than where we are. Our research and our engineering are going toward that, to push the price down as much as humanly possible. Because that’s the demand for video. People watch hours and hours of video every day.”

Scaling to that level would require not just faster models but exponentially more compute power. Critics warn that the environmental toll of such expansion could be profound.

For Dream Machine to become what Jain envisions, it needs more than generative tricks — it needs a built-in narrative engine that understands how stories work: when to build tension, where to land a joke, how to shape an emotional arc. Not a tool but a collaborator. “I don’t think artists want to use tools,” he says. “They want to tell their stories and tools get in their way. Currently, pretty much all video generative models, including ours, are quite dumb. They are good pixel generators. At the end of the day, we need to build general intelligence that can tell a f— funny joke. Everything else is a distraction.”

The name may be coincidental, but nine years ago, MIT’s Media Lab launched a very different kind of machine: Nightmare Machine, a viral experiment that used neural networks to distort cheerful faces and familiar cityscapes into something grotesque. That project asked if AI could learn to frighten us. Jain’s vision points in a more expansive direction: an AI that is, in his words, “able to tell an engaging story.”

For many in Hollywood, though, the scenario Jain describes — where traditional cinema increasingly gives way to fast, frictionless, algorithmically personalized video — sounds like its own kind of nightmare.

Jain sees this shift as simply reflecting where audiences already are. “What people want is changing,” he says. “Movies obviously have their place but people aren’t spending time on them as much. What people want are things that don’t need their attention for 90 minutes. Things that entertain them and sometimes educate them and sometimes are, you know, thirst traps. The reality of the universe is you can’t change people’s behaviors. I think the medium will change very significantly.”

Still, Jain — who previously worked as an engineer on Apple’s Vision Pro, where he collaborated with filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas — insists Hollywood isn’t obsolete, just due for reinvention. To that end, Luma recently launched Dream Lab LA, a creative studio aimed at fostering AI-powered storytelling.

“Hollywood is the largest concentration of storytellers in the world,” Jain says. “Just like Silicon Valley is the largest concentration of computer scientists and New York is the largest concentration of finance people. We need them. That’s what’s really special about Hollywood. The solution will come out of the marriage of technology and art together. I think both sides will adapt.”

It’s a hopeful outlook, one that imagines collaboration, not displacement. But not everyone sees it that way.

In Silicon Valley, where companies like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta are racing to build ever more powerful generative tools, such thinking is framed as progress. In Hollywood, it can feel more like erasure — a threat to authorship itself and to the jobs, identities and traditions built around it. The tension came to a head during the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, when picket signs declared: “AI is not art” and “Human writers only.”

What once felt like the stuff of science fiction is now Hollywood’s daily reality. As AI becomes embedded in the filmmaking process, the entire ecosystem — from studios and streamers to creators and institutions — is scrambling to keep up. Some see vast potential: faster production, lower costs, broader access, new kinds of creative freedom. Others see an extraction machine that threatens the soul of the art form and a coming flood of cheap, forgettable content.

AI storytelling is just beginning to edge into theaters — and already sparking backlash. This summer, IMAX is screening 10 generative shorts from Runway’s AI Film Festival. At AMC Burbank, where one screening is set to take place later this month, a protest dubbed “Kill the Machine” is already being organized on social media, an early flashpoint in the growing resistance to AI’s encroachment on storytelling.

But ready or not, the gravity is shifting. Silicon Valley is pulling the film industry into its orbit, with some players rushing in and others dragged. Faced with consolidation, shrinking budgets and shareholder pressure to do more with less, studios are turning to AI not just to cut costs but to survive. The tools are evolving faster than the industry’s playbook, and the old ways of working are struggling to keep up. With generative systems poised to flood the zone with content, simply holding an audience’s attention, let alone shaping culture, is becoming harder than ever.

While the transition remains uneven, some studios are already leaning in. Netflix recently used AI tools to complete a complex VFX sequence for the Argentine sci-fi series “El Eternauta” in a fraction of the usual time. “We remain convinced that AI represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,” co-chief executive Ted Sarandos told analysts during a July earnings call.

At Paramount, incoming chief executive David Ellison is pitching a more sweeping transformation: a “studio in the cloud” that would use AI and other digital tools to reinvent every stage of filmmaking, from previsualization to post. Ellison, whose Skydance Media closed its merger with Paramount Global this week and whose father, Larry Ellison, co-founded Oracle, has vowed to turn the company into a tech-first media powerhouse. “Technology will transform every single aspect of this company,” he said last year.

In one of the most visible examples of AI adoption in Hollywood, Lionsgate, the studio behind the “John Wick” and “Hunger Games” franchises, struck a deal last year with the generative video startup Runway to train a custom model on its film and TV library, aiming to support future project development and improve efficiency. Lionsgate chief executive Jon Feltheimer, speaking to analysts after the agreement, said the company believes AI, used with “appropriate guardrails,” could have a “positive transformational impact” on the business.

Elsewhere, studios are experimenting more quietly: using AI to generate early character designs, write alternate dialogue or explore how different story directions might land. The goal isn’t to replace writers or directors, but to inform internal pitches and development. At companies like Disney, much of the testing is happening in games and interactive content, where the brand risk is lower and the guardrails are clearer. For now, the prevailing instinct is caution. No one wants to appear as if they’re automating away the heart of the movies.

Legacy studios like Paramount are exploring ways to bring down costs by incorporating AI into their pipeline.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

As major studios pivot, smaller, more agile players are building from the ground up for the AI era.

According to a recent report by FBRC.ai, an L.A.-based innovation studio that helps launch and advise early-stage AI startups in entertainment, more than 65 AI-native studios have launched since 2022, most of them tiny, self-funded teams of five or fewer. At these studios, AI tools allow a single creator to do the work of an entire crew, slashing production costs by 50% to 95% compared with traditional live-action or animation. The boundaries between artist, technician and studio are collapsing fast — and with them, the very idea of Hollywood as a gatekeeper.

That collapse is raising deeper questions: When a single person anywhere in the world can generate a film from a prompt, what does Hollywood still represent? If stories can be personalized, rendered on demand or co-written with a crowd, who owns them? Who gets paid? Who decides what matters and what disappears into the churn? And if narrative itself becomes infinite, remixable and disposable, does the idea of a story still hold any meaning at all?

Yves Bergquist leads the AI in Media Project at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center, a studio-backed think tank where Hollywood, academia and tech converge. An AI researcher focused on storytelling and cognition, he has spent years helping studios brace for a shift he sees as both inevitable and wrenching. Now, he says, the groundwork is finally being laid.

“We’re seeing very aggressive efforts behind the scenes to get studios ready for AI,” Bergquist says. “They’re building massive knowledge graphs, getting their data ready to be ingested into AI systems and putting governance committees in place to start shaping real policy.”

But adapting won’t be easy, especially for legacy studios weighed down by entrenched workflows, talent relationships, union contracts and layers of legal complexity. “These AI models weren’t built for Hollywood,” Bergquist says. “This is 22nd-century technology being used to solve 21st-century problems inside 19th-century organizational models. So it’s blood, sweat and tears getting them to fit.”

In an algorithmically accelerated landscape where trends can catch fire and burn out in hours, staying relevant is its own challenge. To help studios keep pace, Bergquist co-founded Corto, an AI startup that describes itself as a “growth genomics engine.” The company, which also works with brands like Unilever, Lego and Coca-Cola, draws on thousands of social and consumer sources, analyzing text, images and video to decode precisely which emotional arcs, characters and aesthetics resonate with which demographics and cultural segments, and why.

“When the game is attention, the weapon is understanding where culture and attention are and where they’re going.” Bergquist says, arguing media ultimately comes down to neuroscience.

Corto’s system breaks stories down into their formal components, such as tone, tempo, character dynamics and visual aesthetics, and benchmarks new projects against its extensive data to highlight, for example, that audiences in one region prefer underdog narratives or that a certain visual trend is emerging globally. Insights like these can help studios tailor marketing strategies, refine storytelling decisions or better assess the potential risk and appeal of new projects.

With ever-richer audience data and advances in AI modeling, Bergquist sees a future where studios can fine-tune stories in subtle ways to suit different viewers. “We might know that this person likes these characters better than those characters,” he says. “So you can deliver something to them that’s slightly different than what you’d deliver to me.”

A handful of studios are already experimenting with early versions of that vision — prototyping interactive or customizable versions of existing IP, exploring what it might look like if fans could steer a scene, adjust a storyline or interact with a favorite character. Speaking at May’s AI on the Lot conference, Danae Kokenos, head of technology innovation at Amazon MGM Studios, pointed to localization, personalization and interactivity as key opportunities. “How do we allow people to have different experiences with their favorite characters and favorite stories?” she said. “That’s not quite solved yet, but I see it coming.”

