Politics

Senator Chris Murphy Seeks Ban on Prediction Markets Over Insider, War Bets

Senator Chris Murphy said he will introduce legislation to ban prediction markets he called "corrupt and destabilizing," arguing that insiders with advanced knowledge of geopolitical events can exploit such platforms. He shared a screenshot of Polymarket odds tied to military strikes involving Israel and Gaza as an example,

Culture

GoldenLand: a 2001 Russian CRPG that blends Fallout mechanics with Old Rus

GoldenLand (Zlatogorye), released in 2001 and published in English as Heath: The Unchosen Path, is an isometric CRPG from a Russian studio that blends Old Rus folklore with familiar western role‑playing conventions. You start revived to serve the Good God Belobog against the evil Drah‑Shu after vygaks raze

Culture

The 10 most nostalgic cards in Magic’s TMNT set

Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond set themed to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn’t even out yet, but it’s already whipping up a lot of excitement. The release is packed with mostly beautiful art that draws on various iterations of the Turtles, with some cards nodding to

Culture

Fans Spot Dragon-Shaped Cloud in Pokémon Winds and Waves Trailer

After several leaks, Pokémon Winds and Waves were officially unveiled today as part of the series’ 30th anniversary. The first trailer showed the new starter trio while otherwise featuring older monsters from previous games. Fans have zeroed in on a cloud formation that appears twice in the trailer and resembles

Crypto

Proposal to hard-fork Bitcoin to recover $5 billion in Mt. Gox funds fails

Mark Karpelès, using his GitHub handle MagicalTux, submitted a pull request to Bitcoin Core proposing a hard fork that would redirect 79,956 BTC — roughly $5 billion — that have sat untouched since 2011 to an address controlled by the MtGox trustee. The change was under 60 lines of code: a

Culture

Piper Curda and Bobby Moynihan on the Lesson Behind 'Hoppers'

Brought to life by a voice cast that includes young Piper Curda as well as veterans Meryl Streep, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, and Dave Franco, Disney and Pixar's Hoppers marks Pixar's 30th film since 1995. The story centers on a young girl named Mabel who works

Culture

Russell Crowe’s 103-Minute Horror Pivot Continues To Pay Off on Streaming

Russell Crowe rose to prominence more than 25 years ago with three straight Oscar-nominated performances in The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, winning an Academy Award for Gladiator. He did not take part in the 2024 legacy sequel, which cast Paul Mescal as Maximus’s son, and his scathing

Sports

Barcelona ratings vs Villarreal: Yamal hat-trick sends Barca four points clear

Lamine Yamal scored a hat-trick as Barcelona beat Villarreal 4-1, stretching their lead at the top of La Liga to four points and collecting the first match ball of his career. Barcelona started jitterily but grew into the game; after Pape Gueye lost the ball, Fermin Lopez set up Yamal,

Culture

Games Workshop announces Words of Waaagh, a book of Ork quotes

Games Workshop has announced a coffee table book called Words of Waaagh, described as a collection of "sage wisdom and inspiring speeches" from the Orks of Warhammer 40,000. The Warhammer Community announcement tempered its claims, noting, "Okay, ‘insightful’ might be a stretch, but it should come

Science

Dragon Returns to Earth as Crew Prepares Two Cargo Departures

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth carrying several thousand pounds of experiments and lab hardware after a six-month stay at the International Space Station. Dragon parachuted to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 11:44 p.m. PST on Thursday, ending a mission

Culture

Comic compared to Seven and Zodiac to be adapted for film

The Hollywood Reporter says Szymon Kudrański’s limited comic series No Man’s Land has been picked up for a film adaptation. The series began in 2025 and is set during the Cold War era. In 1963, the frozen body of a woman is discovered on the Ice Curtain — an

Crypto

Buying Bitcoin? Hold BTC for at Least Three Years to Avoid Losses

Data shared by André Dragosch, head of research at Bitwise Europe, shows that holding Bitcoin for at least three years has historically cut the chance of losses to just 0.70%. The risk falls further with longer windows — 0.2% over five years and 0% over ten. Shorter holding periods

Culture

Identify 15 RPGs in 4 minutes from one party companion

When I think about my favourite-ever RPGs, it’s often the companions—those loveable sidekicks whose interjections and banter fill the world with personality—that stick with me more than the stories, spells, or builds. I’ve lined up 15 pictures of companions from across the history of PC RPGs.

