Category: News
Russian Crew Of Seized Tanker Finally Freed By US, On Their Way Home: Kremlin
Russian Crew Of Seized Tanker Finally Freed By US, On Their Way Home: Kremlin
Washington has quietly released two Russian sailors detained earlier this month by the US Navy’s enforcement arm of Venezuela sanctions, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday. “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” she announced.
The men were part of the crew aboard the Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera (formerly Bella 1), which was intercepted and seized on January 7 in the North Atlantic after being tailed by US authorities from the Caribbean.
US officials claim the vessel – chartered by a private company – was skirting Washington’s oil embargo on Venezuela. “We welcome this decision and express our gratitude to the US leadership,” Zakharova had also said.
The tanker’s multinational crew totaled 28, including 17 Ukrainians, six Georgians, three Indians, and just two Russians – the latter now released – underscoring once again how US sanctions enforcement routinely sweeps up foreign nationals far removed from Washington’s geopolitical score-settling.
American officials had earlier threatened that the Marinera’s crew could face prosecution in the United States, which Russia warned would be “categorically unacceptable.”
Russia’s foreign ministry threatened serious escalation at a moment both sides are seeking to improve delicate bilateral relations, saying such a move will “only result in further military and political tensions,” adding that it was worried by “Washington’s willingness to generate acute international crisis situations.”
But days ago the Kremlin previewed that the US was preparing to release the Russian nationals “in response to our request” – while the fate of the other detained crewmembers remains unknown, and their respective embassies are likely lobbying for their swift release.
But a real and potentially explosive crisis has thankfully been avoided here, and the Kremlin disclosed that it directly appealed to the Trump administration to quickly release the Russian crewmembers.
The explosive situation could have easily spiraled, given also the rare presence of a Russian submarine so near in proximity to US maritime forces.
As for US policy in post-Maduro Venezuela, the US is making slow moves to reopen the embassy in Caracas, amid ongoing talks with interim leader Delcy Rodríguez (or should we say ‘directives’ given to…).
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the US is preparing to issue a general license – a move that would enable a sweeping rollback of sanctions, replacing the piecemeal waiver system used until now.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/28/2026 – 16:45
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says talks with Denmark, Greenland officials over Arctic security have begun
WASHINGTON — Technical talks between the U.S., Denmark and Greenland over hatching an Arctic security deal are now underway, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland agreed to create a working group aimed at addressing differences with the U.S. during a Washington meeting earlier this month with Vice President JD Vance and Rubio.
The group was created after President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, in the name of countering threats from Russia and China — calls that Greenland, Denmark and European allies forcefully rejected.
“It begins today and it will be a regular process,” Rubio said of the working group, as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’re going to try to do it in a way that isn’t like a media circus every time these conversations happen, because we think that creates more flexibility on both sides to arrive at a positive outcome.”
A spokesperson for the Danish Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the start of the talks.
Trump’s renewed threats in recent weeks to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally, has roiled U.S.-European relations.
Trump this month announced he would slap new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries that opposed his takeover calls, only to abruptly drop his threats after a “framework” for a deal over access to the mineral-rich island was reached, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s help. Few details of the agreement have emerged.
After stiff pushback from European allies to his Greenland rhetoric, Trump also announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week that he would take off the table the possibility of using American military force to acquire Greenland.
The president backed off his tariff threats and softened his language after Wall Street suffered its biggest losses in months over concerns that Trump’s Greenland ambitions could spur a trade war and fundamentally rupture NATO, a 32-member transatlantic military alliance that’s been a linchpin of post-World War II security.
Rubio on Wednesday appeared eager to downplay Trump’s rift with Europe over Greenland.
“We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but I think we’re going to wind up in a good place, and I think you’ll hear the same from our colleagues in Europe very shortly,” Rubio said.
Rubio during Wednesday’s hearing also had a pointed exchange with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., about Trump repeatedly referring to Greenland as Iceland while at Davos.
“Yeah, he meant to say Greenland, but I think we’re all familiar with presidents that have verbal stumbles,” Rubio said in responding to Kaine’s questions about Trump’s flub — taking a veiled dig at former President Joe Biden. “We’ve had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/rubio-talks-denmark-greenland/
Man charged in deaths of woman, 4-year-old son killed at Joliet residence
A man faces multiple counts of first-degree murder in connection to the shooting deaths of a woman and her young son in Joliet over the weekend, authorities said.
