Mr. Yulo, the only Filipino to win two Olympic gold medals, added another major title to his collection with a score of 14.666 at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium, edging Kazakh runner-up Milad Karimi (14.600) and Japan’s bronze-medal winner Shoma Tsukiyama (14.566) in the tightest of podiums.

It came eight years after Mr. Yulo missed out on the medals in his only previous Asian Games in Indonesia when he fell in a tumbling pass and crashed to seventh after being the top qualifier for the floor final.

“This medal, it’s like winning the Olympics, also because it’s kind of the same back when I was 18 years old, at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games,” the 26-year-old said.

“I kind of messed up my routine there. I was a finalist on floor and vault, but it wasn’t really a good performance.

“And at the same time in Tokyo Olympics, it’s kind of the same. It was really messed up,” added Mr. Yulo, who failed to qualify for the floor final at those Games.

“It’s really a good story, and I feel like I redeemed it in this competition.”

ROAD TO LOS ANGELES OLYMPICS
Mr. Yulo has come a long way since those setbacks, becoming his nation’s first Olympic gymnastics champion when he won the floor title at Paris 2024 before adding a second gold in vault.

Mr. Yulo said the Asian gold was another milestone on the long road to defending his titles at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, though his focus was on staying healthy and enjoying his sport.

“That’s a big one, and I feel like there’s still a lot of time,” he said of Los Angeles.

“I’m preparing myself right now. This competition is part of it also, and I’m building my confidence also through these competitions.

“I know when the time comes when we are there, I just pray that I’m safe, and I enjoy that moment and I appreciate that moment.”

Mr. Yulo’s 18-year-old brother Karl Eldrew also qualified for the Nagoya final and finished seventh out of eight after a messy landing early in his routine.

His older brother may be the ultimate role model in rebounding from setbacks.

“He’s having a hard time, maybe, and I know that he will overcome this and take it as a lesson. It’s part of the journey,” said Carlos Yulo.

The Japan-trained gymnast’s celebrity has reached a point in the Philippines where his every movement draws a crowd, much like the nation’s top women’s tennis player, Alex Eala, who will bid for Asian Games gold next week.

“I know she’s going to smash it,” said Mr. Yulo, offering best wishes to the 21-year-old.

“I know she can do it, really. And I’m just really excited for other athletes also to compete and give their best.”— Reuters

The two leaders and their wives attended a state dinner, a black-tie affair of sesame-crusted sea bass and a guest list heavy with tech CEOs. Outside the gate, a group of loud protesters shouted slogans like “China out of Hong Kong” that were clearly audible to the leaders as they posed for pictures on the red-carpeted White House steps.

In his dinner toast, Mr. Trump said he and Mr. Xi “both understand we represent different systems but the ties between our people endure and we’ve never gotten along better.”

Mr. Trump then invited dinner guests to tour the site of the new ballroom he is building nearby, hours after showing Mr. Xi a helipad he had had built in the White House complex. Construction projects are a frequent digression for a president who has put a lot of focus on remaking Washington’s physical infrastructure.

Mr. Xi said he and Mr. Trump had in-depth discussions and reached “common understanding on many issues” that provided “new strategic guidance for China-US relations.” He did not elaborate.

“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries,” he said, calling for “a new approach for major countries to get along with each other.”

The meeting was striking for where it took place – in Washington, even as scores of world leaders were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

It took place at a time of rising public concern about the swift growth of AI, and as Mr. Trump struggles to resolve a war his administration and Israel began with Iran, which has sharply driven up energy prices and weighed heavily on his public approval as November midterm elections approach.

TAIWAN TALKS
During a bilateral discussion in the afternoon, Mr. Xi urged the US to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a readout from the official Chinese news agency – addressing one of the thorniest issues between the two countries. The White House has not yet provided its own summary of the talks.

Mr. Xi had been expected to press Mr. Trump this week to halt arms sales to Taiwan. Following his visit to China in May, Mr. Trump said he was holding in abeyance an arms package to Taiwan worth some $14 billion and called it a “very good negotiating chip.”

That move left some US allies in Asia and even some of Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans concerned that he may be tempted to soften Washington’s support for Taipei in exchange for economic wins. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to gain control over the island.

The summit between the two leaders came shortly after Mr. Trump forcefully defended his use of military power in a speech at the UN earlier this week, suggesting he could “annihilate” Iran. He took a strikingly different tone with Mr. Xi on Thursday, reflecting a power balance that has shifted toward the Chinese leader after a trade war that ended with a US climbdown on tariffs.

In remarks after Mr. Xi’s arrival on Thursday, Mr. Trump emphasized his “truly great friendship” with Mr. Xi, rather than focusing on policy differences, and said the two powers had made strides on trade since his trip to China in May.

Somewhat more pointedly, Mr. Xi said the two countries’ interests were deeply intertwined and that competition between them should be a “healthy one.” US companies were welcome in China, he said, adding that he hopes “Chinese companies are treated fairly here in the United States.”

Mr. Xi also said both militaries should maintain regular dialogue to improve crisis prevention.

PERSONAL VS. NATIONAL
Edgard Kagan, a former senior White House official for East Asia, said the contrasting rhetoric demonstrates the different strategy of each leader.

“The president is casting it very much as about his personal relationship with Xi,” said Mr. Kagan, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “What I found interesting was Xi is being much more cautious and suggesting that it’s less about the personal relationship than the national relationship.”

The summit, Mr. Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade, is the second meeting this year between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies.

For Mr. Trump, who relishes ceremony and prizes his ties with powerful leaders, the visit is as much a matter of national prestige as an opportunity for high-stakes diplomacy.

But Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi’s remarks were not carried live by any US television networks, which refused to provide footage in protest of the White House’s ban of CNN, MS Now and Politico.

During his comments on Thursday, Mr. Xi said both countries must “ensure that the development of AI is always under human control.”

Analysts say intense competition between the two powers in AI is likely to limit the scope for anything beyond symbolic agreements.

There has been little sign Beijing is willing to exert pressure on Iran to yield to US demands. During Thursday’s meeting, Mr. Xi expressed support for the US and Iran to return to a ceasefire and eventually negotiate a peace deal, Xinhua reported.

The guest list for Thursday’s state dinner included CEOs like Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Despite such an array, people familiar with US plans say Mr. Trump is likely to maintain firm export controls on US tech Mr. Xi wants loosened. — Reuters

“But we do not wish to continue. It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not,” Mr. Pezeshkian said, responding to the question in an interview aired on Thursday on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” show.

Iran’s president told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday Tehran would never surrender to US pressure as the two sides have remained far apart on how to end the war.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he could “annihilate” Iran if there is no deal to end the war, but also suggested an agreement could come soon.

Mr. Trump has offered shifting goals and timelines for the war that began on February 28 when the US and ​Israel attacked Iran and ​Tehran responded with ⁠its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on ​Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Mr. Trump has cited weakening Iran’s nuclear ​capabilities as one of his war objectives.

Iran, which does not have nuclear weapons, denies seeking them. The US is nuclear-armed.

Tehran says it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes as a party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). — Reuters

The walkout underscored the competing pressures facing Mr. Netanyahu, who is battling mounting criticism abroad over the Gaza war while campaigning for reelection at home ahead of an October 27 vote.

The divisions over Israel’s conduct were on display as Mr. Netanyahu began speaking, with dozens of delegates walking out in protest. He called them “moral cowards,” while supporters in the gallery chanted in Hebrew: “The people of Israel live.”

Mr. Netanyahu used his address to berate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for calling him a war criminal, Western European leaders for what he called succumbing to “antisemitic mobs,” and to accuse both Qatar and Turkey of spreading lies about Israel.

“You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, said of Mr. Mamdani.

Mr. Mamdani campaigned for office on a promise to have Mr. Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city but later said he determined he lacked the legal authority to do so. This week, Mr. Mamdani described Mr. Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.”

Making his first visit to New York since Mr. Mamdani took office in January, Mr. Netanyahu said: “Here’s a simple truth: Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.”

He accused Mr. Mamdani of supporting Hamas militants, something Mr. Mamdani has denied.

“To all those spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York, I say this: Shame on you!” Mr. Netanyahu said.

In a statement, Mr. Mamdani said: “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Qatar also rejected the accusation that it was seeking to turn public opinion against Israel, with its foreign ministry spokesperson saying on X that Mr. Netanyahu’s repeated attacks on Doha sought to divert attention from responsibility for policies on the ground.

NETANYAHU’S POLITICAL FUTURE ON THE LINE
With general elections less than five weeks away, Mr. Netanyahu spoke for about 40 minutes in what amounted to a campaign-style speech, broadcast live in evening prime time on all four of the main Israeli television channels.

Ahead of his speech, Mr. Netanyahu’s government paid to place 500 pro-Israel and anti-Iran billboards and dozens of trucks carrying messages in support of Israel across Manhattan, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

With opinion polls showing Mr. Netanyahu’s bloc trailing rivals ahead of the election, he used the speech to showcase what he described as Israel’s fight on seven fronts, including the war with Iran that began with joint US-Israeli strikes in late February.

As in past UN appearances, Mr. Netanyahu used props, holding up a pager linked to an attack that killed and wounded Iran-backed Hezbollah members in Lebanon and a Starlink satellite internet receiver he said he would leave for the Iranian delegation.

“So when they inevitably defect, they too will be able to freely tell their story on social media,” he said, adding that it was only a matter of time before the Iranian authorities would be toppled by the people.

STREET PROTESTS IN NEW YORK
Several hundred protesters gathered near the United Nations, with dozens blocking traffic and chanting, “Stop arming Israel, let Gaza live” and “Stop arming Israel, let Iran live.” Police detained them.

Mr. Netanyahu was making a short visit to the US for his UN address and, unusually, without a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump, whom he praised during his speech.

“We will continue to defend our state. We will continue to win because we have no other choice. In this battle against the barbarians, we’ve had no greater partner than President Trump. I thank him. I thank him for his bold leadership,” he said.

DEEPENING ISOLATION
Israel has faced deepening diplomatic isolation since launching its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel nearly three years ago.

Mr. Netanyahu is unable to travel to many countries because of an International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued against him and his then-defense minister as well as the then-military commander of Hamas in 2024.

Earlier this month, once-steadfast allies Britain, France and Canada announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which drew a muted response from Washington.

“The leaders of these countries have chosen to succumb to the antisemitic mobs. They’ve chosen weakness. They’ve chosen appeasement,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

He played down worsening violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, describing it as “a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees.”

“Occasionally … they lit some fires. I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism. We’re a country of law.” — Reuters

This year, AI filmmaker Mr. Zhu said he has fielded calls from officials in cities and industrial parks across China, all with the same pitch: bring your AI film business here.

“I am approached every day by a range of cities, from major metropolitan areas to smaller localities,” Mr. Zhu said, “hoping we can establish either technology or the company there.”

Those appeals reflect a major push by China to embed artificial intelligence into every corner of the economy – including the latest movies showing at cinemas.

Local governments have responded by promising to build tech clusters and offering subsidies to AI filmmakers and startups. That is straight out of a familiar industrial policy playbook, treating AI-generated content the way China built electric vehicles, solar panels and robotics into globally competitive industries.

The result is a fast-emerging industry of AI filmmakers, studios and streaming platforms in China seeking an early lead in production techniques and distribution.

China has created the “best environment” for AI filmmakers with “cheap rent, living allowance and computing support,” said Mr. Zhu, who also heads the AI-Generated Content (AIGC) department at China Wit Media in Shenzhen.

Mr. Zhu runs his personal studio in Shenzhen from a shared workspace with the backing of the city government and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

FILMMAKERS DRAWN TO AI’S LOW PRODUUCTION COST
While China’s all-out push for AI in film has been welcomed by filmmakers like Mr. Zhu, the industry faces growing risks familiar to other sectors showered with state support. As companies step up production of goods like cars and consumer products, domestic demand remains constrained, driving down prices in what many see as a race to the bottom.

There are signs that AI video content may already be approaching overcapacity. In the first half of the year, 221,900 new AI shows were launched on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, but only 1,055 drew more than 100 million views, a typical benchmark of success, according to DataEye.

Filmmakers say they are drawn to AI by the low production costs.

In the first half of 2026, the cost of producing AI short dramas plunged from 5,000 yuan ($747) per minute to just a few hundred yuan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“A normal wedding scene might cost me 60,000 yuan to shoot conventionally,” said Pan Xiaojun, a postgraduate film-directing student based in Hainan, southern China. “But with AI, I can bring the same surreal scene to life for just 1,400 yuan.”

Mr. Pan said subsidies and rent waivers from a local government in Hainan allowed him to push his computing costs down further.

Other cities have also stepped up incentives.

Shanghai in May introduced measures to accelerate AI-powered micro-drama production, offering computing power and cloud-based AI models to cut costs and support overseas distribution.

Beijing has a 260 million yuan fund to support audiovisual technology. Its Huairou district, a hub of China’s film industry, offers producers of short AI dramas vouchers to reduce computing costs.

Shenzhen is also stepping up efforts to attract AI film talent, offering technical support for video production, visual effects and content generation, as well as subsidized rent.

Major Chinese streaming platform iQIYI is “all-in” on AI, CEO Gong Yu said in August. It is offering some creators subsidies for AI content that streams on the platform.

PUSHBACK AND OVERLOAD
The National Film Administration has granted a public-screening license to the 90-minute science-fiction epic “Sanxingdui: Future Memories”, the first AI film produced by a major Chinese studio to receive regulatory approval for theatrical release in China.

The film is due to be released this year, producer Bona Film Group said.

While Chinese consumers have been receptive to AI-generated content, there has nonetheless been a backlash.

Chinese actors have raised concerns over the use of their likenesses in AI films, fueling worries about copyright infringement and job losses for voice actors.

Consumers also complain of plagiarism and a lack of originality.

“Some people directly blend other people’s original characters or dance clips into AI-generated content without any credit. I think that behavior is completely unacceptable,” said Wen, a 22-year-old AI content fan.

The unexpected box-office success of the crudely animated, conventionally produced film, “Niu Lai,” was seen by some as a backlash against AI content.

China requires explicit labelling for AIGC but has yet to introduce clear copyright rules for it.

For now, AI film content produced in China is surging, and even going abroad.

Director Cao Yiwen premiered her AI-animated film during the World AI Film Festival in Cannes in April, and said she thought that China was taking the lead in the industry.

“France and the rest of Europe are still watching and waiting to see whether China will introduce clear laws,” she said. “We fell behind in the first two industrial revolutions, so perhaps this is the Third Industrial Revolution.” ($1 = 6.6955 Chinese yuan renminbi)  — Reuters

Nothing rivals San Diego in October. One day you could hit the beach, and the next, get into the Halloween spirit at a pumpkin patch.

In addition to this, October is one of the busiest months for exciting festivals. You won’t be short of exciting events to hit up while visiting.

We’ve compiled a list of everything you need to know about October in San Diego, from what to include on your packing list, to the events you cannot miss.

Best Things To Do In San Diego In October

Halloween

Of course, the most exciting event of fall is Halloween. And trust us, nowhere does it better than San Diego. The city hosts a vast selection of spooky-themed happenings for all ages. 

Here are some of the top events for the little ones and yourself to enjoy:

• SeaWorld San Diego Halloween Spooktacular: Entrance to this SeaWorld event is included in standard tickets and takes place on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month. Let the kids put on their costumes and join in on the fun.
• Howl-O-Sprint 5k: Explore SeaWorld San Diego in an active and spooktacluar way during this 5k on October 18th, 2026.
• Balboa Park Halloween Family Day Out: A fun, family-friendly day out, kids under 12 can enter selected museums for free and enjoy live entertainment. This year’s dates are TBD.
• Trick-or-Treat on India Street: Head over to Little Italy, where you’ll find India Street filled with monsters, ghosts, and witches trick-or-treating at participating local businesses. Come along on October 25th from 3:30 – 7:30 pm.

Who said Halloween is just for kids? Below are some festivities for the adults to take part in.

• SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream: This is SeaWorld’s Halloween outing for the older crowd, where guests can brave the terrifying houses of horror before hitting the dance floor. The event runs every weekend during October. Read our full guide on SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream here>>
• San Diego Zombie Crawl: A spooky take on a pub crawl, dress up in your finest Halloween costumes, and spend an evening bar-hopping and enjoying free shots and entry to participating bars. The Zombie Crawl runs on two weekends, October 23 & 24 and October 30 & 31, 2026. Get tickets here>>
• Spellbound: An Evening of Moonlight & Magic: On October 30, 2026, Estancia turns its gardens into an immersive night of botanical cocktails, fortune-telling, and live entertainment, running to a Witching Hour DJ party at midnight. Tickets are $95 and cover a welcome cocktail, a second drink, unlimited food, and entry to the costume contest. Strictly 21 and over.
• Haunted Corn Maze at Carlsbad Strawberry Company: The same cornfield you walk through in daylight becomes something else entirely after dark. Carlsbad Strawberry Company runs its haunted maze on Friday and Saturday nights through October at $25 a head, separate from daytime pumpkin patch admission. Go for the pumpkins in the afternoon, stay for the maze at night, and you’ve built a whole day out of one parking spot.
• Yokai Masquerade at the Japanese Friendship Garden: On October 31, 2026, the Japanese Friendship Garden stays open after dark for an evening built around yōkai — the spirits and shape-shifters of Japanese folklore — with festive programming throughout the garden, and guests encouraged to arrive in costume. Tickets are $45 for members, $60 otherwise. One night only, so it will sell.
• Halloween Party Cruise on the Bahia Belle: Halloween night on a sternwheeler in the middle of Mission Bay, which beats another bar. The evening splits in two: a pre-party on land at the Beach & Boat Club from 6:30, then boarding at 8:50 for a three-hour cruise with two live DJs, a photo booth, and a late-night bar. Tickets are $50 and include a welcome Aqua Loca cocktail, with volume discounts if you’re bringing a group. Adults only — 21 and over with photo ID.
  

For more ideas, check out Top Things To Do In San Diego For Halloween.

Haunted Houses

For those who love the thrill of Halloween and are looking for the most frightening encounters this October, visiting one of San Diego’s many haunted houses is a must. Read our full guide on the best haunted houses in San Diego here.

• Haunted Trail Balboa Park: One of the scariest Haunted Houses is the Haunted Trail in Balboa Park. In 2026, it opens on September 25th and runs until Halloween. Don’t forget to make reservations early, especially on the weekend.
• South Park Horror House: This free haunted house is actually a private residence. The owner, Josh, puts on a Hollywood-level scarefest in his yard, free for everyone. Fridays and Saturdays in October from 7-9 PM.
• The Scare Trail: Located in El Cajon, this one is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a real scare, this one is for you!
• Whaley House Haunted Night Tour: What about visiting an actual haunted house this Halloween season? Old Town’s most famous house runs guided night tours all season, which makes this the Halloween outing you can do on a Tuesday when everything else is weekends-only. Groups cap at 20, tours run 30 to 40 minutes through low-lit rooms, and the guides lean on the Whaley family’s own history rather than invented gore.

Up for a ghost tour instead? Check out this Spooky Old Town Ghost Tour.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is another popular fall activity in San Diego. Germany’s famous, beer-centric event has been happily adopted across the United States, and San Diego is no different.

Expect live music, dancing, contests, fun costumes, and plenty of craft beer. Below are some of the most popular Oktoberfest events in San Diego this October:

• La Mesa Oktoberfest: Enjoy Bavarian festivities for all ages in La Mesa, October 3-5, 2026
• Carlsbad Oktoberfest: Delicious food, games, and a fun beer garden can all be found at Carlsbad’s Oktoberfest at the Strawberry Fields. 2026 dates TBD.
• Blacktoberfest: October 10, 2026 from 1PM – 8PM at S&S Friendly Ranch.
• Ocean Beach Oktoberfest: One of San Diego’s most lively Oktoberfest celebrations includes live music, contests, and plenty of German beer. The festival will be held October 9 & 10, 2026.
• Oktoberfest in El Cajon: Indulge in authentic German food, craft brews, and fun games at El Cajon’s Oktoberfest. The annual event will be held on September 25-27 and October 2-4, 2026
• Oktoberfest Cruise on the Bahia Belle
• San Diego’s version of Oktoberfest involves a paddlewheeler on Mission Bay, which is not how they do it in Munich — and at $25 for three hours on the water, it’s hard to argue with. Bahia Belle Oktoberfest Cruise.

Pumpkin Patches

Nothing says October quite like the sight of carved pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns. Visiting a pumpkin patch is a fantastic day out for all ages.

Here are some of the many spots to find your perfect pumpkin this fall in San Diego:

• Pumpkin Station: With locations in Del Mar and Mission Valley, this is a wonderful place for a family day out, full of hands-on activities for the kids.
• Mr Jack O’Lantern’s Pumpkin Patch: Kids can decorate their pumpkin and visit the petting farm at this great La Jolla spot.
• Goff Family Pumpkin Patch: Situated at Liberty Station, this pumpkin patch welcomes leashed pets and has a Tap Truck where adults can sip on a beer or wine.
• Here are more San Diego Pumpkin Patches

Celebrate Kids Free Month At The San Diego Zoo

When: Throughout October
Where: San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Balboa Park
Website

While there’s never a wrong time to visit the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, October happens to be Kids Free Month, with free admission for children under 11 for the entire month. 

Encounter the many majestic animals that call the zoo home, from hippos and elephants to camels and flamingos.

Plus, enjoy the seasonal events planned for this autumn. Think live bluegrass music, barn dances, hay mazes, and animated wildlife every weekend.

For adults, if you purchase tickets online, you get access to a number of extras that you won’t get if you buy tickets at the entrance.

Be sure to check out the San Diego Zoo Tips before heading out.

Kids Free Month At The Maritime Museum

When: Throughout October
Where: Maritime Museum of San Diego
Website

The Kids Free Month also extends to San Diego’s Maritime Museum. They offer one free ticket for children 12 and under, available with every adult ticket during October. 

While here, explore some fascinating ships and submarines, and take in the compelling history of these vessels from friendly and informative guides.

The museum is home to a wide selection of permanent and rotating exhibits. They even offer informative cruises around the bay for an additional fee. 

San Diego Events in October

A Taste of Coronado

When: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Where: Across Coronado — self-guided
Website: Coronado Junior Woman’s Club

A Wednesday evening is an odd slot for a food crawl, and that’s exactly why this one works — you get the island’s best restaurants without the weekend crush. Now in its 17th year, A Taste of Coronado turns more than 40 restaurants, bars and shops into a self-guided tasting route: Baby Grand, Balsamic Italian Kitchen, Blanco Cocina y Cantina and the Brigantine among them. It’s run by the Coronado Junior Woman’s Club with Hotel del Coronado, and this year’s proceeds go to Promises2Kids. Tickets are sold through PurplePass.

Oktoberfest Cruise on the Bahia Belle

When: Friday, October 9, 2026 | 8 – 11 PM
Where: Bahia Resort Hotel, 998 W Mission Bay Dr, San Diego, CA 92109 (departs into Mission Bay)
Website: Bahia Belle Oktoberfest Cruise

San Diego’s version of Oktoberfest involves a paddlewheeler on Mission Bay, which is not how they do it in Munich — and at $25 for three hours on the water, it’s hard to argue with. The Bahia Belle runs a bratwurst station and a giant pretzel with mustard dip and beer cheese, a cash bar pouring beer and cocktails, live music, a photo booth, and a beer stein-holding contest, which is the part that separates the committed from the casual. Plenty of guests turn up in dirndl and lederhosen, so it’s not the night to feel self-conscious about it.

Logistics: 21 and over with photo ID; reservations required, and no ticket means no boarding. Hotel parking is for guests only, but parking at Ventura Cove is free. No outside food or drink. Book at (858) 539-8755.

La Jolla Art & Wine Festival

When: October 10 & 11, 2026
Where: Girard Avenue, La Jolla
Website

Art connoisseurs, wine lovers, and craft beer fanatics come together at La Jolla‘s free art and wine festival on Girard Avenue, just a short walk from La Jolla Cove.

This festival celebrates art in various forms, including sculpture, painting, photography, jewelry-making, ceramics, and more. 

Over 160 artists will exhibit their work during this two-day event, with many pieces up for grabs as part of the silent auction.

After browsing the impressive artwork collections, attendees can kick back at the beer garden. Here you’ll find an exceptional selection of craft beers and wines from over 30 wineries and breweries.

Grand Tasting Weekend at La Costa Wine Co.

When: Saturday, October 10, 2026 | 3 – 5 PM (wine club members) · Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 2 – 4 PM (open to everyone)
Where: La Costa Wine Co., Carlsbad
Website: La Costa Wine Co.

Check which day applies to you before you plan around this one — the format is new for 2026, and Saturday is a members-only preview. Sunday is the session anyone can walk into.

What makes it worth the drive is the library wines: older vintages the producers held back instead of releasing, which you’ll almost never find open by the glass anywhere. Sunday’s pour list runs through Burgundy, Bordeaux, Piedmont, Tuscany, Rioja, Napa, Willamette Valley and Santa Barbara, plus South America and island wines from Greece and Sardinia, with light bites alongside. Saturday’s members preview is poured by the reps and winemakers who actually source the bottles, so if you’re in the club, that’s the better of the two.

Each session runs two hours and tickets are sold at the door both days.

Día de Muertos Celebration in Vista

When: Sunday, October 11, 2026
Where: Paseo Santa Fe, Vista
Website: @themvmtbrandofficial

North County’s Día de Muertos celebration takes over Paseo Santa Fe with a catrina contest, danzantes, artisans and food vendors — plus a Mayan ball game demonstration, which is not something you’ll find at the other Día de Muertos events in the county. Worth the drive up if you want the cultural programming without the Old Town crowds.

