Eagle-eyed fans have claimed Drake hit out at Serena Williams after she joined Kendrick Lamar on stage at the Super Bowl halftime performance.
Last weekend, Kendrick’s halftime show became the most-watched Super Bowl performance of all time. Not only did he wow fans with his political performance and imagery, he also delighted viewers when he performed his Grammy-winning diss against Drake, Not Like Us.
He first teased the song in between tracks as he headed over to a group of dancers and said: “I wanna perform their favourite song but you know they love to sue,” referring to Drake issuing a federal defamation lawsuit to his music label UMG over rival Kendrick’s diss track.
A few beats of the song played over the speakers before Kendrick said: “Yeah that song, oh maybe I’ll think about it.” He performed other songs before he finally performed Not Like Us. Kendrick rapped, “Say Drake, I heard you like ’em young”, as he smiled as he looked right at the camera.
Serena crip walked at the Super Bowl halftime show ( Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc)
Serena and Drake are reported to have dated a decade ago ( Toronto Star via Getty Images)
The entire crowd sang along to, “Why you trollin’ like a b***h? Ain’t you tired?/ Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minorrrrrr.” The performance had many talking points but one of the biggest surprises was an appearance from tennis champion Serena Williams, who was seen crip walking as Kendrick belted out the chorus. Fans quickly pointed out Drake and the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion reportedly dated around a decade ago.
Drake and Serena are said to have dated from 2011 to 2015 – although the reported romance was never confirmed and their dates are said to have been very low key. Not only did Kendrick stand up for Serena in Not Like Us when he rapped: “From Alondra down to Central, n***** better not speak on Serena,” he also invited the sports star to dance at the halftime show.
Her move seemingly touched a nerve for Drake as he took to his “finsta”, or secondary Instagram account, to share a photo of his arm around Jill Smoller, Serena’s former agent. It was also pointed out the photo was taken during the summer of 2015 when he went to support Serena at Wimbledon. It was also around the same time they were supposedly dating.
In 2022, five years after Serena married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Drake hit out at Alexis in his song Middle of the Ocean. Lyrics included: “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie.”
Serena’s crip walk at the Super Bowl wasn’t only a dig at Drake, it was also in response to when she performed the move at the 2012 Olympics. The crip walk was met with intense criticism from people within the tennis world. After the halftime appearance, she addressed the Wimbledon criticism in a video shared on X. She said: “Man I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon,” and added: “I would have been fined.”
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Australia has accused China of “unsafe” military manoeuvre after a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares near an Australian air force plane patrolling the South China Sea, drawing a quick pushback from Beijing.
The Australian Defence Force said on Thursday that its plane was flying a “routine” surveillance patrol over the contested waters on February 11 when the Chinese aircraft Shenyang J-16 approached.
It added that the jet “released flares in close proximity” to the Australian Poseidon surveillance plane, describing the incident as “an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre that posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel”.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the flares passed within 30 metres (100 feet) of the aircraft, which typically carried about nine people.
No one was injured but Marles said the move posed the “potential for significant damage”.
He told Sky News that officials had voiced their displeasure with their Chinese counterparts in Canberra and Beijing.
The Australian government “expressed its concerns” to China over the incident.
‘Violation of Chinese sovereignty’
Beijing swiftly hit back, accusing the Australian plane of “violating Chinese sovereignty and endangering Chinese national security”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said that “without Chinese permission, the Australian military aircraft deliberately intruded into the airspace around China’s Xisha Islands,” Beijing’s name for the Paracel Islands.
The Paracel group of islands is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
“China’s measures to expel the aircraft were legitimate, legal, professional and restrained,” Guo said.
He added that Beijing had “lodged solemn representations” with Canberra to demand an end to “infringements and provocations”.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite an international ruling in 2016 concluding this has no legal basis.
The midair incident is the latest in a string of episodes between China and Australia in the increasingly contested airspace and shipping lanes of Asia.
It also coincided with the arrival of three Chinese navy vessels in waters northeast of Australia’s mainland.
