Video game behemoth Electronic Arts has officially changed hands following a monumental $55 billion acquisition.

The California-based developer, known for blockbuster franchises like “Battlefield” and “The Sims,” confirmed Tuesday the sale of its business to a consortium including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, investment firm Silver Lake Partners, and Affinity Partners, led by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump.

This record-setting transaction marks the largest private equity-funded buyout in history, potentially signaling significant shifts within the global gaming landscape.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated the new ownership would “invest boldly, accelerate innovation, and build the next generation of games and experiences for the hundreds of millions of players and fans who inspire us every day.”

Turqi Alnowaiser, PIF’s deputy governor and head of international investments, echoed this, pledging to “invest heavily in EA’s growth,” particularly through artificial intelligence in game development. PIF had already held a minority stake in EA for five years.

While some analysts suggest going private could offer EA greater freedom from public market pressures, others highlight the $20 billion in debt financing, raising concerns about potential layoffs and cost-cutting measures.

The involvement of Saudi Arabia’s PIF and Kushner’s Affinity Partners has drawn considerable scrutiny. Critics are questioning the implications for EA’s future game development.

The U.K.-based campaign #BlockTheEADeal, which previously urged regulators to challenge the buyout, warned in an online petition: “With this deal, Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner just bought access to 700 million players worldwide.

With the increased use of AI in the creative sector and video games, the potential for data misuse by a foreign sovereign is high and poses significant international security risks.”

Kushner, in a Tuesday statement, asserted that EA had “created stories, characters, and communities that have become part of everyday life for hundreds of millions of people” and that Affinity was “excited to support the company as it continues to reach new audiences.”

Meanwhile, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have consistently criticized Saudi Arabia’s extensive investments in sports and esports, often accusing the nation of “sportswashing” to divert attention from its human rights record.

PIF has steadily expanded its gaming portfolio, already holding a minority stake in Nintendo and a substantial esports presence, including platforms like ESL FACEIT. EA’s “Madden NFL” and “EA Sports FC” (formerly FIFA) will now join this growing umbrella.

With the transaction finalized, EA stockholders will receive $210 in cash per share, and the company’s stock is no longer traded on the public market.

The closure orders were granted by Tameside Magistrates’ Court on 29 July 2026 following enforcement action by Greater Manchester Police’s Oldham neighbourhood teams working in collaboration with GMP’s legal team.

Officers received information from residents, councillors and partner agencies regarding suspicious activity linked to the addresses on Balfour Street and Miriam Street, leading to investigations by neighbourhood teams.

Concerns included men arriving throughout the day and night, staying for short periods of time before leaving again and causing significant distress to those living nearby.

Neighbourhood Inspector for Oldham South & West, Amie Whitehead, said: “We’re committed to addressing the issues that matter most to residents, and these closure orders show that we will act on information provided by our communities.

“These two premises had a significant impact on people living nearby, with men attending the addresses throughout the day and night and loitering outside neighbouring homes while waiting to enter.

Miriam Street, Failsworth (Image: Google)

“Residents told us this behaviour was causing considerable distress within the community and affecting their quality of life.

“We’ve responded to reports, worked with partners and gathered evidence to take enforcement action, and have now secured closure orders to prevent further criminality and protect the local community.

“I would like to thank residents who came forward with information. Community intelligence is vital in helping us identify and address this type of offending.”

On Monday 27 July, neighbourhood officers attended an address on Balfour Street, Oldham, in relation to a concern for welfare.

Upon entering the property, officers identified a brothel operating at the address.

One man fled from the rear of the property but was subsequently detained. Two people were arrested on suspicion of controlling prostitution for gain.

A 48-hour closure notice was authorised and, following an application to the court, a three-month closure order has now been granted.

On the evening of Tuesday 28 July, officers from the Oldham South Neighbourhood Team executed a Section 8 PACE warrant at an address on Miriam Street following reports from the local community.

During the operation, two women were arrested and bailed as the investigation continues.

A 48-hour closure notice was authorised at the property, and a three-month closure order has now been granted by the court.

It is now a criminal offence to enter or remain in either property during the period of the closure orders.

It has been confirmed that the 66-year-old actor will return to his role as Leslie Higgins, the club’s mild-mannered director of football operations.