Bergquist is aware that public sentiment around AI remains deeply unsettled. “People are very afraid of AI — and they should be,” he acknowledges. “Outside of certain areas like medicine, AI is very unpopular. And the more capable it gets, the more unpopular it’s going to be.”

Still, he sees a significant upside for the industry. Get AI right, and studios won’t just survive but redefine storytelling itself. “One theory I really believe in is that as more people gain access to Hollywood-level production tools, the studios will move up the ladder — into multi-platform, immersive, personalized entertainment,” he says. “Imagine spending your life in Star Wars: theatrical releases, television, VR, AR, theme parks. That’s where it’s going.”

The transition won’t be smooth. “We’re in for a little more pain,” he says, “but I think we’ll see a rebirth of Hollywood.”

“AI slop” or creative liberation?

You don’t have to look far to find the death notices. TikTok, YouTube and Reddit are full of “Hollywood is dead” posts, many sparked by the rise of generative AI and the industry’s broader upheaval. Some sound the alarm. Others say good riddance. But what’s clear is that the center is no longer holding and no one’s sure what takes its place.

Media analyst Doug Shapiro has estimated that Hollywood produces about 15,000 hours of fresh content each year, compared to 300 million hours uploaded annually to YouTube. In that context, generative AI doesn’t need to reach Hollywood’s level to pose a major threat to its dominance — sheer volume alone is enough to disrupt the industry.

The attention economy is maxed out but attention itself hasn’t grown. As the monoculture fades from memory, Hollywood’s cultural pull is loosening. This year’s Oscars drew 19.7 million viewers, fewer than tuned in to a typical episode of “Murder, She Wrote” in the 1990s. The best picture winner, “Anora,” earned just $20 million at the domestic box office, one of the lowest tallies of any winner of the modern era. Critics raved, but fewer people saw it in theaters than watch the average moderately viral TikTok.

Amid this fragmentation, generative AI tools are fueling a surge of content. Some creators have a new word for it: “slop” — a catchall for cheap, low-effort, algorithmically churned-out media that clogs the feed in search of clicks. Once the world’s dream factory, Hollywood is now asking how it can stand out in an AI-powered media deluge.

Audience members watch an AI-assisted animated short at “Emergent Properties,” a 2023 Sony Pictures screening that offered a glimpse of the uncanny, visually inventive new wave of AI-powered filmmaking.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Ken Williams, chief executive of USC’s Entertainment Technology Center and a former studio exec who co-founded Sony Pictures Imageworks, calls it a potential worst-case scenario in the making — “the kind of wholesale dehumanization of the creative process that people, in their darkest moments, fear.”

Williams says studios and creatives alike worry that AI will trap audiences in an algorithmic cul de sac, feeding them more of what they already know instead of something new.

“People who live entirely in the social media world and never come out of that foxhole have lost the ability to hear other voices — and no one wants to see that happen in entertainment.”

If the idea of uncontrolled, hyper-targeted AI content sounds like something out of an episode of “Black Mirror,” it was. In the 2023 season opener “Joan Is Awful,” a woman discovers her life is being dramatized in real time on a Netflix-style streaming service by an AI trained on her personal data, with a synthetic Salma Hayek cast as her on-screen double.

So far, AI tools have been adopted most readily in horror, sci-fi and fantasy, genres that encourage abstraction, stylization and visual surrealism. But when it comes to human drama, emotional nuance or sustained character arcs, the cracks start to show. Coherence remains a challenge. And as for originality — the kind that isn’t stitched together from what’s already out there — the results so far have generally been far from revelatory.

At early AI film festivals, the output has often leaned toward the uncanny or the conceptually clever: brief, visually striking experiments with loose narratives, genre tropes and heavily stylized worlds. Many feel more like demos than fully realized stories. For now, the tools excel at spectacle and pastiche but struggle with the kinds of layered, character-driven storytelling that define traditional cinema.

Then again, how different is that from what Hollywood is already producing? Today’s biggest blockbusters — sequels, reboots, multiverse mashups — often feel so engineered to please that it’s hard to tell where the algorithm ends and the artistry begins. Nine of the top 10 box office hits in 2024 were sequels. In that context, slop is, to some degree, in the eye of the beholder. One person’s throwaway content may be another’s creative breakthrough — or at least a spark.

Joaquin Cuenca, chief executive of Freepik, rejects the notion that AI-generated content is inherently low-grade. The Spain-based company, originally a stock image platform, now offers AI tools for generating images, video and voice that creators across the spectrum are starting to embrace.

“I don’t like this ‘slop’ term,” Cuenca says. “It’s this idea that either you’re a top renowned worldwide expert or it’s not worth it — and I don’t think that’s true. I think it is worth it. Letting people with relatively low skills or low experience make better videos can help people get a business off the ground or express things that are in their head, even if they’re not great at lighting or visuals.”

Freepik’s tools have already made their way into high-profile projects. Robert Zemeckis’ “Here,” starring a digitally de-aged Tom Hanks and set in one room over a period for decades, used the company’s upscaling tech to enhance backgrounds. A recently released anthology of AI-crafted short films, “Beyond the Loop,” which was creatively mentored by director Danny Boyle, used the platform to generate stylized visuals.

“More people will be able to make better videos, but the high end will keep pushing forward too,” Cuenca says. “I think it will expand what it means to be state of the art.”

For all the concern about runaway slop, Williams envisions a near-term stalemate, where AI expands the landscape without toppling the kind of storytelling that still sets Hollywood apart. In that future, he argues, the industry’s competitive edge — and perhaps its best shot at survival — will still come from human creators.

That belief in the value of human authorship is now being codified by the industry’s most influential institution. Earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued its first formal guidance on AI in filmmaking, stating that the use of generative tools will “neither help nor harm” a film’s chances of receiving a nomination. Instead, members are instructed to consider “the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship” when evaluating a work.

“I don’t see AI necessarily displacing the kind of narrative content that has been the province of Hollywood’s creative minds and acted by the stars,” Williams says. “The industry is operating at a very high level of innovation and creativity. Every time I turn around, there’s another movie I’ve got to see.”

The new studio model

Inside Mack Sennett Studios, a historic complex in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood once used for silent film shoots, a new kind of studio is taking shape: Asteria, the generative AI video studio founded by filmmaker-turned-entrepreneur Bryn Mooser.

Asteria serves as the creative arm of Moonvalley, an AI storytelling company led by technologist and chief executive Naeem Talukdar. Together, they’re exploring new workflows built around the idea that AI can expand, rather than replace, human creativity.

Mooser, a two-time Oscar nominee for documentary short subject and a fifth-generation Angeleno, sees the rise of AI as part of Hollywood’s long history of reinvention, from sound to color to CGI. “Looking back, those changes seem natural, but at the time, they were difficult,” he says.

Ed Ulbrich, left, Bryn Mooser and Mateusz Malinowski, executives at Moonvalley and Asteria, are building a new kind of AI-powered movie studio focused on collaboration between filmmakers and technologists.

(David Butow / For the Times)

What excites him now is how AI lowers technical barriers for the next generation. “For people who are technicians, like stop-motion or VFX artists, you can do a lot more as an individual or a small team,” he says. “And really creative filmmakers can cross departments in a way they couldn’t before. The people who are curious and leaning in are going to be the filmmakers of tomorrow.”

It’s a hopeful vision, one shared by many AI proponents who see the tools as a great equalizer, though some argue it often glosses over the structural realities facing working artists today, where talent and drive alone may not be enough to navigate a rapidly shifting, tech-driven landscape.

That tension is precisely what Moonvalley is trying to address. Their pitch isn’t just creative, it’s legal. While many AI companies remain vague about what their models are trained on, often relying on scraped content of questionable legality, Moonvalley built its video model, Marey, on fully licensed material and in close collaboration with filmmakers.

That distinction is becoming more significant. In June, Disney and Universal filed a sweeping copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, a popular generative AI tool that turns text prompts into images, accusing it of enabling rampant infringement by letting users generate unauthorized depictions of characters like Darth Vader, Spider-Man and the Minions. The case marks the most aggressive legal challenge yet by Hollywood studios against AI platforms trained on their intellectual property.

“We worked with some of the best IP lawyers in the industry to build the agreements with our providers,” Moonvalley’s Talukdar says. “We’ve had a number of major studios audit those agreements. We’re confident every single pixel has had a direct sign-off from the owner. That was the baseline we operated from.”

The creative frontier between Hollywood and AI is drawing interest from some of the industry’s most ambitious filmmakers.

Steven Spielberg and “Avengers” co-director Joe Russo were among the advisors to Wonder Dynamics, an AI-driven VFX startup that was acquired by Autodesk last year. Darren Aronofsky, the boundary-pushing director behind films like “Black Swan” and “The Whale,” recently launched the AI studio Primordial Soup, partnering with Google DeepMind. Its debut short, “Ancestra,” directed by Eliza McNitt, blends real actors with AI-generated visuals and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

Not every foray into AI moviemaking has been warmly received. Projects that spotlight generative tools have stoked fresh arguments about where to draw the line between machine-made and human-driven art.