Joseph Johnson, 29, of Joliet, has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, according to a news release from Joliet police.
Officers and detectives responded to a residence in the 700 block of Garnsey Avenue on the east side of the southwest suburb shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday, after multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire in the area. Some callers said they had seen a shirtless man get rid of a firearm as he ran near some train tracks, according to police. Satellite images of the home address show it is located approximately 100 feet from the railroad tracks.
In the backyard, responding officers found the woman, identified as 36-year-old Joselynn Diaz-Garcia, and her 4-year-old son, both unresponsive and having suffered apparent gunshot wounds. The Will County coroner’s office pronounced both dead at the scene.
Officers also located an unharmed 8-year-old boy in a bedroom. The Fire Department took the child to St. Joseph Medical Center “as a precaution,” police said.
Johnson was found near the residence with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his ankle, which police believe was self-inflicted. The Joliet Fire Department took him to Silver Cross Hospital, and he was later transferred to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood under police guard.
Authorities on Wednesday said Johnson remained hospitalized at Loyola under police guard. Once he’s released from medical care, Johnson will be transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.
Joliet police Chief Bill Evans, in a statement, extended his condolences “to the family and to everyone in our community who is touched by this awful and unnecessary act of violence.” He vowed to “continue to seek justice while surrounding this family and our city with compassion and support.”
Detectives were continuing to investigate. Authorities did not state the relationship between Johnson and the victims.
Loved ones and friends have appeared to launch two separate fundraisers for the family of Diaz-Garcia and her son, who they identified as Gianni Reyes.
“Gianni brought joy and light into our lives,” a GoFundMe page for her son read, which as of Wednesday afternoon had amassed just over $3,700. “He was a son to all of us, and he was deeply loved by, especially by his grandparents, aunts and uncles who cared for him as his own.”
Another GoFundMe, organized on behalf of Diaz-Garcia’s father, had raised nearly $5,000 by Wednesday afternoon.
Chicago Tribune’s Adriana Pérez contributed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/joliet-double-homicide-woman-child-police-charge-arrest/
Partial federal shutdown seems increasingly likely as Democrats demand major changes to ICE
WASHINGTON — As a partial government shutdown looms at week’s end, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has laid out a list of demands for the Department of Homeland Security, including an enforceable code of conduct for federal agents conducting immigration arrests and a requirement that they identify themselves to the public.
Republicans will need Democratic votes to keep the government open when funding runs at midnight Friday. But Democrats have pledged to block a spending bill for the department, hoping to pressure the GOP and President Donald Trump for major change at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies as the country reels from the deaths of two people at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
Democratic senators met on Wednesday before a crucial Thursday vote on whether to move forward with the spending legislation that funds DHS and a swath of other government agencies. Schumer said Democrats are asking the White House to “end roving patrols” in cities, coordinate with local law enforcement on immigration arrests, spell out an enforceable code of conduct so agents are held accountable when they violate rules, and require that agents have “masks off, body cameras on” and carry proper identification, as is common practice in law enforcement.
The Democratic caucus is united in those “commonsense reforms” and that the burden is on Republicans to accept them, the New York senator said.
“This is not law and order,” Schumer said, referring to the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement surge across the country. “This is chaos.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said he was waiting for Democrats to outline their what they want and he suggested that they need to be talking to the White House.
It was unclear how seriously the White House was engaged and whether the two sides could agree on anything that would appease Democrats who are irate after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti and Renee Good this month.
With no evident negotiations underway, a partial shutdown appeared increasingly likely starting Saturday.
Democrats lay out demands
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Democrats have been looking at changes that will “unite the caucus, and I think unite the country,” including ending the “roving patrols” that Democrats say are terrorizing Americans around the country.
“None of this is revolutionary,” said Murphy, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees homeland security spending. “None of this requires a new comprehensive piece of legislation.”
Schumer and Murphy have said any fixes should be passed by Congress, not just promised by the administration.
Republicans say any changes to the spending will need to be passed by the House to prevent a shutdown, and that is not likely to happen in time because the House is not in legislative session this week.
