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Netflix has increased prices on all its plans in the U.S., as the streaming giant pushes into new programming formats such as video podcasts and live sporting events.

The company’s ad-supported tier will now cost $8.99 a month, compared with $7.99 earlier, while prices for its standard plan rose $2 per month to $19.99, according to its website.

The premium ⁠plan now costs $26.99 a month, up from $24.99 earlier. Netflix has also increased the price of adding an extra member to $7.99 for ad-supported plans and to $9.99 for ad-free plans.

Netflix, which has more than 325 million subscribers, had scrapped its cheapest ad-free plan, called basic, in 2023, leaving users with its more expensive premium and standard ⁠plans, as well as the standard plan with ads.

With the new prices, the company’s average revenue per subscriber in the U.S.-Canada region will rise 6% year-over-year in 2026, ⁠according to estimates from TD Cowen analysts.

It last raised prices early last year.

Netflix reported revenue of $12.1 billion for the October-December period, ⁠modestly exceeding analysts’ estimate.

In February, it walked away from bidding for Warner Bros’ streaming and studio assets, paving ⁠the way for Paramount Skydance to buy the storied Hollywood studio in a $110 billion deal.

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Donald Trump is set to become the first sitting US president to have his signature on US banknotes, the Treasury Department has announced.

Trump’s signature will appear alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, an unprecedented move that the department said was being made to mark America’s 250th anniversary.

“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than US dollar bills bearing his name,” Bessent said. US banknotes have traditionally carried the signatures of Treasury officials.

It is the latest move by the administration to associate Trump’s name with a range of government programs and public buildings.

The first $100 (£75) bills with the signatures of Trump and Bessent will be printed in June, with others to follow.

Notes currently being printed bear the signatures of former President Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, and Treasurer Lynn Malerba.

It has been tradition since 1861 for the US treasurer’s signature to appear on bank notes, a tradition which will end under the Trump administration’s plans.

Ahead of the 250th anniversary, Bessent said printing currency bearing Trump’s name would be a “powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country” and the president.

And current US Treasurer Brandon Beach vowed the country’s currency will “continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people”.

2026 is the 250th anniversary of the formal declaration when 13 states declared their independence from Britain.

Trump faced a public backlash after the White House said the Kennedy Center in Washington DC would be renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center.

Several artists cancelled performances after the rebrand and it has since closed for a two-year renovation, scheduled to begin in July.

During his first term in office, President Trump’s name appeared on paper support cheques sent to millions of Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Harry Potter TV series is already under tight scrutiny even before its release as it lands in one controversy after the other.

The HBO series has reportedly increased its security by a huge margin after the Ghanian-English actor, Paapa Essiedu, who plays Professor Severus Snape, has received extreme threats over the casting.

The actor has been receiving death threats over getting to play Snape, and the show’s creator Casey Bloys told Variety that the “passionate fans” of the series can get “scary in places.”

He continued, “So for any show like that, we anticipated it and tried to have training, you know, best practices in terms of social media and how to handle it. And obviously we’ve got a serious security team. So unfortunately, it was something that we thought might happen and we just try to be as careful as we can.”

Essiedu took up the role famously played by Alan Rickman in the original movies set in Hogwarts, and a black actor taking on the role stirred up a huge debate.

Previously discussing the online hate in an interview, the actor recalled, “I’ve been told, ‘Quit, or I’ll murder you.’ The reality is that if I look at Instagram I will see somebody saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.’

While Essiedu has not legally reported any of the message he received, he strongly condemned the action, stating that nobody should be scared for their life just because of their jobs.

Source:adaderana.lk

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (Mar 26) pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran’s energy assets to Apr 6, saying it was at Tehran’s request and that talks were “going very well”.

Trump had denied earlier that he was desperate for a deal to end the Middle East war, despite the Islamic Republic’s cool response to an American peace plan.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the fake news media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Last Saturday, Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice.

“As per the Iranian government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of energy plant destruction by 10 days to Monday, Apr 6, 2026, at 8pm, Eastern Time,” he posted.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier of “strong signs” that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point “action list” to Tehran through Pakistani officials.

