Robert Pires and Jessica Lemarie (Image Source: Getty)

Robert Pires will go down as one of the defining wide players of early-2000s English football, an elegant and industrious winger whose technical talents were key to Arsenal’s strongest modern era. Arriving from Marseille in 2000, Pires was a walking commercial and sporting asset: winning major silverware while raising his market value, consistent and on the world stage. He still provides the basis for the household income with his career earnings and post-retirement media work.Jessica Lemarie, publicly Jessica Lemarie-Pires, is a model and public personality attending football, fashion, and charity events along with Pires. As for what she is worth herself, this is not separately itemised in the mainstream press, but her contribution to the public profile of the couple and their lifestyle as brands is considerable. This has led to most estimates of combined net-worth being vastly over-reliant on Pires’ documented football earnings and commercial longevity.

Robert Pires, Arsenal success, and salary progression

Arsenal eventually picked up Robert Pires for around £6 million and, after a settling-in period, blossomed under Arsène Wenger. At his peak, between 2001 and 2004, he was among the club’s best contributors, scoring and assisting from wide positions and being a defining part of the “Invincibles” season in 2003-04.To put Pires firmly in the upper salary bracket at Highbury, contract renewals in that period. Reports at the time suggested basic salaries of £60,000 to £70,000 per week in the area, plus bonuses and image rights deals. The vast majority of his career earnings came from those seasons, before factoring in signing fees, performance incentives, and sponsorship revenue. His subsequent stints at Villarreal and Aston Villa were less financially rewarding, yet they more than proved solid additions to his overall earnings.

Net worth outlook and lifestyle profile

Most public estimates of the net worth of Robert Pires fall between $10 million and $25 million, depending on whether property ownership, income from investments, and income after retirement are included. Jessica Lemarie, whose own particular funds are not available to the general public, has been assigned a cautious estimate of value. The couple’s combined net worth is generally attributed to Pires’s playing and media career. A commonly referenced consolidated estimate by analysts and commentators puts their wealth in the combined $12 to $20 million range.Also Read: Cristiano Ronaldo named Best Middle East Player at Globe Soccer Awards 2025 in Dubai

Donald Trump (File photo)

US President Donald Trump asserted that he’s healthy amid reports that emerged after bruising was seen on his hands during a recent public appearance. In an interview with Wall Street Journal published Thursday, he blamed aspirin for the hand bruises and denied falling asleep during meetings. He also corrected his previous statement about getting an MRI scan in October, clarifying it was actually a CT scan.At 79, Trump remains determined to maintain his image of vitality despite growing health concerns during his second term. He insists his health is perfect, though visible signs like bruised hands, often concealed with makeup or bandages, and swollen ankles have sparked public interest.

Trump explained the bruising on his hand is from daily aspirin intake, which he takes to prevent blood clots. “They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” said Trump, talking about why he takes a larger dose. “I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?” he further added.he told WSJ. He further talked about one specific incident where his attorney general Pam Bondi accidentally hit his hand with her ring during a high-five.Trump’s medicals have been a topic for disccussion after, especially after some of his public statements around check-ups. While he initially told reporters about getting an MRI scan with exceptional results, he later told the Journal it was “less than that. It was a scan.” His doctor, Sean Barbabella, confirmed it was a CT scan to check for cardiovascular issues.Regarding accusations of falling asleep during public events, Trump strongly disagreed. “I’ve never been a big sleeper,” he said. He said that what appears to be dozing off is actually moments of relaxation. “I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to me,” he said, adding that sometimes photographers catch him mid-blink.Trump’s health has become a particularly sensitive political issue, especially since he often criticises his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as “sleepy.” Biden left office at 82, making him the oldest president in history – a record Trump is set to break during his current term. Despite questions about his health, Trump maintains an active public presence through social media, press interactions, and golf outings.

TOI correspondent from Washington: At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day 2026, New York turned a page in its long, turbulent chronicle. In a decommissioned subway station beneath the city it once ferried to power and possibility, Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office on the Quran, becoming the 112th mayor of the largest city in the United States. Few inaugurations in recent memory have carried such dense layers of symbolism—or such quiet irony.The book, the venue, and the officiator were all deliberate choices, each freighted with meaning. In a city whose skyline still bears the phantom ache of the September 11 attacks, Mamdani, 34, placed his hand on two Qurans held by his Syrian-origin wife, Ruma Duwaji. In doing so, he claimed a cascade of firsts: the youngest mayor in the city’s history; the first Muslim to hold the office; the first person of Indian origin; the first African-born New Yorker—he was born in Kampala, Uganda—to lead what is arguably the modern world’s most celebrated metropolis.