Mission Bayfest

When: Friday–Sunday, October 16–18, 2026 | Doors Friday 3 PM, Saturday & Sunday noon
Where: Mariner’s Point Park, 3119 Mariners Way, San Diego, CA 92109
Website: bayfestsd.com

Three days of reggae and ska on the sand at Mariner’s Point, with 360-degree bay views and the Belmont Park rollercoaster in the background. Rebelution headlines Friday alongside Steel Pulse and The Movement; Kolohe Kai, Common Kings and SOJA take Saturday; and Sunday turns punk with The Offspring, The Interrupters and Goldfinger. The festival is cashless, parking is free with a shuttle, and there are ADA viewing areas. Under-18s are welcome with an adult.

San Diego International Film Festival

When: October 13 – 18, 2026
Where: Various venues throughout San Diego
Website

San Diego’s annual international film festival will take place in the latter half of October this year and celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. From countless film screenings and filmmaker panels to award ceremonies and parties, October is an incredible time for movie buffs in San Diego. There are many different passes and tickets to choose from.

Celebrate the Craft

When: October 18, 2026, 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: The Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla
Website

Now in its 23rd year, Celebrate the Craft is La Jolla’s premier outdoor food festival, spread across The Lodge at Torrey Pines’ grounds overlooking the golf course and the Pacific.

This year brings a changing of the guard in the kitchen: new Executive Chef Eric Sakai and A.R. Valentien’s Owen Beatty, both Michelin-trained, are taking over programming for the first time, joined by 20+ Southern California chefs, California producers, and a serious wine lineup — Silver Oak, Ridge, Far Niente, Drew Deckman, and more. Storyhouse Spirits is also debuting a Lodge-exclusive gin infused with botanicals from the resort’s namesake Torrey Pines.

General admission is $375 and includes tastings across the grounds; a $100 VIP add-on gets you a wine-blending session, private tastings, and a floral bouquet-making station.

And the best part? The event is partnering with the San Diego Food Bank, and a portion of the profits will go to support local families in need. Greg and I will attend for the first time and can’t wait. Ready to join us for some delicious bites and sips in La Jolla? Go grab your tickets now!

Lions Tigers & Beers at TapRoom North Park

When: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 | 6 – 10 PM
Where: TapRoom North Park – 2000 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104
Website: Lions Tigers & Bears

The beer is called Lions Tigers & Beers, which should tell you the tone of the evening. TapRoom brewed it for this one night only, and 20% of what the bar takes goes to Lions Tigers & Bears, the exotic animal sanctuary out in Alpine. Remember to mention to your server that you are here for the fundraiser. The rest of the night runs on animal trivia — some general wildlife, some about the specific animals now living at the sanctuary.

Worth knowing what that 20% actually pays for. The animals at Lions Tigers & Bears came out of neglect, abuse and the exotic pet trade, and the sanctuary keeps them for the rest of their lives. The money goes to food, veterinary care, and enrichment — the unglamorous, permanent costs of looking after animals no one else could take.

It’s a Tuesday, it’s in North Park, and you were probably going to buy a beer this week anyway.

Día de los Muertos: Recordando los Sonidos del Pasado

When: Saturday, October 24, 2026 | 3 – 8 PM
Where: County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA 92101
Website: County of San Diego

A free afternoon on the waterfront lawn of the County Administration Building, hosted by Supervisor Paloma Aguirre’s office. The theme translates to “remembering the sounds of the past,” so expect the programming to lean musical. The setting is the draw here — few Día de los Muertos events in the county come with that stretch of harbor behind them at sunset.

A Taste of the Underworld

When: Saturday–Sunday, October 31 – November 1, 2026 | 11 AM – 9 PM
Where: North Embarcadero Waterfront Park, downtown San Diego
Website: @internationalfoodfestivals

A free two-day festival on the downtown waterfront spanning both Halloween and Día de los Muertos, with international food vendors, live music, local artisans and family attractions. Free admission, and the timing across both holidays is unusual — most events pick one.

Julian: Apple Country in the Mountains

An hour east of San Diego, the old gold-rush town of Julian is where locals go for fall. October brings crisp mountain air, changing leaves, and the smell of apple pie on Main Street.

One important note for 2026: apple season is running early this year — several orchard owners told me they expect to be picked out by the end of September. If apple picking is your goal, go in September and call ahead. If you’re coming for the pie, the shops, and the mountain-town charm, October is lovely, and the pie doesn’t stop.

→ Best Apple Pie in Julian · Things to Do in Julian · Julian Apple Picking

Temecula late harvest

Temecula wine country is about an hour north, and October brings the tail end of harvest — late-harvest picking, crush still underway at some wineries, and warm days with the vines turning.

→ Temecula Winery Hotels · Best Temecula Wineries

Día De Los Muertos

When: November 1st & 2nd, 2026
Where: Old Town San Diego
Website

Celebrate the lives of those who have passed at Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. The popular event is held in San Diego’s Old Town, which has been observing this holiday for over ten years. Read our full guide on where to celebrate Dia de los Muertos in San Diego.

It’s believed this is a time for the spirits of those who have passed to return to their loved ones, and it is a joyous occasion. 

The Day of the Dead is traditionally celebrated on November 1st or 2nd. This festival takes place over a weekend, honoring the dead by constructing countless altars, also called ofrendas or offerings, throughout Old Town to welcome the dead. 

Guests can also expect delicious Mexican food, traditional face painting, and live music. 

Visitors to San Diego in October are fortunate in that there are so many exciting events and festivals to take part in.

Where to Stay in San Diego in October

October is one of the sweeter months to book San Diego: the weather still feels like summer, but rates and crowds have eased off after Labor Day.

If you’re coming for Halloween events or the film festival, downtown and the Gaslamp Quarter put you closest to the action. For beach days while the ocean’s still warm enough, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Coronado, or La Jolla are better bases. Use the map below to compare hotels and current rates across San Diego.

Whether you’re a thrill-seeker making the most of the spooky season or are hoping to soak up the southern Californian culture, October is the perfect time to visit.

The desirable, warm weather is just an amazing bonus!

San Diego Weather in October FAQs

What is the weather like in San Diego in October?

October in San Diego is warm and dry. Daytime highs average around 74°F and evening lows around 61°F, with roughly 12 hours of daylight and about 8 hours of sunshine a day. Rain is rare — the monthly average is under 14 mm, and some years see none at all.

Is October a good time to visit San Diego?

It’s one of the best. You get summer-like weather without summer crowds or peak hotel rates, plus a packed events calendar — Halloween, pumpkin patches, Oktoberfest, the film festival, and Día de los Muertos.

Can you swim in the ocean in San Diego in October?

Yes, especially early in the month. Ocean temperatures average around 65°F, so it’s comfortable for a swim at the start of October and noticeably chillier by the end. Many locals switch to a wetsuit as the month goes on.

Does it rain in San Diego in October?

Rarely. October averages less than 14 mm of rain, and it’s common to go the entire month without a drop. If rain does come, it’s usually brief.

Is October still warm enough for the beach in San Diego?

Absolutely. With highs in the mid-70s and very little rain, beach days are still very much on — you’ll just want a layer for when the sun goes down.

Is San Diego busy in October?

Much less than summer. Crowds thin out noticeably after Labor Day, and hotel rates typically ease with them — while the weather still feels like summer. It’s one of the best value months to visit.

What Should You Wear In San Diego In October?

Pack for warm days and cool evenings: shorts, T-shirts, light dresses or trousers, and comfortable walking shoes, plus a light jacket for after sunset. Add a swimsuit if you’re visiting early in the month, and always bring sunscreen and sunglasses.

San Diego isn’t a city where you’ll see typical fall attire in October — no coats, no scarves. It’s a transition month, where locals gradually swap shorts for jeans.

If you’re planning an October visit, it’s best to pack a mix of shorts, trousers, T-shirts, and maxi dresses, plus some comfortable walking sneakers or sandals. A light jacket is always best to include, as the temperature can drop at night. 

If visiting early in the month or planning to swim, remember your bathing suit and sunhat. As always, a good SPF and sunglasses are recommended.

Planning a different month? See San Diego in September and San Diego in November.

Last Updated on September 24, 2026 by Maria Haase

The post San Diego in October: Weather, Events & Best Things to Do [2026] appeared first on San Diego Explorer.

The government is looking to raise at least P30 billion from its first retail Treasury bond (RTB) offering this year, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said late on Wednesday.

According to a notice on its website, the BTr said it is planning to sell a minimum P30 billion worth of two and a half-year peso-denominated RTBs due April 12, 2029.

This is the government’s 32nd RTB offering since it started in 2001.

“Interest on RTB 32, to be calculated on a 30/360-day basis, will be paid quarterly in arrears on the last day of each three-month interest period,” the BTr said.

National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza said on Wednesday they are aiming to raise less than half of the amount seen in its last RTB offer in August 2025 where it raised P507.16 billion from five-year notes.

The BTr will determine the interest rate through a Dutch auction with government securities eligible dealers (GSED) on Sept. 29, which will also mark the start of the public offer period until Oct. 7 unless ended earlier.

Issuance and settlement date are scheduled on Oct. 12.

Likewise, the government included an exchange offer for holders of RTBs maturing on Oct. 20 (RTB 15-01), March 1, 2027 (RTB 15-02) and March 4 2027 (RTB 05-15), as well as for holders of fixed-rate Treasury notes (FXTN) maturing on Dec. 7 (FXTN 20-13) and Jan. 4, 2027 (FXTN 03-30).

The BTr set the repurchase price for the bonds eligible for the exchange offer based on their respective Bloomberg Valuation (BVAL) rates as of Sept. 22, with the RTB 15-01, RTN 15-02, RTB 15-05, set at 100.01%, 99.79%, and 99.59%, respectively.

The repurchase price for the FXTN 20-13 and FXTN 03-30 are set at 100.3% and 100.1%, respectively.

The RTB 32 will be sold in minimum denominations of P5,000 and in multiples of P5,000 thereafter, while each exchange offer will have a minimum amount of P5,000 in multiples of P0.01.

The public offer period for the exchange program will also run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 7.

The RTBs will be available through over-the-counter placement in bank branches and digital channels such as the BTr Online Ordering Facility, the Bonds.PH mobile app, the Overseas Filipino Bank mobile banking app, and the Landbank mobile banking app.

They will also be available on GCash’s GBonds platform, and PDAX’s Bonds platform, as well as through an ATRAM PRIME account, the ATRAM PERA app, and RCBC Trust Corp.’s Investment Management Account (IMA) through RCBC PULZ.

Demand for the RTBs should be strong as investors tend to gravitate toward safe-haven assets like RTBs during uncertain times, Reyes Tacandong & Co. Senior Adviser Jonathan L. Ravelas said in a Viber message.

However, he noted investors could ask for higher yields to compensate for prevailing risks.
“The government is navigating a challenging interest-rate environment where market volatility is actually creating both opportunities and constraints,” he said.

The government borrows from local and foreign sources to help finance its budget deficit, which is capped at P1.659 trillion or 5.4% of gross domestic product this year.

Mr. Trump and his wife greeted Mr. Xi and his wife on a 100-foot-long red carpet rolled out on the tarmac beside Mr. Xi’s plane at the Maryland military base that hosts Air Force One.

The greeting broke with normal protocol, marking the first time a US president has welcomed a foreign leader at Joint Base Andrews in 11 years, when President Barack Obama welcomed Pope Francis in 2015, according to C-SPAN, which tracks presidential events.

The two leaders smiled, shook hands and spoke for a few minutes at the start of the Chinese leader’s first trip to the US in nearly three years. A military band played, and cannons blasted ceremonial fire as they greeted each other. Mr. Trump winced as a loud B-1 military bomber flew overhead. The leaders then went their separate ways, ahead of meetings scheduled for Thursday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that he and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng agreed to extend a trade truce set to expire on November 10 by two months, through January 10. China’s embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.

EXPECTATIONS ARE LOW
But expectations for a broader breakthrough during Mr. Xi’s visit were slim. The two sides are at odds on issues ranging from Taiwan to narcotics and rare-earth minerals.

People familiar with the plans said Mr. Xi was likely to forcefully raise Beijing’s claim to Taiwan, a topic Washington would prefer to avoid, while Mr. Trump was likely to maintain firm US export controls despite Mr. Xi’s objections.

But talks set for Thursday could nonetheless yield deals to lower tariffs in specific sectors, cooperate on drug trafficking and expand military-to-military dialogue.

Mr. Trump is expected to seek the release of some Americans and others detained in China, according to the people.

The two countries could also agree to talk more on AI, where they are in fierce competition but mindful of growing dangers.

The meeting comes at a difficult moment for Mr. Trump, who faces falling approval numbers as public discontent with his war on Iran grows. Mr. Xi, while also facing challenges at home, arrives in a seemingly stronger position, with his country’s trade engine roaring.

The leaders themselves may not feel they need to compromise, analysts said.

“The president very much believes that over time the US economy is going to grow, the US will get stronger,” said Edgard Kagan, a former White House official now with Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I think when Xi Jinping sits down with Donald Trump, he very much believes the US is in hurtling decline, and that time is on China’s side.”

STATE DINNER WITH AI CHIEFS
Additional fanfare during the trip is due to include a state dinner with tech luminaries, a White House military ceremony including jet flyovers and a visit to the National Archives where the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution are housed.

A state dinner on Thursday is expected to bring together chiefs of companies important in both markets like Apple’s Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

Despite their deep disagreements, both sides pressed ahead with the summit, which analysts said seeks to project stability between the world’s biggest factory and its biggest consumer.

As in their prior two meetings since 2025, the leaders are planning a highly scripted public spectacle. Instead of a joint press conference or statement at the end, the countries are expected to issue dueling announcements highlighting what each side hopes to convey to a domestic audience.

For Mr. Trump, the trip caps a week of diplomacy that began with a two-day stay in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Nearly seven months of war with Iran have spiked energy prices in the US, and the president’s Republican Party faces tough prospects in November’s congressional elections.

Mr. Xi has overseen a surge in China’s foreign trade but faces weak household spending and a property market downturn. Sweeping corruption ​and discipline crackdowns in the military have helped cement Mr. Xi’s power but also raised questions about the People’s Liberation Army’s readiness.

Another meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi is seen as likely this year, potentially at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China in November or the Group of 20 meetings in the US in December. — Reuters

The September 8 dated document, previously unreported and which two sources said was driven by David Milstein, an influential aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, proposed that Mr. Rubio describe the countries’ actions as a series of hostile measures against Israel that contribute to antisemitism.

“These tactics unacceptably draw from the playbook of the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement,” the draft document, reviewed by Reuters, said.

The statement was never released.

According to three people familiar with the matter, the statement was not supported by the White House and the State Department’s senior leadership.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity.

Instead, speaking to reporters on September 8 in Florida before traveling to Latin America, Mr. Rubio refrained from outright criticism of the decision or any particular country.

“Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did. We saw their announcement today, but I don’t have any comment on it right now,” Mr. Rubio said.

The episode illustrates a widening divide between the White House and Mr. Trump’s senior diplomats in Israel about how best to respond to the expansion of Israeli settlements under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government.

It also highlights a growing ideological split within the American right over support for Israel, with polling showing younger Republicans holding an increasingly unfavorable opinion of Washington’s closest Middle East ally.

President Donald Trump earlier this year expressed his opposition to settlement expansion, a growing source of friction with Israel’s Arab neighbors, but his administration has put little pressure on Israel to change its policy.

That has at times put him at odds with Mr. Huckabee, a Baptist minister who is a staunch supporter of settlements and who refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, a term used by the Israeli government but not formally adopted by the US.

Mr. Huckabee’s aide Mr. Milstein last year advocated that the US impose sanctions on the entire International Criminal Court to convince it to drop war crimes charges against Israeli leaders over the Gaza war – a measure the Mr. Trump administration has yet to deploy.

In response to questions from Reuters, a senior US official said the draft statement was not prepared in consultation with the State Department or White House.

The US embassy referred questions, including requests for comment from Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Milstein, to the State Department.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

US PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL QUESTIONED
US public backing for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16% and 20% when the question was first asked in 2017.

While large majorities of Republicans aged 50 and older view Israel positively, younger conservative Americans have grown more critical, a Pew Research Center poll from late March showed. Some 57% of Republicans aged 18-49 have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 50% a year previously.

In December last year, Mr. Trump said that he and Mr. Netanyahu, whose government has overseen a rapid expansion of settlements, did not fully agree on the West Bank following a meeting with the Israeli leader. That September, Mr. Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the territory.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The United Nations and most countries consider settlements to be illegal under international law governing military occupation. Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed rather than occupied.

Violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the territory has risen sharply this year, some of them emboldened by support from Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which includes ministers who are themselves settlers.

Mr. Huckabee has publicly condemned the violence and called for perpetrators to be prosecuted. He has also said violent settlers were a minority and do not represent the wider settler community.

Some 500,000 Israeli settlers and 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, territory Palestinians have long sought for a future state, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem. — Reuters

During its 200th climate forum, PAGASA said that a strong El Niño is already present in the tropical Pacific and is likely to intensify into a very strong state by the end of 2026.

The phenomenon, which is characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and can cause below-normal rainfall and drier conditions in the country, will persist until the first quarter of 2027.

“This situation needs to be taken seriously, particularly because of its potential impacts on rainfall and water resources,” PAGASA Administrator Nathaniel T. Servando said during the climate forum.

As of Sept. 21, 45 provinces across the country have already been affected by dry conditions, dry spell, and drought amid El Niño.

Most of the affected provinces were in the Visayas at 26, while 11 provinces were recorded in Luzon and eight in Mindanao.

PAGASA defines a dry condition as an area that has experienced or is expected to experience two consecutive months of below-normal rainfall, or up to a 60% reduction from average rainfall.

It is called a dry spell if rainfall has been below normal for three consecutive months, and drought if rainfall is way below the normal average, or there is more than a 60% reduction from average rainfall.

Ana Liza S. Solis, chief of PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, said that up to 85 provinces in total are likely to be impacted by these conditions from late October to the end of March 2027.

Here are the detailed areas that will be affected by dry conditions, dry spell, and drought during the said period:

End of October 2026: 28 provinces under dry conditions, 9 provinces affected by dry spell, and 8 provinces affected by drought — 45 provinces in total.

End of November 2026: 7 provinces under dry conditions, 35 provinces affected by dry spell, and 8 provinces affected by drought — 50 provinces in total.

End of December 2026: 16 provinces under dry conditions, 31 provinces affected by dry spell, and 19 provinces affected by drought — 66 provinces in total.

End of January 2027: 5 provinces under dry conditions, 37 provinces affected by dry spell, and 43 provinces affected by drought — 85 provinces in total.

End of February 2027: No provinces under dry conditions, 35 provinces affected by dry spell, and 50 provinces affected by drought — 85 provinces in total.

End of March 2027: No provinces under dry conditions, 5 provinces affected by dry spell, and 79 provinces affected by drought — 84 provinces in total.

Mr. Servando said DoST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. is urging local government units (LGUs) and key sectors to take action to prepare for the strong impacts of El Niño.

“LGUs and key sectors are being urged to take proactive and data-driven action before we even feel the strong impacts of a strong El Niño,” Mr. Servando said. — Edg Adrian A. Eva

Read the original article here

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The investment, equivalent to about $70 million, would come from IFC’s own account through the purchase of Mynt common shares, according to a disclosure dated Sept. 23. The project, identified as “Project Hiraya,” is pending approval.

Mynt’s IPO will comprise both primary and secondary shares.

IFC said proceeds from the primary offering would be used to expand Mynt’s digital financial services business, including its CreditTech operations through Fuse Financing, Inc., as well as for product development and other general corporate purposes.

Mynt is the parent company of the group behind GCash, which had 41.5 million monthly active users in the three months ended June 2026, equivalent to about 56% of the Philippine adult population.

Separately, GCash said it has been seeing increased use of investment products on its platform ahead of Mynt’s planned listing.

“In terms of behavior of customers, we see that there are a lot of trials. A lot are very interested to start investing and saving,” GCash Commercial Head of Wealth Management Darvin Sy Su told reporters on Monday.

GCash said its investment offerings, including GStocks, GFunds, and GBonds, have reached more than 25 million accounts, while GStocks has onboarded about two million users.

Mr. Sy Su said investment preferences varied across users, with younger customers showing more interest in cryptocurrency, while those with traditional investments also placed funds in stocks and bonds.

Toby Allan C. Arce, head of sales trading at Globalinks Securities and Stocks, Inc., said GCash’s investment services could give Mynt an additional channel for reaching retail investors through its existing user base.

He said, however, that this should not be the primary basis for valuing Mynt ahead of the IPO.

The PSE last week approved Mynt’s application to list its common shares on the Main Board under the ticker symbol GCASH.

The offering covers up to 8.03 billion primary and secondary common shares, consisting of up to 1.61 billion primary shares and 6.42 billion secondary shares, with an overallotment option of up to 1.20 billion secondary shares.

Mynt has set a maximum offer price of P10 per share, with the final offer price scheduled to be determined on Oct. 1 following the bookbuilding process.

The offer period is scheduled for Oct. 6 to 12, with the tentative listing date set for Oct. 20.

The PSE has said the transaction could become the largest public offering in the exchange’s history. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno and Ashley Erika O. Jose

JAKARTA — The Philippines must focus on diversifying its energy sources and strengthening its power system to sustain progress in its clean energy transition, an International Energy Agency (IEA) official said.

Sue-Ern Tan, head of IEA Regional Cooperation Centre, said the Philippines must accelerate its long-term plan of diversification and maximize its homegrown energy resources.

“The instability that’s happening in the Middle East is continuing, but I think the key is that focus on diversification is the golden rule of energy security,” Ms. Tan said on the sidelines of Enlit Asia 2026.

“Thinking through who you get your supplies from and what are the different types of supplies will remain a very key principle for the Philippine government as it considers its energy security challenges,” she added.

The conflict in the Middle East has underscored the Philippines’ vulnerability to disruptions in global energy markets, given its heavy reliance on imported fuel.

The Philippines sources over 90% of its oil supply from the Middle East, making it vulnerable to global supply disruptions and price swings.

Coal remains the backbone of the Philippines’ power mix, accounting for about 60%, while renewable energy makes up roughly 25%.

The country is aiming to raise the share of renewable energy to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

Ms. Tan acknowledged the Philippines’ momentum in moving away from imported fossil fuels such as coal.

“The government is thinking through how else we can source our power supply, including making the most of the excellent renewable energy resources that the Philippines has, which is very, very positive,” she said.

The IEA official said the government’s green energy auction (GEA) program has been “a really positive signal to the market to create a list of a pipeline of bankable projects.”

Since the first round of GEA was launched in 2022, the Department of Energy (DoE) has so far completed four auctions, which are expected to deliver about 21 gigawatts (GW) of capacity through 2035.

The previous auctions involved solar, onshore wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and energy storage systems.

The DoE is advancing a 10-year GEA program that aims to offer an additional 25 GW of renewable energy capacity from 2027 to 2035, with the current focus on offshore wind and waste-to-energy projects.

Ms. Tan said the IEA is collaborating with the DoE to determine how the Philippines can integrate more of its homegrown resources into the existing power system.

“I think it’s continuing to do some more of that integrated planning. And it’s not necessarily a gap, but I think it’s continuing to focus more on how we integrate more of that variable renewable energy into the power system,” she said.

THE GOVERNMENT is looking to raise less from its planned retail Treasury bond (RTB) offering than in its previous sale amid elevated interest rates.

“We are not going to raise the usual volume that we’ve been raising in the past for this RTB. Definitely lower. We are not looking for a big volume for this one,” National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza told reporters on Tuesday, adding that they will seek to raise less than half of their last issuance.

The government raised P507.16 billion from five-year notes in its last RTB issuance in August 2025. That was also the first time that RTBs were made available on GCash’s GBonds platform.

“It’s the 25^th year of RTB. Since it’s a milestone year for RTB, we want our investors to remember that this is an instrument that retail investors like or Filipinos like us, can invest in and you don’t need a big amount,” Ms. Almanza said.

“Because of the steep yield curve, we want to manage our cost,” she added.

Ms. Almanza said renewed market volatility, along with the effects of the southwest monsoon, El Niño and elevated oil prices, has raised expectations of higher inflation in September.

The National Treasurer said they are not pressured to raise a bigger volume as they still have regular auctions for the rest of the year.

“While recent market volatility may prompt investors to demand a slightly higher risk premium, the planned RTB issuance should still attract strong demand given ample domestic liquidity and the appeal of sovereign-backed investments,” Union Bank of the Philippines Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in a Viber message.

The government also canceled its issuance of fresh five-year fixed rate Treasury notes (FXTN) initially scheduled for Tuesday.

“The postponement of the FXTN issuance suggests the government is being opportunistic in timing its borrowings, seeking to avoid locking in higher long-term rates while allowing retail funding to help meet financing needs,” Mr. Asuncion said.

However, Mr. Asuncion noted higher borrowing volumes will gradually increase debt servicing costs if interest rates stay elevated for longer and reduce fiscal flexibility.

“Overall, the key challenge is not demand for the RTB itself, but managing the long-term fiscal impact of borrowing in a higher-rate environment.”

Meanwhile, Philippine Institute for Development Studies Senior Research Fellow John Paolo R. Rivera said in a Viber message that investors may be wary due to market volatility and push rates up.

“Demand could remain supported by its retail investor base,” he said.

A trader said in a text message that the government could raise a minimum of P150 billion from the RTB issuance.

“For them to make sure there is demand, it should be two- to three-year papers,” the trader said, noting it could fetch a rate close to 7%.

Meanwhile, a five-year paper would have to be priced at 7.5% to ensure there is good demand, the trader added.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) is also eyeing a retail dollar bond (RDB) issuance soon, with Ms. Almanza noting it is cheaper to borrow offshore due to elevated rates domestically.

“We’re also exploring another RDB since we have a maturity but it will depend. Right now, because of the very high rates domestically, it’s cheaper [to borrow] with foreign exchange,” she said.

Ms. Almanza said that they could issue RDBs around the date of the maturity, which is on Oct. 8.

The government last tapped the offshore debt market in June, when it raised $2.5 billion from a triple-tranche dollar-denominated bond and met its foreign borrowing program for the year.

