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Netflix will continue to distribute Warner Bros. films in cinemas if its takeover bid for the storied studio is successful, the streaming service’s chief executive Ted Sarandos said in an interview Tuesday in Paris.”We’re going to continue to operate Warner Bros. studios independently and release the movies traditionally in cinema,” he said during an event in the French capital, while admitting his past comments on theatrical distribution “now confuse people”.Previously, Sarandos had suggested that the cinema experience was outdated, surpassed by the convenience of streaming. The Netflix boss was being interviewed by Maxime Saada, head of France’s Canal+ media group, in a Paris theatre that was presenting Canal+’s projects for 2026.Netflix only began to produce its own programmes a dozen years ago, Sarandos explained, so “our library only extends back a decade, where Warner Bros. extends back 100 years. So they know a lot about things that we haven’t ever done, like theatrical distribution.”In early December, Netflix announced that it had reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to acquire most of the group for $83 billion. However, doubts remain about whether the deal will be approved by regulators, and in the meantime television and film group Paramount Skydance has made a counter-offer valued at $108.4 billion.If Netflix’s bid is successful, it would acquire HBO Max, one of the world’s largest media platforms, and it would find itself at the head of a movie catalogue including the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings sagas, as well as the superheroes of DC Studios.

Stock markets mostly fell Tuesday as the US jobless rate hit its highest level since 2021, while oil prices slumped on renewed hopes for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.The US Labor Department reported that unemployment climbed to 4.6 percent in November, its highest level in four years.The report, delayed by a lengthy government shutdown, also indicated that the US economy lost 105,000 jobs in October.Hiring picked up again in November to 64,000, but this was still a slower pace than before.”Today’s US data releases were overall weaker than expected, although not as bad as some had feared either,” said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.He noted that market expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in March increased to 60 percent after the jobs report, up from around 50 percent.While poor data boosting the chance of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve can often prop up stocks, Wall Street’s main indices pushed lower on signs of a weaker economy.Separate data showed US retail sales held stable in October, while analysts had been looking for a small gain, and September’s rise was revised down to 0.1 percent.But eToro analyst Bret Kenwell pointed out that part of the report that is used for calculating gross domestic product hit its highest level since the summer.”Today’s update underscores two themes that have been in place: A resilient consumer and a cooling labor market,” he said.Meanwhile, the Brent international oil benchmark dropped below $60 per barrel for the first time since May, while the main US crude contract, the WTI, briefly fell below $55 per barrel for the first time since 2021.A deal to end the war in Ukraine could ease sanctions on Russian oil, adding to oversupply concerns already weighing on the market.US President Donald Trump said Monday that a deal to end the war was closer than ever, after Washington said it offered Kyiv NATO-like security guarantees and voiced confidence Moscow would accept.Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, also pointed out that prices on Middle Eastern oil for immediate trade are lower than those for futures contracts. “When this happens, expectations are that future prices will fall back towards spot price levels, which can aggravate price declines,” she said.European defense stocks slid Tuesday following the update on the talks, analysts said. “A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine looks to be back on the agenda but there have already been multiple false dawns this year,” noted Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.Weak UK jobs data strengthened expectations that the Bank of England will trim borrowing costs on Thursday. The European Central Bank is set to hold interest rates steady this week.The yen held gains against the dollar ahead of an expected rate hike by the Bank of Japan on Friday.Among individual companies, Pfizer fell 3.4 percent after it projected a dip in full-year adjusted profits per share on roughly flat revenues. The big drugmaker is ramping up investments in new products to offset declines in Covid-19 revenues.- Key figures at around 2115 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,114.26 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,800.26 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite:  UP 0.2 percent at 23.111.46 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 9,684.79 (close) Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,106.16 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.6 percent at 24,076.87 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 49,383.29 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 25,235.41 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.1 percent at 3,824.81 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1747 from $1.1753 on MondayDollar/yen: DOWN at 154.80 yen from 155.23Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3422 from $1.3376Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.52 pence from 87.86Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.7 percent at $58.92 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.7 percent at $55.27 per barrelburs-jmb/des