New York has always measured itself in symbols, and Mamdani’s inaugural gestures spoke volumes. His choice of the Old City Hall subway station for a private oath was his first executive statement. Closed in 1945, the station is a jewel of the Gilded Age, adorned with Guastavino tilework and vaulted skylights that once opened toward the seat of municipal power above. By descending into this architectural relic, Mamdani sidestepped the spectacle of a Times Square-style swearing-in and instead anchored his moment in the city’s buried history—its forgotten spaces as much as its gleaming facades.The oath was administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James, herself a figure of defiance in national politics and a frequent antagonist of former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly targeted her for pursuing legal action against him. The pairing underscored the political tenor of the new administration: unapologetically progressive and unafraid of confrontation.Later on Thursday, Mamdani was sworn in again, this time publicly, on the steps of City Hall. That ceremony carried a different kind of theatre. Officiated by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Mamdani’s political mentor, and featuring Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, his closest ally, the event drew thousands of supporters. A jubilant block party spilled onto Broadway’s storied Canyon of Heroes, turning the inauguration into a street-level celebration of movement politics.At the centre of it all stood Mamdani, whose ascent to City Hall defied almost every conventional rule of New York politics. A third-term Assembly member from Astoria, Queens, he entered the mayoral race as a marginal figure, polling at less than one per cent when he announced his candidacy. Yet by running an unambiguously left-wing campaign focused on affordability—rent freezes, universal childcare, and expanded public transit—he tapped into a deep reservoir of frustration with political centrism and establishment caution.His path to victory required the political equivalent of slaying giants. Most notably, Mamdani defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo not once, but twice: first in the June Democratic primary, and again in the general election after Cuomo mounted an independent bid. It was a repudiation not just of a rival, but of a style of politics that many New Yorkers had come to see as transactional and exhausted.Branded by his team as the “Inauguration of a New Era,” Thursday’s ceremonies reflected both New York’s storied past and its rapidly shifting demographic and political future. This is a city rebuilt repeatedly from catastrophe—economic collapse, social unrest, terror—and Mamdani’s elevation signals a renewed turn toward progressive experimentation at a moment when much of the United States appears to be retreating into a nativist, protectionist shell.The religious symbolism threaded through the day was especially striking. Multiple Qurans were used across the two oath ceremonies, including a family heirloom and a centuries-old volume that once belonged to the great historian Arturo Schomburg. For many New Yorkers, the sight of a mayor sworn in on the Quran in a city that endured virulent anti-Muslim sentiment after 9/11 felt like an act of civic reclamation—a passage from years marked by mourning and suspicion back toward pluralism and power.From an international vantage point, particularly among diasporas from the Indian subcontinent and Africa, the resonance was impossible to miss. For a quarter-century after 9/11, the figure of the Muslim immigrant in New York was often filtered through the lens of national security. Africans, too, were marginalised, with citizens from nearly half the continent now effectively barred from entering the United States.Today, that composite identity occupies the city’s highest office. New York, which once recoiled from the “other,” has entrusted an Indian-African-American Muslim with the task of addressing its most pressing challenges: a punishing housing crisis, an aging and overstretched subway system, and a widening gulf between wealth and poverty.The city that was once defined, in the world’s imagination, by an act of terror is now led by a man whose faith was once invoked to explain that tragedy. Whether Zohran Mamdani succeeds as mayor will be judged by governance rather than symbolism. But his inauguration has already etched itself into history—as a moment when New York, yet again, chose reinvention over fear, and transformation over memory’s darkest confines.

At least three people have died in the first reported fatalities after protests driven by Iran’s worsening economic conditions spread Thursday into rural provinces, said authorities.The unrest marks the largest wave of protests in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the current protests have not yet become countrywide and have been less intense than those sparked by Amini’s death, which followed her detention over not wearing her hijab to the satisfaction of authorities.