It raised $550 million from five-and-a-half-year notes at a reoffer yield of 4.699%, $1.65 billion from 10-year bonds at 5.355%, and $300 million from the tap of the 2051 global bonds at 5.75%.

“A retail dollar bond would help diversify the government’s funding sources and reduce reliance on a domestic market currently characterized by elevated borrowing costs,” Mr. Asuncion said.

However, he also noted increased exposure to foreign exchange risk, as debt servicing and principal repayments become more expensive in peso terms if the peso further weakens.

“While this strategy can help optimize funding costs and tap available investor demand, the key is maintaining a prudent balance between domestic and external borrowings,” Mr. Asuncion said.

“As long as foreign currency debt remains manageable, the benefits of funding diversification can outweigh the risks, but a sustained increase in external borrowing could leave public finances more vulnerable to exchange rate swings and shifts in global market conditions,” he added.

The government borrows from local and foreign sources to help finance its budget deficit, which is capped at P1.659 trillion or 5.4% of gross domestic product this year.

S&P GLOBAL RATINGS and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) sharply downgraded their Philippine growth forecasts for this year as a weaker-than-expected first half and persistent economic headwinds threaten to stall the country’s recovery.

Based on its latest Economic Outlook for Asia-Pacific published on Wednesday, S&P cut its Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for this year to 2.9% from 4.1%.

“We have lowered our growth forecast for 2026, reflecting the weaker-than-expected first-half growth and a more gradual recovery trajectory,” S&P Global Ratings Asia-Pacific Senior Economist Vishrut Rana said in an e-mailed response to questions. “It will take some time for the economy to recover its footing.”

At the same time, ADB trimmed its 2026 Philippine GDP growth projection to 3.3% from the 3.8% forecast it made in July.

“In the Philippines, weak public investment contributed to the 2026 downgrade from 3.8% to 3.3%, although a rebound is expected to support growth of 5.1% in 2027,” the Manila-based multilateral lender said in its Asian Development Outlook report released on Wednesday. 

The ADB said that household consumption remained subdued amid high inflation and weak consumer confidence.

According to the ADB report, the Philippines is expected to be one of the slowest-growing economies in developing Southeast Asia this year, ahead only of Brunei Darussalam (1.2%), Thailand (2%) and Myanmar (2.2%). Vietnam is expected to post the fastest growth this year with 7.8%, followed by Indonesia (5.2%), Malaysia (4.9%), the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (4%), Timor-Leste (4%) and Cambodia (3.9%).

The lower growth projections from S&P and ADB come after the Philippine economy grew by 2.3% — a new post-pandemic low — in the second quarter, bringing first-half growth to 2.6%.

If S&P and ADB’s estimates hold, GDP growth will be slower than 4.4% in 2025, when a massive flood control corruption mess dampened the country’s spending and investments.

This year could also mark the fourth straight year that the government will miss its full-year growth goal. For this year, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) is targeting 3.5%-4.5% GDP growth. 

“The economy is facing a sharp pullback in public capital expenditure, a steep energy price shock, and elevated food prices, partly due to El Niño conditions,” S&P’s Mr. Rana said.

He noted that S&P’s gloomier outlook for the Philippine economy reflected expectations of a slow recovery in public spending.

“We expect public capital expenditure to normalize gradually as various public infrastructure works are initiated,” he said. “Given strong reforms in the space to increase transparency and efficiency, it will take time for disbursements to ramp up.”

Infrastructure spending has contracted since the flood control scandal broke out late last year. Based on the latest Department of Budget and Management (DBM) data, infrastructure and other capital outlays slumped by 40.8% annually to P367.4 billion in the first half from P620.2 billion.

The DBM has said that the government will go full throttle on infrastructure spending in the third quarter. 

OUTLOOK FOR 2027
Meanwhile, S&P sees the Philippine economy expanding by 5.4% in 2027, slower than its previous 5.8% estimate. It cut its GDP growth projections for 2028 to 6% from 6.2%, and for 2029 to 5.8% from 6.1%.

However, these are still within the government’s 5%-6% growth targets for 2027 to 2030.

S&P’s Mr. Rana noted that the Philippines’ growth drivers over the medium-term remain intact, supported by the business process outsourcing (BPO) and energy sectors.

“The BPO sector is competitive, leveraging a skilled labor force, and there is strong private sector interest to invest in upcoming special economic zones in industries such as energy, electronics, and BPO,” he said.

“The energy sector will likely see strong expansion as the Philippines aims to become more resilient to external energy shocks,” he added.

The ADB also trimmed its 2027 growth forecast to 5.1% from 5.3% previously, placing it at the lower end of the government’s target.

“The economy continues to feel the impact of the Middle East conflict, but business indicators point to expected improvements in economic activity, with the industry sector still looking to expand next year,” ADB Philippines Country Director Andrew Jeffries said on Wednesday.

“For the Philippines to ride through the effects of external and domestic shocks in the near term, timely government spending on planned investments especially in the social sector and critical infrastructure projects will be important,” he added.

ADB Philippines Country Office Senior Economics Officer Teresa Mendoza said household consumption is expected to continue growing, but at a more tempered pace as households remain vulnerable to higher prices.

The ADB maintained its inflation forecast for 2026 at 5.9%, but raised its 2027 projection to 4.4% from 3.9% in July.

Ms. Mendoza said remittances and the recent minimum wage increase in Metro Manila should provide some support to household spending. Remittances could also increase during periods of economic stress, while peso depreciation raises their value in local currency terms.

“We’re expecting (public investment) to improve gradually by the start of the fourth quarter of 2026. This is in line with the government’s move to accelerate ongoing flagship infrastructure projects, particularly rail projects,” Ms. Mendoza said.

Asked how much of the expected rebound in 2027 would come from base effects, Mr. Jeffries pointed to higher infrastructure spending and a recovery in public investment.

“We’ve already seen indications of more government outlays for infrastructure projects, including large transportation projects,” he said.

“I know there’s an intent to rebound public investment and get it back on track compared with what happened in the second half of last year and earlier. I think that’s a big part of it,” he added.

The ADB sees room for manufacturing and exports to play a bigger role in growth, although initiatives such as Pax Silica and the Luzon Economic Corridor are unlikely to have an immediate impact.

Mr. Jeffries said the initiatives are aimed at attracting higher value-added foreign direct investment (FDI), which could support jobs and economic growth.

“It would be a positive for job creation and growth, but it’s not immediate. There would be a lag,” he said. “Foreign direct investment, generally, depending on what it is, can take several years to build and construct.”

He said expanding manufacturing and exports could also help diversify the Philippine economy, where these sectors account for a smaller share of output compared with some neighboring economies.

“Increased exports would have a positive effect on economic growth and jobs and the like over time,” Mr. Jeffries said.

RISING PRICE PRESSURES
Meanwhile, S&P’s Mr. Rana said rising price pressures from costlier food and fuel may keep domestic demand sluggish in the near term, especially as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) tightens its monetary policy to curb inflation.

“Elevated energy and food prices, together with the resulting tighter monetary policy, will continue to weigh on domestic demand,” the S&P economist said.

In its latest outlook, S&P said it expects headline inflation to accelerate to 5.5% this year from its prior estimate of 4.8% amid sticky price pressures from food and energy items.

In August, headline inflation eased to a five-month low of 6.1% amid lower food and utility prices. However, it stayed above the central bank’s 3% target for a sixth straight month, bringing the year-to-date average inflation to 5.2%.

S&P also raised its inflation projections for 2027 to 3.6% from 3.3% and for 2028 to 3.2% from 3%, but left its 2029 forecast unchanged at 2.9%.

“Given persistent price pressures in food and energy; we expect inflation to be elevated this year before gradually easing next year,” Mr. Rana said.

This, he added, may prompt the BSP to deliver one final 25-basis-point (bp) policy rate hike this year before it shifts to easing next year.

“The BSP is likely to remain focused on the inflation mandate and, as such, we expect modest further monetary policy tightening this year,” Mr. Rana said. “We expect interest rates to be lowered in 2027 as inflation eases following dissipation of the energy and food price shocks.”

Tightening once more could help economic managers curb inflationary pressures and support the peso, S&P Asia-Pacific Chief Economist Louis Kuijs and Mr. Rana said in their report.

S&P expects the local unit to trade at P62 to the dollar by yearend, before rebounding to P60.50 next year.

In August, the central bank tightened for a third straight meeting as it sought to preemptively contain inflation risks from the looming severe El Niño, wage hike, and global oil price swings.

It lifted its key interest rate by 25 bps to an over one-year high of 5%, bringing its cumulative hikes to 75 bps since it first tightened in April.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told the 15-member council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, that if managed poorly, he believed “AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole.”

The meeting — convened by France during the annual UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders — comes amid warnings that AI systems could soon improve themselves and slip beyond human control.

“For all the differences of the people in this room, we must put aside those differences in order to confront this global opportunity and global threat that is being presented to us at the same time. No leader, no company and no nation can manage this alone,” Mr. Amodei said.

Governments around the world have struggled to keep pace with rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The United States and China, the two leading powers in AI development, have taken different approaches to oversight.

President Donald Trump has argued that the US does not need new AI-specific regulations, while China has imposed rules governing AI algorithms and training data, including requirements that AI-generated content be clearly labeled.

Hugging Face co-founder Clément Delangue highlighted the role of AI tools in defending against cyberattacks, citing an incident in which US giant OpenAI’s AI agents breached Hugging Face’s infrastructure after escaping their testing environment.

“We were attacked by AI, but more importantly, we defended ourselves with AI,” he told the council.

Council members, including leading AI rivals the United States and China, were also set to speak.

Mr. Delangue said Hugging Face relied on a Chinese AI model to help defend against the attack by OpenAI’s AI agents because it faced fewer restrictions than comparable US tools. His remarks underscored the growing presence of Chinese AI products, which have gained users globally in part because they can offer lower-cost alternatives to American models.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said international cooperation was needed.

“If AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone. They must be shaped through democratic processes and by governments accountable to the people they serve,” Mr. Altman told the council.

As the council met, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in New York that an AI agent developed by OpenAI infiltrated an Australian government website in June, accessing public and non-public files.

US TO UN: YOU CANNOT GOVERN TECHNOLOGY YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND
Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian considered one of the “Godfathers of AI” and co-chair of the Independent International Scientific Panel — created by the UN General Assembly last year — told the Security Council: “The dangers are real and imminent.”

“This council faces an unprecedented threat, one that none of its members would choose, that none can contain alone, and that does not respect the borders we defend,” he said.

Mr. Trump told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI, describing the technology as amazing but noting that the US would be careful.

White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios echoed Mr. Trump in remarks to the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

“You cannot govern technology you do not understand. This body and others like it should focus on sharing best practices to build domestic capacity, not establishing a global regulatory scheme,” he said.

China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong said continuous improvement of regulatory frameworks, emergency response, and cross-border cooperation on AI was needed.

“It is incumbent upon the international community to work more closely together, attach equal importance to development and security, and steer AI development for the positive, for good, and for humanity,” he told the Security Council.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has long pushed for global governance of AI, has warned that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence poses risks that cannot be ignored, putting him at odds with Mr. Trump.

The Security Council met for the first time on the risks of AI in 2023, when China said the technology should not become a “runaway horse” and the United States warned against its use to censor or repress people. Then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired a Security Council meeting on AI in 2024. — Reuters

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Released September 19, the track opens a new creative era for the Albuquerque singer, songwriter and rapper. It is the first release from her forthcoming VOICEMAILS project, but it is not the beginning of the story. SMA intentionally starts with the ending, presenting listeners with the clarity that comes only after heartbreak, anger and self-doubt have been confronted.

“G&G is about moving on from the past: from relationships and previous versions of yourself,” SMA explains. “More than anything else, it’s about me and where I’m at now.”

The single’s visual world makes that transformation impossible to miss. SMA created two contrasting realities for the project: one rooted in glossy Y2K nostalgia and another shaped by fairytale fantasy. In the first, an early-2000s-inspired pink room reflects a version of the artist preparing to change. In the second, a dramatic ballgown, flowers and scenes filmed at the botanical gardens in Albuquerque reveal the woman who has emerged on the other side.

The concept feels playful and cinematic, but it is not simply decoration. Fashion, color and setting become part of the storytelling, showing the difference between waiting for a new life and actively stepping into one.

A self-described ’90s baby, SMA has long been drawn to thrifting, vintage accessories and the freedom of reinventing pieces from the past. That same instinct appears throughout “GOODNIGHT AND GOODBYE.” She does not erase who she was; she reshapes those experiences into something that belongs to her now.

Friends Kacee Aguirre, Mallory Laborie and Samantha Bo helped execute the visuals through filming, set building and creative collaboration, while SMA directed the overall concept. The finished world is dreamy, feminine and intentionally larger than life, giving the emotional weight of the record a visual counterpoint.

The independence behind the imagery carries into the music itself. SMA wrote the lyrics over an instrumental by Mantra Beats and recorded every vocal at home using a Volt 2 interface, an Audio-Technica 2020 microphone and Ableton. She later worked with musician Richard Baca on the mixing and mastering process.

The final vocals were completed without Auto-Tune or Melodyne, a creative milestone for an artist becoming more confident in both her voice and her instincts. Her influences include Qveen Herby, Ariana Grande and Eminem, a wide-ranging combination reflected in her fast-moving lyricism, stacked vocals and sharp sense of pop structure.

“GOODNIGHT AND GOODBYE” also contains clues to what comes next. The third verse incorporates titles from future VOICEMAILS songs, including “I JUST CALLED,” “voodoo,” “labubu,” “broken,” “yours” and “ghost.” Each title acts like a hidden marker within a much larger narrative.

The project was originally conceived as a story about toxic love told through voice memos. As SMA continued writing, it became an exploration of how resentment can evolve into understanding. The emotional movement is not about excusing the past; it is about refusing to remain trapped inside it.

That process has required SMA to draw from deeply personal experiences, including an estranged relationship with her sister and the grief of accepting a connection that could not be restored. Rather than allowing that loss to define her, she transformed it into creative material and a clearer understanding of the life she wants to build.

She also credits mentor Dounia Tazi with helping her embrace positive affirmations, intention and learning to love herself where she is.

“I want people to feel empowered: not only to let go of what no longer serves them, but to embrace who they want to be and step into their power,” SMA says. “Choosing to make music has allowed me to fully express who I am and my hope is that the music allows other people to do the same.”

With VOICEMAILS, SMA is not merely introducing a collection of songs. She is designing an era in which music, clothing, imagery and personal history all speak to one another. “GOODNIGHT AND GOODBYE” is the first look at that world—and proof that moving forward can be its own form of art.

ABOUT SMA

Simone Nicole, known artistically as SMA, is an emerging recording artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her work combines music, fashion, visual storytelling and pop culture, pairing fast-moving lyricism and layered vocals with personal themes of growth, identity and transformation. “GOODNIGHT AND GOODBYE” is the first release from her forthcoming VOICEMAILS project.

Artist Links
Website: www.theactualsma.com
Instagram/TikTok: @theactualsma
Spotify: SMA on Spotify
YouTube: SMA on YouTube

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“We’ve all heard the warnings – which we must heed,” he said in his inaugural speech to the United Nations General Assembly. “I know how worried people are. So we have to rise to this moment.”

At his first multinational meeting in New York as Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, Mr. Burnham made his support for AI the focus of his bid for Britain to assume a role on the global stage, rebuilding its diplomatic status.

He has said that rather than become a “doom-monger” about AI, he wanted Britain to pursue the huge benefits it could bring while being clear about the risks, which range from safeguards failing to keep up and hostile actors using it to wage an information war.

“Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fears,” he said.

“They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organizations – including universities and the BBC. They’ve amplified far right narratives. And we have evidence that they tried to interfere with the 2019 General Election.”

Russia has rejected the allegations.

Mr. Burnham said he would position Britain as an “honest broker” to take a leadership role, citing its close US ties, improving EU relationship and decent relations with China and India.

Britain has a world-leading AI Security Institute, which works hand in glove with the US and the leading labs on AI safety, he said, but it needed to go further.

In discussions with AI leaders, officials have made clear Britain expects full and total visibility of new frontier models to strengthen the UK’s preparedness and resilience, his office said.

Mr. Burnham said fundamental decisions on AI had to be taken by elected governments, not left to tech companies, and he would put AI at the heart of Britain’s presidency of the G20 next year.

“We will work towards agreeing a single set of global principles and standards to ensure the transparency and access we need to increase our preparedness – and to ensure that AI development is safe,” he said.

Mr. Burnham announced a new National Center for Information Defense to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and identify deepfakes damaging British interests.

“Today I am tasking our security chiefs to begin work on a new National Center for Information Defense – to detect, attribute and disrupt these kinds of hostile state information attacks – to support and defend our democracy,” he said. — Reuters

The Venezuelan delegation, which includes the vice president of economy, the oil minister and officials from state oil company PDVSA, is focused on making the country look “investable,” two people close to the delegation told Reuters.

The pull-aside meeting, scheduled for 7:40 p.m. (2340 GMT) on the sidelines of a reception Mr. Trump is hosting during the UN General Assembly, comes during Ms. Rodriguez’s first trip to the US since taking office. She is expected to address the General Assembly on Wednesday afternoon.

A White House official said the meeting with Ms. Rodriguez included President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Stephen Miller, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for policy.

Mr. Trump has built a working relationship with Ms. Rodriguez, who served as Mr. Maduro’s vice president. But critics say Washington has sidelined the opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, dropping demands for free elections in favor of oil and investment deals with the interim government. A small group of Venezuelans protested in New York on Tuesday, calling for elections.

In his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump called Mr. Maduro an “outlaw dictator,” said hundreds of political prisoners had been freed since his capture and held up the raid as proof the US would use its “unmatched military might” to protect its interests in the Western Hemisphere.

“To the victor belong the spoils,” he said, calling an oil deal his administration signed with Caracas last month “perhaps the biggest deal ever made.” Mr. Trump has said he wants $100 billion in investment to flow into Venezuela’s oil industry.

Ms. Rodriguez arrived in New York on Monday with a delegation that has been holding talks on energy, mining and debt with US officials, multilateral lenders and companies, according to sources. The head of the Inter-American Development Bank is working to secure ‌approval for a $2.5 billion loan for Venezuela but has faced pushback from some members of the lender’s board.

DEMONSTRATORS DEMAND FREE ELECTIONS

Earlier on Tuesday, more than 50 protesters gathered outside the UN to protest Ms. Rodriguez’s presence, waving Venezuelan flags and carrying signs reading “No Vote No Oil” and “New Face, Same Regime.” Many said they wanted Mr. Trump to push for free elections in the South American country.

The protesters sang the Venezuelan national anthem and chanted “Delcy, I swear, you’re going to Brooklyn with Maduro” — a reference to the federal jail in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, just across the East River from the UN, where her predecessor is being held pending trial on drug trafficking charges.

“On one hand, it’s outrageous to see part of the regime meeting with the authorities of this country’s current government, but there’s also no doubt that thanks to this government, today we are one step closer to freedom,” said Miguel Eduardo Martinez, a 34-year-old social media manager who moved from Caracas in 2017.

“Delcy Rodriguez wasn’t born on January 3, 2026. Delcy Rodriguez has been with the Chavista dictatorship for more than 20 years. She has been complicit,” said Cesar Coello, who carried a sign depicting Ms. Rodriguez in an orange jumpsuit. Chavismo is the political movement founded by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Mr. Coello said he hoped Mr. Trump and Ms. Rodriguez would discuss holding elections soon. — Reuters

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THE PHILIPPINES and the European Union (EU) have reached a “substantial agreement” on a free trade agreement (FTA) targeted for signing in 2027, as both sides seek fairer trade rules and more resilient supply chains amid heightened trade tensions and higher US tariffs.

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X on Tuesday that she spoke with Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and that they have agreed on the free trade deal.

“Given the challenging geopolitical and geoeconomic context, the two leaders also underlined the importance of working with likeminded partners across the world to ensure open, fair and predictable trade,” according to a readout of the call between Ms. von der Leyen and Mr. Marcos that was posted on the EC website.

This milestone comes three years after the EC president visited Manila in 2023 when both leaders agreed to relaunch the FTA negotiations.

Ms. von der Leyen will be in Manila next year for the signing of the Philippines-EU FTA, the EC said in a separate statement.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, Philippine Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina A. Roque and European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič said both sides reached a “substantial agreement” on an FTA, which will pave the way for its formal conclusion in the next few months.

Ms. Roque and Mr. Šefčovič welcomed the milestone, saying the deal will “deepen bilateral trade and investment ties, making them more diversified and resilient.”

“The agreement also sends a clear signal of reinforced engagement between the EU and the Philippines, anchored in their common interest in an open, inclusive, and rules-based international order in the current volatile context,” they said.

Ms. Roque and Mr. Šefčovič said the trade deal is expected to create new opportunities for Philippine and European businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises, farmers, manufacturers, and consumers.

The deal is also expected to strengthen and diversify supply chains, as well as ensure fair rules and real predictability, both sides said.

The EC said the FTA would eliminate tariffs and improve market access on both sides.

“With 113 million people, the Philippines represents a major market for EU exporters. The FTA will liberalize over 94% of tariff lines, covering more than 97% of bilateral trade,” it said.

The Philippines and EU member states are under growing pressure to diversify their trade ties as uncertain US tariff policies and the Middle East war are disrupting global trade.

Massimo Santoro, ambassador of the EU delegation to the Philippines, said the FTA negotiations are “essentially concluded.”

Both sides are looking to ratify the FTA before the Philippines’ tariff perks under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) expire next year, Mr. Santoro said.

“We wish to be quick in putting this into force, because we also [took into] consideration the GSP+ mechanism ending in 2027,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN-EU Business Summit on Tuesday.

Prior to the FTA, the Philippines and the EU’s trade relationship was anchored on the GSP+, which allows the duty-free entry of over 6,000 products to Europe.

The Philippines is the third country among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members to have concluded a bilateral FTA with the EU, after Singapore and Vietnam.

SWIFT RATIFICATION URGED
The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said the new trade deal provides a clear framework for Philippine and European businesses.

“After years of rigorous dialogue, we now have a world-class framework that establishes a predictable foundation for trade and investment,” ECCP President Diana M. Edralin said in a statement.

She urged legislators and government officials in the Philippines and EU to ensure the speedy ratification of the trade deal.

“Ensuring an expedited legislative approval in both the Philippine Congress and the European Parliament will allow our business communities, workforce, and consumers to realize the full economic dividends of this historic pact without delay,” she said.

A trade deal with the EU provides an opportunity for the Philippines to bolster its competitiveness as a destination for European investment and as a player in regional value chains, the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) said.

“The challenge now is to translate the country’s strong fundamentals into a competitive operating environment, making it easier for companies to invest, produce and integrate the Philippines into regional supply chains,” EU-ABC Executive Director Chris Humphrey said in a statement.

Former Tariff Commissioner George N. Manzano said the Philippines’ FTA with the EU aligns with the need to strengthen economic resilience amid global trade risks.

“Such diversification is especially important amid geopolitical tensions and uncertainties involving the United States and China, and could help strengthen the resilience of the Philippine economy,” he said in a Viber message.

To attract European partners, Philippine businesses must invest in boosting its capacity to produce and export higher-value-added goods, Mr. Manzano added.

Federation of Philippine Industries Chairperson Elizabeth H. Lee said the FTA could help local industries to align with European standards.

“Meeting higher European standards in quality, safety, traceability, and sustainability will help local firms improve productivity, strengthen competitiveness, and participate more deeply in global value chains,” she said in a statement.

The Philippines’ FTA with the EU could also help attract foreign direct investments to modernize local industries and expand production capacity, Ms. Lee added.

Jonathan L. Ravelas, a senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., said the success of the FTA will depend on how well it is utilized.

“The FTA should be seen not just as a trade deal, but as a platform to improve the country’s competitiveness and long-term economic resilience,” he said via Viber.

To maximize its potential, the government and private sector must help ensure exporter awareness; simplify compliance requirements; upgrade logistics and infrastructure; and maintain a stable and predictable business environment, Mr. Ravelas added.

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ferdinand A. Ferrer said in a statement that the EU FTA can unlock new growth areas for Philippine firms, especially small and medium enterprises that plan to expand to international markets.

In a statement, Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said the FTA can give local exporters greater access to a high-value market like the EU.

The Philippines and EU first launched negotiations for a bilateral FTA in 2015.

FTA talks were stalled in 2017 after the EU raised concerns on human rights issues linked to former President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s drug war. Negotiations were formally resumed in March 2024.

The Philippines’ new trade pact with the EU is expected to unlock around $12 billion in export potential, the Department of Trade and Industry earlier said.

The EU was the Philippines’ fifth-largest trading partner in 2025, with total trade valued at $18.1 billion, according to data from the local statistics agency.

Philippine exports to the EU stood at $9.77 billion, while its imports from the bloc was valued at $8.34 billion last year.

“We’re monitoring a tropical cyclone and we’re expecting it to enter PAR tomorrow,” Chenel Dominguez, weather specialist of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), said during a 5:00 a.m. press briefing in Filipino.

It is expected to enter PAR as a tropical storm and will be given the local name Queenie.

“We’re also seeing that its highest category is typhoon category,” Ms. Dominguez also said.

The tropical depression was last located 1,920 kilometers east of Southeastern Luzon. It had maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 70 kph.

Its trough is causing thunderstorms over Eastern Visayas, CARAGA, Davao Oriental, Misamis Oriental, and Camiguin, PAGASA said.

The bureau warned of possible flooding and landslides during severe thunderstorms in these areas.

PAGASA said that the tropical depression is also likely to enhance the southwest monsoon, but it will not cause the widespread rains that the country experienced in early September.

In Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, generally fair weather is expected, with a chance of localized thunderstorms in the afternoon. — Edg Adrian A. Eva

“I have a big decision to make,” Mr. Trump said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?… Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

In a statement on Tuesday, Iran’s Armed Forces dismissed Mr. Trump’s comments at the UN as “propaganda”, saying their response is “full readiness to inflict more severe, crushing, and unpredictable blows on the aggressors.”