“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,” Witkoff said.

Meanwhile, the Iranian news agency Tasnim said: “Iran’s response to the 15 points proposed by the US was officially sent last night through intermediaries, and Iran is awaiting the other side’s response.”

The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Iran’s reply called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and also on Tehran-backed groups elsewhere in the region - a reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others.

War reparations should be paid and Iran’s “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz be respected, it said, citing conditions that put Tehran’s demands far beyond anything in the US plan.

“TWO FEW SOLDIERS”

In a televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims it was already on the verge of capitulating.

“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit,” he said.

Trump also said the United States might take control of Iran’s oil, comparing it to the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling Nicolas Maduro. 

Trump’s tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country’s government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.

“The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield,” Yair Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers,” Lapid said.

In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: “On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces ... For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF.”

“NO TURNING BACK”

At the cabinet meeting, Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks. 

Under near-daily bombardment since Feb 28, Iran was hit by a new wave of Israeli strikes Thursday, one of which Israel said had “eliminated” the Guards’ naval commander, Alireza Tangsiri, and several senior officers.

Later, an AFP reporter in Tehran heard warplanes overhead and three loud explosions.

Iranian media reported US-Israeli attacks in the central cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, in Bandar Abbas in the south and Tabriz in the northwest, but also Mashhad and Birjand, towards the Afghan border in an area largely spared until now. 

Off the coast from Bandar Abbas on Qeshm, the largest Iranian island in the Gulf, one resident told AFP via Telegram he hoped the site would not be taken over by the military.

“The suffering of people, the poverty, and the political oppression have been getting worse every year,” said Sadeq, 42.

“I don’t think war is the solution to these conditions, but ending it won’t change much for us either,” he said. 

Fresh violence flared in the Gulf, with two killed by debris from an Iranian ballistic missile intercepted near Abu Dhabi, and drones fired at both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Iran has targeted Gulf nations it accuses of serving as launchpads for US strikes, including hits on oil and gas sites. Crude prices had fallen since last week, but the wavering messages on talks saw oil prices jump again Thursday.

Source:adaderana.lk

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah was sworn in as prime minister of Nepal on Friday, tasked with restoring political stability and creating jobs in the poor Himalayan nation long troubled by fragile governments and weak growth prospects.

Shah became prime minister after his three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won 182 seats in the 275-member parliament in the March 5 election, the first vote after the anti-corruption Gen Z protests in which 76 people were killed in September last year.

A former mayor of the capital, ⁠Kathmandu, Shah, 35, is Nepal’s youngest prime minister in decades and the first Madhesi – people of the southern plains bordering India – to lead the Himalayan nation that is wedged between Asian giants India and China.

Shah, who was wearing skin-tight trousers, a matching jacket, his signature black Nepali cloth cap and sunglasses, was sworn in at the President House in the presence of diplomats and senior government officials.

“The first test of the new government lies in transparent and prompt delivery of services to people, who expect early signs of good governance from Sunday itself,” political analyst Puranjan Acharya said. Sunday is a working ⁠day in Nepal.

Acharya said Shah’s early challenge is to implement the report of a panel that investigated the violence during the anti-corruption protests, a key demand of the families of the victims. The report recommended the prosecution of those responsible for the crackdown, including then Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.

The youth-led protests were fuelled by a ⁠lack of jobs and endemic corruption in the country of 30 million people, where a fifth of the population lives in poverty and an estimated 1,500 people leave the country daily for work abroad.

Political instablity has been a ⁠bane, with 32 governments taking office since 1990 and none of them completing a five-year-term.

The Nepali Congress party, the country’s oldest party, became a distant second group in parliament with just 38 seats. ⁠The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) of Oli, who was forced to resign after the Gen Z unrest, controls 25 members.

Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki led the nation through the interim period through to the parliamentary election.

Source:adaderana.lk

The commander of Iran’s elite naval force, Alireza Tangsiri, has been killed in a strike in southern Iran, an Israeli official said, the latest high-profile casualty in the war that’s now in its fourth week.

