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According to news on February 20, 2026, the estate administrator of Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay US$35 million (approximately RMB 242 million) to settle a related victim class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that two of Epstein's former advisers assisted him in sex trafficking young women and girls. Related settlement documents have been filed in Manhattan federal court and are awaiting approval by a judge.

The lawsuit began in 2024. The defendants are Epstein's former personal lawyer Darren Indyk and former accountant Richard Kahn, who are also co-executors of his estate. The plaintiff's attorney pointed out that the two men helped Epstein build a complex network of companies and bank accounts to cover up illegal activities, pay related expenses and profit from them. According to the settlement statement, neither party admitted wrongdoing, and the defendants stated that the settlement was for the final settlement of estate-related claims and was not an admission of the allegations. The settlement will provide a confidential avenue for financial relief for victims who have outstanding claims.

Epstein died in a New York prison in August 2019, and the cause of death was ruled suicide. His estate has previously established a victim compensation fund, which has paid a total of US$121 million (approximately RMB 836 million) and paid an additional US$49 million (approximately RMB 338 million) for other related settlements. Together with the $35 million reached this time, the total amount of money Epstein’s estate will spend on victim compensation has further increased.

Public information shows that Epstein has a long-term relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, and his private island Little St. James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands has also received widespread attention due to related scandals. The legal team responsible for the case also previously pushed JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank to reach a settlement on related negligence issues, involving an amount of US$365 million (approximately RMB 2.521 billion).

With the filing of this settlement agreement, the years-long ongoing claims of Epstein-related victims have taken another step forward. The case still needs to be formally approved by the judge, and subsequent compensation payments and related processes will be advanced in accordance with the court's ruling. This series of compensation and reconciliation has also allowed more victims to receive financial compensation and continues to push related incidents to a conclusion.

Financial News Agency, February 21 (Editor Zhao Hao) An executive from Apollo Global Management said that the private equity industry is facing a long period of pain in software investment because the industry failed to realize in time that new technologies such as artificial intelligence will subvert this long-term favorite track for private equity.

David Sambur, partner and co-head of private equity at Apollo, said in an interview, "People are only now starting to realize that there is going to be a multi-car pileup on the software investment highway. In fact, all the signs are there in 2022."

Sambur noted that the launch of OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT about three years ago, along with a higher interest rate environment, were the initiators of the sell-off in technology stocks that has roiled the market in recent weeks.

Wall Street has been selling off software stocks recently, as investors worry that a new generation of AI tools from companies like Anthropic could eventually make existing software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers obsolete.

Earlier in the day, Anthropic introduced a new feature in its AI model that can scan the code base for security vulnerabilities. Affected by the news, CrowdStrike and Cloudflare both fell by more than 7%.

The private equity industry has greater exposure to SaaS because they value these software companies' stable, predictable revenue models that rely on a loyal customer base. Private equity firms have invested heavily in this area over the past few years, setting a record of $348 billion in 2021.

Sambur said, "Did we fall into groupthink, like 30% to 40% of M&A transactions are concentrated in the software field? In hindsight, this is actually a pretty big red flag. When people look back at this stage, they will see that this was a failure of risk management."

As many pandemic-era software investments near the end of traditional private equity holding cycles, concerns are growing about whether these companies can sell assets at desirable prices and realize returns. It could also harm private equity firms' fundraising plans and their ability to pursue new deals.

Sambur said the industry needs to prepare for a "much needed reset" in valuations as investors reassess software companies' economic models and future growth rates. "When you actually sell these businesses, you'll see the results, and that process will take time to fully unfold."

As of December 31 last year, Apollo had approximately US$938 billion in assets under management. According to Sambur, the company's private equity business has "zero exposure" to the software sector, and its exposure at the group level is less than 2%.

But even so, Apollo's stock price is still dragged down by the industry, and has fallen by more than 14% this year.

Apollo Private Equity management, which includes Sambur, said in a letter sent to clients this week that the company's decision to "avoid this area was based on investment and risk management considerations rather than a blanket rejection of the entire industry."

There are winners and losers in the software industry, but "among leveraged equity funds, we believe the potential returns are insufficient to match the risk," they wrote. The letter also stated that Apollo will continue to look for new opportunities brought about by market turbulence.

Other well-known M&A institutions have also recently reassured investors, emphasizing that their exposure to the software field is limited or controllable. Sources say Thoma Bravo and Vista Equity Partners have met with investors to allay concerns.

(Zhao Hao, Financial Associated Press)

On February 18, definite news came from the White House that a US-Japan trade agreement involving a total amount of up to 550 billion US dollars had officially launched the first batch of investments. The U.S. government immediately announced on social media that this was a historic victory, and bluntly pointed out that the direct driver of all this was tariffs. This incident is not an isolated business investment behavior, but a symbolic node in the US government's radical reshaping of the alliance system by taking advantage of asymmetric security and market dependence.

