Transocean agreed to acquire fellow offshore drilling services company Valaris in an all-stock deal worth $5.8 billion.
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Transocean to Acquire Valaris in $5.8 Billion Deal
How Patriots wasted highly unusual opportunity in Super Bowl LX vs. Seahawks
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Throughout the year, folks looked at the New England Patriots a little sideways. Despite going 14-3 over the regular season and winning the AFC East, it was hard to take that record at face value and consider New England a new powerhouse firmly arriving on the NFL block.
These Patriots had the easiest strength of schedule since the 1999 St. Louis Rams — that’s across the NFL, not only Super Bowl-bound teams — as New England’s opponents posted a win percentage of .391. Then, the seas parted for them in the playoffs, facing flawed teams riddled by injury. So, as we arrived at Super Bowl LX, it wasn’t surprising to see the overwhelming consensus on the side of the Seattle Seahawks, a more proven team that had gone through the gauntlet of the NFC West.
Seattle bulldozed to a 29-13 championship win at Levi’s Stadium. That final score doesn’t even truly reflect how one-sided this title bout was, as the Seahawks shut out New England for the first three quarters, forcing three turnovers and sacking Drake Maye six times. Particularly when it came to Seattle’s defense going up against the Patriots offense, it felt like the varsity squad beating up on JV.
“That’s the best team we’ve faced, obviously, this year,” dejected Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said postgame. “It’s only valuable if we understand what it takes and what we are going to need to do to improve. If we don’t do that, then it wouldn’t have been very valuable. We had a really, really good year and one that I am proud of, and this game is not a reflection of our year. We lost, and we were beat, outcoached and outplayed. And give them credit.”
While the Seahawks are a worthy champion and convincingly snatched the Lombardi Trophy, it’s hard not to think that the Patriots let a golden opportunity — of the likes they’ll never see again — slip through their fingers.
That remarkably easy schedule will be a distant memory in short order as New England will now play a first-place schedule in 2026 as opposed to the last-place schedule they enjoyed this year.
So, on top of the NFC North and AFC West divisions that they are scheduled to play next season, the Patriots will also draw fellow first-place teams from 2025 in the Jaguars, Steelers, and Seahawks. New England’s 2026 opponents have a combined win percentage of .531, making it the sixth most difficult schedule next season.
Now, let’s talk about that playoff path. From a sheer quarterback standpoint, going from Justin Herbert to C.J. Stroud to Jarrett Stidham to Sam Darnold in the Super Bowl is about as advantageous a path towards a championship as a team could hope for, and the Patriots couldn’t take advantage.
Next year, some combination (or all) of Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson should be back in the fold after being on the outside looking in this year. Add Josh Allen — who the Patriots did not face in the playoffs — into that, and you’re talking about a much more competitive road for New England to get back to playing for a championship.
Of course, just because the road isn’t going to be more difficult doesn’t necessarily mean that the Patriots can’t/won’t get back to the Super Bowl. Maye is an ascending quarterback, and Vrabel is one of the better coaches in the league, which is a lethal duo as they continue to build. However, they’ll soon realize that opportunities like the one that was just put in front of them don’t come around very often, and a trip back to the Super Bowl is far from guaranteed.
53 migrants dead or missing in shipwreck off Libya coast, U.N. agency says, with 2 babies among those missing
Geneva – The United Nations migration agency said Monday that 53 people were dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast. Only two survivors were rescued.
The International Organization for Migration said the boat overturned Friday north of Zuwara, a city on the northwest coast of Libya that’s about 180 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa, which many migrants attempt to reach by boat from the African coastline.
“Only two Nigerian women were rescued during a search-and-rescue operation by Libyan authorities,” the IOM said in a statement, adding that one of the survivors said she lost her husband and the other said “she lost her two babies in the tragedy.”
The IOM said its teams provided the two survivors with emergency medical care upon disembarkation.
“According to survivor accounts, the boat — carrying migrants and refugees of African nationalities departed from Al-Zawiya, Libya, at around 11:00 p.m. on February 5. Approximately six hours later, it capsized after taking on water,” the agency said. “IOM mourns the loss of life in yet another deadly incident along the Central Mediterranean route.”
Joan Galvez/Anadolu/Getty 
The Geneva-based agency said trafficking and smuggling networks were exploiting migrants along the route from north Africa to southern Europe, profiting from dangerous crossings in unseaworthy boats while exposing people to “severe abuse.”
It called for stronger international cooperation to tackle the networks, alongside safe and regular migration pathways to reduce risks and save lives.
