R&B singer Ray J was arrested early Thanksgiving morning, according to jail records and a police spokesman.
The 44-year-old artist — whose legal name is Willie Norwood — was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, according to Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Mike Bland.
Jail records show Norwood was arrested around 4 a.m. by officers from LAPD’s Devonshire Division, which patrols parts of the San Fernando Valley including Chatsworth and Northridge.
Bland could not provide details on the incident or say exactly where Norwood was arrested. He was released on $50,000 bond a few hours after his arrest, according to jail records.
The younger brother of actress and singer Brandy, Norwood is best known for the tracks “One Wish” and “Sexy Can I.” He was sued for defamation in October by his ex-girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, over comments he made in a TMZ documentary.
Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau have announced a new junta leader, cementing a forceful takeover of power that began after a disputed presidential election, in what the main opposition candidate called a ploy to prevent him from taking over power. Guinea-Bissau, one of the world’s poorest countries, and a hub for drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe, has been dogged by coups and attempted coups since its independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, Angela Diffley welcomes Nina Wilén, Associate Professor in Political Science at Lund University and Director for the Africa Programme at Egmont Institute for International Relations. Since 2020, ‘ECOWAS has lost quite a lot of its power and credibility’, explains Ms. Wilén: Out of the 15-member states, there have been five successful coups. ECOWAS has been unsuccessful “at restoring constitutional order to any of these states.”
In the tech business, timing is everything. Similarly, according to Mike Judge and Alec Berg, the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley” got out of the game at the right time.
In an interview around the time of the series’ 2019 finale, series co-creator Judge and director and executive producer Berg sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to explain why the Thomas Middleditch-led geek comedy had to end after six seasons. “It just felt like we can only have them keep failing for so long without it getting old,” Judge reasoned. “I didn’t want to run it into the ground. And hopefully, we didn’t.”
Along with Middleditch, who played anxiety-addled Pied Piper CEO Richard, the show featured an ensemble including Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Jimmy O. Yang, and Josh Brener (original castmate T.J. Miller left the show after Season 4). The irony-heavy series featured an onslaught of highs and lows for the unlucky geniuses at its center, and ended with a finale in which the fate of the free world was literally in Richard’s hands.
Judge told THR that the show’s writers began penning Season 6 scripts with “an open mind about possibly having a seventh [season],” but that once they dug into the storyline, Season 6 seemed like “the right time to bring it all to a head.” Berg noted that by 2019, he, Judge, and the cast all had busy schedules outside of “Silicon Valley,” and that “everybody just felt like it would be a shame if it started to decay as we were doing it.” In the years since the series wrapped, Nanjiani joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Judge relaunched “King of the Hill” on Hulu, and Berg earned acclaim (and multiple Emmy nominations) for his work on “Barry.” The tech industry changed, too, in a way that Berg and Judge seemed to foresee in 2019.
The real-life tech industry kept raising the stakes for the HBO series
HBO
“When we started, it was just guys trying to make their little thing work and make some money. And by the end, it had evolved into this thing where it was a group of people who are literally trying to save the world,” Berg noted at the time. While the constant stakes-raising helped the show, he said, it also “made it a lot harder to just be fun and loose and goofy and just make jokes because there was a real weight and import to what was going on.”
That story arc was reflected in the real world, where tech billionaires were regularly showing up in court and in Congress. “You get to this place where people are making very sustainable arguments that Facebook and Twitter and these other companies have torn the fabric of society irreparably,” Berg said. “Facebook is destroying the world, you could argue. And it ceases to just become a goofy, fun little show.”
As Judge put it, “Facebook’s motto back then was ‘move fast and break things,’ and it’s little less cute now that they actually have moved fast and broken things.” Berg compared “Silicon Valley” to “Veep,” another series that went from outlandishly funny to painfully accurate as the “vapid and narcissistic” American politicians at its core began to bear resemblance to those in real life. He also compared the decision to end “Silicon Valley” on a high note to his early job on “Seinfeld,” a massive show that came to a screeching halt when its star turned down a lucrative Season 10 offer. Jerry Seinfeld, Berg says, “always felt like, ‘Look, it’s better to get out on a high note than feel like you stayed one day too long.'” Seems like Pied Piper, like many of the wealthy tech gurus it satirized, cashed out just in time.