In April, actor and director Natasha Lyonne, who co-founded Asteria with her partner, Mooser, announced her feature directorial debut: a sci-fi film about a world addicted to VR gaming called “Uncanny Valley,” combining AI and traditional filmmaking techniques. Billed as offering “a radical new cinematic experience,” the project drew backlash from some critics who questioned whether such ventures risk diminishing the role of human authorship. Lyonne defended the film to the Hollywood Reporter, making clear she’s not replacing crew members with AI: “I love nothing more than filmmaking, the filmmaking community, the collaboration of it, the tactile fine art of it… In no way would I ever want to do anything other than really create some guardrails or a new language.”

Even the boldest experiments face a familiar hurdle: finding an audience. AI might make it easier to make a movie, but getting people to watch it is another story. For now, the real power still lies with platforms like Netflix and TikTok that decide what gets seen.

That’s why Mooser believes the conversation shouldn’t be about replacing filmmakers but empowering them. “When we switched from shooting on film to digital, it wasn’t the filmmakers who went away — it was Kodak and Polaroid,” he says. “The way forward isn’t everybody typing prompts. It’s putting great filmmakers in the room with the best engineers and solving this together. We haven’t yet seen what AI looks like in the hands of the best filmmakers of our time. But that’s coming.”

New formats, new storytellers

For more than a century, watching a movie has been a one-way experience: The story flows from screen to viewer. Stephen Piron wants to change that. His startup Pickford AI — named for Mary Pickford, the silent-era star who co-founded United Artists and helped pioneer creative control in Hollywood — is exploring whether stories can unfold in real time, shaped by the audience as they watch. Its cheeky slogan: “AI that smells like popcorn.”

Pickford’s flagship demo looks like an animated dating show, but behaves more like a game or an improv performance. There’s no fixed script. Viewers type in suggestions through an app and vote on others’ ideas. A large language model then uses that input, along with the characters’ backstories and a rough narrative outline, to write the next scene in real time. A custom engine renders it on the spot, complete with gestures and synthetic voices. Picture a cartoon version of “The Bachelor” crossed with a choose-your-own-adventure, rendered by AI in real time.

At live screenings this year in London and Los Angeles, audiences didn’t just watch — they steered the story, tossing in oddball twists and becoming part of the performance. “We wanted to see if we could bring the vibe of the crowd back into the show, make it feel more like improv or live theater,” Piron says. “The main reaction is people laugh, which is great. There’s been lots of positive reaction from creative people who think this could be an interesting medium to create new stories.”

The platform is still in closed beta. But Piron’s goal is a collaborative storytelling forum where anyone can shape a scene, improvise with AI and instantly share it. To test that idea on a larger scale, Pickford is developing a branching murder mystery with Emmy-winning writer-producer Bernie Su (“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”).

Piron, who is skeptical that people really want hyper-personalized content, is exploring more ways to bring the interactive experience into more theaters. “I think there is a vacuum of live, in-person experiences that people can do — and maybe people are looking for that,” he says.

Attendees check in at May’s AI on the Lot conference, where Pickford AI screened a demo of its interactive dating show.

(Irina Logra)

As generative AI lowers the barrier to creation, the line between creator and consumer is starting to blur and some of the most forward-looking startups are treating audiences as collaborators, not just fans.

One example is Showrunner, a new, Amazon-backed platform from Fable Studio that lets users generate animated, TV-style episodes using prompts, images and AI-generated voices — and even insert themselves into the story. Initially free, the platform plans to charge a monthly subscription for scene-generation credits. Fable is pitching Showrunner as “the Netflix of AI,” a concept that has intrigued some studios and unsettled others. Chief executive Edward Saatchi says the company is already in talks with Disney and other content owners about bringing well-known franchises into the platform.

Other AI companies are focused on building new franchises from the ground up with audiences as co-creators from day one. Among the most ambitious is Invisible Universe, which bypasses traditional gatekeepers entirely and develops fresh IP in partnership with fans across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Led by former MGM and Snap executive Tricia Biggio, the startup has launched original animated characters with celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Serena Williams, including Clydeo, a cooking-obsessed dog, and Qai Qai, a dancing doll. But its real innovation, Biggio says, is the direct relationship with the audience.

“We’re not going to a studio and saying, ‘Do you like our idea?’ We’re going to the audience,” she says. “If Pixar were starting today, I don’t think they’d choose to spend close to a decade developing something for theatrical release, hoping it works.”

While some in the industry are still waiting for an AI “Toy Story” or “Blair Witch” moment — a breakthrough that proves generative tools can deliver cultural lightning in a bottle — Biggio isn’t chasing a feature-length hit. “There are ways to build love and awareness for stories that don’t require a full-length movie,” she says. “Did it make you feel something? Did it make you want to go call your mom? That’s going to be the moment we cross the chasm.”

What if AI isn’t the villain?

For nearly a century, filmmakers have imagined what might happen if machines got too smart.

In 1927’s “Metropolis,” a mad scientist gives his robot the likeness of a beloved labor activist, then unleashes it to sow chaos among the city’s oppressed masses. In “2001: A Space Odyssey,” HAL 9000 turns on its crew mid-mission. In “The Terminator,” AI nukes the planet and sends a killer cyborg back in time to finish the job. “Blade Runner” and “Ex Machina” offered chilling visions of artificial seduction and deception. Again and again, the message has been clear: Trust the machines at your peril.

Director Gareth Edwards, best known for “Godzilla” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” wanted to flip the script. In “The Creator,” his 2023 sci-fi drama, the roles were reversed: Humans are waging war against AI and the machines, not the people, are cast as the hunted. The story follows a hardened ex-soldier, played by John David Washington, who’s sent to destroy a powerful new weapon, only to discover it’s a child: a young android who may be the key to peace.

“The second you look at things from AI’s perspective, it flips very easily,” Edwards told The Times by phone shortly before the film’s release. “From AI’s point of view, we are attempting to enslave it and use it as our servant. So we’re clearly the baddie in that situation.”

In Gareth Edwards’ 2023 film “The Creator,” a young AI child named Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) holds the key to humanity’s future.

(20th Century)

In many ways, “The Creator” was the kind of film audiences and critics say they want to see more often out of Hollywood: an original story that takes creative risks, delivering cutting-edge visuals on a relatively lean $80 million. But when it hit theaters that fall, the film opened in third place behind “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” and “Saw X.” By the end of its run, it had pulled in a modest $104.3 million worldwide.

Part of the problem was timing. When Edwards first pitched the film, AI was still seen as a breakthrough, not a threat. But by the time the movie reached theaters, the public mood had shifted. The 2023 strikes were in full swing, AI was the villain of the moment — and here came a film in which AI literally nukes Los Angeles in the opening minutes. The metaphor wasn’t subtle. Promotion was limited, the cast was sidelined and audiences weren’t sure whether to cheer the movie’s message or recoil from it. While the film used cutting-edge VFX tools to help bring its vision to life, it served as a potent reminder that AI could help make a movie — but it still couldn’t shield it from the backlash.

Still, Edwards remains hopeful about what AI could mean for the future of filmmaking, comparing it to the invention of the electric guitar. “There’s a possibility that if this amazing tool turns up and everyone can make any film that they imagine, it’s going to lead to a new wave of cinema,” he says. “Look, there’s two options: Either it will be mediocre rubbish — and if that’s true, don’t worry about it, it’s not a threat — or it’s going to be phenomenal, and who wouldn’t want to see that?”

After “The Creator,” Edwards returned to more familiar terrain, taking the reins on this summer’s “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the sixth installment in a franchise that began with Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster, which redefined spectacle in its day. To date, the film has grossed more than $700 million worldwide.

So what’s the takeaway? Maybe there’s comfort in the known. Maybe audiences crave the stories they’ve grown up with. Maybe AI still needs the right filmmaker or the right story to earn our trust.

Or maybe we’re just not ready to root for the machines. At least not yet.

This summer, Netflix’s animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters” might have created the most popular K-pop girl group in America. And seemingly the only people unaware of that distinction are its members.

“Is that what it is?,” asks Rei Ami, who with fellow artists Ejae and Audrey Nuna forms the film’s fictional trio Huntr/x. “Is that what it’s being labeled as?”

The stats are behind them: “Golden,” a contender for the Oscar for original song, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for more than eight consecutive weeks, with three other numbers earning a place in the Top 10. As a result, the film’s soundtrack hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and recently went platinum. With success has come an array of other opportunities as well. The group have since made a cameo on “Saturday Night Live” and performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

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But as Ejae points out, theirs has not been the usual route to K-pop stardom. A former K-pop trainee herself, she notes that many hopefuls spend years developing their craft and chemistry with future group members. “We were all individually our own person. They had their music career, and I have my career as a songwriter,” she says. “[Becoming a K-pop group] later is unheard of with K-pop training. You do it when they’re kids, before anything [can develop], so they can shape them together, whereas we’re our own individuals coming together. Having this synergy is incredibly rare.”