Behind this huge number is Washington's precise economic blood pumping of Japan. Through extreme administrative intervention, the United States is forcing its allies to convert existing wealth into incremental US assets. This approach of sacrificing the long-term development potential of allies in exchange for the reconstruction of the domestic industrial base of the United States has completely torn off all the warm veil of mutual benefit in traditional diplomatic rhetoric.

Forced return of capital under the stick of tariffs

The core logic of this incident is extremely simple and crude, which is to use tariffs as a tool of geopolitical coercion. The U.S. government unabashedly placed the word tariff at the core of its statement. For Japan, which is mainly an export-oriented economy, the U.S. market is a lifeline that it cannot give up. Faced with the threat of high tariffs at every turn, the Japanese government and consortium lack strategic room for maneuver and can only choose to exchange huge amounts of direct investment for market access.

This US$550 billion commitment is essentially Japan’s submission to the United States. Different from the past financial model of simply purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds or investing in securities, this investment requires industrial implementation. This means that Japan must forcefully inject real money that might have been used for upgrading its own industry, research and development, or expanding into emerging markets into the real economy of the United States, and forcefully absorb Japanese capital in an attempt to fill the huge funding gap caused by the hollowing out of the U.S.'s own industry.

This operating mode marks a fundamental change in the nature of the US-Japan alliance. In the past, the United States provided security protection in exchange for the political following of its allies. Now it further requires allies to directly pay for the domestic economic construction of the United States. This is a naked realization of hegemonic dividends, forcibly changing the direction of capital flow through political pressure, forcing global funds to concentrate in the United States to support its costly reindustrialization process.

The politics and energy calculations behind strategic site selection

A careful analysis of the locations and areas of the three core projects announced this time clearly reveals the extremely shrewd strategic calculations of the US government. Investments were not evenly distributed, but landed precisely in Texas, Ohio and Georgia. These three states are not only key political vote bases, but also the key to America's future energy and industrial strategy.

Oil and gas projects in Texas are aimed at further solidifying the United States' position as the world's largest oil and gas producer. The strategic intention of the expansion of LNG facilities in the Gulf of America is to control global energy pricing power. By upgrading infrastructure with Japanese funds, the United States can not only meet domestic demand, but also increase its export capabilities to the global market, thereby assuming absolute dominance in energy geopolitics. Japan paid for the construction, and the United States reaped the export dividends. This chicken-and-egg method was used to perfection.

The power plant project in Ohio is more symbolic. As the heart of the Rust Belt, it was a symbol of the decline of American manufacturing. Japan will build the largest natural gas power plant in history in the state, which will directly serve the cheap power supply that the United States is currently desperate for. As the demand for electricity from artificial intelligence computing centers and the reshoring of manufacturing industries surges, power infrastructure has become a strategic bottleneck. The injection of Japanese funds has solved the urgent need to upgrade the US power grid.

Reshaping supply chains in critical minerals

The key mineral projects in Georgia are the most geostrategic link in this investment list. Key minerals such as rare earths, lithium, cobalt, etc. are the food for modern defense industry, new energy and high-tech industries. For a long time, the United States has tried hard to get rid of its dependence on external supply chains in this field. This time forcing Japan to invest in key mineral facilities in Georgia shows that the United States is building a closed and exclusive secure supply chain.

The United States uses administrative means to force its allies to locate processing links in the United States, aiming to completely control upstream resources and midstream processing links through hegemonic means, so as to implement a bullying monopoly on the global strategic supply chain. For Japan, this is undoubtedly a painful divestment of the industrial chain. Originally, Japanese companies had certain world-leading technologies in the field of key materials. However, as production facilities are forced to move to the United States, Japan not only faces the risk of industrial hollowing out, but the dividends from its technology spillover will also be forced to be absorbed by the United States.

This approach not only undermines the principle of global free trade, but also grossly tramples on the global industrial collaboration system. The United States is using the technology and funds of its allies to build a strategic resource fortress that is completely controlled by Washington's will. This kind of behavior will not only fail to bring about common prosperity of the global economy, but will cause violent shocks to the global supply chain and increase costs because of its exclusivity, and global consumers will ultimately foot the bill.

Predatory symbiosis within the alliance system

This investment case of up to 550 billion US dollars reveals a cruel reality in the current international order: the US-Japan alliance is evolving into a predatory symbiotic relationship. The United States is no longer satisfied with harvesting seigniorage through dollar hegemony. Instead, it has begun to use the unequal power structure formed due to security dependence to carry out targeted killings of wealth from its allies.

As a country that is highly dependent on the United States for its security, Japan has almost lost its bargaining power in the face of U.S. economic blackmail. The U.S. government has accurately grasped this weakness and upgraded the form of protection fees from a simple sharing of military garrison costs to a comprehensive blood transfusion against the shortcomings of the U.S. national strategy. Although this approach can quickly boost U.S. economic data and create so-called high-quality jobs in the short term, it comes at the cost of completely overdrafting the economic vitality of its allies.