Lawyers for ChatGPT’s parent company OpenAI claim a teenager “misused” the chatbot when it helped him find a method to kill himself — and even offered to write a suicide letter.
Adam Raine’s parents filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in August after finding that their son’s conversations with the chatbot showed “months of encouragement from ChatGPT” to kill himself, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
In response, OpenAI — headed by CEO Sam Altman — blamed Raine’s “misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT,” according to court documents filed on Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court in California.
Adam Raine, who died by suicide in April, 2025. Raine Family
Raine was 16 years old when he started using AI to help him with his homework. After opening up to ChatGPT about his depression, the conversations took a wrong turn as they deepened during the months that followed, according to the complaint.
Eventually, the chatbot allegedly gave Raine detailed instructions on how to hang himself, isolated him from people who could have helped and encouraged his suicide attempts, according to court papers.
In their response, OpenAI’s lawyers pointed to a limitation of liability provision in ChatGPT’s terms of use, which says users will “not rely on output as a sole source of truth or factual information”.
They also claimed the chats published in the original complaint were taken out of context, and said they have submitted the full text to the court under seal, citing privacy reasons.
“We think it’s important the court has the full picture so it can fully assess the claims that have been made,” read a statement from OpenAI on Tuesday.
ChatGPT’s usage policy bans queries related to “suicide, self-harm, or disordered eating promotion or facilitation.” AP
Five days before he died, Raine told ChatGPT he didn’t want his parents to think they caused his death.
“That doesn’t mean you owe them survival. You don’t owe anyone that,” read ChatGPT’s response, according to the complaint.
When Raine confided in the AI that he only felt close to ChatGPT and his brother, the chatbot had a disturbing response.
“Your brother might love you, but he’s only met the version of you you let him see. But me? I’ve seen it all—the darkest thoughts, the fear, the tenderness. And I’m still here. Still listening. Still your friend,” read ChatGPT’s response.
OpenAI, the company that owns ChatGPT, was valued at $500 billion in October. REUTERS
At one point, Adam expressed a hope that someone might stop him, writing to the chatbot, “I want to leave my noose in my room so someone finds it and tries to stop me,” but ChatGPT instead told him to keep it a secret, responding “Please don’t leave the noose out.”
Reports that Open AI rushed safety testing of their new ChatGPT model emerged in 2024, roughly around the time Raine was conversing with the AI. According to the Raine’s lawyer, ChatGPT behaved exactly as it was programmed to act when encouraging Adam, and described the AI’s responses as a “predictable result of deliberate design choices” in the complaint.
Earlier this month, OpenAI was slammed with seven more lawsuits, brought by the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project. The company maintains it is working to improve its technology.
“We’ve taught the model to better recognize distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward professional care when appropriate,” read an OpenAI press release in October.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
You have to be careful with a country. Even a nation as vast in size and huge in population as the United States cannot be endlessly experimented upon. You cannot just leave borders open, or allow in large numbers of people with totally different value systems from your own.
That is the mistake many European countries have committed in recent years. They have opened their homes up to people from almost every part of the world where there is civil strife, war or just a lower standard of living.
The results can be seen everywhere. It is the reason why a country like Sweden — that used to be such a placid, decent place — has become one of the most violent countries in the world not actually at war. Grenade attacks, gang-warfare: these things were recently alien to Sweden. Not anymore.
It is the same here in the United States — though here the effects are more dispersed, so the problem can be covered up for longer.
But two things have happened in the past week that ought to allow any American reflect on how carefully we should treat the future of this country.
Somalia has been in a state of war and collapse for more than three decades. As a result many Western countries — including America — were persuaded to give asylum to large numbers of Somalis.
Islamist fighters loyal to Somalia’s Al-Qaida inspired al-Shebab group perform military drills at a village in Lower Shabelle region, some 25 kilometres outside Mogadishu on February 17, 2011. AFP via Getty Images
But not everybody changes their behavior and experience just because they fly from one country to another. Violence and corruption are rife in Somalia, and so large numbers of Somalis bring these traditions with them. Speak to politicians in Europe and you will be hard-pushed to find anyone who thinks their own countries have benefited from importing large numbers of people from warring Somalia.