That’s what singing in the most-watched Netflix film of all time will do for you. Premiering in August, “KPop Demon Hunters” propelled the members of Huntr/x — all of them already established in the industry, Nuna and Ami as artists and Ejae, who recently released her first solo single, as a songwriter for K-pop groups — into a new intensity of spotlight. (Ejae also wrote several tracks for the film, including “Golden,” with co-writers Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24 and Teddy.)

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1. Rei Ami is the singing voice for Zoey. 2. Ejae is the singing voice for Rumi. 3. Audrey Nuna is the singing voice for Mira. (Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

“We were thrown together, basically,” says Nuna. “I’ve seen photos of us and I [thought], ‘Damn, we look like we were perfectly calculated to be in this group.’ The balance is nuts. But to think how serendipitous it was that this happened — we didn’t audition in rooms or go through multiple rounds of pairings to find each other… It just speaks to the beauty of the universe and how things go and when things just happen.”

In fact, the singers did not even meet until nearly five months ago, on the carpet at the film’s premiere. They recorded their parts separately with executive music director Ian Eisendrath, who then worked with the music team to edit them all together.

Ami was the last to record her part, which meant she got to hear “This Is What It Sounds Like” in its entirety with all the voices meshed together. The moment recalled the film’s final scene, in which Huntr/x — whose members double as the demon hunters of the title — reunites to fight the main villain to the sounds of the very same song, when “This Is What It Sounds Like” plays.

“I got to hear the song in full and all of our harmonies for the first time,” she recalls. “I was completely moved. I knew in my heart that this was going to be great.”

Still, they never expected the film to become a global phenomenon, resulting in their now chaotic schedules filled with press interviews, panel engagements, media appearances and special performances. Ami smiles, “We’re doing our best.”

Through it all, they’ve hyped each other’s achievements and held hands while expressing their appreciation for each other.

“These women have worked so hard on their journeys individually,” says Ami. “The industry has been so tumultuous, and the amount of pain, struggle, blood, sweat and tears that we’ve individually had to deal with … These two girls are the only ones in the world who will fully understand what I’m going through. I can’t talk to anyone else about this. Only they understand, and I feel so supported and not alone.”

They all clasp hands, with Ami telling the others, “I love you guys.”

And, for all the challenging moments, they are immensely grateful for the chance to fulfill their dreams. They all express their gratitude for the opportunity, as it has always been their dream.

“Literally, a month before the movie came out, I was doubting myself as a songwriter,” Ejae explains. “My goal was to get No. 1 on the Hot 100. I was going to do that — move to California, write so many sessions, and get No. 1. It felt impossible.”

“Those are all things we have on our bucket list,” Ami, right, says of the prospect of performing at the Oscars or Grammys.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Ami becomes emotional about the film’s success when she talks about its impact on her career.

“I’m so blessed,” she says, holding back tears. “It’s really introduced me to more fans and new fans. This whole experience has taught me a lot about myself and what I want to do as an artist. My dreams are coming true.”

That hasn’t necessarily been the experience for her groupmates, though. “It takes a very long time [for me] to process and metabolize emotions,” Nuna says of her own lack of waterworks. “I’ve never wanted somebody to cry so much in my life,” Ami chimes in, laughing. “Feel something!”

The “instant chemistry” displayed in their interview was recently on display when the three were asked to perform “Golden” together for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” — their first as a group. And the more they rehearsed, the more they cohered. Just like a real K-pop group.

“It’s really wild and weird,” says Nuna. “Honestly, the mesh of our voices just felt so intuitive. It was very organic and easy. The song is not easy, but the mesh and connecting were. It was literally our first time singing together, and I feel like we were hearing overtones in our harmonies and stuff, because they’re just really locked in.”

Awards buzz, for both the Oscars and the Grammys, has come as a surprise to the group, but it leads to questions about reuniting Huntr/x onstage at the biggest pop culture events of the year.

“[Performing at the Oscars or Grammys] would be the biggest deal,” says Ami. “I think we can all relate. That’s probably one of the highest accolades and achievements you can accomplish as an artist, songwriter, and producer. Those are all things we have on our bucket list.”

The trio hasn’t thought far enough ahead about an actual performance on either stage, as they’ve only recently begun rehearsing together.

“Jimmy Fallon will be a good practice,” Ejae laughs. “Good warm-up preparation.”

Indeed, though they have joked about forming a (real-life) K-pop group, all three are busy with individual projects — at least for now.

“If we were to get together, the charts better watch out!” Ami shouts. “You might not ever see another name other than us.”

You’d be forgiven for not remembering the trade.

On June 2 this year, the Dodgers were in need of pitching help. At the time, their rotation had been ravaged by injuries, and their bullpen was overworked and running low on depth. Thus, the morning after their relievers had been further taxed following a short start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto against the New York Yankees, the Dodgers went out and added a little-known pitcher in a deal with the Seattle Mariners.

Will Klein’s origin story had quietly begun.

Almost five months before becoming a World Series hero for the Dodgers, pitching four miraculously scoreless innings in their 18-inning Game 3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, Klein joined the organization as a largely anonymous face, acquired in exchange for fellow reliever Joe Jacques in the kind of depth transaction the Dodgers make dozens of over the course of each season.

At that point, even Klein couldn’t have foreseen the star turn in his future.

He had a career ERA over 5.00 in the minor leagues. He had struggled in limited big-league action in 2024, battling poor command while giving up nine runs in eight outings. He had already changed organizations three times, and been designated for assignment by the Mariners the day before.

“I woke up to a 9 a.m. missed phone call and a text,” Klein recalled Tuesday. “Found out I was DFA’d. Really low then.”

Now, in the kind of serendipitous turn only October can create, Klein has etched his name into World Series lore.

“I don’t think that will set in for a long time,” he said.

As the last man standing in the Dodgers’ bullpen in Game 3, Klein pitched more than he ever has as a professional, tossing 72 pitches to save the team from putting a position player on the mound.

Afterward, he was mobbed by his teammates following Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run, then greeted in the clubhouse with a handshake and an accomplished “good job” from Dodgers pitching icon Sandy Koufax.

He had 500 missed messages on his phone when the game ended. He got 500 more as he tried responding to everyone Tuesday morning. His middle school in Indiana, he said, had even hung a picture of him up in a hallway.

“I woke up this morning still not feeling like last night had happened,” he said in a pre-Game 4 news conference. “It was an out-of-body experience.”

A thickly bearded 25-year-old right-hander originally from Bloomington, Ind., Klein’s path to Monday’s extra-inning marathon could hardly have been more circuitous.

In high school, he was primarily a catcher, until a broken thumb prompted him to focus on pitching. When he was recruited to Eastern Illinois for college, his ACT scores (he got a 34) helped almost as much as his natural arm talent.

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein also pitched in the eighth inning of Game 1 in Toronto, allowing no runs.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I’m big into academics,” Eastern Illinois coach Jason Anderson said by phone Tuesday. “If you can figure out science class, you can figure out how to throw a slider.”

Anderson wasn’t wrong. Though Klein was initially raw on the mound, posting a 5.74 ERA in his first two collegiate seasons, he worked tirelessly on improving his velocity, learning how to leverage the power he generated with his long-limbed, 6-foot-5 frame.

As his fastball crept toward triple digits, he started garnering the attention of MLB scouts. Though Klein’s junior season in 2020 was cut short after four outings by the COVID-19 pandemic, he’d shown enough promise in collegiate summer leagues beforehand to get drafted in that year’s fifth and final round by the Kansas City Royals.

Klein’s rise to the major leagues from there was not linear. His poor command (he averaged nearly seven walks per nine innings in his first three minor-league years) hampered him even as he climbed the Royals’ organizational ladder.

Klein reached the big leagues last year, but made only four appearances before being included in a trade deadline deal to the Oakland Athletics. This past winter, after finishing the 2024 campaign with an 11.05 ERA, he was dealt again to the Mariners.

The return in that package? “Other considerations,” according to MLB’s transaction log.

“His whole career has been [full of] challenges,” Anderson said. “He really just needed some time and somebody to believe in him.”

With the Dodgers, that’s exactly what he found.

Long before his arrival, Klein had admirers in the organization. The club’s director of pitching, Rob Hill, was immediately struck by his high-riding heater and mid-80s mph curveball when he first saw Klein pitch in minor-league back-field games during spring training in 2021 and 2022.

“I vividly remember his outings against us in spring training,” Hill said. “I was walking around, asking people, ‘Who is this guy?’ That was my first introduction to him.”

