Forget the silver linings playbook—it’s time for J.Law to dive into the parenting playbook!
Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney have welcomed their first child together, multiple sources tell E! News.
The Don’t Look Up actress and art dealer became parents earlier this year. On April 12, Lawrence and Maroney were seen taking a walk with their baby but have yet to speak publicly about the arrival.
“Every instinct in my body wants to protect their privacy for the rest of their lives, as much as I can,” she explained. “I don’t want anyone to feel welcome into their existence. And I feel like that just starts with not including them in this part of my work.”
Many entertainment executives, tired of playing catch-up to a Silicon Valley interloper, have been waiting for the comeuppance of Netflix. But this may not have been the way they hoped it would happen.
Netflix said this week that it lost more subscribers than it signed up in the first three months of the year, reversing a decade of steady growth. The company’s shares nose-dived 35 percent on Wednesday while it shed about $50 billion in market capitalization. The pain was shared across the industry as the stock of companies like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount also declined.
Netflix blamed a number of issues, ranging from increased competition to its decision to drop all its subscribers in Russia because of the war in Ukraine. To entertainment executives and analysts, the moment felt decisive in the so-called streaming wars. After years of trying, they may see a chance to gain ground on their giant rival.
But Netflix’s stunning reversal also raised a number of questions that will have to be answered in the coming months as more traditional media companies race toward subscription businesses largely modeled after what Netflix created. Is there such a thing as too many streaming options? How many people are really willing to pay for them? And could this business be less profitable and far less reliable than what the industry has been doing for years?
“They switched from a sound business model to an unsound one,” the veteran entertainment executive Barry Diller said in an interview on Wednesday, referring to many legacy companies that have recently debuted streaming options. “I would guess today they’re saying, ‘Maybe trees don’t grow to the skies.’”
The media industry, worried about declining movie theater ticket sales and broadcast television ratings, has been reshaping itself on the fly to go all-in on streaming and compete with Netflix. Disney has invested billions. Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia completed a merger this month to better compete with streaming behemoths. CNN even introduced a streaming version of itself, which has so far drawn underwhelming interest from subscribers.
But Netflix’s sudden problems show that those investments come with a lot of risk. The streaming market may still be a giant one over the long term, but the next few years could be difficult, said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Partners and a longtime streaming booster.
“No matter what, it looks far less profitable, and that’s a problem for everybody,” he said. Fewer subscribers coupled with increased costs because of fiercer competition to create original content mean less profit for everyone.
Another concern, some analysts say, is the so-called churn rate. Consumers are growing warier of rising prices for streaming services and becoming more likely to cancel a service when a favorite show comes to an end, said Kevin Westcott, vice chairman of the consulting firm Deloitte. According to Deloitte, 25 percent of U.S. customers have canceled a streaming service only to resubscribe to it within a year.
The Race to Rule Streaming TV
“They’re frustrated that they have to have so many subscriptions to get all the content they want,” Mr. Westcott said.
Netflix’s issues increase pressure on Disney, which will report subscriber numbers on May 11. If Disney’s figures fail to live up to expectations, the distress signals surrounding the streaming business will grow louder.
There was also fear among Hollywood talent agents on Wednesday that the Netflix gravy train could slow and that the company’s willingness to pay whatever it took for scripts and talent deals could vanish. The same went for producers. Netflix has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past five years in pursuit of Academy Awards. It has yet to nab a best picture Oscar, but its commitment to prestige filmmaking has been praised.
“The effect on us will be if the new reality forces them to cut back on their $17 billion-a-year programming budget,” said Michael Shamberg, whose four-part documentary on the Three Mile Island nuclear plant crisis will debut on Netflix next month. “As a producer, I always think of them as a first stop for pitching original ideas. If their subscriber growth levels off and it forces them to cut back on programming, will they stop taking risks on innovative TV shows and Oscar films?”
Netflix acknowledged that ferocious competition was partly a reason that growth had stalled. The company used to say its primary competition was not from other streaming services but from diversions like sleep and reading.
Now there is a question about whether Netflix’s original content is strong enough to set it apart, as even deeper-pocketed companies like Apple and Amazon continue to increase their spending on critically acclaimed shows like “Severance,” which is carried on Apple TV+, and the upcoming first season of a “Lord of the Rings” prequel, for which Amazon is said to be spending more than $450 million.