Australia’s Defence Department officials said a Chinese frigate and a cruiser had been spotted near Australia’s “maritime approaches” with a supply tanker in tow.
Marles said it appeared to be unrelated to the aircraft incident but the Australian navy had sent its own frigate to shadow their voyage.
“Australia respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law, just as we expect others to respect Australia’s right to do the same,” the Department of Defence said.
Ukraine has advanced 5km (3 miles) deeper into Russian territory during the past week, as Russia again reportedly deployed North Korean forces against it.
But as Kyiv’s forces inched ahead, United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a NATO meeting on Wednesday that it was “unrealistic” to expect a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders and ruled out NATO membership for the war-torn nation – a major blow to Ukraine’s post-war ambitions.
Amid tensions between NATO allies, with several European members at odds with Washington’s perspective, the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) released a report on Tuesday warning that Russia could launch a war with “one or more European NATO countries if it perceives NATO as militarily weakened or politically divided”.
“Since 2022, Russia has been undertaking a major reconstruction and reform of its military forces in parallel with its war effort in Ukraine,” the report said.
“During 2024, this effort has changed its nature from a reconstruction to an intensified military buildup with the goal of being able to wage an equal fight against NATO forces.
“The economic and material support from China and the support from North Korea and Iran with troops and weapons systems, respectively, are increasingly contributing to freeing up resources for Russia’s rearmament against NATO.”
Ukraine’s intensified push
On February 6, Ukrainian forces launched a new offensive with two mechanised battalions from the town of Makhnovka, which they control.
Geolocated footage showed they had moved along the 38K-028 highway to form a salient towards the southeast, capturing the settlements of Kolmakov and Fanaseyevka.
Ukrainian forces advanced somewhat further along that highway on Friday, holding positions close to Cherkasskaya Konopelka, said Russian reporters.
They said a second Ukrainian offensive launched from Dimitriukov was successfully checked.
Ukraine had launched another surprise offensive in Kursk on January 5.
Two surprise offensives in as many months suggest the importance Ukraine places on the Kursk operation, as well as Russia’s inability to anticipate Ukrainian actions, according to observers.
(Al Jazeera)
Moscow’s forces have been unable to dislodge Ukraine from Russian territory since August 6 last year, when Ukraine counter-invaded in a surprise move not even its allies knew about, as an active defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On the six-month anniversary of the operation, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) revealed that preparations had begun two months before the counter-invasion.
“When Russia in June 2024 continued to carry out loud air strikes on the Sumy region, small special forces groups entered the enemy rear in the Kursk region,” the SSO posted on its Telegram channel.
“The destruction of Russian air defence systems and ammunition depots did not leave the enemy the opportunity to react quickly. Point strikes on strategic objects and enemy logistics made it impossible to quickly transfer reinforcements,” it said.
The SSO also said its special operations forces liaised with local resistance fighters opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, to set up ambushes and carry out sabotage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine’s push into Kursk has diverted 60,000 of Russia’s most capable personnel from the Ukrainian front to defend Russian turf.
Manpower shortages
Last December, Russia deployed North Korean soldiers to help secure its territory, but those forces were said to have disappeared from the battlefield in mid-January after losing as much as a third of their number in dead and wounded, according to estimates.
Zelenskyy said on Friday that they were returning after recuperation, and a Ukrainian unit published video purporting to show them in active combat on Saturday.
(Al Jazeera)
Both sides have faced manpower shortages.
Last May, Ukraine passed a conscription law obliging Ukrainian men aged 25-27 to enlist. The move was thought enough to raise a quarter of a million new soldiers, but Kyiv has struggled as some avoid the draft.
Ukraine has had to spend 50,000 of those new recruits bringing existing brigades back up to strength rather than building a dozen new brigades as planned. Zelenskyy said he would now offer inducements for 18-24 year-olds to sign up to fight as well.
Russia’s situation is also difficult.
Unlike Zelenskyy, Putin has not enlisted through general mobilisation, possibly fearing the political consequences.