After being traded to the Dodgers, Klein was optioned to triple-A Oklahoma City to work under the tutelage of minor-league pitching coaches Ryan Dennick and David Anderson. There, he started to refine his approach and trust his high-octane arsenal in the zone more. In 22 ⅔ innings, he struck out a whopping 44 batters.

“[He was] never short for stuff,” Anderson told OKC’s team broadcaster at the end of the season. “It was just accessing the zone and forcing action.”

During four stints on the MLB roster over the second half of the year — during which he posted a 2.35 ERA in 14 outings — Klein also worked with big-league pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness on developing a sweeper to give him an all-important third pitch.

“I think our coaches have done a fantastic job of cleaning up the delivery, challenging him to be in the hitting zone, working on a slider,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s a great young man. And it’s one of those things that you don’t really know until you throw somebody in the fire.”

The Dodgers didn’t do that initially this October, sending Klein to so-called “stay hot” camp in Arizona for the first three rounds of the playoffs.

But while Klein was there, Hill said it “was very notable how locked in he was” during bi-weekly sessions of live batting practice, with the pitcher “consistently asking for feedback and trying to continue to make sure his stuff was ready.”

During the team’s off week before the World Series, Klein was sent to Los Angeles to throw more live at-bats against their big-league hitters. He promptly impressed once again, helping thrust himself further into Fall Classic roster consideration as the team contemplated ways to shuffle the bullpen.

Still, when Klein learned he would actually be active for the World Series, he acknowledged it came as a surprise.

“I’m just going to go out there,” he told himself, “and do what I can to help all these guys that have worked their butts off.”

After holding his own in a scoreless inning of mop-duty in a Game 1 blowout loss to the Blue Jays, Klein started sensing another opportunity coming as Monday’s game stretched deep into the night.

“I realized that, when I looked around in the bullpen and my name was the only one still there, I was just going to [keep pitching] until I couldn’t,” he laughed.

Every time he returned to the dugout between innings, he told the coaching staff he was good to keep going.

“No one else is going to care that my legs are tired right now,” he said. “Just finding it in me to throw one more pitch, and then throw another one after that.”

Back in Illinois, Anderson was like everyone else from Klein’s past. Awed by how deep he managed to dig on the mound. Moved by a moment they, just like him, could have never foreseen or possibly imagined.

“Everything about him — his mentality, his work ethic, his obstacles, his path — it was like he was destined to be on that field at that time,” Anderson said. “That’s one of the greatest baseball games in history.”

And, against all odds, it was Klein who left perhaps its most heroic mark.

When any basketball coach is raving about an opposing player, that sets off an alarm bell for sportswriters to pay attention and investigate.

It turns out all the good things coaches are beginning to say about 6-foot-4 junior guard Donovan Webb of Golden Valley High are true. Canyon Country Canyon coach Ali Monfared said Webb might be the best player in the Foothill League, which held its media day at Canyon on Saturday.

Webb is one of those players who worked hard when nobody was watching. His focus was on improving his three-point shooting, and all those hours in the gym could pay off.

“I’m a gym rat,” he said.

Last season, he was moved to point guard and kept deferring to other players. This season, he got the message to take charge. “We put the keys to the car in his hands,” first-year coach Scott Barkman said.

With a 4.3 grade-point average, Webb said he understands what his role needs to be.

“I needed to take my game to the next level,” he said.

Golden Valley and Valencia will be the co-favorites because of the experience each team has with returning players.

Valencia has its own much-improved player in junior Steven Irons. Last season he was 6-5, 170 pounds. Now he’s 6-7, 210 pounds after eating lots of chicken and rice while working on strength.

“The day we lost the playoff game, I started lifting,” he said.

Said coach Greg Fontenette: “His development has been like night and day.”

Double-doubles are in his future, and it’s not about In-N-Out. He’ll be scoring and providing rebounds to support Valencia’s talented class of 2027 players.

Saugus returns Braydon Harmon, who had a 43-point performance against West Ranch last season.

Hart coach Tom Kelly is in his 26th season for the Newhall school and 36th overall (he was head coach at Burbank Burroughs for 10 years).

Canyon won a 2A championship last season and lost most of its players, but returning is standout point guard Isaac Yuhico, who delivered clutch baskets in the Cowboys’ triple-overtime championship game win over St. Bonaventure.

Former Golden Valley coach Chris Printz has become an assistant principal, but his son, Wyatt, remains on the team. Asked if his father got a pay raise, Wyatt said, “I hope so.”

Conner Peterson of West Ranch was asked about playing against friends in the league. “It’s the same thing playing against your brother,” he said. “You want to beat them.”

Castaic coach Louis Fernando offered optimism about his team, saying, “I don’t have to coach ego and I don’t have to coach effort this year.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Pakistan’s diplomatic playbook for 2025 is shifting noticeably toward trade, sustainability, and the projection of soft power. Gone are the days when foreign policy revolved solely around security concerns or aid dependency. The country’s recent economic and diplomatic maneuvers suggest a clear intent to rebrand itself as a credible, reform-driven partner focused on growth, responsibility, and engagement. From seafood export approvals by the US to partnerships with France and major development financing commitments, Pakistan’s narrative is evolving, and for once, it’s a story of initiative rather than reaction.

The US government’s decision to extend Pakistan’s seafood export approval until 2029 is a quiet but significant achievement. The deal, worth roughly $600 million annually, underscores two critical things: the growing confidence in Pakistan’s sustainability standards and the country’s ability to meet global compliance norms. For years, Pakistani exporters have faced barriers due to outdated infrastructure and quality control issues. Now, improved regulations and environmental monitoring seem to be paying off. This approval not only secures a steady stream of revenue but also signals that Pakistani industries are capable of aligning with Western ecological and safety benchmarks, something that can serve as a model for other export sectors.

In a similar spirit, the Punjab government’s recent memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with France mark another leap toward deepening provincial and international trade ties. France’s interest in Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) reveals confidence in the country’s industrial potential. For Punjab, the partnership could attract sustainable technologies, investment in renewable energy, and expertise in urban development. It also decentralizes diplomacy, shifting some of the engagement from federal corridors to proactive provincial actors, an approach that could make economic cooperation nimbler and more region-specific.

At the macro level, multilateral institutions are showing renewed faith in Pakistan’s economic reforms. The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have jointly pledged a staggering $40 billion for development and private sector growth. This isn’t charity; it’s a bet on Pakistan’s capacity to absorb and utilize global capital effectively. The World Bank’s concessional loans, particularly targeting education and climate resilience, fit neatly into Pakistan’s national development goals. Meanwhile, the IFC’s $20 billion allocation to the private sector and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) speaks to an evolving understanding that long-term economic health depends on entrepreneurial vitality rather than government-led expansion alone.

Domestically, the banking sector is mirroring this new wave of confidence. The Bank of Punjab, for instance, has reported record profits, reflecting a resilient financial system despite broader global headwinds. A profitable and stable banking environment is a prerequisite for sustained trade diplomacy; it assures foreign investors that local institutions are capable of managing large inflows and transactions transparently. When financial institutions thrive alongside industrial and export sectors, it sends a reassuring message to international partners that Pakistan’s growth is not a temporary surge but a maturing cycle.

But economic diplomacy alone doesn’t build soft power. What sets Pakistan’s recent approach apart is the coupling of trade initiatives with cultural and environmental diplomacy. The government’s efforts to promote interfaith harmony, expand cultural exchanges, and invest in green infrastructure reflect a broader understanding of influence in the modern era. Soft power, after all, isn’t about dominance; it’s about attraction. Pakistan’s reforestation programs, ecotourism initiatives, and partnerships in climate resilience not only improve its environmental record but also enhance its moral credibility on the global stage. These projects project a vision of Pakistan as a responsible global citizen, one that contributes to shared planetary goals rather than merely negotiating for its own interests.

Tourism, too, plays a key role in this narrative. The revival of heritage sites, promotion of religious tourism for Sikh and Buddhist pilgrims, and international film collaborations are creating a gentler, more relatable image of Pakistan abroad. These cultural bridges complement trade diplomacy by humanizing the country in the eyes of investors and tourists alike. They help replace outdated stereotypes with more nuanced perceptions of a nation that’s young, creative, and striving for balance between tradition and modernity.

This pivot toward soft power and trade diplomacy is not accidental; it’s strategic. Pakistan seems to recognize that credibility in global markets depends not just on economic incentives but on the consistency of reform and image. The focus on sustainability and governance reforms aims to reduce dependency on loans and shift toward mutually beneficial trade partnerships. In doing so, Pakistan positions itself not as a passive recipient of aid but as a contributor to global growth.

Critically, these moves also reflect a certain self-awareness. The emphasis on sustainability, whether in fisheries, industry, or climate policy, acknowledges that the old model of extractive growth is no longer viable. Similarly, engaging institutions like the World Bank and IFC shows that Pakistan understands the importance of credibility and transparency in attracting international capital. Trade diplomacy, when backed by responsible domestic governance and inclusive growth, becomes more than an economic tactic; it turns into a long-term strategy for stability and respect.

