The road to 32 NBA teams is officially on.

The association’s Board of Governors approved a vote on Wednesday to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle, ESPN reported.

ESPN noted that the association is eyeing the 2028-29 season for the teams to begin playing, and it’s a matter of “when, not if.”

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A general overall view of the opening tipoff between San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet and New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns during the Emirates NBA Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

A team in Seattle would mark a return to a city that had an NBA champion in the SuperSonics in 1979. They moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008, less than a year after drafting Kevin Durant with the second overall pick.

Seattle and Las Vegas are now set to be Big Four cities for the first time — after decades of the Mariners and Seahawks, the NHL expanded to Seattle in 2021 to bring in the Kraken, 13 years after the Sonics left. 

As for Las Vegas, after decades of not having any professional sports due to concerns about legalized gambling, it will soon have a professional team in each of the four major sports leagues. The NHL expanded in the city in 2017, bringing in the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Oakland Raiders moved to southern Nevada three years later. The Athletics of Major League Baseball will be there in 2028 — they are currently playing in a minor-league stadium in Sacramento as their Vegas stadium is under construction and their lease in Oakland ran out.

Bids are expected to be at least $7 billion and could rise to even $10 billion.

Seattle SuperSonics and Kevin Durant fans in stands with signs during game vs. Phoenix Suns at Key Arena.  (John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

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LeBron James made news last week when he took himself out of the Las Vegas bidding process after once setting a goal to own a team there.

“It’s a sports town. Hopefully I can bring my franchise here someday,” James said during the NBA Cup, in which the semifinals and finals are played in Las Vegas, in 2023.

But when asked last week if he’s still interested in owning a team, James said bluntly, “No, I’m not. Not at all.”

James has been a business partner with Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool of the Premier League, since 2011. 

However, before James’ comments, The Athletic reported that because bids could reach as high as $8 billion for the Vegas team, the group is not interested in participating in the bidding.

The WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces also moved from San Antonio in 2018 and have won three titles since then.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during press conference at the Emirates NBA Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 16, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

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The NBA has not expanded since 2004, when the association returned to Charlotte for the Bobcats after the original Hornets moved to New Orleans. That team is now the Pelicans, while the Bobcats reacquired the original Hornets moniker in 2014.

Las Vegas hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.

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Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, has been ordered to pay $375m (£280m) in damages after it was found to have knowingly harmed children’s mental health.

In what was described by campaigners as a “watershed moment”, a court in New Mexico, USA, has found the company had concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms.

The verdict marks the first time a jury has ruled on such claims against Meta, as the tech giant faces a wave of lawsuits over how its platforms affect young people’s mental health.

The New Mexico case relied on an undercover investigation where agents created social media accounts posing as children to document sexual solicitations and Meta’s response.

Prosecutors claimed Meta proritised profits over safety and violated parts of the state’s Unfair Practices Act.

The jury at the seven-week trial in Santa Fe agreed with allegations that Meta made false or misleading statements and also agreed that Meta engaged in “unconscionable” trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children.

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A Meta spokesperson said the company disagrees with the verdict and will appeal.

“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content,” they said.

“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”

The company’s lawyers said it disclosed risks and made efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, but acknowledged that some bad material got through.

More than 40 state attorney generals in the US have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming the company is contributing to a mental health crisis among young people by deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook features that are addictive.

“Meta’s house of cards is beginning to fall,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of watchdog group The Tech Oversight Project.

“For years, it’s been glaringly obvious that Meta has failed to stop sexual predators from turning online interactions into real world harm.”

The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, also claimed Meta had not fully disclosed or addressed the dangers of social media addiction.

The company has not agreed that social media addiction exists, but executives at the trial acknowledged “problematic use” and said they wanted people to feel good about the time they spend on Meta’s platforms.

“Evidence shows not only that Meta invests in safety because it’s the right thing to do but because it is good for business,” Meta’s lawyer Kevin Huff told jurors in closing arguments.

“Meta designs its apps to help people connect with friends and family, not to try to connect predators.”

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ParentsSOS, a coalition of families who have lost children to harm caused by social media, called the verdict a “watershed moment”.

“We parents who have experienced the unimaginable – the death of a child because of social media harms – applaud this rare and momentous milestone in the years-long fight to hold Big Tech accountable for the dangers their products pose to our kids,” the group said in a statement.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris’ Headquarters is accusing CNN’s Jake Tapper of “cosplaying” Gen Z content creators in a desperate attempt to lure a younger audience.  