“We can have conversations about what additional oversight is required, what additional laws we should consider, but not at the expense of shutting down the government,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Many obstacles to a deal
Despite some conversations among Democrats, Republicans and the White House, it was unclear whether there could be a resolution in time to avoid a partial shutdown.
The House passed the six remaining funding bills last week and sent them to the Senate as a package, and that makes it difficult to strip out the homeland security portion as Democrats are demanding. Republicans could break the package apart with the consent of all 100 senators, which would be complicated, or through a series of votes that would extend past the Friday deadline.
It was unclear whether Trump will weigh in.
Republican leaders had hoped to avoid another shutdown after last fall’s 43-day closure that revolved around Democrats’ insistence on extending federal subsidies that make health coverage more affordable for those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Even if the Senate could resolve the issue, House Republicans have made clear they do not want any changes to the bill they have passed. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, the conservative House Freedom Caucus wrote that its members stand with the president and ICE.
“The package will not come back through the House without funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” according to the letter.
Democrats say they won’t back down.
“It is truly a moral moment,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “I think we need to take a stand.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/partial-federal-shutdown/
Meta Stock Jumps Despite Soaring Capex, Expense Forecast
Meta Stock Jumps Despite Soaring Capex, Expense Forecast
As we wrote in our Mag 7 earnings preview, investor sentiment has soured considerably on META since the Q3 25 print when it became abundantly clear that Zuckerberg’s foot remains firmly pressed down on the OpEx/capex accelerator.
To date, investors have seen little tangible evidence that the Meta Superintelligence Lab is capable of producing a leading edge model, and as JPM sais, “we won’t receive clarity on that issue this print. (But we may get some in the March/April timeframe when Avocado might launch.)” Looking at this quarter specifically, investors’ attention will be focused squarely on the 2026 OpEx guide (can’t be bigger than feared) as well the Q1 26 Revenue guide (needs to show a modest FXN acceleration on an easier comp). All told, investor sentiment on META heading into this print was at best ‘timid’, with many looking for the trade-off between massive capex and returns on investment.
Going into earnings, Goldman’s desk wrote that investor positioning is 7/10, and notes that the stock has been a relative short amongst Mag7 peers for investors since the last earnings print on ROI debates + Product visibility (LLMs? New products? Other?). Into the print, focus on visibility into Meta’s expense profile in 2026 (for context, Goldman sits at $125bn of capex in ’26 and $152bn of total expenses) relative to Revenue trends (Goldman models nearly ~20% ad revs growth in CY26). The options implied move of the stock is 6%.
With that in mind, here is what Meta reported moments ago for Q4.
Revenue $59.89 billion, +24% y/y, beating estimate $58.42 billion
Advertising rev. $58.14 billion, +24% y/y, beating estimate $56.79 billion
Family of Apps revenue $58.94 billion, +25% y/y, beating estimate $57.47 billion
Reality Labs revenue $955 million, -12% y/y, missing estimate $962.7 million
Other revenue $801 million, +54% y/y, beating estimate $718.8 million
Operating income $24.75 billion, +5.9% y/y
Family of Apps operating income $30.77 billion, +8.6% y/y, estimate $30 billion
Reality Labs operating loss $6.02 billion vs. loss $4.97 billion y/y, estimate loss $5.8 billion
Operating margin 41% vs. 48% y/y
EPS $8.88 vs. $8.02 y/y, beating estimates of $8.19
Some other Q4 details:
Ad impressions +18% vs. +6% y/y, estimate +12.2%
Average price per ad +6% vs. +14% y/y, estimate +9.07%
Average Family service users per day 3.58 billion, +6.9% y/y, estimate 3.56 billion
What is probably more important to investors is where did capex end in Q4: the answer, $21.4BN, up more than 50% YoY from $14.4BN a year ago.
Some more comments from management on the quarter:
“We had strong business performance in 2025,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. “I’m looking forward to advancing personal superintelligence for people around the world in 2026”
“We expect first quarter 2026 total revenue to be in the range of $53.5-56.5 billion.”
“Despite the meaningful step up in infrastructure investment, in 2026 we expect to deliver operating income that is above 2025 operating income.”