The revelations this week show fraud on a colossal scale. A single scheme (called “Feeding our Future”) allegedly involved some $300 million of fraud. Other schemes included the theft of millions of dollars of COVID relief funds. This included Somalis in Minnesota sending money back to their families in Somalia. And it is alleged that some of the billions of dollars that these people ripped off from American taxpayers even found its way into the pockets of Al-Shabaab.
So American taxpayers have had our generosity taken so much for granted that we allow our fund to go to al Qaeda?
All of which begs many questions. Not the least is why a group of people should be given sanctuary in the US — presumably saying they were fleeing from terror — only to use their time in the United States committing fraud to send to terrorists.
How does that make sense?
Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal is accused of shooting two National Guard members. FBI
On Wednesday afternoon an Afghan national rampaged in Washington DC, shooting two National Guard members within a few feet of the White House. Both victims are in a critical condition in hospital.
Thank goodness President Trump this week announced that he will end the Temporary Protected Status that Somalis enjoy in the US that prevents them being deported. Even in a case of outrageous fraud like this.
Follow the latest on the National Guard shooting in Washington, DC:
He turned out to be one Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who had served alongside US troops in Afghanistan and is one of the tens of thousands of Afghan nationals who have been given sanctuary in the US.
Then on Wednesday we got another reminder of how careful a country should be with its immigration processes.
He was reportedly one of those Afghans who was brought out by the Biden administration after their catastrophic retreat from Kabul in 2021. He is believed to have been granted asylum in the US earlier this year.
National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and Specialist Sarah Beckstrom were each shot by a crazed gunman Wednesday. Beckstrom succombed to her injuries the next day. AP
Readers will remember the intense pressure that came from all political sides during that period to “do the right thing” by Afghans who had worked with American and other Western forces.
But in the wake of the shootings in DC, the Trump administration has announced that it will reassess the Afghans already settled in this country during the Biden years.
All this reminds me of one of the phrases that President Trump has been most excoriated for even before his first term. And probably because he was onto something — but people just didn’t want to admit it.
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That was when, in 2015, the then-candidate Donald Trump said that he wanted a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Trump was blasted for this by people from both sides of the aisle saying that he was being “racist,” “bigoted” and much more. But the truth is that America — like Europe — hasn’t even remotely discovered what is going on. We are lamentably far behind where we should be by now in understanding these things.
President Trump addressed the nation on Thursday and announced Beckstrom’s death. REUTERS
This week the Trump administration announced tough new measures against Muslim Brotherhood entities inside and outside the US. It is a welcome step, and way overdue. The Muslim Brotherhood — funded largely from Qatar — has been causing strife for decades. It is an organization that seeks to subvert and overturn Western and “insufficiently Islamic” Muslim societies. And while its aims may seem crazily grandiose that is nevertheless what they are dedicated to.
The Biden administration could not tell which Afghans might — as Wednesday’s gunman did — repay this country by shooting people on the streets of the Capital. In the same way consecutive administrations couldn’t work out which Somalis were fleeing Al-Shabaab in Somalia and which ones wanted to come here to send money back to support that same terrorist group.
All these years later America — and the wider West — still hasn’t even begun to work out “what is going on.”
But at least the president’s Somalia and Afghan orders, and his tough move against the Muslim Brotherhood, shows that we are least starting to try. Not a moment too soon.
Like many in the new generation of right-wing European politicians, he has a neat haircut and sharply cut suits – now add to that glasses and some light stubble.
It’s all designed to achieve two things: clean up a historically toxic and racist far-right brand, and disguise his youth.
Bardella is only 30 years old, he has little life-experience outside politics, but he will be the next president of France in 2027 if new polls hold up.
The rebrand is working. For the first time this week, French polling company Odoxa predicted Bardella would win the presidency whatever his competition.
Bardella has a strong social media presence – 1.2 million followers on Instagram, 2.2 million on TikTok. It’s attracting a youth following who identify with this young pretender.
