The UK government has launched a new campaign advising UK holidaymakers to prepare for the new Entry/Exit System (ESS) coming soon. The campaign involves messages, that inform Brits about the introduction of the new EU border checks, being posted on the government’s social media profiles and shared by on travel websites.
The ESS, introduced by the EU for UK and non-EU nationals travelling for a short stay, will come into effect on October 12 and gradually be implemented over a six-month period. The automated system will require travellers to register at the border by scanning their passports and having their fingerprints and photographs taken.
It will be a requirement for those entering Schengen area countries, such as Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. However, it is not required when you visit Ireland and Cyprus.
According to Travel Weekly, Brits will have to register on their first visit to a participating country after the new control is introduced, and the registration will remain valid for a rolling three-year period or until their passport expires.
As part of the new rules, all travellers, including babies, must be photographed and digital records created. However, children under the age of 12 will not be required to have their fingerprints taken.
For future entries and exits from participating countries, travellers will only need to scan their passport and give either fingerprints or a photo at the border.
The government stated that a phased introduction of ESS “should allow for a phased implementation that minimises disruption, particularly at peak periods.”
The checks are expected to take up to two minutes per traveller, but the Government warned that they “may lead to longer wait times at border control upon arrival in the Schengen area”.
For those travelling from juxtaposed ports, such as the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone or St Pancras International, the process will happen at the border before leaving the UK.
Longer waits at these cross-Channel operators are expected but the government has said that there are “plans in place to minimise disruption as much as possible”.
A goverment spokeperson said: “While ESS checks will be a significant change to the EU border, we are in constant and close dialogue with out European partners to try and minimise the impact on the British public.
“While we have done everything we can to ensure the required infrastructure is in place, anyone who is planning a trip to the European mainland once these checks are introduced will still need to allow more time for their journey as the new EU systems bed in.”
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Speaker Mike Johnson really wants the 2026 midterm election to be about crime. Johnson also really, really wants Trump to get the credit for his photo-op crime-fighting in blue cities.
Johnson said on Wednesday:
We need to confirm for the American people that they do not need to fear for their lives when they drive to the grocery store or they pick up their son or daughter from school. This is common sense and I cannot, for the life of me understand how the Democrats think this is some sort of winning political message yield man.
Let the troops come into your city and show how crime can be reduced. It’s a morale boost for the country and it’s safe and and right for everybody involved. So I, if they want to go down that road, they’re gonna go down that road. But we’re gonna keep talking about common sense and we’re gonna keep delivering.
Video:
Why is Johnson so determined to get Democratic mayors to ask Trump to invade their cities?
The answer goes back to the California court ruling that Donald Trump can’t use the military for civilian law enforcement. Republicans are also worried that Trump’s use of the military will be halted by the courts if the troops are not invited into the cities.
Trump used immigration protests as a pretext to invade Los Angeles. Trump didn’t need a justification to invade Washington, DC, but if he wants to invade other cities, he is going to need a reason or to be invited in.
The cities have shown less than zero interest in inviting Trump and his troops in, so Johnson is trying to politically pressure them.
As more cities resist, Trump’s invasion tour seems to be losing steam.
Johnson has to change the subject away from the economy to have any chance of Republicans keeping the House majority, so he is floating the crime distraction, and if this fails, his time as Speaker is probably going to end.
What do you think about Johnson asking mayors to invite the Trump troops in? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Evercore ISI thinks Apple’s new iPhone Air will be the catalyst for a long-overdue upgrade cycle and has boosted it’s Apple stock price target by a bit, but history suggests that’s a risky bet.
iPhone Air
In a note to investors on September 9, 2025, seen by AppleInsider, the research firm raised its Apple stock target to $260, up from $250. Analysts argued that the iPhone 17 lineup, particularly the newly introduced iPhone Air, represents enough of a design shift to reinvigorate demand.
Evercore highlighted five takeaways from Apple’s “Awe Dropping” event in Cupertino. Analysts believe these moves mark the start of a new multi-year roadmap for iPhone sales.