When allies are squeezed to the limit, the foundation of the entire alliance system will become fragile. For current decision-makers in Washington, the long-term health of the alliance is obviously not as important as immediate physical investment. Oil and gas derricks in Texas, turbine generators in Ohio and mineral refineries in Georgia are tangible industrial assets that they see as victory.

As this protracted game enters its fourth year, security loopholes in Russia's rear are becoming a breakthrough for its opponents' despicable methods. Recently, Lieutenant General Alexeev, deputy director of the Russian Military Intelligence Service, suffered an assassination attempt. Although he saved his life, he was seriously injured and follow-up work basically came to a halt.

The most chilling thing about this matter is that the killer who performed the mission was neither an ace agent nor a professional mercenary. These are not professional agents, but people on the fringes of society who have been deceived and deeply brainwashed by Uzbek intelligence agencies through the Internet with large sums of money. They are outright terrorist agents.

Let's compare the data. There is a huge amount of information behind it. Since the war began, only one lieutenant general of the Russian army has actually been killed on the battlefield, but in Russia, three lieutenant generals have died from assassinations. Including Alexeyev, who was seriously injured this time, it can be said that in Russia today, home is more dangerous than the front line.

Why is the security of high-ranking intelligence officials so lax? This reflects that adversaries are using the window period to maintain social stability in Russia to carry out extremely insidious infiltrations and targeted killings. In order to maintain social stability, Moscow has been trying to downplay the impact of the war on the country.

This mentality also spread to the generals. The dignified lieutenant general actually lives in an ordinary civilian apartment, commutes to and from get off work on time every day, and does not even have a decent security team accompanying him. This deliberately created peaceful atmosphere has become the most fatal loophole in the eyes of opponents.

The Ukrainian side is very accurate. Since it is difficult to break through frontally, it will use terrorist attacks to break the mentality of the Russian army's top leaders. They don't need to send elite agents to sneak in. They just need to find desperadoes on the Internet who have failed in business or are desperately short of money.

After simple monitoring training, these agents who are willing to risk their lives for money can accurately target the target. This fully exposes the unscrupulous nature of the Uzbek intelligence agency, which not only uses civilians as cannon fodder, but also kills them afterwards. Its despicable methods are despicable. As long as this insidious infiltration does not stop, the Russian generals will always be under this unpreventable threat.

On the 18th, the Chinese Consulate General in Sapporo issued a reminder that in the early morning of that day, a Hong Kong resident was beaten on the head with a beer bottle in a restaurant in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and the police arrested the Japanese suspect on the spot.

The Chinese Consulate General in Sapporo has lodged representations with the local police, requesting the police to enforce the law in accordance with the law, seriously hold the perpetrators accountable, and effectively safeguard the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.

The Chinese Consulate General in Sapporo once again reminds Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near future, and reminds Chinese citizens in the consular district to pay close attention to the local security situation, increase safety awareness, and strengthen self-protection.

The Governor of Chang'an Street (WeChat ID: Capitalnews) noticed that recently, the Chinese Embassy in Japan has repeatedly reminded Chinese citizens to avoid traveling to Japan in the near future.

On January 3, the Chinese Embassy in Japan stated that the security environment in some areas of Japan was unstable. Cases of attempted murder and social retaliation occurred in Fukuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture and other places.

Many Chinese citizens in Japan reported being insulted, beaten and injured for no reason. On December 31, 2025, a car hit a person in Shinjuku District, Tokyo. Two Chinese citizens were seriously injured and were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

After learning about the above-mentioned relevant cases, the Embassy in Japan immediately expressed condolences and provided assistance to the injured Chinese citizens and their families. At the same time, it made representations to the Japanese police, urging them to solve the case as soon as possible and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.

According to Japanese media reports, on the evening of January 29, a Chinese citizen was attacked with tear gas near Ueno, Tokyo, and the suitcases held by him and four companions were robbed. The Chinese Embassy in Japan lodged representations with the Japanese police, requesting the Japanese side to solve the case as soon as possible and effectively protect the lives and property of Chinese citizens in Japan.

According to CCTV news, the latest data released by the Japan Government Tourism Bureau on February 18, local time, showed that the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in January this year decreased by 4.9% compared with the same period last year. This is the first negative growth since January 2022. Among them, tourists from mainland China to Japan decreased by 60.7% year-on-year, declining for two consecutive months.

Recently, the School of Journalism and Communication of Bohai University

Professor Meng Jiado during his vacation in Thailand

Successfully saved one person

Foreign children accidentally drowned

The place where the incident occurred. Photo provided by interviewee.