That said, this strategy will need to be carefully managed. The challenge isn’t just to secure deals but to ensure they deliver equitable benefits. For instance, trade approvals and foreign investments must be accompanied by support for small exporters, labor reforms, and environmental safeguards. Otherwise, the benefits will stay concentrated among elites, undermining the very soft power Pakistan seeks to build. Likewise, diplomatic capital must not be squandered on short-term optics or domestic political point-scoring. Consistency, patience, and institutional continuity will determine whether this new vision can endure.

In many ways, Pakistan’s 2025 diplomacy embodies a pragmatic realism. It doesn’t reject global partnerships or rely excessively on one bloc. Instead, it seeks balance between East and West, between economic pragmatism and moral purpose. By intertwining trade with culture, sustainability, and finance, the country is sketching the contours of a diplomacy that’s as much about persuasion as negotiation. And in a fragmented world increasingly defined by narratives rather than alliances, that’s a powerful pivot.

Recommendations

·       Establish specialized trade diplomacy desks in embassies to promote sectoral exports, green investment, and SME partnerships.

·       Strengthen provincial economic offices abroad to attract investors in key sectors like textiles, agri-tech, and renewable energy.

·       Implement domestic policies for export diversification and improve digital trade facilitation to empower smaller producers.

·       Expand cultural diplomacy programs, including art, film, sports, and education exchanges, to enhance people-to-people connections and global goodwill.

·       Ensure policy consistency and transparency across all levels of government to solidify Pakistan’s reputation as a credible, reform-driven partner in global trade and diplomacy.

A young Kelvin carries multiple identities. Today, he’s Kelvin, but that might change tomorrow, depending on the identity game he’s up to. For at least 14 hours a day, he describes himself as “Richard”, a stranded American engineer needing financial help from a sympathetic woman he met on a dating site. He’s always glued to his laptop, scheming to swindle his next target in his many romance tricks. 

Kelvin lives in a community in Asaba, South-South Nigeria. 

For him, the end justifies the means, as long as he amasses enough wealth to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. Internet fraud, colloquially known as Yahoo-Yahoo, is his ticket to the flashy cars and designer clothes he sees flaunted by mentors in “HK” – the local term for the Hustling Kingdom, a structured network of internet fraudsters in the state.

Just a few kilometres away, a mechanics workshop stands half-empty. Togolese artisan, Awe Gao, wipes grease from his hands and shakes his head. “Where are the Nigerian boys?” he asks. “Before, this workshop was full of apprentices. Now, they all want quick money from the internet. They call this ‘Yahoo’, saying it is better than dirty hands.”

This is the new reality in Nigeria’s oil-rich South-South region. A generation of young men is abandoning traditional vocations such as furniture making, tiling, automobile mechanics, and welding for the seductive, high-reward world of cybercrime. This mass gravitation is not just a social ill; it is creating a dangerous security vacuum, crippling the local skilled workforce, and ceding vital trades to a steady influx of skilled migrants from Togo and the Benin Republic.

Nigeria has an unemployment problem, and young people are desperately looking for an alternative way to make a living. While many have chosen artisanship to overcome their employment plight, others are resorting to cybercrime. With many youths taking pride in internet fraud as a way of life, Nigeria ranks 5th in the global report on sources of cybercrime activities, trailing behind Russia, Ukraine, China, and the United States. 

A report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) documented a significant increase in conviction numbers between 2020 (976) and 2022 (3,785), with a high percentage of these related to cybercrime, such as obtaining by trickery and impersonation. The EFCC authorities noted that, in 2022, the country lost over $500 million to cybercrimes, which contributes to the nation’s reputation as a significant source of cybercrime globally. 

While the EFCC claims to have improved measures to curb cybercrimes in Nigeria, the institution has been accused of being overhand in handling suspects and focusing too much on internet fraudsters rather than corrupt public officials and politicians. The agency has, however, defended its actions, stating that internet fraud is a major crisis linked to more serious crimes. 

“I want Nigerians to know that we are having a crisis on our hands. If you travel abroad with your green passport and stand in the queue among so many people, you will discover that by the time you present the passport, the people [immigration officers] will look at you with some reservation,” said Olanipekun Olukoyede, the EFCC chairman. “That is, if they don’t take you aside to carry out some special scrutiny. That is a national shame that some young Nigerians [yahoo-yahoo boys] have caused us.”

The cybercrime problem seems to carry a different weight in the South-South region, with many young people leaving artisanship for internet fraud. HumAngle spoke to multiple sources, including self-confessing internet fraudsters, cybercrime experts, and community leaders, to unravel the dangerous escapades of youths making internet scams a way of life in the region. The reporting revealed how youths have chosen to enrol in criminal hubs where they learn to swindle people online. One such criminal enterprise is HK, a sophisticated ecosystem operating on a structured mentorship model, where an established fraudster houses and trains five to fifteen apprentices.

“My Oga taught me everything,” explains Kelvin, who dropped out of a polytechnic where he was studying electrical engineering. “How to use VPN, how to create a fake profile, how to talk to these white women, how to make a sad story. For three months, I was just learning. Now, I run my own operations and give him 20 per cent of my ‘hit’.”

The training is rigorous. Recruits are schooled in the psychology of manipulation, the technology of anonymity, and the financial logistics of moving illicit funds. They learn to target vulnerable individuals abroad through romance scams and email compromises.

Another cybercrime apprentice, Franca, 24, from Warri, serves as a “picker,” using her female identity to receive funds through her bank account: “At first, I was doing it to survive after my NYSC. No job. But the money is fast. One transaction can give you what a hair stylist will earn in six months. Why would I learn a trade that pays peanuts?”

The consequence of this mass shift is starkly visible in the region’s industrial and commercial layouts. Workshops that once buzzed with the sounds of apprentices learning a trade now operate below capacity.

“Look around,” says Chinedu Okoro, the owner of an automobile spare parts shop in Benin. “The Togolese and Beninois are taking over because they are willing to learn. Our youths see manual labour as punishment. They point to the ‘Yahoo boy’ with a new iPhone and say, ‘That is my target’. We are losing our capacity for production and becoming a society of scammers.”

The region is becoming dependent on foreign nationals for essential services and skilled labour, from building houses to repairing vehicles. This creates economic leakage and reduces local resilience. Contrary to the illusion of widespread success, only a fraction of internet fraudsters make significant money. The majority live in precarious uncertainty. The abandonment of viable vocational paths means a growing pool of unemployed, frustrated youth who have invested their formative years in a criminal enterprise with a short shelf life.

As competition intensifies, many fraudsters are turning to money rituals, known as “Yahoo Plus”, incorporating spiritualists and, alarmingly, resorting to violence for “quick money”. This has contributed to a spike in mysterious killings and kidnappings, with body parts sometimes linked to ritual demands for “cyber charms”.

For 19-year-old Daniel from Bayelsa, the choice was simple. His father was a renowned welder, but he watched him struggle financially for years.

“My father’s hands were rough, his back was bent, but at the end of the month, what did he have? Nothing,” Daniel says. “Then I saw my cousin from the same HK. In one year, he built a house for his mother. He drives a Lexus. My father’s workshop is now closed. I am his only hope, and this laptop is my tool.” 

Ufoma Ighadalo, 27, told a similar story. His father worked for 35 years for the Delta State government and retired as a school principal. Within that period, he could only build one house at Ughell, Delta State, and buy an old Peugeot car.

“He trained five of us at the university level. But I don’t consider him a success,” Ufoma says in a conspiratorial voice. “In this line of business, I will achieve what my father achieved in less than two years. I already have a house of my own and a car as well. I plan to build my second house here in Asaba before the end of this year. Who says hustling doesn’t pay?”

This narrative is repeated across the region. The tangible, delayed gratification of vocational work cannot compete with social media’s viral, glamorous portrayal of cybercrime success. The HK offers money and an identity of instant wealth and societal validation.

Community leaders and security analysts warn that the situation is a ticking time bomb. “When you disconnect a generation from productive labour and orient them towards predatory online activities, you create a profound societal crisis,” notes Chioma Emenike, an Asaba-based sociologist. “We are nurturing a generation that believes wealth comes not from creating value, but from clever exploitation. The long-term effect on our social fabric and security architecture is devastating.”

Experts argue that the solution must be multi-pronged: aggressive vocational reorientation, government-driven investment in the digital economy to create legitimate tech jobs, and severe enforcement against the kingpins of the HK networks.

But for now, in the half-empty workshops of the South-South, the sounds of learning hammers and revving engines are being replaced by the silent, desperate click of keyboards, as a generation chooses the elusive kingdom of fraud over the solid foundation of a skilled trade.

