A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin’s most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.
MADISON, Wis. — Early voting kicked off in this battleground state this week with computer delays and long lines.
Voters waited as long as three hours Tuesday to cast ballots in West Bend, a city of about 32,000, city clerk Jilline Dobratz said. State computer issues reared up again Wednesday, and by midafternoon, voters had to wait about 90 minutes to vote in the community 40 miles northwest of Milwaukee, she said. Residents were not used to anything like it.
Sister Stephanie Schmidt had a hunch about what her fellow nuns would discuss over dinner at their Erie, Pennsylvania, monastery on Wednesday night.
The day before, a Republican operative in the battleground state falsely suggested to his nearly 58,000 followers on X that no one lived at the monastery and that mail ballots cast from there would be “illegal votes.” Cliff Maloney, who hired 120 people to go door-to-door across Pennsylvania urging Republican voters to return their mail ballots, wrote on X that one of those workers had “discovered” an Erie address where 53 people were registered to vote but “NO ONE lives there.”
“And there’s very few states that benefit like you do from fracking. I mean, you have 500,000 jobs.”
— Former president Donald Trump, remarks at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Sept. 29
“Kamala has said repeatedly, she wants to ban fracking, which would kill over 500,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone.”
DULUTH, Ga. — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson warmed up the crowd at Donald Trump’s rally here Wednesday night with a dark metaphor, bashing Vice President Kamala Harris and declaring that “dad” was coming home to mete out discipline.
“He’s pissed!” Carlson said to extended cheers. “Dad is pissed. … And when dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.’”
Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected Paramount Skydance’s amended takeover offer, the latest in a series of rejections in David Ellison’s pursuit of the streaming and cable giant.
The media company said it remains committed to the $82.7 billion deal it reached in December to sell its streaming service, studio and HBO cable channel to Netflix.
‘The Board unanimously determined that the Paramount’s latest offer remains inferior to our merger agreement with Netflix across multiple key areas,’ Warner Bros. Discovery Chairman Samuel Di Piazza said in a statement.
‘Paramount’s offer continues to provide insufficient value,’ he continued.
In a letter to shareholders, Di Piazza wrote that Paramount Skydance’s offer carries ‘significant costs, risks and uncertainties as compared to the Netflix merger.’ The way the Paramount deal is structured creates a ‘lack of certainty’ about its finalization, he added.
Di Piazza adds in the letter that if the company were to agree to the Paramount merger and it failed to close, it would result in a ‘potentially considerable value destruction.’
‘What matters most right now is our focus as we start the year,’ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a memo to employees seen by NBC News. ‘Our operating plans remain unchanged, and our priorities for 2026 are clear and intentional.’
Zaslav wrote that the ‘review was conducted with discipline and rigor, and was supported by independent financial and legal advisors.’
On Dec. 22, Paramount Skydance increased its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery with a personal guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison, who was backing the financing for the deal. His son, David Ellison, is the CEO of Paramount Skydance.
However, that was not enough for Warner Bros. Discovery. That beefed-up offer followed Warner Bros. Discovery’s Dec. 17 public rejection of Paramount. It also preceded multiple private rejections before Paramount Skydance went public.
In a statement Thursday, Paramount said it remained committed to the offer that WBD has rejected twice. “WBD continues to raise issues in Paramount’s offer that we have already addressed, including flexibility in interim operations,” Paramount said.
At stake is the future of one of the most storied media empires in the United States.
The bidding by Paramount also comes amid a monumental shift in the media and streaming landscape at large. On Monday, Versant Media, the cable network spinoff from Comcast, began trading as an independent company. Shares have plunged more than 20% over the course of those two days. (Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and NBC News.)
On CNBC, Di Piazza said it would be a mistake to compare Warner Bros. Discovery‘s cable networks to Versant. ‘Discovery Global is different, it has a lot more scale,’ he said.
Streaming companies such as Apple, Netflix and Amazon are also challenging traditional broadcasters such as Paramount-owned CBS for sports rights.
Warner Bros. Discovery controls properties ranging from CNN Worldwide and the Discovery Channel to HBO, as well as the Warner Bros. film studio and archive.
Despite the back and forth between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, Netflix has so far proceeded with the deal it inked Dec. 5, under which the world’s largest streaming company would acquire a stake in WBD.
Warner’s cable networks would be spun out into a separate company as part of that deal. However, Paramount Skydance wants to buy everything Warner Bros. Discovery owns.