The second of two doctors who supplied “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the months before he fatally overdosed was sentenced to home confinement by a California court on Tuesday.Mark Chavez, 55, had admitted one count of conspiracy to supply the drug, which the actor was buying for up to $2,000 a vial in the weeks before his 2023 death in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.Chavez, who ran a ketamine infusion clinic near San Diego, was ordered to be confined at home for eight months. He must also perform 300 hours of community service.The disgraced medic wrote a fraudulent prescription to obtain ketamine — an anesthetic that is also used in depression therapy, but can be misused as a party drug — that he then supplied to fellow doctor Salvador Plasencia.Plasencia, who mused in text messages to Chavez “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” was jailed this month for two-and-a-half years.Both men have surrendered their medical licenses.Three other people who have also admitted their part in supplying drugs to the actor will be sentenced over the coming months.They include Jasveen Sangha, the alleged “Ketamine Queen” who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, who could be jailed for up to 65 years.Perry’s live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.- Addiction struggles -The actor’s lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of “Friends” fans.A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine in his system.Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.First airing between 1994 and 2004, the comedy “Friends” followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers.It drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.Perry’s role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.In his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry described going through detox dozens of times.”I have mostly been sober since 2001,” he wrote, “save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps.”

Pfizer signaled Tuesday it expects a challenging 2026 as it invests in new products to offset declines in Covid-19 revenues while limiting shareholder payouts.Shares of the big drugmaker fell sharply after it projected a dip in full-year adjusted profits per share on roughly flat revenues.Pfizer expects 2026 revenues of between $59.5 billion and $62.5 billion, compared with $62 billion in 2025.The pharma giant last month completed an acquisition of biotech firm Metsera, deepening its portfolio of products in the fast-growing market for weight loss drugs. Pfizer has also identified oncology as a major growth area, while Chief Executive Albert Bourla insisted the company would continue to invest in vaccines in the face of recent controversial policies under the vaccine-skeptic Trump administration.The drugmaker expects a drop of $1.5 billion in 2026 revenues tied to lower Covid-19 sales and the decline of another $1.5 billion from products experiencing a loss of exclusivity.Pfizer has maintained a dividend but not undertaken share repurchases in 2025. Executives said they would continue to steer cash into development programs rather than stock repurchases.”Obviously I would love to do share repurchases,” Chief Financial Officer David Denton said on a conference call. “The reality is at this point in time, I think the best and highest use of capital is continued investment in business development.”Briefing.com said the results underscored Pfizer’s “painful transition” out of the Covid-19 era. The tepid outlook “indicates that earnings will likely remain stagnant or decline slightly as the company digests the Metsera deal and ramps up R&D,” Briefing.com said in its note. On vaccines, Bourla characterized recent policy shifts under US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy as misguided.”Vaccines are an essential part of any health care system,”  Bourla said. “We will continue investing in vaccines because … this is an anomaly that will correct itself. I hope pretty soon.”Under Kennedy, an appointee of Donald Trump, the Centers for Disease Control recently revised its website with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause autism.Bourla has also touted a deal announced in September with the Trump administration in which the company promised to lower some drug prices in exchange for a three-year reprieve on planned tariffs.Shares of Pfizer fell 3.8 percent in afternoon trading.

