Month: March 2025

Affleck has three children with fellow actress and ex Jennifer Garner, who you may know from 13 Going on 30, and with many other celebrities shocking fans with their down-to-earth treatment of their kids, the 52-year-old might just have joined the list.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has repeatedly said in the past that his wealth isn’t going to his children when he dies, and that his children don’t fly in first class with him – a rarity considering the privilege a lot of other children in that position get.

But Affleck might not be so different.

Despite being a Hollywood star for the best part of 30 years, his Massachusetts upbringing hasn’t been forgotten.

A video of Affleck and his 13-year-old son, Samuel, at a sneaker convention has gone viral on social media as they browse through some limited edition models.

Speaking on the red carpet at film festival SXSW over the weekend, Affleck revealed his brutal reply when his son asked him for a pair of designer Nike trainers that cost $6,000 (£4,600).

In an attempt to teach him the value of money, he reminded the teen that ‘you’re broke’.

Talking to Access Hollywood, the actor recalled the conversation: “He’s like ‘We have the money,’ I’m like, ‘I have the money, you’re broke!’

“That’s what happens when you tell a motherf***er they have to mow a lawn. All of a sudden they don’t want those shoes,” the seasoned actor quipped.]

He explained that ‘there’s always some grift’ when it comes to him buying things for his kids, simply stating that his son did ‘not need thousand dollar shoes.’

The video in question can be seen on the Got Sole Instagram account, where the 13-year-old eyes up some fancy trainers, only for his dad to point out: “That’s a lot of lawns you’ve gotta mow there.

“You just like those because they’re expensive.”

But his son quickly replied: “No they’re tough! I always said they look good.”

The shoes in question were a pair of 2020 limited-edition low-top Dior Air Jordan 1 shows, which was once worth a third of its current price.

It’s worth noting that Affleck understands the value of trainers, being a fan of shoes as well as his son.

While the Dior Jordans are more or less a collector’s item, Samuel revealed to Get Sole that his father’s choice of trainers were the Nike SB De La Soul.

Users took to the comments section of the interview, posted on YouTube, to praise the film star’s response to his son.

One commented: “He worked what he had. Good for him for not spoiling his kid,” as another wrote: “Self-made millionaires know not to spoil their kids.”

And a third pointed out: “Love this!! Got to teach our kids the values of life.”

Well, a group of astronauts did exactly just that.

Now, before you get too ahead of yourselves, we’re not talking about chucking a camera out the hatch of a spaceship here — although one man did send one into the stratosphere attached to a balloon.

No, for this particular experiment, we’re talking about a group of astronauts who created a floating water bubble and then chucked their GoPro in.

Why I hear you ask? Well, for science, and because why not.

This particular experiment, if you can call it that, took place in 2014 on what must of been a slow day onboard the International Space Station (ISS), with crew members from NASA and the European Space Agency deciding to explore ‘the phenomenon of water surface tension in microgravity’.

Which is just a fancy way of telling your boss you spent the afternoon d**king around with a camera.

In the clip, we see NASA’s Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson ‘create’ a ball of water, thanks to the weightlessness of the ISS, before pushing the camera in after some trial and error.

The crew then show shots from both inside and outside of the camera bubble as it floats weightlessly around the room without a care in the world. Mission accomplished!

After filming the camera for a few moments, the astronauts then set about removing the camera from the water, something which is much easier said than done.

Without gravity, water in outer space just floats around in a jelly-like sphere until it hits something. Which would be pretty annoying if it collided with your electrics. Although thankfully, this time, Russian engineer Oleg Artemyev was on hand with a towel to clean up any potential mess.

We can only imagine this is the sort of thing stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are filling their hours with until they’re returned to Earth. The joys of zero gravity.

Unfortunately, hanging out in space isn’t all fun and games, with the impact of spending an extended period of time in without being anchored down by gravity being something that is pretty taxing on the body.