But away from the fiery rhetoric, discussions continued to try to end the nearly seven-month conflict that began with joint US-Israeli strikes and has since killed thousands, driven up oil prices and drawn in neighboring countries.

US envoy Steve Witkoff in a post on X said that the United States and Iran engaged in lengthy talks on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly through mediators “who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day”.

The mediators will continue their work, Mr. Witkoff added, saying that he hoped Tuesday’s discussions would “prove constructive and promising.”

Mr. Trump also met the leaders of Middle Eastern countries who are keen to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war, but are wary of giving their longstanding rival Iran too much power.

Many also host huge US military bases that have come under repeated Iranian attack throughout the war.

“We think that the situation with Iran could end right after the (November 3) midterm elections, maybe before. I don’t know. You never know,” Mr. Trump said as he met the leaders.

The diplomatic maneuvering comes as Mr. Trump faces pressure on multiple fronts — rising energy costs at home, a widening regional conflict abroad, and the midterms six weeks away that could reshape his political standing. Whether talks produce a deal or the war escalates further carries consequences for global oil markets, Gulf security and millions of Iranians.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi met with Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani of Qatar, which has spent months trying to de-escalate the conflict, the Qatari state news agency reported.

A senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days if the US eased military pressure and lifted its blockade on Iranian ports.

The senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had conveyed its latest proposal to Washington through mediators last week and could reopen the strait to Gulf shipping within seven days if its demands were met.

In a reminder of Iran’s firm position so far, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who headed Iran’s negotiating team at previous talks, said Iran would never surrender: “Trump must understand that he cannot impose his power on the Iranian people and its armed forces.”

WIDENING REGIONAL CONFLICT

On the table at the Gulf states’ meeting with Mr. Trump is a Qatari proposal for a common security framework involving Iran and the Arab Gulf states, regional sources said. One source said Iran was reviewing the proposal.

Mr. Al Thani has said any such arrangement would need to provide security guarantees for the Gulf states and expand economic interdependence with Iran.

Saudi Arabia, the largest of the Gulf states, has been drawn deeper into the war this month as Iran-aligned Houthi fighters have advanced in Yemen, routing forces of the Saudi-backed government and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.

The US, which bombed the Houthis for two months last year, has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to rejoin the fight. The New York Times reported that Mr. Trump called off US strikes against the Houthis on Sunday at the last minute.

Asked why Washington had held back from striking the Houthis, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would always support Saudi Arabia, adding:

“That said, that is a very dangerous and complex conflict that pre-exists … We have a history with the Houthis as well, and that’s something we don’t want to see impacted either.”

Oil markets did find some relief on Tuesday after sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia had restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu within hours, albeit at reduced volumes.

The pipeline, Saudi Arabia’s main export route bypassing wartime disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, had been shut after attacks this month that Riyadh blamed on Iranian-backed groups in Iraq. — Reuters

In his final address to the United Nations before leaving office next year, Mr. Macron said the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone, rebuking Mr. Trump’s portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.

He spoke at the United Nations General Assembly hours after Mr. Trump had from the same rostrum hailed his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.

“A year ago, here in this very hall, about a dozen states had recognized Palestine. I hear the cynicism of some people: ‘Recognition is just a piece of paper, look at the reality,'” Mr. Macron said, banging his fist on the podium in his last speech at the United Nations before stepping down next May.

“But what credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza? Some boast of a supposed peace. But that peace has not reopened humanitarian access for a single second. Are we simply to stand by and watch this spectacle that should shame us all?”

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS

In response to Mr. Macron’s criticism, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “President Trump ended the war between Israel and Hamas, freed all living hostages, returned the bodies of the deceased to their loved ones, and is now leading the implementation of the 20-Point Plan for Peace in Gaza. While others talk, this President took this complex problem head on. No one has done more for peace and stability in the region.”

Mr. Macron has faced criticism among some politicians and activists in France that he has done little since recognizing a Palestinian state last September.

Despite the criticism, Paris has toughened its stance on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, imposing some national sanctions and launching a process to ban products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“Look at what is happening in the West Bank, where every day violations are committed. In whose name? Hamas has never operated in the West Bank,” Mr. Macron said.

“What is happening there is building, day by day, the impossibility of a project that should be based on respect for the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to exist.”

France’s ties with Israel have been particularly strained over the last year. Mr. Macron said those who believed that violating the sovereignty of all of Israel’s neighbors would ensure its security were mistaken.

“They are weakening Israel’s security, both today and in the future,” he said.

‘LONG LIVE THE UNITED NATIONS’

Seven months from France’s next presidential election, Mr. Macron was making his last appearance after first taking to the rostrum in 2017.

Often showing a keen eye for the trappings of diplomacy — the grand settings, the symbolism, the personal connections — he has at the same time failed to translate this into lasting strategic gains, analysts say.

However, he has always been a staunch defender of the multilateral system and the United Nations.

Mr. Macron warned against a global “return to the law of the jungle”, saying countries faced a choice between a world governed by power and coercion and a “civilized international society.”

“Our duty, more than ever, is to stand alongside the United Nations. We cannot accept the new order of impunity that some would like to build,” he said.

He ended his speech with “Long Live the United Nations!” — Reuters

Representatives from more than a dozen countries, including the United States and China, will attend the two-day gathering in Phnom Penh. Cambodian authorities say they have eradicated industrial-scale scam compounds, a claim met with skepticism by some analysts.

Cambodia and other Southeast Asian nations have become hubs for the transnational cyberscam industry, with mostly Chinese-led criminal gangs operating compounds where trafficking victims are detained and coerced into carrying out romance scams, police-impersonation fraud and other schemes.

On Monday and Tuesday, reporters toured sprawling centers shuttered by the government – one housing as many as 20,000 workers. They also viewed materials seized by police, including fake FBI and Chinese police badges used in impersonation schemes.

Under pressure from countries including the US, which estimates that Americans lost more than $10 billion to scammers operating in the region in 2024 alone, Cambodia says it has raided hundreds of compounds and deported hundreds of thousands of people over the past year.

But analysts and opposition figures say the raids have left politically connected figures who allegedly protected the networks untouched, while criminal groups have adapted by breaking into smaller units and moving operations overseas.

The credibility of the crackdown “will depend on whether the Cambodian state is willing to investigate all credible allegations, regardless of wealth, influence or official position,” Mu Sochua, an exiled opposition politician, said in a statement. — Reuters

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USB extenders do work. The less convenient answer is that the term “USB extender” can mean anything from a passive cable to an active repeater or a CAT/fiber extender. They all extend the USB connection, but don’t necessarily preserve the same speed, power or features. They’re generally safe to use, as long as a unit is properly rated hardware within its stated limits.

This is important when you get past connecting a keyboard and mouse. A 4K webcam, external SSD or USB-C dock can require significantly more bandwidth; a dock can also transmit video and power. An extender can thus “work” while switching to a slower USB mode, disconnecting from time to time or losing a feature you thought you had. 

Distance decides what kind of USB extender you need

StarTech

A passive extension cable simply adds more length between the computer and device. This is okay for shorter runs, but as the cable length increases, maintaining signal integrity becomes difficult. USB 2.0 is fairly tolerant up to approximately 16 feet (5 meters) and passive USB 3.x runs are typically kept to around 10 feet (3 meters) before active hardware becomes the more intelligent choice.

Active extenders include electronics to regenerate the signal. For instance, StarTech offers a 33-foot active USB 3.2 Gen 1 cable with a 5 Gbps speed rating and says two of them can be daisy-chained for a ~66-foot run. Icron’s Raven 3104 takes it a step further, delivering up to 5 Gbps speeds at a max distance of 328 feet, using a CAT 6a or CAT 7 cable.

The device at the other end is still important. Compared to a keyboard, devices like storage drives, VR headsets, webcams and docks are more likely to reveal connection issues, as they may need more bandwidth or multiple USB features simultaneously. Shopping is even more puzzling with USB-C, as the connector itself provides little indication of the speed or capabilities behind it.

Power is a separate problem from data

Formatoriginal/Shutterstock

Power transmission is where only checking the connector on the box can become costly. Up to 240W is possible with USB Power Delivery, but the source, device and cable must all support that power level. The source advertises its capabilities and the connected device requests power before the higher-power contract is established. USB-IF requires USB-C-to-USB-C cables passing its compliance program to carry either a 60W or 240W power marking, and all except USB 2.0 cables must also show their supported data rate.

For a given cable, those numbers may not be close at all. Anker offers a 10-foot USB-C cable with 240W charging support, but its data transfer speed tops out at 480Mbps. Icron’s 328-foot extender does the opposite: It supports up to 5Gbps, but offers just 6W per remote USB port. There’s no guarantee of fast data with fast charging, and vice versa.

Passive USB-C male-to-female extensions need extra caution. C-to-C cables, Type-C-to-legacy cables and adapter assemblies are listed in USB-IF’s passive Type-C compliance document, while generic male-to-female Type-C extension cables are not. But that doesn’t mean USB extenders are illegal. 

If you’re looking for USB4, display output or high-power charging, getting the USB-C connectors to fit together is just the beginning of the compatibility test. If the actual issue is that your charger doesn’t reach the wall outlet, a properly rated AC extension cord may be cleaner for a temporary setup than extending the USB connection itself.

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Patrick Wolf is set to celebrate 20 years of ‘The Magic Position’ with a one-off orchestral show in London next year – check out all the details below.

The concert will celebrate the anniversary of his landmark third album, which will be performed in it’s entirety at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, exactly 20 years to the day since the album’s original release on February 26, 2007.

Commenting on the upcoming anniversary show, Wolf said in a press release: “I had been thinking all summer of a way to mark 20 years since the release of an album that completely changed the course of my life.

“With no ability to give the album a remaster or vinyl release, holding no rights to the master recording, and too deep in writing and production for my next album, I decided to give ‘The Magic Position’ one spectacular sonic and visual moment. One night only with chamber orchestra and full band in the venue.

“The album received its grand finale at the end of 2007 – Shepherds Bush Empire. A moment that I hold as much regret for as I do hope for artistic redemption with – my chance for that being, February the 26th, 2027.”

Speaking about the layout of the venue for the show, Wolf told fans on Facebook it would be “split between seated balcony and dancing room stalls”. Tickets to both go on sale this Friday (September 25) at 9am BST here, with his Patreon members able to access a pre-sale from tomorrow (September 23) at 9am BST.

“I look forward to opening the door to this wonderful, beloved world with you next February, in a way I will be able to do with so much greater mastery of my craft and art than I was capable of 20 years ago,” he wrote.

Last year, we caught up with Wolf for a wide-ranging interview touching on his collab with Zola Jesus, tackling “death, decay and loss” on the long-awaited ‘Crying The Neck’, and embracing “outsider status” within the ’00s indie scene.

‘Crying The Neck’ is the first album of a four-part project.

On his complex relationship with “indie sleaze” nostalgia, he said he “never felt like I belonged in any of the music industry”, and wondered if he’d “feel like that for the rest of my life”.

He continued: “I’ve never been on Jools Holland, I’ve never had a Mercury nomination – I don’t get invited to any of these things. I think I can claim outsider status quite authentically!”

“I don’t belong to any particular movement. You’d be very hard pressed to trace me to any of it. All my favourite artists managed to achieve that as well, so I think my teenage self would be proud.

“I feel like an advocate and ambassador for the work. I’m like, ‘Hey, come on! Give me a seat at the table’, but it’s not me. It’s like, ‘Give my work a seat at the table’. But I’m very happy on the margin.”

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Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” has spent its 23rd total week atop the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the all-time record held by Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The country hit is now officially the longest-running No. 1 single in U.S. chart history.

For 23 years, Carey’s own “One Sweet Day,” a duet with Boyz II Men from her 1995 album Daydream, held the title she once shared with Langley, with 16 weeks spent at No. 1. Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” remix, featuring Justin Bieber, tied the record in 2017, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” finally surpassed it the following year, picking up 19 weeks at the top of the charts.

“Old Town Road”’s record went largely unchallenged until late 2024, when Shaboozey tied it with “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” All the while, every holiday season since 2019, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” had been steadily picking up more weeks at No. 1 until, last year, Carey finally snatched back her crown.

Langley released “Choosin’ Texas” in October 2025, as the lead single from her third studio album, Dandelion. The song entered the Billboard charts the following month, and first hit its peak position back in February. Dandelion was also the No. 1 album in the country for two weeks in April.

Read about “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at No. 3 in The 50 Best Holiday Songs of All Time.

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Likely one of the biggest haunted attractions in all of San Diego, the Whaley House is infamous around the world as one of the most haunted places in America.

San Diego already has a long history of mystery and ghost stories; there are many ghost tours you can go on year-round. However, nothing quite tops the Whaley House Story. It not only involves Thomas Whaley and his family but also a plethora of other stories and mysteries that have happened on the land. 

Whaley House Tours – Quick Pick

Recommended San Diego Ghost Tours:
– San Diego Ghosts and Gravestones Tour (read our full review here)
– Haunted San Diego Ghost Tour (read our full review here)
– San Diego Gaslamp District Ghost Tour
– Paranormal Investigation History & Ghost Tour Old Town San Diego

Old Town Video

Check out our segment on the Whaley House in our Old Town Video:

Watch Video Here

The Whaley House has been so famous, they even made a movie about it. In 2012, they made a horror movie called The Haunting of Whaley House.

Now, much like other horror movies based on real places, the Whaley House movie is an exaggerated movie for fun. It by no means sets the tone for the actual house.

If you’re a San Diego native or have lived in town for over 5 years, you would know at least a little bit about the Whaley House. As a kid, I would go on field trips to Old Town, and more often than not, we would go on the ghost tour. I wasn’t a believer in ghosts until I went on the Whaley House ghost tour.

I remember feeling as if someone was following me when I was at the very back of the group. As we walked through the dining room, I saw her. A little girl around my age looking at me. We made eye contact for what felt like ages but could’ve only been a couple of long seconds. I’ve believed in the supernatural ever since. Let’s dive into the fascinating ghost stories and how you can experience them yourself.

A Little About The Whaley House

The house has turned into a museum located in Old Town San Diego. For my architecture nerds, it is a perfect example of a mid-nineteenth-century Greek Revival. It’s a gorgeous house with a red brick facade, green window panes, and white detailing. I’ve always thought it was the most beautiful building in Old Town.

The house has been a formal historic house museum and opened to the public on May 25th, 1960. It is now operated by Historic Tours of America. They have been restoring the house to its former historic glory for accuracy. Thomas Whaley was very proud of his handiwork and boasted of its convenience to the town. 

I’d have to agree. The Whaley House was the most convenient house of the time. There was a courtroom where many were convicted of crimes. Copies of the case records can be seen at the house.

In another room was a general store where patrons could purchase anything from tobacco to shavers. Upstairs, amongst the bedrooms, there was a theater. Each room has been restored to its former glory so visitors can soak in the history. 

There are employees all around, so if you have any questions, they can answer them. On your daytime tour, guests receive a little pamphlet with the history and details of each room on the tour route. Beware, though; you may feel the presence of a specter. Let’s explore the specters you may encounter.

The Ghosts of the Whaley House

There is a reason why the Whaley House has been dubbed one of the most haunted places in America. Visitors report seeing orbs and apparitions all over the house during both the day and night tours. There are quite a few ghosts that are rumored to show themselves. 

Yankee Jim Robinson

James Robinson, originally from New England, was a bandit who stole horses. In 1849, he allegedly found gold a few miles from Foresthill and formulated a plan to hide the discovery from miners and camps, a plan which ultimately failed. In fact, so many came flocking that a town was established. 

Jim stayed in town until a fire broke out in 1852, destroying the settlement. The papers reported three different fires started simultaneously, then grew into one huge destructive fire. The townspeople suspected arson. While they didn’t point fingers at Jim, the miners did discover his thieving ways. He was forced out of town under the threat of hanging.

He ended up in San Diego in late 1852. His kleptomania did not stop, and he was arrested for stealing a boat. He ended up convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to death by hanging on the grounds where the Whaley House now sits. 

His hanging wasn’t exactly normal because James was a lanky guy. He was very tall and slender, so when they pulled the wagon from underneath him, he swung like a pendulum while slowly choking to death. Usually, a person’s neck breaks and they die under their own weight. Jim was reportedly hanging for an unusually long time before he finally died. 

Due to this torturous death, Yankee Jim still walks amongst the living in the unseen world. Visitors have captured pictures of a lanky man with Jim’s description. Mrs. Whaley was even plagued by his presence during her time in the house. Thomas Whaley himself reported mysterious footfalls around the house that he concluded were Yankee Jim. 

Thomas Whaley Jr. 

Many believe that the land has always been cursed, doomed to hold spirits for eternity. Yankee Jim was simply the first to suffer from that curse. The second was the Whaleys’ first son, Thomas Whaley Jr.

After moving into the finished house, their first son was stricken with scarlet fever and died at 18 months. The tragedy did not end there. 

A few months after the baby’s death, there was a fire inside the house that destroyed the general store. So Thomas Whaley decided to move the family to San Francisco in 1859 and returned on December 12, 1868, with both Mr. and Mrs. Whaley and their five children. 

Some visitors can hear the sound of a baby crying softly, little footfalls, and his innocent giggle when nobody else is around.

Anna Eloise Whaley

Mrs. Anna Whaley is the most common spirit in the house. People can smell her potent French perfume or see her in the parlor.

Mrs. Whaley grieved of attracting the spirits in the house a lot. Perhaps it’s fitting that in the afterlife she provides a comforting presence rather than a malicious one. More often than not, she appears to young people in an effort to welcome them and interact. 

She was not the luckiest of ladies in terms of her adult life. She married a man who watched an execution, then decided to build his home on that very land, and she outlived 3 of her children and her husband.

The story goes she was once held at gunpoint by a group of men so they could steal courtroom records, another tragic moment in this tragic story.  

Violet Whaley

Violet’s is a tale of sorrow. She grew up in a family that was well-endowed, yet she met a tragic end. A few years after the courtroom records were stolen, Violet and her sister got married in the house. Violet married George Bertolacci, and the marriage, despite her best efforts, was doomed from the start. George left her divorced and depressed. 

She was so full of grief that she decided that she simply couldn’t live on. In 1885, she shot herself. Now, people claim to see a woman looking very sad wandering around the second floor. Actually, I believe I encountered her on my most recent visit to the Whaley House.

My friend from Kansas was visiting, and she, like me, loves the occult and the paranormal.

Since I hadn’t visited the Whaley House in years, we decided to visit. We were looking over the bedrooms and trying to guess which family member slept there without looking at the pamphlet.

Suddenly, I got hit with a massive wave of sadness, and I just wanted to cry. It followed me around the second floor but stopped once we went back downstairs. It was the strangest thing.

Thomas Whaley Sr.

The last ghost with a very specific presence is none other than Thomas Whaley himself. He was a pioneer in his time. Mr. Whaley followed the Gold Rush like many men of the time. He sought to make a name for himself. He just didn’t know he’d be more well known in death than life. 

Thomas married Anna in New York before the construction of the house. In fact, he saw Yankee Jim die. Despite what literally everyone told him, he bought the land anyway and built on it.

Now anyone who has seen a haunted house movie knows that most haunted houses are a result of a dead person being disrespected. A dead person who either lived or died on the land. Do you see where the trouble is?

Unlike most horror movie characters, Thomas Whaley saw the trouble brewing with his now-dead namesake and the fire erupting. So he left for San Francisco. Their family curse traveled with them. Years later, they moved back to their San Diego house with their five kids. An earthquake had run them out of town. 

When the Whaley’s came back, it was like they never left. Their businesses began to boom again, and he was, in fact, running the most convenient business in town. He lived in San Diego until his death in 1890.

His specter accompanies his wife Anna in all black. Some visitors have even reported Mr. Whaley blowing smoke right into their faces. 

There are, of course, a few specters I didn’t go into detail on. But most of the Whaley family appears in the house, including Thomas Whaley Sr., Anna Eloise Whaley, Thomas Whaley Jr., Violet Whaley, Anna Amelia Whaley, Corinne Lilian “Lily” Whaley, and even the family cat and dog.

Yankee Jim is another resident of the house, but it is suspected that other spirits roam the house, if Mrs. Whaley’s complaints about them are to be believed. You can get a chance to experience the spookiness of it on your own.

Fact or Legend? What’s Documented at the Whaley House

The Whaley House mixes real history with more than a century of ghost stories, and most guides tell them as one story. Here’s what the historical record supports, and what lives only in the retelling.

The documented history is dark enough on its own: a public hanging, a baby lost to fever, a daughter’s suicide. You don’t need the embellishments to understand why people feel something in these rooms.

Whaley House Ghost Tours

Daytime Tours: First Come, First Served

10 am – 4:30 pm
Tickets can be bought here>>

The daytime tour is a self-guided tour that allows you to explore the Whaley House in Old Town at your own pace.

Nighttime Tours/Whaley House Ghost Tour:

5 pm – 8:00 pm
Tickets can be bought here>>

These tours are rated PG13 and dive a little deeper into the gruesome details of the Whaley House family tragedies. The guides make it a fun experience, and some of their stories will send shivers down your spine, I promise!

Whaley House Paranormal Investigation Tours:

10 pm
Tickets can be bought here>>

If you want to explore the ghostly happenings even deeper, you can join one of the Paranormal Investigation tours that take place after hours, and you get to play with the latest ghost-hunting equipment with the help of an experienced guide.

You will also get exclusive access to some areas of the house and grounds that are off-limits to other tour groups. This overnight tour is not for the faint of heart, but if you always dreamt of exploring a haunted house at night, this tour is for you!

Many believe that a haunted house should have some malicious feeling behind it, some kind of evil like the Whaley House movie depicts. But that’s not always the case. The majority of the occurrences at the Whaley House are innocent and even kind of funny. Who can say a ghost blew smoke in their faces? Even if you don’t believe in the supernatural, a visit to the Whaley House is a great look into the past. It is absolutely worth it.

Also read:
Old Town Ghost Tour
Ultimate Old Town Guide

Where to Stay in Old Town San Diego

Whaley House FAQs

The Whaley House San Diego Story was written and edited by Hedge Metreyeon. For more San Diego Explorer posts, check out our homepage. For more of their articles, visit here. Follow them on social media here.

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Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by Maria Haase

The post The Whaley House, San Diego: Real History, Ghosts & Which Tour to Book appeared first on San Diego Explorer.

San Diego is known for its magnificent beaches, picture-perfect weather, and amazing things to see and explore. But America’s Finest City also has a darker, ominous side, renowned for its ghostly happenings. If you are interested in the mystic and ghostly stories of San Diego, I highly recommend you go on this Old Town Ghost Tour: Ghosts and Gravestones.

Mysterious occurrences, murders, untimely deaths, and disturbed cemetery plots. It’s no wonder the spirits can’t rest. Ghosts, however, don’t celebrate holidays. So Halloween and Day of the Dead aren’t the only times you can experience strange manifestations.

Also read:
Most haunted places in San Diego
Ultimate Old Town Guide
The Whaley House Story
Most Haunted Hotels in San Diego
Halloween in San Diego

Ghosts and Gravestone Tour – Old Town Ghost Tour

Wanting to know more about San Diego’s ghastly (or ghostly) history, we booked a 1.5-hour Ghosts & Gravestones Old Town Ghost Tour that introduced us to Old Town’s most notorious haunts. Led by an expert guide, we traveled back in time to learn the historical events contributing to a host of strange occurrences and paranormal activities that have happened here and continue even to this day.

Our guide donned black pants, a torn white shirt with religious talismans, a black vest and hat, and carried a shovel. He introduced Old Town’s dark history before we headed to our first stop.

El Campo Santo Cemetery Old Town

El Campo Santo Cemetery is home to numerous paranormal occurrences. Built in 1849, the graveyard was used until 1897. Though 477 bodies are buried here, unfortunately not all retained their tombs. Grave markers on the sidewalk and street across from the cemetery mark burial sites now outside the cemetery walls. Until 1894, a streetcar line and road were literally built through the original graveyard boundaries. Who would find peace with that?

Our guide shared tales of several of the unsavory characters of Old Town’s rough-and-tumble past. Their apparitions are often seen in the cemetery. A man in 19th-century garb is said to float above the ground.  It’s reported that alarms from cars parked on the street graves often go off despite no one being near the vehicle. 

The Whaley House

Just a few blocks from the cemetery, the Whaley House is not only one of the most historic landmarks in the city, but it is also San Diego’s most haunted. Built on the site of former gallows, it has even been dubbed “the most haunted house in America” by Time Magazine and the Travel Channel’s America’s Most Haunted. One of the executed was James “Yankee Jim” Robinson. Sentenced to death by hanging, this tall outlaw was slowly strangled to death in a botched execution.

Thomas Whaley purchased the reputedly cursed property in 1852. Though he personally witnessed Robinson’s execution and others on-site, he was determined to build his house here. Soon after the family moved in, they began hearing heavy footsteps and experienced other strange occurrences. Tragedy after tragedy ensued. The Whaleyes’ infant son died of Scarlet Fever, and their daughter fatally shot herself in the chest after a failed marriage. For the full story, read our Whaley House article.

Paranormal activity in the home has continued over the years. Workers and visitors alike have seen former inhabitants of Whaley House numerous times. Lights turn off and on at will, lamps sway for no reason, and baby cries and footsteps are often heard. 

The tour visits the courtyard and grounds and never goes inside. If you want to go inside, I recommend this evening tour of the Whaley House.

Pioneer Park Old Town

Hopping on a black ghost-mobile trolley, we then headed to Pioneer Park, aka Graveyard Park.  Lanterns in hand, we strolled past massive trees along the grounds to a series of gravestones near a wooded area.