On February 17, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Meng Jiado was taking a friend's child to swim in the swimming pool of the Jomtien Palm Beach Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand, at around 11 a.m. when he was inadvertently attracted to a blond child. The child, who looked less than 2 years old, kept moving his hands and feet in the water. At first, Meng Jiado thought it was the child's unique swimming posture. When he got closer, he found that the child had choked in the water and had a panicked and helpless expression. He realized that the child was not swimming, but struggling desperately on the edge of life and death.

At the critical moment, Meng Jiado quickly lifted the child to the edge of the swimming pool and successfully escaped the danger. After the child's condition stabilized, he immediately searched for the child's parents. A few minutes later, the child saw the mother coming over and cried into her arms. After the child's mother learned what happened, she repeatedly expressed her gratitude to Mengjiado with gestures and Russian.

According to Liaoning Daily, Meng Jiado said in an interview that the child fell into the water in a corner with a slope, and further down was a 1.5-meter-deep pool. Although the swimming pool is only 1.5 meters, it is still too deep for young children around 2 years old. "It was so dangerous that the child's mother was not around when the incident occurred. An accident often occurs within a few minutes," Meng Jiado said.

During the interview, he said: "I will lend a helping hand within my ability. During the trip, I felt the friendliness of foreigners towards us Chinese, so I also want them to feel the kindness of us Chinese as much as possible." At the same time, he also reminded everyone that they must be safety-conscious when traveling during the holidays and take good care of their children and families.

According to the WeChat public account of "Boda New Media", Meng Jiado, male, was born in March 1976. He has worked in local media for more than 20 years and is a senior reporter, professor, and master's tutor. In October 2018, he was rated as a provincial and ministerial-level leading talent, the seventh batch of outstanding experts in Liaoning Province, a talent evaluation expert and a senior professional title evaluation expert in Liaoning Province. He has won the China Journalism Award twice. His commentary article "Never allow malicious ridicule of fire-fighting heroes sacrificed" written in China Youth Daily won the third prize for literary criticism in the 30th China Journalism Awards. He has won special prizes and first prizes for journalism at the national, provincial and ministerial levels 39 times, and 64 second and third prizes.

Meng Jiado has won honorary titles such as Liaoning Province's Outstanding Journalist and Jinzhou City's May 1st Labor Medal. While working at Jinzhou Evening News, Meng Jiado served as the first secretary of Lanni Village, Heishan City, Jinzhou City. In December 2018, he was selected into the "China's Good People List" for his deeds of "a good journalist who has persisted in helping interviewees in need for more than 10 years."

Work statement: The content is taken from the Internet

Information sources: All contents stated in this article have reliable sources of information, which are mentioned in the article and at the end.

"Parental Love" has been replayed thousands of times and still dominates the screen 12 years after its first broadcast.

The fireworks and warmth performed by Guo Tao, Mei Ting and others have healed generations of audiences.

But who could have expected that 12 years later, when we dug deeper, we would find a shocking surprise.

There are three people in the play. In the play, they are relatives who accompany them day and night, and outside the play, they are real family members that transcend blood ties.

Starting from "Parents' Love", they walked hand in hand and had a tacit understanding, and they acted in 5 dramas together.

Easter eggs hidden in the plot

When you turn the calendar to January 2026 and open the "Parental Love" that has been released electronically, you may feel a sense of confusion in time and space.

In the twelfth year after this drama premiered, it is still firmly in the first echelon of domestic drama pension insurance, taking turns taking the lead in hot searches with "The Legend of Zhen Huan".

But just recently, when viewers with a microscope level replayed the movie for the Nth time, they suddenly dug up a deeply buried Easter egg in this tender picture of the times.

Who would have thought that the political commissar Wang in the play would make your blood pressure soar, and the fake illegitimate son Jiang Changyi who would make An Jie angry and return to his parents' home.

In addition, the female doctor who was glimpsed turned out to be a neat family of three in the real world.

We have to focus behind the monitor on set. In the crew of this drama, Wang Yongquan is not only an actor, his name is clearly printed in the column of executive director.

Playing your cards according to common sense, with such authority in your hands, it is easy to pave a beautiful path for your son.

By arranging a lovable young talent or an affectionate positive character, wouldn't it be easy to win the audience's favor?

But Wang Yongquan didn't. This old-school filmmaker seemed to have a grudge against his own son, and he directly took over the two most maddening points of the drama.

He plays Wang Zhenbiao himself, a political commissar who is petty, preachy, and tortures his ex-wife.

The word "disgusting" is engraved in his bones, so much so that the audience can't wait to press the mute button every time they see him appear.

Even more ruthless was the arrangement for his son Wang Hong, who gave the role of Jiang Changyi to his own son.

A white-eyed wolf who pretended to be his father, which directly caused an earthquake in Jiang Defu's family and made An Jie run away from home.

When Wang Hong, wearing a shabby military uniform, shouted "Dad" submissively and thoughtfully in the play, the audience in front of the screen was probably looking for a quick-acting heart-saving pill.