Paramount’s controlling shareholders, the Ellisons, have suggested they could obtain regulatory clearance more quickly and easily than Netflix.
In mid-2025, the Ellisons acquired Paramount with approval from the Trump administration. But that approval only came after CBS News agreed to pay $16 million to President Donald Trump’s future presidential library over an interview that “60 Minutes” had conducted with then-presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Netflix, for its part, has met with Trump at the White House over the deal. But Trump has said either bidder poses potential problems, in his view.
Netflix said in a statement that it ‘welcomed the Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors’ continued commitment to the merger agreement’ the two companies reached last year. ‘Netflix and Warner Bros. will bring together highly complementary strengths and a shared passion for storytelling,’ Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said.
Di Piazza said on CNBC that the difference between Paramount’s offer and that of Netflix is that Warner Bros. and Netflix already ‘have a signed merger agreement’ that has ‘a clear path to closing.’ Di Piazza also said the Netflix deal offers ‘protections for our shareholders, if something stops the close, whatever that might be.’
Trump has said he will be personally involved in reviewing whichever merger proceeds.
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Outages on Shopify’s e-commerce platform have been resolved, the company said late Monday, bringing to an end a daylong glitch on the annual ‘Cyber Monday’ shopping day.
Some merchants that use Shopify’s service to sell goods online said they experienced issues with checkouts through the company’s point-of-sale system.
Businesses that run on Shopify also had trouble logging into their administrative portals.
In a statement, Shopify said: ‘We had a system degradation that has now been mitigated.’
Throughout the day, business owners posted angry messages directed at the company on X, where Shopify President Harvey Finkelstein had posted ‘HAPPY CYBER MONDAY! Let’s finish strong!’ earlier in the day, with an emoji of a flexed arm.
One business, Costack Spices, based in London, replied: ‘How??? [We] cannot fulfill orders or log on,’ with three red-faced emojis. In a follow-up, the company posted, ‘This is unbelievable.’
Another user wrote, ‘@ShopifySupport I haven’t been able to access it for the last couple hours.’
Shopify replied to most users on X with the same message: ‘We are aware of an issue with Admins impacting selected stores, and are working to resolve it.’
In 2024, merchants using Shopify services recorded $11.5 billion in sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the company said, with more than 76 million customers buying from businesses powered by the platform.
Shopify provides website design tools, online checkout services and digital advertising products to businesses of all sizes. The company says that millions of merchants use its services.
While Shopify’s share of Cyber Monday sales may be limited, smaller businesses that rely on the company to process their transactions may have missed out on crucial sales at the start of the all-important holiday season.
Total Cyber Monday sales are expected to be more than $53 billion, according to Salesforce.
Shopify stock ended the trading day down 5.9%.
The company that owns the iconic luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue filed for bankruptcy late Tuesday.
The move comes after Saks Global struggled with debt it took on to buy rival Neiman Marcus, lagging department store sales and a rising online market.
It’s one of the largest retail collapses since the Covid pandemic, and casts further doubt over the future of luxury fashion.
The retailer, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman, said early Wednesday its stores would remain open for now after it finalized a $1.75 billion financing package and appointed a new CEO.
The court process is meant to give the luxury retailer room to negotiate a debt restructuring with creditors or sell itself to a new owner to stave off liquidation. Failing that, the company may be forced to shutter.
Former Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck will replace Richard Baker, who was the architect of the acquisition strategy that left Saks Global saddled with debt.
The company also appointed former Neiman Marcus executives Darcy Penick and Lana Todorovich as chief commercial officer and chief of global brand partnerships at Saks Global, respectively.
Saks Fifth Avenue, the retail arm of Saks Global, listed $1 billion to $10 billion in assets and liabilities, according to court documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.
A retailer long loved by the rich and famous, from Gary Cooper to Grace Kelly, Saks fell on hard times after the pandemic, as competition from online outlets rose, and brands started more frequently selling items through their own stores.
The original Saks Fifth Avenue store, known for displaying the likes of Chanel, Cucinelli and Burberry, was opened by retail pioneer Andrew Saks in 1867.
The new financing deal would provide an immediate cash infusion of $1 billion through a loan from an investor group, Saks Global said.
A host of luxury brands were among the unsecured creditors, led by Chanel and Gucci owner Kering at about $136 million and $60 million respectively, the court filing said. The world’s biggest luxury conglomerate, LVMH, was listed as an unsecured creditor at $26 million. In total, Saks Global estimated there were between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors.
