Entertainment

David Lynch, director of ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive’, dead at 78

Jan. 17, 2025

David Lynch, an influential director known for his unique and surrealistic films and TV shows including “Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks,” has died. He was 78. His death was confirmed via his official Facebook page, where his family wrote: “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, ‘Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.’”

Sports

WWE, TNA Wrestling announce multi-year partnership

Jan. 16, 2025

WWE and TNA Wrestling on Thursday announced a joint multi-year partnership which would open the door for talent to perform for either company. Talent from WWE’s NXT may appear on TNA’s "IMPACT" and vice versa. Superstar wrestlers could also appear on select WWE premium live events and TNA pay-per-views in the future. The phenomenon had already occurred at several points in 2024.

Entertainment

Conan O’Brien will receive the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy

Jan. 16, 2025

Comedian and host Conan O’Brien was named the newest recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy on Thursday. O’Brien, 61, has carved out an improbable decadeslong career arc, moving from goofy television interloper to comedic elder statesman. Along the way, he survived one of the most public failures in the history of television on “The Tonight Show” — only to launch a successful, and sustained, next act.

Health

Cancer death rates decline yet new diagnoses spike for some groups, says report

Jan. 16, 2025

Cancer diagnoses are expected to exceed two million in 2025, with approximately 618,120 deaths predicted, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual cancer trends report, which was published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

Health

As bird flu spreads, CDC recommends faster 'subtyping' to catch more cases

Jan. 16, 2025

"Clinicians and laboratorians are reminded to test for influenza in patients with suspected influenza and, going forward, to now expedite the subtyping of influenza A-positive specimens from hospitalized patients, particularly those in an intensive care unit (ICU)

Weather

What is the pink powder sprayed over the California wildfires?

Jan. 16, 2025

As the wildfires in Southern California continue to burn, streaks of bright pink fire retardant have become a familiar sight. Fanned by strong Santa Ana winds, the fires have killed at least 27 people and burned more than 40,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area. More than a week after it ignited, the area's largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, was 22% contained as of Thursday morning.

Science & Tech

Jeff Bezos' New Glenn rocket reaches orbit on first test flight

Jan. 16, 2025

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, sending up a prototype satellite to orbit thousands of miles above Earth. Named after the first American to orbit Earth, the New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida, soaring from the same pad used to launch NASA’s Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft a half-century ago. Years in the making with heavy funding by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the 320-foot (98-meter) rocket carried an an experimental platform designed to host satellites or release them into their proper orbits.

Entertainment

Movie Review: A family is torn apart under Brazil’s dictatorship in ‘I’m Still Here’

Jan. 16, 2025

It’s easy to fall in love with the Paiva family. Filmmaker Walter Salles makes sure of that in “I’m Still Here.” He drops the audience into the warm everyday of the beautiful home of Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), in 1970s Rio de Janeiro, where their five kids run freely between the beach and their living room. Life is calmly chaotic, full of affection, gentle familial teasing and various life stages (one is about to lose a tooth, another about to go to university). Someone always seems to have wet hair, be covered in sand, or bringing in a mangy stray, as their youngest, Marcelo, does in the film’s lovely opening. Even if their life is technically worlds away from any one person in the audience, it feels familiar and close. Anyone coming to “I’m Still Here” will surely know that this domestic tranquility does not and cannot hold. It was about seven years into Brazil’s military dictatorship, which would last until 1985. And while the film suggests that there was a semblance of normalcy in their day to day, there are also ominous signs of change and oppression — reports of ambassadors being kidnapped on the news, and tense “random” traffic stops that their eldest daughter endures one night. Some left-leaning citizens are making plans to leave, but the Paiva family is not in a terrible rush. They’re even making plans to build a new home.

International News

U.K.'s Starmer in Kyiv for security talks with a pledge for a '100-year partnership' with Ukraine

Jan. 16, 2025

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Ukraine’s capital on Thursday with a pledge to help guarantee the country’s security for a century, days before Donald Trump is sworn in as U.S. president. The British government said Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a “100-Year Partnership” treaty in Kyiv covering areas including defense, science, energy and trade.

Entertainment

Movie Review: ‘One of Them Days’ will convince you Keke Palmer is a star

Jan. 16, 2025

Horror, not comedy, has been the go-to movie genre in recent years, but a movie like “One of Them Days,” starring Keke Palmer and, in her big-screen debut, SZA, is a good reminder of what we’ve been missing. Creepy stuff and jump scares, we’ve been told, have proved better suited for channeling our abiding contemporary dread. But the communal joys of big-screen comedy have, and always will, suit dark days as much as light ones, if not more so. “One of Them Days,” for instance, happens to arrive while Los Angeles, where the movie is set, has been decimated by wildfires. The Southern California skies, though, are crystal clear in “One of Them Days.” In the opening moments, someone says, “It’s always cooler on the West side.” “One of Them Days,” which had its premiere cancelled by the fires, is a welcome warm breeze for a movie landscape that has largely frozen out the comedy. There’s one overwhelming reason for this: Keke Palmer.