This isn't a favor to your son, it's just pushing him into a pit of fire.

But it was precisely this kind of casting logic that tore apart the father and son's strong bones as actors.

Without any filters, without any beautification, Wang Hong just stood up to the spit of the entire Internet.

The cowardice and calculation of the rural youth were brought to life.

Behind this pit lies an old director's top Versailles in the industry.

People in our family don't need a halo, just relying on their acting skills can make you remember them for a lifetime, even if you hate them so much.

A family in the noon universe

If "Parental Love" is the family's first try, then its horizons widen to the entire Noon Sunshine universe.

You will find that this family of three is simply playing a large role-playing game.

This feeling is amazing, like you are in a different parallel time and space.

I bumped into these familiar faces repeatedly, but couldn't recognize them at all.

The camera cut to "Nirvana in Fire". This time, Wang Yongquan took the face-changing skill to the extreme.

Xia Jiang, the head of the Xuanjing Division, had a sinister look in his eyes and caused misfortune to Lin Shu's family. It made people run cold down their backs.

What’s interesting is that in this time and space, the director team finally allowed the real-life couple to intersect.

But it was a shocking act of righteousness and annihilation of relatives.

The original wife of Xia Jiang, played by Sun Xiaohui, was a highlight when she appeared on the scene. She came back with her son with only one purpose, to send her ex-husband to the guillotine.

Watching the wife in real life expose her husband's crimes in detail in the play.

I don’t know if Wang Yongquan would have a layer of cold sweat on his back when calling the card on the spot.

And the son Wang Hong who was scolded miserably in "Parental Love" suddenly transformed into Li Gang, the most reliable guard around Mei Changsu.

Without Jiang Changyi's wretchedness, only loyalty and competence remain.

The drama of this family was ridiculously wide, and in the blink of an eye, Wang Yongquan was wearing a sheepskin coat again.

Speaking Xinjiang Mandarin with a mouthful of cumin, he became the uncle An Liman in "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" who is greedy for money and talks too much.

Who can connect this funny old man holding the camel's thigh and begging for mercy with the unsmiling political commissar Wang.

They played wives in "Ode to Joy" and continued to play husband and wife in "Dajiang Dahe".

For them, the crew seems not to be a vanity fair, but a mobile living room.

Since everyone has to go to work, why not be in the same crew and have a lunch together at noon.

Not only a sweeping monk, but also an invisible person

In the entertainment industry ecosystem of 2026, the existence of this family of three seems out of place.

If you look at the current hot search rankings, there is a fierce battle for position, and it can last for three days and three nights for a C position.

Traffic stars are eager to put the word "hard work" on their foreheads, and even if they suffer a slight skin injury, they will send a press release to tell the world.

Wang Yongquan was a ballet dancer at the Shandong Provincial Song and Dance Theater in his early years. Young people today may have never heard of this experience.

Changing career as a director or actor is just a job that needs to be taken seriously for him.

His wife, Sun Xiaohui, played the female doctor who bandaged Jiang Weiguo in "Parents' Love".

The movements are neat, the expression is calm, there are very few scenes, and there are not even a few lines.

But if you look carefully, that professional energy is much more presentable than many heroines who wear white coats and fall in love today.

As the second generation star, his son Wang Hong could have taken shortcuts by using his father's resources, but he kept a low profile in this circle and was like a transparent person.

Apart from acting, you can hardly find him in any variety shows or red carpets.

He is not in a hurry to be the protagonist, nor does he mind playing the buffoon. From "Parents' Love" to "Nirvana in Fire".

Turning to Lei Shigen in "Dajiang Dahe", he acted step by step and turned the supporting role into an indispensable puzzle piece.

This sense of relaxation is simply a luxury in the current environment.

They do not regard acting as a tool to gain fame and fortune, but as a way to build family groups.

After the filming was over, as soon as the makeup was removed, they disappeared into the sea of ​​people and turned back into an ordinary couple, an ordinary father and son.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, when everyone was still immersed in the lingering warmth of the Spring Festival, CCTV 8 quietly released a "king bomb". The 30-episode period drama "The Love of Time" starring Huang Jingyu and Guan Xiaotong ranked first in the ratings when it premiered on CCTV's eight evening shows. The popularity of Taochang went straight to 5,000 in 2 hours and 6,000 in 4 hours. This is a brilliant start for a period-themed drama.

What is even more surprising is that this period drama about the growth of children from factories and mines in Northeast China in the 1990s actually started with a bare-chested boxing match involving Huang Jingyu, which directly took the audience from the "period theater" to the "sports channel". After watching the first 4 episodes, I have to say: CCTV has made the right bet again this time.

The opening chapter is high-energy, jumping from the boxing ring to the factory area in time and space. If you watch this drama for the sake of peace and quiet, the first 5 minutes of the first episode may make you suspect that you are on the wrong set. The opening scene was Huang Jingyu's shirtless boxing match, with abdominal muscles, sweat, and a sense of strength from fist to flesh – before the audience could react, they were already firmly locked in this "hormonal attack."