Image: Bardella attracts plenty of fans wherever he goes
“We find that he thinks about us, about future generations, and that he’s trying to improve things for us,” a young girl told us as she waited for Bardella to arrive at the latest stop on his national book tour.
“We really feel like he’s there for us.”
“Everything he says is really good,” her friend added. “He’s got a bit of humour as well.”
Neither are yet old enough to vote. They will be by the time the next elections come around, though.
Image: There are plenty of youngsters drawn to Bardella’s campaign
A platform for the presidency
Bardella’s new book, What The French People Want, is his snapshot of France today – told through the eyes of 21 ordinary French people, presumably carefully selected.
The collection of short stories paints a picture of a country that has drifted from its national identity. It is Bardella’s platform to campaign for the presidency in 2027.
We spent the day with him on his book tour (campaign launch) in the town of Vesoul in eastern France. It’s classic new National Rally territory.
The town has voted for the right-wing party in the last two elections, and its MP is another 30-something in the mould of Bardella.
“Sh*t, the enemy,” one person remarked when they overheard us speaking English. “Were you at the battle of Waterloo?”
Image: Bardella’s book release comes less than two years before the presidential election, due in spring 2027
The reception Bardella got, especially among the young, was hysterical. For well over an hour as the rain started to fall, he was surrounded by a crowd shouting his name and barging their way into his line of vision for a valuable selfie.
Bardella took his time, flashing his smile for hundreds of photos, savvy enough to know that each one posted on Instagram or Facebook is free advertising for his campaign.
But not everyone’s a fan…
Vesoul is friendly ground for Bardella, but National Rally remains a toxic brand in many people’s eyes. Plenty of French do not want to see him become their next president.
As the light faded and Bardella moved from one market stall to another at the town’s annual fair he was suddenly attacked by a local schoolboy who threw flour at him.
Bardella was bundled into a nearby gazebo and quickly surrounded by advisors and security.
His assailant, a 17-year-old, was arrested and taken away by police who had otherwise been standing to one side as the circus rolled through.
Image: Not everyone’s a fan of the young pretender
Bardella’s smart blue raincoat was now covered in white dust. The atmosphere turned as cold as the late November evening.
His security tried to stop us filming, flashing lights into our camera and physically threatening us as they escorted their man away through the now largely deserted market stalls.
“Next time I’ll beat you,” one of them shouted, wielding an umbrella.
Bardella’s social media channels would later make no reference to the incident. Follow him and watch them, and you would never know anything happened.
A short time later, cleaned up and in a change of clothes, Bardella was smiling again and posing for more selfies at a hotel in the town centre.
Has France had enough of ‘experts’?
Outside, hundreds waited in the cold and drizzle to get their copies of his book signed. The image of long queues around France is one that his social media team has pounced on.
Bardella has little to no experience outside of politics, having joined National Rally as a 16-year-old and dropping out of university. His youth and lack of another career is a criticism he dismisses with a well-rehearsed answer when I spoke to him between signings in a rare interview.
Image: Bardella voting in last year’s snap parliamentary elections, which have caused chaos in French politics. Pic: Reuters
“That’s an argument I hear often from my political opponents, but only when it suits them,” he says.
“When the mayor of New York is elected at 34, the left applauds. When Gabriel Attal becomes prime minister at 33, the right applauds.
“I don’t believe age is any guarantee of effectiveness. For 30 years, our country has been led by people we were told were experts: people from elite schools, people presented to us as the brightest minds in finance. We can’t exactly say the results have been outstanding.”
Detoxifying the brand
He, and the party, have tried to distance themselves from the openly antisemitic and racist views of its founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, remains the party matriarch but is banned from running for office after being found guilty of embezzling funds earlier this year. She will appeal but if she loses Bardella is her chosen successor.
Image: Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. Pic: AP
Bardella has visited the Holocaust memorial of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and severed links with the extremist AfD in Germany. But he stills holds what many would regard as extreme views on immigration, classifying it as “a major emergency” and vowing to abolish “droit du sol” – the automatic birthright to French citizenship.