As well as starring on Apple TV in one of the platform’s most streamed shows, the actor has also starred in Downton Abbey as a butler – and he may well be one of Teesside’s most quietly successful exports.

Swift was born in Stockton, the son of two music teachers, in 1960 and grew up in the region before training at the Guildford School of Acting in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He spent much of the 1980s working almost exclusively in theatre, including stints with Deborah Warner’s Kick Theatre company and the comedy performance-art group The People Show, alongside numerous television commercials.

Building a screen career

Swift’s early screen credits included a notable role in Mike Leigh’s acclaimed 1990 film Life Is Sweet, which brought him critical praise, followed by a memorable villainous turn in 1997’s The Borrowers.

He continued building his profile through the 1990s and 2000s with roles in productions including Dalziel and Pascoe, The Smoking Room and Casualty, as well as film parts in Robert Altman’s Gosford Park and the 2005 adaptation of Oliver Twist, in which he played Mr Bumble.

His profile rose further with roles in Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace and the family favourite Fred Claus, before he became a familiar face to costume drama fans as election agent Glenvil Harris across the final two series of Foyle’s War.

Spratt, Higgins and household names

Swift found wider recognition playing Septimus Spratt, the calculating butler to the Dowager Countess, across three seasons of Downton Abbey – a role that made him a recognisable face on both sides of the Atlantic.

It was his casting as Leslie Higgins, the loyal Head of Football Director at AFC Richmond, in Apple TV’s Ted Lasso that brought Swift his biggest international audience.

The role, which he played across all four seasons of the hit comedy, earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2021.

Swift has described Higgins as a character who changed the least over the show’s run, something he considers no bad thing given the warmth audiences felt for him.

The drought crisis gripping the UK is revealed in a new Met Office map showing areas where just 3% of expected rainfall came during the entire month of July as farmers warned of impending food shortages

Britain’s drought crisis is laid bare in new weather maps showing a frightening lack of rainfall across the country.

Half of England is currently under official drought conditions after some areas recorded almost no rainfall in the entire month of July.

While rain has fallen in areas further north in recent days, helping boost reservoirs and alleviate some of the severe impacts on farming, forecasts show more dry, hot weather in the Southeast of England – the hardest-hit region.

One weather map, issued by the Met Office, shows that rainfall was 65% below average across the UK last month. New maps issued by the service this week indicate the lack of rain has hampered soil moisture, which is causing havoc for farmers across the UK.

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Large swathes of the UK is in a brown hue in the graphic, which indicates soil moisture is low – as much as 1% in some parts of the East of England and the Southeast of England – at the moment.

Soil moisture is a measurement favoured for showing the exact amount of water available in the ground to sustain plant life and agriculture. The benchmark required for supporting plants and wildlife is typically around 30%.

Reacting to this data, Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGovern said in a forecast bulletin: “It’s not good news – we really need the rain… You obviously need soil moisture for those plants to continue to thrive and we are seriously lacking in soil moisture across a large part of England and Wales.

“I’ve just picked a point there, but it’s representative of a large area of England or Wales, 1% soil moisture in that top 40 centimetres, less than 30% supposedly over a long period time. It really isn’t good news for plants and all sorts of wildlife that need plant life and so on.”

Southern England experienced just 3% of its long-term average rainfall for the month – its driest month ever recorded – while Wales was on 9%.

Only the far north of Scotland bucked the trend, recording 69% of its average rainfall after continued downpours and more changeable conditions.

Farmers sounded the warning this week that some everyday food staples – such as wheat, barley, and potatoes – could be set to jump in price due to shortages in the coming months after the worst summer harvest in living memory.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “We have taken food production for granted for too long; we must create a more resilient food system to feed the 29 million households across the country, and we can’t produce food without water.

“Those other countries around the world that we currently rely on to produce our food and vegetables, their climates are changing as well. It does feel like there is going be some shortages of products.”

Hosepipe bans have been in place across the Southeast of England and East Anglia for several weeks – and in Whitstable and Herne Bay, Kent, local residents have been urged to use water for essential purposes only to prevent a sudden loss of water supply.

South East Water’s Matthew Dean said: “Due to the prolonged period of hot and dry weather, water levels in our local drinking water storage tank in the Whitstable and Herne Bay areas continue to be extremely low.

“This may soon impact our ability to pump fresh drinking water to our customers. All customers are currently in supply. However, if demand for water continues to remain high, there is a risk of supply interruptions.”

