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The hottest toy this holiday season may be a robot dog that whimpers, blinks its eyes, wags its tail and responds to a rub on the head. 

The only thing Dog-E wont do is soil that expensive rug another possible reason why the $79.99 pet could be impossible to find on shelves before December, toymaker WowWee said Monday during the annual Toy Fair at Javits Convention Center.

The app-controlled toy  which comes with a leash and a dog bone that sticks to its snout does provide an electronic notification after it has made a virtual poop among its 200 interactions.

The toy, released Sunday, has already sold out on Amazon and WowWee has been scrambling to get more shipments in by November, Sydney Wiseman, the company’s vice president of brand development, told The Post. It is also sold at Target and Walmart.

Dog-E is one of the few toys bucking the industry trend of relying on familiar standbys such as Elmo, Furby and, of course, Barbie to juice sales this holiday season for the beleaguered toy business.

Other coveted gifts on the Hot 20 list,  released by Toy Insider, include the Sesame Street Elmo Slide plush toy, which sings and dances and has its own billboard in Times Square. The stuffed Elmo, from Just Play, costs $49.99.

Sales of the Elmo Slide are out performing Just Plays forecasts, the companys managing director of marketing Jimmy Chang told The Post. 

All things nostalgia have been trending, in the toy industry, Chang said.

A talking Furby for $69.99 from Hasbro also gets an interactive upgrade, blinking its eyes, moving its big ears and rocking and back and forth.

A Mayhem Pizza Fire Van for $39.99, featuring characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, is also expected to do well during the holidays, according to Toy Insider.

Barbie maker Mattel, which is hoping for a massive holiday season thanks to the blockbuster hit, has a full lineup of Ken and Barbie dolls along with the $199.99 Barbie Dreamhouse Playset.

Hasbro, meanwhile, unveiled its Marvel Spidey and his Amazing Friends Web-Spinners Playset for $129.99.

For more affordable options as inflation continues to eat away at family budgets there were several popular stocking stuffers for under $20.

Among them, the slime-related Googames from Sky Castle. The hand-held games, for $8.99 a pop, replicate a mobile phone but are filled with water that is manipulated to move things inside with squishy buttons.

WowWee also relaunched its famed hit, Fingerlings, for $15. 

Toy Fair, the nations largest industry trade show, began Friday and runs through Tuesday. However, it will wave goodbye to its longtime home in the Big Apple after nearly 120 years and move to New Orleans in January 2026, the Toy Association announced on Sunday.

The trade show is in flux after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, industry experts said. This years convention for the first time ever was moved from its traditional February dates, resulting in a number of large West Coast companies, including Mattel and MGA Entertainment, not showing up.

Vendors who showed up this year were not happy about moving Toy Fair to New Orleans in January, where they say it will be hard to get press coverage compared to the media capital of the world and where international attendees will struggle to book non-stop flights.

Toy Association inked a three-year deal with The Big Easy. The new date is sandwiched between the end of hurricane season and right before Mardi Gras, attendees noted.

Having it in New Orleans will hurt us because some buyers dont want to go to New Orleans, World Tech Toys founder Kev Kouyoumjian told The Post.

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Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore among winners at SAG Awards – a major Oscars predictor

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Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore among winners at SAG Awards - a major Oscars predictor

The winners of this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) have been revealed – a major predictor of the Oscars, with just a week to go.

Demi Moore continued her run of success to be named best actress for her performance in body horror The Substance, while Timothee Chalamet picked up the award for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

Demi Moore wins best actress at the SAG Awards for her performance in The Substance. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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Demi Moore adds yet another tropy to her collection for her performance in The Substance. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

While not a complete shock, before this Adrien Brody had probably just nudged it as favourite for an Oscar win for his performance in post-war epic The Brutalist.

Now, the race is closer than it has been in years – and both Chalamet, 29, and Moore, 62, could be on course for their first Academy Awards.

Following a BAFTA win earlier this month, papal thriller Conclave was honoured with the top film prize, for best ensemble.

Starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci, the film follows the drama of the selection process for a new pope.

Sergio Castellitto, from left, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Ralph Fiennes, winners of the SAG Awards outstanding performance by a cast prize for Conclave. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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Conclave stars (L-R) Sergio Castellitto, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes with the ensemble cast award. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

During the ceremony, Rossellini said the film’s cast wanted to send their best wishes to Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for pneumonia and bronchitis, and wish him “a quick recovery”.

Elsewhere, the supporting categories were true to 2025 awards season form – Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana continued their runs of success with wins for performances in A Real Pain and Emilia Perez respectively.

‘I want to be one of the greats’

Timothee Chalamet and mum Nicole Flender at the SAG Awards 2025, following his best actor win for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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Chalamet attended with his mum, Nicole Flender. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

The awards are voted for by members of the SAG-AFTRA union and are held as a celebration of actors honoured by their peers.