It’s movie night on the weekend. No more work for a couple of days, everyone’s tired after a busy week, and the children will probably go to bed early or hang out in a pajama party that hopefully, you won’t have to host. Your partner in crime is only expecting you to open the wine if you’re not a bloodsucking vampire or make popcorn if Ghostface doesn’t call first. The latest addition to the family comes in the form of the streaming service HBO Max.
We know time is like a currency nowadays, so we don’t want you to waste any of it. That’s why we’ve handpicked a list of titles that are available on HBO Max for your enjoyment. Not everyone likes the same, so we’ve made sure to pick something of each horror subgenre. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up going on a horror marathon that’ll continue until Saturday morning. Just be careful, as none of these are family-friendly.
Updated on Sep. 9, 2025: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
23
‘MaXXXine’ (2024)
MaXXXine is the movie that concludes Ti West’s X trilogy, and it’s a direct sequel to his 2022 movie, X. Set in 1980s Hollywood, it follows Maxine Minx, an adult film star and budding actress desperately wanting to achieve mainstream success. But before she can become famous, she finds herself embroiled in a series of murders involving the infamous Night Stalker. Soon, Maxine is forced to come face-to-face with her dark past.
Neatly Wraps Up the Trilogy
West’s direction, as usual, brings a unique blend of ’80s nostalgia and unsettling horror, which not only makes MaXXXine a standout in the genre but also an enormously successful horror film of 2024. Mia Goth is a revelation once again in her captivating performance as the titular character. The film thrives on its visuals, visceral chills, and a gripping storyline.
22
‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (2024)
A Sundance Film Festival premiere, this A24 horror follows Owen and Maddie, two high school students, otherwise isolated from the other kids their age, but connecting with each other over their shared love of a mysterious young adult television show called The Pink Opaque. Their obsession with the show grows to the point where they see beyond the TV screen, and it leads them down a surreal path.
Mind-Bending Thriller
I Saw the TV Glow is a psychological horror with a deeper meaning about reality and identity. It is directed by Jane Schoenbrun, who intends to offer the viewers a disturbing experience, but at the same time, wants to draw attention to the emotional turmoil of her characters, who feel safe in a certain place but can’t be as liberated elsewhere. Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine are incredible at turning the movie into a must-watch.
21
‘Trap’ (2024)
Written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap is another psychological thriller that delivers what it promises. It centers around a father-daughter duo attending a concert but noticing a sinister presence and getting caught up in it. Apparently, the concert is actually a trap set by the FBI to capture a serial killer, which causes major chaos among the attendees.
Thrives on Hartnett’s Performances
As always, Shyamalan keeps the audience on edge with the plot twists and the build-up of suspense, until the final reveal leaves them in awe of everything they just witnessed. Trap conveniently combines intrigue with horror, which the director is known for, and creates an eerie atmosphere throughout. Josh Hartnett plays the conflicted father, who’s also revealed to be the serial killer’s target, and Ariel Donoghue shines as the daughter. Overall, a darkly humorous and satisfying horror-thriller.
20
‘Sinners’ (2025)
Lauded as one of the greatest horror movies of the twenty-first century and beyond, Ryan Coogler’s atmospheric masterpiece Sinners features a dual powerhouse performance by Michael B. Jordan and takes place in 1932 in the rural town of Clarksdale, Mississippi where twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore return after years of being away, only to discover something supernatural and sinister is plaguing the community and spreading evil.
Coogler Crafts a Transcending Horror Knockout
One of the most critically and commercially successful releases of the year, Sinners took audiences by storm with its electrifying storytelling, stunning visuals, and captivating soundtrack, as well as its profound exploration of spiritualism, racism, and the struggles Black Americans faced in the South during the tumultuous time period. Praised for its brilliant blend of genres, Sinners won Best Horror Movie at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards and is nominated for a slew of other prestigious accolades (with many more likely on the way).
19
‘Caddo Lake’ (2024)
A supernatural thriller written and directed by Celine Held and Logan George, Caddo Lake takes place in the titular tight-knit community. It begins with the sudden disappearance of an eight-year-old girl named Ellie. After her family and the Caddo Lake community begin searching for her, they uncover a series of past deaths and mysterious disappearances, all of which lead to the presence of a supernatural force.