He continued: “We’re continuing to ask customers to use water for essential purposes only: drinking, cooking and hygiene. This is in line with our temporary usage ban that is now in place for all of our 2.4 million customers across our supply area.

“To safeguard our shared resource and help prevent any homes from facing a sudden loss of water, we are incredibly grateful to everyone helping us protect water supplies in Kent.”

Showers are forecast across the Northeast of England on Thursday, but not enough to improve soil moisture significantly. Temperatures are likely to rise next week too, with 35C expected across the East of England and parts of the Southeast of England.

France is banning unsolicited telemarketing calls under a new law that goes into effect next week aimed at protecting consumers from intrusive sales pitches.

The law, which also aims to shield vulnerable people from fraudulent commercial practices, is backed by President Emmanuel Macron‘s government and comes into force on Aug. 11.

Previously in France, people who wanted to avoid marketing calls had to register their number with a government-run service, but consumer groups said some call centers ignored the list.

Now, “businesses are prohibited from contacting consumers without their prior consent,” said Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. “That consent can be withdrawn at any time.”

The government says the law is a response to years of consumer complaints. Authorities estimate that about three-quarters of people in France receive at least one unsolicited sales call every week, and many receive more.

In 2024, 11 consumer organizations issued a joint call for a ban, denouncing “relentless harassment of consumers through countless unwanted telemarketing calls to both landlines and mobile phones — an intrusion that has become a regular part of their daily lives.”

Parliament approved the law last year.

Individuals who make illegal calls can be fined up to 75,000 euros ($87,000) per call. Companies can face fines of up to 375,000 euros ($435,000) per call.

There are exceptions. Consumers may consent to receive marketing calls, for example by checking a consent box on a form. Companies can contact customers with new commercial offers if they already have a contractual relationship.

People can report unsolicited calls through a government website.

Vilcot noted that an Ireland-based company was fined 6 million euros ($6.9 million) last year for violating France’s previous telemarketing rules by calling people on the no-call list.

France’s new law has raised concerns in Morocco, where the minister of employment, Younes Sekkouri, said in March that between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs were at risk in the country’s call centers. Sekkouri said the French market accounts for more than 80% of revenue in the sector.

Neighboring Germany has had a similar ban since 2009 while many other countries rely on opt-out systems.

In the United States, people can sign up for the national Do Not Call registry, which cuts down on unwanted sales calls, Canada has its own Do Not Call list, while the U.K. has the Telephone Preference Service.

In Britain, companies that call people who have opted out can be fined up to 500,000 pounds ($670,000) per call.

People have been complaining for yearsAn unwanted call faces fines of up to 375,000 eurosOther countries have tried to limit calls

The University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row has resigned “with immediate effect”.

Prof Jason Arday said he had “concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.

Earlier, the university said it had launched an investigation “following new information” about Arday’s “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”.

It comes after another academic – self-defined “race realist” Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024 – said he found numerous instances of plagiarism in Arday’s work and questioned some of his stated achievements. The academic has admitted errors in his work, but has insisted he is not “a liar”.

In a statement posted by the Good Law Project on Wednesday, Arday said that being appointed professor had been “without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life”.

“The years since my appointment have also been marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack,” he said, adding “there comes a point when the personal cost becomes too great”.

He said his resignation should not “be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge.

“Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me.”

Thanking his students and colleagues, he said that “for my own wellbeing, for my family, and for those who have stood by me throughout this difficult period, I have concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.

Arday said “this is not the end of my work” and that he needed “time to heal”.

“When that time comes, I will return,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, the university said its inquiry had begun “following new information” about Arday’s “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”.

It added that there remained “a number of ongoing complaints regarding academic misconduct”.

In its statement, the University of Cambridge said: “While we are fully aware of the public commentary and concerns around this matter, it remains vital that any process is thorough and adheres to both university policies and employment law.

“We also fully recognise that there is a person at the centre of this situation, and we continue to provide support to him.”

Jesus College, where Arday is a fellow, has said it is launching its own process “parallel” to the university’s investigation.

In 2023, the then 37-year-old sociologist became the youngest ever black professor at Cambridge.

Accusations of plagiarism in Arday’s work were first voiced by Cofnas – a US researcher whose role at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash to his view that under a true meritocracy black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”.