Tangsiri, who led the naval wing of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was reportedly killed in a strike in the port city of Bandar Abbas. The official added that Commodore Tangsiri had been responsible for overseeing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s chokehold on the crucial waterway has upended oil and gas deliveries from the Middle East.

There was no immediate confirmation from Iran, and the Israel Defense Forces did not comment on the reported strike.

If confirmed, the killing would deal a major blow to Iran’s military leadership, particularly its naval operations in the strategically vital Persian Gulf.

WHO WAS ALIREZA TANGSIRI?

Born in Bushehr Province in southern Iran, Alireza Tangsiri rose through the ranks of the IRGC Navy after serving during the Iran-Iraq War and the so-called Tanker Wars, the United States’s first conflict with Iran during the 1980s.

Tangsiri went on to command the IRGC Navy’s 1st Naval District in Bandar Abbas and served as deputy commander from 2010 to 2018, before taking over as the force’s chief.

Tangsiri’s reported death adds to a growing list of senior Iranian officials assassinated since the war began on February 28, when the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iran.

Among the first, and most consequential, losses was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. What followed was a systematic takedown of an entire echelon of the Islamic republic’s political and military brass.

On March 17, senior politician and Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of Tehran. The bombing also reportedly claimed the lives of his family members.

Days later, Ali Mohammad Naini, spokesperson of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed in a joint US-Israeli strike. His death came hours after he appeared on national television asserting that Iran retained full missile production capability despite wartime pressures.

Source:adaderana.lk

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah will be sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister after a landslide victory in the country’s first election since last year’s youth-led protests.

The 35-year-old’s rise marks an important shift in Nepali politics. His promise of change resonated with an electorate that was angry at corruption, nepotism and elite rule.

Before taking office on Friday, Shah, popularly known as Balen, released a song filled with optimism about Nepal’s future.

“Undivided Nepali, this time history is being made,” he rapped in a track that garnered more than two million views within hours of its release.

The song harks back to his roots in the underground rap scene, where he used music to call out corruption and other social problems in Nepal.

After just three years as mayor of the capital Kathmandu, Shah teamed up with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) as its prime-ministerial candidate, scoring a decisive victory in general elections this month.

His supporters see him as a symbol of change and a break from the failings of Nepal’s old guard. But some question whether the four-year-old RSP is capable of making good on its bold pledges.

The rebellious rapper

Shah was born in 1990 in Naradevi, Kathmandu, and is his parents’ youngest son. His father is an Ayurvedic practitioner and his mother stayed at home to bring up the family. Shah is married and lives with his wife and daughter.

After leaving school he graduated with engineering degrees in Kathmandu and later in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

In 2013, he shot to fame after winning a popular rap battle in Nepal, with sharp verses that carried the frustration of a generation that felt suppressed and abandoned.

Shah went on to release several popular songs which criticised corruption and social inequality in the Himalayan nation. He cut a distinctive figure in the music videos with his trademark square black sunglasses, a black blazer and black trousers.

One of his best-known hits, Balidan, has amassed 14m views on YouTube.

The song title means sacrifice, and part of its lyrics go: “While we sell our identity abroad government employees get 30k salary and have properties in 30 different places. Who will pay the debt of people working seven seas away?”

In 2022, the political newbie won Kathmandu’s mayoral race by a landslide as an independent candidate, triumphing over parties which had dominated elections for decades.

His tenure as mayor was marked by efforts to clean up the city, preserve indigenous heritage, and a crackdown on corruption. He also started a controversial campaign to bulldoze illegal buildings – which helped ease traffic but also drew criticism from street vendors and residents in informal settlements.

The rise to power

Shah’s message continued to resonate with the country’s youth during last September’s protests, in which 77 people died – many of them protesters shot by police. The unrest was triggered by a ban on social media but fuelled by anger against corruption, unemployment and economic stagnation.

Protesters adopted his song Nepal Haseko – which means Smiling Nepal – as one of their anthems.

“I want to see Nepal smiling, I want to see the hearts of Nepalis dancing. I want to see Nepal smiling, I want to see Nepalis living happily,” its lyrics played out in the streets and inside households for weeks.