According to the IOM, at least 375 migrants were reported dead or missing following shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean in January alone, with hundreds more deaths believed to have gone unrecorded.
“These repeated incidents underscore the persistent and deadly risks faced by migrants and refugees attempting the dangerous crossing,” the U.N. agency said, adding that over 1,300 migrants went missing in the Central Mediterranean in 2025 and, this year, already the total as of Monday was at least 484.
Trending warm, dry on Monday with fire risk in eastern New Mexico
Good Monday morning! We have another dry day ahead throughout the Land of Enchantment with unseasonably warm weather. This morning low temperatures have fallen into the 20s, 30s and 40s across the state with clear skies. High temperatures this afternoon throughout New Mexico will be roughly 10-25 degrees above normal for February 9th. This afternoon […]
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What marketers need to know
Understanding answer engine optimization (AEO) vs. traditional SEO has become mission-critical for content managers and marketing leaders as search shifts toward AI-generated responses, voice results, and zero-click experiences. While page ranking on Google is still important (for now), success increasingly depends on whether a brand stays visible when an AI system summarizes an answer. 
Kyndryl Finance Chief Wyshner Leaves Amid Accounting Review
Kyndryl Holdings’ chief financial officer, David Wyshner, has left the information-technology-services infrastructure provider amid a review of its accounting practices.
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Seahawks stifle Drake Maye, Patriots to capture Super Bowl LX
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Dan Graziano
Multiple Authors
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The best team in the NFL spent the 2025 season hiding in plain sight. Led by defense and special teams, armed with a quarterback nobody believed in and run by a 38-year-old, second-year coach whose personality remains opaque to almost everyone outside of his building, the Seattle Seahawks kept their heads down and kept working.
“Loose and focused” was the mantra that coach Mike Macdonald established for the Seahawks, and they lived those words right up to and through Sunday night, as they smothered the New England Patriots 29-13 to win the second Super Bowl title in franchise history
“We love each other,” said appropriately named Seahawks safety Julian Love, who had one of the two fourth-quarter interceptions of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye that sealed the victory during a dominant performance by Seattle’s defense. “We’re constantly messing around, never taking ourselves too seriously; but when that whistle sounds and it’s between the white lines, that’s when it’s serious. When there’s work to be done, we go to work.”
The Seahawks did just that against a Patriots offense that didn’t play very well all postseason. Maye had been sacked five times in each of New England’s first three playoff games, and Seattle did the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos one better by sacking him six times in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks’ defensive front came at Maye in waves, cutting off any chance the Patriots had to get in a rhythm and making the game go the way it wanted it to go.
“That group up front, they knew they had to play the most unselfish game they’ve ever played,” Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde said. “Someone was going to get a sack, and it didn’t matter who.”
Byron Murphy, who had seven sacks in the regular season, posted two. But the others came from unlikely spots. Derick Hall matched his regular-season sack total with two. Fifth-round rookie Rylie Mills, who played in only four regular-season games and didn’t get a sack in any of them, had one. And the other one went to cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who was asked to blitz a ton Sunday and did it with gusto.
“Just from watching film and studying, we kind of knew how their tackles were going to set in pass protection, and we know they were kind of struggling this postseason,” Witherspoon said. “So we were going to attack them.”
The Patriots were ill-equipped to combat Seattle’s strength, and the Seahawks played as if they knew that. Eight of the Patriots’ first nine possessions ended with a punt, and the other was a kneel-down to close the first half. When the third quarter finished, the Patriots had 78 yards of total offense and as many first downs — five — as the Seahawks had sacks.
It was a triumph for defensive playcaller Macdonald, who is as good at dialing up pressures as any coach in the NFL and pulled off a masterclass. Love said the Seahawks were installing new plays as late as Saturday, which is not unusual for Macdonald.
“He will game-plan up until whenever,” Seattle defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “We’ll sometimes put a new play in Saturday morning. We’ll sometimes put a new play in Sunday at halftime. DeMarcus Lawrence says you have to have a Harvard education to play in this defense because you’re just constantly learning new stuff. But I think we trust Mike and his genius, and it works.”
Preseason expectations did not shine on Seattle the way they did on the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, two better-known offensive mainstays in the NFC West. As late as mid-December, it was the Rams who were being hailed as the Super Bowl favorites. The Seahawks’ wild Week 16 comeback victory over the Rams was dismissed as fluky, even as it put Seattle in full control of the NFC playoff race.
Seattle’s offense wasn’t consistent throughout the season. The run game took months to get going, and quarterback Sam Darnold fought through the kinds of performance lulls that fed into the persistent doubts from the outside about his ability to deliver in the big games. The Minnesota Vikings let him walk after he led them to a 14-3 season in 2024, and Seattle scooped him up in free agency on a reasonable contract of $33.5 million per year.