He claimed on Substack that he had put Arday’s work through a plagiarism detection software, which found that “many passages are lifted with minimal editing, sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source”.

On Saturday, Arday told the Times in an interview that he was accountable for those mistakes, but that “what I am not is a liar”.

He told the newspaper: “There has been, since I arrived at Cambridge, a very well orchestrated and co-ordinated campaign to unseat me from my position.”

He suggested that this was “racially motivated” and that he had become a “lightning rod” for criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy.

Arday said some errors in his early academic work was because of his autism, as he relied on using mimicry to make sense of information, and that similar scrutiny would find similar errors in work by other academics.

“We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody. I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable,” he told the newspaper.

ARSENAL 1-3 REAL BETIS: The Gunners were convincingly beaten in Dublin, giving Mikel Arteta some cause for concern ahead of his team’s season which starts in just 11 days’ time

Lacklustre Arsenal fell to a comprehensive 3-1 defeat to Real Betis in their second pre-season friendly. The Gunners gave their fans in Dublin little to enjoy with an under-par display.

Mikel Arteta watched his side make a string of mistakes, showing the kind of rustiness that he’ll hope will be gone in less than a fortnight when they start the 2026-27 season against Manchester City for the Community Shield. Arsenal found themsleves 2-0 down inside 26 minutes and Arteta was visibly frustrated on the touchline.

Piero Hincapie pulled one back but Betis didn’t take long to restore their two-goal advantage before half-time. A raft of changes didn’t make much difference in the second half and it was a match that will have fans talking for the wrong reasons.

Here are five talking points from the Aviva Stadium.

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1. Kepa’s clangers

With Illan Meslier through the door, there’s competition to be Arsenal’s No.2 goalkeeper. But Kepa Arrizabalaga didn’t help his case by making an error in the ninth minute.

A corner was floated in by Pablo Fornals and Kepa came steaming out looking to punch. But the Spaniard got it all wrong and completely missed the ball, giving Rodrigo Riquelme a tap-in.

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Kepa’s appeals for a foul fell on deaf ears and soon enough he made another error. His poor clearance surrendered possession to Betis and Nelson Deossa punished him with an unstoppable strike.

Will Arsenal win the Premier League? Give us your prediction in the comments section.

2. Still Set Piece FC

After finding themselves 2-0 down and playing poorly, Arsenal needed a response. That came in the form of – you guessed it – a corner.

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New signing Christos Tzolis whipped the ball in and it evaded flapping Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles inside his own six-yard box. Standing a matter of inches from the line, Hincapie had a simple task to nod the ball in.

It was another well-worked routine from the Gunners. Tzolis’ delivery dipped perfectly and Betis were bamboozled by the runners in yellow, who were sporting Arsenal’s new third kit.

3. Guimaraes required

On the day Arsenal agreed a £75million deal to sign Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, their second-choice midfield was exposed. Sloppy, lethargic, careless – all of those could be thrown at the trio of Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Kai Havertz.

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Both Betis’ second and third goals summed up their performances that will remind the Arsenal board just why they’re buying Guimaraes. Deossa’s strike may’ve been a screamer but he was afforded was too much time to pull the trigger.

And then for Fornals’ goal which restored Betis’ two-goal cushion, Havertz gave the ball away with a weak pass. It was all far too easy and so unlike Arsenal.

4. Injury blow for teenager

Arteta rung in the changes at half-time, making a total of seven substitutions. One who came on was Louie Copley, who captained Arsenal’s under-21 side last season aged 19.

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But sadly for the highly-rated midfielder, who was used at right-back, his night only last 10 minutes. Copley had landed awkwardly while chasing the ball and immediately looked in pain.

Arteta reluctantly subbed him, as the teenager had to be helped off the pitch as he struggled to put weight on his leg. Hopefully for Copley, it’s nothing serious.

5. Arteta managing minutes

As the game petered out, albeit with Betis looking the more likely to score against a youth Arsenal XI, Arteta made two intriguing substitutions. Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli had only entered the fray at half-time, but they came off 30 minutes later.

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The two Brazilians had only reached the round of 16 at the World Cup, but it’s clear that Arteta is being careful with his starters who played a mammoth amount of minutes last season. Both Gabriels should be involved on Saturday at home to Borussia Dortmund.

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