Culture

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare remains the best legacy sequel

In a 1997 interview Wes Craven drew a contrast between Scream and his preceding film, saying Scream "was much bolder, and more comprehensive," and that it declared itself a movie looking at movies. Scream has since become a cultural touchstone, but New Nightmare—less celebrated—was quietly ahead

Culture

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss demo turns detective work into tense exploration

Two red dots loom through inky green depths as I emerge from a cramped undersea tunnel into a wide, low-visibility expanse. Alone in a diving suit with only an AI voice for company, I follow pipes toward an abandoned underwater research facility and feel the persistent sense that something might

Culture

Every Pokémon Confirmed For Winds And Waves So Far

When a new Pokémon title is announced, fans want to know which returning monsters will appear. Winds and Waves are coming to Switch 2 next year, and Game Freak showed quite a few returning critters in the first few minutes of footage revealed at today’s Pokémon Presents. So far,

Culture

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on the live-action Spider-Noir

Amazon Prime and MGM+ will release Spider-Noir in May 2026. Set in 1930s New York City, the series stars Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, an aging private detective who once served as the city's only superhero called the Spider. Cage previously voiced the animated Spider-Man Noir in the

Culture

Jessica Chastain Reveals Favorite Films by Nolan, Spielberg, Scorsese and Kubrick

Jessica Chastain says her lead role in Michel Franco’s erotic thriller Dreams was a difficult challenge she was eager to take on. Having worked with Franco on the 2023 drama Memory, she knew his one-take approach would make scenes demanding, especially those requiring intimacy and vulnerability. In the film

World

Trump's unprovoked attack on Iran lacks mandate and legal basis

The first war of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace era has begun: an unprovoked, US–Israeli effort aimed at regime change that was launched amid ongoing diplomacy and with minimal consultation of Congress or the public. In an eight-minute recorded address after the first bombs fell, Trump warned that

Culture

Marvel fans recall moments they feared for their favorite heroes

Fans on Reddit have been picking MCU moments that genuinely made them fear the heroes might lose. The thread collected scenes that left viewers convinced the bad guys could win. Many highlighted the one-on-one confrontations with Thanos — Captain America facing him alone and Iron Man’s fight in Infinity War

Sports

Major update on Real Madrid pursuit of Rodri as Man City asking price revealed

Real Madrid have placed Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri at the top of their wish list for a new defensive midfielder, with journalist Ramon Alvarez de Mon setting a €50 million (£43.9m) price tag. City are reportedly prepared to sell rather than risk losing the Ballon d’Or

Culture

The Bazaar finally delivers after a disastrous launch

The Bazaar arrived last March to a wave of player anger after a monetisation-heavy launch that undermined a promising beta and early streamer enthusiasm. That backlash made the game hard to recommend, even though its core design always showed potential. Set in a galactic marketplace, the auto-battler has you pick

Culture

Why Red’s Mt. Silver battle still stands out

Red, the silent protagonist from the original games, returns as the final challenge in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal and their Gen 4 remakes. Standing alone at the summit of Mt. Silver, he opens the fight without warning, and his presence—both the sheer levels of his team and his

Culture

Five Gold, Silver and Crystal features that evolved Pokemon

Pokemon Gold and Silver—and the refined Crystal—faced a rare task: following the global phenomenon of Red and Blue. Fierce fan anticipation, fuelled by the anime and card game, set a high bar. Game Freak didn’t just polish the originals; the second generation introduced systems that would define

Culture

‘Melts into an oozy blob’: the best supermarket brie, tasted and rated

Brie and baguette is one of life’s simplest pleasures. It’s a soft, white, mould-ripened cheese made from raw or pasteurised cow’s milk with a characteristically soft texture; gently warmed milk is separated into curds, inoculated with Penicillium candidum, salted and ripened for a month or longer. Each