“The reality is with so much alternative content out there, where is the new stuff that is just crushing it? Where are the new franchises?” asked Mr. Greenfield, the analyst. He noted that popular shows like “Ozark,” “Stranger Things” and “The Crown” would soon be ending their runs.
Indeed, interest in Netflix’s vast library has been showing signs of plateauing.
“For every single title on the Netflix catalog, the demand is pretty much flat,” said Alejandro Rojas, the vice president of applied analytics at Parrot Analytics, a research firm. “The catalog for HBO Max and Disney+ is growing double digits. That’s a big difference.”
Netflix’s performance could also cause rivals to reconsider their own international expansion plans, potentially making more targeted efforts overseas. Netflix’s subscriptions declined not just in the United States and Canada but also in Europe and Latin America.
“Netflix has thrown the kitchen sink at this,” the industry analyst Michael Nathanson said. “They were a first mover, they spent a ton on content, and they are making more localized content. They’ve done the right things, and yet they’ve hit a wall.”
Netflix executives, normally self-assured, seemed notably unsteady on Tuesday, when the first-quarter results were released. The co-chief executive Reed Hastings, who once swore there would never be ads on Netflix, said the company would consider introducing a lower-priced, advertising-supported tier in the next year or two. Netflix also said it would crack down on password sharing, a practice that in the past it said it had no problem with.
“We’ve been thinking about that for a couple of years, but when we were growing fast it wasn’t a high priority to work on,” Mr. Hastings said. “And now, we’re working superhard on it.”
Netflix has no advertising sales experience, while rivals like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount have vast advertising infrastructure. And the password crackdown led some analysts to wonder whether Netflix has already reached market saturation in the United States.
Mr. Hastings tried to reassure everyone that Netflix had been through tough times before and that it would solve its problems. He said the company was now “superfocused” on “getting back into our investors’ good graces.”
The United States Treasury Department has added Russia-based crypto mining services provider BitRiver and several subsidiaries as firms facilitating the evasion of sanctions.
In a Wednesday announcement, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, said it was taking action against BitRiver AG as well as 10 of its Russia-based subsidiaries, naming the companies as ‘Specially Designated Nationals’. Firms and individuals listed as such by OFAC have their assets blocked and “U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.”
According to the U.S. Treasury, the actions against BitRiver and its subsidiaries were based on them allegedly facilitating “sanctions evasion for Russian entities,” hinting crypto may have played a role in helping Russia’s government circumvent U.S. economic measures leveled in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The government department said BitRiver operated server farms selling crypto mining capacity internationally, which helped Russia “monetize its natural resources.”
“Russia has a comparative advantage in crypto mining due to energy resources and a cold climate,” said Treasury. “However, mining companies rely on imported computer equipment and fiat payments, which makes them vulnerable to sanctions. The United States is committed to ensuring that no asset, no matter how complex, becomes a mechanism for the Putin regime to offset the impact of sanctions.”
Today, the U.S. is targeting Russian financial and operational support networks that attempt to evade international sanctions.https://t.co/a59UJKRaQJ
“Treasury can and will target those who evade, attempt to evade, or aid the evasion of U.S. sanctions against Russia, as they are helping support Putin’s brutal war of choice,” said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary at the office of terrorism and financial intelligence.
Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s central bank proposed banning crypto mining, but President Vladmir Putin said at the time the industry had an advantage in the country due to the “surplus of electricity and the well-trained personnel.” Alexey Yakovlev, director of the financial policy department at Russia’s Ministry of Finance, has since suggested the government support industrial-level cryptocurrency mining in the country and it “probably does not make sense to ban household mining.”
Several finance ministers and central bankers including Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Ukraine’s finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, abruptly left a Group of 20 meeting in protest on Wednesday when Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, started to speak, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
The walkout was a stark demonstration of Russia’s isolation on the global stage and came as the United States and its allies spend the opening days of spring meetings held by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund grappling with how to contain the fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Top economic officials from around the world have gathered in Washington and virtually to discuss ways to maintain economic pressure on Russia without further upending the global economy.
At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Siluanov and Russian officials were participating virtually. Some finance ministers and central bank governors who were also participating virtually turned off their cameras when Mr. Siluanov spoke, the person familiar with the meeting said.