A Moody and Gripping Mystery
Drawing from the atmospheres of small-town horror classics, Caddo Lake impresses viewers with its setting. The intriguing mystery that binds all the minutes together escalates slowly and gradually and sets up a haunting finale. The movie stars Dylan O’Brien and Eliza Scanlen as Paris, a twenty-something guy who gets caught up in the mystery, and Ellie, respectively. The film is described by critics as a “delirious sci-fi thrill ride that washes over the senses.”
18
‘Funny Games’ (1997)
Funny Games is a psychological horror movie written and directed by Michael Haneke. It centers around a family of three arriving at their holiday home in Austria to have a good time. Shortly after settling in, they are visited by two seemingly polite young men (whom they spotted at their neighbors’ on their drive here). They overstay their welcome, torment the family, and play a bizarre series of games with them for their own twisted amusement.
Haunting Imagery of Unknown Terror
Haneke focuses less on the graphics and more on the banality of evil. Even though his direction is controlled, the pacing is deliberate, and the politeness is only forced, the movie is so intense and shocking that the terror of not knowing when or how the pain will strike is what unsettles and scares the audience. Back when it was first shown at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, one-third of the audience left the theater. Regardless, Funny Games is considered a masterpiece, specifically for subverting the slasher genre. It also led to an American remake starring Tim Roth and Naomi Watts.
17
‘Scream’ (1996)
The movie that rekindled people’s interest in the horror genre and brought back the gleeful gore of the ’80s slasher movies, Scream was the first in what would become a full-fledged, generation-defining horror franchise. It is set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, and it begins with a young woman named Sidney receiving a phone call from a mysterious person. Soon after, a killer in a Ghostface mask begins murdering her friends.
Revitalizes the Slasher Genre
By combining horror, comedy, and ingenious meta references, director Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s brilliant script breathed new life into overused tropes. Not only did the movie succeed on the commercial front, but it also garnered high praise from critics and fans for being self-aware, twisted, and downright terrifying. Scream pays homage to the classics, but it also redefines horror by offering fresh perspectives, unforgettable scream queens, and a meticulously executed plot. Overall, Scream is a charming horror classic.
16
‘It’ (2017)
The second spine-tingling Hollywood adaptation of the classic Stephen King bestseller, 2017’s It stars acting chameleon Bill Skarsgård as the demented killer clown Pennywise, who terrorizes a close-knit group of outcast children in the small town of Derry, Maine, by forcing them to face their greatest fears. Every 27 years, the shape-shifting demon emerges from the sewers to wreak havoc and prey on the innocent, and it’s up to Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and his fellow Losers to put an end to the clown’s terror.
Skarsgård Delivers a Hair-Raising Performance as Pennywise
Attempting to live up to the legacy of Tim Curry’s unnerving portrayal of Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries would be a tall order for any actor, yet Skarsgård epically created his own hair-raising portrayal of the malevolent entity and scared up endless thrills and chills in It. The horror sensation shattered box office records and grossed over $704 million worldwide while spawning the successful 2019 sequel It Chapter Two, and fans of both Skarsgård and the killer clown are anxiously awaiting the premiere of the upcoming prequel series It: Welcome to Derry.
15
‘Eyes Without a Face’ (1960)
Eyes Without a Face is about a renowned Parisian plastic surgeon who is devastated after a car accident leaves his daughter’s face disfigured. Consumed by guilt, he resorts to unbelievable means to make her “beautiful” again – abducting unwitting women on the road late at night, removing their facial skin to graft onto his daughter, then dumping their corpses into the river. A police investigation begins, and Dr. Génessier eventually meets his fate.
An Elegant and Chilling Psychological Masterpiece
The French-language horror was met with polarizing reviews from critics and fans. While some lauded its strange yet compelling narrative, others were deeply unsettled by its imagery. Regardless, this Georges Franju-directed movie is considered a masterpiece in the history of cinema. Pierre Brasseur haunts as Doctor Génessier, while Alida Valli excels as the deranged doctor’s guilt-ridden nurse. Shot with exquisite compositions and poetic undertones, its themes of obsession and fragility endure even today.