Shah brought his unconventional style into his campaign for Nepal’s top office this year, largely staying out of the spotlight and avoiding media interviews.

His critics argue this strategy has allowed him to avoid public scrutiny of his record.

Shah opted instead to speak to voters through social media posts, in which he pledged a sweeping anti-corruption agenda, judiciary reforms, and to create 1.2m new jobs, among other things.

It worked – the RSP swept the 5 March general elections, shattering the political elite and entrenched power structures. Shah even unseated former prime minister KP Sharma Oli in the Jhapa 5 constituency, which had long been the latter’s stronghold.

Controversy and challenges

It’s not altogether a clean sheet for Balendra Shah, though.

As mayor he was criticised by rights groups for using the police against street vendors in a heavy-handed manner, as he worked to keep roads clear in the capital and crack down on unlicensed businesses. Shah’s campaign did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

Human Rights Watch is one of the groups that raised those concerns and told the BBC it’s the type of behaviour they’ve often observed of new leaders who want to show results quickly.

“We hope as prime minister, there would be a focus on a more rules-based order,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

Shah has also sparked controversy on social media. Last November, he put up an expletive-laden post on Facebook which named America, India, China and several Nepali political parties, including the RSP, which he eventually joined in January. He deleted the post shortly after.

Beyond these controversies, Shah and his party leaders will have to confront huge expectations from voters hungry for change, as well as a host of challenges.

These include the war in the Middle East, where millions of Nepalis find work, chronic unemployment and a stuttering economy within Nepal, and the RSP’s lack of experience in office.

There is also public pressure to release the findings of an investigation into the deadly 2025 uprising, which toppled the previous government.

Nepal’s interim administration has said it will make a summary of findings public but it will be up to the newly elected RSP to decide how to implement the commission’s recommendations.

Source:adaderana.lk

A government-imposed digital blackout in Iran has entered its 27th day, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks.

NetBlocks said in its daily update that Iran has been isolated from the global internet for 624 hours and that “rights monitors, independent media and the public are sidelined as access is granted only to those on a state-approved whitelist”.

Despite the internet blackout, which began on 28 February when the US and Israel began strikes, the BBC stated that it has been able to speak to some Iranians about the war.

Earlier, a young Iranian told the BBC of his fears of being made to do military service, and about how he recently lost a close friend in an air strike.

U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran continued today, after they launched their joint campaign to rid Tehran of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities while also pushing for regime change.

Iran has implemented internet shutdowns during periods of social unrest in the past. A similar near-blackout was imposed for several weeks in January amid widespread protests in the country.

However, some analysts said that additional factors may be contributing to the internet disruption

Source:adaderana.lk

Kuwait said Friday that its main commercial port, Shuwaikh Port, was targeted in a “hostile” drone attack, causing material damage but no injuries.

The Kuwait Ports Authority said unmanned aerial vehicles struck the port early in the morning, damaging facilities. Emergency procedures were immediately activated in coordination with relevant agencies.

Shuwaikh Port, located in an industrial area near Kuwait City, is the country’s primary maritime trade hub, handling cargo storage, distribution and commercial shipping.

The incident comes amid escalating regional tensions following a joint US-Israeli offensive on Iran launched Feb. 28.

Iran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel and other countries in the region, including those hosting US military assets, causing casualties and infrastructure damage and disrupting markets and aviation.

Source: adaderana.lk

The number of U.S. military personnel wounded in Operation Epic Fury continues to rise as the campaign against Iran approaches its fourth week.

As of Tuesday, 290 American service members have been wounded in the war, according to Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command’s spokesperson.

Hawkins told DefenseScoop that 255 of those injured troops — or about 88% — have returned to duty so far, while 10 remain seriously wounded.

Around two weeks ago, in mid-March, Centcom reported that at that time approximately 200 U.S. service members had been wounded since the start of the operation on Feb. 28. At least 13 military personnel have reportedly been killed.

President Donald Trump initiated Epic Fury as a U.S.-led, Israel-coordinated campaign to destroy Iran’s leadership, military arsenals, manufacturing sites and nuclear infrastructure. Iran responded by disrupting maritime traffic near the Strait of Hormuz on a major global shipping route for oil, and striking U.S. installations around the Middle East with deadly drones and missile barrages.