After completing a mission in the cosmos, NASA revealed that astronauts can lose around ‘1% to 1.5% of mineral density per month during spaceflight’, mineral density from weight bearing bones as well as up to 30% of their muscle mass.

The 2000s were plagued by a war on terrorism from the US government, who looked to destroy terrorist group Al-Qaeda and its founder, bin Laden, at all costs.

The terrorist organisation was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, which claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people and injured thousands more.

On 2 May 2011, a raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan resulted in his discovery and death.

The man who claims to be responsible for the killing is former US Navy SEAL Team 6 member Robert J. O’Neill.

Recalling the story of bin Laden’s death on the Shawn Ryan Show, the military expert, who has previously spoken about what he was thinking before pulling the trigger, revealed what happened after he ‘shot him in the face three times’.

O’Neill explained that he then met with the CIA agent responsible for locating the terrorist leader, in what he described as a ‘historic’ moment.

“She gave up her life for this, she doesn’t have a husband, she doesn’t have kids and she’s been working on this 20 hours a day for years,” he said.

O’Neill went on: “But then, as the Arrogant Navy SEAL, I put the pressure on myself, [thinking] I gotta think of something cool to say.”

He revealed: “We’re walking over to the body and I thought this would have been good enough – I looked down and I said, ‘Is that your guy?'”

Quite bada**, but her alleged reply was similar, according to O’Neill, she ‘looked down for a second’ and said: “Ha! I guess I’m out of a f***ing job.”

Host Ryan was in bits, even saying in disbelief: “You gotta be s****ing me!”

After this, O’Neill explained that they had to call the White House and report his death, as well as take photos and carry out some DNA tests.

He then said that they were struggling to work out bin Laden’s height, making their tallest sniper, who was 6’2″ tall, lie down next to the body as a comparison.

O’Neill has spoken about what he experienced in the immediate aftermath of the killing too, saying: “I can hear bin Laden taking his last breath. When I shot him he fell to the foot of the bed.

“I shot him in the face three times. I moved Amal [bin Laden’s wife] and… his two-year-old son is now standing there, and this is the humanity of everything. This kid has got nothing to do with this. I’m a father. I picked him up and I move them to the back of the bed.”

He now sells cannabis to help fellow former soldiers deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Lots of us are always keen to secure the latest Apple product but they’re not quite as in demand in the film industry, for one peculiar reason. And in murder mystery or action films where we see a villain, the reality is that you’ll probably never see them using an iPhone.

While Apple products can be used to catch cheating villains in real life, you can also use them to help you identify the mystery killer on your TV screen, thanks to a so-called ‘no villain clause’ reportedly imposed by the tech giants.

Rumours of the clause first surfaced when American filmmaker Rian Johnson discussed the issue with Vanity Fair in 2020, when talking about his work on the first Knives Out mystery.

He said: “Apple, they let you use iPhones in movies. But – and this is very pivotal – if you’re ever watching a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.”

In an August 2024 interview on the podcast Wrap Drinks, prop master Heidi Koleto added fuel to the fire.

She said: “I got a script once where an actress is supposed to be looking at her phone while she’s driving drunk and crashes her car. They wanted to see a text message pop up and I had to be like ‘We can’t do that. We’ve established this character with an Apple phone. We can’t have her driving drunk and crashing while looking at an iPhone, they’ll never work with me again’.”

Apple are yet to confirm or deny the existence of the ‘no villain clause’ but it is confirmed that the tech company can have a say in how it is represented during the production.

Richard Osman has also discussed the clause on The Rest is Entertainment podcast and it’s something he will no doubt have to be aware of, as Netflix prepares to launch The Thursday Murder Club on its platform later this year.

Personally, I think it would it would be incredible viewing to see a film villain taking a sip from the beer app on their classic iPhone while defeating the protagonist but the chances are that won’t happen anytime soon, unless maybe you’re watching a film entirely produced by Samsung.