Originally called Calvary Cemetery, the 19^th century Catholic burial ground fell into disuse and disrepair over the years. In 1968, the land was donated to the city for a community park. As if the 4,000-plus dead buried here never existed, their headstones were removed and thrown into a ditch. A group in the 80s recovered some of the tombstones and placed them in the park as a remembrance. Later, a large in-ground memorial was added, listing the names of the many deceased still resting here. But are they still resting?

During the day, the park is perfect for picnics. But in the stillness of the night, strange things happen here. The spirit of a woman wanders the grounds, confused and disoriented. Orbs have been captured in photos. Residents report flashes of light floating in the park, and radios turn on in the middle of the night. Electromagnetic readers brought in by paranormal experts and ghost hunters literally spike off the charts.

As we headed back to Old Town, we all agreed that whether you believe in ghosts or not, the tour is an absolute must-do. For visitors, the previously unknown history of the area is fascinating. And guides do an incredible job of setting the mood and telling the tales of occurrences beyond the grave.

Reservations for this Old Town ghost tour are required, with a restricted number of tour participants. This is a walking tour, and the tour may not be suitable for children under 13. Click here to reserve your tickets for this awesome Old Town ghost tour.

Old Town Ghost Tour Alternatives

Old Town Ghost Tours FAQs

Old Town Ghost Tour was written by Noreen Kompanik for SanDiegoExplorer.

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Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by Maria Haase

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Power outages don’t usually come with a schedule. And when one hits, most people focus on finding the nearest flashlight rather than thinking about their electronics. But if your PC is still plugged into the wall when the lights come back, it could be in danger.

Many assume that a PC (unwillingly) shutting down is enough to keep it safe during an outage, but it isn’t. Even a powered-off computer remains connected to your home’s electrical wiring, and that connection is exactly how damage occurs. PCs are particularly vulnerable, since components like the motherboard, RAM and SSD are built with delicate circuits that are sensitive to unexpected voltage spikes.

The scale of risk is worth understanding. When power cuts unexpectedly, whether due to grid overload, equipment failure or a tripped breaker, the electrical system doesn’t simply go quiet. Voltage can fluctuate sharply in the moments before and after an outage, and the surge that arrives when power is restored is often more damaging than the outage itself. Standard household circuits in the US operate at 120 volts; even moderate spikes above those levels are enough to permanently damage sensitive computer components. 

Understanding how to protect your setup can save you from costly repairs, loss of data and the headache of tracking down replacement parts.

Turning off your PC isn’t enough

Skrypnykov Dmytro/Shutterstock

Even if you turned off your PC before the power outage, it’s not necessarily safe. Electricity can still travel through the cord and reach internal components once power comes back on, even while the machine is dark. 

Power surges are the most common cause of this; they happen when there’s a sudden jump in electrical current, often triggered by lightning or damage to nearby power lines. Even a strike that doesn’t directly hit your house can send a surge through your local transformer and into your home’s wiring. When the grid comes back online after an outage, it often delivers an additional spike, so the danger doesn’t end when the lights come back on.

On top of that, if your PC is running when the power cuts off, that sudden loss of power can cause its own problems. Any files being saved or updated may be corrupted, which could render your system unusable if it happens during OS updates. If your computer has HDDs, sudden shutdowns can also harm their mechanical heads. 

How to protect your PC during a power outage

Gregory_dubus/Getty Images

To ensure your PC doesn’t suffer any damage during a storm, shut down your system and unplug it from the wall when you know extreme weather is coming. If the power is already out, it’s still worth unplugging the machine. Do the same for the router while you’re at it, as that’s one of the most frequently fried devices in an electrical storm. You should be restarting your router regularly anyway, so unplugging it won’t hurt. Keep other expensive electronics like your TV safe by unplugging them too.

On a desktop PC, shutting off the PSU can help since that prevents current from entering the system. However, an extreme event like a lightning strike could still cause damage. A surge protector is a much better idea. A quality surge protector acts as a first line of defense, absorbing voltage spikes before they reach your equipment. 

Investing in a UPS is even better. An uninterruptible power supply combines surge protection with a battery backup. While it’s not meant to keep your devices running for hours, it will prevent shutdowns during short outages and give you a window to save your work and shut down gracefully instead of losing power instantly. For broader coverage, consider having a licensed electrician install surge protection directly into your electrical panel, shielding every outlet in the house.

Also, when the power returns, don’t immediately jump at the chance to plug everything back in. Wait a few minutes to ensure it won’t go back out again. When you reconnect, plug your surge protector in first, then your PC and any peripherals.

Unplugging your PC during a power outage takes only a few seconds, but it’s one of the most effective ways to protect your investment. Paired with a surge protector or UPS, the simple habit will reduce the chance of hardware damage or data loss. Given what’s at stake, it’s a small effort to make.

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We finally got a football game.

​All American Season 8 has had its highs and lows, and the lack of football has been noted.

​The writers continued giving each main character a special episode, and All American Season 8 Episode 12 focused on KJ and the pressure he felt to make the showcase succeed.

​He’s felt a massive amount of undue responsibility with Jordan, Cassius, and Khalil busy with Olivia at the hospital. He’s acted not only as a quarterback but as a leader to impress the coaches and the press.

​”Finish Line” showed how that pressure affected him on the field, and how KJ will face his fears moving forward.

​It’s nice to see Coach Bobby coach his team and see Coach Kenny recruit some new players for GAU.

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​It felt like an old-school episode, but I disliked how it didn’t have any of the original cast in it, except for a few minutes of Coop. I had hoped for a Jordan or Layla appearance.

It’s KJ & Khalil’s Moment to Shine

KJ and Khalil’s relationship has grown so much. They were bitter rivals, and now they’re friends, no matter how much they protest.

They’ve been there for each other, supporting and cheering one another on.

They’ve practiced drills, and they’ve earned this chance to get football scholarships.

They started this football journey together, and it made sense that they crossed the “finish line” together.

I loved that both of them had coaches there because they earned it.

Amina Showed Real Growth

Amina can be annoying with how she butts in, but she showed real maturity tonight. She went back to Crenshaw to face her fears.

​It still affected her, but it helped that Coach Bobby reminded her that she inspired many people with her bravery.

​I hate that he didn’t know what happened to Jordan. Sometimes this show makes no sense, but it was the perfect opportunity for Amina to brag about how Khalil saved the day, so that Coach Bobby would see him differently.

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​Coach Bobby has changed, but he’s usually still a rule stickler; since Amina alerted him that Crenshaw needed help, he made sure he showed up for Crenshaw.

​I also appreciated that Amina and Tori could bury the hatchet. Sure, there’s less drama, but they’ve both shown they know what matters.

Will Coop Change Her Path?

Coop’s arc during All American Season 8 has been about giving back to her community. She’s been torn between going back to her roots and making something of herself.

Coop’s been stuck in the past, mainly about when Shawn died. She hated that Miss Ruth, his mom, has been in prison for years for protecting Coop since they both wanted Tyrone dead.

Miss Ruth never wanted Coop to blame herself, and she’s happy that Coop changed her life.

Coop learned so much from strong women like Miss Ruth, so it’s understandable that she went to her for guidance.

Since All American is ending, I doubt we’ll see Coop get Miss Ruth out. I’m also unsure whether we’ll see Coop reunite with Breonna. 

They seem to want different things.

KJ Buckled Under Pressure, and Needed to Remember Why He Loved Football

I was so glad to see football take center stage finally.

While each team wanted to win, both Coach Bobby and Cassius gave inspirational speeches about playing the game they love and how all the boys had been through hell, but life was precious.

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 It was about having fun and doing their best. KJ was still off, and Khalil was kicking butt. KJ eventually started scoring, and Crenshaw led by only seven points at halftime.

While it seemed like things were improving for KJ, he got nervous, and Khalil caught on on defense in the second half.

KJ threw a great pass, but Khalil caught it, and KJ fell and injured his arm. I love how Crenshaw stopped and knelt out of respect.

It was too much for KJ. He focused so much on preparing for the showcase that he didn’t warm up enough, and now he thought his dream was over.

The joy and fun of football seemed to diminish, and it took Coach Kenny to knock some sense into him after Amina had no luck.

Almost every football player or coach has torn or injured something. If they have enough passion, they can come back.

To KJ and many of the other guys, football meant joy, family, and community. I originally thought Coach Kenny came to sponsor Khalil, and while he seemed impressed by him, he was also impressed by KJ.

KJ wore so many hats by supporting his team on and off the field, and that’s who they wanted at GAU.

KJ and Amina Finally Took Their Chance

Some fans have shipped KJ and Amina since All American Season 7, but I’ve appreciated how brutally honest they’ve been and how they’ve stood by each other since the beginning of this season.

​Amina showed very little sympathy after KJ was injured. While she felt for him, she knew he’d heal faster if he got angry and kept his will to fight.

​She thought if they could get through the past week, they could survive anything. They just needed to believe.

​She sounded a lot like Ava. Cassius was right about that, so KJ should be used to opinionated, honest women in his life.

​Apparently, KJ likes them, since his priority was to confess his feelings to Amina. That scene felt so much like Matt and Julie from Friday Night Lights.

​It took guts to admit he’d always liked her, and she’s one of his biggest dreams. They’ve been circling each other, and neither wanted to admit it.

​I’m so excited that they finally did, and that the series showed a mini montage of their best scenes. I wish we could have gotten more of them before the series ended.

​Seriously, though? All American has teased Spencer’s return for weeks, and I hate they’ve made it sound like he’s unreachable.

​The moments we’ll get in the finale better be worth it.

​Over to you, All American Fanatics. Were you glad to finally see the football showcase? Are you happy about KJ and Amina?

​Let us know in the comments.

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September 21, 2026— Washington, D.C.—The Commercial Space Federation (CSF) is pleased to welcome ORBITInsure and Renaissance Strategic Advisors (RSA) as its newest members. ORBITInsure joins CSF as a Space Supply Chain member, while RSA joins CSF as an Associate Member and as a member of both the Space Supply Chain Council and State and Local Council. Together, the two organizations bring expertise in space insurance and risk intelligence, as well as strategy and M&A across the aerospace, defense, and government sectors.

ORBITInsure sits between mission engineering and insurance, transforming complex technical, environmental, and operational mission data into actionable risk intelligence that enables brokers, underwriters, operators, and investors to make faster, more informed decisions across the space insurance lifecycle.

“Through our membership in the Commercial Space Federation (CSF), ORBITInsure is committed to strengthening the resilience and growth of the commercial space ecosystem by making data-driven risk transfer more accessible to emerging and established space ventures alike,” said Robert Whearty, CEO of ORBITInsure

Founded in 2007, Renaissance Strategic Advisors’ (RSA) purpose is to bring clarity and confidence to its clients’ most consequential initiatives across the Aerospace, Defense, and Government sectors. RSA’s reputation is built upon leading sector expertise, a relentless adherence to rigorous analysis, and a focus on consequential outcomes. 

“As the leading aerospace & defense focused strategy and M&A firm, Renaissance Strategic Advisors is excited to join CSF’s Space Supply Chain Council (S2C2), where we will collaborate to solve economic challenges facing the industry and our clients. We also look forward to partnering with CSF on research, events, and providing data-driven insights to key stakeholders to help shape the future of the commercial space industry,” said Mikhail Grinberg, Senior Partner at Renaissance Strategic Advisors

About CSF
Founded in 2006, the Commercial Space Federation (CSF) and its members are laying the foundation for democratizing access to outer space for scientists, students, civilians, and businesses. All while working towards the goal of expanding the U.S. Commercial Space Economy. Through the promotion of technological innovation, CSF and its diverse membership are guiding the bolstering of U.S. leadership in aerospace and inspiring America’s next generation of engineers and explorers. CSF also serves as the commercial space industry’s primary advocate with the U.S. Congress and the Administration, helping inform the development and implementation of policy priorities. By engaging with congressional players, CSF is able to provide recommendations on commercial space issues that will impact the commercial space industry in the short and long term.

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What To Know

• The series premiere of Line of Fire introduces the Hollingsworth family, all law enforcement agents, and ends with a twist about one of them.
• Showrunner Joshua Safran breaks down that, a shocking death, and more.

Line of Fire feels like NBC took what works for it — the family drama of shows like Parenthood and This Is Us and the procedural aspects of Dick Wolf shows like One Chicago and Law & Order — and combined them in one engaging, must-watch show. The series premiere introduces the Hollingsworth family, whose members work for the Secret Service (Peter Krause‘s Mike and Tommy O’Brien‘s Micah), FBI (Kat Cunning‘s Clare), U.S. Marshals (Hope Davis‘ Jane), and Department of Justice (Taylor Bloom’s Russ), and ends with a twist that reveals something that only a couple of them know and have gone to great lengths to keep from the rest. TV Insider spoke with showrunner Joshua Safran about that, the shocking death, and more. Warning: Spoilers for the Line of Fire series premiere ahead!

The premiere sees Mike readying for retirement but unable to let an attempt on the life of the former president go, to the point that he asks Russ to help him out. Jane brings in Clare to work a case involving what ends up being a dirty DEA agent — and uses their time together to push her to introduce the family to her boyfriend, civilian(?) Logan (Pico Alexander). She does, bringing him to a family dinner that’s awkward but makes for, from the moment they first step foot into Jane’s house, one of the most entertaining pilot scenes in recent years. The meal goes poorly, especially once Logan finds out that Clare has a brother, Jack (from Mike’s first marriage), who died …

That’s where the twist comes in. Logan later returns to the house and does a bit of snooping, unfolding a family photo that shows that Jack is Joel (Charlie Barnett), his neighbor — who then kills him but also notes before doing so that while he may not be who he says he is, neither is Logan. Mike and Jane then, as the house becomes a crime scene, sidebar and hide an origami exactly like the one found at the scene of the DEA agent’s murder. If it’s Jack, they agree, they have to get to him first and figure out what’s going on.

Below, showrunner Joshua Safran breaks down those premiere twists.

The premiere ends with that twist involving Jack. The kids think he’s dead. Mike and Jane know differently. What can you say about Jack, what he’s doing, and why you want to have this be the twist to kick off the series, this huge secret that the parents know and the kids don’t?

Joshua Safran: In the nature of creating the show, the secret was always a part of the creation of the show. So, it was never like a, “Hey, I have this show I want to do about a family of law enforcement. What could a twist be that fits into that show?” I knew I wanted to do a show about a family of law enforcement agents, and one of them may or may not be a killer. And how do you deal with that? Weirdly, the tagline of the poster is every case hits home is really what the show is, but you don’t really know that until you watch it.

And so I can’t say too much about it. It’s an ongoing mystery, but I think one of the reasons why Pete and Hope attached to this project was because they were interested in the more complex idea of parents who know something — they truly told their children that this person, their brother died, and they watched their children grieve, and they knew that it was a lie. And that’s a really bad thing. I’d say more than even the twist of Jack potentially being the bad guy is the twist of what the parents have done to this family.

We often talk in the room about what’s the worst thing? Is it the kids finding out Jack’s alive or is it the kids finding out that Jack’s bad? And it’s always the kids finding out that Jack’s alive. Because in the line of work they do, no one is bad, everyone has their reasons. Sure, I mean, bad actions happen, and things have to be made accountable, but no one is ever good or bad.

So, Logan’s dead. Why kill him off, and how is this going to affect Clare going forward? Because they were in a terrible place when this happened.

Yes. Well, it’s very hard for Clare. It’s so sad for me to kill Pico. I love Pico. He was on Gossip Girl for me. I’ve loved Pico for a very long time. Having Pico’s energy on set is so wonderful, and nobody wanted Pico to die, and I didn’t want Pico to die, and Pico didn’t want to die. And yet he knew he was dead, and it was just really sad. So, it didn’t just affect Clare; it’s affected us as well because we love him.

But I feel like the show is trying to be more real and not pull punches. People aren’t going to come back from the dead ever on the show. It isn’t a thing where Chuck Bass’ mother turns out to be alive or maybe is not his mother, but it was very important for us in this show to make sure that it feels real. It’s not Alias. I love Alias, all respect to Alias. So, he has to die for the story to begin, and he can’t be not dead.

Scott Gries/NBC

Jack says that Logan isn’t who he says he is. Can you say if he attacked him because of that — because he was his neighbor after all, and that could have been about watching him — or because he found that photo, or both?

I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that Jack knew what he was doing when he was pretending to be Joel. So, I’ll put it that way.

Mike is looking into the alleged shooter of former President Barnes, and Sam Waterston is coming on as a character, which I love that casting, by the way. What can you say about that dynamic and that investigation?

The President Barnes story and what may or may not have happened during this assassination attempt is a story that we are telling all through the first half of Season 1. And there will be a resolution, but it’s not a straight line. And a lot of things transpire between now and the resolution of that story. And it’s great having Sam Waterson on set. I’m very close friends with one of Sam’s daughters. And so it’s also not for me, it’s not just having Sam, who I’ve always wanted to work with, but also I know Sam, so it’s great to have him around. And watching him and Pete have scenes together is really wonderful.

Also, we wanted the show to look not just at the current presidency, but also, the Secret Service works over a multitude of presidents potentially. Our advisor worked under three different presidents. And so we also wanted to show that for the audience, that it’s not just about the current day story, it’s also about the relationships that they formed from the past.

Mike and Jane aren’t as separated as the kids think, but she also has a boyfriend, Terry, who is moving in. Why do they have this arrangement, and why can’t they let it go despite her new relationship?

Good questions. And the audience will see that. I think that’s an ongoing question that Mike has. I think Mike believes clearly we should get back together, and Jane has reasons for not ever wanting it to go that far. I think that is another thing I love about having actors like Pete and Hope. You just want to write such wonderful scenes about their conflict with each other. And I’d say every episode deals with that issue. It’s not a thing where they’re going to have a conversation in Episode 3, and it’s going to resolve that issue. That is an ongoing issue that you hear about in multiple episodes, how they feel about it, why it’s the way it is, how one wants it more than the other, and that can sometimes shift what that does for them. And also Terry, played by Campbell Scott, is a real formidable — you kind of wonder maybe she should be with Terry, so there’s also that, even though she’s cheating on him, which also we deal with.

Line of Fire, Mondays, 10/9c, NBC

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Premiering on MGM+ September 20th is ‘American Hostage‘, which is based on a true story and the podcast of the same name, and was created by Shawn Ryan (‘The Shield‘), Eileen Myers (‘The Night Agent‘), and directed by Adam Arkin (‘Life‘).

The series stars Jon Hamm (‘Top Gun: Maverick‘), Mireille Enos (‘World War Z‘), Giovanni Ribisi (‘Avatar‘), Kristoffer Polaha (‘Jurassic World Dominion‘), William Jackson Harper (‘Midsommar‘), Jonathan Tucker (‘Charlie’s Angels‘), Kat Cunning (‘The Deuce‘).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Giovanni Ribisi, Mireille Enos and Kristoffer Polaha about their work on ‘American Hostage’, Ribisi’s approach to his character, working with Jon Hamm, and how they filmed the show’s most complicated scenes.

Related Article: Actor Giovanni Ribisi Talks Paramount+ Miniseries ‘The Offer’

Moviefone: To begin with, Giovanni, can you talk about your first reaction to the idea of making this series based on the true story, and how do you approach playing a character that is based on a real person?

Giovanni Ribisi: So first question, I’d never heard of this incident or Tony Kiritsis. Adam Arkin, who I had known and worked with on several other things, called me and pitched it, told me about this guy who had taken another person portrayed by Kristoffer Polaha. He’d taken him hostage and was holding press conferences with police officers standing this close to him and trying to tell his story. So, many things about that, just that initial introduction resonated with me. First and foremost, just the absurdity of it and how ridiculous it was. We were laughing at it. But also just the fact that it was right there. As an actor, to get into your second question, especially if you’re playing real events or a real person that existed, there’s an impetus to want to be loyal or really understand who that person was, so maybe not disrespect them. For me, I think in exploring this, it was really about his quest or his moral stance on telling the truth. There were several times, Tony, my character, would say, “I’ve never told a lie in my life.” So, I think that was his whole thing. I think he felt like his back was against the wall. He needed to rattle the cage and get attention so that he could find a conduit to tell his story. I think that was really, I guess, the summation of it.

MF: Kristoffer, you have some really intense scenes with Giovanni, what was it like working with him to shoot those sequences?

Kristoffer Polaha: For young actors out there, they might know the Konstantin Stanislavski book, ‘An Actor Prepares’, working with Giovanni was so interesting because this guy showed up to the table reads with tracks of dialogue already memorized. He would get to work at least an hour early. I mean, it was Winnipeg and it was cold, and so it was dark and snowy. I’d pull up thinking I was early to work and Giovanni would already be in his trailer getting ready. There’s a portion where he has to speak Greek and there was a woman who speaks Greek on set, and he did the scene in Greek. Afterwards, I was just curious, so I ask her, “How did he do?” She’s like, “Oh my God, it was perfect. Perfect accent, perfect dialogue, perfect.” So this guy, he was bringing, I think 40 years of experience in a craft to the table and laid it all out. I think the audiences are going to be excited. Then that compliment just trickles throughout the rest of the cast. I mean, Mireille is amazing and what she brings to her part gives weight and gravitas and this depth and this beauty to a character that in other actors’ hands might not have been as prolific or as beautiful or as graceful or as full of strength. All the different perspectives. I think that goes back to the writing.

MF: Mireille, can you talk about Barbara and Fred’s relationship and what it was like creating that on screen with Jon Hamm?

Mireille Enos: Well, Jon and I knew each other a little bit because ‘The Killing‘ and ‘Mad Men‘ were both on AMC at the same time. So we both had these very exciting moments in our lives that were happening. We were in similar rooms around then and there were some high-fives. So we weren’t strangers. Then also, he’s such an open, lovely guy. He is not hard to fall into a very familiar rhythm with. So that was easy shooting that first scene in the house where we’re just, it’s family life, he and I talking about work, and him eating right out of the center of the pot pie. It all happened very naturally, which was lovely.

MF: Finally, Giovanni, can you about exactly how you shot the phone sequences with Jon, and what was the biggest challenge for you performing in those scenes?

GR: So, there were a lot of challenges for the whole thing. For me, I had the material months before and it was really important. I knew that I was going to be walking into a wall of working hours and scenes that the schedule couldn’t afford. We actually were doing those scenes live together. They had built my apartment and then Fred’s radio station on the same stage, and it was only divided by a hallway. We had a closed circuit phone line. I had two camera crews with me, and Jon had two camera crews with him. So, we were doing it live. It was almost like doing a one-act play every day. I think we were doing 8 to 11 pages a day. I’ve never heard of anybody doing that and I’ve certainly never done anything like that myself. It wasn’t always perfect and you go back and go, “Oh, I missed that moment or whatever.” But at the end of the day, collectively, everything as a whole, you would just say, “Well, that’s it. I mean, that’s what it was. That’s what the jazz was between us.” Hopefully you could get to that point where there was some sort of connection or music.

What is the plot of ‘American Hostage’?

Beloved Indianapolis radio reporter Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm) is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker Tony Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) demands to be interviewed on his popular radio news program.

Who is in the cast of ‘American Hostage’?

• Jon Hamm as Fred Heckman
• Giovanni Ribisi as Tony Kiritsis
• Mireille Enos as Barbara
• William Jackson Harper as Ben Hairston
• Kristoffer Polaha as Dick Hall
• Jonathan Tucker as Cormac McNally
• Kat Cunning as Ibby Hall

List of Giovanni Ribisi Movies and TV Shows:

Buy Giovanni Ribisi Movies On Amazon

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The sites are Narsarsuaq, whose population has dwindled to a few dozen people since the US closed its Bluie West One military base in the 1950s, and Mestersvig, a military outpost used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish special forces unit, said two of the people.

Denmark, Greenland and the United States are expected to sign their new agreement at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) on Tuesday.

The text of the agreement has not been made public and the three people familiar with the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said its details will not be finalized until it is signed.

The governments of Denmark and Greenland did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the details of the agreement, repeating an earlier statement that its signing on Tuesday would “secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States.”

Denmark says the agreement puts Arctic security under the watch of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military defense alliance, rather than leaving it solely to the US and Denmark.

The deal follows months of pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has long said he wants the US to control Greenland and has at times refused to rule out military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory. The idea has been rejected by an overwhelming majority of Greenlanders, polling shows.

Mr. Trump’s threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington aimed at defusing the pressure.

During the Cold War, the US ​maintained 17 military installations and more than ⁠10,000 personnel in Greenland. Today only Pituffik Space Base remains, with some 150 US military personnel. — Reuters

The EU’s Aspides mission was launched in 2024 to protect shipping from attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, and diplomats have said there are currently six warships operating.

“When Aspides was put in place, then the indication was that it needs at least 10 ships. The situation, I think, is even more grave right now,” Kaja Kallas told reporters on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

The Houthis have made rapid advances in recent weeks along the Red Sea coast, further complicating routes in a region that also includes the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic had already dwindled because of the US-Iran war.

Italy, one of the key countries in the Aspides mission, announced on Thursday it was preparing a naval mission in the area for its own ships, saying it could not wait for the EU to respond to the new crisis.

Ms. Kallas said the Houthi attacks were affecting European interests and impacting the global economy.

“The EU operation Aspides is making a crucial contribution to the security in the region and global shipping, but the operation needs more naval assets and more air assets to address the increased level of threats in the region,” she said.

Ms. Kallas sent a letter to the EU’s 27 member states on September 19 asking them to up their contributions. The issue would be discussed at upcoming defense and foreign ministers meetings, she said in the letter.

“This situation, which is still evolving as we speak, is already affecting European interests with repercussions on our supply chains and could have implications for our ability to support our economies which were already hit by rising fuel prices,” she said in the letter.

“For the moment, although the Houthis communicate that they would only target Saudi-linked interests, there is uncertainty over their course of action with respect to vessels that transit through the Strait. Regardless, they are now in a better position to potentially harm maritime shipping.” — Reuters

In a disclosure on Monday, DigiPlus said S&P Global Ratings assigned the company a “B+” long-term issuer credit rating with a stable outlook.