But Darnold delivered a monster effort in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, proving the doubters wrong and confirming the Seahawks’ belief that what he did in Minnesota was not a fluke. He struggled Sunday against a game Patriots defense, but Darnold eventually managed to beat the New England blitz with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to AJ Barner that increased Seattle’s lead to 19-0.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today, but the team had my back,” Darnold said. “The defense and special teams had our back, and we just played the way we always play.”
Seattle’s special teams — a key part of its success all season — deserves a mention as well. Punter Michael Dickson played a key role Sunday, as the game was all about field position and field goals.
The Seahawks stuck with the run this season too, even when it wasn’t working, and it got better as the weeks progressed. Even after Zach Charbonnet tore an ACL in a divisional round playoff game against the 49ers, the run game had elevated to the point where Kenneth Walker III could handle the load. After rolling up 135 yards on 27 carries against New England, Walker was named Super Bowl MVP.
“K-9 is special, man!” Love said. “Seeing how hard he works and the time he puts in and to see him win Super Bowl MVP, that’s just crazy.”
Walker couldn’t get into the end zone, though, which is why the score was 12-0 late in the third quarter. But it was the fifth Seahawks sack — and Hall’s second of the game — that tilted the Super Bowl for good. On third-and-6 from his own 44, Maye dropped back to pass and, as was the case for most of the contest, found no one open. Hall broke through the line to sack him and force Maye’s seventh and most costly fumble of the season. Murphy fell on the ball, and Seattle was in business at New England’s 37-yard line. Five plays later, Darnold beat an all-out blitz and found a wide-open Barner in the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.
“Just sticking with what we do, what we’ve done all year,” Williams said. “We told ourselves, ‘All we have to do is be us, but we have to be us.’ And that’s what we did. When we have guys filling their roles to the best of their ability, we can’t be stopped.”
It might not have been the prettiest Super Bowl, but the Seahawks — to paraphrase their coach’s one truly viral moment — do not care. This is a franchise that traded away its previous two starting quarterbacks when they wanted more money than the team was willing to offer and pivoted to Darnold. It’s the franchise that moved on from a legendary, Super Bowl-winning coach after 11 winning seasons in the previous 12 because it felt it needed fresh defensive ideas to keep up with the high-powered offenses in its division. The Seahawks believe in their culture, their roster-building principles and their ability to scout and identify top talent in the draft. All of those things were on display Sunday.
So this was an affirmation for Seahawks general manager John Schneider and his front office, which aggressively pursued Macdonald two years ago to replace longtime coach Pete Carroll. And it was an affirmation for Macdonald, the young defensive genius whose “loose and focused” mantra builds on the culture Carroll set in Seattle for years but who has evolved it into something fresh and new. Macdonald told his team in the offseason that it was getting in on the ground floor of a new program and that it had to “become” the type of team that could win the biggest games.
“Loose and focused” was the way the Seahawks went about it. It’s a phrase they use a ton around the building, where competitive shadowboxing took over the locker room at some point this season, and the players use words like “love” and “brotherhood” when talking about how they came together around Macdonald’s offseason message.
“It takes leadership being OK with ‘loose and focused,'” Love said. “Not every coach is going to enjoy us standing on the side on a walk-through shadowboxing or messing around. But this staff and the leaders on this team understand that when the horn blows, if guys are dialed in on the details, then it’s OK. You don’t have to be in control of everything a player does every day.”
Macdonald’s defensive acumen and culture setting were rewarded Sunday evening with a Super Bowl title that validated everything about the way the Seahawks operate their franchise. They had gone 12 years between Super Bowl titles, but they always stayed competitive and never lost sight of who they were and what they stood for. Even showing up in the Super Bowl — a first for the vast majority of the roster — didn’t rattle them.
“I think that’s been an edge for us all season,” Macdonald said Wednesday. “Every time we’ve gone into a new experience together, knowing that we have principles that we want to abide by and those are kind of our guiding lights in terms of how we want to operate and make our decisions. At some point, you’re going to get distracted, and that’s OK, but it’s about how relentless can we be in coming back to center, back to being in this moment.”
The result was the moment for which they have all spent their entire lives working — one that will live in franchise and NFL history forever. Loose. Focused. Champions.