But the next second, the camera turned and returned to the Donghua Factory in Tiexicheng, Northeast China in the 1990s. The young man Zhang Xiaoman (played by Huang Jingyu) was being blackmailed by the school bully.

This sense of contrast between "working from CCTV8 to CCTV5" is precisely the biggest hook planted by the director: What did this kid from a factory and mine who grew up with a lot of food go through before he left his hometown and became a boxer?

The pace is fast. The first four episodes quickly establish the emotional foundation of the characters through three clues: missing people, disturbances, and separation.

Zhang Xiaoman was a child who had a hard life. His biological mother left and his father became a drunkard and often beat Xiaoman. His unreliable father even found a stepmother for him, and within a few days he took his new love to the south to work, leaving him with only a harmonica and throwing him to his elderly grandmother.

Young Xiao Man took his two friends – Yan Xiaodan, the daughter of the factory director, and Xia Lei, who had a strict upbringing – out of the city to look for his father. As a result, they stayed overnight in a cave and triggered a massive search throughout the factory.

Xiaoman fell into the water unexpectedly. Ding Guoqiang, the "factory tyrant" played by Jia Bing, fished Xiaoman out of the water and carried him to the hospital. The fate of two unrelated people was thus forged.

Soon Xiaoman and several friends grew up. The adolescent Xiaoman secretly liked Xiaodan, but the teacher gave Xia Lei and Xiaodan the task of reciting poems, and they recited "To the Oak Tree". Good brother Xia Leileng hoarse his voice and gave the opportunity to Xiao Man.

When Xiaoman and Xiaodan stood on the stage, the heartbeat of youth was frozen in the recitation of "If I love you – I will never be like a climbing flower in the sky".

The separation between Xiaoman and grandma was the biggest tear point in the first four episodes. Xiaoman attended the factory celebration performance and looked for her grandma everywhere on the stage but could not find her. After returning home successfully from the performance, grandma was still not there. Finally, what he found in the crowd was his grandma who had passed away peacefully.

Veteran actress Zhao Shuzhen played this kind of restrained love to the core – she went to see her grandson perform, hid in a corner and laughed through it, and then left quietly, not wanting to distract her child.

After his grandma left, Ding Guoqiang adopted Xiaoman. But at the same time, the tide of the times is approaching: the factory is facing transformation, Xiaodan wants to go abroad, Xia Lei is going to the south to work in the sea, and only Xiaoman, who has the deepest affection for this land, chooses to stay and be a worker. The three inseparable friends have reached different crossroads in life.

The word-of-mouth of the premiere has also come out. Judging from the current feedback, the word-of-mouth of "When Time Has Love" shows an obvious but positive trend. Huang Jingyu performed Zhang Xiaoman's sense of fragmentation and tenacity, and the comment section was full of people who felt sorry for Zhang Xiaoman and commented that Zhang Xiaoman's life was too miserable.

In addition, it is the restoration of the texture of the times, from the 28 big-bar bicycles and grilled chicken racks, to the popsicles stored in the canteen, the factory cultural performance, to the hot air in the bathhouse and the background sound of "Huan Zhuge Ge", the precise reproduction of details awakened the collective memory of the audience. Some netizens from Northeast China lamented: "It instantly took me back to my childhood."

After watching the first 4 episodes, my biggest feeling is that the pain and tears are very real, and it is a eloquent life drama. The family relationship between Xiaoman and grandma makes people cry, and the friendship between the Iron Triangle is heartwarming. Tears and laughter intertwined, deeply resonating with the audience. I have to say that CCTV made the right bet this time and has the potential to be a dark horse.

At 10 a.m. on January 19, 2025, members of the Austrian mountain rescue team found Kerstin Gurtner on the Großglockner peak.

She had been dead for a long time, and the cause of death was hypothermia.

The day before, she set out with her boyfriend Thomas Plamberger with the goal of climbing Grossglockner, Austria's highest peak at 3,798 meters above sea level.

Thomas made it down the mountain safely and alone, leaving Kirsten there for good.

(Related reports)

After this incident happened, the Austrian media made a lot of reports: A veteran who had climbed the Glockner more than 14 times took his girlfriend with no winter mountain experience on the most dangerous route of the year. When she was exhausted, hypothermic, and unable to move, she went down the mountain alone.

The police search and rescue helicopter flew in and circled six times that night, but he didn't send a single signal.

At two o'clock in the morning, he threw her about fifty meters from the top of the mountain and turned around to leave.

It wasn't until 3:30 in the morning that the first real call for help was made.

We just wrote about this story a few months ago, so I won’t go into details here.

In February of this year, when the court was held, many details that had never been made public before emerged, making the matter even more confusing.