While demonstrations have slowed in Tehran, they have expanded to other parts of the country. The deaths — one on Wednesday and two on Thursday — occurred in two cities largely inhabited by Iran’s Lur ethnic group. The fatalities may indicate the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy.In Lordegan, a city in Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, online videos showed demonstrators gathered in the street as gunfire could be heard. The footage matched known features of the city, located about 470 kilometers (290 miles) south of Tehran.The semiofficial Fars news agency, citing an anonymous official, reported that two people were killed during protests there on Thursday. The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran also said two demonstrators were killed in Lordegan and shared a still image of what appeared to be an Iranian police officer wearing body armor and carrying a shotgun. Iran’s government media did not immediately report on the violence in the city.Separately, a demonstration Wednesday night resulted in the death of a 21-year-old volunteer with the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force. State-run IRNA reported the Guard member’s death without providing details. The Student News Network, believed to be close to the Basij, blamed demonstrators, citing comments from Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Lorestan province.The Guard member “was martyred … at the hands of rioters during protests in this city in defense of public order,” Pourali reportedly said. He added that 13 Basij members and police officers were injured.“The protests that have occurred are due to economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations, and are an expression of livelihood concerns,” Pourali said. “The voices of citizens must be heard carefully and tactfully, but people must not allow their demands to be strained by profit-seeking individuals.”The protest took place in the city of Kouhdasht, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran. Local prosecutor Kazem Nazari said 20 people were arrested and that calm had returned to the city, according to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency.Iran’s civilian government, led by reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, has sought to signal a willingness to engage with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged he has limited options as the national currency continues to slide, with $1 now costing about 1.4 million rials.State television separately reported the arrest of seven people, including five it described as monarchists and two allegedly linked to European-based groups. It also said security forces seized 100 smuggled pistols during another operation, without providing further details.Authorities declared Wednesday a public holiday across much of the country, officially citing cold weather. The move appeared aimed at drawing people out of Tehran ahead of a long weekend. Iran’s weekend falls on Thursday and Friday, while Saturday marks Imam Ali’s birthday, another holiday for many.Though rooted in economic hardship, the protests have also included chants against Iran’s theocratic system. The unrest comes as the country’s leaders are still dealing with the aftermath of a 12-day war launched by Israel in June, during which the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites.Iran has said it is no longer enriching uranium at any location in the country, signaling openness to negotiations with Western powers in hopes of easing sanctions. However, talks have yet to begin, as US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Iran against rebuilding its nuclear program.

Will 2026 become the year when Chinese President Xi Jinping decides that the long-promised “reunification” of Taiwan can no longer wait?Driving the newsChina’s latest round of live-fire military drills in the air and seas around Taiwan landed with unusually sharp timing: just as the calendar flipped another year closer to 2027, a date that looms larger for US defense planners than almost any other.

Beijing described the exercises as a “stern warning” to separatist forces. They included simulated aerial strikes, naval live-fire exercises and maneuvers designed to demonstrate the People’s Liberation Army’s ability to encircle and isolate the island. Taiwan’s aviation authority warned the drills disrupted flight safety, affecting hundreds of flights and tens of thousands of passengers.The drills followed Washington’s announcement of the largest-ever US arms package for Taiwan – more than $11 billion – approved under President Donald Trump’s administration. The package includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, anti-tank missiles, drones and other systems intended to strengthen Taiwan’s ability to fight asymmetrically against a far larger force.

While Chinese exercises of this type are often planned well in advance, the sequencing matters. Beijing reacted furiously to the arms sale, with a Chinese embassy spokesperson warning that such moves “risk turning Taiwan into a powder keg” and accelerate the possibility of conflict in the Taiwan Strait.Why it matters

The big picture: China’s ‘Anaconda strategy’Taiwan sits at the center of several overlapping global fault lines: great-power rivalry, semiconductor supply chains and the credibility of US security guarantees in Asia.The island produces the bulk of the world’s most advanced chips, making any conflict there a shock to the global economy. Randy Schriver, a former US assistant secretary of defense, has said the US decision to invest heavily in domestic chipmaking was explicitly shaped by the 2027 timeline.At the same time, Beijing increasingly sees Taiwan not just as a territorial issue, but as a test of China’s rise – and of whether the US-led order can still block Beijing’s ambitions.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Hal Brands has described China’s approach as an “Anaconda strategy”: tightening pressure through cyberattacks, disinformation, diplomatic isolation and economic coercion until Taiwan yields. Undersea cables have been cut. Cyber intrusions are constant. Beijing squeezes Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners and blocks its participation in international bodies.The logic, Brands argues, is that isolation and demoralization can achieve what a risky amphibious invasion might not.FlashbackThe current moment is often framed through what US defense officials call the “Davidson window,” named after Adm Philip Davidson, the former head of US Indo-Pacific Command. In 2021, Davidson warned that China sought the capability to seize Taiwan “in the next six years.”Two years later, then-CIA director Bill Burns said intelligence showed Chinese President Xi Jinping had “instructed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion.”