President Biden has asked for Russia to be removed from the Group of 20. The Treasury Department said this week that Ms. Yellen would make clear this week that it should not be business as usual for Russia in the global economy, and that the Treasury secretary would not be participating in some meetings when Russia is present.
The United States and its allies in Europe and Asia have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, battering its economy but also slowing growth around the world.
The Biden administration has called for Russia to be shunned from international gatherings and excluded from financial institutions, but there is not currently sufficient international backing to expel them from the Group of 20.
Among those who also walked out of the meeting were, Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England and Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance.
Ms. Freeland said on Twitter that, “The world’s democracies will not stand idly by in the face of continued Russian aggression and war crimes.”
Ms. Yellen will meet on Thursday with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine and Mr. Marchenko.
A Treasury Department spokeswoman said that she would underscore America’s resolve to hold Russia accountable for the war and to provide Ukraine the aid that it needs.
A court arbitrator has ordered former President Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign to pay nearly $1.3 million in legal fees to Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former “Apprentice” star, White House aide and author of the first tell-all book about the Trump White House.
The award, handed down on Tuesday, concludes a protracted legal fight after Mr. Trump unsuccessfully sued Ms. Manigault Newman over her book, “Unhinged,” arguing that she had violated a nondisclosure agreement she had signed while working for his campaign in 2016.
Mr. Trump lost the arbitration case in September 2021, one in a string of failed attempts to enforce nondisclosure agreements against former employees.
Since the decision, both sides have continued to dispute the size of the award. Mr. Trump’s lawyers claimed Ms. Manigault Newman made bad-faith arguments and should not receive legal fees. But the arbitrator sided with her, noting the hefty expense of the case.
“Respondent was defending herself in a claim which was extensively litigated for more than three years, against an opponent who undoubtedly commanded far greater resources than did respondent,” the arbitrator noted.
A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Ms. Manigault Newman’s lawyers said they were struck by the amount that Mr. Trump’s campaign was ordered to pay.
The award “hopefully will send a message that weaponized litigation will not be tolerated and empower other lawyers to stand up and fight,” said Ms. Manigault Newman’s lawyer, John Phillips, who provided a copy of the arbitrator’s ruling on the fees.
Ms. Manigault Newman met Mr. Trump in 2004 during the first season of his reality television show, “The Apprentice.” Twelve years later, she helped Mr. Trump court skeptical Black voters during his 2016 campaign for the presidency. When he won, she followed him to the White House, and was ultimately dismissed from her job.
Her book, published in August 2018, depicted a chaotic White House and was the first of several books written by former Trump presidential aides. She also released audio recordings of her conversations related to Mr. Trump. In one recording, Mr. Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, appeared to offer Ms. Manigault Newman a campaign contract in exchange for her staying quiet about her criticisms of the president and his family.
Mr. Trump, who has often used the courts in disputes, sued Ms. Manigault Newman, and the suit played out over three years.
The legality of such nondisclosure agreements, which Mr. Trump has favored for many years as a private businessman, has been a subject of debate before. But their efficacy has come into question in recent months. In March, Mr. Trump’s campaign was ordered to pay more than $300,000 in legal fees to a former campaign aide who said that the candidate had forcibly kissed her. The campaign sued, arguing she had violated the terms of her nondisclosure agreement. The judge in the case called the agreement “vague and unenforceable.”
The planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark, according to a new UN report. Credit: UNDP
by Baher Kamal (madrid)
Inter Press Service
MADRID, Apr 20 (IPS) – The gloomy picture is drawn from indisputable scientific conclusions and should be already known by everybody, in particular by decision-makers, whether they are politicians… or rather not.
Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, have affected millions of people. Even these days, we are still facing COVID-19, a worldwide health pandemic linked to the health of our ecosystem.
Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet.
“Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. Restoring our damaged ecosystems will help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction…”
“Humanity is waging war on nature. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth,” said António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, in his forward to the report.
Major facts
Many staggering facts have been repeated on the occasion of Mother Earth Day. Here are just some of them:
None of the agreed global goals for the protection of life on Earth and for halting the degradation of land and oceans have been fully met.
Three quarters of the land and two thirds of the oceans are now impacted by humans. One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and many of the ecosystem services essential for human well- being are eroding.
It is estimated that around one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
The planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark.
A healthy ecosystem helps to protect humans from these diseases. Biological diversity makes it difficult for pathogens to spread rapidly.