Before that, we have to introduce the concept of climbing difficulty rating.

The International Mountaineering Federation divides the difficulty of mountaineering and rock climbing into 12 levels, but levels 7 to 12 can almost be understood as "non-human difficulty", and most routes fall within the range of 1 to 6.

In this accident, Thomas and Kirsten were taking the Stüdlgrat route on the Glockner.

(Thomas at the trial was coded by the Austrian media)

In summer, most of the Studl Ridge route is grade 3, and only a small number of difficult sections can reach grade 4, which is generally considered moderately difficult. But in winter, when snow and ice cover the route and storms rage, the difficulty will soar straight up, and it cannot be understood as just grade 3 to 4.

Thomas is 36 years old. He has climbed to the top of Glockner several times, taking the Studel Ridge route. The important thing is that three of them were in winter – he has winter experience.

Not so Kirsten. In previous reports, many media described Kirsten as a pure novice, but according to the current update, this statement is wrong – Kirsten is not a complete novice. She has climbed the Watzmann East Face (Level 5) and the Dachstein South Face (Level 5+) and has certain qualifications.

But Kirsten had never walked an alpine route of this level of difficulty in winter. This is the first time.

The biggest gap between the couple is not in mountaineering experience, but in winter experience.

(Studel Ridge in winter)

On January 18, 2025, the weather forecast for that day was clear: wind speed of 74 kilometers per hour, temperature of minus 8 degrees, and with the wind chill effect, the body felt close to minus 20 degrees.

They were a full two hours behind schedule, starting from the foot of the mountain at 6:45 in the morning, and had to continue climbing after the sun went down.

The other climbing teams encountered along the way that day all chose to retreat at the same point, but Thomas and Kirsten did not.

At 5:22 p.m., Kirsten picked up her cell phone to call for help, but misremembered the number. The mountain rescue number was 140. She dialed 149 but did not get through.

Then she sent a text message to her mother saying "our trip is over" – probably because she was afraid that her mother would be worried, she lied conveniently.

At around 8 p.m., she slipped on the rock wall and was caught by the rope, but her hip and hand were injured.

From this point on, the two were essentially trapped on the mountain.

We have also mentioned in the previous article that there are actually cameras facing outside the Glockner Peak. In the night, the headlights of the two people are very conspicuous. Other climbers saw two people on the top of the mountain who were not coming down, which was unusual in winter, so they notified the police.

(The lights at night are very conspicuous)

At 10:30 p.m., the police search and rescue helicopter arrived and circled six times near them. The searchlight was turned on, illuminating the surrounding area.

The pilot actually saw movement on the mountain, but Thomas did not send any distress signal. The pilot thought that everyone was fine and flew away.

It should be explained here that this is not "malfeasance" by the pilot, because in the Alps, many hard-core climbers will deliberately choose to climb at night or early in the morning, or sleep on the rock wall.

The helicopter couldn't land on the steep ridge at night and with that kind of wind speed, and it couldn't get close enough to directly shout for confirmation.

Seeing movement but no distress signal meant that they were sure no rescue was needed and flying away was in compliance with operating procedures.

But for the police, this did not mean that the crisis was over. They needed to get in touch with the two people on the mountain to confirm that they really planned to climb at night, so after that, the police kept calling Thomas.

The problem is he never answers.

It wasn't until 12:35 a.m. that Thomas finally answered the phone, two hours after the helicopter flew away.

(Thomas and his lawyer)

But even then, Thomas still said on the phone that everything was normal and they didn't need a helicopter.

After that, no one answered his cell phone, and all the messages he sent were ignored.

Later, the police officer in charge of the call clearly testified in court: "That phone call was definitely not a call for help."

At two o'clock in the morning, Thomas left Kirsten about 50 meters away from the top of the mountain, climbed over the top alone, and descended to the other side.

He didn't unpack her emergency camping bag – that bag had been in her backpack, and he didn't even help her take off the backpack that weighed several kilograms when he left. Didn't do anything, just left.

Thomas later said that before leaving, Kirsten took the initiative to shout to him "Let's go, let's go", and that's when he made up his mind to abandon her. He said this sentence saved his life.

But did Kirsten really say this? No one can know.

In short, it was only at 3:30 in the morning that Thomas walked down the mountain and made the first real call for help.

But by then it was too late.

On February 19, 2026, the trial began in Innsbruck. More than 50 reporters came and surrounded the court.

(A large crowd of reporters outside the court)

The trial lasted a full 13.5 hours. What everyone didn't expect the most was not the evidence presented by the prosecutor, but a name that suddenly appeared on the witness stand: Andrea B.

This person is Thomas' ex-girlfriend.

She told the court that Thomas took her to climb Grossglockner in the summer of 2023.

On the way down, the two got into an argument because she was too slow and wanted to take a different route. Then, without saying a word, Thomas suddenly turned around and walked away.