Headquarters had only posted one piece of content in over a month, a story about “How MAGA lost Gen Z.” The outlet dropped its second article, “Jake Tapper got a podcast mic,” on Tuesday and the scathing piece takes several shots at CNN and its top anchor. 

Last month, Harris relaunched her Kamala HQ social media presence used during her 2024 White House run as “an online organizing project for next-generation campaigning.” She said it would be rebranded as “Headquarters,” and would be used as a “youth mobilization organization” ahead of this year’s midterm elections, in a partnership with the left-leaning group People for the American Way.

OUT OF OFFICE BUT BACK ONLINE: HARRIS REBRANDS KAMALA HQ FOR 2026 MIDTERMS AMID 2028 BUZZ

CNN’s Jake Tapper anchored the first hour of “The Lead” from his office on Friday.  (Screenshot/CNN)

Tapper anchored the first hour of “The Lead” from his office on Friday, accompanied by a large microphone on his desk. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper had tried a similar approach earlier in the week as the struggling network attempts to shake things up. 

Headquarters took a direct jab at Tapper, who co-authored “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” about the cognitive regression of Harris’ former boss, President Joe Biden.

“In case you missed it, which you probably did, because cable news is dead, Jake Tapper is now broadcasting his hour-long slot on CNN from his office. With a podcast mic,” Headquarters wrote in an unbylined column. 

Tapper called the move an “experiment,” and it was swiftly roasted across social media. It appears the team behind Headquarters didn’t appreciate the stunt, either. 

SOME CNN STAFFERS SKEPTICAL OF NETWORK’S ‘EXPERIMENT’ GIVING ANDERSON COOPER, JAKE TAPPER A PODCAST MAKEOVER

CNN experimented with the looks of Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper’s programs. (Screenshots/CNN)

“What this signifies is clear: cable news has decided that the solution to losing an entire generation of viewers is to cosplay as the thing that replaced them,” Headquarters wrote. 

“The problem is that the cable executives fundamentally don’t understand why podcasters beat them,” the piece continued. “You can put Jake Tapper behind a microphone in a cluttered office over and over again, but it won’t make him feel like Joe Rogan, or Alex Cooper, or Carlos Eduardo Espina, or literally anyone else Gen Z actually watches.”

Harris’ project declared that successful content creators offer “an unfiltered, unscripted version of what someone actually believes,” and noted that cable news outlets such as CNN are “the opposite of that.” 

“The podcast mic behind the desk is not a format change. It’s a costume,” it wrote. “Progressives and media figures alike will have to do a lot more to win this generation. That includes genuinely investing time and energy into online-first strategies, not just putting a bow on a legacy format and hoping nobody looks closely enough to tell.”

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris relaunched her Kamala HQ social media presence used during her 2024 White House run as “an online organizing project for next-generation campaigning.”  (Camille Cohen/AFP via Getty Images)

While Tapper’s experiment lasted only the first hour of Friday’s show, Cooper’s is ongoing — carrying over into this week. But the Headquarters piece made no mention of Cooper.

Headquarters hadn’t posted any new content in six weeks until its new article.

Harris is the chair emerita of Headquarters in an honorary role, with some of the staff behind Kamala HQ reuniting on the new project. The former vice president does not have editorial control over the posts. 

People for the American Way and Headquarters did not respond to a series of questions, including who wrote the piece and whether Harris endorses the criticism of CNN. 

CNN declined comment. 

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Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report. 

The head of the Environment Agency (EA) has told a House of Lords committee hearing that the system for tackling waste crime is not working. 

Philip Duffy, the chief executive of the EA, told the Lords’ environment committee that the justice system does not deter waste crime.

“[In terms of] the severity of the penalties, the likelihood of being apprehended, and the speed it takes to go through the criminal justice system – it’s too slow, it’s too weak, and it’s too uncertain,” he said.

Mr Duffy said increases in landfill tax rates, and the cost of recycling, are causes for concern in tackling waste crime.

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Will new waste crime plan make a difference?

There is also evidence of major organised crime gangs “penetrating the UK waste sector”, he said, and pointed to criminality within legitimate waste companies as a reason for the thousands of tonnes of rubbish seen at sites like Bickershaw in Wigan, and Kidlington in Oxfordshire.