“Absent any changes to our tax landscape, we expect our full year 2026 tax rate to be 13-16%.”
“We expect full year 2026 total expenses to be in the range of $162-169 billion.”
The company will continue monitoring legal and regulatory headwinds in the EU and the US. It continues to see scrutiny on youth-related issues, which may result in material loss
In a nutshell, the historical numbers were solid. What about the future? This is the company’s outlook:
Q1 revenue in the range of $53.5-56.5 billion, higher than the $51.3BN estimate (assumes FX is a ~4% tailwind to year-over-year total revenue growth)
Full year 2026 total expenses to be in the range of $162-169 billion, much higher than the $151BN expected.
company says the majority of expense growth will be driven by infrastructure costs, which includes third-party cloud spend, higher depreciation, and higher infrastructure operating expenses)
The second-largest contributor to total expense growth is employee compensation, driven by investments in technical talent. This includes 2026 hires to support our priority areas, particularly AI, as well as a full year of expenses from 2025 hires.
At a segment level, we expect expense growth to be driven by the Family of Apps, with Reality Labs operating losses remaining similar to 2025 levels.
Last but not least, META’s 2026 capex forecast was an absolute stunner: the company said that it anticipates 2026 capital expenditures to be in the range of $115-135 billion.
The majority of expense growth will be driven by infrastructure costs, which includes third-party cloud spend, higher depreciation and higher infrastructure operating expenses.
The second-largest contributor to total expense growth is employee compensation, driven by investments in technical talent. This includes 2026 hires to support our priority areas, particularly AI, as well as a full year of expenses from 2025 hires.
This number is much, much higher than the $110.62BN median estimate, and represents a doubling in capex YoY.
Putting it together, the Q4 beat, and the Q1 guidance beat, are up against the concerns about that spending figure. If Meta hits the high range of that estimate, it’s close to a 90% year-over-year jump in capex. And while the kneejerk reaction was the punish the stock, some algo ended up liking the mindblowing capex spending projection, and has pushed META almost $100 from its after hours low.
Indeed, META has dumped and pumped after hours: after initially dumping on the report of the blowout expense/capex surge, it was as if a relentless buyer stepped in and moved the stock from the session low of $637 to what has so far been an after hours high of $721.
So how it is possible that the stock is surging on the exact same setup which sent it crashing last quarter? It appears that Meta ad growth is letting investors brush off the eye-popping spending increase. It’s a different story over at Microsoft, whose shares are currently sharply lower after increased spending alarmed shareholders. Microsoft released its earnings around the same time as Meta.
Yet we would be very cautious chasing the stock here as the exact same questions that emerged last quarter are bound to resurface, namely just what return is Meta expecting to generate on this mindblowing capex spending.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/28/2026 – 16:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/meta-stock-jumps-despite-soaring-capex-expense-forecast
Deranged Nurse Fired After Urging Poisoning & Paralyzing Of ICE Agents
Deranged Nurse Fired After Urging Poisoning & Paralyzing Of ICE Agents
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A nurse at Virginia Commonwealth University Health has been terminated after posting a series of videos urging sabotage against ICE agents, including injecting them with paralytic drugs and poisoning their food and drinks.
Yes, really.
The unhinged suggestions highlight the escalating threats faced by law enforcement amid leftist campaigns to obstruct deportations of criminal illegal aliens.
Meet Melinda, a healthcare worker at @VCUHealth. She posted a series of videos encouraging people to inject ICE agents with succinylocholine, a temporary paralysis drug, and spray poison on them. She also encourages woman to go on dates with agents and drug their food.
Any… pic.twitter.com/CMJN12GhOc
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 27, 2026
In videos exposed by Libs of TikTok, the nurse, identified as Melinda, detailed various “resistance tips” targeted at ICE personnel.
She advised medical providers to “grab some syringes with needles on the end have them full of saline or succinylcholine you know whatever,” adding that succinylcholine “is a temporary paralyzing agent. It will eventually wear off and there will be no way to detect it afterwards.”
“So, if you see them struggling to breathe, you can definitely inject that into one of their muscles or veins and walk away and there will be no way to prove it,” she stated.