For the best male actor announcement, Chalamet looked visibly surprised as his name was called.

After being accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner to the BAFTAs last week, this time round he was celebrating with his mum, Nicole Flender.

“The truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero,” he said on stage. “It was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”

Making no secret of his ambitions, he added: “The truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”

Moore said joining SAG-AFTRA as a teenager in 1978 gave her meaning as “a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life”.

Jane Fonda accepts the lifetime achievement prize at the SAG Awards. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
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Jane Fonda was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello

Actress and activist Jane Fonda, 87, provided the ceremony’s most passionate political moment as she was honoured with a lifetime achievement prize.

“We are in our documentary moment,” she said. “This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”

The word “woke”, she added, “just means you give a damn” about others.

The TV winners

Tommy Bastow, from left, Shinnosuke Abe, Moeka Hoshi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, and Hiroto Kanai, winners of the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series for "Shogun," pose press room during the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
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Shogun stars (L-R) Tommy Bastow, Shinnosuke Abe, Moeka Hoshi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Hiroto Kanai. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

The SAG Awards also include TV categories, with Japanese historical drama Shogun picking up the gong for best ensemble and its stars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, named best actor and actress.

Only Murders In The Building took home the prize for best comedy ensemble, with star Martin Short named best actor in a comedy series.

Jean Smart, who had previously called for cancelling the awards shows due to the wildfires that hit LA in January, was named best actress in a comedy, for her role in Hacks. She did not attend, but gave a recorded introduction.

In the limited series category, British star Jessica Gunning was named best actress for Baby Reindeer, while Irish star Colin Farrell was named best actor for The Penguin.

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Russian oligarchs with links to Kremlin face UK ban under new sanctions

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Russian oligarchs with links to Kremlin face UK ban under new sanctions

Russian oligarchs with links to the Kremlin can now be banned from the UK, the government has announced as part of a fresh sanctions package on the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Home Office said “elites” linked to the Russian state can now be prevented from entering the UK under the new sanctions.

Those who could be banned include anyone who provides “significant support” to the Kremlin, those who owe their “significant status or wealth” to the Russian state, and those “who enjoy access to the highest levels” of the regime.

The announcement has been timed to coincide with the three-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Another set of sanctions is expected from the Foreign Office on Monday.

Security minister Dan Jarvis said: “Border security is national security, and we will use all the tools at our disposal to protect our country against the threat from Russia.

“The measures announced today slam the door shut to the oligarchs who have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people whilst bankrolling this illegal and unjustifiable war.

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“My message to Putin’s friends in Moscow is simple: you are not welcome in the UK.”

The UK government said Kremlin-linked elites can pose a “real and present danger to our way of life” as they denounce British values in public “while enjoying the benefits of the UK in private”.

It said they can act as “tools” for the Russian state to enable President Putin’s aggression in Ukraine and beyond.

Shortly after the war in Ukraine started on 24 February 2022, the UK imposed financial sanctions on oligarchs, including closing legal loopholes used to launder money.

Read more:
Zelenskyy says he would give up presidency in return for peace and NATO membership

Pay back the billions of aid, Trump tells Ukraine

In November last year, Operation Destabilise, run by the National Crime Agency (NCA), successfully disrupted two billion-dollar Russian money laundering networks operating around the world, including in the UK which was a key hub.

They provided services to Russian oligarchs and were helping fund Kremlin espionage operations.

Ekatarina Zhdanova. Pic: NCA
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Ekatarina Zhdanova is said to have run a money laundering network called Smart that has been shut down. Pic: NCA

One of the key players was identified as Ekaterina Zhdanova who is alleged to have run a money laundering network called Smart. She was sanctioned by the US in November last year and is currently in French custody awaiting a trial.

A total of 84 arrests were made under Operation Destabilise in November and more than £20m in illicit funds seized.

The NCA has made a further six arrests since then and seized £1m more in case.

The networks also helped Russian clients to illegally bypass financial restrictions to invest money in the UK.

US officials have been in talks with their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia over the future of Ukraine for the past week.

However, neither Ukraine nor any European country was at the table, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he will not accept any peace deal Kyiv is not involved in.

Sir Keir Starmer has backed Mr Zelenskyy on that so all eyes will be on the prime minister when he visits Mr Trump in Washington DC this week.

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Politics

US Bitcoin ETFs lose $1.14B in two weeks amid US-China trade tensions

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US Bitcoin ETFs lose .14B in two weeks amid US-China trade tensions

US Bitcoin ETFs saw $1.14 billion in outflows over two weeks, the largest since their launch, as trade tensions and monetary policy concerns weighed on investor sentiment.

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