Those statements hardened 2027 into a planning assumption in Washington – one that still shapes war games, budgets and alliance consultations.Between the linesReadiness is not intent – and US intelligence agencies continue to stress that distinction. Officials believe Xi wants the option of invasion by 2027, not necessarily the order on his desk.That nuance matters because Beijing has many tools short of war. Analysts increasingly focus on scenarios like a quarantine or blockade, customs inspections that choke trade, or intensified gray-zone pressure that stops short of crossing a clear red line.The Economist’s Patrick Foulis warns that after a strong 2025, China’s leadership faces “a year of temptation” in 2026. With the Communist Party’s next five-year congress approaching in 2027 – when succession questions will loom – some of Xi’s advisers may argue that the strategic conditions for coercing Taiwan will never be better.Those conditions include what Beijing perceives as US ambivalence, polarized politics in Taiwan, and broad international support – roughly 70 countries – for “reunification by all means,” as Chinese diplomats phrase it.But temptation cuts both ways. Foulis also argues that hubris has been a recurring feature of Xi’s rule, from wolf-warrior diplomacy to zero-Covid. Overreach on Taiwan could trigger a regional arms race or a catastrophic war that derails China’s long-term rise.What they’re sayingChinese officials have left little doubt about how they view US arms sales. Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Axios the package “grossly violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués,” adding: “The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s core interests, and is the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations.”Taipei’s message is defensive and resolute. A spokesperson for Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington said the island remains committed to maintaining the status quo, but “facing mounting aggressive acts from the other side, President Lai has said that Taiwan must make the best possible preparations for worst-case scenarios and be ready, regardless of the timeline.”

President Lai Ching-te has pledged to raise defense spending toward 3% of GDP, invest in mobile missile systems and drones, and conduct urban resilience drills designed to prepare civilians for sustained pressure.Trump, for his part, has sought to play down the immediate risk. Asked about the Chinese drills, he emphasized his relationship with Xi and said, “I don’t believe he’s going to be doing it.” He also dismissed the exercises as routine: “They’ve been doing naval exercises for 20 years in that area,” according to Bloomberg.Zoom inMilitarily, Taiwan remains one of the hardest targets on earth. Rough seas, narrow beaches, mountainous terrain and dense urban centers complicate any amphibious assault. Taiwan’s forces are increasingly optimized for asymmetric defense – mobile missiles, sea mines and drones designed to turn the strait into a killing zone.And any invasion would almost certainly draw in the US – and likely Japan – raising the risk of a major-power war. That reality underpins deterrence, even as Beijing’s capabilities grow.Yet deterrence is not static. US officials privately worry about the defense industrial base. Taiwan will not receive all of its F-16V fighter jets by the end of 2026 as originally promised. Pacific infrastructure projects – airstrips, ports and fuel depots – remain incomplete.Ely Ratner, who oversaw Indo-Pacific security policy in the Biden administration, has said much of the construction is still happening at peacetime pace – a mismatch with the compressed timeline.The regional angleChina’s pressure campaign is not confined to Taiwan. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Beijing is pairing domestic propaganda – what Mao once called “the pen” – with intimidation of Taiwan’s supporters – “the gun.”That includes sharp warnings to Japan after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a Taiwan contingency would involve Tokyo. Chinese coast guard vessels have probed disputed islands, drones have flown near Japan’s westernmost territory, and officials have quietly discouraged Chinese tourism to Japan.

The goal, analysts say, is isolation: cutting off Taiwan diplomatically and psychologically, while testing whether its partners will blink.Reality check: The danger aheadHistory suggests that wars often begin not with certainty, but with miscalculation. Overconfidence in Beijing, defeatism in Washington, or panic in Taipei could each prove destabilizing.As a New York Times analysis noted recently, the widening gap between China’s confidence and America’s self-doubt increases the risk that each side misunderstands the other’s resolve.