BREAKING: Nurse at @VCUHealth who called to poison and drug ICE agents has been FIRED following our report https://t.co/HWFfTHJYZf pic.twitter.com/fWzoFo2ZfD
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 28, 2026
In another clip, she suggested harvesting poison ivy or oak, mixing it with water, and using a water gun to fire it in the faces of agents.
For single women, she proposed going on dates via apps like Tinder or Hinge to “find these guys, they’re around,” and to bring poison with them on dates, then “put it in their drinks, get them sick.”
She claimed, “You know, nobody’s going to die, just enough to incapacitate them, get off the street for the next day,” calling the tactic “easily deniable.”
She also urged targeting agents’ food sources: “Let’s get them where they eat… Where’s the hotel where they eat? Who makes that breakfast? Let’s find them you know let’s make their lives fucking miserable.”
Additional ideas included making living conditions bad, such as hiding “dead fish somewhere in the room,” and to “just stay toxic.”
Following the videos going viral, VCU Health launched an investigation and confirmed in a statement: “Following an investigation, the individual involved in the social media videos is no longer employed by VCU Health. In addition, VCU Health has fulfilled its reporting requirements under Virginia state law.”
According to reports, the matter has been referred to authorities, with potential legal consequences for the former employee.
What kind of deranged lunatic has these ideas and then goes ahead and makes a video incriminating themselves?
The development comes as ICE faces a surge in harassment from radical activists opposed to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.
As we earlier highlighted, DHS recently released audio of deranged individuals leaving threatening voicemails wishing death on agents’ families.
The culprits stole the personal data of agents by running number plates and then attempted to call them, before leaving the sickening recordings.
Again, this highlights how these mentally unwell morons don’t care about, or more likely haven’t even got the foresight to comprehend that they are incriminating themselves.
DHS has vowed to track down such agitators, with Border Czar Tom Homan establishing databases to expose harassers to their employers.
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/28/2026 – 16:25
Secretary of State Marco Rubio details how the Trump administration will control Venezuela’s oil money
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration soon will allow Venezuela to sell oil now subject to U.S. sanctions, with the revenue initially dedicated to basic government services such as policing and health care and subject to Washington’s oversight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
The United States will retain control in the short term to ensure the oil revenue is used to stabilize Venezuela, Rubio said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. He noted that the interim leaders of the South American country will submit “a budget” every month of what they need funded.
“The funds from that (oil sales) will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. Treasury would control the process. Venezuela, he said, “will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”
Rubio offered new insight into how the U.S. is planning to handle the sale of tens of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela, which has the largest proven reserves of crude in the world, and oversee where the money flows. After the U.S. raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro this month, the U.S. is working to influence the next steps in the South American country through its vast oil resources.
The U.S. will not subsidize oil industry investments in Venezuela, Rubio said, and is only overseeing the sale of sanctioned petroleum as an “interim step.”
“This is simply a way to divide revenue so that there isn’t systemic collapse while we work through this recovery and transition,” Rubio said.
Democrats and some Republicans on the committee pressed Rubio for more details about Trump’s plans for Venezuela’s oil. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., asked for assurances from Rubio that the sale of Venezuelan oil will be fair and open, not rigged to benefit oil companies allied with Trump.
“You are taking their oil at gunpoint, you are holding and selling that oil … you’re deciding how and for what purposes that money is going to be used in a country of 30 million people,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of us believe that that is destined for failure.”
Under Maduro, Rubio said Venezuela’s oil industry benefited the country’s corrupt leaders and countries such as China, which purchased Venezuelan oil at a discount. Now, Venezuela’s interim leaders are assisting the U.S. in seizing illegal oil shipments, he said.
The U.S. will give Venezuela’s current leaders instructions on how the money can and cannot be spent and conduct audits to ensure it is used as intended, Rubio said. He said Venezuela could use the money to pay for policing or to buy medicine.
The fund was initially set up in Qatar to avoid having the proceeds seized by American creditors and because of other legal complications that stem from the U.S. not considering Maduro’s government legitimate, Rubio said.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been set aside and as much as $3 billion more is anticipated, he said.
“It’s an account that belongs to Venezuela, but it has U.S. sanctions as a blocking mechanism,” Rubio said. “We only control the dispersal of the money, we don’t control the actual money.”