So, keep a close eye out the next time you’re watching a modern thriller or murder mystery, as the chances are if you see an iPhone being used, you can rule out that character as one of your suspects.

AI is everywhere. From asking Elon Musk’s Grok or Chat GPT to answer a few questions to working in the background on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to perfect your personal algorithm, we cannot escape it and it is almost certain that the presence of AI in life will only grow as time passes us by. But the relationship between AI and industry is a conflicting one.

On one side, it can be used by business leaders to cut costs. But often that cost is at the expense of people and real-world jobs where members of the workforce are left looking for a new way to earn a living.

The video game industry is no different, with concerns growing among creators and developers behind producing video games about their long term security in a world where AI is becoming more prevalent.

According to 2025 report from the people behind the Game Developers Conference, 52 percent of developers who took part said they worked at companies that were using AI on their games. Of the 3,000 people who took part in the survey, roughly half said they were concerned about the technology’s impact on the industry.

An increasing number of respondents also reported they felt negatively about AI overall.

With GTA 6 set to be released in the autumn of 2025 – an October or early November date is likely – the boss of the game’s parent company Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, sat down with CNBC to discuss the game and the issue of AI in the industry.

Take-Two has owned Rockstar Games since 1998, meaning it has been at the helm of every major release in the GTA universe’s history.

Speaking to Zelnick, the CNBC anchor asks: “How much of this is AI and what can we do just in terms of where AI stands in the industry right now?”

Responding, Zelnick said the company has been using what we refer to as AI ‘since the very beginning.

“Well, we’ve been using digital tools since the very beginning,” he said. “So I would say the interactive entertainment business is an innovator within what people call AI now.

“And I don’t doubt that we’ll continue to innovate.”

But his next words were rather comforting to those who work in the gaming industries on AAA products such as GTA 6, with Zelnick adding: “I think it’s worth noting, though, that the genius is human and the tools may be digital, but the creative genius is human.”

Asked how Take-Two plans to protect the ‘creative genius’ and ‘pay those who are the humans’, Zelnick said: “We believe in protecting and

paying human beings, and we believe that we ought to pay forvtheir work if it’s replicated by AI after the work is done.

“So we believe that that is the right thing to do. We don’t think it’s the right thing to ask someone to perform once, use their work over and over, and not pay for it.

“We don’t think that’s right.”

Brit business owners with a stake in the metals industry are already bracing for the possibility of financial hardship, but it turns out a host of other sectors might soon be dragged into this mess too.

It is feared that the President might slap tariffs on all goods which are brought into the US from countries around the world, which would cause carnage for millions of companies.

And if Trump’s recent moves are anything to go by, it seems he really doesn’t mind gambling with a global trade war.

The tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports came into effect from today (12 March), and a trade expert reckons the situation could easily ‘escalate further’ with more being imposed in the next few weeks.

William Bain, head of trade policy for the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), told LADbible that this is essentially phase one of Trump’s ‘tariff plan’, which he often hyped up during his presidential campaign.

“A big part of his election campaign was how he said that the US economy was being ripped off by the free-trade, low tariffs approach,” the expert explained.

“In his view, you need to make countries pay for the access they are getting into the US market…so he feels that imposing tariffs is the right way to go.”

The Republican leader has promised tariffs will help protect US manufacturing and increase jobs – and trade chiefs like Bain reckon Trump might seriously up the ante from here on out to prove his point.

“Today could be the first step in quite a severe programme of measures that could come in over the coming weeks, if not months,” the former Labour MP said. “Today is the first element.

“But there could be many, many more important sectors of our economy that would suffer a lot more damage [if further tariffs are brought in].”

Bain warned that the President could bring in further tariffs which would ‘apply to all goods exported from the UK and other countries’, as soon as 2 April.

“There’s a lot for businesses to think about right now, particularly small businesses who enjoy trading with the US,” he told LADbible. “It’s our second largest export market after the EU, there’s very strong links between UK and US companies – but they are concerned about what all of this means.”