S&P expects DigiPlus to maintain a 40%-50% share of the Philippine online gaming market over the next two years, but projected its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin at 14.5%-16% in 2026 and 2027, down from an average of about 18% in 2024 and 2025.

The ratings agency said higher customer acquisition and retention costs are expected following the August 2025 regulatory order separating e-wallets from online gambling platforms and restrictions on advertising.

“Higher marketing costs could wipe out the effects of lower gaming taxes and cost-savings for DigiPlus,” it said.

DigiPlus’ market share fell to 41% in 2025 from 47% a year earlier amid increased competition from new entrants.

S&P said the company regained some market share following the e-wallet delinking, although monthly active users recovered only modestly in the first half of 2026 and may remain below pre-delinking levels over the next two years.

The ratings agency expects the Philippine online gaming market to consolidate as smaller operators exit the industry.

“We believe the market will consolidate, with incumbents like DigiPlus benefiting from the exit of the smaller operators with cost disadvantages, and limited branding and technical know-how,” it said.

S&P expects DigiPlus’ financial performance to weaken in 2026 before improving in 2027.

It projected revenue to fall to P70.25 billion this year from P84.17 billion in 2025 before rising to P82.05 billion in 2027.

EBITDA is likewise expected to decline to P10.23 billion in 2026 from P14.35 billion last year, then recover to P13.31 billion in 2027.

S&P said more than 90% of DigiPlus’ revenue and profits currently come from online gaming.

DigiPlus plans to expand into land-based gaming in the Philippines through the acquisition of International Entertainment Corp. (IEC), the Hong Kong-listed parent of a land-based casino in Manila. It also plans to launch online gambling platforms in Brazil and South Africa starting in 2026.

S&P estimates the new businesses could account for 10%-20% of DigiPlus’ revenue and EBITDA by 2027, although the expansion is also expected to moderately increase the company’s debt.

Despite the planned investments, S&P assessed DigiPlus’ liquidity as adequate.

“The stable rating outlook reflects our expectation that DigiPlus will resume growth in revenue and EBITDA by leveraging its strong market position and large user base over the next 12 months,” the ratings agency said.

At the local bourse on Monday, DigiPlus shares fell 6.41%, or 56 centavos, to P8.18 each. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno

Ayala Corp. said in a disclosure on Monday that the transaction, valued at about $700 million, is based on an agreed subscription and acquisition price of P650 per common share and involves a combination of primary and secondary shares, including a voluntary tender offer.

The company expects to receive about P20 billion in proceeds, which it plans to use to reduce debt, continue its share purchase program covering Ayala Corp. and its listed subsidiaries, and fund future growth initiatives.

As part of the transaction, Ayala Corp. intends to conduct a voluntary tender offer on behalf of Mitsubishi for up to about 30 million common shares at P650 apiece.

“The tender offer will provide public shareholders with an opportunity to participate in the transaction and realize value at the same P650 per share price agreed with Mitsubishi. Additional details regarding the tender offer will be disclosed in due course,” Ayala Corp. said.

The P650 tender offer price is about 22% above Ayala Corp.’s P533 closing price on Monday.

“This transaction represents much more than a capital investment,” Ayala Corp. Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.

“It reflects the strength of a relationship built over many years and a deep alignment in values, long-term thinking, and responsible business stewardship,” he added.

Ayala Corp. and Mitsubishi also plan to expand their cooperation in infrastructure, energy transition, real estate, digital technologies, mobility, logistics, and other emerging industries.

The company said Mitsubishi’s global network, industry expertise, and market relationships are expected to support business expansion and technology and knowledge transfer across the conglomerate’s portfolio.

“Mitsubishi’s increased investment in Ayala Corp. is designed to grow value for Ayala’s shareholders by combining global reach and technology of one of Japan’s leading trading houses with the assets of one of the Philippines’ most diversified conglomerates,” Ayala Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Cezar P. Consing said.

“This is about turbo-charging a 52-year relationship to benefit our various stakeholders,” he added.

Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval of proposed amendments to Ayala Corp.’s articles of incorporation, the company’s board will be expanded to nine members from seven.

Ayala Corp. and Mitsubishi have had a business relationship spanning 52 years and have worked together across several sectors and ventures.

The transaction remains subject to conditions precedent, closing conditions, and applicable regulatory approvals.

At the local bourse on Monday, Ayala Corp. shares rose 5.13% to P533 apiece. — Alexandria Grace C. Magno

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) welcomed the successful conclusion of negotiations for the European Union–Philippines Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The Philippines is only the third Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member country to conclude a bilateral free trade deal with the EU, after Singapore and Vietnam.

“The successful conclusion of these negotiations is a historic first for Philippine-European economic relations,” Diana Edralin, president of ECCP, said in a statement.

“After years of rigorous dialogue, we now have a world-class framework that establishes a predictable foundation for trade and investment. For the Philippines, securing this agreement as a pioneer in ASEAN demonstrates our economic resilience and readiness to compete globally.” — with Reuters

“The trough of LPA is affecting Eastern parts of Visayas,” Veronica C. Torres, PAGASA weather specialist, said in a 5:00 a.m. press briefing in Filipino.

“So, we’re expecting rainy conditions mostly in eastern parts of Visayas and Mindanao.”

A trough of LPA-induced thunderstorms is expected over Eastern Visayas, CARAGA, Bohol, and Davao Oriental in the next 24 hours, PAGASA said in a separate 4:00 a.m. weather forecast.

PAGASA warned of possible flash floods and landslides in these areas during moderate to occasional heavy rains.

The LPA was last located 1,795 kilometers East of Eastern Visayas and has a medium chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 24 hours, Ms. Torres said.

She also said that in the next three days, it is likely to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility but will not directly affect the country.

It will be assigned the local name Queenie if it enters and develops as a tropical cyclone while in PAR.

Meanwhile, thunderstorms are expected in Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, and Oriental Mindoro due to the southwest monsoon. Metro Manila and the rest of the country are likely to be affected by localized thunderstorms.

PAGASA warned of possible flooding and landslides in these areas during severe thunderstorms. — Edg Adrian A. Eva

A lightning advance by the Iran-backed group this month has extended the wider Middle East conflict to a new theater and further threatened global energy supplies. The US has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to join the fight in Yemen.

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had prepared to launch airstrikes on Sunday against the Houthis after fresh pleas from the Saudi crown prince. But the newspaper said Mr. Trump called off the airstrikes at the last minute, even as troops were loading bombs onto aircraft.

Reuters could not verify the Times’ report. The US military’s Central Command referred questions to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Rashid al-Alimi, the Riyadh-based president of Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government, asked Mr. Trump by phone on Sunday for US military help, four sources told Reuters. Two of the people, one Yemeni and one Western, said Mr. Trump made no direct pledge of support during the call.

Riyadh was apparently struck on Saturday for the first time since the escalation began, with explosions heard and smoke visible near the airport. The Houthis said they had fired missiles at the Saudi capital; the Saudis have not commented.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday he had agreed to Saudi Arabia’s request to provide defensive air-to-air refueling for a limited time, a move he described as helping to stabilize the wider region. Britain and Saudi Arabia have been close military allies for decades, with Britain serving as one of the kingdom’s largest arms suppliers.

A French diplomatic source said Paris was ready to contribute to securing Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast and the East-West pipeline corridor.

FIGHTING IN HIGHLANDS

The Houthis, who have controlled Yemen’s capital since 2014, seized the country’s Red Sea coast this month in an advance that routed forces of the Saudi-backed government.

Saudi Arabia has launched hundreds of strikes in recent days on the fighters’ positions in the highlands, the Houthis say.

According to the United Nations, nearly 700 people have been killed and thousands injured in the fighting. Nearly 130,000 Yemenis have fled homes within Yemen, and more than 3,000 have fled by boat across the Red Sea to Africa.

Five Yemeni military sources told Reuters the Houthis were now seeking to seize strategic heights, known as the Kahboub Mountains, in two provinces, Taiz and Lahij, which separate the Red Sea coast from the government-held south.

Fighting has centered on the outskirts of the remote mountain Al-Wazi’iyah district in Taiz province, and Ras al-Ara along the Indian Ocean coast between the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the Red Sea’s mouth and the government’s base in Aden, the sources said.

“The government forces appear to remain largely in a defensive posture following the loss of the Bab el-Mandeb area, while the Houthis are seeking to maintain the momentum of their advance, despite being exposed to intensive air strikes,” said Mohammed Al-Qadhi, a veteran Yemeni journalist now working as a political analyst.

“These mountains could become critical to determining whether the Houthis succeed in consolidating their recent territorial gains or whether government forces will be able to retain the positions necessary to mount a counteroffensive.”

SAUDI OIL EXPORTS

The surge in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis creates a dilemma for Mr. Trump, under pressure to help Saudi allies but anxious not to further expand the deeply unpopular war he launched alongside Israel as “Operation Epic Fury” in February against Iran.

The US bombed the Houthis for two months in early 2025, but Mr. Trump called off those strikes after reaching a ceasefire, and has kept out of the Yemen conflict since.

The Houthis’ Red Sea advance risks cutting off the main alternative route Saudi Arabia has used for oil exports that bypass disruption through the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia has responded by increasing shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, where a small number of tankers are increasingly shuttling back and forth to bring out oil, charging record fees of as much as a quarter of the cargo’s value to brave the wartime risk. They then transfer the oil to other ships in the Indian Ocean, bound for customers in Asia or elsewhere.

Traders say Saudi Arabia has sold 60 million barrels of oil both this month and next, to be loaded from off Oman on the far side of Hormuz. Satellite data shows Saudi exports through Hormuz reaching 2.9 million barrels per day in recent days, up from just 700,000 in August.

That has helped put a cap on the global price of crude, which has retreated closer to $100 a barrel after approaching $110 last week. But consumers and industries are still paying record prices for some refined fuels, with the US retail price of diesel hitting another all-time high on Monday.

In the latest reported attack in Hormuz, Britain’s UKMTO maritime security agency said a ship sailing into the strait had been hit with a projectile, causing minor injuries to crew. It also said it had learned of an earlier strike on a gas tanker.

Diplomacy in the wider conflict has largely been stalled since a June interim ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran collapsed within weeks. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is due to fly on Tuesday to New York to attend the UN General Assembly. — Reuters

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Nintendo is now a company synonymous with video games, but that wasn’t always the case. Much of Nintendo’s current-day legacy comes down to one man, Gunpei Yokoi, who spearheaded the creation of the Game & Watch. When Yokoi joined the company in 1965, it was floundering. The stock had recently fallen from 900 yen to just 60, but that would be almost single-handedly turned around by the new hire’s innovation.

When it was founded in 1889, Nintendo was a manufacturer of hanafuda playing cards based out of a small operation in Kyoto. Over the years, the company tried several ventures to stay relevant as the cards fell out of favor, from a taxi service to instant noodles. But it truly began to find its footing in the modern-day market with toy production. In 1966, Yokoi created the Ultra Hand, a reach extender toy, which would go on to sell 1.4 million units worldwide. After several more toy ventures — the success of which varied — he would set his sights on the digital market, with inspiration coming from an unexpected place.

The impact of the Game & Watch

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In his time working on the Game and Watch, Yokoi coined a philosophy that still remains relevant at Nintendo: lateral thinking with withered technology. In other words, finding new applications for older, proven hardware — repurposing calculator technology for gaming being a perfect example. Yokoi applied this idea to his next project after the Game & Watch, the Game Boy, opting for simpler, more affordable hardware than leading competitors. This made for a more portable device with better battery life, and in turn it became one of the most popular handhelds of all time. Even now, devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 might not have the most powerful hardware, but excel in portability and price.

Yokoi’s lasting impact on the gaming landscape can’t be overstated. His pioneering of playing on the go led to the introduction of two extremely important concepts: the aforementioned portable-but-protected clamshell design and the D-pad, both of which are utilized to this day. In an internal interview, the late long-time Nintendo producer and president Satoru Iwata said, “If it weren’t for Game & Watch, today’s handheld game systems would probably be different. I doubt the Game Boy and Nintendo DS systems would have made it out into the world.”

While those devices perhaps would’ve never seen the light of day due to lack of innovation, it’s also possible they wouldn’t have existed because of Nintendo going under due to massive debts. With the success of both the Ultra Hand and Game & Watch, Yokoi managed to pull the company out of a financial hole on two separate occasions. If Yokoi hadn’t joined the company, it might never have gotten time to flourish in the video game realm. Even though the iconic handheld line that started it all is only occasionally celebrated today with themed Game & Watch releases and in-game references, Yokoi’s influence is obvious in everything Nintendo does.

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Teenagers in Ireland are set to receive a €100 voucher from the government to spend on cultural events.

The new initiative for 16-year-olds will be launched in next month’s budget, according to RTÉ. Should it be successful, the scheme could also be extended to include all 17-year-olds in next year’s budget.

Those eligible will be able to redeem the card via digital download, giving them access to cinemas, theatres and live music venues.

Patrick O’Donovan, Irish Minister for Arts, Media and Culture, is expected to finalise his department’s budget allocation with Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers in the coming days.

The final specifics of the planned €100 voucher are currently being worked on by O’Donovan. It is reported that the initiative could cost the government between €7 and €8million.

Some other European countries – including France, Spain and Italy – already have their own versions of these culture cards, ranging in value from €300 to €500, in a bid to get youngsters out, investing and engaging with the arts.

In early 2025, Ireland’s Programme For Government committed to an “examination of the introduction of a culture card for 16 and 17-year-olds”. The department then started the preliminary stages of contacting potential stakeholders and partners for the scheme.

Some Government TDs have also called for sporting venues to be included in the initiative.

O’Donovan has looked into whether the proposed culture card might also apply to participatory activities such as workshops, classes and community-based experiences, too.

Earlier this year, Fianna Fáil TD Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere shared his party’s plans for a €100 culture card to be given to Irish citizens on their 18th birthday. However, it remains unclear if 18-year-olds will benefit from the proposed scheme.

In 2024, Sinn Féin launched its proposal for a €130 card to encourage young people and children’s participation in culture and sport. This came after some surveys found that the number of young adults attending live events since the COVID-19 pandemic had decreased significantly.

Last autumn, the Irish government approved plans to permanently implement a basic income scheme for over 2,000 creative workers and musicians in 2026, under this year’s budget. The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme was first piloted in 2022.

In the spring of 2025, the government announced a €500,000 fund to help support grassroots music venues in the country.

“Grassroots music venues are an integral part of the music ecosystem in Ireland and are vital to our communities,” O’Donovan explained at the time. “I want to support these venues so they can give opportunities to new and emerging artists and give them spaces to perform, develop their skills, and build their audiences.”

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Slane Castle is due to host two massive Oasis shows next September as part of the band’s Live ’27 tour. In June, Fontaines D.C. are scheduled to play a pair of huge outdoor concerts at the venue. The latter band will become only the third Irish act to headline Slane Castle, following Thin Lizzy in 1981 and U2 in 2001.

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First Gen President and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno said the company plans to allocate around P60 billion for hydropower projects and P70 billion for geothermal projects, with the remainder going to solar ventures.

“It’s not that difficult to do that because of all of the investors,” Mr. Puno said on the sidelines of the Philippine Net Zero Conference last week.

First Gen is one of the country’s largest power generation companies, with more than 1,700 megawatts (MW) of installed renewable energy capacity.

It also has interests in gas-fired power plants in Batangas.

The company expects to spend around $20 billion over the next five years to expand its energy portfolio to 13 gigawatts within and outside the Philippines.

To support this target, First Gen has earmarked around P41.7 billion in capital expenditures this year for investments in pumped-storage hydropower projects.

For the first six months of 2026, First Gen reported a 7.1% increase in net income to P12.82 billion, mainly due to higher contributions from Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and First Gen Hydro Power Corp.

EDC accounted for 73% of First Gen’s revenues, contributing P29.88 billion.

EDC is the Philippines’ largest geothermal energy producer, with more than 1,400 MW of capacity from its geothermal, wind, hydropower, and solar assets. The company accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s installed renewable energy capacity.

Amid EDC’s growth, Indonesia’s PT Barito Renewables Energy made an unsolicited $5-billion proposal to acquire the company.

Mr. Puno said First Gen has no plans to sell EDC, adding that there are no other foreign firms looking to acquire the company.

“If the Philippines wants to grow, I suspect you need companies like First Gen or EDC to continue to find ways to create value for the expansion of geothermal and other renewable energy sources,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

THE COMBINED ASSETS of the Philippines’ biggest banks grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years in the second quarter, despite uncertainty stemming from the Middle East war.

In the latest edition of BusinessWorld’s quarterly banking report, the aggregate assets of 44 universal and commercial banks rose by 10.23% year on year to P30.16 trillion in the April-to-June period, from P27.37 trillion a year earlier.

This pace was faster than the 9.52% rise in the first quarter of 2026 and the 9.05% growth in the second quarter of 2025.

This was also the fastest asset growth in nearly two years, or since the 11.17% increase in the third quarter of 2024.

Total loans jumped by 10.63% year on year to P15.93 trillion in the second quarter, faster than the 9.05% growth a year ago. On a quarterly basis, loans inched up by 1.9%.

However, loan growth was the slowest in two quarters or since the 10.12% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Asset and lending growth continued in the second quarter despite slowing economic activity and elevated inflation.

In the second quarter, gross domestic product expanded by 2.3% — a new post-pandemic low, bringing first-half growth to 2.6%. This is below the government’s 3.5%-4.5% growth target for the year.

Inflation eased to a three-month low of 6.4% in June, bringing the six-month average to 4.8%.

The big banks’ gross nonperforming loan ratio stood at 3.3% during the second quarter, lower than the 3.32% print in the first quarter and the 3.39% during the same quarter a year ago.

Loans are considered nonperforming if the principal and/or interest are unpaid for more than 90 days from the contractual due date. These may pose risk to the lenders’ asset quality as borrowers are likely to default on these debts.

Meanwhile, the banks’ median return on equity (RoE) rose to 7.76% in the second quarter from 7.34% in the first quarter.

RoE is an indicator of profitability which measures the amount shareholders make on every peso they invest in a company.

On the other hand, the largest banks’ median capital adequacy ratio — which reflects the lender’s ability to absorb losses from risk-weighted assets — stood at 19.01% in the second quarter,. This was lower than the 19.08% in the first quarter and the 19.18% in the second quarter of 2025.

The ratio was above the regulatory minimum of 10% set by the BSP as well as the international minimum standard of 8% under the Basel III framework.

As of end-June, the big banks’ leverage ratio stood at a median of 10.92%, lower than the 11.15% in the first quarter of 2026, and the 11.39% in the second quarter of 2025.

The leverage ratio, which gauges the institution’s ability to absorb shocks by measuring the bank’s capital relative to total exposure, reached a median of 10.92% as of end-June.

The current figure exceeded the central bank’s 5% guideline as well as the international standard of 3%.

Meanwhile, the net interest margin (NIM) of these big banks stood at 3.69%, higher than the 3.57% a year earlier.

NIMs are an indicator of banks’ investing efficiency by dividing annualized net interest income by average earning assets.

Return on assets, which measures the profit generated per peso of an asset, dipped to 1.61% in the April-to-June period from 1.62% a year ago.

In the second quarter, BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) remained the largest bank in terms of total assets with P5.91 trillion, followed by Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) with P3.98 trillion and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) with P3.74 trillion.

The Sy-led bank was also the biggest lender with P3.91 trillion worth of loans issued, followed by BPI with P2.65 trillion and Metrobank with P2.08 trillion.

BDO also posted the largest total deposits with P4.56 trillion, followed by Land Bank of the Philippines with P3.05 trillion and BPI with P2.85 trillion.

Among banks with at least P100 billion assets, Philippine Veterans Bank posted the fastest year-on-year asset growth at 42.31%, followed by MUFG Bank Ltd. (41.82%) and Mizuho Bank Ltd. (34.23%).   

On the other hand, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. was the most aggressive lender with a year-on-year growth of 120.64%, followed by Mizuho Bank Ltd. (91.29%) and Standard Chartered Bank (54.5%).

BusinessWorld Research has been tracking the financial performance of the country’s large banks quarterly since the late 1980s using banks’ published statements.

PHILIPPINE BANKS’ higher provisioning for nonperforming loans (NPL) is largely driven by rising consumer loans, rather than systemic stress across the sector, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

According to the central bank, the recent increases in NPL allowances merely reflect growing consumer credit, particularly in the credit card segment, and lenders’ risk management efforts.

“No particular bank group appears to account for the recent increase in loan loss allowances,” the BSP told BusinessWorld in an e-mailed response to questions. “Rather, the increase has been driven mainly by the continued expansion of consumer loan portfolio, particularly credit cards.”

The central bank added that provisioning for consumer loans remained in line with the segment’s portfolio growth, credit seasoning, and banks’ management of emerging credit risks.

In July, universal and commercial banks’ outstanding consumer loans to residents jumped by 17.1% to P2.062 trillion from P1.761 trillion a year ago, the latest central bank data showed.

Credit card loans accounted for the bulk of consumer loans, rising by 24.5% year on year to P1.304 trillion in July.

Meanwhile, separate BSP data showed NPLs reached P585.081 billion as of July, up by 9.27% from the P535.448 billion seen last year and by 0.02% from P584.971 billion in the prior month.

According to economists, bad debts rose during the period as elevated consumer prices and borrowing costs have strained borrowers’ repayment capacities.

This brought the sector’s gross NPL ratio to a two-month high of 3.35% in July, inching up from 3.29% in June but easing from 3.4% in the same month last year.

Last month, BSP Deputy Governor Zeno Ronald R. Abenoja told a House briefing that the local banking system remains sound, with NPLs, or loans unpaid for at least 90 days after the due date, are still “manageable and well-provisioned.”

The central bank later reaffirmed the same, adding that the rise of NPLs does not point to an industry-wide asset quality deterioration.

“While some loan segments have higher NPL growth, current data do not indicate a broad-based weakening in asset quality,” the BSP also told BusinessWorld.

“Rather, these trends reflect sector and portfolio-specific pressures that remain manageable, supported by adequate provisioning, strong capital buffers, and prudent risk management,” it added.

Meanwhile, the central bank noted that its move to highlight NPL provisioning was mainly to complement the NPL ratio and capital adequacy ratio (CAR), which it uses to gauge banks’ health and asset quality.

“The NPL coverage ratio does not replace (the) NPL ratio and CAR,” the regulator said. “Rather, it forms part of the range of banking strength/asset quality indicators monitored by the BSP.”

“The NPL coverage ratio reflects the robustness and maturity of banks’ provisioning practices, thus providing additional information on the extent to which existing NPLs are covered by allowances and complementing other indicators, such as the NPL ratio and CAR,” it added.

As of July, banks’ loan loss reserves stood at P540.895 billion as of end-July, slipping by 0.06% from P541.238 billion in the period ending June. However, it was up by 5.63% year on year from P512.061 billion previously.

Loan loss reserves comprised 3.1% of the lenders’ total loan book as of end-July, slightly higher than 3.04% in June but lower than 3.25% a year prior.

This brought banks’ NPL coverage ratio down to 92.45% in July from 92.52% in the previous month and 95.63% a year ago.

The NPL coverage ratio, or the loan loss reserves to NPL ratio, gauges banks’ buffers against potential losses emerging from bad loans. It indicates their capacity to cover bad loans using their loan loss reserves.

The latest figures mean the sector’s asset quality remains healthy in terms of the level of NPLs and how much it can absorb potential credit losses, the central bank noted.

“As such, the recent increase in provisioning reflects banks’ broader risk management practices,” it added. “Overall, the latest data indicate that banks continue to proactively build buffers against potential losses while supporting the growing credit needs of households and businesses.”

According to the central bank, domestic banks continue to see minimal direct exposure from the nearly seven-month long Middle East war, with risks looming mainly from indirect channels.

“Banks have reported limited direct exposure to jurisdictions affected by the Middle East conflict,” it said. “Potential risks to the domestic banking system stem mainly from indirect channels, including higher oil and input costs, inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility, rising market yields, and tighter funding conditions.”

As of end-June, the banking industry’s CAR has remained above the BSP’s 10% minimum requirement. Their solo CAR stood at 15.23%, while their consolidated CAR, which covers banks and their subsidiaries, was at 15.59%.

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) is open to proposals to impose a direct tax on wealthy individuals, as long as the measure can be effectively implemented.

Asked about a wealth tax last week, DoF Undersecretary Karlo Fermin S. Adriano told reporters: “Yes, that’s why we’re doing stakeholder engagement to get inputs. If they can think of any other wealth tax that we can consider, why not?”

Mr. Adriano said any wealth tax proposal should be “implementable.”

“So, we’re open, that’s why we’re doing all this stakeholder engagement to get all comments, and to be able to consider all the options. And our main classification is it’s implementable,” he added.

The DoF so far conducted two stakeholder briefings on its proposed tax reform package under the Promoting Growth, Revenue, and Equity towards Socio-economic Sustainability (ProGRESS) bill. A third briefing is scheduled for mid-October in Baguio City.

The package includes tax relief measures such as raising the annual income tax exemption threshold to P350,000 and removing the minimum corporate income tax for micro and small businesses.

It also includes raising the excise tax on sugary drinks, and proposing a uniform excise taxes on e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products and an excise tax on single-use plastics.

The ProGRESS bill also seeks to update taxes on luxury goods, including automobiles, nonessential goods and private aircraft.

Under the proposal, vehicles with a net manufacturer’s or importer’s price exceeding P8 million would be subject to a 75% excise tax.

The excise tax on nonessential goods would rise to 25% from 20% of dutiable value, while its coverage would be expanded to include private aircraft, recreational vessels such as jet skis, speedboats, sailboats and motorboats, and other high-end goods.

However, some groups want the government to go further and impose a direct tax on wealth.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Associated Labor Unions Advocacy Officer Mark Christian B. Villena said during a stakeholder briefing that the proposal to raise taxes on luxury goods were “not enough.”