Environmental changes are impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies.
The well-being of today’s youth and future generations depends on an urgent and clear break with current trends of environmental decline.
The coming decade is crucial. Society needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared to 2010 levels and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to achieve the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target, while at the same time conserving and restoring biodiversity and minimising pollution and waste.
Over the last 50 years, the global economy has grown nearly fivefold, due largely to a tripling in extraction of natural resources and energy that has fuelled growth in production and consumption.
The world population has increased by a factor of two, to 7.8 billion people, and though on average prosperity has also doubled, about 1.3 billion people remain poor and some 700 million are hungry.
The increasingly unequal and resource-intensive model of development drives environmental decline through climate change, biodiversity loss and other forms of pollution and resource degradation.
Over-production, over-consumption
Two more scientific worrying findings are the fact that every year, 570 million tons of food is wasted at the household level, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021.
And that meanwhile over 800 million people are still hungry, and global food waste accounts for 8–10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste accelerates the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
There is plenty of information alerting against the ongoing devastating human war on Mother Nature.
Should you need to know more about what exactly is climate change and what does the Paris Agreement say? Also about what actions are being taken and who is carrying them out? What are the latest scientific reports on the subject? Are we in time to save Mother Earth? Discover it here.
BERLIN — Fierce debate over sending heavy weapons to Ukraine has struck a fault line through Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, raising questions about his leadership and dampening expectations of his ability to help steer Europe through the continent’s most dramatic security crisis since World War II.
With Russia opening a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, calls have grown for Berlin to offer more heavy weaponry to the Ukrainian government in Kyiv. Members of Mr. Scholz’s coalition have publicly broken ranks with him to demand that Germany do more.
“Europe expects Germany to play a central role,” said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the head of the parliamentary defense committee and a lawmaker from the liberal Free Democratic Party, a coalition partner with Mr. Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats and the Greens.
Mr. Scholz has largely evaded explaining his stance on heavy weapons, and was losing the opportunity to frame the debate, she said, adding: “If you don’t do the storytelling yourself, others will. And that’s never good.”
Just two months ago, Mr. Scholz was defining the conversation. Following Russia’s invasion, he announced a massive rearmament of Germany and a defense aid package for Ukraine in a dramatic break with decades of pacifist policy. He declared it a “Zeitenwende” — a historical turning point — for Germany. But on Ukraine, his critics argue, Mr. Scholz needs to move more swiftly, saying the financial aid he announced last week could not come as fast as direct deliveries of weapons.
Ukraine has requested German Leopard tanks.Credit…Sean Gallup/Getty Images
For Mr. Scholz, the act of balancing international and domestic politics also includes the expectation of many Europeans that he act as a leader of the continent — a role his predecessor Angela Merkel often filled at moments of crisis. Another perception is important for Mr. Scholz’s government — it is wary of giving Moscow the impression that Berlin is an active belligerent against Russia, at risk of being drawn into a war that would hurt not just Germany but its NATO allies.
Germany has already sent missiles and artillery to Ukraine, but Kyiv also wants heavy artillery, Leopard tanks and armored vehicles like the Mardar, considered among the best in the world. Ukrainian officials have made repeated public demands. With tensions between Berlin and Kyiv rising, Ukraine went as far as disinviting Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, from a visit to its capital, to protest his longstanding business ties to Moscow.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a Green, insisted that sending armored vehicles to Ukraine wasn’t a red line for Germany. It was “not taboo, even if it sometimes sounds that way in the German debate,” she said during a news conference with her Baltic counterparts in Riga, Latvia.
Still, the perceived reluctance to fulfill Ukraine’s demands, particularly at the same time Germany has slowed a European plan to boycott Russian oil, is frustrating Mr. Scholz’s governing partners. They argue that Germany is running out of time to help rein in President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of Germany, during a news conference with her Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian counterparts on Wednesday in Riga, Latvia.Credit…Toms Kalnins/EPA, via Shutterstock
“The longer this war drags on, and the closer Putin gets to a victory, the greater the danger that more countries will be invaded, and that we then end up sliding into an extended, de facto third world war,” Anton Hofreiter, the head of the European relations committee in the Bundestag and a member of the Greens, said on the public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday morning.
Nils Schmid, a foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democrats in Parliament, said Mr. Scholz’s position has been unfairly skewered by his partners.