14
‘Child’s Play’ (1988)
Kids were never able to look at their toys quite the same way after the supernatural slasher Child’s Play made its chilling debut, with the ’80s cult classic famously telling the story of a vicious serial killer whose soul is transferred into a doll after he performs a voodoo ritual and dies at the hands of a detective. When widow Karen inadvertently gives her six-year-old son Andy the doll that possesses the spirit of the notorious Charles Lee Ray, bloodshed and violence quickly follow suit.
The Terrifying Chucky Becomes a Bona Fide Horror Icon
Child’s Play sparked a massive and lasting impact on cinema as it winningly blended horror and humor while also providing satirical commentary on consumerism and society’s obsession with toys. Critics and fans alike were blown away by the film’s pint-sized, diabolical villain and director Tom Holland’s use of deeply unsettling puppetry, and its unexpected success helped spawn an enduring media franchise that consists of six sequels, a TV series, a reboot, and more. Nearly 40 years later, Chucky remains a pop culture icon and one of the horror world’s most instantly recognizable figures.
The hype surrounding The Smashing Machine has been astronomical and for good reason. It’s Benny Safdie’s first solo directorial effort after working with his brother Josh on acclaimed hits like Good Time and Uncut Gems. Rumors of a massive budget make it possibly one of the most expensive films A24 has ever made as it makes a push for bigger films in general. And it’s Dwayne Johnson’s big Oscar vehicle, the box office giant’s first stab at a truly serious role.
To get in the headspace of former UFC fighter Mark Kerr, Johnson has transformed and spoken often about how tapping into this role brought him to a vulnerable state he hasn’t yet explored in his career. The big question out of the film’s Venice premiere was, does it all work? The answer is no.
The Smashing Machine Is Too Sedate To Be Thrilling
Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine
As a sports biopic, The Smashing Machine is unconventional in some ways. It opts not for an expansive look at Kerr’s entire life, but focuses instead on the three years — from 1997 to 2000 — where addiction almost ruined Kerr’s life and the fighter had an overseas gig in a Japanese league called Pride. Still, Safdie, who also wrote the script, can’t help but fall into some of the genre’s trappings, with training montages and more used to middling effect.
To his credit, Johnson’s performance is absolutely fine, though it’s certainly not revelatory. The idea of casting the world’s most famous wrestler-turned-actor in the role of Kerr is arguably more fascinating than the performance or the film itself. That said, it is Johnson’s best role to date, giving the actor a chance to bite into meaty material that he has otherwise avoided through much of his career.
Blunt is in the role of the thankless, underdeveloped love interest, but she truly shines as Dawn, Kerr’s eventual wife. In one of the film’s domestic fight scenes (which are more thrilling than anything that takes place in the ring), Dawn shouts at Mark that he “doesn’t know her.” We don’t really know him, either — at least not on any sort of intimate level beyond her relationship with the star of the show. Still, Blunt imbues Dawn with a sense of humanity that makes her stand out, flaws and all.
Safdie’s direction adds a layer of intimacy that his script does not, and it certainly evokes past collaborations with his brother, but there’s a stagnancy to the camera that gives The Smashing Machine an overall lack of energy, even during its most brutal moments. This all builds to an anticlimactic conclusion that, while presumably true to real events, nonetheless feels underwhelming.
Underneath all these flaws lies a good film. It’s not that The Smashing Machine is even bad. It’s just that it falls so short of its potential and has a startling lack of energy for a film about men beating each other senseless. Its best moments aren’t in the octagon — they’re in the quiet moments when Johnson’s Kerr is talking to an interviewer backstage or when Dawn and Mark are exchanging barbs in between affections in their cozy Arizona home.
The best sports biopics are about overcoming near-insurmountable odds, and Kerr certainly did that time and time again. Johnson, too, has done the same, transitioning from a wrestling star to a serious actor. But it’s clear that to go further, he may need better material to transcend. At the end of the day, The Smashing Machine still reverts to familiarity rather than pushing the needle, and it’s clear that everyone involved can do better.
The Smashing Machine screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release the film in theaters on October 3.
If you asked the average listener who Blur is, you’d be lucky to get an answer that didn’t mention “Song 2,” the British band’s smash-hit-turned-stadium-anthem that launched them to transatlantic fame.