Norwegian ambassador resigns as she faces scrutiny over contacts with Epstein
OSLO, Norway — A Norwegian ambassador who was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 1990s and most recently served in Jordan has resigned as she faces scrutiny over her contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry announced Mona Juul’s resignation on Sunday evening, days after she was suspended as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan. That followed reports that Epstein left the children of Juul and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, $10 million in a will drawn up shortly before his death by suicide in a New York prison in 2019.
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Juul’s decision was “correct and necessary.” Her contact with the convicted sex offender showed a “serious lapse in judgment,” he said, adding that “the case makes it difficult to restore the trust that the role requires.”
A ministry investigation into Juul’s knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue discussions with the ministry “so that the matter can be clarified,” Eide said.
The ministry said it also launched a review of its funding of and contact with the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank, during the period when it was headed by Rød-Larsen. Eide said Rød-Larsen also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein.
Rød-Larsen and Juul were among those involved in facilitating the landmark Oslo Accords aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 1990s.
Juul acknowledged in a statement to Norwegian news agency NTB last week that it had been “imprecise” to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, but said that the contact originated in her husband’s relationship with Epstein and she had no independent social or professional relationship with him.
She wrote that her contact with Epstein had been sporadic and private, not part of her official duties, but acknowledged that she should have been much more careful.
The latest batch of Epstein files has cast an unflattering spotlight on several prominent Norwegian figures. Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Friday issued an apology “to all of you whom I have disappointed” after documents offered more details of her relationship with Epstein.
The country’s economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland — who also once headed the committee that hands out the Nobel Peace Prize — over his ties with Epstein. His lawyer said Jagland would cooperate.
Meta trial set to begin Monday in New Mexico
The first stand-alone trial from state prosecutors in a stream of lawsuits against Meta is getting underway in New Mexico.New Mexico’s case is built on a state undercover investigation using proxy social media accounts and posing as kids to document sexual solicitations and the response from Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It could give states a new legal pathway to go after social media companies over how their platforms affect children, by using consumer protection and nuisance laws.Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed suit in 2023, accusing Meta of creating a marketplace and “breeding ground” for predators who target children for sexual exploitation and failing to disclose what it knew about those harmful effects.“So many regulators are keyed up looking for any evidence of a legal theory that would punish social media that a victory in that case could have ripple effects throughout the country, and the globe,” said Eric Goldman, codirector of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law in California. “Whatever the jury says will be of substantial interest.”The trial, with opening statements scheduled for Feb. 9, could last nearly two months.Meta denies the civil charges and says prosecutors are taking a “sensationalist” approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was dropped as a defendant in the case, but he has been deposed and documents in the case carry his name.In California, opening arguments are scheduled this week for a personal injury case in Los Angeles County Superior Court that could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out.The allegations against Meta in New MexicoProsecutors say New Mexico is not seeking to hold Meta accountable for content on its platforms, but rather its role in pushing out that content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be addictive and harmful to children.The approach could sidestep immunity provisions for social media platforms under a First Amendment shield and Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act that has protected tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.An undercover investigation by the state created several decoy accounts for minors 14 and younger, documented the arrival of online sexual solicitations and monitored Meta’s responses when the behavior was brought to the company’s attention. The state says Meta’s responses placed profits ahead of children’s safety.Torrez, a first-term Democrat elected in 2022, has urged Meta to implement more effective age verification and remove bad actors from its platform. He’s also seeking changes to algorithms that can serve up harmful material and criticizing end-to-end privacy encryption that can prevent the monitoring of communications with children for safety.Separately, Torrez brought felony criminal charges of child solicitation by electronic devices against three men in 2024, also using decoy social media accounts to build that case.How Meta has respondedMeta denies the civil charges while accusing the attorney general of cherry-picking select documents and making “sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting arguments.”In a statement, Meta said ongoing lawsuits nationwide are attempting to place the blame for teen mental health struggles on social media companies in a way that oversimplifies matters. It points to the steady addition of account settings and tools — including safety features that give teens more information about the person they’re chatting with and content restrictions based on PG-13 movie ratings.Goldman says the company is bringing enormous resources to bear in courtrooms this year, including New Mexico.“If they lose this,” he said, “it becomes another beachhead that might erode their basic business.”Many other lawsuits are underwayMore than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms. The majority filed their lawsuits in federal court.The bellwether trial underway in California against social video companies, including Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube, focuses on a 19-year-old who claims her use of social media from an early age addicted her to technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. settled claims in the case that affects thousands of consolidated plaintiffs.A federal trial starting in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.In New Mexico, prosecutors also sued Snap Inc. over accusations its platform facilitates child sexual exploitation. Snap says its platform has built-in safety guardrails and “deliberate design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors.” A trial date has not been set.The jury weighs guilt, but a judge has final say on any sanctionsA jury assembled from residents of Santa Fe County, including the politically progressive state capital city, will weigh whether Meta engaged in unfair business practices and to what extent.But a judge will have final say later on any possible civil penalties and other remedies, and decide the public nuisance charge against Meta.The state’s Unfair Practices Act allows penalties of $5,000 per violation, but it’s not yet clear how violations would be tallied.“The reason the damage potential is so great here is because of how Facebook works,” said Mollie McGraw, a Las Cruces-based plaintiff’s attorney. “Meta keeps track of everyone who sees a post. … The damages here could be significant.”