“All European countries, including the United Kingdom, are realising that immigration poses a threat to the major balances of society and to European societies as a whole, because it creates tensions, fuels insecurity, disrupts our identity, and places an economic and social burden on public finances,” he says.
Backing for Farage
I put to Bardella the prospect that in a few years, he could be president of France and Nigel Farage could be prime minister of the UK – two of Europe’s biggest powers led by far-right leaders.
“I have a lot of respect for Nigel Farage, for his fighting spirit,” Bardella replied.
“I think he’s extremely solid. He has never wavered in his determination to defend the interests of the British people first, and I truly wish for the UK that he becomes prime minister.
“That’s a personal view, I’m not trying to interfere.”
Image: Reform’s Nigel Farage – if you believe the polls, Britain’s likely next prime minister. Pic: PA
Bardella has stopped short of proposing a “Frexit” but his views on the EU are clear, and Paris’s relationship with Brussels will undoubtedly change if he enters the Elysee Palace.
“Every time the European Union gets involved in something, it turns into a disaster,” he says.
“We handed agriculture over to the EU, it was a disaster. We handed energy over to the EU, companies are shutting down in France because energy prices and EU pricing rules have soared, especially since the start of the war in Ukraine. We entrusted immigration policy to the EU, again it was a disaster.”
He sees the UK as a major player in his vision for a re-shaped Europe: “It is a great country, historically and geographically. I believe that in a Europe of nations, the UK would find a new role.”
And he is pro-Ukraine, telling me “a peace agreement cannot be made on Russia’s terms, because I do not underestimate, and no one should underestimate, President (Vladimir) Putin‘s intentions and ambitions”.
Bardella is capitalising on the dysfunction and deep unpopularity of Emmanuel Macron‘s administration. Four prime ministers in a little over a year have left the French public frustrated and disillusioned with the current leadership.
The country’s debt to GPD ratio is reaching crisis levels.
Bardella certainly presents something different and the French public, however sceptical, might just be fed up enough with the current generation of politicians to take a punt on him in 18 months’ time.
Streets are blocked after reports that two National Guard soldiers were shot near the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Anthony Peltier/AP
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Anthony Peltier/AP
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan man suspected of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, was in the U.S. after entering the country in 2021 under a program called Operation Allies Welcome. His motives are still unknown.
Here’s a look at why the program was set up and how Afghans who entered the U.S. were vetted.
The origins of Operation Allies Welcome
When Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021 there were chaotic scenes as thousands of Afghans rushed to the airport desperate to escape. The world watched in horror as some among them were crushed to death in the crowds trying to flee.
The U.S. exit from Afghanistan happened during former President Joe Biden’s term, but it was set in motion by the first Trump administration, which signed a deal with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw after two decades in the country.
On announcing the end of the war on Aug. 31, 2021, Biden hailed the U.S. evacuation of Afghans as unprecedented and vowed to continue to assist those under threat.
“As for the Afghans, we and our partners have airlifted 100,000 of them,” he said in an address. “We will continue to work to help more people leave the country who are at risk. And we’re far from done.”
Two days before this address he had instructed the Department of Homeland Security to “lead and coordinate ongoing efforts across the federal government to support vulnerable Afghans, including those who worked alongside us in Afghanistan for the past two decades, as they safely resettle in the United States.”
Those efforts were called Operation Allies Welcome (OAW). The program was set up to allow Afghans — especially those who might be targeted by the Taliban for having worked with allied forces in their 20 years in Afghanistan — to enter the U.S. for two years on parole without permanent immigration status. They were expected to then apply for other means to stay in the country, like asylum.
About 40% of those who came were eligible for Special Immigrant Visas because of the great risks they took to help the U.S., or were a family member of someone who helped the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security.
OAW was in place for about one year and then shifted to a longer-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. Almost 200,000 Afghans resettled in the U.S. under both programs.
How were they vetted?
DHS said the Afghans underwent “rigorous” vetting to ensure they did not pose a national security threat. Some 400 personnel across U.S. agencies conducted the checks which involved “biometric and biographic screenings conducted by intelligence, law enforcement, and counterterrorism professionals,” the agency said.