Zelenskyy said on February 4 that Russia has lost 300,000 to 350,000 soldiers since the full-scale invasion, with another 600,000 to 700,000 wounded. The figures are the highest yet given by Ukraine, whose Ministry of Defence estimates more than 850,000 Russian dead and wounded.
Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukrainian commander-in-chief, said last month that 434,000 of those casualties were incurred in 2024 alone, suggesting that the war is becoming deadlier and less sustainable for Russia.
(Al Jazeera)
Russian-North Korean military cooperation deepens
North Korea has apparently been helping Russia with migrant labour as well as soldiery.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) revealed on Sunday that 13,221 North Koreans entered the Russian Federation last year, 12 times the number that emigrated in 2023.
Those workers were separate from the 11,000 troops North Korea reportedly dispatched to Russia beginning in August.
About half of the workers entered on student visas, the NIS said.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, suggested this was a way of bypassing a UN Security Council Resolution barring any country from receiving North Korean labourers.
North Korea is sanctioned for its nuclear weapons programme, and the UN is concerned that a diaspora could reinforce the economy with remittances.
Putin has reportedly grown increasingly reliant on his North Korean ally for ammunition as well.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukraine Center for Countering Disinformation, said last December that 60 percent of the artillery ordnance used by Russia now comes from North Korean factories.
(Al Jazeera)
Japanese news network NHK quoted unnamed sources on Saturday saying Russia would co-develop drones with North Korea in order to increase the size of its arsenal.
“The sources say the accord on drone development is in return for North Korea’s deployment of soldiers,” said NHK.
Russia may also be assisting North Korea improve the accuracy of its ballistic missiles, which they are already using in Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian military sources told Reuters that all 20 North Korean ballistic missiles Russia has fired into Ukraine since late December have shown remarkably greater accuracy than those used earlier.
“The increase in accuracy – to within 50-100m of the intended target – suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology,” Reuters quoted the sources as saying.
The ISW pointed out that hitherto, North Korean missiles had an accuracy range of 1 to 3 km (0.6 to 1.9 miles).
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un examine a launchpad during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky on September 13, 2023 [Mikhail Metzel/ Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP]
During a visit to Russia in September 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured Vostochny Spaceport with Putin, visited production sites for military aircraft at Komsomolsk, and viewed Russian planes and missile systems.
“This is why we are visiting here,” state news agency Tass quoted Putin as saying at Vostochny. “The North Korean leader has expressed a strong interest in rocket technology, and they are also seeking to develop space exploration capabilities.”
Russia has threatened to provide its other weapons ally, Iran, with ballistic missile technology, and it could provide the same technology to North Korea.
Ukraine’s deep strikes
Ukraine continued its campaign of disrupting Russian weapons and energy supply to the front.
It said its long-range drones struck the Albashneft oil depot at Novominskaya, in the Russian region of Krasnodar Krai, on February 5, causing a fire.
The following day, Ukrainian drones struck the Primorsko-Akhtarsk Airbase, Ukraine’s General Staff said, causing an explosion and fire.
On Tuesday, the staff said their drones struck the Saratov Oil Refinery in Saratov City, which supplies the Russian military.
Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation said Ukrainian drones also struck the Engels Airbase and the Afipsky Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai during the week.
Ukraine has set a high priority on developing its own drones to strike deep in Russia unburdened by restrictions on the uses of Western weapons.
Ivan Havrylyuk, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said on Friday that Ukraine had patented 1,300 types of drone and drone ammunition since the beginning of the war, with 250 drone models approved last year alone.
Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said he would increase the size of existing drone battalions and regiments, and would unify their command to enable them to undertake coordinated action. That would enable Ukraine to create kill zones 10 to 15 km (6 to 9 miles) deep inside enemy territory, he said, destroying Russian forces before they reach the front lines.
Trump’s payment in rare earths
Zelenskyy told The Guardian on Tuesday that Europe could not supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs without US support.
Trump on February 3 said he wanted Ukrainian rare earth metals in return for US aid. Zelenskyy told The Guardian all allies could share in Ukraine’s mineral wealth, valued at 26 trillion euros ($28 trillion), but the US would have priority access.