Earlier this month, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said cash from oil sales would flow into two sovereign wealth funds: one to support crisis-stricken health services and a second to bolster public infrastructure, including the electric grid.
The country’s hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. They also must pay for lab and imaging tests at private hospitals.
On Tuesday, during a televised event to announce the revamping of various health care facilities, Rodríguez said her government and the U.S. administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication” since Maduro was captured.
Neither Rodríguez nor her government’s press office immediately comment on Rubio’s remarks Wednesday.
At Rodríguez’s request, Venezuelan lawmakers last week began debating an overhaul of the country’s energy law. The proposed changes are meant to create conditions to attract much-needed private foreign investment.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/rubio-trump-administration-venezuela/
Microsoft Tumbles After Top- & Bottom-Line Beats But CapEx Soars
Microsoft Tumbles After Top- & Bottom-Line Beats But CapEx Soars
With all eyes firmly focused on CapEx numbers to keep the AI-expansion narrative alive, Microsoft beat expectations on top- and bottom-line, and operating income, but a bigger than expected CapEx.
Microsoft posted adjusted earnings of $4.14 a share on revenue of $81.3 billion (better than expected earnings of $3.91 a share and revenue of $80.3 billion.
Intelligent Cloud revenue $32.91 billion, estimate $32.39 billion
Azure and other cloud services revenue Ex-FX +38%, estimate +38%
Productivity and Business Processes revenue $34.12 billion, estimate $33.45 billion
More Personal Computing revenue $14.25 billion, estimate $14.33 billion
Operating income beat expectations at $38.28 billion (versus a consensus estimate of $36.55 billion)
But Capital Expenditures were considerably higher than expected at $29.99 billion (versus consensus estimate of $23.78 billion).
Capital expenditures including assets acquired under finance leases were $37.5 billion, up 66% to support customer demand for our cloud and Al offerings. Roughly two-thirds of capital expenditures were for short-lived assets, primarily GPUs and CPUs, which support Azure platform demand, growing first-party applications and Al solutions, accelerating research and development by our product teams, as well as continued replacement for end-of-life server and networking equipment.
The remainder of capital expenditures were for long-lived assets which will support monetization over the next 15-year period and beyond. Finance leases, which are primarily for large datacenter sites, were $6.7B and are recognized at the time of lease commencement.
Cash paid for property and equipment was $29.9 billion, up 89%, lower than capital expenditures primarily due to finance leases
This also didn’t help:
*MICROSOFT CLOUD GROSS MARGIN PERCENTAGE FELL Y/Y TO 67%
Additionally, following the renegotiation of their deal, Microsoft says net gains from OpenAI investments totaled $7.6B
“In the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, net income and diluted earnings per share were impacted by net gains from investments in OpenAI, which resulted in an increase in net income and diluted earnings per share of $7.6 billion and $1.02, respectively.
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, net income and diluted earnings per share were impacted by net losses from investments in OpenAI, which resulted in a decrease in net income and diluted earnings per share of $939 million and $0.12, respectively.”
The result of all this was selling pressure hitting MSFT (down over 8% after hours)…
It’s unclear exactly what is triggering the selling pressure, but could it be that too much CapEx is now bad news not good news?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/28/2026 – 16:16
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/microsoft-tumbles-after-top-bottom-line-beats-capex-soars
Column: As outrage over Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub continues, the plot thickens
There’s only one way for the Pro Football Hall of Fame to right the wrong of denying former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick his first-ballot entrance into the Hall.
Gather all the 50 voters back together and stage a “Knives Out” whodunit, with Daniel Craig investigating in a musky mansion.
Maybe they could even get “Hard Knocks” star Liev Schreiber to narrate for HBO. Surely by the end of the two-hour mystery we’d know who committed this deed so foul, and the 11 or more culprits would be properly pummeled by the gold-jacketed Hall of Fame members and banished from the league forever.
In case you missed it, Belichick, the wonderful and affable Patriots coaching legend, reportedly was shocked and dismayed to learn that he didn’t make the cut in the Hall of Fame voting that will be announced next week before the Super Bowl. The results are supposed to be kept top secret, but the fact Belichick was not elected somehow was leaked to ESPN, which posted a story Tuesday night.