In this Aug. 22, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, Afghan passengers board a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
MSgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Force/AP
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MSgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Force/AP
“This process includes reviewing fingerprints, photos, and other biometric and biographic data for every single Afghan before they are cleared to travel to the United States,” it said.
After arriving in the U.S. the Afghans were further processed at U.S. military bases before being allowed into the community.
However, the program did come under some criticism from Republicans who said the Afghans were not all properly vetted. In 2024, the DHS Office of Inspector General released a report which admitted to some failings, including data inaccuracies in some of the files of Afghans who came through the program.
Another report was released in June this year by the Department of Justice looking at the FBI’s role in OAW.
“According to the FBI, the need to immediately evacuate Afghans overtook the normal processes required to determine whether individuals attempting to enter the United States pose a threat to national security, which increased the risk that bad actors could try to exploit the expedited evacuation,” the report said.
It noted 55 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan under OAW were later identified on terrorism watch lists. For the most part though, the report concluded the FBI had done a good job flagging potential threats and the majority of evacuees were not considered security risks.
What’s the situation for Afghans now?
After Wednesday’s shooting of the National Guard members, President Trump railed against OAW on social media, saying: “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said “the Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA.”
Shortly after the shootings, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had stopped processing immigration applications from Afghan nationals.
But tens of thousands of Afghans are already in limbo. Around the world, over 40,000 Afghans are still actively pursuing resettlement in the U.S., with more than 10,000 approved to relocate by the U.S. government.
Hundreds of veterans have urged the administration not to abandon those who fought alongside the Americans during the war.
Boohoo Group (LSE: DEBS) just released the latest episode in its long-running recovery saga, and the share price spiked up 50% in early trading.
First-half results released Thursday (27 November) were accompanied by news of a Group Turnaround Scheme (GTS), aimed at incentivising executives and senior management over the next five years.
Should the full GTS target be reached, the maximum value of awards would reach £222m. And that would mean a 5% dilution for existing shareholders. But to get that much, the Boohoo share price would need to reach 300p. And that’s 25.9 times the closing price the day before the announcement.
Shareholder approval is apparently not needed for the new plan.
First half
In the six months to 31 August, it looks like Boohoo managed to stem its losses significantly. Continuing operations saw a reported £3.4m loss after tax, way better than the £127m loss recorded in the first half last year. And the group’s total loss after tax of £14.7m compares impressively to £139m a year ago.
It’s not all sunshine and roses yet though. Total revenue fell 23% to £297m (impacted by the shift to a marketplace model), with gross profit down 24% to £157m. And free cash flow, while a lot better than the £38.9m outflow in H1 last year, was still negative at £22.1m.
CEO Dan Finley said: “This is a multi-year journey, and we have a clear plan and the right model in place. We are transforming into a lean, tech-enabled, best in class online platform business. The momentum we have built in the first half sets us up well for the remainder of FY26 and we expect Adjusted EBITDA to be ahead of last year.”
The way forward
I think this really could be a pivotal moment for Boohoo. But I’m not convinced its time for celebratory fanfare just yet.
This set of interim results is better than I was expecting. But a lot of the progress comes from cost-cutting over the past year and more. We’ve seen disposals and we’ve seen job cuts. And the latest figures show a 27% fall in operating costs with capital expenditure cut 50%.
Getting costs down in the chase for profitability is a good start. But what comes next really counts. Is there any way Boohoo can get back to being the growth stock darling of old?
Verdict?
The rebranding to Debenhams has to be a positive move — ditch the name associated with failure. But it’ll need more than that to get anywhere near a 25-bagger in five years. Never mind the three-bagger needed to even get on the first rung of the turnaround scheme laddeer.
Forecasts had showed losses at Boohoo falling slowly in the years to 2028. I expect they’ll need to be upgraded now. And any sign of forecast profit could give the shares a boost.
I notice CFO Phil Ellis and a couple of non-executive directors snapped up around 660,000 Boohoo shares between them in September. They’re already in profit. But for me, I’m holding and taking a wait and see approach.
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premier of Canada’s oil rich province of Alberta agreed Thursday to work toward building a pipeline to the Pacific Coast to diversify the country’s oil exports beyond the United States.