Donald Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles said the US president had an “alcoholic’s personality” in an astonishing interview published Tuesday by Vanity Fair, which Wiles swiftly dismissed as a “hit piece.”Wiles also called Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist,” tech tycoon Elon Musk an “odd duck,” and gave juicy opinions on other Trump administration figures in the lengthy piece.Trump has previously described Wiles, the first female White House chief of staff, as the “ice maiden” and credited her for her role in driving forward his second presidency behind the scenes.But the 68-year-old now finds herself firmly in the headlines after the Vanity Fair story, which the magazine said was based on a series of interviews with veteran political journalist Chris Whipple over the past year.”The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest president, White House staff, and cabinet in history,” Wiles said in her first X post in more than a year.”Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story,” she wrote, accusing the magazine of trying to “paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the president and our team.”Vanity Fair quoted Wiles — whose own father, the NFL announcer Pat Summerall was an alcoholic — as saying that Trump, while a non-drinker, has “an alcoholic’s personality,” and “operates (with) a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”Trump, 79, is teetotal. His own brother Fred was an alcoholic and died of a heart attack aged 42.In the wide-ranging series of interviews, Wiles said she was “not an enabler” to Trump, who has unleashed an unprecedented display of presidential power since his return to power on January, adding “I’m also not a bitch.”But she was forthright about Space X and Tesla boss Elon Musk’s role as head of the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency in the first months of Trump’s term.Describing billionaire Musk as an “odd, odd duck” and an “avowed” ketamine user, she criticized DOGE’s shutdown of the USAID international aid department. “No rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody,” Vanity Fair quoted her as saying.- ‘Conspiracy theorist’ -She hailed what she called a “core team” of Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller but said Vance had been a “a conspiracy theorist for a decade,” when talking about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.Wiles also called Vance’s change from an avowed opponent of Trump, whom he once compared to Hitler, to loyal follower as “sort of political.”Trump’s chief of staff had barbed comments for Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying Bondi “completely whiffed” the promised release to right-wing influencers of documents about Epstein.She called Russ Vought, the hardline chief of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a “right-wing absolute zealot,” Vanity Fair said.The magazine said Wiles gave revealing insights into Trump’s policies on key domestic and foreign policy issues too.She said she had a “loose agreement” with Trump to end the “score settling” against his political enemies after 90 days, even as he has continued to target his foes with calls for prosecution.On Ukraine, Wiles said that Trump believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants the whole country”, despite Washington’s push for a peace deal.Top Trump cabinet members lined up to defend Wiles and lash out at the Vanity Fair piece.Vance called her the “best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for.””We have our disagreements, we agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States,” Vance said in a speech in Pennsylvania.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that there was “absolutely nobody better!”

The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a US science agency announced Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impacts from melting glaciers and sea ice to greening landscapes and disruptions to global weather.Between October 2024 and September 2025, temperatures were 1.60 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 mean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual Arctic Report Card, which draws on data going back to 1900.Co-author Tom Ballinger of the University of Alaska told AFP it was “certainly alarming” to see such rapid warming over so short a timespan, calling the trend “seemingly unprecedented in recent times and maybe back thousands of years.”The year included the Arctic’s warmest autumn, second-warmest winter, and third-warmest summer since 1900, the report said.Driven by human-caused burning of fossil fuels, the Arctic is warming significantly far faster than the global average, with a number of reinforcing feedback loops — a phenomenon known as “Arctic Amplification.”For example, rising temperatures increase water vapor in the atmosphere, which acts like a blanket absorbing heat and preventing it from escaping into space.At the same time, the loss of bright, reflective sea ice exposes darker ocean waters that absorb more heat from the Sun.- Sea-ice retreat -Springtime — when Arctic sea ice reaches its annual maximum — saw the smallest peak in the 47-year satellite record in March 2025.That’s an “immediate issue for polar bears and for seals and for walrus, that they use the ice as a platform for transportation, for hunting, for birthing pups,” co-author Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center told AFP.Modeling suggests the Arctic could see its first summer with virtually no sea ice by 2040 or even sooner.The loss of Arctic sea ice also disrupts ocean circulation by injecting freshwater into the North Atlantic through melting ice and increased rainfall.This makes surface waters less dense and salty, hindering their ability to sink and drive the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — including the Gulf Stream — which help keep Europe’s winters milder.Ongoing melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet also adds freshwater to the North Atlantic Ocean, boosting plankton productivity but also creating mismatches between when food is available and when the species that depend on it are able to feed.Greenland’s land-based ice loss is also a major contributor to global sea-level rise, exacerbating coastal erosion and storm-driven flooding.