But the Britpop quartet — featuring Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Dave Rowntree and Alex James — saw their path to glory paved long before the song’s release in 1997. In fact, their first album, “Leisure,” released in 1991, may not have had the chart-smashing success of later projects like “Parklife” in ’94, but it did result in their first steps onto international soil and perhaps the establishment of the Britpop genre.
Not much is known about those early Britpop days, before Pulp set the world ablaze with “Common People” and Sleeper released “The It Girl,” an often-underrated album that captured the essence of the era to a T.
No, this is before Oasis and Blur duked it out in the infamous Battle of Britpop, before “Roll With It” versus “Country House,” before bassist James donned the rivals’ merch during a celebratory Top of the Pops performance.
At the time, Blur were on the heels of “Leisure,” and while they’d been given a nod or two in Britain, they remained relatively underground in the States. It would have been easy to lose those years to the moving hands of history, but Rowntree decided to pick up an Olympus OM-10 to “record their daily lives.”
Dave Rowntree of Blur poses while drinking a beer in a red sweater.
(Dave Rowntree)
“They’re unremarkable times. That’s why I took them, really,” Rowntree tells The Times. “They’re the times in between the big events in the Blur story, and those times are quite similar; there’s the traveling, hanging around in dressing rooms and all of that.”
Unbeknownst to him, he’d be capturing an early glimpse into the making of Blur and the birth of the Britpop scene. But, thankfully, he did, and he will share them with the world in his upcoming book “No One You Know,” out Sept. 9 on Hero Press.
Recently, Rowntree spoke with The Times about all its trials and tribulations — and, perhaps, indulge in some reminiscence.
What time period were these photos taken from? I gauged it was around “Leisure.” If I see Damon’s bowl cut, I know it’s pretty early.
There are some pictures from before we were even signed. But by and large, yes, it’s in the lead up to the first album and the tour that followed that, as far as I can tell.
Before you were even signed, were you still Blur or was the band called Seymour?
We were a number of names … it would be a mistake to think that the band was called Seymour for any length of time. That was just the name that we happened to settle on at the point we were signed … we might not have even been called Seymour. I think we were probably called Seymour for two gigs.
I know you took most of these photos, but who took the photos of you?
There are some early proto-selfies in there, but yeah, 99% were taken by me. Sometimes I just gave the camera to somebody … you can see because those photos are in pairs, because the photo I took of the other people, then I gave the camera to them and they took the photo of me.
You mentioned in the book that a lot of these photos you hadn’t remembered ever taking.
No, no, because they’re not the big events in the Blur story.
At various times in my life, I’ve kept a diary, and my diary has been full of those unremarkable events, the minutiae rather than the big ticket items, because they’re the things that bring out the flavor of the time.
They’re the things that nobody else was taking pictures of. Everybody else was taking pictures of us on stage and, you know, the kind of public-facing things; I wanted to remember what it was actually like in between those things.
Damon Albarn, from left, Alex James and Graham Coxon sit at a table.
(Dave Rowntree)
So why put them in a book?
As a collection, they are remarkable — they’re photos of the unremarkable times, which is what makes the collection remarkable. I think that’s what nobody else has.
Nobody really had all the behind-the-scenes stuff that showed what it was actually like to be in Blur, because we were on stage a tiny proportion of the time.
When you were taking these, did you ever think, “Hey, this could end up in a book one day?”
No, I never did. And I remember Damon asking me at one point what I was going to do with all these pictures. It wasn’t clear to anyone that this [the tour] wasn’t going to be it.
“No One You Know” was named after what Kenny, the bus driver, put on the front of the bus during our first American tour. But he was right.
In the UK, we were playing to these tiny little clubs to maybe 50 people, and the band, the music we were making, was deeply unfashionable at that point. We had to have our own chart, “indie chart,” because we were so unlikely to get into the main charts. All that changed later on, but at that time, it was by no means clear that this wasn’t going to be our only tour of Japan, our only tour of the States; we had no idea.
Alex James digs through a bin of Lego while on a tour bus.