Bain said that its average Americans who are going to pay the price for Trump’s latest salvo, while it’s not going to have ‘anywhere near the same kind of impact’ on the EU or the UK.

However, the ramifications of the steel and aluminium tariffs which will emerge in the coming days could be the calm before the storm.

“This other plan that the President’s talked about could cover basically all sectors,” the trade chief explained. “So clothing, pharmaceuticals, cars…that would be a lot more damaging for our economy and the economy worldwide.

“So that’s why we hope that the government can talk to the US,” Bain said, although Sir Keir Starmer this morning described the tariffs as ‘disappointing’ and promised to ‘keep all options on the table’.

Bain said the fact the transatlantic countries have a ‘dialogue’ about the topic is a good start, as hopefully it will mean Brit business owners won’t be stuck in this strange limbo of uncertainty for too long.

“I think the key thing that businesses are looking for is hopefully to try and suspend that second lot of tariffs that could come in and then get something that gives businesses some certainty,” Bain continued.

“The last thing that they need is all this chopping and changing. Time is money when it comes to business.”

There is one silver lining though, despite all this doom and gloom – there’s no tariffs between the US and UK on the trade in services.

Bain explained: “Whether it’s legal services, architects, design, auditing, professional services, travel, transport services – that’s the bit of our trade that’s really booming in the US and that has been the case for the last 20 years.

“There’s no tariffs on services, so if you’re a lawyer doing contractual work for customers in New York, you’re not affected by this. So that is the one bright spot.

“Also, the President said a couple of weeks ago that he would like to get an arrangement whereby we permanently keep services trade free of any taxes or duties.

“That’s one thing we can really lean into and work with the President on. But if you’re trading in goods – if you’re in the pharmaceutical sector, if you’re in the automotive sector, food and drink – you will be worried about what’s next.”

It seems Trump’s actions over the next few weeks could make or break a lot of firms.

Relationships can be complicated, especially if you keep your partners on a pyramid-based schedule to ensure all four of them are happy like Ne-Yo supposedly does.

Some blokes even manage to date mums and their adult daughters at the same time, so no matter how messy things get in your relationship, remember that things could always be worse.

You’ve probably read plenty of studies from experts offering advice on when your marriage or relationship might be over, but let’s focus on the positive, shall we?

A new study has identified one telling act as the sign of a healthy relationship, and for those of you concerned, it doesn’t involve anything weird in the bedroom.

In fact, it’s probably something you already do on a regular basis.

Researchers at the University of Reading recently published their findings, which suggest that periods of silence with a significant other could be a sign of emotional intimacy.

The study’s authors explained: “Consider two exchanges between romantic partners: They look into each other’s eyes sharing intimacy and mutual understanding, or, a glance instead expresses judgment and displeasure as now they achieve a shared understanding that one partner has let down the other.

“In both instances, nothing is said yet much is communicated.”

Participants in the study were asked to think about recent instances in their relationship or a previous poor experience with a partner, and explain what caused the silence and how they felt after it occurred.

In her final summary, study author Professor Netta Weinstein said: “Findings across studies showed that intrinsically motivated silence was felt with more positive affect and less negative affect, and that relationships were closer and more need satisfying during intrinsically motivated moments of silence.

“Introjected and externally motivated silences, on the other hand, were often linked to more negative affect and lower relational outcomes.”

Ronan Keating was clearly ahead of the time in his 1999 banger ‘When You Say Nothing At All’, when he sang ‘It’s amazing how you can speak right to my heart. Without saying a word.’

So, if your partner is giving you the ‘externally motivated’ silent treatment, maybe don’t take that as a positive sign that everything is alright. But if you and your partner enjoy sitting in silence together while doing your own thing then good news, chances are you’re in a healthy relationship.