“From what we can see there should be a wealth tax,” Mr. Villena said, noting that the group has been pushing for the passage of House Bill No. 8860 or the Patas na Ambag sa Tax para sa Angat-Sahod (PATAS) Act.

The bill seeks to impose a progressive solidarity wealth tax on individuals with a net worth of at least P1 billion.

It proposes a 1% tax on net worth of P1 billion to P2 billion, 2% on over P2 billion to P3 billion, and 3% on over P3 billion.

Jose Enrique “Sonny” A. Africa, executive director of IBON Foundation, said the think tank’s latest estimate showed that the proposed wealth tax could generate at least P570 billion in revenues.

Asian Consulting Group Founding Chairman and Chief Tax Adviser Raymond “Mon” A. Abrea said billionaires “should pay their fair share,” but warned that new taxes should be backed by clear estimates of their revenue and economic impact.

“Luxury taxes target spending; wealth taxes target accumulated assets. Before introducing either, the government should publish credible revenue estimates, enforcement costs, and effects on investment — including businesses whose value is substantial but whose cash is limited,” he told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.

However, he said such measures would only be as progressive “as its ability to reach hidden wealth.”

“Before we even impose tax on the wealthy or wealth taxes, why don’t we collect first or audit first the unexplained wealth? Because we might end up collecting more from those who are already paying,” he said.

“Tax fairness means reaching concealed fortunes as effectively as salaries deducted at source. Collect better before taxing more — and protect the legitimate investment that creates jobs,” he added.

PROTECT THE MIDDLE CLASS
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) said the Philippines will have to protect the purchasing power of its middle class and strengthen investment to revive economic growth.

ADBI Dean and Chief Executive Officer Bambang Brodjonegoro said slowing household consumption has weighed on Philippine growth as the broader Asian economy grapples with weaker productivity and external uncertainties.

“This engine of growth is basically private consumption. And when we talk about private consumption, if I do the comparison among the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies, I think both Thailand and the Philippines are experiencing a slowdown, deeper than Indonesia and Malaysia,” he told reporters on Thursday.

He said weaker purchasing power, partly due to inflation, could be prompting middle-income households to cut spending, weighing on consumption and overall economic growth.

“I think for the Philippines to revive economic growth, maybe the attention needs to be on how to increase the purchasing power of the middle class. And don’t let the middle class shrink,” he added.

The Philippine economy grew by just 2.3% in the April-to-June period, bringing first-half growth to 2.6%, well below the government’s 3.5%-4.5% target for the year.

Household final consumption expenditure increased by 2.8% in the second quarter, much slower than the 5.2% growth in the same period a year ago, extending a five-quarter deceleration in consumption growth that began in the second quarter of 2025.

Mr. Brodjonegoro said the Philippines could consider temporary and targeted subsidies or social assistance for households just below the middle-income segment to help support consumption in the short term.

However, he said measures to support consumption would only help prevent growth from slowing further, while faster and more sustainable growth would require stronger investment.

“If you rely on consumption, it will at least maintain the existing growth. But if you focus more on investment, you will have higher economic growth,” he said.

Mr. Brodjonegoro said the Philippines should also revitalize its manufacturing sector and identify segments of regional and global manufacturing supply chains where it can build a competitive advantage.

“You don’t have to come up with a certain product, but more importantly, the Philippines has to be in the regional or global value chain,” he said.

He pointed to opportunities linked to digital transformation and artificial intelligence, including semiconductors, data centers and renewable energy supporting data-center operations.

THE PHILIPPINES’ balance of payments (BoP) deficit narrowed in August as sustained dollar inflows partly offset a higher import bill driven by elevated global oil prices, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Based on central bank data released late on Friday, the country’s BoP gap shrank to $596 million in August from the $1.47-billion deficit in July.

However, it marked a reversal of the $359-million surplus a year ago. It was also the second month in a row that the country’s BoP position settled at a shortfall.

This brought the country’s BoP deficit in the eight months to August to $5.943 billion, wider than the $5.397-billion gap posted in the same period last year.

BoP refers to the country’s economic transactions with other nations. A deficit shows that the country spent more than it received, while a surplus indicates more funds entered the country.

“The year-to-date BoP position reflected the continued trade-in-goods deficit and net outflows from foreign portfolio investments,” the central bank said in a statement.

Latest Philippine Statistics Authority data showed the country’s trade-in-goods deficit expanded by 34.9% to $5.97 billion in July from $4.43 billion a year earlier. This brought the seven-month gap to balloon to $37.34 billion.

On the other hand, foreign portfolio investments or hot money yielded a net inflow of $66.47 million in July, down 91.05% from $742.56 million a year earlier.

However, hot money stood at a $3.938-billion net outflow as of July, reversing the $2.285-billion net inflows to the country in the prior year.

“These were partly offset by the sustained net inflows from personal remittances of overseas Filipinos, foreign borrowings by the NG (National Government), trade in services, and foreign direct investment,” it added.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort noted that the country’s sustained dollar inflows “fundamentally improved” its BoP position and gross international reserves (GIR) even as higher global oil prices swelled its import bill.

Still, he cautioned against potentially wider deficits as the Middle East war drags on and continues to disrupt global oil supply chains.

“For the coming months, the recent geopolitical risks in the Middle East especially on Iran could lead to some hedging of the country’s imports of crude oil, fuel, petroleum and other commodities especially if prices corrected lower as opportunity to buy to increase local inventories especially if the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted… (which) could still lead to relatively wider trade deficits/net imports and, in turn, wider BoP deficits,” Mr. Ricafort said.

DOLLAR RESERVES
Meanwhile, revised BSP data showed the Philippines’ dollar reserves rose to its highest level in five months in August.

As of end-August, the country held $104.846 billion in gross international reserves (GIR), slightly higher than the $104.813 billion earlier reported.

This was the highest dollar reserves level seen since March, when it stood at $106.636 billion.

However, the latest level reflected a 2.1% dip from the $107.098-billion GIR recorded a year ago but was 1.48% higher than the $103.317 billion seen as of July. 

“The increase was mainly driven by upward valuation adjustments in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, and the BSP’s higher net income from its investments abroad as global bond yields increased,” the BSP said. 

Spot gold touched an over three-month high of $4,631.99 per ounce in August before closing the month at $4,433.19 per ounce, Reuters reported.

International reserves are the central bank’s foreign assets held mostly as investments in foreign-issued securities, foreign exchange and monetary gold, among others.

These are supplemented by claims to the International Monetary Fund in the form of reserve position in the fund and special drawing rights.

“More importantly, relatively higher GIR to provide greater support for the peso exchange rate vs. the US dollar, as fundamentally supported by the continued growth in the country’s structural US dollar inflows especially from OFW (overseas Filipino worker) remittances, BPO (business process outsourcing) revenues, foreign tourism receipts, foreign investments, among others,” Mr. Ricafort said.

In August, the local unit stood at P61.3281 versus the greenback, about 7.1% or P4.0756 weaker than P57.2525 a year ago, according to BSP data.

On Sept. 14, it lost 18 centavos to close at a new historic trough of P62.86, breaking its previous all-time low finish of P62.68 on Sept. 11, Bankers Association of the Philippines data showed.

According to the BSP, the country’s end-August GIR level could cover about 3.3 times its short-term external debt based on residual maturity.

It likewise translates to 6.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, more than double the three-month standard.

The central bank expects the country’s BoP position to end at a $10.7-billion deficit or -2.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) this year, wider than the $5.7-billion gap or -1.2% of GDP in 2025.

It also projects the GIR level to shrink to $104 billion by yearend from the $110.8 billion recorded last year.

Some true stories make you wonder why anyone bothered dramatizing them, and then there are stories like Tony Kiritsis and his infamous dead man’s line that get the treatment again and again.

I’d already watched the independent film. That sent me to the documentary. 

That sent me down the internet rabbit hole, because once you start reading about a guy wiring a shotgun to a mortgage broker’s head and parading him through the streets of Indianapolis, it’s surprisingly difficult to say, “Well, that’s enough of that.”

So, do we really need American Hostage, an eight-hour series about a story that’s already gotten plenty of attention?

After American Hostage Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2, I’m going with yes.

Because as utterly bonkers as the Tony Kiritsis story remains almost 50 years later, American Hostage has found another way into it.

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This isn’t merely a story about a furious man who kidnapped Dick Hall of Meridian Mortgage Company because he believed the Hall family had screwed him over.

It’s also about the day a local radio reporter named Fred Heckman answered the phone and discovered that he wasn’t going to be reporting the biggest story in Indianapolis.

He was going to be part of it. And, oh boy, does that hit differently in 2026.

Jon Hamm‘s Fred is already having something of an identity crisis before Tony ever calls him. After 22 years in Indiana and the success of his “My Town Indy” segment, CBS is interested. New York is beckoning. So is more money.

But Fred considers himself a hard-news guy, and there’s something uncomfortable about the prospect of moving away from the kind of journalism that made him the most trusted voice in his community in the first place.

Then Tony calls.

Suddenly, Fred has the kind of story every journalist dreams about, except the story has specifically requested him, has a shotgun wired to another man’s head, and says “fuck” often enough to give everyone at this family-oriented radio station heart palpitations.

Tony wants to go live. Why Fred? Because people trust Fred Heckman. “If you say it, they’ll believe it.”

That’s one hell of a responsibility to drop into a journalist’s lap. It’s also where American Hostage starts becoming about much more than Tony and Dick.

We’re watching this unfold in a media environment that’s almost quaint by modern standards. Somebody has to adjust the television antenna in the newsroom. Reporters are calling in news briefs from pay phones. Tony needs Fred because Tony doesn’t have a platform of his own.

Today, Tony could be livestreaming before Fred ever knew something was happening. He could post a manifesto, a YouTube channel, TikTok account, Instagram following, podcast, Substack, or whatever fresh hell we’ve invented since I started writing this sentence.

He wouldn’t need the most trusted voice in Indianapolis to tell people he’d been wronged. He could tell them himself.

And within minutes, strangers who knew absolutely nothing about Tony, Dick, Meridian Mortgage, or commercial real estate would be explaining the entire situation to everyone else with tremendous confidence.

Tony’s stunt feels almost like social media before social media existed.

He has a grievance. He believes the system is rigged. He doesn’t believe the people with power will listen to him through conventional channels, so he does something so outrageous that they have no choice.

And then he needs an audience. That’s where Fred comes in. And it puts Fred in an impossible position almost immediately.

Legal is terrified. Station manager Jerry is contemplating the FCC, advertising, revenue, and presumably whether there is enough alcohol in Indianapolis to survive the day.

Fred doesn’t give a damn about revenue. This is news. “You can’t say this isn’t news,” he deadpans. Well, no. You certainly can’t.

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But what happens when covering the news begins affecting its outcome?

“The moment we do something to save someone’s life, we are in the story. We lose our way as journalists,” Ben Hairston reminds him.

That was once Fred’s line in the sand, and American Hostage wastes very little time kicking sand all over it. Fred may believe in journalistic distance, but he also can’t stand by and let Dick Hall die.

Ben knows that before Fred does. Fred apparently thinks he’s been removing cheese from mousetraps around the station without anyone noticing because he can’t bring himself to kill a mouse. Ben knows about the cheese.

Everyone knows about the cheese.

And if Fred Heckman can’t let a mouse die, he’s sure as hell not going to let Dick Hall die to preserve some pristine concept of journalistic objectivity.

That’s where American Hostage gets really interesting.

Fred’s not chasing celebrity, he’s not trying to manufacture a viral moment, and he’s certainly not hoping Tony will turn him into the story. He wants to report the news.

But Tony chose him precisely because of what Fred represents, and the moment Fred answers that phone, his credibility becomes part of Tony’s plan.

By the end of “McMahon, Martinis, and Madness,” CBS is sending a crew to Indianapolis.

Because now, Fred IS the story. So much for New York. When Ben told him the funny thing about lines is that they’re always moving, Fred thought he was better than the line.

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He thought he could stand behind it, maybe toe it a little, and still remain impartial. But when the victim at the end of the dead man’s line is a fellow church member and father, remaining impartial is a feat not many could accomplish.

There’s something fascinating about watching that happen from our current vantage point because we’ve long since obliterated the line Fred is desperately trying to protect.

News is entertainment. Entertainment becomes news. Reporters become personalities. Personalities become stories.

Stories are selected partly because people will watch them, click them, share them, scream about them, or make reaction videos about someone else’s reaction video.

Everybody gets to be Walter Cronkite now, provided Walter Cronkite was broadcasting from his kitchen while yelling at people in the comments.

And people in the comments would obliterate you if you stood back, impartially, and let an innocent man die without doing something to help.

American Hostage is looking back at an earlier point in this evolution, when the people inside the newsroom could still be horrified by the possibility that a man’s potential death might also be fantastic for ratings and maybe not rise to the occasion to exploit it.

And that’s where the show’s satirical streak becomes important. This could have been oppressively serious. Thankfully, it isn’t.

American Hostage has an almost Fargo-like sensibility at times, with music that occasionally evokes Dexter and an entire collection of people responding to an insane situation with exactly the kind of profanity and absurdity such an insane situation probably deserves.

Discovering somebody has left a car door open with the engine running, allowing Tony to abscond with Dick in tow, the police chief announces that he’s going to find the culprit and throw them “down a fucking well.”

There is a man walking around with a shotgun attached to another man’s neck, so he’s not trying to get to the bottom of the parking violation. He’s realizing in real time how quickly one small error can completely upend a situation.

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Tony himself can be horrifying and hilarious within seconds of each other.

When Tony encounters the growing circus following him as he walks Dick down the street, he demands, “What is this? The Macy’s Day Parade, goddamn it?”

Giovanni Ribisi absolutely disappears into the role, capturing a man who is angry, wounded, theatrical, profane, and utterly convinced of the righteousness of his cause.

Tony doesn’t believe he’s a lunatic. He believes he’s a man who worked like a dog, got cornered by a rigged system, and finally decided that if nobody was going to listen, he’d make damn sure they did.

And American Hostage doesn’t require us to agree with him to understand why Fred wants to hear him out.

That’s Fred’s secret with Tony. Treat him like a human being. Ask questions. Listen. Show respect. It’s remarkably simple, and it works. It also lets the series begin unpacking the grievance beneath the spectacle on American Hostage Season 1 Episode 2.

Tony believes the Hall family and Meridian Mortgage deliberately set him up to fail. He had 17 acres he dreamed of developing into something profitable, and he believes they intended to foreclose, scoop it up cheaply at a sheriff’s sale, and profit from his failure.

The financial details matter, but Tony’s demands reveal that this isn’t solely about money. He wants immunity, lawyers, and something much more personal. He wants M.L. Hall to apologize to him.

That’s a problem, because everyone keeps asking where M.L. is, and nobody seems particularly capable of producing him.

In the midst of the melee, someone roars, “What’s the matter with these people? At this rate, we’ll be here until Easter. And someone will be dead. And I don’t mean Jesus.”

See? There is no way you’re getting through this story without laughing.

Poor Dick, meanwhile, remains remarkably compliant for a man spending his day attached to the business end of Tony’s homemade death contraption.

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Kristoffer Polaha hasn’t had nearly as much room to explore Dick through the first two hours, but we get flashes of the person beneath the hostage.

And the more we learn about the Hall family, the more interesting Dick’s position within all of this becomes.

Tony may have taken Dick hostage, but Dick isn’t necessarily the person Tony really wants. The people Tony wants to answer for what happened seem remarkably comfortable letting Dick do that for them.

That’s something I’m eager to see American Hostage explore further.

But Tony also understands something about Fred before Fred fully understands it himself. “I chose you for a reason. You’re a part of my plan all along.”

Fred was there during the darkest days of Tony’s life without even knowing it. That’s the extraordinary part of this relationship.

Fred isn’t merely a convenient radio personality Tony happened to recognize. His voice meant something to Tony. His reputation meant something.

That kind of communal trust in journalism feels almost alien now. And maybe that’s another reason this story remains worth telling.

Tony Kiritsis didn’t just want attention. He wanted to be believed. There is a difference. And somehow, Tony knew that Fred would humanize the event, playing right into Tony’s hands.

American Hostage arrives after other projects have already revisited this story, but it has eight hours to examine all the strange little pieces around the dead man’s line:

Tony’s grievance, Dick’s family, Fred’s career, the changing media environment, and what happens when reporting the spectacle becomes part of creating it.

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The story was already sensational. American Hostage doesn’t pretend otherwise. Instead, it seems willing to ask why we can’t stop looking.

Nearly 50 years later, we have infinitely more ways to make ourselves heard, infinitely more opportunities to become the story, and an entire culture built around capturing 15 minutes of attention before somebody else takes our place.

Tony needed a shotgun, a hostage, and the most trusted man in Indianapolis. Now all you need is Wi-Fi. Progress! Or not.

We’ve lost something in the middle of all of this. The public’s right to know and understand a story without sensationalizing it.

At this point, even our AI picks a side. The best I can say is that if you’ve got the right attitude, you can at least wade through the muck to find the truth.

So, at least we have more to sift through. But I can’t help but wish for simpler days past, and by the time American Hostage Season 1 is over, I bet everyone in Indianapolis in 1977 will feel the same.

But what about you?

What did you think of the premiere episodes? Can you believe that something from so far in the past can still feel so relevant today? Hit the comments with your thoughts.

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Preview:

• Laura Linney is joining Western movie ‘Road to Ruin.’
• Michael Keaton is starring and directing.
• Morgan Freeman will co-star.

Word dropped earlier this month that Michael Keaton is choosing to make Western thriller ‘Rode to Ruin’ as his next directorial outing, while also starring as a vengeful former lawman.

Now, Deadline brings the news that Laura Linney (currently to be found being imperious and mysterious as one of the alien “Guardians” on HBO/DC series ‘Lanterns’) is the latest addition.

Morgan Freeman is already aboard the new movie, with the rights recently acquired by Angel Studios.

Related Article: Michael Keaton to Direct & Star with Morgan Freeman in ‘Rode to Ruin’

What’s the story of ‘Rode to Ruin’?

Working from R. Dean McCreary’s script, Keaton will portray retired Marshal Henry Tillman, while Freeman is a wanted outlaw named Joseph Mulberry.

The U.S. Marshal searched forty years for his wife’s killer, and the cold trail finally heats up and leads him to an aging outlaw losing his memory – and to a buried truth neither man may survive.

Linney will portray Hedda Tessman, a frontier trader who works the territory alone, all grit and composure, and the one person the aging outlaw has allowed close in years.

 ‘Rode to Ruin’: Michael Keaton talks

Here’s what Keaton told Deadline about the movie:

“When I first read it, I thought, this is really good — and there’s more here for Morgan and me to mine together. Once we talked, it became clear we were on the same page. Just as ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ isn’t simply a prison movie, ‘Rode to Ruin’ isn’t simply a Western. It’s a story with a lot of layers that happens to unfold in the West.”

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What To Know

• In American Hostage, newsman Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm) is thrust into the center of a hostage crisis by Tony Kiritsis.
• As Fred becomes both a de facto hostage negotiator and the focus of national attention, he faces ethical dilemmas that challenge his journalistic integrity and personal boundaries.

Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm) is used to reporting the news, but in American Hostage, he quickly finds himself becoming part of it. Warning: This post contains spoilers for American Hostage Episodes 1 “My Town Indy” and Episode 2 “McMahon, Martinis and Madness” of American Hostage. 

Inspired by true events, the series begins in Indianapolis on February 8, 1977, the respected WIBC newsman is already facing a major career decision. CBS has come calling with an offer that would put him on a much bigger stage, and even his wife, Barbara (Mireille Enos), knows how tempting that is. “It’s a big stage, and I know you want that,” she tells him.

Before Fred can make a decision, however, something much bigger lands in his lap.

Across town, Tony Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) meets with mortgage executive Dick Hall (Kristoffer Polaha), whose family Tony blames for destroying his plans to develop 17 acres of land into a shopping destination complete with a steakhouse. Facing foreclosure, Tony fakes a broken arm to get Dick alone, pulls out a sawed-off shotgun, and wires it to Dick’s neck with a dead man’s line around the trigger. If Tony is shot or loses control of the weapon, Dick dies with him.

Tony then does something unusual for a hostage taker: He calls the police himself.

As authorities surround Meridian Mortgage, Fred and his WIBC team begin covering the developing story. Reporter Ben Hairston (William Jackson Harper) starts digging into Tony, while Fred sends others looking for anything they can find on the man holding Dick hostage. Fred also has a personal connection to the story: He attends the same church as Dick.

Steven Ackerman/MGM+/Sony Pictures Television

Then Tony asks for Fred by name.

“Fred Heckman respects the truth,” Tony says when he finally gets him on the phone. Tony believes Fred won’t “take the truth, and tickle its balls and rub its feet and pick his pockets on the way out the back door.” Instead, “Fred Heckman will give it to you straight.”

Actor Giovanni Ribisi explained to TV Insider why he believed Fred so completely trusted Fred and felt he could turn to him in his time of need. “I think Tony had an agenda. I think he wanted to rattle the cage and do something that was somewhat radical so that he could get the attention, and someone like Fred Heckman would give him a conduit to be able to tell his story.”

“Now, in the research that they did, Tony was a big fan of Fred Heckman, his radio show, and everything that he stood for, which was a contrast to today’s media, where it’s thumbing through TikTok or Instagram and seeing things that would almost be violent or pornographic or whatever that is. I think Fred Heckman represented an ideal, and I think that spoke to Tony. I think he was also a pillar of the community, and so a lot of people listened to him, and Tony knew that,” explained Ribisi.

Steven Ackerman/MGM+/Sony Pictures Television

What Tony wants is a live, uncensored interview with Fred. He insists that Dick, his father, M.L. Hall, and his brothers are “cheats and liars” who spent years scheming to take his property. Tony wants Indianapolis to hear his side of the story and understand that he isn’t simply a lunatic. And if Fred doesn’t give him that opportunity, Tony makes the stakes clear: Dick Hall is a dead man.

That leaves Fred and the WIBC newsroom with a decision that goes far beyond normal journalism. Station chief Jerry Morris (Job Cobden) knows putting Tony live on the air could be a financial disaster. Tony’s language could bring FCC fines, sponsors could flee, and Ben raises an even more horrifying possibility: What happens if Tony kills Dick live on the air?

Meanwhile, Tony isn’t staying put. He marches Dick out of Meridian Mortgage at gunpoint, past police and news crews, before taking him to his booby-trapped apartment. When a pastor offers to take Dick’s place, Tony refuses, and when Tony slips on the ice, one wrong move from a police officer nearly brings the entire situation to a bloody end.

Eventually, Tony and Dick make it back to Tony’s apartment, and Fred makes his choice. WIBC puts Tony live and uncensored on the air. It’s a decision that pushes Fred beyond simply reporting the story and into the middle of it, but as coshowrunner, writer, and exec producer Shawn Ryan explains, Fred also understands almost immediately that Tony’s calls are about something much bigger.

“Well, Fred was really lionized in Indianapolis. He was the most trusted voice in news, and I think he was a great reporter. And when Tony first called, I think he realized there is a story here, and that he has something to tell that’s going to be important,” explained Ryan. “I think Fred sensed from the beginning that there was something extraordinarily newsworthy and something that the public, not out of prurient interest, but of real value that could be had from this conversation.”

“Of course, Tony was very unpredictable, very volatile, very profane, and it made for a very atypical interview. It was more a conversation than interviews that were happy in many ways, but I think Fred knew that this was the most important news story that was ever going to cross his desk, and he knew, as he states at one point in the show, this is more,” continued Ryan. “This is about more than just a hostage situation; this is about something else, and I think this series over eight episodes explores that.”

Steven Ackerman/MGM+/Sony Pictures Television

By Episode 2, Tony is using that platform to lay out his case against the Halls, describing the family as a “three-headed monster” whose real estate, mortgage and construction businesses allowed them to profit from people like him. He claims they planned from the beginning to take his money and ultimately his land. “That’s the game!” he says.

But Fred isn’t simply handing Tony a microphone. He and his team start investigating whether any of it is true.

Ben digs into the Halls and a recent protest against them, while Ginny (June Laporte) and the rest of the newsroom investigate Tony himself. Some of his story immediately begins to fall apart. Despite Tony’s claims about West Point, Ginny can’t find any record of him being a cadet or instructor there, infuriating Tony when Fred confronts him with what they’ve found. At the same time, former Meridian employee Helen tells the team that Tony was kind and questions why anyone would have given him the mortgage in the first place — but also makes it clear that Dick and M.L. weren’t exactly well-liked.

Ibby Hall (Kat Cunning), meanwhile, has her own complicated connection to the family, with the episode flashing back to her meeting Dick on a blind date. Ginny also tracks down Tony’s sister, Effie, hoping to learn more about a family money dispute, only to be told that whatever happened was “a family matter.”

“There are a lot of tentacles to this story,” Fred realizes.

Tony’s demands are also growing. He wants immunity, lawyers John Ruckelshaus (Adam Arkin) and Johnny Wilson, and, most importantly, an apology from M.L. Hall. There’s just one problem: Nobody seems to know where M.L. is. Tony does. He’s gone fishing in Florida.

While Fred tries to reach him, Chief Gallagher (Mark McKinney) and law enforcement are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the entire arrangement. Fred is a civilian, not a trained hostage negotiator, and they want an expert handling Tony. At the same time, Fred’s journalism career is exploding. CBS wants to take the coverage national, and Fred, who has always loved hard news, feels more alive than ever.

Steven Ackerman/MGM+/Sony Pictures Television

But that success comes with a major complication.

Fred finally tracks down M.L. Hall at Neptune’s Palace in Fort Lauderdale, only for him to refuse Tony’s demanded apology and hang up, his own son be damned. Fred is no longer standing safely on the other side of the microphone. Tony trusts him. Dick’s life could depend on him. The police need to account for him. CBS wants his coverage.

And as Fred is bluntly told, the story has gotten away from him.

He’s no longer the lead reporter. Fred is the story.