Andrea said that she was "in a bad mood" because it took too long and she slowed down the progress;

Faced with her complaints and slow speed, Thomas obviously lost his patience completely: "We were descending at night. I wanted to go another way. I was exhausted."

"He just disappeared. In the middle of the night, in the mountains, my headlamp ran out of power and it was pitch black. I cried and shouted, but no one responded. He just left me alone."

The only good thing was that it was summer, much warmer than winter, and Andrea finally survived and made it down the mountain by herself.

(From an Austrian media report, the original text is in German, translated here)

But she never spoke about it to the outside world, and remained silent for two years until the prosecutor called her to the witness stand.

For the prosecutor, Andrea's testimony changed the nature of the entire case from an "accident" to a "replicable operation" – who knows if he got the inspiration to kill from this mountain climbing?

The mountaineering magazine "Climbing" even called Andrea's testimony "the last straw that broke the defendant's back."

The story doesn’t end here, because Kirsten’s mother Gertraud Gurtner appeared in court. The most unexpected thing is that she is not here to accuse Thomas, but to speak for him.

She said media coverage of the incident was a "witch hunt." Kirsten is an adult and should be responsible for her own choices.

What she meant was that the media had painted Kirsten as a "poor little fool who was dragged up a mountain," and she didn't want that to be the last impression her daughter left on the world. She eventually submitted a written statement: "Our daughter took responsibility for herself and we cannot blame her boyfriend."

In order to make the penalty as fair as possible, Austria specially sent Norbert Hofer to serve as the judge. He is a mountain rescue volunteer with considerable mountaineering experience.

(Thomas, Judge Hofer)

This detail was singled out in many reports. Before the verdict was read, he said this to Thomas:

"I don't think you are a killer, nor do I think you are a cold-blooded person. But if you had made different choices, I have every reason to believe that your partner would have survived."

Simply put, this penalty was a bit unexpected.

Hofer went easy on Thomas, dismissing some of the prosecutor's accusations, such as starting out too late, and arguing that the early-morning phone call "was subjectively a call for help."

He also acknowledged Kirsten's mother's statement and believed that she had a "common negligence". She was an adult and she chose to continue climbing up and could not blame others.

In the end, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 5 months in prison, suspended, and a fine of 9,600 euros. That's all.

However, both parties still retain the right to appeal, and this penalty may not be the final outcome.

(Kirsten)

Unfortunately, due to Kirsten’s death, the truth is no longer known…

Is this really a "manslaughter"? Or a perfect crime?

According to CCTV International News, the Trump administration has not provided tariff collection data since December 14. However, economists at the Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania estimated earlier today that the amount of Trump’s tariffs imposed based on the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act has exceeded $175 billion. The money may need to be returned as the Supreme Court rules it is illegal.

The federal court justices upheld the lower court's ruling in a 6-3 decision, finding that Trump "exceeded his statutory authority" by invoking the U.S. "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" to impose tariffs. However, this ruling only restricted Trump from imposing tariffs through the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but did not completely deprive him of his power to impose tariffs. Trump has previously imposed tariffs on copper, steel, aluminum and other products based on other trade laws.

After taking office in 2025, the Trump administration invoked the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act and introduced a series of tariff increases by directly issuing executive orders without approval from Congress, triggering a series of legal proceedings in the United States. After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Court of International Trade respectively ruled that the Trump administration’s tariff package was illegal, the Trump administration appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.

Trump previously said, "This is going to be a mess and it will be almost impossible for our country to pay for it." "If the Supreme Court rules against the United States on this national security asset, we are screwed!"

After taking office in 2025, the Trump administration invoked the U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act and introduced a series of tariff increases by directly issuing executive orders without approval from Congress, triggering a series of legal proceedings in the United States.

On January 6, local time, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would make a ruling on the legality of the tariff policy on the 9th of this month. However, on the 9th, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that it would not rule on the Trump administration’s tariff case that day.

According to CCTV News, on January 20, local time, US President Trump accepted questions from reporters at a press conference. When asked whether an adverse ruling by the Supreme Court on tariffs would affect U.S. security policy toward Greenland, Trump said that if current tariff tools were limited, he "could use other means," such as through alternative means such as a "permit system." He emphasized that the method currently in use is "the best, strongest, fastest, simplest and least complicated", but it is not the only option.

A reporter asked if the Supreme Court's ruling is unfavorable to the federal government, will it cause the investment commitment of nearly one trillion U.S. dollars in the United States reached by the United States and the European Union to be "in vain". Trump responded that he was not worried about this, believing that Europe "very much needs to reach an agreement with the United States" and "had very difficult negotiations for this." He said that relevant investments are unlikely to be canceled as a result, but follow-up developments still need to be observed. He also revealed that a large number of talks have been arranged around Greenland, and that he will leave for Davos that night. It is expected that related matters "will progress quite smoothly."

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