Trump said on Monday that the U.S. and Iran had started productive conversations towards reaching a resolution to the war. Senior Iranian officials subsequently denied the president’s claims.

But reports surfaced on Tuesday that Iran received a message from the U.S. via mediators, which could pave a way for official dialogue between the nations.

The Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) notably made its combat debut in Epic Fury, when the long-range weapon was used against certain, undisclosed Iranian targets. The ongoing operation also marks the first combat deployment of U.S.-developed low-cost, one-way attack drones called LUCAS.

However, this conflict is also spotlighting serious vulnerabilities that the U.S. is confronting, associated with drone threats overseas and domestically.

For instance, at least six Army Reserve soldiers died as a result of injuries they sustained during an Iranian drone strike that hit a command center in Kuwait on March 1. Separately, U.S. Northern Command says it “detected and defeated” a drone threat over a “strategic installation” on American soil in the early hours of Epic Fury, although officials haven’t disclosed whether they believe there was an Iranian connection to that incident.

In response to DefenseScoop’s questions on Tuesday, Hawkins declined to provide a breakdown of the number of U.S. service members who were specifically wounded in drone attacks to date during Epic Fury.

Iran’s latest casualty figures have not been released by Tehran in recent days. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on March 21 that at least 3,230 people had been killed in the war, including more than 1,400 civilians.

Source:adaderana.lk

India slashed its special excise duties on petrol and diesel, as fuel prices stay volatile with supplies choked by the Iran war.

In a government order on Thursday, India’s finance ministry reduced the special excise duty on petrol to 3 rupees ($0.0318) per litre from 13 rupees earlier. It also cut the duty on diesel to zero from 10 rupees.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has led to a near-closure of ⁠the Strait of Hormuz, which serves as a conduit for 40% of crude oil imports, hurting shipping and gas supplies.

The ministry did not say how much the duty cuts would cost the government.

Madhavi Arora, an economist at Emkay Global, estimated the annualised fiscal hit to be nearly 1.55 trillion rupees. The duty cuts would absorb about 30%-40% of annual losses of oil marketing companies on auto fuel at current prices, she added.

India has been ⁠hit hard by volatility in crude prices and disruption in oil and gas supplies, but unlike China it has not moved to ban exports of refined fuels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have stressed that adequate arrangements are in place, ⁠including for fertilisers supply for the summer sowing season and for coal to meet the rising demand for electricity.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, meets ⁠over 90% of its oil needs through purchases from overseas.

The South Asian country consumed 33.15 million metric tons of cooking gas last year, with ⁠imports accounting for about 60% of demand. About 90% of those imports came from the Middle East.

Source:adaderana.lk

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said that they have permitted the passage of vessels for friendly countries, including India, through the Strait of Hormuz.

Consulate General of Iran in Mumbai said in a post, “Iran FM Abbas Araghchi: We permitted passage through the Strait of Hormuz for friendly nations including China, Russia, India, Iraq, and Pakistan.”

This follows comments by the Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, who called for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on X, he said, “The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz is choking the movement of oil, gas, & fertilizer at a critical moment in the global planting season. Across the region & beyond, civilians are enduring serious harm & living under profound insecurity. The UN is working to minimise the consequences of the war. And the best way to minimise those consequences is clear: End the war - immediately.”

Guterres urged the US and Israel to end the war in West Asia. “My message to the US & Israel is that it’s high time to end the war - as human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount & the global economic impact is increasingly devastating. My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbours that are not parties to the conflict,” he said.

Earlier on March 25, the Iranian mission in New York said that they will allow the passage of what it called “non-hostile vessels” through the Strait of Hormuz.

The mission announced in a post on X, “Non-hostile vessels, including those belonging to or associated with other States, may--provided that they neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations--benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the competent Iranian authorities.”

The Iranian Defence Council has announced that the transit of “non-hostile vessels” through the strategic Strait of Hormuz is now strictly dependent on prior “coordination with Iranian officials”.

Source:adaderana.lk