Xi has made Taiwan a personal legacy issue, folded into his vision of national rejuvenation. Yet he has also shown patience, preferring to wait until conditions tilt decisively in his favor.The question hanging over 2026 is whether restraint will still seem wiser than action. Temptation does not guarantee invasion. But as the clock ticks toward 2027, the margin for error is shrinking.Despite the drumbeat of drills and deadlines, most analysts do not see an imminent invasion. China’s leadership understands the staggering risks: military failure, economic sanctions, capital flight and a rupture with the world’s advanced economies.

Many believe Xi still prefers a peaceful outcome – or at least one that avoids a shooting war. Polls in Taiwan, however, show a supermajority now identify exclusively as Taiwanese, suggesting Beijing is losing the “hearts and minds” battle.That demographic and political reality may increase pressure on Xi over time. Taiwan is a legacy issue for him, central to his vision of national rejuvenation. But patience has long been part of Chinese statecraft.What nextThe next two years are likely to bring more of what the region is already seeing: Larger drills, sharper rhetoric, deeper gray-zone pressure – and more arms flowing to Taiwan.For Washington, the challenge is closing the gap between plans and capabilities before 2027 arrives. For Beijing, the challenge is resisting the temptation to believe its moment has arrived.Bottom line: 2027 is less a countdown clock than a stress test – of deterrence, alliance cohesion and Xi’s judgment. The danger is not just war by design, but miscalculation driven by confidence in Beijing and doubt in Washington.

NEW DELHI: Panicked partygoers smashed windows and fought through smoke and flames to escape a deadly fire that tore through a packed New Year celebration at a bar in Switzerland’s luxury ski resort of Crans-Montana, where dozens are feared dead and more than 100 people were injured, according to Swiss authorities. Witnesses described scenes of chaos, screaming crowds and parents rushing to the area in fear that their children were trapped inside.A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV said he saw people breaking windows to flee the blaze, some of them gravely injured, while panicked parents arrived in cars trying to find out whether their children had managed to escape. Watching from across the street, the young man said he saw around 20 people scrambling out through smoke and flames, likening the scene to a horror movie.

Also read: Deadly fire ravages New Year celebration at luxury Swiss ski resort; dozens feared dead, 100 injured — what we know so far

‘The entire ceiling was on fire’

Two French women, Emma and Albane, who were inside the basement-level La Constellation bar when the fire broke out shortly after midnight, told BFMTV that panic erupted within seconds.“It was absolute panic, everyone was screaming,” they said, describing how crowd movement became uncontrollable as the flames spread.“One of them (candles – editor’s note) was brought too close to the ceiling, which caught fire. In a few dozen seconds, the whole ceiling was on fire. Everything was made of wood,” one of the women said.According to their account, the party was taking place in the basement when the fire quickly spread to the upper level of the venue.

Windows smashed as exits proved inadequate

The women said the main exit was too small for the number of people inside, forcing some to take desperate measures to escape.“The exit door was quite small compared to the number of people present. Someone broke a window so that people could get out,” one of them told BFMTV.They said firefighters and police arrived “within minutes,” but the flames were already dangerously close. “We had flames a meter away from us; if we hadn’t run away, we would surely have been injured too,” one of the women said.One of the witnesses also said she was injured during the stampede-like escape. She recounted being “thrown down the stairs” by the surge of the crowd, injuring her knee.

Young crowd feared among victims

While officials have not yet confirmed the final number or identities of those killed, the two women estimated that around 200 people were inside the bar at the time of the fire. They said many were minors, aged between 15 and 20.Accounts of parents rushing to the scene echoed fears that many young people were trapped as the fire engulfed the wooden structure.

Probe under way as rescue continues

Swiss authorities said rescue and identification efforts were continuing, with the area around the bar sealed off and a no-fly zone imposed. According to Reuters, the Valais canton prosecutor said an investigation was under way “to identify the circumstances which caused this dramatic situation to occur,” adding that “currently we are favouring a fire and at no time is there question of any attack.”For survivors and witnesses, the terror of the night remains raw. As one witness told BFMTV, the scenes unfolding in and around the bar felt less like a New Year celebration and more like a nightmare that unfolded in seconds.