Netflix Inc. reached an amended, all-cash agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s studio and streaming business as it battles Paramount Skydance Corp. to acquire one of Hollywood’s most iconic entertainment companies.

With cameras rolling, President Trump met with more than 40 international leaders in his first year back in office.

© Eric Lee/The New York Times

The Chilean film-maker’s psychedelic work earned him the title ‘king of the midnight movie’, and a fan in John Lennon. Now the 96-year-old is ready for the end – but first there is more living to do

There is an apocryphal story of an ageing Orson Welles introducing himself to the guests at a half-empty town hall. “I am an actor, a writer, a producer and a director,” he said. “I am a magician and I appear on stage and on the radio. Why are there so many of me and so few of you?”

If a fantasy author were to dream up Welles’s psychedelic cousin, he’d likely have the air of Alejandro Jodorowsky: serene and white-bearded with a crocodile smile, presiding over a niche band of disciples. He has been – variously, often concurrently – a director, an actor, a poet, a puppeteer, a psychotherapist, a tarot-card reader, an author of fantasy books. At the age of 96, Jodorowsky estimates that he’s lived 100 different lives and embodied 100 different Jodorowskys. “Because we are different people all the time,” he says. “I died a lot of times but then I’m reborn. Look at me now and you see I’m alive. I am happy about this. It is fantastic to live.”

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© Photograph: Le Pacte/SOMBRALUZ Film

© Photograph: Le Pacte/SOMBRALUZ Film

© Photograph: Le Pacte/SOMBRALUZ Film

Daniel Reuss/Noord Nederlands Orkest/Cappella Amsterdam
(Pentatone)
Noord Nederlands Orkest and Cappella Amsterdam breathe colour and light into work from the composer’s most austere period

In his later years, Igor Stravinsky became fascinated by serialism, both as a means of distilling musical thought and as an intellectual and stylistic challenge for a composer entering his 70s and 80s. The results struck some contemporary listeners as austere, but there’s a self-effacing purity and beauty about this complex, intellectually probing music that deserves a wider audience than hitherto. Kudos, then, to conductor Daniel Reuss, whose precise yet vital interpretations teem with colour and light.

There are four main works here. In Memoriam Dylan Thomas from 1954 is an extended, impassioned setting for solo tenor of Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Threni, a spiny, multifaceted jewel from 1958, sets words from the Book of Lamentations. The haunting Introitus and bristling Requiem Canticles, from 1965 and 1966 respectively, complete the set, interspersed with briefer pieces including an unpretentious Lord’s Prayer and the severely cerebral two-minute Elegy for JFK.

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© Photograph: Diederik Rooker

© Photograph: Diederik Rooker

© Photograph: Diederik Rooker

Paramount Skydance Corp.’s leadership has held talks in recent days with French President Emmanuel Macron amid a European charm offensive to garner support for its $108.4 billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

A judge refused to fast track Paramount Skydance Corp.’s lawsuit accusing directors of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. of misleading investors about a more than $82.7 billion buyout bid from Netflix Inc.

Netflix Inc. is working on revised terms for its Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. acquisition and has discussed making an all-cash offer for the company’s studios and streaming businesses, people familiar with the discussions said. The changes are designed to expedite a sale that will take months to close and has faced opposition both from politicians and rival bidder Paramount Skydance Corp. Institutional investors have been divided in their support. Bloomberg's Geetha Ranganathan joins to discuss on Bloomberg Intelligence. (Source: Bloomberg)

Paramount Skydance Corp. ratcheted up the stakes in the monthslong battle for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., saying it plans to nominate directors to the board to thwart a merger with Netflix Inc. The company, run by David Ellison, also said it filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in an attempt to force out into the open more details about Netflix’s $82.7 billion takeover agreement, escalating an acrimonious bidding war between the media company and the streaming giant that has captivated Hollywood and Wall Street. Bloomberg's Geetha Ranganathan joins to discuss on Bloomberg Intelligence. (Source: Bloomberg)

Paramount Skydance Corp. ratcheted up the stakes in the monthslong battle for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., saying it plans to nominate directors to the board to thwart a merger with Netflix Inc.