(Dave Rowntree)
I remember listening to your podcast, the Dave Rowntree Show, and you told a story about touring the U.S. that kind of epitomized that.
This is astonishing, really, but yeah, that was in a place laughingly called Mile City. It had about three houses, and right in the middle there was a sign over a building saying “Casino,” and it had a slot machine in, so it was a real American backwater.
These kids bounded over and asked for our autograph. I thought, “Wow, we finally arrived.”
It became clear, after talking with them for a couple of minutes, that actually, they just never met a British person before, maybe never did again.
What was it like when you finally uncovered the metal box that held all of these photos?
It was a relief. But it’s not like I opened the box and gorged myself on the pictures.
Eventually, I threw myself into a few boxes of what I laughingly call memorabilia. It’s just stuff that I chucked in a box at the end of a tour rather than throw away. Then I thought, “Well, I’d better start looking through these photos.” And I didn’t hold out much hope for them, but when I did start to look through them, I realized that actually I’d captured something.
There was something there, a sort of energy, vitalism and naivety, that was actually quite interesting.
Do you remember why you stopped taking them?
What I told myself was that I shouldn’t be looking through the camera lens at this exciting, new life. I should be living it. But actually, I was only looking through the camera lens a tiny portion of it. So that wasn’t a good excuse.
And after a few years, it wasn’t really exciting and new. I was less dazzled by all these things because I’d done them before. Like the first time we flew into Japan, I was just blown over by the beauty of the place and the extraordinary people, and there are the kind of futuristic cities and all of that. But then we went to Japan three or four times a year, and after five years, there wasn’t that kind of intake of breath anymore, and so I just stopped taking pictures of things.
That’s one of my regrets, really. I gave up the piano when I was seven years old. That’s one of my biggest regrets. And I stopped taking these pictures after a few years, and that’s my second biggest regret.
Blur’s Damon Albarn sits to the left of a Japanese fan while appearing on a radio show.
(Dave Rowntree)
What would you say was the hardest part of putting it all together?
Not putting pictures in was the big thing. Because there’s great pictures that just haven’t gone in the book because they just didn’t fit in, not because they’re not good pictures. And I found that difficult.
I’m not quite ruthless enough to be able to do that, but in the end, I was forced to, because the publishers imposed a page count on me. I figured out how many photos that was going to be and just had to chuck out about 100 photos.
Do you think we’ll ever see those?
You know, there’s enough for another book. There’s only about half of my photos in there.
If I do another book … I think I’ve done that now, I’ll maybe do something else. But there’s enough interesting photos left to do something else with.
Halsey’s full-length debut album BADLANDS is back in the top 10 on multiple Billboard album charts following its 10th anniversary reissue. The 2015 set was reissued on Aug. 29 in multiple deluxe formats and reenters the top 10 on Top Album Sales (No. 5), Top Alternative Albums (No. 6), Vinyl Albums (No. 4), Catalog Albums (No. 9) and debuts in the top 10 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 7).
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All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
In the tracking week ending Sept. 4, BADLANDS earned 17,000 equivalent album units in the United States, of which nearly 12,000 are in traditional album sales (about 9,000 in vinyl purchases).
BADLANDS is one of three reentries in the top 10 on the Top Album Sales chart, joined by Sabrina Carpenter’s emails i can’t send (No. 6) and Charli xcx’s how i’m feeling now (No. 8). Meanwhile, the only debut in the region is Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend at No. 1.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming equivalent album (SEA) units.
At No. 1 on Top Album Sales, Man’s Best Friend arrives with 224,000 sold in its first week (the third-largest sales week of 2025 and Carpenter’s best sales week ever). Stray Kids’ KARMA falls to No. 2 (with 53,000, down 82%) after debuting atop the list a week ago. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack climbs 5-3 (15,000, down 19%), Deftones’ private music dips 3-4 in its second week (13,000, down 80%) and emails i can’t send reenters at No. 6 (11,000, up 1,766% after a new vinyl variant was released).
Laufey’s A Matter of Time falls 2-7 in its second week (11,000, down 84%), Charli xcx’s how i’m feeling now reenters at No. 8 (9,500, up 2,613% following the release of a fifth anniversary color vinyl variant), KATSEYE’s Beautiful Chaos surges 20-9 (9,000, up 81% following a restock of certain editions of the album at retail) and Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet jumps 30-10 (9,000, up 115% in the wake of Man’s Best Friend’s arrival).