Obviously, Belichick’s record six Super Bowl titles as head coach, two more as an assistant and three Coach of the Year awards should’ve merited immediate entrance to the Hall. But for reasons that can only be speculated upon, he’ll have to wait at least one more year.
It was the biggest snub since last week, when “Wicked: For Good” didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination, and it set into motion the automatic outrage machine that once was called Twitter.
Everyone from LeBron James to Patrick Mahomes commented on the injustice of it all, and even those who didn’t like Belichick were aghast. The winningest Super Bowl coach ever was treated like he was Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and every other alleged cheater denied entrance to a Hall of Fame.
There wasn’t this kind of outrage when legendary NFL coaches Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs or Bill Parcells weren’t elected on the first ballot. All were equally worthy, and all eventually got in. But that was before social media and the proliferation of hot-take sports shows in which the loudest shouters get the most attention.
Stephen A. Smith, ESPN’s high-decibel yahoo, called for a boycott of this summer’s Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton, Ohio, apparently feeling that if Belichick didn’t make it, none of the other Hall of Famers deserves to be seen or heard. The always rational Dave Portnoy of Fox Sports and Barstool fame tweeted that the voters who snubbed Belichick should “not only have their votes taken away but executed.” Since he’s the quintessential Patriots fan, it’s hard to tell if he was joking.
After several minutes of scrolling, the only one I found who agreed with the snub was former Tribune colleague and lifelong contrarian Skip Bayless, who made a 12-minute video pointing out that he called it years ago, blaming Spygate, Deflategate and Belichick’s poor record coaching teams that did not feature Tom Brady as the quarterback.
Tom Brady hugs coach Bill Belichick after the Patriots defeated the Seahawks 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz.
Bayless was shot down by most everyone, and Brady chimed in Wednesday in an interview with Seattle Sports 710-AM, saying: “I don’t understand it. I mean, I was with him every day. If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it.”
Some of the 50 voters on the HOF committee agreed with that sentiment and publicly declared they voted for Belichick, who had to receive 40 of the 50 votes, or 80%, to be elected. He was competing against former players L.C. Greenwood, Ken Anderson and Roger Craig and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Voters could choose three of the five.
Kraft, Belichick’s former boss-turned-arch enemy, only added to the Knives Out mystery. Kraft crafted a statement Wednesday saying Belichick “unequivocally deserves to be a unanimous first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.” But if Kraft gets in, the plot will only thicken.
So how did this happen? We can’t really be sure, since the Hateful 11 (or more) have not revealed themselves to the public. Unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame, in which the vast majority of voters check a box on the ballot to agree to allow the Hall to reveal their votes soon after the election, the Pro Football Hall of Fame conducts its voting in secrecy.
I’m not sure why the pro football writers feel they should be spared the same kind of criticism baseball writers get for our votes, but that’s unlikely to change.
Fans are now piling on the football media without evidence of who didn’t vote for Belichick, which seems appropriate for our times. When in doubt, blame the entire media.
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We may never know the real culprits, even as everyone has seemingly fingered former Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts executive Bill Polian as the main villain of the mystery. The original ESPN report, using an unnamed source, said Polian swayed voters to deny a first-ballot entrance because of Spygate and Deflategate, the two black marks on Belichick’s resume.
Polian told ESPN he was 95% sure he voted for Belichick, but it was after the story had already been posted. Then he confirmed he did vote for Belichick, which painted him as a confused, old man.
All this finger-pointing reminded me of “The Honeymooners” episode in which Ralph Kramden ran for convention manager of the Raccoon Lodge and mistakenly blamed Norton for not voting for him after discovering he lost. Any resemblance between Belichick and Ralph Kramden, however, is purely coincidental.
The fortunate part of the Belichick saga, at least for the NFL, is that the story was leaked early. By the time the Super Bowl takes place on Feb. 8, it won’t be a huge distraction. This week is one of the slowest times of the year, sports-wise, and the Belichick snub was a perfect lead-in to Media Week next week in San Francisco.
And while Belichick reportedly is hurt and angered by the voting, he should be encouraged by all the support he has received since the news was leaked. Instead of being known as a surly egomaniac, he’s suddenly being viewed as a sympathetic character.