“There is now a public contest from the opposition but also within the government about who is most supportive of Ukraine,” he said. “What really counts is the action taken by the government.”
He pointed out that Germany had given its approval, which was required for the Czech Republic to send T-72 tanks, made in the former East Germany, to Ukraine. That, he said, showed that the chancellor had “no objection” to heavy weapons.
But the bickering may have ramifications for Mr. Scholz’s leadership. In a poll of German voters released on Tuesday, 65 percent of respondents said they did not see him as a strong leader. The magazine Der Spiegel on Wednesdaywrote, “One has to ask whether the coalition is fundamentally still behind him.”
A Ukrainian soldier driving a captured Russian T-72 tank last month. The Czech Republic has provided similar tanks to the Ukrainian military.Credit…Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters
Uwe Jun, a political scientist at Trier University, dismissed the idea of a coalition under threat. But he did see a risk for the chancellor’s reputation as a leader for the continent.
For Europeans, that need is especially great, Mr. Jun said, because President Emmanuel Macron of France is receding from the regional stage to fend off a ring-wing electoral challenge at home.
“Scholz was expected to fill this vacuum,” Mr. Jun said. “And there is a certain disappointment, I would say, that Scholz hasn’t done that.”
On Tuesday, after discussing Ukraine with other Western leaders, Mr. Scholz stirred up expectations by saying he would give a speech.
But the only new announcement from him, Ms. Strack-Zimmerman of the Free Democratic Party said, was a plan to help Eastern European countries provide their own Soviet-era equipment to Ukraine in larger amounts by promising to replace them with German-made material. Even that, she said, was something that could have been started earlier: “We had been suggesting that for three weeks.”
Mr. Scholz reiterated a plan announced last week to provide 1 billion euros in military aid, allowing Ukraine to buy the weapons it needs directly from the defense industry. Berlin asked German defense contractors to draw up a list of what they could supply quickly, and sent it to Ukraine, Mr. Scholz said. Kyiv would also be allowed to buy from other allied countries, he added.
Mr. Scholz said that Germany, which for decades left its military underequipped, could not afford to give Ukraine more of its own arms and still meet its national and NATO defense obligations.
“We have to recognize the possibilities we have are reaching their limits,” he said.
His stance on sending tanks and other heavy weapons to Ukraine, however, remained vague, and he would not clarify to journalists afterward whether Berlin would allow German defense contractors to sell such arms to Ukraine.
Pressed by a reporter whether he would respond to Ukraine’s demands for Leopard tanks, Mr. Scholz replied: “Looking at the world sometimes helps. In this case, it leads to the realization that those who are in a comparable position to Germany are acting in the same way as we are.”
It was an ill-timed retort, given that hours earlier the Netherlands had announced it would be providing heavy weapons, including armored vehicles, to Ukraine.
“Scholz doesn’t care about public perceptions,” Mr. Schmid said. “He concentrates on action. And he dislikes doing things based on public debate.”
In response to the debate, Mr. Scholz has seemed taciturn, even sarcastic. His frustration was particularly evident after a delegation of Bundestag members visited Ukraine last week — a move his chancellery reportedly discouraged.
The delegation included Ms. Strack-Zimmermann from the F.D.P., Mr. Hofreiter from the Greens, and Michael Roth from the S.P.D. All of them backed demands for heavy weaponry, and called on the chancellor to show stronger leadership.
Replying a few days later, in a television interview, he said: “To the boys and girls, I have to say: The fact I don’t just do what you want, that shows that I’m leading.”
Mouni Roy is regarded as one of the most fashionable and stylish actresses in the entertainment industry. The actress has been part of numerous TV shows including Kasturi, Devon Ke Dev…Mahadev, Junoon – Aisi Nafrat Toh Kaisa Ishq, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7, Naagin, and others. She is presently judging the kids’ dance reality show DID Li’l Masters 5. She enjoys a massive fan following on social media and often creates trends with her fashionable looks. The actress can easily sport both western and traditional looks. The jewellery sported by the actress is also exquisite. Here is a glimpse into some of her looks where her statement earrings made her look stand apart from others.
“They are constantly hitting apartment blocks,” he said.
The central hospital in Avdiivka has been newly renovated, but it had no power on Wednesday and water for drinking is available only from a large blue cistern in the lobby. It is operating with a skeleton crew of 40 people. The medical director and Dr. Orlov, the surgeon, have been living on the premises for more than a month.