Stirling Distillery project risks being viewed as heresy but it says it wants to make the industry more sustainable

Whisky drinkers and tourists are often bewitched by the amber rows of malt whisky that line the shelves of Scotland’s bars, restaurants and hotels.

So proposals from one of Scotland’s smallest distilleries could be viewed by many as heresy.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Paramount Skydance Corp. reaffirmed its offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. for $30 a share in cash, insisting its hostile bid is superior to one from Netflix Inc. after multiple rejections. Michelle Davis reports on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)

The president told The Times that he felt “strongly” that Russia would not invade Ukraine again.

© Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. rejected an amended takeover offer from Paramount Skydance Corp. and encouraged shareholders to stick with a deal it has in place with Netflix Inc., voicing skepticism about the interloper’s ability to pull off what it said would effectively be the largest leveraged buyout in history.

Doug Ford’s move comes after Diageo announced plan to shutter Ontario whisky plant and move operations to US

Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, has warned rye drinkers they will need to “stock up” if they want to keep consuming Crown Royal, as he promised to make good on plans to banish the Canadian whisky brand from his province.

Ford has since September been locked in a simmering feud over tariffs and economic nationalism with the multinational spirits maker Diageo. This week, he renewed his threats to wield the power of the province’s liquor control board – one of the largest buyers of alcohol in the world – to banish Crown Royal.

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© Photograph: Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via Alamy

© Photograph: Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via Alamy

© Photograph: Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press via Alamy

The assessment rebutted a claim that the Russian leader made to President Trump in a phone call this week.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

The U.S.-led negotiations have made some progress, but still face fundamental challenges, including over security guarantees to counter future Russian aggression.

© Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

The U.S. president said after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago that a deal was “maybe very close.” But a joint U.S.-Ukraine proposal appeared unfinished, as Russia rejected several ideas.

© Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

Did the 21st century begin on 1 January 2000? Or was it that blue sky day in September 2001 when the planes hit the twin towers? These images from the last 25 years chronicle modern history in the making

At the turn of the century there was a modest debate, mainly conducted on the letters pages of the newspapers – back then, still the prime forum for public discussion – as to when, exactly, the new millennium and the 21st century began. Most assumed the start date was 1 January 2000, but dissenters, swiftly branded pedants, insisted the correct date came a year later. As it turned out, both were wrong.

The 21st century began in earnest, at least in the western mind, on a day that no one had circled in their diaries. Out of a clear blue sky, two passenger jets flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 and so inaugurated a new age of anxiety – a period in which we have lived ever since.

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© Photograph: MARTY LEDERHANDLER/AP

© Photograph: MARTY LEDERHANDLER/AP

© Photograph: MARTY LEDERHANDLER/AP

An old fashioned with a batty backstory

Legend has it that in 1920 Bhupinder Singh, the maharaja of Patiala, was determined that his cricket team would triumph over a visiting English team. To gain the upper hand, he hosted a grand party the night before the match at which he served his guests Patiala pegs, famously generous four-finger whisky pours traditionally measured from pinky to index finger. Unsurprisingly, the English players overindulged, leaving them very hungover and, inevitably, defeated the next day, and the legend of the Patiala peg was born. This Punjabi kind-of old fashioned is inspired by Singh’s drink. At the restaurant, we serve it from a bespoke five-litre bottle, but we’ve adapted the recipe to make it more suitable for a domestic environment.

James Stevenson, beverage director, Ambassadors Clubhouse, London W1

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© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.

© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.

© Photograph: Rob Lawson/The Guardian. Drink styling: Seb Davis.

The president is planning to meet with the leader of Ukraine in Florida just as the lawmakers are applying some pressure.