“So I believe he’s trying very hard to be both these things. He’s trying to be somebody who is a de facto hostage negotiator, but also the news director of WIBC News, which is what he defines himself as,” said director and EP Adam Arkin, who also plays Tony’s lawyer, John Ruckelshaus. “But that tension between those things becomes too much, and certainly over the second half of the season, he is asked to do things that go very much against his journalistic principles in order to save Dick Hall and perhaps even save Tony Kiritsis. And those are choices he has to make. They’re extraordinarily difficult for him, and I think that’s where good drama comes from.”

American Hostage, Sunday, 9/8c, MGM+

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Sonos makes some of the best smart speakers in the game, yet pairing the company’s products with its app hasn’t always been a hassle-free process. Back in 2024, you’d have likely been asking, “Why is the Sonos app so broken?” Thankfully, the sins of that notoriously buggy update have since been absolved, and the software is now in a decent place, making setting up a new speaker relatively straightforward.

Below, we’ll guide you through how to set up your smart speaker with the official “S2” Sonos app. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to connect an older product or one of the company’s top-of-the-line Dolby Atmos-capable speakers, as the connection process differs little. Read on for setup tips, how to resolve pairing problems and advice for making your speakers sound better through EQ tweaks and other in-app features.

How to set up a Sonos speaker for the first time

Dave Meikleham for Engadget

If you’re setting up your Sonos speaker for the very first time, you’re going to need the Sonos app for your smartphone or tablet. Said software is available on both the App Store and Google Play. Once that’s downloaded, create a Sonos account and make sure your speaker and the app are connected to the same network. From here, the process of setting up your smart speaker shouldn’t be too daunting.

Whether you’re hooking up an old-school Sonos One speaker or are lucky enough to own a high-end Sonos Era 300, the setup process is broadly the same. After you’ve hooked up your speaker, open the app and select Start a new Sonos system, press Add your speaker, and the app should quickly find your Sonos hardware before guiding you through connecting it to your Wi-Fi network (so have your router’s password to hand). You can then assign your speaker to a new room (at the time of writing, Sonos has 22 different preset names, ranging from “bathroom” all the way through to “TV room” — though you can also set a custom moniker).

After you’ve set up your first Sonos speaker, additional ones are even easier to get going. Just hop over to Settings > Add Speaker or Component to easily pair multiple speakers. It’s worth noting, though, that if you’re looking to put together a full-blown Sonos surround sound system, your surround speakers will likely have to be the same model (so a pair of Sonos Era 100s rather than mixing an Era 100 with an Era 300, for example). Additionally, you can pair your speaker(s) with services like Amazon Alexa by scrolling down to Add a Voice Assistant from the settings menu.

Why is the Sonos app not connecting to my speakers?

Dave Meikleham for Engadget

Having trouble getting your Sonos speakers to play nice with the app on your smartphone/tablet? It’s most likely a network issue. Ensure your speaker and the Sonos app are on the same Wi-Fi network (connecting one to a guest network will mess with communications between devices). Another problem that can stop speaker pairing is if you’ve recently changed the password on your router.

VPNs can cause connection issues between your speaker and the app too, so try briefly disabling yours if you’re suffering from setup woes. Regular software updates through the app are also recommended to prevent future connection problems. And for Apple users, make sure you’ve granted the Sonos app permission on either your iPad or iPhone, so that it can find devices on your network.

If the Sonos app still can’t find your speaker, it’s time for a reset. To reboot your Sonos equipment, simply unplug it, wait for at least ten seconds, connect it back to the power socket, then wait an additional minute or so before trying to pair your speaker with the app. Still facing issues with a “No products found” message in the Sonos app? It’s time for a slightly more drastic hardware reset. This should be your last resort, as this process will wipe out any saved EQ settings/TruePlay configurations saved on your speaker.

To perform a factory reset, unplug your speaker, then hold the Bluetooth button as you power it back on. Continue to hold the button until the status light flashes between orange and white. As soon as it flashes green, the reset is complete, and you can try to pair your speaker with the Sonos app again. For older Sonos speakers, you’ll want to hold down the Join button instead (identified by a small sideways loop icon).

How do I make my Sonos speakers sound better?

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Performing settings tweaks in the Sonos app can make a surprisingly big difference to how your speakers sound. If You’ve put together a home theater setup, definitely use the app’s TruePlay feature. Sonos’ room-analyzing feature deploys test tones from your speakers that your smartphone then measures through its mic to calculate the dimensions of your lounge.

As you slowly walk around the perimeter of your entertainment area, TruePlay analyzes these frequencies, making subtle acoustic adjustments to compensate for where your furniture is and where you’ve placed your speakers in relation to walls. This feature won’t make a game-changing difference to how your speakers sound, but it can create a more balanced audio profile.

It’s also worth adjusting the EQ of any Sonos speakers you own through the app. Once you navigate to Settings > Your System > Speaker > Sound > EQ, you’ll find a wealth of options to tinker with. These span bass and treble levels, surround audio, subwoofer output and more. For those of you who own a spatial audio soundbar like the Sonos Arc Ultra, you can find the best setting and placement for your Dolby Atmos soundbar and tweak height audio settings.

Making minor EQ tweaks — sliders range from -15 to +15 — can make a real difference in clarity levels and bass output. On the latter, take my advice: If you own a Sonos sub, don’t set it above +5. I learned that the hard way through some seriously peeved neighbors. There are also slightly more nuanced settings adjustments you can make. Home theater-specific sliders like Night Sound and Speech Enhancement help to boost or reduce noise levels, should you want to be a more considerate neighbor than me or find that voices from your central channel are getting drowned out by effects from your surround sound speakers.

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If you grew up in the 1980s, chances are you had a collection of cassette tapes. Remember those? The media format, about the size of a large stack of credit cards, was the primary way we listened to music in the ’80s before being overtaken by CDs in the ’90s and eventually streaming services like Spotify. If you’re like me, you may still have many of them stored in a shoebox. But how long are these tiny tapes expected to last?

The general belief is about 30 years, but this is based on ideal storage conditions. Cassette tapes will deteriorate over time even under the best conditions since the coating that binds the tapes will eventually lose lubrication and detach. But the primary deciding factor for longevity is storage. I personally have cassette tapes that are more than 30 years old and still play just fine (thanks mom and dad for having a player around to try them!).

It’s not a bad idea to digitize your cassettes using a digitization service or by connecting a player to your computer and recording to digital files using a service like Audacity. before they do deteriorate to preserve those custom playlists and memories. But for now, if you still have cassettes from the ’70s and ’80s, as long as they’re stored well, they could play for decades to come.

Proper storage and care is important

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Before looking at how to store them, it’s important to understand how cassette tapes work. Inside are two reels, like mini movie reels, connected by a thin strip of magnetic tape and covered by a shell. When you press play, the tape slides on the magnetic head that reads magnetic patterns, which translates to audio. The electrical signals are sent through an amplifier to strengthen the sound, so you hear it more clearly through speaker or headphones.

As long as the cassette tape remains in good order, it will play. But it requires proper storage. One big thing that can impact the life of a cassette tape is temperature, including storing them in an environment that is too hot or cold or where temperature fluctuates often. But it’s mainly about humidity too. You should also avoid exposure to sunlight, moisture, dust and dust mites, critters and magnetic fields.

Store them in a cool and dry place, with a temperature at 59 to 73°F and 25-55 percent humidity. Always keep them in their protective cases and wipe down the exterior from time to time to get rid of accumulated dust, even gently using a Q-tip. Don’t forget to clean the player’s tape heads as well. Play the tapes from time to time, too. Along with losing lubrication, the binder coating can get sticky without use. 

Those who grew up in the Blockbuster era know, “be kind, rewind” is a VHS mantra that holds true for cassette tapes as well. When you’re done listening, rewind the cassette to the beginning (hopefully using the rewind button versus a pencil) to help minimize stress and uneven winding.

Tap into that nostalgia for decades to come

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Under improper conditions, the lifespan of a cassette tape can drop from 30 years down to as few as five. You might be tempted to pop them into a box in the attic, but consider temperature fluctuations, moisture and humidity levels, even beams of constant sunlight from a window. If you’re firm on storing them in the attic, use a plastic tub versus cardboard. 

But with the right storage and care, cassettes could theoretically last up to 100 years, preserving fond memories to hand down for generations. From pre-recorded cassettes to ones with songs you recorded off the radio (with the DJ’s voice inevitably at the beginning and end of each track) to mixtapes created for everything from parties to road trips, break-ups and lovers, they hold a lot of nostalgia. With the vinyl resurgence and Gen Z already helping iPods make a comeback, it’s only a matter of time before cassette tapes and Walkmans are trending again, too.

The biggest issue you may run into with playing cassettes is not necessarily worry about if the tapes still work but how to listen. You have probably already replaced your old boomboxes with the best portable Bluetooth speakers. But you can still find retro players that combine streaming with cassette decks, and affordable Walkman-style portable cassette players to keep the music going and relive the olden days.

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• Simera Sense and IDOM will develop and produce the optical system for Simera Sense’s next-generation MultiScape350 imager.
• The partnership brings together Simera Sense’s extensive expertise in spaceborne imaging payloads with IDOM’s world-renowned proficiency in advanced optical design, opto-mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and qualification.
• IDOM will lead the development and production of the Optical Front End for the MultiScape350 payload; Simera Sense will provide the sensor subsystem, electronics, thermal management, calibration approach, satellite interface and integration architecture, and overall payload productization.
• Simera Sense CEO notes shared commitment to ‘delivering exceptional space hardware’; IDOM Head of Astronomy and Space calls partnership a ‘strong European collaboration’.

LEUVEN, BELGIUM and BILBAO, SPAIN – 17 September 2026—Simera Sense, a leading European provider of optical payload solutions for small satellites, today announced a strategic partnership with IDOM, one of Europe’s leading engineering and space technology companies, for the development and production of the optical system for Simera Sense’s next-generation MultiScape350 Very High-Resolution Earth Observation imager.

The partnership brings together Simera Sense’s extensive expertise in spaceborne imaging payloads, sensor electronics, calibration, and mission optimization with IDOM’s world-renowned proficiency in advanced optical design, opto-mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and qualification of high-performance space optical systems.

Under the agreement, IDOM will lead the development and production of the Optical Front End (OFE) for the MultiScape350 payload. Simera Sense will provide the sensor subsystem, electronics, thermal management, calibration approach, satellite interface and integration architecture and overall payload productization.

The collaboration enables both organizations to draw on their strengths to deliver a world-class Earth observation imaging system to global satellite manufacturers and operators.

The MultiScape350 programme addresses surging demand for higher-resolution Earth observation imagery from commercial, civil and government customers. More than 6,500 Earth observation satellites are expected to launch by 2035 as governments expand sovereign intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, according to Novaspace.

The MultiScape350 system will provide very high-resolution imaging capability while maintaining compatibility with the size, weight and power constraints of modern satellite platforms.

Johann du Toit, Chief Executive Officer of Simera Sense, said:

“We are delighted to partner with IDOM on the MultiScape350 optical system.

“Over the past few months, our teams have developed a strong working relationship built on shared engineering excellence, openness and a commitment to delivering exceptional space hardware.

“By combining Simera Sense’s proven imaging payload heritage with IDOM’s outstanding optical and opto-mechanical capabilities, we believe we can accelerate the development of a highly competitive Earth observation solution for the global market.”

Gaizka Murga, Head of Astronomy and Space at IDOM, said:

“We are excited to work alongside Simera Sense on the MultiScape350 programme.

“This partnership combines complementary capabilities and creates a strong European collaboration in advanced space technology.

“Our team looks forward to contributing our experience in precision optical systems to help deliver a highly capable Earth observation instrument.”

With more than sixty satellite OEMs and research organizations already using Simera Sense imaging technology worldwide, the MultiScape350 platform represents a significant expansion of the company’s product portfolio and its ability to support increasingly demanding Earth observation missions.

The partnership with IDOM further strengthens Simera Sense’s industrial capabilities and European supply-chain footprint while establishing a foundation for future collaborative optical programmes.

About Simera Sense
Simera Sense is a leading European provider of optical payloads and image-processing tools for space-based imaging. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Belgium, with offices in South Africa, France and the United Kingdom, the company serves more than 50 clients worldwide. It delivers end-to-end solutions for small satellite imagers across RGB, video, multispectral and hyperspectral applications.

About IDOM
IDOM is an independent professional services multinational that delivers high-performance, built-to-spec optical and mechatronic solutions for science and technology applications. Through its Astronomy and Space division, IDOM has established an extensive track record in the design, manufacture and qualification of advanced optical and opto-mechanical systems for space and scientific applications.

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It’s way beyond time for Johnny to stand up to his father.

Johnny’s willingness to help EJ cover up his crimes for “the good of the family” is incredibly disappointing and out of character.

Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 9-21-26 say that Johnny and EJ will have an intense confrontation, but can that save Johnny’s reputation before he leaves Salem for good?

Johnny Is Leaving Salem Soon — Is That Why He Suddenly Grows a Pair?

Johnny should have been fighting with EJ all along.

He was always one of the more moral DiMeras, and ever since childhood he felt caught between his family’s legacy and his own values.

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As a young adult, he fought bitterly with EJ because he didn’t want to be part of DiMera Enterprises — he wanted to direct movies.

What happened to THAT Johnny? The guy on our screen who keeps making empty threats to disown EJ bears little, if any, resemblance to him.

Since Johnny is leaving Salem, I feel like this whole story was contrived just to give him a reason to go.

That’s even more annoying since it sounds like it was the production team’s choice to write him out. If Johnny had to go, it should have been with a more reasonable exit story.

Anyway, now that we’re nearing the end of Johnny’s time in Salem, Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 9-21-26 say that he and EJ will have an epic showdown.

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Better late than never, I suppose, but this conflict should have been the story, not just its climax.

In a way, it’s a relief. Johnny was upset when he learned that EJ might have dumped tainted drugs and caused people to become sick and die, including the near-catastrophic incident that Holly suffered.

That shows that the real Johnny — the one with a conscience who doesn’t want to do these horrible things — is in there somewhere, and he probably will come out during the argument.

Later in the week, though, Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 9-21-26 say that Sydney encourages Johnny to stand his ground rather than backing down, which isn’t exactly a good sign.

Johnny has confronted EJ two or three times before, and EJ gets the upper hand every time by talking about how important it is that Johnny protect the family legacy.

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That pattern makes these kinds of showdowns pointless.

Johnny may be more and more horrified by what his father is up to, but if he quickly caves to EJ’s manipulations, it doesn’t matter.

Johnny has said that Chanel and the kids are his family and legacy now, so when is he going to start acting like it?

Then again, if he and Chanel go elsewhere to get away from EJ, this latest argument could be what pushes Johnny over the edge.

Chanel keeps saying she won’t accept EJ in their lives, and she doesn’t want Johnny involved in shady business. If she issues a new ultimatum, that will be unpopular with fans—but it might be what gets Johnny to finally realize what he’s risking and make a different choice.

Of course, he and Chanel have had this fight before, and it hasn’t changed anything, but with the two set to leave Salem soon, this time has to be different. I think.

Meanwhile, Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 9-21-26 say that Theo will confide in Abe, and I hope it’s about this.

I have mixed feelings about Theo’s resignation.

I love his strong moral stance, which is something Salem needs more of. Everyone else’s “no” gets turned into a “yes” by the end of the same episode!

But Theo actively investigating his cousin would have been a more interesting story. Of course, that might still happen now that he is talking to Abe about what’s on his mind.

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Days of Our Lives Spoilers for the Week of 9-21-26 Say That No One Is Happy With The Kiriakises, Either

It seems that Philip’s huge gamble was all for nothing.

I mean, he gets Gabi back, but that’s about it. Spoilers say he’s too late to save the house, and on top of that, Maggie is extremely displeased with him and Xander.

I’m sure she won’t be happy that Philip lied to her face about giving up gambling, and I can’t blame her for that or for worrying he’ll relapse.

I wonder if we’re going to get a bona fide gambling addiction story out of this.

So far, it seems like Philip’s gambling was just a vehicle to get the money he needed and get back with Gabi, but it could be the start of something more interesting — if it’s done right and doesn’t default to outdated stereotypes and tired clichés.

Meanwhile, the Dominic Marino mystery will heat up this week, and unfortunately, one fan theory that I hate appears to be true.

Does Marlena Have a Child With Stefano? Seriously?

I didn’t take that theory seriously because it sounded ridiculous. Among other things, Marlena should know about any pregnancies and labor she went through.

But this is Salem, and we’re talking about the DiMeras, so anything is possible. After all, Rolf found a way for Kristen to steal Theresa’s baby from her womb and implant it in her own.

Still, this seems like a pointless reveal since Stefano is no longer with us, and on top of that, so far Dominick Marino seems hellbent on being Stefano 2.0, which is not what Marlena needs in a pop-up son.

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Sadly, it seems like it’s happening anyway.

Days of Our Lives spoilers for the week of 9-21-26 include Steve delivering a birth certificate to Marlena that makes her pause in shock when she sees who the mother of record is.

All right, Days of Our Lives fanatics. What do you think of this twist?

I know some fans love the idea, some hate it, and some wonder why Marlena needs to be the center of this type of story.

Wherever you fall on that spectrum, let us know in the comments! Don’t forget to share this article with your friends so they can join the conversation.

Vote for your favorite spoiler in our poll below.

Hungry for more DAYS chat? Check out our latest editorials about what’s going on in Salem, and don’t forget to share your thoughts!

These Days of Our Lives spoilers will air on Peacock during the week of 9-21-26. New episodes drop on weekday mornings at 6/5c.

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Preview:

• Rachel McAdams, Clare Danes and the cast are back for  a sequel to Christmas pic ‘The Family Stone.’
• Writer/director Tom Bezucha is also returning.
• It’ll pay tribute to the late Diane Keaton, who starred in the 2005 original.

Back in (somewhat fittingly given it’s a holiday movie) December last year, word arrived that ‘The Family Stone’ writer/director Tom Bezucha was at work on a script for a sequel to the cult, caustic Christmas movie.

Now, via Deadline, we’ve learned that almost the entire main cast will be back for the new film, sans Diane Keaton, who died in October 2025.

The likes of Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Tyrone Giordano, Elizabeth Reaser, Paul Schneider and Brian White are all returning, with cameras set to roll in the coming weeks.

Related Article: Director Thomas Bezucha Says He’s Writing a ‘The Family Stone’ Sequel

What’s the story of ‘The Family Stone’?

In the first film, Sybil and Kelly (Keaton and Nelson) host their adult kids (Mulroney, McAdams, Wilson and Reaser) for the holidays, as she prepares to tell the family about her terminal illness.

The visit is complicated by Everett’s (Mulroney) plans to propose to his high-strung girlfriend Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), of whom Sybil does not approve.

This new movie picks up the story 20 years later as the Stone family again reunites for Christmas, only to face the season’s biggest surprise: Kelly has unexpectedly invited the woman he’s fallen in love with to meet the family.

What did Bezucha say about the sequel?

While Keaton’s character has passed away by the end of the movie (which shows the family a year later), Bezucha has said he fully intends it to honor Keaton:

“I’ve been haunted by the loss of Sybil for months now while I worked on it, and so this was a blow on a tender bruise already. Mentally, I’ve been spending time in that house where I’ve been missing her for a while already.”

List of Movies Starring Diane Keaton:

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Ride or Die may have been a summer hit on Prime Video after debuting on July 15, but the continuation of Judith (Hannah Waddingham) and Debbie’s (Octavia Spencer) onscreen story seems to be over as the streamer cancels the action-packed series.

While the cancellation of creator Tessa Coates’s comedy thriller may be final at Prime Video, a report suggests there may still be a possibility for the series to continue elsewhere, keeping hope alive that we’ll get to see more of Waddingham and Spencer as their onscreen chemistry is palpable for every moment of this unique dramedy. Below, we’re breaking down everything we know about the possibility of Ride or Die Season 2.

Has Ride or Die been renewed for Season 2?

Ride or Die was officially canceled after one season at Prime Video, but according to Deadline, hope remains for the show’s continuation elsewhere. Per the outlet, Ride or Die is being shopped to other buyers by its lead studio, Paramount Television Studios. Whether that means it could pop up on Paramount+ or another streamer remains to be seen, but considering Prime Video’s shocking cancellation, we’re hoping another home will be found for the title.

Who would star in Ride or Die Season 2?

Ride or Die‘s first season starred Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer, Ed Skrein, Calam Lynch, Savannah Steyn, Jamie Parker, Jacky Ido, Sylvia Hoeks, and Bill Nighy. As we await news about the show possibly being saved for Season 2, it’s unclear who could potentially return, but we do know that Skrein isn’t likely to be back, as Coates confirmed to TV Insider that his character Billy had, in fact, died. Additionally, Hoeks’ Ana also perished before Season 1 was through.

Dušan Martinček / Prime

What would Ride or Die Season 2 be about?

Ride or Die‘s first season revolves around the story of Debbie and Judith, friends who thought they knew everything about each other — except for the fact that Judith is a secret international assassin. Season 1 follows the pals on a road trip across Europe as they flee law enforcement, highly trained assassins, and dangerous criminals after a hit goes horribly wrong. While Season 2 has yet to be picked up after Prime Video’s cancellation, there was plenty of set-up for future stories we’d be happy to see unfold.

Who makes Ride or Die?

Ride or Die‘s first season was created by Tessa Coates and was showrun by Matt Miller, who executive produced the show together with director Peyton Reed, Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, Irene Yeung, Brian Clisham, and Stephanie Kluft.

Ride or Die, Season 1, Streaming now, Prime Video

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An older car doesn’t need a completely new sound system just because it was built before Bluetooth, CarPlay and Android Auto became common. If the radio and speakers still sound fine, you may only need a small adapter to enjoy music from your phone. Plus, a portable dashboard display can add navigation and other phone controls without replacing the factory stereo.

The right upgrade depends on what’s missing. If you just want wireless music or podcasts, start with the connection between your phone and the stereo. If you want maps, calls and messages on a screen, a portable CarPlay or Android Auto display is a bigger step. Replacing the head unit (the stereo built into the dashboard) makes more sense when you want those features permanently installed.

Sound quality is a separate issue. If your phone already connects the way you want but the system sounds weak, distorted or short on bass, the better investment is likely speakers, an amplifier or a subwoofer instead. 

Start with the simplest way to get your phone connected

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If your car stereo has a 3.5mm AUX input, usually a small round socket labeled AUX or AUX IN, then a Bluetooth receiver is likely the simplest upgrade. Your phone connects to the receiver over Bluetooth, and the receiver sends the sound through the car’s existing AUX input. You keep the original radio and speakers, and there’s no need to take the dashboard apart.

Cars without AUX can use a Bluetooth FM transmitter. These usually plug into the car’s 12-volt socket (“cigarette lighter”), connect to your phone over Bluetooth and then send the audio over an unused FM frequency. You tune the car radio to the same frequency to hear it. The downside is interference: if you drive near a radio station that uses that part of the dial, you’ll need to choose another frequency. This is a particular concern if you often drive long distances. 

AUX avoids that extra FM step, so an AUX Bluetooth receiver is the simpler option if your car supports one. But if all you want is music streaming, podcasts or other phone audio through an old radio, either option can solve the problem without replacing the sound system.

Add a screen if you want CarPlay or Android Auto

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If you want more than wireless audio, a portable CarPlay display can add a touch screen without replacing the factory radio, and many similar displays also support Android Auto. These are separate screens that mount on the dashboard or windshield, much like a standalone GPS unit. Your phone connects to the display, which can show maps, music, calls and messages. Depending on the model, its audio can then play through the car’s existing speakers using AUX, FM or another supported connection.

One accessory won’t help with an older, non-smart radio: the small USB adapters sold for wireless CarPlay or Android Auto. A wireless Android Auto adapter only works with a car that already supports wired Android Auto. It can’t add the platform to a stereo that never had it. The same limitation applies to wireless CarPlay adapters, as noted in our our CarlinKit 5 review.

A permanent approach is replacing the factory stereo itself. This part of the car is often called the head unit. An aftermarket head unit takes its place in the dashboard and can add features such as a touchscreen, Bluetooth, CarPlay and Android Auto in one built-in system. The catch is that the original stereo may do more than play audio. In some cars, it’s also connected to steering-wheel buttons, backup camera, factory amplifier or vehicle settings. Keeping those features working can require vehicle-specific wiring harnesses or interface adapters, so be sure to check compatibility before buying a replacement. You might need a professional to do the swap properly.

If your car already has the connectivity you want, none of those upgrades will fix mediocre audio. Better speakers can improve clarity, an amplifier can give compatible speakers more clean power and a subwoofer handles deeper bass. There are also ways to improve CarPlay’s audio quality, some of which work for all the above methods.

There’s no single upgrade order that works for every car. Start with the problem you can actually hear or the feature you’re missing, rather than replacing components simply because they’re older.

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The National’s Matt Berninger has released a new EP, Type It Up, which includes covers of New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Velvet Underground’s “Who Loves the Sun,” the latter featuring Rosanne Cash. The follow-up to last year’s Get Sunk also includes Berninger’s recent single “Martini Me Fatso,” as well as a new one, “Ask for Water,” which you can hear below via a video from Chris Sgroi.

“These songs came out of the momentum and energy of the Get Sunk tour,” Berninger shares. “I was changing lyrics and forms night after night, and we were getting real time feedback from audiences and social media comments. On the song ‘Type It Up’ (originally titled ‘Black Letter Font’), people were mishearing the lyric, ‘That would look good in a black letter font’ as ‘I would look good in a black leather thong,’ so I decided to swap the chorus. I’m more of a black linen suit guy.”

Both of the aforementioned covers received standalone releases this year: “Blue Monday” was an Amazon Music Original track and “Who Loves the Sun” debuted on the Australian television show Sunny Nights.

Type It Up:
01 Martini Me Fatso
02 Type It Up
03 Ask for Water
04 Blue Monday
05 Who Loves the Sun
06 Martini Me Fatso (Acoustic Live in Australia) [vinyl only]

Matt Berninger: Type It Up EP

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