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Alien: Earth, Season 1 Episode 6, “The Fly.”]
Alien: Earthcontinues to explore the growing tensions between corporations Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani in the show’s latest installment, “The Fly,” which stages a pivotal negotiation between Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver).
As viewers recall, Episode 5 revealed that Boy Kavalier’s Prodigy had infiltrated and orchestrated the crash of USCSS Maginot on Earth, with the intention of claiming the alien cargo aboard it. Finally, the corporations come face to face at a hearing during which Kavalier sits back and throws his bare feet up on the table.
Yutani makes the argument that the cargo aboard the ship is Weyland-Yutani property that must be returned, while Kavalier lays out the reality of that cargo in front of a mediator representing the governance known as the Five; he is gaslighting to the extreme, suggesting Yutani aimed to attack Prodigy territory.
Patrick Brown / FX
While Kavalier agrees to deliver Yutani’s ship back to her, so long as it doesn’t knock over his building further, the pair end up in a bidding war over the extraterrestrial cargo. Kavalier argues that if she wants it back, she’ll have to pay, as he drives the price higher and higher. Yutani goes so far as to offer $50 billion, to which he seems to agree, before reminding her she can retrieve it after the required quarantine.
“He’s going into this meeting with that little trick up his sleeve, which gives a little bit of light in your eyes as you go in,” Blenkin tells TV Insider about Kavalier’s approach to the pivotal conversation. “But I think also he’s just a character who doesn’t believe it’s possible for him to lose,” Blenkin adds.
In a way, Blenkin notes that the blind confidence his character carries likely comes from a place in which he’s never really faced consequences. “The recklessness goes so far because I don’t think he’s ever had anything come back to bite him in his life. We all go through those little moments in our lives when we have our little comeuppances, and what’s funny about him is that he hasn’t learned many lessons.”
Patrick Brown / FX
According to the star, during filming, “We didn’t really have air conditioning in there, so it was hot and intense, and it really felt like a kind of pressure cooker situation.” Despite the tense nature of the conversation, though, Blenkin notes, “Sandra and I had a great time.” The scene was almost more extreme as well as Blenkin reveals when he was rehearsing with director Ugla Hauksdóttir, “I had the idea of getting up on the table and stuff… she let me push it a little bit too far.”
Ultimately, he says, “I got up on the table and she was like, I’m not sure if it’s gonna work because it’s meant to be a business meeting, it’s a professional meeting.” Still, Blenkin adds, “My instinct with this character is that you might as well just go the whole hog as long as the performance is not completely like a caricature. He’s an affected person because he’s his own hero in his own hero’s journey.”
Perhaps that explains Boy Kavalier’s fascination with Peter Pan, whose stories he reads over the intercoms to his hybrid creations. The choice to interpret the text for his own narrative is something Blenkin says is “quite on trend.”
“In this case, a trillionaire… having a really formative reading experience that he’s clearly really attached to this book, but completely misinterpreting the point of the book. I really love that. I love that he doesn’t even stop to think twice about whether the book might have a different meaning,” Blenkin adds, hinting at his impressionable and mostly indestructible hybrids.
What will playing with aliens and Yutani mean for Boy Kavalier? Stay tuned to find out and let us know what you thought of his deal-making moment in the comments section.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has been in the news a lot over the past month. Clearly, the quarterly earnings release was a key focus, but other news relating to new deals and competitor actions also impacted the stock price. If an investor had decided to put £1k in the US stock in the lead up to all of this, here’s what it would currently be valued at.
Talking through the numbers
I’m going to assume the investor bought a month ago, when the share price was trading at $180.77. It’s currently at $167, representing a 7.6% fall over this period. The £1k investment would now be worth £924.
Before I start to make judgments based on this, it’s key to compare this to the broader market and to similar companies over the same time period. The best benchmark for Nvidiais the Nasdaq index. Over a one-month period, the index is up 1.1%.