- More Arctic blasts -And as the Arctic warms faster than the rest of the planet, it weakens the temperature contrast that helps keep cold air bottled up near the pole, allowing outbreaks of frigid weather to spill more frequently into lower latitudes, according to some research.The Arctic’s hydrological cycle is also intensifying. The October 2024 – September 2025 period — also known as the 2024/25 “water year” — saw record-high spring precipitation and ranked among the five wettest years for other seasons in records going back to 1950.Warmer, wetter conditions are driving the “borealization,” or greening, of large swaths of Arctic tundra. In 2025, circumpolar mean maximum tundra greenness was the third highest in the 26-year modern satellite record, with the five highest values all occurring in the past six years.Permafrost thaw, meanwhile, is triggering biogeochemical changes, such as the “rusting rivers” phenomenon caused by iron released from thawing soils.This year’s report card used satellite observations to identify more than 200 discolored streams and rivers that appeared visibly orange, degrading water quality through increased acidity and metal concentrations and contributing to the loss of aquatic biodiversity.

With a stroke of his favorite black pen, Donald Trump has signed what should become his 221st executive order since January — a figure that exceeds the number in his entire first term, as he forges ahead with one of the biggest displays of US presidential power in modern history.To promote artificial intelligence, fight “woke” culture and even increase the water flow of showers, Trump has churned out executive orders at a rate unprecedented since World War II, according to an AFP analysis.The latest, signed Monday, classifies fentanyl as “a weapon of mass destruction”.Previously, 220 texts — which are legally binding and do not need Congressional approval — have been published in the Federal Register, according to its update on Tuesday. The total is more than he had signed during his first stint at the White House between 2017 and 2021 — and far more than his predecessors Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who only signed an average of 30 to 40 per year.Only Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt — who over four terms signed nearly 4,000 executive orders between 1933 and 1945 — produced at Trump’s rate, although that occurred in the context of the Great Depression and World War II.Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, has relied on executive orders despite having a congressional majority.”These orders are a part of a communications strategy,” John Woolley, professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP.”It’s a way of signalling to important constituent groups that he is advancing ‘the cause’,” said Woolley who is also co-director of the American Presidency Project website, the main independent source of archives and analysis on the US presidency.- Domestic, social agenda -An AFP analysis of official government data shows that the majority — nearly 60 percent — deal with domestic issues, while fewer than 10 percent concern pure foreign policy. The rest cover miscellaneous matters.Social issues dominate, ranging from culture and civil rights to education and health. These account for roughly 30 percent of all orders, surpassing trade, economy and investment (around 20 percent) and government reform (around 18 percent).Immigration and security — his main campaign theme in 2024 — rank fourth at around 10 percent.The orders classified within the social issues category include some that explicitly reference an “ideology” or value judgments.For example, a July 23 order calls for AI systems to ban models that give attention to diversity and inclusion concerns, reflecting the Trump administration’s anti-“woke” agenda.Another order from August 28 decrees that “classical and traditional architecture” is the preferred style for federal buildings.- But are they efficient? -Questions have been raised over whether governing by executive orders is efficient, given the number of texts disputed in court.According to the independent legal website Just Security, which is linked to New York University School of Law, just over one fifth of Trump’s orders have been challenged in court.More than 20 of them have already been blocked at least provisionally or partially by the courts.In late August a federal appeals court ruled a large part of the texts on the new customs duties illegal.The Supreme Court, whose conservative majority was bolstered by Trump during his first term and has been called to rule on the matter, appeared sceptical of the legality behind a swath of Trump’s tariffs in a November 5 hearing.But Trump is not “afraid of being attacked about the substance of the orders,” Woolley said.”He is deliberately testing the limits of the law”. “His bet is that on most of the big issues, the Supreme Court will agree with a lot of his view of executive power.”- Settling of scores -An AFP analysis of the language and vocabulary used in Trump’s executive orders shows a characteristically direct style.He uses, for example, the verb “impose” five times more than his three predecessors.His language also appears more patriotic: he speaks of the “nation” two to three times more often than Biden, Obama and Bush and the “American people” two times more.In another difference, he attacks the previous administration frequently, accusing it, for example, of having let in millions of illegal immigrants. More than 15 percent of the orders can be listed as “settling of scores”.”No prior president issued orders explicitly attacking his critics and prior opponents,” said Woolley.In November Trump said that all executive orders and documents signed by autopen, which replicates signatures, under Biden were “terminated” on the basis of allegations that Biden has rejected.