The US lifted its suspension of military aid for Kyiv yesterday (11 March) as Russia is considering the new proposal.

But it seems Trump could be threatening Putin with great consequences if he doesn’t agree to it.

Ukrainian officials have signalled they are open to a 30-day ceasefire backed by Washington as the US president says he wants to end the war.

While discussing the administration’s efforts to bring an end to the three years of fighting, he again said it could lead to World War III.

Trump said he hoped ‘it is not going to be necessary’ that he has to take measures to pressure Russia into the ceasefire, while criticising previous presidents for their record of dealing with Moscow.

“They never took anything from me. They took them from Obama and Bush, and they took from sleepy Joe Biden. With Biden, they wanted to take the whole country, but I think I’ve stopped that, but we’ll see,” the president said of his own previous dealings.

However, as reporters asked how he could secure a deal with Russia, Trump said that if needed ‘there are things you can do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense’.

“We could do things very bad for Russia. Would be devastating for Russia. But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace,” he added.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it is important not to ‘get ahead’ of the question of responding to the new ceasefire proposal. He told reporters that Moscow is awaiting ‘detailed information’ from the US and suggested that Russia must receive that first before it can take a position.

Now lifted, the US’ suspension of military aid came after a heated exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the White House. The American warned Zelenskyy he was ‘gambling with World War III’ as the world watched on as tensions grew.

This decision to then resume US assistance after talks on Tuesday with senior Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia marked a sharp shift in its stance.

And Trump said ‘it’s up to Russia now’ as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire.

“And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” he said today in the extended exchange with reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach of Ireland.

“And if we do, I think that would be 80 percent of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath ended.”

On Monday (10 March) morning, Solong, a Portuguese flagged cargo ship, smashed into the Stena Immaculate off the coast of the UK.

It has since been revealed by the Solong’s owner, Ernst Russ, that the captain is a Russian national and he was arrested in connection with the crash yesterday.

The collision in the North Sea, near to Hull, East Yorkshire, saw both ships burst into flames just before 10am with one of them now extinguished.

HM Coastguard said 36 people had been rescued and taken safely to shore, while the Russian national captain of Solong is under suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter following reports of a missing crew member.

A search for the missing crew member of the Solong was called off on Monday evening and they are presumed dead.

The recently released clip of the moment the cargo ship crashed into the oil tanker comes from another vessel, which was anchored nearby. The black-and-white footage sees the Solong seeming go directly into the Stena Immaculate.

The US tanker was carrying 220,000 barrels of aviation fuel in 18 containers to be used by its military and was stationary and at anchor when it was struck.

Initially, it was feared the Solong was carrying sodium cyanide, but Russ said this was misreported and that four containers had previously been carrying the chemical.

As Humberside Police confirmed this morning the captain ‘remains in our custody’, American-based maritime news website gCaptain reported it was told by a US official in the White House that foul play had not been ruled out.

However, UK transport minister Mike Kane told MPs yesterday that something went ‘terribly wrong’ for the crash to happen, but that there was ‘no evidence’ of foul play.

Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew told the PA news agency: “Where military assets are damaged it is vital that motives are fully investigated to exclude foul play.

“The nationality of the captain of the Solong raises further questions about potential motivation that the Government must now get to the bottom of.”

Port state control (PSC) inspection documents show the Solong failed steering-related safety checks in July 2024, and Irish officials deemed that its ’emergency steering position communications/compass reading’ was ‘not readable’. The inspection in Dublin highlighted 10 deficiencies.

Other issues raised included ‘inadequate’ alarms, ‘not properly maintained’ survival craft and fire doors ‘not as required’.

And another PSC inspection by Scottish authorities in October found two deficiencies with Solong, including lifebuoys ‘not properly marked’.

The ship was not detained after the inspections in Dublin or Grangemouth and an Ernst Russ spokesman said all of the deficiencies found in 2024 were ‘promptly rectified’.