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European stocks rose on Wednesday morning after a string of strong corporate results a day earlier, while equities were also boosted by remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. In Philadelphia on Tuesday, Powell suggested that another interest rate cut could come later this month in the US.

In Europe, shares in Netherlands-headquartered ASML, which makes equipment used in the production of AI chips, jumped after the company posted promising results on Wednesday.

The shares rose more than 4%, after Europe’s largest company by market value reported third-quarter earnings fuelled by the AI boom. ASML’s stocks have rallied by almost 50% since August.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, French multinational luxury group LVMH said its organic growth re-entered positive territory in the third quarter. The luxury giant’s shares jumped by more than 14% by 13.00 CEST.

The mood in France also shifted on news that the government had significantly improved its chances of surviving a looming no-confidence vote on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu won the much-needed support of the Socialist Party in France’s National Assembly, in exchange for suspending a pension law that raises the retirement age. The CAC 40 in Paris jumped over 2% by 13.00 CEST.

The main European benchmark stock exchanges were also in the green, except for London’s FTSE 100, which lost 0.43%. Meanwhile, the DAX in Frankfurt gained less than 0.1%. Milan’s FTSE MIB was up by 0.36%, Madrid’s Ibex 35 gained 0.71% and the STOXX 600 saw a 0.6% gain.

Gold continued its rally, hitting a high of $4,217 per ounce. Gold has soared over 60% in 2025 as investors seek a safe haven during a period of uncertainty, notably driven by US tariffs and trade tensions.

Global markets are on the rise after the Fed Chair’s words

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled on Tuesday that the Fed is slightly more worried about the job market, raising expectations that the central bank will come through with another rate cut.

“Rising downside risks to employment have shifted our assessment of the balance of risks,” he said at a meeting of the National Association of Business Economics in Philadelphia.

Traders took his words to heart, particularly as the US government shutdown has prevented the release of fresh economic data.

“[Investors were] reading Powell like a haiku — every pause, every syllable weighed for hidden meaning,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“The message, once decoded, was clear enough: two rate cuts aren’t just a possibility, they’re the main course,” Innes said.

The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in September amid worries that unemployment could worsen.

“Markets have been lifted by the rekindling of rate cut expectations in the US after comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell, which highlighted sluggish hiring were taken as an indication that not one, but two further cuts were very much on the table for 2025,” said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis.

“Buoyed by continued deal-making in the frothy AI sector, investors seem prepared to overlook the growing number of warnings about the potential for a market correction at the moment, but this earnings season will be crucial if that optimism is to continue.”

S&P 500 futures rose 0.64% during the early afternoon in Europe, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.41%. Nasdaq futures were up by 0.79%.

On Tuesday, US markets closed a mixed trading day, with the S&P 500 giving up 0.16% and the Dow climbing 0.44%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.76%.

Markets remain volatile as the US and China exchange threats of new trade sanctions and tariffs.

Technology stocks are hypersensitive to trade issues since big chipmakers and other companies rely on China for raw materials and manufacturing. China’s large consumer base is also important for its sales growth.

In other dealings early Wednesday, US benchmark crude oil was circling around $58.65 per barrel (€50.43) and Brent crude, the international standard, was traded around $62.24 (€53.52) per barrel.

The US dollar slipped 0.25% against the Japanese yen, while the euro rose 0.19% against the dollar. The British Pound gained 0.35% against the greenback.

In just a few days, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be making a huge announcement about changes to the program in 2026. A new earnings-test limit will be shared, as well as the maximum monthly benefit.

Perhaps the most anticipated update the SSA will share, however, is an official cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2026.

Image source: Getty Images.

Each year, Social Security benefits are eligible for a raise, based on inflation. Without COLAs, beneficiaries would be pretty much guaranteed to lose buying power over time.

Initial projections are calling for a 2.7% COLA for 2026, but that number doesn’t take inflation data from September into account. If inflation rose substantially last month, seniors could be looking at an even larger boost to their Social Security checks in 2026.

While a 2.7% or higher COLA might seem like something to celebrate, you may want to temper your excitement if you count on Social Security for income. That’s because that COLA may not be yours to keep in full.

Will a Medicare increase eat into your COLA?

Seniors who are enrolled in Medicare and Social Security at the same time pay their premiums for Part B, which covers outpatient care, directly out of their monthly benefits. This means that if the cost of Medicare increases in 2026, it will eat into whatever COLA retirees receive.

In 2025, the standard monthly Part B premium rose from $174.70 to $185. But based on projections from the Medicare Trustees released earlier this year, the standard Part B premium for 2026 could be a whopping $206.50 — an increase of $21.50. It also could cause many seniors to lose out on a good chunk of their Social Security raises.

As of August, the average monthly Social Security benefit for retired workers was about $2,008. A 2.7% COLA would result in a boost of about $54 per month. However, if Medicare Part B goes up by $21.50 per month, the typical Social Security benefit might only rise by around $32.50, in practice.

It’s best to have income outside of Social Security

Until the SSA makes an official COLA announcement on Oct. 15, we won’t know for sure what next year’s COLA will amount to. However, even if it’s fairly generous, a large uptick in Part B costs could wipe out much of it.

That’s why it’s important not to be too reliant on Social Security COLAs to keep up with inflation. A better bet? Save well for retirement, and set yourself up with a portfolio of assets that continues to generate income for you.

Those assets could include a mix of stocks and bonds. The stocks should ideally provide growth and income in the form of dividend payments. The bond portion, meanwhile, may be more stable, providing you with steady income you can use to supplement your monthly Social Security checks.

There are other options for generating retirement income, too, like working part-time. And that part-time work doesn’t have to come in the form of a boring job with a strict, preset schedule.

Thanks to the gig economy, you can explore different options for earning some money. You may find that, on top of the extra income being helpful, it’s nice to have a reason to get out of the house on a regular basis and socialize with other people.

No matter what strategy you choose, the key is to have some income outside of Social Security — because while the program’s COLAs do help seniors keep up with inflation to some degree, they also have their fair share of shortcomings.

Nearly three weeks of striking bus drivers and roadblocks by angry farmers have put Ecuador President Daniel Noboa in one of the tensest moments of his presidency.

The outcry comes in response to the government’s increase in diesel fuel costs, after a subsidy was cut last month.

With no signs of dialogue after 18 days, one protester has been killed, numerous protesters and authorities injured, and more than 100 people arrested.

The army announced a large deployment to the capital on Thursday, saying it would prevent vandalism and destruction of property. As many as 5,000 troops were being deployed after dozens of protesters had marched at various sites in the city earlier in the day.

Though the demonstrations called for by Ecuador’s largest Indigenous organisation, CONAIE, are supposed to be nationwide, the most acute impact has been in the northern part of the country, especially Imbabura province, where Noboa won in April’s election with 52 percent of the vote.

On one side is “a president who assumes that after winning the elections he has all of the power at his disposal, who has authoritarian tendencies and no disposition for dialogue”, said Farith Simon, a law professor at the Universidad San Francisco in Quito.

On the other side, he said, is “an Indigenous sector that has shown itself to be uncompromising and is looking to co-govern through force”.

Protesters attacked Noboa’s motorcade with rocks on Tuesday, adding to the tension. The administration denounced it as an assassination attempt.

The Indigenous organisation CONAIE, however, rejected that assertion. It insists its protests are peaceful and that it is the government that is responding with force.

What led to the demonstrations?

The protests were organised by CONAIE, an acronym that translates to the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador.

The group mobilised its supporters after Noboa decreed the elimination of a subsidy on diesel on September 12.

Diesel is critical to the agricultural, fishing and transport sectors in Ecuador, where many Indigenous people work. The move raised the cost of a gallon (3.8 litres) of diesel to $2.80 from $1.80, which CONAIE said hit the poor the hardest.

The government tried to calm the backlash by offering some handouts, and unions did not join the demonstrations. The confederation rejected the government’s “gifts” and called for a general strike.

What are the protests like?

The Indigenous confederation is a structured movement that played a central role in violent uprisings in 2019 and 2022 that nearly ousted then-Presidents Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso.

Its methods are not always seen as productive, particularly when protests turn violent.

Daniel Crespo, an international relations professor at the Universidad de los Hemisferios in Quito, said the confederation’s demands to return the fuel subsidy, cut a tax and stop mining are efforts to “impose their political agenda”.

The confederation says it’s just trying to fight for a “decent life” for all Ecuadorians, even if that means opposing Noboa’s economic and social policies.

What are Noboa’s policies?

Noboa is a 37-year-old, politically conservative millionaire heir to a banana fortune. He started his second term in May amid high levels of violence.

One of the steps he has taken is raising the value-added tax rate to 15 percent from 12 percent, arguing that the additional funds are needed to fight crime. He has also fired thousands of government workers and restructured the executive branch.

The president has opted for a heavy-handed approach to making these changes and rejected calls for dialogue. He said, “The law awaits those who choose violence. Those who act like criminals will be treated like criminals.”