The first stand-alone trial from state prosecutors in a stream of lawsuits against Meta is getting underway in New Mexico.
New Mexico’s case is built on a state undercover investigation using proxy social media accounts and posing as kids to document sexual solicitations and the response from Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It could give states a new legal pathway to go after social media companies over how their platforms affect children, by using consumer protection and nuisance laws.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed suit in 2023, accusing Meta of creating a marketplace and “breeding ground” for predators who target children for sexual exploitation and failing to disclose what it knew about those harmful effects.
“So many regulators are keyed up looking for any evidence of a legal theory that would punish social media that a victory in that case could have ripple effects throughout the country, and the globe,” said Eric Goldman, codirector of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law in California. “Whatever the jury says will be of substantial interest.”
The trial, with opening statements scheduled for Feb. 9, could last nearly two months.
Meta denies the civil charges and says prosecutors are taking a “sensationalist” approach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was dropped as a defendant in the case, but he has been deposed and documents in the case carry his name.
In California, opening arguments are scheduled this week for a personal injury case in Los Angeles County Superior Court that could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out.
The allegations against Meta in New Mexico
Prosecutors say New Mexico is not seeking to hold Meta accountable for content on its platforms, but rather its role in pushing out that content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be addictive and harmful to children.
The approach could sidestep immunity provisions for social media platforms under a First Amendment shield and Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act that has protected tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.
An undercover investigation by the state created several decoy accounts for minors 14 and younger, documented the arrival of online sexual solicitations and monitored Meta’s responses when the behavior was brought to the company’s attention. The state says Meta’s responses placed profits ahead of children’s safety.
Torrez, a first-term Democrat elected in 2022, has urged Meta to implement more effective age verification and remove bad actors from its platform. He’s also seeking changes to algorithms that can serve up harmful material and criticizing end-to-end privacy encryption that can prevent the monitoring of communications with children for safety.
Separately, Torrez brought felony criminal charges of child solicitation by electronic devices against three men in 2024, also using decoy social media accounts to build that case.
How Meta has responded
Meta denies the civil charges while accusing the attorney general of cherry-picking select documents and making “sensationalist, irrelevant and distracting arguments.”
In a statement, Meta said ongoing lawsuits nationwide are attempting to place the blame for teen mental health struggles on social media companies in a way that oversimplifies matters. It points to the steady addition of account settings and tools — including safety features that give teens more information about the person they’re chatting with and content restrictions based on PG-13 movie ratings.
Goldman says the company is bringing enormous resources to bear in courtrooms this year, including New Mexico.
“If they lose this,” he said, “it becomes another beachhead that might erode their basic business.”
Many other lawsuits are underway
More than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms. The majority filed their lawsuits in federal court.
The bellwether trial underway in California against social video companies, including Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube, focuses on a 19-year-old who claims her use of social media from an early age addicted her to technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. settled claims in the case that affects thousands of consolidated plaintiffs.
A federal trial starting in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.
In New Mexico, prosecutors also sued Snap Inc. over accusations its platform facilitates child sexual exploitation. Snap says its platform has built-in safety guardrails and “deliberate design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors.” A trial date has not been set.
The jury weighs guilt, but a judge has final say on any sanctions
A jury assembled from residents of Santa Fe County, including the politically progressive state capital city, will weigh whether Meta engaged in unfair business practices and to what extent.
But a judge will have final say later on any possible civil penalties and other remedies, and decide the public nuisance charge against Meta.
The state’s Unfair Practices Act allows penalties of $5,000 per violation, but it’s not yet clear how violations would be tallied.
“The reason the damage potential is so great here is because of how Facebook works,” said Mollie McGraw, a Las Cruces-based plaintiff’s attorney. “Meta keeps track of everyone who sees a post. … The damages here could be significant.”
Eddie Bauer Files for Bankruptcy Protection
The operator of Eddie Bauer stores in the U.S. and Canada has filed for bankruptcy, becoming the latest retailer to do so as headwinds challenge the industry.
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