Next, I looked at other large tech companies. For comparison, Apple is up 9%, Amazon is up 4%, and Microsoft is down 5%. Therefore, it’s clear the past month has been a mixed bag when it comes to tech stock performance. This isn’t too surprising, given that earnings season has been positive for some and negative for others. But it does highlight that Nvidia is the worst performer among the others that I’ve considered.
Why the stock has fallen
When we just look at the earnings report, the numbers don’t flash any immediate red flags. Q2 revenue rose 56% versus the same period last year to hit $46.7bn, with AI data centre revenue around $41.1bn.
However, there was some concern that the pace of growth going forward isn’t as high as people expected. Some would say the benchmark for growth is set too high, meaning the stock was always going to fall. Notably, there were no H20 chip sales to China included in the forecast, reflecting ongoing geopolitical constraints.
Another hit came as Broadcom secured a $10bn AI chip deal, raising concerns about the erosion of Nvidia’s pricing power and potential lost revenue. An article I read flagged up to $12bn in potential lost revenues for Nvidia, even as AI demand remains strong overall.
The long-term vision
It can be dangerous to look at performance over a one-month period and jump to hasty conclusions. The fact is that Nvidia stock is up 62% over the last year. The growth prospects are still high. For example, we had news last week of a $1.5bn GPU leasing deal with AI cloud startup Lambda, involving leasing back 18,000 of its own AI chips over four years. Deals like this show the scale of potential business that still exists.
With AI adoption and innovation rapidly increasing, I think Nvidia is still at the top of the tree going forward. I’ve already got enough exposure to this sector in my portfolio right now. But for investors who are looking to tap into AI as a theme, I feel it’s a stock to consider buying.
A federal court ruled Tuesday that embattled Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her position while she fights President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire her.
The ruling, which will almost certainly be appealed, is a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert more control over the traditionally independent Fed, which sets short-term interest rates to achieve its congressionally mandated goals of stable prices and maximum employment. Congress has also sought to insulate the Fed from day-to-day politics.
Trump said he was firing Cook on Aug. 25 over allegations raised by one of his appointees that she committed mortgage fraud related to two properties she purchased in 2021, before she joined the Fed. Cook is accused of saying two properties were “primary residences,” which could have resulted in lower down payments and mortgage rates than if either was designated a second home or investment property.
Cook’s lawyers argued that firing her was unlawful because presidents can only fire Fed governors “for cause,” which has typically meant inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance while in office. They also said she was entitled to a hearing and a chance to respond to the charges before being fired, but was not provided either. Her lawsuit denied the charges but did not provide more details.
The case could become a turning point for the 112-year-old Federal Reserv. Economists prefer independent central banks because they can do unpopular things like lifting interest rates to combat inflation more easily than elected officials.
Many economists worry that if the Fed falls under the control of the White House, it will keep its key interest rate lower than justified by economic fundamentals to satisfy Trump’s demands for cheaper borrowing. That could accelerate inflation and could also push up longer-term interest rates, such as those on mortgages and car loans. Investors may demand a higher yield to own bonds to offset greater inflation in the future, lifting borrowing costs for the U.S. government, and the entire economy.
If Trump can replace Cook, he may be able to gain a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s governing board. Trump appointed two board members during his first term and has nominated a key White House economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to replace Adriana Kugler, another Fed governor who stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1. Trump has said he will only appoint people to the Fed who will support lower rates.
No president has sought to fire a Fed governor before.
The Supreme Court has signaled that the president can’t fire Fed officials over policy differences, but can do so “for cause,” typically meaning misconduct or neglect of duty. Cook has not been charged with any crime.
Trump has repeatedly attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the other members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee for not cutting the short-term interest rate they control more quickly. It currently stands at 4.3%, after Fed policymakers reduced it by a full percentage point late last year. Trump has said he thinks it should be as low as 1.3%, a level that no Fed official and few economists support.
Powell recently signaled that the central bank was leaning toward cutting its rate at its next meeting Sept. 16-17. Still, it’s likely that the Fed will cut its key rate more slowly than Trump wants, and perhaps to as low as 3.25% or so — higher than Trump would prefer.
Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and prior to joining the board she taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
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