Who would’ve guessed that would happen in our lifetime?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/bill-belichick-hall-of-fame-snub/
Lane Bryant documentary producer no longer speaking at Tinley Park high schools
Filmmaker Charlie Minn is no longer scheduled to speak at Andrew High School and Tinley Park High School about his upcoming documentary on the Lane Bryant shootings.
Minn said he felt deceived after he confirmed the events with the schools and announced them to the public, but said plans were changed. He said he is “extremely confused and puzzled” about why plans were changed.
Yet District 230 communications director Jennifer Waterman said that the cancellation explanation from Andrews High School principal Abir Othman is sufficient. Othman said that after careful consideration, the school decided to go in a different direction with the structure and focus of the class.
Minn forwarded the Daily Southtown emails from Tinley Park High School Principal Theresa Nolan stating “let’s plan on 10 a.m.” after he asked what time she would like him to speak with classes on Feb. 2. He said that he spoke with Nolan for more than an hour in person Jan. 20.
In the forwarded emails, Nolan also said she reached out to the Andrew High School principal to schedule him to speak with students there, too.
Minn said he also confirmed with two Andrew High School teachers that he would speak with their classes, which included at least 55 students.
Minn said after he spoke with columnist Donna Vickroy about this event, Nolan asked him to change the event timing. In the forwarded email from Minn, Nolan wrote that she thought Feb. 2 would be a great day for the event but that coordinating the event with the other schools was proving to be difficult.
She offered for the schools to take students to see the movie when it came out in theaters and for him to speak to students afterward so they have more knowledge and exposure to the unsolved crime to help engage in a conversation, according to the forwarded email.
On Monday, before Vickroy’s column was published in the Daily Southtown announcing the events, Minn said Nolan sent him an email asking if the documentary disparaged the Tinley Park Police Department or its efforts on the case. She said she planned on reaching out to the police and mayor to ensure that everyone was on board with the school’s participation, according to the email provided by Minn.
“We have an amazing relationship with the TPPD and I do not want that damaged,” she said in the email.
Shortly after the column was published online Monday, Minn said Nolan sent an email canceling plans to have him speak to Tinley Park High School students because she said she was not notified that he would be mentioning the plans in the news. She said she told him she needed to gather more background before proceeding, according to the emails.
Minn also exchanged emails with an Andrew High School teacher who confirmed Tuesday he was set to speak with the AP psychology class Thursday morning and said school officials would meet him at the school entrance.
But a few hours later, Minn said Othman notified him the school decided against having him speak. Minn said her email said while school officials appreciate the opportunity, the school had “gone in a different direction with the structure and focus of the class.”
Minn said the principal also told him over the phone the event had to be canceled to due to an online threat.
He said the cancellations are a disservice to the students and is costing them a valuable learning experience on a significant local story.
“I’m here to inform, educate and raise awareness, and its disappointing for the leader of the school to deceive me after booking me,” he said Wednesday.
Minn planned to speak to the students about his documentary on the shootings of five women that occurred in a Lane Bryant store in 2008, 18 years ago, before most of those high schoolers were born.
The case remains unsolved, and Minn said he hopes his documentary could spur “someone who knows something” to come forward and solve the mystery. He said the film includes interviews, a re-enactment and a review of the case.
Minn also interviewed the victims’ relatives, a former Lane Bryant employee who knew the lone survivor, a criminology professor and paramedics who were on the scene at the time. He secured licensed footage of the parking lot at the time of the manhunt.
The film documents the shootings Feb. 2, 2008, during which six women were ushered into the back of the store where they were brutalized, Minn said.
The store manager, McFarland, as well as an employee and four customers were taken to a back room. While the manager quietly placed a call to 911, each of them were shot.
Only the employee survived her shot wounds. She helped police develop a sketch of the suspect, which, along with the 911 recording, remains on the Tinley Park police website at www.tinleypark.org.
While Minn’s presentation to the high schools are canceled, he was still scheduled to speak to a UIC class Thursday, as of Wednesday afternoon. This is not open to the public or media.
The film is set to open in theaters on Feb. 13. Ticket sales are underway at AMC theaters in Crestwood, New Lenox and in Chicago’s River East neighborhood. More information is available at www.thetinley5.com.
awright@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/28/high-schools-cancel-lane-bryant-documentary-speaker/