The US jobless rate picked up again in November, hovering at its highest level in four years, official data showed Tuesday in a report underscoring a labor market cooldown in the world’s biggest economy.The report, delayed by a lengthy government shutdown, also indicated that the US economy lost 105,000 jobs in October.Hiring picked up again in November with a gain of 64,000 jobs, but this was still a slower pace than before, according to the Labor Department figures.”Employment rose in health care and construction in November, while (the) federal government continued to lose jobs,” the department said.There was a sharp decline of 162,000 government jobs in October, “as some federal employees who accepted a deferred resignation offer came off federal payrolls,” the report added.In November, unemployment climbed to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent in September. It is the highest rate since September 2021.There was no October jobless rate as officials were unable to retroactively collect data after the shutdown, which lasted until November 12.The figures will be closely scrutinized for their potential bearing on US interest rates.The Federal Reserve has cut rates three times in a row this year as employment weakened, but hinted that the bar is likely higher for further cuts.A rapidly deteriorating jobs market could nudge the central bank to lower rates more to boost the economy, despite some policymakers’ worries that higher inflation could become persistent.While President Donald Trump’s tariffs have not sparked a broad inflation surge, firms say they have caused business costs to grow and fueled uncertainty.Trump’s chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters Tuesday that government workers who took buyouts “are staying in the labor force and looking for work.”He said he expects “that they’ll be very successful with it.”- Americans ‘squeezed’ -Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, slammed Trump’s “chaotic tariffs” and economic policies, saying they were “hammering the labor market.””With wages struggling to keep up with higher costs, it’s no wonder Americans are more anxious about the economy than ever,” she said.In November, average hourly earnings climbed 0.1 percent to $36.86, while wages rose 3.5 percent on an annual basis. But both numbers represent a slowdown from the prior month.In another sign that the economy appears to be cooling, a separate report released Tuesday by the Commerce Department said that retail sales were flat in October at $732.6 billion.This came on the back of sales declines at motor vehicle and parts dealers, and gasoline stations. Consumers also pulled back at restaurants and bars.”Americans are feeling squeezed,” said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, adding that consumers were shifting to spending more on necessities.- Long-term unemployment -On employment, Long said: “The US economy is in a jobs recession. The nation has added a mere 100,000 in the past six months.”She said businesses were adjusting to tariffs, uncertain conditions and AI, and that most of the new jobs were in health care which is regularly hiring as the American population ages.Economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics said much of the overall drag came from a slump in federal payrolls. The government shutdown likely also exacerbated unemployment figures.But a growing proportion of people are jobless for longer periods.The number of individuals unemployed for 27 weeks or more has risen by 15.5 percent over the past year, said Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter.For now, economists say the jobs market is likely not weakening enough to trigger a January rate cut.”While net hiring remains soft and narrowly based, it is not softening further and in fact is moderately firmer than the weak readings in the summer,” said Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic.She expected the Fed can continue holding rates steady for a few months.