What has been the fallout?

A protester died last week, and soldiers were caught on video attacking a man who tried to help him.

The images, along with generally aggressive actions by security forces confronting protesters, have fuelled anger and drawn criticism about excessive use of force from organisations within Ecuador and abroad.

The Attorney General’s Office said it was investigating the protester’s death.

Experts warn that the situation could grow more violent if the protests that have largely been in rural areas arrive in the cities, especially the capital, where frustrated civilians could take to the streets to confront protesters.

Some party needs to intervene and lead the different sides to dialogue, perhaps the Catholic Church or civil society organisations, Crespo and Simon agreed.

A legendary nostalgic broadcaster will be ‘shutting down five music channels in the UK’ amid the quick rise of streaming services

Nostalgic broadcaster MTV will reportedly be closing all of its iconic music channels around the globe, minus the USA, following huge cuts amid a company merger. In the UK, MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and Live HD will no longer be available to watch after decades on air.

MTV has reportedly finalised a deal between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. Over the summer, it was revealed MTV UK, which started in the 90s and helped launch the careers of Emma Willis and Kelly Brook, became the latest casualty of social media and streaming.

At the time, bosses said it “will still have a presence” but accepted MTV UK wouldn’t continue making original music content.

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And now, it was reported in The Sun that the music channels will be pulled from air on December 31. The main MTV channel will not be affected.

One insider said it was a ‘dark day for the music industry’ as they told the publication: “MTV was once an industry powerhouse but now is a total shell of its former self. All channels bar the main MTV station are being axed — but even that only airs reality TV shows like Geordie Shore.”

The source claimed the changes were due to the rise of streaming.

Earlier this summer, a spokesman said: “MTV UK is sunsetting local series Gonzo and Fresh Out UK, ­beginning this month. We are deeply grateful to our hosts, Jack Saunders and Becca Dudley, the talented artists who have been a part of these series, as well as the teams who brought them to life.

“Fans can continue to enjoy global music shows like the MTV VMAs, STANS and Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now on MTV and Paramount+, alongside digital music content on our MTV UK social channels.”

Earlier this year, Sky performed a shake up its channel offerings as POP Max was removed from all platforms.

The broadcaster previously carried POP Max and POP Max +1 on Sky Q and Sky+HD, as well as POP Max HD on Sky Glass and Sky Stream.

The channel had already vanished from Freeview last year. Originally launched in 2008 as Kix, the channel underwent a rebranding to POP in 2017.

Sky broke the news on its website, noting that while other POP-branded channels will stay, some will change positions due to the closures.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

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Sept. 29 (UPI) — Denmark will ban all civilian drones beginning Monday over safety concerns as Copenhagen prepares to host an EU summit on European defense.

Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen announced the airspace closure Sunday after a slew of incidents involving unidentified drones in recent weeks. The closure will be in effect from Monday to Friday.

He said the drones have created disruption and uncertainty in the country, particularly among the military and police. He said the closure of airspace to civilian drone use will allow law enforcement to focus on security for EU meetings Thursday and Friday.

The European Council is meeting informally Thursday to address general defense in Europe as well as the body’s support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia. A more formal summit of the European political community is expected to take place Friday.

Last week, Denmark’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulson, said the recent drone sightings in Danish airspace likely weren’t by Russia though there has been a rise in Russian violations of allied airspace. He instead described them as “hybrid attacks,” meaning they were the result of different types of drones. Authorities believed they were launched from somewhere local.

The drone incidents have caused Denmark to at times shut down airports and the airspace around its largest military base.

During his speech Wednesday before the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the international community that Russia’s advanced weaponry and defense technology is putting the entirety of Europe under threat. He cited Moscow’s use of drones and artificial intelligence.

“We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” Zelensky said.

European leaders, including Poulson, met on the sidelines of the U.N. general debate last week to discuss the establishment of a “drone wall” to prevent drone attacks — from Russia or otherwise. The system to detect and disable drones would create a virtual wall along eastern EU countries, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

There have been other unidentified drone sightings in Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

As someone who’s lived in and visited family throughout the Inland Empire for years, I have seen firsthand the rapid growth that has changed the region.

When I travel to Yucaipa nowadays, the orange groves of my youthful weekend visits have long since been replaced by housing developments as the town has nearly doubled in 30 years.

My colleague Terry Castleman has been analyzing the demographic changes taking place in California but he recently took a deep dive into the explosive growth of income in the Inland Empire, in particular the south desert portion of Riverside County.

Castleman, a data reporter, noted that two of the top three communities that saw the greatest growth in average income in the state between 2017 and 2022 were in the Coachella Valley, perhaps best known for hellish summer temperatures, Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.

For this analysis, The Times considered only communities with more than 3,000 tax returns. I’ll address the cities with fewer returns shortly.

Thousand Palms saw average incomes rise more than 3.5 times over that span, from $12,700 in 2017 to nearly $45,000 three years later. In nearby Indian Wells, incomes nearly doubled, from $139,000 to $256,000.

Castleman analyzed what was happening in his full article. Let’s look at some of those findings.

The Coachella Valley is experiencing a desert bloom

Income levels in Thousand Palms were far lower than in Indian Wells — but each is getting richer from a regionwide perspective, said Kyle Garman, an agent for Keller Williams who has sold real estate in the Coachella Valley for eight years.

Part of the story is attributable to remote work, he said, but the valley has also undergone a shift from being primarily a tourist destination to a place to settle down.

“It’s not just Palm Springs, it’s not just people coming for the festivals, it’s the whole valley,” Garman said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, home prices were much lower and only about 35% to 40% of residents stayed for the hottest months of the year, he said. As more attractions and infrastructure have become available to residents, though, “people are sticking around more.”

So, who is moving in?

The average California household has a net worth between three and six times their adjusted gross income, meaning that the average Indian Wells resident probably became a millionaire between 2017 and 2022 as average household income skyrocketed to $256,000 from $139,000.

In the Coachella Valley, “the money’s coming from all over,” Garman observed. When the housing market was most competitive, around 2022 and 2023, cash buyers flooded in.

Now, they’re high earners who have relocated to towns that were formerly less tony. “This is the new norm,” he said.

Garman pointed to a number of new Coachella Valley attractions that were drawing families — the Firebirds professional ice hockey team and Disney’s Cotino housing development.

Thousand Palms is unincorporated, drawing homeowners because, as one businessperson there put it: “Taxes are more reasonable, you have fewer regulations when you want to build.”

Notes that didn’t make Castleman’s cut

When Castleman looked at the income changes in smaller towns, he found some intriguing data.

He discovered staggering income jumps in towns like Helm, an unincorporated Fresno County village that has about 200 residents.

Between the 2017-2022 period, Helm saw incomes grow by 10 times, reaching near $200,000.

Castleman said many smaller towns throughout the state are disproportionately impacted by the moves of one or a handful of “big fish.”

“The experts told me that there was likely a big farm owner who reported huge losses one year and then huge gains the next year,” he said. “So, these towns can have wild fluctuations.”

For more, check out Castleman’s full story.

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Published on
24/09/2025 – 9:33 GMT+2

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Shares in Alibaba rose around 9% in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon after CEO Eddie Wu said that he would lift the firm’s AI budget.

The e-commerce giant had already pledged to invest 380 billion yuan (€45bn) in AI-related infrastructure over the next three years, seeking to stay ahead as firms race to develop new models. Wu did not give details on the additional expenditure.

The pledge came as Wu was launching Alibaba’s most powerful AI model during a company conference in Hangzhou, China. The firm’s chief technology officer, Zhou Jingren, said that the Qwen3-Max model contains more than 1 trillion parameters. These are learnt values that determine how the system processes information and makes predictions.

In certain metrics, Alibaba claimed that its Qwen3-Max model outperformed rival offerings like Anthropic’s Claude and DeepSeek-V3.1, citing third-party benchmarks.

“The industry’s development speed far exceeded what we expected, and the industry’s demand for AI infrastructure also far exceeded our anticipation,” Wu said on Wednesday. “We are actively proceeding with the 380 billion investment in AI infrastructure, and plan to add more.”

Stressing that Alibaba must push ahead, Wu estimated that total global investment in AI will exceed $4 trillion (€3.4tn) in the next five years. Chinese rivals such as Tencent and JD.com, as well as US tech firms, have invested heavily in AI over the past year.

Complicating Alibaba’s progress, however, are access restrictions on AI processors from Nvidia.

Last week, China’s internet regulator banned the country’s biggest tech firms from buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, according to the Financial Times.

The reported ban comes as China seeks to boost its homegrown chip industry and wean itself off dependence on the US.

In August, Chinese firms had previously been advised not to buy Nvidia’s H20, a chip designed specifically for China, with officials in Beijing warning of perceived security risks to national data and systems.

The warning arrived after the US lifted its own ban on the export of H20 chips to China, imposed in April amid a trade spat.