“If I go home I may not be able to return,” said Dr. Orlov. “I may come under fire along the way.”
His colleague, Vitaliy Sytnik, the medical director, said there would have been far more injuries had residents not adopted the habit of spending much of their time in basements.
A dank storage space lit by a single candle is where Valentina Mutyeva, 72, has spent much of the last month, along with 10 other people, including her daughter and two grandsons. Though the younger people often travel up to the surface, where much of the cooking is done on a wood-fired stove in the courtyard, Ms. Mutyeva said she spends most of her days below ground.
“You go up just for five minutes and they start to shell,” she said “And at night they shell.”
While she said she laments the comforts of home, what really concerns her is the effect the war has had on the town’s children. She pointed to one of her grandsons, Sasha, a slight blond boy of 15, who she said has been deeply scarred by the fighting that has raged for much of his life.
“He started to walk around at night and talk to himself, because of this war,” she said through tears. “Children of the underground. It’s so brutal.”
In another part of town, a rocket blast that rattled the walls of a basement housing about 30 people somehow didn’t faze a 6-year-old girl named Varvara, who sat drawing at a little table. When she was finished she showed a reporter a picture of a green alien she had drawn, with a vacant black eye that she said was for seeing the future. She happily announced that the alien had told her the reporter would live forever.
“What about the war, when will it end?’’ she was asked.
Pebble Beach is the third course to become an anchor site for the U.S. Open, with the USGA announcing Wednesday four U.S. Opens and four U.S. Women’s Opens over the next 26 years.
Pebble Beach joins Pinehurst No. 2 and Oakmont Country Club as anchor sites, a strategy that allows the USGA to return to its most famous U.S. Open courses more frequently.
The USGA made sure the women were not left behind.
The U.S. Women’s Open will be held on America’s most famous seaside course for the first time next year, and then it will return three more times in 2035, 2040 and 2048.
Pebble Beach, which opened in 1919 and first hosted a USGA event in 1929 with the U.S. Amateur, was the first public course to host the U.S. Open in 1972. That Open was famous for Jack Nicklaus hitting the pin with a 1-iron on the par-3 17th on his way to victory.
Other big moments include Tom Watson chipping in on the 17th to beat Nicklaus in 1982, and Tiger Woods delivering his greatest performance when he won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 shots, the widest margin in major championship history.
It most recently held the U.S. Open in 2019, when Gary Woodland chipped from one end of the 17th green to the other for a remarkable par save on his way to his first major.
John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer, recalled a conversation with three-time major champion Nick Price, who told him it matters where a player wins a U.S. Open.
“There are certain places you go and stand out on them, they’re meant for a U.S. Open or a U.S. Women’s Open. You play Pebble Beach, it is a bit of a religious experience,” Bodenhamer said at a news conference overlooking the 18th hole. “We’re going where players want to win.”
Pebble Beach also hosts a PGA Tour event every February dating to 1947. It once held a PGA Championship (1977) and the precursor to the Tour Championship (1988).
“This relationship with Pebble Beach, long considered a national treasure, is a historic step forward for golf,” said Mike Whan, the CEO of the USGA. “In addition to elevating our Open championships, the USGA and Pebble Beach are committed to working together to ensure a more diverse, welcoming and accessible game.”
Spyglass Hill, regarded as the toughest of the Pebble Beach courses in relatively calm conditions, will host the U.S. Senior Women’s Open and the U.S. Senior Open in consecutive weeks in 2030.
The U.S. Open now has only 10 open slots through 2051, with the next available year in 2028.
Of the current anchor sites, Oakmont has hosted the U.S. Open nine times, the most of any club, and the U.S. Open returns to the Pittsburgh-area course in 2025, 2033, 2042 and 2049.
Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina is the newcomer, first holding the U.S. Open in 1999 and returning in 2005 and 2014. It has the U.S. Open in 2024, 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047. Pinehurst also was chosen as a secondary headquarters for the USGA.
The USGA still could have a fourth anchor site. Among the clubs said to be under consideration are Shinnecock Hills and Winged Foot, both in New York. Shinnecock Hills is hosting its sixth U.S. Open in 2026.
“There so many exciting things to come down the road,” Bodenhamer said. “Every one of these long-term relationships are different. You’ll see more.”
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