In 2024, Baker had masterminded the takeover of Neiman Marcus by Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Co, which had owned Saks since 2013, and later spun off the U.S. luxury assets to create Saks Global, bringing together three names that have defined American high fashion for more than a century.
The deal was designed to create a luxury powerhouse, but it saddled Saks Global with debt at a time when global luxury sales were slowing, complicating an already difficult turnaround for CEO and veteran executive Marc Metrick.
Saks Global struggled last year to pay vendors, who began withholding inventory, disrupting the company’s supply chain and leaving it with insufficient stock.
The thinly stocked shelves may have driven shoppers away to rivals like Bloomingdale’s, which posted strong sales in 2025, compounding pressure on Saks Global.
“Rich people are still buying,” Morningstar analyst David Swartz said last month, “just not so much at Saks.”
Running out of cash, Saks Global last month sold the real estate of the Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills flagship store for an undisclosed amount. It had also been looking to sell a minority stake in exclusive department store Bergdorf Goodman to help cut debt.
On Dec. 30, it failed to make an interest payment of more than $100 million to bondholders.
Trump Media & Technology will merge with a fusion power company in an all-stock deal that the companies said Thursday is valued at more than $6 billion.
Devin Nunes, the Republican congressman who resigned in 2021 to become the CEO of Trump Media, will be co-CEO of the new company with TAE Technologies CEO Michl Binderbauer.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social media platform, have tumbled 70% this year but jumped 20% before the opening bell Thursday.
TAE is a private company and the merger with Trump Media would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.
“We’re taking a big step forward toward a revolutionary technology that will cement America’s global energy dominance for generations,” Nunes said in a prepared statement.
TAE focuses on nuclear fusion, a technology that combines two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one. It releases enormous amount of energy, a process that occurs on the sun and other stars, according to the United Nation’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
TAE and Trump Media shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company.
The companies say the transaction values each TAE common stock at $53.89 per share.
At closing, Trump Media & Technology Group will be the holding company for Truth Social and TAE, along with its subsidiaries TAE Power Solutions and TAE Life Sciences.
ROME — Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani has died, his foundation said Monday.
Usually known only by his first name, Valentino was 93, and had retired in 2008.
Founder of the eponymous brand, Valentino scaled the heights of haute couture, created a business empire and introduced a new color to the fashion world, the ‘Valentino Red.’
‘Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,’ the foundation said on Instagram.
He will lie in state Wednesday and Thursday, while the funeral will take place in Rome on Friday, it added.
Valentino was ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld as the last of the great designers from an era before fashion became a global, highly commercial industry run as much by accountants and marketing executives as the couturiers.
Lagerfeld died in 2019, while Armani died in September.
Valentino was adored by generations of royals, first ladies and movie stars, from Jackie Kennedy Onassis to Julia Roberts and Queen Rania of Jordan, who swore the designer always made them look and feel their best.
“I know what women want,” he once remarked. “They want to be beautiful.”
Never one for edginess or statement dressing, Valentino made precious few fashion faux-pas throughout his nearly half-century-long career, which stretched from his early days in Rome in the 1960s through to his retirement in 2008.
His fail-safe designs made Valentino the king of the red carpet, the go-to man for A-listers’ awards ceremony needs.
His sumptuous gowns have graced countless Academy Awards, notably in 2001, when Roberts wore a vintage black and white column to accept her best actress statue. Cate Blanchett also wore Valentino — a one-shouldered number in butter-yellow silk — when she won the Oscar for best supporting actress in 2004.
Valentino was also behind the long-sleeved lace dress Jacqueline Kennedy wore for her wedding to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Kennedy and Valentino were close friends for decades, and for a spell, the one-time U.S. first lady wore almost exclusively Valentino.
He was also close to Diana, Princess of Wales, who often donned his sumptuous gowns.
Beyond his signature orange-tinged shade of red, other Valentino trademarks included bows, ruffles, lace and embroidery; in short, feminine, flirty embellishments that added to the dresses’ beauty and hence to that of the wearers.
Perpetually tanned and always impeccably dressed, Valentino shared the lifestyle of his jet-set patrons. In addition to his 152-foot yacht and an art collection including works by Picasso and Miro, the couturier owned a 17th-century chateau near Paris with a garden said to boast more than a million roses.