“Somebody, somewhere in that system, possibly holding a permit from the Environment Agency, gave [the criminals] that waste, either they knew [the criminals] were going to dispose of it on a field, in which case, in my view, they are guilty of the same level of criminality as those who dumped it,” Mr Duffy said.

The EA chief also accused some landfill sites of tax evasion by misdeclaring the category of waste to avoid higher levels of landfill tax – labelling it the “biggest form of criminality in waste”.

“This systematically undermines the business model of legitimate and well-run waste companies,” he said.

Mr Duffy also said the illegal waste site in Kidlington was the result of a “very long, prepared criminal operation”.

Read more: Waste crime an ‘out of control plage’, committee warns

Residents believe the dumping at Kidlington started around July last year. Mr Duffy said “the gang involved clearly had thought about planning it back to January of that year”, and that thousands of tonnes of illegal waste had been dumped within a week.

Last week, Sky News reported how the government is looking to hand EA officers police-style powers, including arrests without warrants, searching premises and seizing assets.

The EA also unveiled a 10-point plan to tackle waste crime, including speeding up response times when alerted to dumping and more co-ordinated intelligence gathering.

The government also announced it will fund the clear-up of three large illegal waste sites in Wigan, Sheffield and Lancashire following Sky News reporting about a north-south divide in funding.

The son of former Olympic skiing star John Smart has died after he suffered injuries during an avalanche in Japan.

Kai Smart, 23, was left in a coma due to the avalanche. John Smart said in a Facebook post that Kai was taken to Vancouver, Canada, for emergency treatment earlier this month before he died on Monday.

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John Smart of Canada skis down the hill at the World Freestyle Skiing Championships in Altenmarkt, Austria in 1993. (Chris Cole/Allsport)

“It is with immense sadness that we have to let you know that our kind, brave and beautiful son and brother Kai is no longer with us. We are beyond heartbroken and there are no words to describe the pain we are feeling losing him so young,” John Smart wrote on Facebook.

He remembered his son as an adventurer who lived life to the fullest.

“Kai was a warrior, a mountain man, an explorer of the world, a lover of people of all walks of life, an inspiration to so many, an honor student, a passionate skier, surfer, dirt biker, climber, kitesurfer and so much more … He lived life to the fullest every single day, with joy, curiosity, and intensity, and experienced more in his short time than most do in a lifetime. He truly was a bright light, and his energy — his excitement for life and for learning — touched everyone who knew him,” the post continued.

John Smart looks on after missing a medal in the men’s moguls at the World Freestyle Skiing Championships in 1993. (Chris Cole/Allsport)

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“He was always searching for the road less traveled, drawn to new places, new ideas, and new experiences. When he wasn’t outside pushing his limits, he was constantly learning, researching, and engaging with the world.”

Smart wrote that Kai’s organs were donated to four people.

The former Olympian competed for Team Canada in freestyle skiing. He participated in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics.

An Olympic rings flag at the University of Southern California on March 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.  (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

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He was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Amidst the ongoing war in the Middle East, America has signed three big agreements regarding weapons, after which speculations have started whether missiles and rockets have started decreasing in America. America is worried about the supply of weapons to Ukraine and the shortage of weapons while fighting with Iran. The US War Ministry has announced that they have signed 3 agreements with 4 companies to increase the production of weapons and speed up the process.

America is increasing production of weapons

It also includes THAAD missile defense system. Under these agreements, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin will quadruple production of Sikar for the THAAD interceptor. Honeywell Aerospace will increase the production of critical components. The THAAD system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles in their terminal phase.

It is used by the US Army and other countries. Lockheed Martin recently signed an agreement to increase production of THAAD interceptors from 96 to 400 per year. US President Donald Trump, who constantly threatened to destroy Iran, has now suddenly started talking about peace. For the last 2-3 days they have been repeatedly talking about a peace agreement.

Iran rejects Trump’s claim regarding peace talks

Claiming victory in the war in West Asia, Trump said that Iran has agreed never to possess nuclear weapons and has sent an important gift related to the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran rejected all Trump’s claims and said that no initiative has been taken regarding peace talks. Trump said that major changes have already taken place in the current leadership of Iran.

He said, ‘Actually this is what we can call a change of power. This is a change of power because the people in power now are completely different from the people with whom we started and who created all those problems.

Also read: Iran-US War: ‘Deal’ or confusion on war? These are the 5 characters behind the scenes, whom is Trump talking to in Iran?