The son of famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner is expected to appear in court on Tuesday after being arrested for allegedly murdering his parents in their home.Nick Reiner, 32, who has a history of substance abuse stretching back to his teenage years, is to be formally charged with murder at an arraignment at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse.The younger Reiner was arrested after the bodies of his 78-year-old father and mother, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were discovered at their house in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday.They were reportedly stabbed to death in a brutal double killing that has shocked movie fans around the world.According to US media reports, Nick Reiner had argued with his parents at a glitzy Hollywood party on Saturday evening.Entertainment outlet TMZ said the bodies were found on Sunday afternoon by the couple’s daughter, who told police another family member had killed them.Reiner, the son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, started his showbiz career in acting.He won fame as the oafish son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic on groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” before transitioning to directing. Even while leading behind the camera, he often appeared in cameo roles in his own films.But it was as a director that he struck Hollywood gold.His output included classic films like 1984’s rock music mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” fantasy gem “The Princess Bride” from 1987, and the 1992 courtroom drama “A Few Good Men,” as well as seminal coming-of-age movie “Stand By Me.””A Few Good Men,” starring Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.Reiner also directed “When Harry Met Sally,” which included the legendary restaurant scene in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in front of Billy Crystal.- ‘Heartbroken’ -Entertainers and politicians paid tribute to the beloved filmmaker following his death.Actor-director Ben Stiller described Rob Reiner as “a kind caring person who was really really funny,” and someone who “made some of the most formative movies for my generation.”Former Democratic president Barack Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, were “heartbroken.””Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people,” Obama said on X.California Governor Gavin Newsom said Reiner had “made California a better place.”Donald Trump, meanwhile, unleashed an extraordinary broadside, suggesting that Reiner brought on his own murder by criticizing the US president.Trump claimed the Reiners had died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.””He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession,” the Republican leader wrote.The comments were blasted by two prominent right-wing Republicans, including Representative Thomas Massie, who called them “inappropriate and disrespectful.”Reiner was politically active, an outspoken supporter of progressive causes, and had warned that Trump was mounting an authoritarian takeover.

The BBC said Tuesday it would fight a $10-billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster over a documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot.”As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement sent to AFP, adding the company would not be making “further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the British broadcaster, for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.The video that triggered the lawsuit spliced together two separate sections of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021 in a way that made it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.The lawsuit comes as the UK government on Tuesday launched the politically sensitive review of the BBC’s Royal Charter, which outlines the corporation’s funding and governance and needs to be renewed in 2027.As part of the review, it launched a public consultation on issues including the role of “accuracy” in the BBC’s mission and contentious reforms to the corporation’s funding model, which currently relies on a mandatory fee for anyone in the country who watches television.Minister Stephen Kinnock stressed after the lawsuit was filed that the UK government “is a massive supporter of the BBC”.The BBC has “been very clear that there is no case to answer in terms of Mr Trump’s accusation on the broader point of libel or defamation. I think it’s right the BBC stands firm on that point,” Kinnock told Sky News on Tuesday.Trump, 79, had said the lawsuit was imminent, claiming the BBC had “put words in my mouth”, even positing that “they used AI or something.”The documentary at issue aired last year before the 2024 election, on the BBC’s “Panorama” flagship current affairs program.- Apology letter -“The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement to AFP.”The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda,” the statement added.The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose audience extends well beyond the United Kingdom, faced a period of turmoil last month after a media report brought renewed attention to the edited clip.The scandal led the BBC director general, Tim Davie, and the organisation’s top news executive, Deborah Turness, to resign.Trump’s lawsuit says the edited speech in the documentary was “fabricated and aired by the Defendants one week before the 2024 Presidential Election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”The BBC has denied Trump’s claims of legal defamation, though BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology.Shah also told a UK parliamentary committee last month the broadcaster should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo, which was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.The BBC lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions Trump has taken against media companies in recent years, several of which have led to multi-million-dollar settlements.