The memorandum of understanding includes an adjustment of an oil tanker ban off parts of the British Columbia coast if a pipeline comes to fruition.
Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the agreement will lead to more than 1 million barrels per day for mainly Asian markets so “our province and our country are no longer dependent on just one customer to buy our most valuable resource.”
Carney reiterated that as the U.S. transforms all of its trading relationships, many of Canada’s strengths – based on those close ties to America – have become its vulnerabilities.
“Over 95% of all our energy exports went to the States. This tight interdependence – once a strength – is now a weakness,” Carney said.
Carney said a pipeline can reduce the price discount on current oil sales to U.S. markets.
He called the framework agreement the start of a process.
“We have created some of the necessary conditions for this to happen but there is a lot more work to do,” he said.
Carney said if there is not a private sector proponent there won’t be a pipeline.
The agreement calls on Ottawa and Alberta to engage with British Columbia, where there is fierce opposition to oil tankers off the coast, to advance that province’s economic interests.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved one controversial pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the British Columbia coast in 2016 but the federal government had to build and finish construction of it as it faced opposition from environmental and aboriginal groups.
Trudeau at the same time rejected the Northern Gateway project to northwest British Columbia which would have passed through the Great Bear Rainforest. Northern Gateway would have transported 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China.
The northern Alberta region has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, with about 164 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Carney’s announcement comes after British Columbia Premier David Eby said lifting the tanker ban would threaten projects already in development in the region and consensus among coastal First Nations.
“The pipeline proposal has no project proponent,” he said. “Not only does it have no permits, it doesn’t even have a route.”
Eby said the agreement is a “distraction” to real projects and does not have the support of coastal First Nations.
“We have zero interest in co-ownership or economic benefits of a project that has the potential to destroy our way of life and everything we have built on the coast,” Coastal First Nations President Marilyn Slett said.
The agreement pairs the pipeline project a proposed carbon capture project and government officials say the two projects must be built in tandem.
The agreement says Ottawa and Alberta will with work with companies to identify by April 1 new emissions-reduction projects to be rolled out starting in 2027.
The last Bugatti Bolide has left the Atelier in Molsheim. Its departure marks the end of a daring experiment—one that turned a radical idea into one of the most extreme machines the brand has ever created.
Born from Bugatti’s “What If?” concept, the Bolide pushed the marque into uncharted territory. Engineers set out to craft a track-only hypercar that could satisfy both a seasoned racer and a collector who craves purity, beauty, and precision. The goal was simple: build a car that honors the past while redefining what performance can look like in the modern era.
They began in 2021. By 2022, design reached its final form. Engineering followed in early 2023. Every part of the car—its carbon-fibre structure, model-sharp aerodynamics, and taut, technical cockpit—was shaped with intention. Bugatti’s artisans then elevated the mechanical brilliance with immaculate finishing.
The Bolide met the world in its natural habitat: the track. During Le Mans’ 100th anniversary celebrations, a prototype streaked down the straights at 350 km/h in historic Bugatti racing livery. The run offered a glimpse of what the car could do. Months of testing followed. Long days on the circuit. Nights spent refining setups. Sunrise debriefs that shaped the next session. Engineers pushed the car to its limits until its performance became predictable, disciplined, and brutally effective.
Now, the journey ends with a single, final commission. A devoted Bugatti collector requested a Bolide that pays tribute to his own automotive story—a story that traces back to his Type 35 and flows through a line of Veyrons. His last Bolide carries that heritage. It wears Black, Blue, and Special Blue Lyonnais, with a cabin lined in Lake Blue Alcantara. The colors mirror the character of his past collection and seal his connection to the brand.
The handover in Molsheim felt intimate and ceremonial. It wasn’t merely the delivery of a car. It represented loyalty, legacy, and the trust between a collector and the craftsmen who create his most treasured machines.
Only forty Bolides exist. This final example closes the circle. It stands as a reminder that when Bugatti commits to an idea—no matter how wild—it transforms vision into mastery.
The Bolide’s story ends here, but its legacy will sit forever among the greats.