Trump spoke with Putin on the phone for the first time on Wednesday, and phoned Zelenskyy to inform him of the discussion.
“I am grateful to the President for his genuine interest in our shared opportunities,” Zelenskyy later said in his evening address. “We discussed many aspects – diplomatic, military, economic.”
Zelenskyy said he would present the US delegation to the Munich Security Conference on Friday with “an agreement that will strengthen our security and give new momentum to our economic relations”.
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s constantly reapplying lipstick after everything: taking a drink, eating food, kissing your partner, etc. Not to mention, you have to ensure your lipstick is always close at hand for those essential top-ups throughout the day.
While there are some occasions where this isn’t the end of the world, for an evening out, for example, when it’s your go-to lippy for all-day wearing, constantly needing to ensure it hasn’t smudged or rubbed off is a pain.
That’s why there’s one lipstick I discovered at 13 that I’ve sworn by ever since because it simply does not budge no matter what, and it lasts all day and night, no matter what. And, the best part, it’s a bargain.
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My Maybelline Superstay 24-hour lipstick in Soft Taupe and Caramel Kiss ( Meghan Coon)
The Maybelline Superstay lipstick in soft taupe has been my must-have for over ten years, and I’ve never found a lipstick to compete with it. I’ve tried plenty of nude shades that are close to it in the shade—I prefer a cool tone or neutral colour myself—but the longevity is unmatched with this Maybelline essential.
Boasting over 24 hours of wear, which it easily lives up to and surprises, it’s the perfect lipstick to reach for no matter the occasion. Going out for coffee? It won’t come off on the cup and disappear after the first sip. Cocktails with the girls? It stays put even after a round of shots. Enjoying a nice dinner out? You could eat a burger or chicken wings (something that would normally banish any lippy), but this lipstick does not budge. And with Valentine’s quite close on the horizon, it’s worth mentioning this gem doesn’t budge even if you’re having a smooch.
Retailing for £10.99, though currently £9.99 on Amazon, this gem comes in a wide range of shades. My two personal faves that I’ve been opting for time and time again are Soft Taupe (a cooler-tone beige-pink that’s perfect for every day) and Caramel Kiss, which I got my hands on for days where I fancy a dash of colour.
Available in most high street stores, including Boots, Superdrug, Branded Beauty, and on shelves at most major supermarkets, my favourite shade (soft taupe) tends to sell out on physical products, so Amazon is my go-to place where I know it’s in stock nearly all the time.
Not breaking the bank, this two-in-one wonder isn’t just your ordinary lipstick. It’s a liquid formula with a doe foot applicator, and it does dry down matte (something I love), but it also comes with a top-coat balm, which adds a dewy shine if you prefer a glossier finish. This balm is also handy thanks to the fact it’s attached to the lipstick and can be easily reached when you fancy wearing it atop the lipstick or as an ordinary lip balm.
‘I even wore this lipstick for my graduation’ ( Meghan Coon)
The only downside I’ve found is that when choosing a brighter or darker colour, this lipstick does dry fairly quickly and requires a steady hand. You need precision when applying it; if you make a mistake, you must act fast to ensure no marks or stains are left in its wake.
The only other fault some may experience is that it really does not move. I’ve found it typically lasts closer to 40 hours, depending on what you’re doing. If you’re eating, drinking, or if you tend to pick or chew your lips, it may last less than that. Taking it off with your ordinary make-up wipe can be quite challenging.
This isn’t something I personally mind, as I wear it daily, and haven’t found that it dries out my lips if I leave it on. Still, if you frequently change your lipstick colour or don’t like leaving makeup on, this may prove a tad difficult at the end of the day. That being said, most makeup cleansing balms I’ve tried do a good job of removing most of them, making it easier to remove the rest with a wipe or cotton pad.
You can currently pick up this must-have lipstick in my go-to soft taupe hue for £9.99 from Amazon, or you can shop the same shade range at Boots, Superdrug, Branded Beauty, and most supermarkets.
